Scan Me!

So glad you have seen my quilt and knew what to do!

My name is Kaye Collins and I am one of Handi Quilter’s Field Educators. In August 2022 all the educators were challenged to make a black and white quilt. There were some size guidelines and we could use black, white, and grays. We were also allowed to use a POP of color but it couldn’t be more than 25% of the quilt. I had LOTS of ideas and had even used Electric Quilt 8 to plan some of my design ideas. . . but nothing seemed quite right. Below is the story of my quilt and photos of all the others. . . ENJOY!

Here is the story of the SCAN ME quilt. To find it, SCROLL DOWN past the links to all the other quilts in the Black and White Challenge!

BELOW: Links to Posts about the Other Educators’ AMAZING Quilts!

February 1 Harriet Carpanini

February 2 Waynna Kershner

February 3 Annette Look

February 4 Kristina Whitney

February 5 Chris Sousa

February 6 Edie Wait

February 7 Lana Russel

February 8 Karen Wooley

February 9 Lori Brothers

February 10 Mary Yoder

February 11 Barb Tatera

February 12 Jen Eskridge

February 13 Leigh Zipf

February 14 Patty Sliney

February 15 Cynthia Gill

February 16 Kim Sandberg

February 17 Cheryl Laine

February 18 Karen Arnold

February 19 Iris Noitalay

February 20 Dee Maier

February 21 Nick Turcan

February 22 Allison Spence

February 23 Diane Henry

The Story of My Quilt- A Quilter’s Diary

September 4, 2022

Driving around Portland, Maine tonight talking with Ed (my husband) about life. Down by the Casco Bay Bridge there was a huge billboard with a QR code on it. In a flash I thought it would be a great idea for a quilt. QR codes have become an informational staple in our society, spurred on by the pandemic. Most people are now comfortable scanning a QR code in a restaurant to get the menu, so it has become a commonplace physical/virtual item.

I don’t think piecing and quilting a QR code is a good idea because there is too much room for error. I will try printing one on Spoonflower. I want the code to WORK and to tell the story of this quilt challenge from Handi Quilter. Eventually I would like to attach photos of ALL the quilts made to this future webpage.

September 5, 2022

Today I made a landing page in Mail Chimp where I knew I could host information, got the QR code from the publishing page and sent it off to Spoonflower. I will keep a journal of this process.

September 13, 2022

I was SO excited when the panel came!!! I waited for Ed so we could video it. It looks really awesome and clean. My first inkling that things were not going to be easy was the fact that I only had one panel instead of two. Oh well. I should have realized that it would take more than 1 yard of fabric to print the panel. Duh.

Then the real trouble hit. We scanned the QR code and it took me to MailChimp. . . but NOT to the landing page where I wanted it to go.

I am SO BUMMED OUT!!!! Back to the drawing board.

September 26, 2022

Ben and Teresa left today. I have been so bummed about the panel that I hadn’t even looked at it again. Since we have more company coming I decided to just throw an E2E design on the panel to see if the code would still be readable with stitching on it.

I chose a feather pattern and I used MonoPoly from Superior Threads so that it would blend into the background. . . more or less.

Here’s the good news: the code still works! So at least THAT is a triumph.

October 5, 2022

We have had a LOT of company here in Maine! I finally managed to make a QR code that will come here to my WordPress site. I created two pages: a holding page that is live that says “More to Come in January” and a page where I am writing all this. I transferred my early entries from Word. Now let’s hope that in January I can make this all work! I ordered another panel. . . this time a little smaller. I hope that won’t make a difference in readability. It’s being shipped to Utah, so I won’t see it for a while.

October 26, 2022

We are finally home! Today I am going through the mail and guess what is here!? We might as well make another video!!

And here’s the really good news- after I made the video I checked to see if the QR code took me where it was supposed to. . . AND IT DID!

October 31, 2022

AAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH! I knew this would happen! Guess what I just saw on Instagram???????

