The Best Laid Plans….

The Modern Quilt Guild in late 2014 offered a quilt challenge using the Michael Miller Cotton Couture Spring 2015 Pastel solids.  The challenge was to use all of the colors in the Spring pastel line, the quilt had to be made of all solids, the design be predominantly Michael Miller Spring pastels and the full quilt to be made of Michael Miller fabrics.  Most of the bloggers and quilters I follow seemed to have a common reaction to the challenge.  “I don’t typically use pastels in my quilts” and “Reminds me of Easter egg colors!”  While I too don’t gravitate to pastels, my first thought was…’reminds me of winter!’

I do a lot of snow shoeing in the winter time. We live outside the city limits and have nearby access to State land with no marked trails or vehicle access.  We also have a black lab that lets it be known every Saturday as I try to sew, ‘it’s time for a walk!’.  When I saw the fabrics in the bundle it reminded me of the washed out colors I see in the winter, the opalescent colors of sun on fresh snow and the watery blue sky of the ‘dark’ part of winter, when we get barely 9 hours of daylight.  So pondering that theme I wondered what I could make from these pastels that would convey soft color and crisp winter.  Lucky for me, the day I was considering all this it was very cold.  Up in the sky was a sun dog.  I knew I had my idea!

For those of you who may not know what a sun dog is, a sun dog is a halo of frozen ice particles in the atmosphere that circles the sun.  A person only sees them when the upper atmosphere is very cold.  The bigger the sun dog, the colder the air.  On very, very, very cold, subzero days there are times I’ve seen them halo the sun and extend all the way down to the horizon where the bottom of the halo disappears.  When I see that I know I better put on my long johns! It’s going to be cold out there!

So then came the questions of how do I make a quilt with a Sun Dog as the main concept? I knew the sun dog had to be improvisationally pieced in some manner and it needed a source of light, a ‘sun’.  For the refracted light of the sun dog, I decided to create random sized triangles and diamonds made up of sliced and diced pastels and then arrange them in  a circle pattern.  The ‘made fabric’ would represent the rainbow of color you can see in a sun dog, colorful yet muted. 

But how should I make the sun?  I didn’t want a round shape and I didn’t want it yellow (even though that was one of the pastel colors I could work with).  That would be too typical and not fit the feel of the diamonds and triangles I was envisioning.  I settled on letting the quilting create a sun effect by doing matchstick quilting that would radiate out from the center of the quilt. Hopefully that would create a white star like shape in the middle and then I would  let the lines get further apart toward the edges of the quilt.  I knew quilting like this would be a challenge but I thought I could make it work.

I started the quilt in October. The deadline for submission was the end of November……no problem!  The quilt wasn’t going to be big, I had plenty of time.  Making the ‘made fabric’, triangles and diamonds took about a week of sewing.  Laying out the quilt top and piecing it took about another week.  Then I hit a road block, I needed more fabric.  No shop in town carried the line and at that time no shop in town carried Michael Miller Cotton Couture at all.  I had to order it.  I still felt I had plenty of time.  Once the fabric arrived I basted and started quilting.  Quilting took another week and to be honest, it wasn't turning out as I had hoped.  The 'star' was forming but the quilt was also starting to pull and pucker quite a bit per the matchstick quilting in the center and the wider quilting at the edges.  I knew that would happen some but didn't expect the amount I was seeing.  The Sunday before Thanksgiving I announced to my husband that I was done with the quilt and most likely would be cutting it up for something else.  I just wasn't working.

I put the quilt away to get ready for Turkey Day and enjoying our family home for the holiday.  While everyone was home, my daughters asked what I had been working on and I showed them the Sun Dog quilt. I told them of my plans to cut up the quilt and use it for pillows or something else. They both said they loved it the way it was and felt strongly I should finish it and try to block it flat.  Taking their advice into consideration I decided I would bind it after everyone left to return home on Sunday, November 30^th.  I would wash it, dry it, block it and submit it right under the wire….no problem!

Ah….the best laid plans of….what I didn't count on was on November 30^th I came down with something that felt very much like influenza……fever, chills, sore throat, aches, pains…you get the idea.  Needless to say the quilt did not get done in time to submit.  The virus I had, lasted through Christmas, which brings us to January.  After the holiday festivities were done and the decorations put away, I decided to bind and block the quilt.  To my amazement I was actually able to get it to lay somewhat flat!

While it is still not my favorite quilt, I have gotten quite a few compliments on it.  Also, like most of my self-designed quilts, I like the back of my quilt more than the front!  I need to take a lesson from that!

At any rate, here is my ‘Sun Dog’ quilt.  It is a hard quilt to photograph an the photo is a bit dark.   I hope you enjoy it!

My First Tutorial

Our guild is having a Quilt Bee block swap this year. This is the first time I've participated in a Bee Block swap. I'm sure you are all familiar with the swap concept but in a nutshell each month a person is the 'Queen Bee'. The Queen Bee picks out a block she or he wants made and passes along to the rest of the 'bees' the directions/tutorial with any other information about how they want the block to look or fit within a completed quilt (palette, preferred fabrics, etc…..) In the month that follows, all the'bees' in the 'hive' make one block from the tutorial given. Those blocks go to the Queen. Then the role of 'Queen of the Hive' rotates to a new Queen.  It is a great way to learn new skills, get a jump start on a quilt and end up with a wide variety of fabrics in your quilt that may not be In your stash.
In February I am Queen bee. 

