::Opposing Triangles::

Yeah!!

Another finish thanks to my extremely talented friend and long-arm quilter Krista.

This quilt really needed a quilting professional to work with all that negative space.

The opposing triangles Krista quilted in from the edges was such an amazing surprise.

I love how they break up the organic free-motion quilting throughout the rest of the background.

Quilting the triangles themselves with like colored thread allowed them to keep their pop!

The triangles are mostly solid fabrics, Kona, some Carolina Chambray, and Kona dimensions.

The background is Osnaburg, which Krista said quilted beautifully.

It’s hard for me to resist print no matter how hard I try so I added a few almost solid prints.

With a little help from Martha Stewart, some advice from Jacquie and an idea of fabric calculations from this site I accomplished my faux binding.

I dove in instead of creating a sample and would have been a bit happier with the faux binding a tad narrower, but I’m content with its effect.

Any finishes on your end this week and did you hear THE NEWS?

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pssssst….Value Quilt Class March 10th.

 

 

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::Third Time’s the Charm::

Anything Goes is finally a finished quilt top.

I actually might have cut this puppy apart 4 times, but I am officially happy with the layout.  With all the traditional work I’ve been doing lately it felt good to flex the brain with some improvisational quilt design last Sunday.

It’s impossible to photograph, the purple chambray really is lovely with the linen and print.

I think I’ll add a few inches to the right to widen it.  Now onto the hard bit, how the heck do I quilt it?

All the hollowed out log cabins need light colored stitching to make them more present and then there’s all that background space.

I’m thinking of a free motion combo.

Some flowing shape in the squares and graphic squares/rectangles perhaps in the background.

I’ll let it hang for a bit, the floor desperately needs a cleaning anyway before any basting can happen.

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::Leftovers Quilt Top Done::

Well, my computer has been in the shop for the week which means I was actually a productive sewist.  Mind you I also practically lost my mind since I couldn’t even look up a phone number.

Now my camera has decided that “close-up” mode is all that is needed so this is as good as it gets for a full shot (ignore dreary Seattle backyard mid-December too), but Eeeekkkk… L-O-V-E  this simple charm quilt!  It’s twin size.

Went with the orange peel free motion again and will likely revisit it when I get to another charm quilt with the grays I’ve been collecting.

The back is mostly Alexander Henry Whispering Wings, a print I want to keep on my shelf forever.  It was too perfect as backing for this quilt though.  I have a hard time with that sometimes.

I only had so much of it, so I added a few extra squares to the back.  It showcases the quilting a bit I think.

I went with the green binding.  I wanted to try to pick up on the small bits of green in the butterfly wings.

I think I’ve mentioned my need to switch between traditional and improvisational work, so when it’s a little bit brighter in these parts I have a “new” quilt top to share that steps away from this traditional squares stuff I’ve had so much fun producing lately.

I’ll certainly need some suggestion in quilting it, but I’m going to let it hang a bit for my own imagination first.

Happy Sunday Everyone!

 

 

 

 

 

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::Quilt and Bound::

I managed to finish quilting two quilts this week.

Leftovers is traditional in design and quilting.  The only modern flare really is the fabric.

I’m hooked on the orange peel for the charm squares and have a grey, cream and white one like this in my head already.

I’ve thought about adding an extra loop to the peels or going on the diagonal next time I do a baby size quilt.  Something more manageable than this twin.

So now I’m onto binding options.

The backing has a hit of green in some of the butterfly wings that I thought I would emphasize.  The backing is perhaps one of my favorite fabrics ever.

I’m leaning toward this Katy Jump Rope print even though there isn’t any of it in the quilt.  Not sure how I missed that.

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::Charmed Quilting Starts::

A day off with nothing to do but quilt (not until kid duty at 3pm at least).

D-R-E-A-M-Y.

For some reason, I quilt faster in my head than in real life, but I’m not complaining and certainly admiring the five columns I was able to finish today.

Hell, I’m a 1/3rd of the way there.

If I’m ambitious then I should be done around Sunday, in between those sessions called work.

Whoops, unless I keep skipping peels in my orange peel quilting.

I’m still working on my corner to corner rhythm, I seem to make it to the middle and stop.  I’m sure I’ll have it down by that 15th row.

Happy Wednesday.

 

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::A Little Rain, A Little Shine::

The day started with rain and ended with a little sun.

It seems fitting this summer in Seattle to be appliqueing a raindrop here and there.

My Sheets of Rain whole cloth quilt has a few now and has become my companion as I sit on the sidelines at various kid summer lessons.

I have a puddle full of raindrops made to add.

I’ve enjoyed picking the scraps from my favorite long gone fabrics for each raindrop.

You can see the process I use to applique them here.

Those appliques come in handy for covering up the free-motion-quilting mistakes.

I love the little bit of shine the yellow flannel adds.

Here’s what it looks like so far.

I’m looking forward to seeing how the rain shower grows.

Though I’m far from ever teaching free-motion quilting I see this as an addition to my whole cloth quilt class with applique potential follow up.

My students and I had a load of fun in my whole cloth quilt class last month.  I made this chevron style one right along with the students to show them the various steps.

The orange stitches sunk into the pink flannel nicely.  I can’t recall the maker of this flannel, but it is super buttery and thick.

The stripe and binding fabric are old Amy Butler’s that had lost their appeal for making their way into a pieced project, I’d just had them too long I guess, but worked perfectly in this quilt.

Now I have another to add to this one as my class examples or for that next special baby.

I’ve enjoyed making these so much that I created a Whole Cloth Quilt Group to showcase them.  I hope if you make one you’ll add it.

Now I have plans for one on my bed!

 

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::Oh Get On With It::

Do you ever just over think a quilt’s quilting?  And finally just jump in?

