One of our most popular quilt kits is the Optical Illusions design by Erin Underwood. This quilt is created by sewing strips of colors and background together and then cutting them out with a wedge ruler. The leftovers from one set of wedges creates the second alternating wedges. So, it is super simple to sew.
When you step back from the quilt design, you not only see the checkerboard, but also swirling petals. The effect is achieved with only six colored fabrics.
I decided to do a new colorway of this quilt in the ever-popular teals, purples and blues. When I finished, I wondered what had gone wrong. I had my six colors. They shaded nicely together, but I was not getting the “petal effect.”
First attempt
I studied the two designs and realized that the brightest and lightest colors needed to be at the center of the strips. I had done that with the original quilt but not with the new one. So, I went back to the drawing board and re-shaded the fabrics and created a second version of the design. This time I could see the petals.
The final peacock version with a dark background.
You can see here the two sets of wedges. In each set the fabrics are arranged exactly the same. The second wedge in the set is simply turned upside down. It is amazing how different the quilt can look by just changing the order of the fabrics.
Look how different the design looks with a light background instead of a dark. Are the petals more visible on the light background or the dark? Some eyes see it one way and some the other. This is where the “optical” effect plays tricks.
I want to take this opportunity to wish you and all my friends from around the world a very happy holiday season. During this past year I have been so thrilled to see the quilting you have all done and have loved seeing photographs of your work.
Happy holidays from Luke and Gus!
Speaking of photographs, it has been a while since I shared any information about our dogs, but they are here to give you good wishes as well. Gus is now 10, a mellow guy who is getting grayer and grayer by the day. When he is not hoping to get food, he is sleeping.
Luke, on the other hand, is a bundle of energy, carries two balls around all the time hoping someone will throw them for him to chase. He chases squirrels, groundhogs and anything else that will run from him. When he is tuckered out he likes to go to his special place…the bench part of our trestle table. What he doesn’t seem to realize is that he has grown since he was a small puppy and discovered that spot.
Luke relaxing in his favorite spot.
Both dogs are looking forward to the holiday because they know they will each receive a new stuffed dog toy. Gus will take care of his, use it as a pillow and just carry it around. Luke will most likely have his in shreds in a manner of minutes. He proudly carries around the remnants.
Gus is asking Santa for a new toy to rest on and carry around.
Luke with his current toy fragments.
So we can take time to enjoy the season, here are our hours for the holidays ahead. And remember, that we are always closed on Sundays.
Saturday, December 24: 10-2
Monday, December 26: closed
Saturday, December 31: 10-2
From the entire staff of Jinny Beyer Studio, we wish you the happiness of family and friends and the joy of the season.
Periodically we get questions from some of you about various aspects of quilting and we try to answer those questions when we can.
The following came in some time back and I thought it would be a good issue to discuss:
Learning to do hand quilting – any suggestions on how to practice my stitches?
First and foremost, the tools and materials you use really make a difference.
Fabric:
Use high quality apparel weight 100% cotton fabric. If the fabric is heavy, you will get larger stitches.
Batting:
I like to use 100% cotton batting. One of my favorites is Quilters’ Dream Cotton. This batting comes in several weights. I like the lightest weight, Request. The thicker the batting, the larger the stitches and the thinner the batting, the easier it is to quilt and get small stitches.
Needles:
I use a between, size 11, for all my hand piecing and quilting. It is a sturdy needle and because it is so short it does not bend as readily. There are a number of needle companies and I have experimented with many of them. Unfortunately, as with everything else, many of the manufacturers are now having their needles made in China. Frankly, in my experience, the ones made in China are not the same high quality as those made in England and Japan. I would advise you to check the packaging. If it says “packed in England” and not “made in England,” the needles are probably made in China. My favorite needle of choice at the moment is the Colonial Needle Company, Super Glide, between, size 11. This needle is made in England and has a special coating that allows it to glide more smoothly through the fabric.
Thread:
I like a pre-waxed thread made specifically for quilting. There are many brands and they now come in a wide range of colors. The one I use most is YLI quilting thread. It is a little more wiry than standard thread and produces a nice quilting stitch.
