I love fabric. I love jelly rolls. And I love blue and yellow. Put them all together and you have one of my favorite quilts–my sunshine Jacob’s Ladder baby quilt–thanks to Jenny Doan and her Jacob’s ladder tutorial! I saw this tutorial, and I had to try it. I’m a simple quilter and I love it when someone dreams up a simple way to do a complicated pattern!
I have grandchildren standing in line to get this quilt, but I decided that it was MY baby quilt–the one my mom never got to make for me! I love it, and luckily I’m short enough that it’s almost a lap quilt on me.
I have to say I’m not really much of a “blue” girl. I like other colors better. But just put yellow with blue, and I love it. It makes me feel all sunshine-y and summer-y. Even though it’s cloudy today and I just heard thunder, now is the time to celebrate sunshine here in Arizona!
Have a great, sunshine-y day today, and remember that yellow plus blue means summer!
Archive for the ‘Our Projects’ Category
Mom’s Blue-Green Baby Quilt
Thursday, June 4th, 2015Charming Chavo
Friday, February 27th, 2015I can’t believe it is already the end of February 2015! Happy Christmas, Merry Thanksgiving, Happy New Year and Happy Birthday to four of the gals here at Triangles Gone Mad! (Jaime, Hilaree, Jessica and Me (Stephanie)… TIME FLIES!!! We have gone a long time with no blogging and I have gone a long time with even no quilting… Instead there were holidays, birthdays, a funeral, buying a new house, moving, and normal every day life happenings. And now here I am getting back on the horse. 
I always wanted to make a charm quilt (a charm quilt is a quilt where each fabric is different and never repeated). I liked the idea of using hundreds of different fabrics to create something truly unique and never replicable. Because of the sashing and borders this is not a true charm quilt but it was inspired by them. I named this quilt “Charming Chavo” because it’s colorful and festive.
This quilt was a long time coming! I spent YEARS collecting the fabric and MONTHS cutting each piece, WEEKS sewing it together and mere DAYS to quilt and bind it. The closer I got to finishing this charm quilt, the faster and more diligently I wanted to work on it. The pieces came from old fabrics my mother used for our clothing as children, fabrics we had quilts made out of and scraps from my own quilting. I was somewhat un-scrutinizing in the way I selected the different fabrics. If it was colorful or interesting, I would cut a piece and add it to the pile. I just wanted enough to make the quilt. 🙂
Choosing the sashing was a bit of a conundrum for me. I thought since it was such a big part of the quilt that I had to get it right! I imagined it originally with plain white sashing. However, after laying some of the completed blocks onto the sashing material, I realized that it was boring and too predictable, so I found a fabric that I felt gave the quilt my desired vibe. I was hesitant because sometimes a small print on a large area can get crazy, but I think on this one it was a win!
The quilt deets:
485 different fabrics used in this quilt
120 rectangles (each made of 4 fabrics)
1″ finished sashing between each rectangle
Finished quilt measures 60″ X 78″
One accidental repeat of fabric… oops!
Happy Saturday!
Grandpa’s Quilt of Valor
Tuesday, November 11th, 2014The mission of the Quilt of Valor Foundation is ” to cover service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor.” To date the QOV Foundation has awarded over 108,000 quilts to veterans of American wars. I have been quilting for QOV for about two years, and it is so very rewarding to do some small thing for our service men and women who give so much for our safety and freedom. To learn more about QOV go to their website here.
Last month I was privileged to award a Quilt of Valor to my father-in-law, Gene Wade, who served in the Army’s 11th Airborne Division as a paratrooper. He was stationed in Japan at the end of WWII. At the time we gave him the quilt he had just had a stroke, and was in a skilled nursing facility at the time. They were gracious enough to let us use one of the public rooms for the ceremony.
The quilt we gave him was one that I had done the longarm quilting on. The quilt top was made by Ruth Dassen, who is a tireless worker when it comes to making Quilts of Valor here in Arizona. The quilt was beautifully sewn and the quilting added the final touch.