I guess I should be excited that Luke Haynes (Entropies) and I have been on the same wavelength! It is also cool to know that his pieced version does work. Of course I tried it immediately! This is where it goes!

For a minute I thought about scrapping the whole project and just making a regular BW quilt. Maybe for two minutes. I am pretty disappointed that my idea will be old hat by the time it comes out to the public, but the story is kinda fun so we will keep moving forward. I hope I will have time to quilt the new panel next week between Houston and Dallas! It’ll be done by January, anyway.

December 27, 2022

I haven’t been working on ANYTHING quilty during the holidays. Today I am sick and all I want to do is sit on the couch and play on my computer, so I started working on the digital words for the QR quilt. I’ll let it simmer for a while but I like it. Now. . . what to go around it?

January 10, 2022

I have totally been avoiding this quilt but I’m running out of things to get in the way. One of the things I did yesterday was to make a totally different black and white quilt. It is very simple and only about 30 x 40 so it went together quickly. I think I will probably turn them both in, but I change my mind on a regular basis, so we will see.

Today I did a test run of the design with the thread I plan to use and it went pretty well. I am going to use MonoPoly from Superior Threads on top because it is clear and won’t interfere with the color changes of the QR Code. I’m using Bottom Line (also) Superior Threads in the bobbin because I think it is a good balance for the MonoPoly.

I would like to thank Superior Threads for providing the thread for me to do this quilt. I truly love their products and am always thrilled to partner with them.

I got the quilt loaded and started to baste it down. Somehow I lost my mind and used an 11 SPI (Stitch Per Inch) instead of a basting stitch. . . so, I had to pick out some stitches. OK. Three rows of stitches. Ugh.

I got all the stitches out but I don’t want to work on it anymore. So, I have been designing the quilt and I think I have a plan! I found some awesome digital designs by Judy Barr on the Intelligent Quilting site. When I spotted the scissor border it was in my cart instantly. I also bought the spools and the sewing machines. I couldn’t help myself.

Here is my tentative plan. . . now I will sleep on it.

January 11, 2023

I woke up early excited to quilt but I had some errands to run first. That was complicated by the fact it took me 45 minutes to find my wallet (under the couch) and my Jeep keys (in the Jeep.) I finally got to my longarm around 11am. This went really well except for an odd tension issue at the beginning. MonoPoly can be a little difficult sometimes, but it worked really well. I only had a few thread breaks and those were mostly when I was trying to pull up the bobbin thread. Apparently I don’t know my own strength.

January 14, 2023

Today I finished the quilt. I made and applied the binding. White binding- that was a first! I printed the tag and sewed it on, so it is official. I am a little disappointed that it is so hard to read the words I quilted. When I take photos of the quilt I will have to see if I can use some shadows to enhance the words.

I used Photoshop to make the quilt label and printed it on the June TaIlor fabric sheets because that was all I could find in my house today. (eyes rolling)

January 31, 2023

I was lying in bed when I remembered that I have to go to Handi Quilter tomorrow, so I had to get up and check the quilt. I haven’t looked at it in a couple of weeks. I did a little water spray, block and dry at 11:44pm. Because that is how I roll.

February 1, 2023

Up early to actually try to get a photo that shows the quilting. I used a photography light to sidelight the quilt hoping to pop the texture a bit. I found I had to angle the camera a bit, too so the quilt looks a little wonkier than usual. You can somewhat see the design. I have to remember that while the quilting is important to me (and presumably to Handi Quilter) the point of the quilt was to show how things have changed not only in life, but in quilting over the past few years: Codes that provide instant information, digitally printed fabric that arrives at your door in days, and clear thread strong enough to run in a longarm with few problems. All pretty cool advancements.

I was a little concerned about moving all the posts from my private blog page where I have been keeping things hidden to this page that has been around for months, but despite my slow internet (calling you out Century Link) it moved over seamlessly. Another amazing moment with technology. Starting today I will be posting the other educator’s quilts and linking to them from here so eventually this will be a memoir of this Black and White Challenge- from my perspective.

5:41 am My Project Complete