I get sick of them all basted and taking up my limited design wall space (and I need those basting pins to move on).

I finally just decided to go for the effervescent design that I was procrastinating on.

I almost ripped it out at the start, wavering on whether I liked it or not.

Now that the quilting is nearly complete I’m glad I persevered.  I love it so.

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::Modern Snippets Improvisational Coin Quilt::

 

I added a coin quilt class to my teaching schedule and needed a sample for those that choose to go with a more modern or improvisational design.  An improvisational design will give students a chance to practice free piecing, angle piecing, strip piecing and design layout.

I still have a place in my heart for traditional design when it comes to this quilt and am going to raid my scrap bins to recreate my Colorway quilt too, but first things first.

I wanted to show you my original fabric picks for this quilt.  I think it’s important to audition snippets of fabric on your design wall when planning a quilt and I can’t think of a time when all the prints I pick in the beginning work their way into a finished project.

I actually cut into my fabrics and stand back from my design wall to see how they are mingling.  This is especially easy when working with one solid background color, I simply pin that up first.

If they don’t work the bits go into the scrap bin and I go back to my stash to try to find something new.  As I’m digging in my stash I think about leaning a bit more toward one color or another, eliminating distracting prints, do I need larger or smaller pieces to make the print work, or whether I have the values I need to create more or less contrast.  Then I cut some more.

In this instance only the elephants stayed and I went with a different color way of the spiral.  Sometimes I even sew up a block and end up with the rotary cutter or seam ripper.

As far as the design…that generally just evolves.

Don’t be scared to jump in and experiment!

That’s how this quilt came to be.

Little loops and circles meander along the quilt.  I let it develop rather organically and filled in where needed.

For the binding I went with a subtle print that reads solid from a distance.  I’ve had it in my stash for a while and since it is a sock monkey textured look it seemed to fit the elephant theme.

I loaded up on the Alexander Henry Entertaining Elephants from an Etsy seller at $5/yard for backings and easy whole cloth quilts.

Of course with improvisational piecing you general have some leftovers.

Those are nice for adding some interest to the back.

Yeah!  It’s so happy.  Off it goes to the shop as the sample.

I hope your day is sunny.  I’ve got a friend coming over for a visit to sew and going to try to quilt this quilt.

Happy Tuesday!

 

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::Bloggers’ Quilt Festival 2011::

Yeah, it’s that time of year again.  I enjoy looking through all the quilt inspiration that the Bloggers’ Quilt Festival offers.

My quilt idea all started with this fabric.

First, the idea became a pillow when the Hope Valley line came out.  I used Joelle Hoverson’s technique for her Little Bits quilt.  I designed it by stacking the blocks and liked the effect so much that I started a quilt.  It got pushed aside with the book quilts taking front stage.

My favorite quilts of the year are in the book, or not yet finished, but Split Decision is up there.

As I spread it out fresh from the dryer, I was in love.  It went straight to the shop for a class sample, but I’ll look forward to the day when I can lounge under it.

Especially because of its buttery flannel back.

I framed it out with the pink for binding.

I think the loops make it fun.

I’m hoping next year with the book likely being on the shelves to have a real reason to go to market.  

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::Sheets of Rain Quilt::

Ever since Crazy Mom Quilt’s Ticker Tape Quilt I’ve had a quilt idea in my head.  A quilt with “ticker taped’ raindrops.  So appropriate for Seattle.

However, over the year or so the quilt idea has evolved from a ‘quilt as you go’ quilt with appliqued raindrops to a free motion quilt with a continuous raindrop stitch AND raindrop appliques.

My plan is to not go through all three layers of the quilt when ladder stitching the raindrops down, so that the continuous raindrop stitching is all that shows through on the back.

The raindrop stitches are complete and the binding is stitched down, all that’s left are the appliqued raindrops.  I’m thinking mostly primary color here.

It’s like a thunder storm on the front (which rarely occur here in Seattle and I miss them) and a sunny day on the back.

So today I made the raindrops.  Sorted through the scrap bins, picking out the favorites.

My Mom taught me how to make appliqued shapes with templates so you don’t have raw edges (which just didn’t seem practical for a baby quilt needing to be washed often).

If you haven’t done this before, draw your shape on paper or wax paper and glue it or iron it (if you use wax paper) to cardboard.  Cut it as cleanly as you can.  Use a nail file to smooth edges if needed.

Cut around your raindrop or other curved shape giving yourself about a 1/4″ seam, or trace around the shape on the wrong side of your fabric and cut a 1/4″ away from the line.

Baste stitch around your shape about an 1/8″ from the cut edge, starting and ending your thread tails on the curved end AND on the same side of fabric.

Pull on the strings.  I didn’t do it, but if you place the basting closer to the template when ironing it will help create a smoother curve (so “they” say).

I starch both sides and iron as I’m pulling those strings.  I give the strings one wrap around a finger when I pull so it’s taunt.  If you’ve glued paper on to your template then you might want to face it down or it mucks all off with the starch.

Traditionally or by what I’ve been taught at least, you iron the top tip or a point down the middle first and than cross over the sides…make sense?

As you can see, I don’t do that.  I just do a straight cross over.  I occasionally clip some of the fabric out to reduce bulk.

Whatever, they look fine.

Pull out the template and give them a final press right side up, giving a tuck to anything that’s come out of wack when removing the template.

Aren’t they delicious?

Then clip the threads and pin that sucker down.

I actually have a use for those pins that will make you blind.

When free motioning I would try to correct a raindrop ‘gone bad’ by adding an echo, but if that didn’t go so well I looked for those spots to add a raindrop applique.

Uh oh, looks like this quilt might have a load of raindrops.  It’s kinda been one of those rainy years.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

P.S.  The sun shone today.

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out of print destash

upcoming classes

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