::Nine-Boxed Quilt::

Some quilts take time to finish.  Mostly because those other quilt ideas get in the way.  Sometimes even those quilts take awhile too.  I’m pretty sure I have a box of those “ideas.”

When I looked at the November date on this photo and the rainy blustery day I was thankful that it looked like this today.

Nine-Boxed’s original story and making details are here, but as I said it sat for awhile and on a quilting exhibition to Sandie’s for another quilt I thought why not just quilt it too.  She happen to have this design board already loaded so we went with it.

I’ll admit this quilt has grown on me a bit.  I wasn’t so sure I liked it at first and am now kinda wishing as I look at the photo that maybe I could have at the very least thrown it in the dryer for a bit to decrease it, poor thing has been rolled up in the closet for a month or longer.

In person it is really the Carolina Chambray that makes all those bits shine.  The blocks consist of a simple nine-patch made improvisationally.  Links to a few tutorials on the technique are also available on the original post about this quilt.

My twist was adding in a block when creating the nine-patch block that was entirely made of strip-piecing.  I’ve got a whole tote that contains scraps that are strips and they were calling me.  There are some goodies in there.

I also added a block of background fabric into the nine-patch construction here and there.  I always like that “floating” look.

Backing I bought ages ago on sale when Drygoods first opened and for the binding I revisited that scrap strip tote for scraps of binding left over from other quilts.

It has no home yet.

I’m off to market tomorrow and then teaching workshops with Jacquie on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  Come join us if you can!

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::Splintered Quilt Starts::

I only have an Iphone photo, but after days of contemplating and practicing various designs the quilting has begun.

Simple and all over in design.  I like it, a lot.  Might be stiff as a board when I’m done however.

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::Modern Crazy Piecing Play::

I’ve had two quilts in process for Jacquie’s and my crazy piecing class on May 22nd at Island Quilter.

I almost scratched this one, thinking it didn’t have enough dark values, but you know what?  No dark values=softer mellow feel and for a baby quilt that’s just perfect.  Everyone loves a mellow baby.

I had to confine myself with some masking tape on my wall to keep my size down.  My tendency is to get larger and larger.

With the floor freshly mopped I basted it this morning and didn’t even have to move the table out because of its wee size.

I have a HUGE tote full of neutral scraps and I crazy pieced a load of those into the background as well.  It just needed something in those zones.

I’m thinking sky blue vertical lines for quilting.  I want it to retain it’s soft drape and I only have cotton batting, so I’ll have to refrain from getting them too close together.

Then I couldn’t resist putting this up on the blank design wall.  All of it except the four rows that won’t fit.  Triangles are Saturdays class.  Large it will be.  My original plan was a lap quilt, but dreamt of it on our bed…then I thought, what the hell, what man wouldn’t want to sleep under mermaids with sea stars as pasties?

It needs some rearranging and those extra four rows, but I like it, all scrappy and such.

Roan’s been on the couch for three days with a virus, so my sewing time and catching up with him on Dr. Who has been steady.  If you’re an Instagrammer then I have also been destashing.  I’m here.

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The Flip Triangle is a day-long workshop where we’ll get you off to a great start in creating a modern quilt with sharp points and design.  Choosing fabrics for high impact, proper technique for cutting and successful piecing of triangle blocks will be covered.  Great class for beginners, but all levels of sewists welcome.

Experience: all levels welcome; great for beginners

Date: Saturday, May 4th 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Drygoods Designs in Ballard

 

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::Opposing Triangles Remake::

This is the second Opposing Triangles that I’ve pieced and my long arm quilter friend Krista Withers has quilted.  The first has been traveling with the modern quilts in the International Quilt Market and Festival Exhibit for about a year.  When Krista’s exhibit at Island Quilter came up she asked me if I would make another top for her to quilt and have as her own.

Because I just plain L-O-V-E this quilt I’ve been itching to get some photos before the quilt went back to Krista.  We’ve never managed to find the time until yesterday’s gorgeous Seattle day.