Here is my husband, David, wrapping Gene up in all the warmth and appreciation that is stitched into every Quilt of Valor. Gene and Joy were happy to receive the quilt and appreciation that came along with it. All the family members wanted to share in the excitement of the day, especially the great-grandchildren! Thank you, Gene, for your service to our country!
Blankets from Clothing
Wednesday, August 13th, 2014I have made many quilts out of clothing in my quilting “career” and throughout that I have learned a thing or two about quilting with clothing. Here are a few thoughts and photos for all to see.
Last year my dad retired from teaching religion for 20 years. Throughout his teaching career he wore a suit, white shirt, and tie 6 days each week. These were often cheesy cartoon and holiday ties. I’m pretty sure his students loved the ties. They really go with his humor in the classroom. When he retired we (Mostly me) decided that it was time for him to also retire some of his ties. Suits wear out pretty easily when you wear them so often, so we had to get rid of those too. He has always worked so hard to support our family of nine and I decided as a retirement gift I would make him a quilt. I had made t-shirt quilts before but my dad wasn’t a t-shirt wearer. This tie, suit and white shirt quilt was as a t-shirt quilt for MY dad. He’s like a real life super hero hence the superhero backing and sashing. It was a fun quilt to design and create. A thought on this quilt is that quilts can be personal.
#1. They can be very special and sentimental.I don’t know about you but I really like and have strong feelings for some of my clothing. I’m a person who will wear a favorite t-shirt until it is too hole ridden and thin to pass as clothing. Those soft worn clothes can be the perfect fabric for a cuddly quilt. Using them in a way that makes them “last” makes me happy. 
All other clothing quilts I have made also hold sentiment and they have taught me a thing or two. Such as…
#2. Not all machines are made to handle jeans or many layers. Both the jean quilt and the suit quilt had parts that were very thick or many layers. Make sure you invest in the right needles and that your machine is made to handle such tough fabric and or multiple layers of fabric. The jean quilt was not machine quilted because I chose to display many pockets and zippers and buttons. These don’t do well on a long arm machine with out outlining and “cutting” around each thing. And even then you have to be careful about when the arm is traveling that it doesn’t catch or run into the objects. The suit quilt was long arm quilted and I should have been more diligent in getting rid of the interfacing on the ties and some suit pieces… Next time!
My mother saved our jeans my whole life… or at least as long as I can remember. We all wore hand me downs and when a pair was unwearable any more (they didn’t fit, they got a bleach spot or a hole, or they just got old) it went into a bag up in the attic. I was so grateful for this stash one day when I decided I wanted to make and then subsequently designed a jean quilt. I then climbed up into the attic and pulled out two large trash sized bags of jeans. I cut and sewed and quickly made that quilt. At the age of 16 I would never had saved enough of a variety of jeans on my own to make a quilt. Thanks Mom.
So I live in Mesa, AZ which may be the only city on earth that cares what high school you attended even into your eighties. There is a lot of school pride in this city and beyond that I am one of seven kids, our parents graduated from the same high school, six of us seven siblings graduated from the same high school and my husband also graduated from that same high school. I was very active in sports and extracurriculars and so I had LOTS of t-shirts… what else to do but make a quilt. From this quilt I learned…
#3. don’t stretch or pull the pieces. Clothing fabric and T-shirt are fun and easy to work with as long as you are careful. clothing fabric is different to your typical coating quilting fabric because it often has more stretch to it. When stretched these fabrics change shape and curl on the edges. Not good. So you have to be careful not to pull of fold these fabrics too much. T-shirt is fun because it sticks to itself. Because of this, when working with it the pieces can just be laid on top of each other without pinning. And when I can avoid pinning I do. Then just allow the sewing machine to feed the fabric through itself holding softly.
#4. There are endless possibilities. No one is going to have the exact same clothing to put into a quilt and so there are no two alike. When you decide the clothing you would like to use there are SO many designs that you can create. I made another t-shirt quilt and it is very different from my high school t-shirt quilt. This one (below) is made of Harley Davidson Motorcycle T-shirts that my father-in-law had accumulated over years. It is backed with fabric that I ordered from Sturgis, South Dakota. My father-in-law and my husband and his brother attended The Sturgis Rally together years ago. And to make it even more motorcycle themed, I quilted it with a motorcycles stitch. I love how it turned out.