Spoon:
I can’t quilt without a spoon. You may wonder what that is. When quilting, you need a hand underneath the quilt frame to receive the tip of the needle and push it back up again. After a while your finger gets really sore. There are various devices to use under the frame that will guide the needle back up. Some thimbles have sharp ridges around the top for just this purpose. Aunt Becky’s Finger Saver is another device.
Once, I encountered a group of older women around a quilting frame. One of them was quilting up a storm and I asked what she used underneath. She proudly held up her thumb where she had a quarter taped. She was using that to guide the needle back up.
I have tried many different things, but my favorite is TJ’s Quick Quilter Spoon. It saves many sore fingers.
Pliers:
When quilting, sometimes if you have stacked four or five stitches on the needle it is difficult to grab the needle and pull it out. I use a small pair of pliers for this purpose. I just keep them on my quilting frame and grab them when needed.
Quilting Frame:
I have saved the most important for last. To get good even stitches you must use some type of frame or hoop. It is the same as doing embroidery. Without a hoop, the work is either too loose or too tight. I can’t stress enough the importance of this.
My book, Quiltmaking by Hand, has a whole chapter on quilting, designs for quilting, how to put a quilt in a frame or hoop, and so much more. If you have an interest in hand quilting, this book would be useful for you.
Now to answer the question above, if you have the right fabric, batting, tools and some sort of frame, the best way to practice your quilting is to put a quilt in a hoop or frame and start quilting. The first stitches will probably not be to your satisfaction, but you will find that you will improve as you keep stitching.
I was very disappointed when I started quilting my first quilt. Here is a close up of how those first stitches looked and another several months later when I was achieving smaller and more even stitches.
My first stitches, there were four stitches per side.At the edge of the quilt. After four months, my stitches were better – about seven per side.By my third quilt, I felt very comfortable.
I am happy to see the renewed interest in hand quilting and hope you will give it a try!
My recent trip to Nepal this year and India last year was an eye-opening experience. I lived in that part of the world for nearly five years. At the time, I didn’t recognize the impact this region was having on me because I was not yet a quilter. Going back recently was like going home. I discovered how profoundly my time there has guided me throughout my quilting life.
Probably the most powerful influence was the borders you see everywhere, both simple and elaborate.
Simple can be seen as just a small edge to stop the pattern of a wall of bricks or a plain fabric in a different color to stop the eye around a shirt, sari, or pair of pants.
Bricks with borders.
Nepali dress with simple but colorful borders.
Notice the band around the ankles of the pants as this woman treadles.
Nepali dresses and fabrics with borders.
Elaborate borders abound as well whether it is one surrounding the window or doorway of a home or temple or borders around the outer edges of entire buildings.
Doors and windows, all with borders.
The Palace of the Winds in Jaipur, India.
Red Fort in Agra
Columns at Red Fort
Detail at Red Fort
Even the written language has a straight line across the top of the characters.
Written language even has borders.
No wonder when I began quilting I wanted to add borders to everything. There was just a need to stop the design and give it a proper frame……sometimes simple, sometimes elaborate. It is like framing a picture. It looks so much better when the frame sets it off.
So at least from me, you will get borders on my quilt designs, sometimes elaborate, sometimes simple, but whatever is needed to stop the design and showcase it.
I visited my grandchildren a couple of months ago and Polly carefully showed me her Treasure Box containing all kinds of items that were going to go into the trash that she rescued for projects. There were empty tissue and paper towel rolls, an interesting button, empty spools, odd pieces of yarn, etc. She and her brother, Emmett, have amazingly creative minds and put together all kinds of creatures and art.
Dolls made from felted balls that I brought back from India.
So in anticipation of Polly and Emmett’s visit this Thanksgiving, I started collecting items for a Treasure Box here. The box contained plastic tubes and pen holders, threads that accumulated at the shop from tearing fabric for fat quarters and kits, scissors, scotch tape, duct tape, lots of fabric scraps, felted wool balls, and so much more.
When they arrived and I told them about the box, they could hardly contain themselves and wanted to delve in right away. Of course, it had to be emptied where the activity was going on…….the kitchen table. So for a week we ate in the dining room and the kids had their on-going projects to work on in the hubbub of activity.
Recycled pen displays make great fairy houses.
The first thing they went to was the fabric and they said they wanted to make Halloween costumes for next year. Emmett wants to be Darth Vader and Polly wants to be a peacock. I told them we would need larger pieces of fabric than what was in the box so we went to the shop. Emmett immediately found solid black fabric and Polly found a batik that she thought would make a perfect peacock skirt.
