art quilt

Columbus Cityscape Block of the Month: Ohio Theater

Posted on by thenotsodramaticlifeadmin / Posted in Columbus Cityscape Quilt, Quilting, Works In Progress (WIP) / 1 Comment

Situated across the street from the Statehouse, the Ohio Theater is a landmark building at the heart of the city.  It hosts music, dance, and theatrical performances throughout the year, and is a vital part of the performing arts community in Central Ohio.  Many people have their first experiences with live theatre when they attend holiday related performances such as “The Nutcracker”or “A Christmas Carol,” so it seemed like this is a good month to focus on this Columbus landmark.

 

This pattern is available from Dabble and Stitch in Columbus, Ohio.  If you have already purchased the pattern, you can access the extra templates here.  You will need the password included in the pattern instructions to access this page.

I will be demonstrating the construction of a portion of this block Sunday, December 2nd at 1pm at Dabble and Stitch.

 

I am excited to be participating in this year’s 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge hosted by Cheryl Sleboda at Muppin.com, so I will be blogging a lot more this month!

Columbus Cityscape Block of the Month: Main Library

Posted on by thenotsodramaticlifeadmin / Posted in Columbus Cityscape Quilt, Works In Progress (WIP) / Leave a comment

The Columbus Metropolitan Library system is an award winning library with 23 locations around the city.  This month’s block focuses on the Main location in downtown.

The building was originally completed in 1907 and recently underwent major renovations and was reopened in 2016.  In addition to traditional print materials and electronic resources, the library is home to a large genealogy research area, an art gallery, several meeting spaces, and even a cafe and shop. You can find more information about the main library here.

The original building is central in the structure and includes an abundance of arched windows and columns.  The additions to the building extend on either side, as well as the back of the building, which adjoins the Topiary Garden.  I wish it was possible to include all of the detail in the building, but the block would have to be as large as the whole quilt to accomplish that!  As it is now, a few of the smallest pieces are less than 1/8″ wide.

The historic building maintained its character throughout while the sleek modern additions create much needed space for the building to remain a community gathering place.  The exterior of the original building is still visible inside the addition.

The photo below show the view from the historic portion of the building into the newer area.

The historic portion of the building still maintains a great deal of its original detail.

This pattern is available from Dabble and Stitch in Columbus, Ohio.  If you have already purchased the pattern, you can access the extra templates here.  You will need the password included in the pattern instructions to access this page.

I will be demonstrating the construction of a portion of this block Sunday, November 18th at 1pm at Dabble and Stitch.

Columbus Cityscape Block of the Month: Thurber House

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At one time Thurber House was home to author and cartoonist James Thurber, and it is now a prominent literary center in the city of Columbus.  Throughout the year, the center brings authors to the city and offers workshops to encourage the art of writing in community members of all ages.  There are rumors that this house is haunted, so it is a perfect choice for October!

The angles and details of this building are fabulous.  I wish that I could have included all the details, but to do that this block would have to be enormous.  The smallest details of this block finish at 1/8″ wide.

This pattern is available from Dabble and Stitch in Columbus, Ohio.  If you have already purchased the pattern, you can access the extra templates here.  You will need the password included in the pattern instructions to access this page.

I will be demonstrating the construction of a portion of this block Sunday, October 14th at 1pm at Dabble and Stitch.

Columbus Cityscape Block of the Month: History Center

Posted on by thenotsodramaticlifeadmin / Posted in Columbus Cityscape Quilt, Quilting, Works In Progress (WIP) / 2 Comments

The Ohio History Connection is situated between the Ohio State Fairgrounds and a heavily trafficked section of interstate.  This positioning has made the building a significant landmark in the city of Columbus.

The main building appears to rise up from the surrounding landscape and forms a wonderfully symmetrical building with a strong visual perspective.

I have been having fun selecting a few specialty fabrics for some of the buildings, and the banner on the history center was a perfect opportunity for some fussy cutting.  The banner on the building has an image of a mastodon skeleton, but mastodon fabric is really hard to come by, so we took some artistic liberty and substituted some really cute dinosaur fabric instead.  At least they are both (unfortunately) extinct!

This pattern is available from Dabble and Stitch in Columbus, Ohio.  If you have already purchased the pattern, you can access the extra templates here.  You will need the password included in the pattern instructions to access this page.

I will be doing a demonstration of a portion of this block at Dabble and Stitch tomorrow, Sunday, September 2 at 1pm!

House Mini Challenge

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At the beginning of August, Curated Quilts Magazine issued a mini quilt challenge with a specific color palette and the theme of “House.”  I’m am very drawn to architectural details, so I decided to create this mini that focuses in on the dormer of a house.

The biggest challenge for me was the provided color palette.  The image below is the palette provided by Curated Quilts.  I love that each color scheme they provide echos the overall theme of the challenge.  If you have followed me for long, you probably know that brown is not a color I tend to willingly incorporate.  However, to make this design work, I needed to use the entire color scheme. (The only reason I even had that brown dot print was because a friend dared me to buy it a few months ago!)

I decided to use three point perspective to draft the design for this quilt.  Most perspective drawings use one or two point perspective, which results in a realistic looking drawing.  I think three point perspective tends to give a more wonky, whimsical feel to the drawing, and I liked the way that aesthetic pairs with the given color palette.  I use AutoCad LT to draft the overall design.  You can see each of the points surrounding the finished drawing, and I left a few construction lines to help show how the design came together.

The quilt top was created using foundation paper piecing.  Once the overall design is complete, I break down the sections of the block that will be used to piece the block.  Since paper piecing requires the fabric to be pieced on the non-printed side of the template, all of the template pieces are mirrored so the finished block faces the correct direction.

The quilting on this mini was a first for me- I used Aurifil Monofilament to quilt the entire quilt.  I had never quilted with monofilament, and I had only done very limited sewing with it.  The Aurifil monofilament worked beautifully for this application.  It was amazing to be able to move across the quilt without having to change thread color!  It went through my domestic machine really well.  I reduced the top tension slightly and used a smaller micro-tex needle than I usually quilt with.

I tend to use lots of colors of thread in each piece, and I don’t think that will change much, but I do like how the monofilament thread allows the focus of the quilting to be on the texture rather than the color.  This is something that I will want to explore further.  The back of the quilt really shows off that texture!

Facings finish the edges so that the design of the quilt top isn’t interrupted by a binding border.

Quilt Stats

Title:  Upward Perspective

Size: 15-1/2″ x 15-1/2″

Techniques:  Foundation Paper Piecing

Quilting:  Machine echo quilting using a walking foot on a Bernina 1008 domestic

Fabric:  Assorted cotton prints and solids and Essex Linen in the palette provided by Curated Quilts

Batting:  Hobbs Tuscany Wool

Thread: Quilted with clear Aurifil Monofilament

Binding:  Faced with fabric matching the quilt backing