There are SO many fun ways to quilt with clothing! Get designing and you could make your clothing into something great! Happy Wednesday!
Fruit Market and Swirly Stitching
Monday, August 11th, 2014In August, 2007 I bought my long-arm computerized Statler Stitcher quilting machine and that was the beginning of great relationship between creating and quilting. The more I quilt the more I enjoy quilting on my machine. Every day I learn something new from quilting on my Statler! I have begun to feel proficient using my Statler, and I enjoy quilting almost every day~it’s addicting! There is lots of excitement picking out the pattern for the quilting, choosing the color of the thread, and figuring out how to make the quilt unique.
I named the quilt that I’m highlighting today “Fruit Market” after the original pattern I used. “Spice Market,” a pattern designed by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr, was featured on the cover of the April, 2007 American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine, and I fell in love with it on sight. At the time, I was using lots of bright colors in my quilting and wanted to make my quilt out of some of my favorite colors. So I did.
The pattern went together fairly quickly. Sewing the individual strips together was fast, cutting them, and then laying them out so that there were no repeats was not quite as fast.
It made my head spin trying to make sure that I hadn’t used the exact same combination before. Although I tried and tried, I still had some places where the same fabrics were together. Even so, I still love it and the bright colors make me so happy!
When I did the machine quilting for this quilt, I chose the pattern “Sticky Buns” by Anne Bright, because I wanted the machine quilting to contrast with the straight lines of the quilt. The swirling lines of Sticky Buns created just the right amount of distinction between the quilting stitch and the quilt. The result was just what I was looking for. I find that when I am doing an all over quilt pattern, I am happiest when it varies from the design of the quilt. Straight lines with curvy quilts, and vice versa.
Bright quilts still make me very happy. Even though I make quilts in other color ways, I think my heart will always be with bright colors! Hope you enjoy seeing my first Statler machine stitched quilt! Happy Monday!
Eeny Meeny Miny Moe…
Saturday, July 26th, 2014Which one to use I just don’t know. Eeny meeny miny moe.
Choosing fabric can sometimes feel like a difficult task. You are about to spend tons of time on creating this work of art and once you start cutting out and sewing together you are pretty stuck with your choices. There are things to do that can make the process easier.
When I am choosing fabric for a new quilt I try to think about a few things including; the quilt pattern ~ meaning the size and shape of the pieces and the way they will fit together, the fabric print & aspect ratio ~ so if it is a huge print or a polka dot that is spaced very far apart (in my opinion that print is wasted on a quilt with very small pieces). I think about color ~ I sometimes want a range of colors and sometimes I want the colors all in the same family, Lights and darks ~ some patterns are highlighted better by the use of lights and darks and some are beautiful when more monotone in hue. The majority of these choices are determined by the feeling and purpose I want my quilt to have. Do I want it to be; Sweet? Edgy? Peaceful? Bold? Fun? Scrappy? For picnics? For reading? To cuddle? For holiday fun?
There’s a lot to think about when planning a quilt. One of the easiest ways to decide is just find a line of fabric that you love. The designers usually include big and small prints, lights and darks, patterns and solids in each line. Sometimes a fabric line that I love has inspired a quilt. Another helpful tool in choosing fabric are great programs that give you the chance to put colors and fabrics together and into the actual quilt pattern. These give you a better idea of what your quilt will look like. However always remember that, whether coloring it on paper or designing it on the computer, The real quilt will look different and more raw than a rendering.
I am currently in the process of making a quilt. Surprise!
So, I’m really excited to start this project. The quilt I am working on is a charm quilt (which means that every piece of fabric is different). There are 480 different pieces of fabric that I have accumulated over the years. I planned the quilt and then changed the plan. Once the plan changed I decided to add sashing (that’s when there are lines of fabric separating the blocks). For a while I was thinking white sashing to make the colors stand out more… or at least that was the idea. I got this awesome white on white fabric and when I put it next to the squares it looked SO BORING! So, what was I to do?