I decided it was time to introduce them to the sewing machine so that went on the kitchen table as well. They both caught on very quickly.
A natural born sewerLove those batiks!
While I was showing Polly how to work the machine, unbeknownst to me, Emmett had cut a hole in the middle of the black fabric for his head, two holes for arms and found a decorative belt to go over his shoulder. He made a hat from a black file folder and my black microwave vegetable steamer and his dad helped him tape batting inside so it wouldn’t slide around his head.
Darth Vader
Among other sewing, Polly and I made holiday napkins for her mom and dad for Christmas along with her peacock skirt. Emmett made a quilt with squares, a hat and clothes for stuffed animals and dolls. What a wonderful feeling to share my love fabric and sewing with them!
Prepping the fabric for an upcoming weekly web special.
Of course, in the middle of all the activity, our washing machine died Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. We were able to get a new one Friday and the kids immediately latched on to the box it came in and spent the next several hours creating their “Time Machine”.
Five rolls of scotch tape and three rolls of duct tape later……
Where in time shall we go???
In the midst of all the projects, we also had cooking activities and fed and took care of the animals I borrow from a friend whenever the children come for a visit.
Hi!!!
Needless to say I’m a bit worn out. But happily so!
In these times of uncertainty, families want to hunker down and be together. What better time than the Thanksgiving holiday where our thoughts go to family, cooking and the Thanksgiving day feast.
This year I want to share with you my recipe for turkey stuffing. It started out as a basic stuffing recipe, but each year I look at ways to improve it. This is what I will use to stuff my turkey this Thanksgiving.
Jinny’s Stuffing
This recipe makes approximately 8 cups stuffing. Allow about ¾ cup per pound of turkey. I usually roast a large turkey and will typically at least double this recipe.
1 ½ cups chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
¾ cup butter (I use smart balance)
8 cups soft bread crumbs (cut into cubes)
3 cups chopped apple
2 cups chopped pecans
1 lb. package of Jimmy Dean Hot pork sausage
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
1 tsp. ground sage (if I still have some fresh from the garden I put in about 2 Tbls. Chopped fresh sage)
¾ tsp. dried thyme leaves
In a large pot, melt the butter or Smart Balance and sauté the onions and celery until tender. Remove from heat and stir in about ¼ of the bread cubes.
In a separate pan, sauté the sausage until brown and crumbly.
Mix the remaining bread cubes, sausage, pecans, apples and spices with the sautéed onion and celery. Stir to mix all together and stuff into turkey just prior to roasting.
My dressing gets a little more complicated because I have one vegetarian who can’t eat the sausage or the dressing if it is cooked in the turkey. I have another person who likes the sausage but can’t eat the nuts. So I mix every thing together except the sausage and nuts. Then I put a little dressing in a small oven proof dish and add a little sausage. This is for the non-nut eater. Next I add all the nuts to the remaining stuffing and make a small dish for the vegetarian. Finally, I add the sausage to the dressing and this goes into the turkey. Unfortunately, the vegetarian and non-nut eater don’t get their stuffing cooked in the turkey, but I dribble a little melted butter or Smart Balance over the stuffing in their dishes, cover with aluminum foil and bake in the oven with the turkey.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Jinny
P.S. The shop will be closed on Thursday, November 24 but we will reopen at 10:00 AM on Friday, November 25. Don’t forget small business Saturday on November 26 and support your local quilt store and any other small business you like in your neighborhood. If you want the businesses to be there when you need them, they need your support.
October was a whirlwind trip for me. With trips to Oregon, Nepal and then Houston, I was home the equivalent of a week and ended the month with my son Sean and me handing out Halloween candy to more that 1,000 children who annually come for a big Halloween party in the Village Green where our shop is located.
A walk in Portland with grandkids.
A view of the Annapurna Range of the Himalayas
Buddhist temple in Kathmandu
After a long day of sightseeing some stitching and relaxing at the Hyatt in Kathmandu.
At the International Quilt Market with friends, Morna of The Professional Quilter and Alex of The Quilt Show
Sean giving out candy for Halloween at the shop.