There’s quite a mix of fabrics for the triangles.  Echino, Kona, Alexander Henry Heath and Mirror Ball all surrounded by white Kona and placed into an Osnaburgh background.  I aligned them so that they travel one into another for a zig zagged effect.

Krista’s quilting on it is stellar of course and sinks into the Osnaburgh and wool batting nicely.  My favorite of the quilting are the subtle moons quilted in here and there.  There’s a balanced of straight line quilting with the outlined triangles and more whimsical quilting in the background.

Fremont was hopping and we made use of the park area under the Aurora Bridge by the lake.

It makes me itch to get mine back, though I must admit I think I like it better the second time around!

It’s not looking like the weekend weather will be as nice.  I’m off for a run before the rain comes and then a day of sewing.  Tomorrow I’m a spoiled brat and will be hanging out and teaching a Psychedelic Baby Block workshop with some of my favorite students.

Have a great weekend!

 

 

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::Scattered Quilt::

Scattered has been finished for a bit, but the Seattle spring weather is rather temperamental, so photos haven’t really been an option.  The times between the hail, rain and sunshine I’ve snapped some photos, but they’ve provided this quilt no justice when it comes to showcasing its true colors.  The yarn dyed denim in person makes the crimson bits appear extremely saturated.

Nice of them to build that blue building in front of my view of downtown Seattle eh?

Yarn dyed Essex linen eats thread, and by that I mean you really can’t see it, but creates the best quilted texture!  I started with an off-centered rectangle in lavender thread and went round and round.

As I got further from the center the rectangle naturally became more curved.  I love the effect.  I got the idea from this amazing quilt by Karen.  I gravitate towards any quilting design that is continuous or runs off the edge, I’m not a stay-stitch or burying threads kinda quilter.

I’ve certainly dug through the stash on this one.  Really old Amy Butler, Anna Maria Horner, Erin McMorris Park Slope (one of my favorite lines ever), Echino, and Denyse Schmidt.

I self bound it in the same linen.  I thought an addition of bits into the binding would have been a great effect, but got lazy. Backing by Echino polishes off this quilt nicely.  The drape is amazing combined with the linen.

And it matches my lilacs.

Scattered is a remake of my Split Decision quilt that I use as a class sample for teaching Slice and Insert.  I wanted to create another layout using the slice and insert technique to showcase the design potential of this technique.  Jacquie and I will be teaching Slice and Insert on Monday, May 20th at Island Quilter and I will hold another workshop on Saturday, June 29th at the Quilting Loft under the name Split Decision.

Happy Monday and first day of Spring Break for use public school people in Seattle.

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::Spring To Stash::

Sunday Stash time!  I toured through the arboretum to take photos of Nicquelle’s Quilt last week and then made the most of my venture by heading to Stash in Columbia City.

Any excuse to head to a fabric store right?  I love the feel of fabric boutiques and Stephanie’s picks never disappoint.

I’ve been slowly collecting the Tula Pink Swallow fabric.  In my fabric quest I’ve been seeking out more ‘active solids.’ This tone on tone print is one of those that helps in binding all of my novelty prints together when digging through the stash with a project idea.

I felt the same when I discovered the Hexagon dots.  This citron color is climbing close to the top of the color list.  I love the brightness it brings when paired with lavender, aquas or crimson.

If you’re in the market for a great low volume fabric I would suggest nabbing some of this Dear Stella Paris Tower.  I am now thinking I should have bought more.

The Tula Pink Little Bits just seemed to jive with the whole stack.

So I actually got around to using some fabric this week.  This weekend I finished up the binding on this quilt that is currently in the wash.

I also am halfway through my new Value Quilt.  I am loving the on-point design.

And I picked new fabrics to make another Triangle pillow.  Looks like I could use a whole batch of spring pillows.

Happy Sunday!

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::Night Owl Quilt::

Oh, “Hi Night Owl!”  Did anyone have a baby that was a night owl?

The blue colorway and theme of Lizzy House’s Constellations line was perfect for a remake of the Supernova quilt from the book.

I searched through the stash for the focus fabric to be placed in the center.

