Hunter - Quilt talk: paper-pieced alphabet with symbols & numbers: 12 chatty projects

PUBLISHER: Amy Marson CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Gailen Runge ART DIRECTOR/COVER DESIGNER: Kristy Zacharias EDITORS: S. Michele Fry, Liz Aneloski, and Karla Menaugh TECHNICAL EDITORS: Ellen Pahl and Debbie Rodgers BOOK DESIGNER: Christina Jarumay Fox PRODUCTION COORDINATOR: Jenny Davis PRODUCTION EDITOR: Alice Mace Nakanishi ILLUSTRATORS: Tim Manibusan and Sam Hunter PHOTO ASSISTANT: Mary Peyton Peppo Style photography by Nissa Brehmer and instructional photography by Diane Pedersen, unless otherwise noted Published by Stash Books, an imprint of C&T Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 1456, Lafayette, CA 94549 DEDICATIONFor the one and only Stevo I love you (you know).ACKNOWLEDGMENTS To be involved in the arts is to be surrounded by brilliant, generous, and talented friendsin my case a wildly eclectic and loving tribe, without whom life would be a far less colorful adventure. I hesitate to name names, knowing that I will undoubtedly miss someone special (and I doubt that you want to read the book equivalent of the dreadfully boring acceptance speech that endlessly lists people youll never meet). Suffice it to say that no creative project is made in a vacuum, and the village that surrounds this one is mighty, powerful, and humbling. You know who you are, I thank you, and you rock! INTRODUCTION What is the use of a book, thought Alice, without pictures or conversations?
LEWIS CARROLL Im a word girl.

I love words and wordplay. I love that our language constantly changes and evolves to meet our needs, and that we have thousands of words at our disposal to shape what we say. I find it endlessly fascinating that despite all these words we can still struggle to find the right ones. Or, conversely, we can say something perfectly in the briefest phrase. I love conversation almost as much as I love chocolate! I spent my formative years in England, well saturated in Shakespeare and Dickens, but also in Benny Hill and Monty Python. I grew up steeped in the fine arts of wordplay and subtle humor that seem to be an everyday part of British DNA.

I should warn you, though, that I dont sound very English at all in person, unless Ive been on the phone to family (or am knotted up with nerves). Then it all comes out you might take the girl out of England, but you cant take the England out of this girl! As a teenager, and before the dawn of the personal computer, I spent a lot of time playing with lettering catalogs. I was (and am still) captivated by the way letters are formed and how they can be used, and I have often wished I had known back then that designing fonts was an actual career that I could have pursued. As a teen, I was fortunate to be able to spend time with my grandmothers. Nanny Hunter knitted and crocheted; Nanny Janes knitted, tatted lace, and owned a Singer treadle sewing machine. Although my mom bravely let me use her electric machine (to make Barbie clothes) when I was seven, it was time on the treadle that really lit me up about sewing.

I found quilting in my twenties, and the rest, as they say, is history. As I watched the world of quilting expand into ever new territories, I found myself thinking that playing with text was a possible next frontier. I liked the idea that, through the use of text, a quilt could really start a conversation. And personally, of course, I was eager to play with words and fabric at the same time. So I gave myself the challenge of designing an alphabet that was both usable and readable, and at the same time easily mastered with modest sewing skills. This book is a marriage of my love of fiber and my love of words.

In creating the characters of this alphabet, my font-designing aspirations have been realized in a way that I never could have imagined all those years ago. You are holding the result in your hands, and I hope you have as much fun playing with this alphabet as I do. P.S. When you have completed your Quilt Talk project, be sure to post it on Instagram using #quilttalk. BASICS Rather than take up valuable pages with a chapter on the basics of quilting, I have opted to give you more project options. Thus, this book assumes you have mastered the following basic quilting skills: Using a rotary cutter, cutting mat, and rulers Setting up your sewing machine to sew with a decent (not necessarily perfect but mostly consistent) seam Layering and basting a quilt for quilting Hand or machine quilting (or you can hire someone to do it for you!) Adding and finishing binding If you need to brush up on any of these skills, pop by your local quilt store for some help, consult some basic quilting books, or load up some Internet video tutorials.

For some book and DVD ideas, see . ADDITIONAL TECHNIQUES In the , you will find some brief descriptions of techniques that are needed in some projects: How to join strips with a diagonal seam (both for strip units within quilts and for bindings) How to piece a snowball corner How to make and add a sleeve to the back of a quilt A FEW WORDS ON THE PROJECTS Paper piecing is easy! Yes, you really can master itits all just straight lines! With no curved seams or complicated construction, every project in the book is designed to be quite easy once you get the hang of paper piecing. Sometimes the order in which you cut doesnt match the order in which you sew. If keeping the parts straight gets complicated, use sticky notes or painters tape to mark your pieces. Dont limit yourself to the projects in the book. Several people have shared .

Use the projects and those additional ideas as a launching point for your own designs. A FEW WORDS ON QUILT BACKS I have listed the sizes for backing as 8 larger than the tops. The backing yardage is generously calculated for the minimum number of seams. Recalculate if you want to save your pennies for more front fabric. I like to piece most of the scraps and leftovers from the front of a project into the backing. To see a tutorial on making a scrappy pieced back, go to huntersdesignstudio.com > May 2012 > Tutorial Pieced Backs.

A FEW WORDS ON PRESSING Press at every step. Use a dry iron when pressing the blocks with the paper still attached. Press the seams away from the letter blocks unless instructed otherwise. (Sometimes a seam has a mind of its own and just doesnt want to get pressed in a specific direction. I usually let these seams win the fight, as they seem to lie flatter.) Paper piecing can leave bias edges on your blocks. A light spritz of starch or sizing can help keep these blocks square as you sew them into the quilt top.

When in doubt, press! AND FINALLY A FEW WORDS ABOUT QUILTING! Dont let your quilts stall when its time for quilting. Remember, its not a quilt until its quilted! Feeling intimidated? Pick up some basics in books such as First Steps to Free-Motion Quilting by Christina Cameli (from Stash Books). It is perfectly acceptable to pay another artist to quilt for you. Dont be intimidated by the prevalence of the really intense and detailed quilting you might see on some of todays quilts. There is no rule that says this is the only kind of quilting that is acceptable. Super-dense quilting can be beautifulbut so can simple straight lines that echo the design elements from the top.

Thats mostly how I do it. Know the limits of the batting youre using. Some battings require quilt lines no more than 3 apart, while others can go up to 9. When in doubt, choose the roomier batting and overquilt it rather than choosing the tighter batting and risk having it ball up in big spaces. Consider the function of the quilt. The denser the quilting, the stiffer it can be.