My life since having children has been crazy and much more full of color. The color and life are bleeding into my style. I am in love with pattern and color. I began going through my fabric stash to find a sashing idea. I found two fabrics that I thought would be fun… a polka dot and a striped fabric. Harley was helping me decide. He was laying out his favorite squares and the backing he chose was the polka dots… My preference also. I took photos and texted them to my sisters for more opinions. I laughed when all four of us liked the same one. Polka dots! Great minds think alike… sometimes.
I love polka dots. I am excited for the outcome of this quilt. Let me know… What are the things you think about when choosing your fabric?
5 steps to get excited to quilt! How I did it!
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2014
Compared to my sisters I was late to the quilting game. All my sisters had already made quilts of their own before I even considered the idea. I had the desire to quilt after seeing their end results, but lacked motivation. I didn’t quite know where to get started or how to get excited. I decided what the heck, let’s quilt, and found a sure way to become a quilting lover! There are a few steps that got me through my first quilt and I think they apply to every quilt!
1. Love your fabric. If you don’t like the fabric, you won’t like the quilt in the end. I chose 30’s inspired fabric that fit my personality.
2. Go for simple. I used a simple strip quilt design and picked my fabric that was already matched and cut into strips (I used a jelly-roll). First quilt, Sew,cut,piece it together, sew the sashing and borders, but for sure make it simple!
3. Have help! There are so many resources for quilting; quilting blogs, stores, classes, the internet! I had my mother and sisters, I got lucky. 
4. Enjoy the work (probably the most important step). Focus on what you enjoy. I love to design quilts and then piece it together. I don’t enjoy cutting fabric, so I got pre-cut strips of fabric that skipped that step. Also, I liked to listen to music as I sewed. I recommend John Taylor and Neil Diamond!
5. Professional finish. It’s worth it to hire someone to professionally quilt your finished top. Looks clean and polished. Again I was lucky, I had my mother and her long arm quilter, this massive machine in her garage that makes quilts look put together!
I am so proud of my first quilt. I loved making it! Follow these steps and you’ll love quilting too!
Happy Tuesday!
My First REAL Quilt (well… the first one I started)
Tuesday, July 15th, 2014This is the first quilt I ever started.
Throughout my youth, I had seen my mother make all kinds of pretty quilts and decided around 16 that I wanted to make one also. My mom helped me design the quilt in a new computer program she had. Once designed I did some math and we went to the store and purchased material. After we got home, I was all “Gung-ho” about making it, for about a week. I started cutting out the fabric but there were SO many pieces. Did I take on too much? This really was a time commitment… then my drive fizzled.
At that time I think I thought this might be the only quilt I ever make so I had better make it good. In hind sight I probably should have chosen an easier pattern with less peices. Five years after starting my first quilt and after starting and completing two other quilts I finally got back on the boat and finished this quilt. I was so proud when it was finally done! It’s very imperfect… just look at those points… but I like it anyway.
This quilt was finished eight years ago. Its a fun quilt and I will always love it because I designed it and it was my “first”. Now the quilt belongs to this sweet little girl. I hope she likes it. 
Happy Tuesday!
Feeling Blue Quilt
Thursday, July 10th, 2014Cloudy day in AZ… Clouds on the quilt, blue and white…
Those of you who are from Arizona can relate to the fact that rainy/cloudy days are not the norm, especially these last few years in AZ even in the monsoon season. Ironically, my daughter called from AZ and told me that today and yesterday have been overcast and rainy. So here’s a quilt to brighten the day of anyone who is experiencing “the BLUES.”
Last year I decided to make birthday quilts for all my in-law children, since I’d already made quilts for all of my children. So knowing that my son-in-law loves blue (thanks, Stephanie) I chose to make this striking quilt from the February 2013 American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine.
Wanting to add interest and contrast to the geometric lines of the quilt, I quilted Feeling Blue on my Statler Stitcher long arm machine, using a cloud design from the Statler Sisters group. Hope you like it! 
Happy Thursday!