Since I sized down the squares to four and a half inches this fabric needed to be small scale and “Not purple,” Jefe said (I still snuck some in).  I went with this cute owl print that Alexander Henry came up with some years ago.  I thought it fit the night time theme.  From there I started thinking about the color development for the rest of the quilt.

I was inspired by the colorway in this encaustic piece by Christine Terrell of Tincaustics that I picked up while in Austin.  This citron or chartruse color has taken me over.  I certainly need more fabric right?  So I moved onto hunting for some more of this color for the quilt and my stash.  My excuse was that they would help blend the lighter greens.

I did a few block alterations from the original book pattern to make it a little less square and more explosive.  Pulling a multitude of fabrics from the stash for all the different rounds was a fun way to use up a few smaller pieces that have been around.

This pattern is loose, fun and FAST!  I pulled it together in a few days.

I’d love to have this quilted for class tomorrow night in a woodgrain pattern, but need to pack up and get my lecture fine tuned for the Tri-Cities show this weekend.

I hope to meet you Friday or Saturday if you are on the east side of the state!

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::Supernove Workshop::

Tuesdays, March 19th and 26th from 6-9pm at Drygood Designs in Ballard.

This class will be a great opportunity to learn new techniques without intimidation. Play will both the shape and value in this class where you’ll take wonky star blocks to a whole new level with the Supernova Block.  The Supernova Block adds an improvisational triangle onto a traditional square block to create its swirling effect.  Your block design can go Supernova by creating one large block or multiple small blocks can create your quilt.

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::Constellations::

I can’t get enough of this Lizzy House Constellations, so when I walked into The West Seattle Fabric Company and saw it, I knew it was coming home with me.

I truly think Lizzy’s designs are some of my favorite currently on the market.

Her hit of whimsy is just the right amount and her colorways are always dead on in my book.

Behold, purple!  I love purple.

Genies, hedgehogs, cats…it’s all there.  Plus, I certainly can not have enough Pearl Bracelet in my stash.  This active solid makes blending other prints in a dream.

I’ve been itching to make a Supernova Quilt from the book with this line and with a class next week on it I’ve finally stepped into action.

Here’s the starts of my Night Owl quilt.  I’m fond of this owl fabric, especially this little guy.  Thought I would try my hand at some woodgrain quilting when I’ve logged some practice in.

It took great restraint to not add purple.

Quick, make a trip over before I go buy it all up!

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::Finally, a Finish::

It may be small, but it’s grand to finish something.

A little sample for my Psychedelic Baby Block Class at Make*Do*Mend.  I’ve got two other samples up on the design wall surrounded by a million other things that I hope to get to.  This list includes a Supernova quilt for next weeks class that will later be gifted to a new neighbor baby.

My next post should really be a compilation of all the UFOs around here.

Half way through the week!

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::Gifting Boys::

Upon the arrival of the bus, Roan and I use to have this routine.  It started with a hug and a kiss, a high five and then a bump. and ended with waving until the bus turned the corner and we could no longer see one another.  All upon the request of a sweet little boy.

With the blink of an eye he changed his tune and I had to adapt to his next growing-up stage.  Now I get a kiss blown to me before anyone sees and a hug before we leave the backyard.  I miss those moments when he would just reach up to hold my hand.  Life’s bitter sweet like that and I’ll take what I can get.

If you catch them at the right age it’s not all about Legos and Star Wars or hiding affection bestowed upon your mother.  You can still make them (or their mom really) something sweet and homemade to be loved for a bit.

Brother’s with birthdays very close together and just revolving around the sun for their sixth and fourth year are still of that age.

I made these two a little bit larger than normal to have a soft cosy feel.

Fourth’s closure is from my invisible zipper tutorial (Class Scheduled).  I wanted the back to have as much surface design as the front.

I finished off Six with an envelope closure since I decided to apply the age detail to the front.

 

There are some other details added in if you look close.

I’ve had this corduroy for ages and finally pulled it into a project.  In fact I’ve had all those fabrics for ages.  It’s fun to dig around in the stash.

As usual I lined these with muslin and serged all the edges, perfect for the wash.

 

 

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