We worked hard to finish our preparations for our annual Shop Hop, Quilters’ Quest, which starts today! I finished hand quilting the inside of the quilt and a portion of the borders and will complete it after Quest. If you are in the area, please stop by and receive a free pattern for our quilt, sign up for prizes, see our demos, get some of our shop hop fabric and so much more!
The free pattern for Labyrinth is available if you stop by the shop during Quest.
Brand new fabrics available and exclusive to the Quest shops
I am just back from an awesome trip to Nepal with Sew Many Places and, as this blog is published, I am heading off to Houston for Quilt Market (and still jet-lagged). Yes, it can at times be quite tiring but the best part of my job is the wonderful people I meet along the way. I don’t have time to write much today but I just wanted to tell you a quick story about one of the ladies on my Nepal trip. I promise that next week I’ll tell you more about Nepal and, also, Houston.
I met Barbara Suess several years ago. Barbara is an expert on Japanese Temari. Temari is an ancient Japanese folk craft which came from the desire to entertain children with an embroidered toy thread ball. I have had Barbara to the Studio to teach and have carried her books. The designs are beautiful!
Well, Barbara was on the trip to Nepal and brought along a bag of Temari balls she and some of her students had made. Barbara was graciously giving these balls away. One day, we were at a cooperative where local woman worked on crafts for sale (more on this next week) and Barbara gave her one of the Temari balls. The woman put it in her hair and proudly wore it for the day.
Despite language and cultural differences, it was special to see these two women, who love to create things of beauty by hand, share this moment.
I’m having a great time in Nepal on the tour with Sew Many Places. Several of the people on the tour have traveled with me previously and I’ve also made many new friends.
I arrived early to Nepal with two quilting friends to get in a little additional sightseeing, the highlight of which was time spent with the elephants. (My thanks to Sandi Goldman for many of these pictures.)
Our tour group gathered in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital city.
The sadness for me is seeing the ever-present effect of last year’s earthquake with the total destruction of some structures and the shoring up of old historic landmarks.
Isn’t it amazing that this building is still standing?
But, of course, there are so many wonderful sights to see including the Nepali children who are always ready with a smile.
And, since this is a quilters’ tour, there is always time for a lesson or two.
I’m excited to announce my next trip with Sew Many Places. A year from now I will be traveling with them to Guatemala. I have never been to this country but have heard and read so many wonderful things about it.
I am traveling this week and wrote part of this blog before I left. I e-mailed my staff this morning to tell them that Nepal is just as wonderful today as it was 48 years ago when I first came.
I arrived early for the tour with two friends, Sandi and Carole, and we took a side trip to Pokhara. Sandi Goldman is a wonderful photographer and I will be sharing some of her pictures with you throughout the trip. The Himalayas are spectacular and our hotel has a magnificent view.
What could be better than sitting on top of the world, watching the sunrise…and keeping tabs on the Washington Nationals’ playoff game? Well, actually, it would have been better if the Nats had managed to win the game against the Dodgers.
Watching the sunrise over the Annapurna range in Pokhara, Nepal, and keeping track of the baseball playoffs.
If you are a follower of my blog you know that I often write about my garden. The only vegetables left for harvesting are peppers, a few cucumbers, some early fall lettuce, beets and my new favorite, jicama. I have eaten jicama in salads and love it, but never used it myself and didn’t even know what it looked like. But I saw some seeds in a catalog, ordered them and planted them. The package said they would mature in 150 days. I actually forgot about them. They are a root vegetable. When I finally dug one out a week or so ago I was shocked at the size. I never imagined they were so large. But what to do with it? Since I had had it in salads, I decided to make my own version of “Garden Salad”.
Photo by Gary Stevens
I cut one of the beets into slivers, added a sliced cucumber, a cut up red bell pepper, and sliced jicama. To my garden mix, I added a sliced Honey Crisp apple and some sliced hearts of palm. I mixed those all up and added two tablespoons of my favorite store-bought dressing, “Brianna’s Poppy Seed Dressing.” I tossed everything together and let it marinate for about an hour and at the last minute tossed in a little Romaine lettuce from the garden. It was so delicious. You should give it a try for a different salad.
Here is a link to a great article on jicama. Give jicama a try. You’ll love it.
Oops, I forgot the sweet potatoes. Maybe I should have found them sooner.