I have always loved 'I Spy' quilts and Polaroid blocks and now that both my grandchildren have migrated to regular beds I need a quilts that my grandchildren can use when they are at Grandma's house. I would love to make an I Spy quilt for each grandchild.  The challenge is that I don't have a lot of novelty fabric and the novelty fabric I do have my grandchildren have already 'spied' in their quilts on their beds at home. Knowing this I thought an I Spy block would be the perfect block for my month as 'Queen Bee'. There are many I Spy block tutorials on the web but I also wanted to incorporate two other elements, a Polaroid block and an overall wonky design.  Combining a typical Polaroid block with 'liberated' log cabin technique taught in Gwen Marston's book, Liberated Quiltmaking II would be perfect . Since I couldn't find a tutorial for such a block, I decided to write my tutorial.. So here goes!

Wonky Polaroid I Spy Block

Begin by cutting a 2 ½" square block of a focus print. This is the 'photo' that will be centered in the Polaroid block.

Making the Polaroid

The photo is framed by a sewing on a 1 ½ " strip of white fabric on the bottom, a 1" strip of fabric on the top and then a 1" strip of fabric on each side. The fabric should be true white or as close to true white as you have in your stash. When I add the white fabric I do not cut my pieces to size. Such small pieces can be hard to handle. Instead I cut a strip the correct width and then sew the block to the full strip, press and trim to the right length. This works especially well when sewing on the 1" strips. Once you have sewn on your white strips you have created your 'Polaroid' photo. It should measure 4" by 3 ½".

 

 

 
First Wonky Border

Cut 2 ½" strips of a fabric that compliments the 'photo'. Sew a strip on the top, the bottom and then each side. You can cut the strips to size before you sew but I use the same 'strip' method to sew on the borders as I do when I make the Polaroid. There's a slight bit of waste when you do it this way but there is no worry that you cut a strip too short.
 
After you add your borders lay the block down on your cutting board and lay your acrylic ruler across one corner at an angle with the ¼" line touching the corner of the Polaroid border and the edge of your ruler; is ¼" from the corner of the Polaroid. You determine the angle. I try to make sure it tilts the Polaroid while the line of the ruler spans as many inches as possible across the border fabric. Trim.

 
Then take your trimmed side and align it a long a straight line on your mat. On the opposite side of the block align your ruler so the ¼" line is touching the edge of the Polaroid and the edge of your ruler is ¼" away from the corner of the Polaroid. Your ruler should be on the other side of the trimmed side of the Polaroid and parallel to the trimmed side. Trim.

 
Turn your block 90 degrees so that one of the trimmed sides is along a line on your board. Line up your ruler so that the ¼" line is touching the corner of the Polaroid block and the edge of your ruler ¼" away from the corner of the Polaroid. Trim. Turn your block again, align on a straight line and trim as in the other cuts.

 

 
You will now have a rectangle (or it could have turned out square) where the Polaroid is tilted in the middle. Don't worry what size it turned out or that the 'setting' triangles may be different sizes. That's the beauty of wonky! As long as the trimmed edges are ¼" away from the corners of the Polaroid you did fine!

 
Second Wonky Border

Cut 3" strips of a second color that compliments the 'photo'. I've tried several width of strips for this border. Three inch strips seems to give just the right amount of play without too much waste in trimming for a finished 6 1/2" block. The second strip can be a contrasting color or an analogous color. Sew a strip on the top, bottom and both sides. Once this is done take your 6 ½" acrylic ruler and angle it over the block until you get the desired wonky effect you want. One word of caution…….make sure you have at least ¼" distance from the edge of the ruler and the corners of the first border block on all four corners. This allows for the seam allowance in joining the blocks into rows.  Once you have your ruler aligned, trim. You are done! Again, your 'setting' triangles will probably be different sizes and angles. That's okay and the fun of wonky!

The block finishes at 6 1/2 inches square.
 

On last making in 2014.......

I thought with my last post I'd be done posting things made in 2014 but I do have one more thing to share.  On Thanksgiving weekend when our eldest daughter and family were home, she and I stopped in my local quilt shop, Hannah Johnson's Fabric (a great modern fabric store if you are in the Duluth area!) and as we were perusing the shop my daughter spied a child size circle, twirl skirt and mentioned, "I know a little girl who'd love one of those!".  Well that's all it took.  A few minutes later we had the pattern by Love Jill (https://www.etsy.com/listing/127619430/lovejill-reversible-wrap-skirt-pattern?ref=shop_home_active_6) in hand along with fabric so that I could make a skirt for my grand daughter.

It's been awhile since I have sewn clothing.  I had to wrap my mind around the directions and there was more than one time where I thought,  "I do what!?!" or....."That will never work!?!"  I also got to try out for the first time the top stitching foot that came with my Juki.  Oh my word!  How much easier did that foot make top stitching!  The foot has a guide so the stitching is almost perfectly straight and the foot is broader than a normal foot so I think it holds the fabric down better as you are top stitching.  I also swear it had a kind of walking foot motion but that was probably my imagination.

My grand daughter's birthday is the 29th of December, so while everyone is  home for Christmas we will also be celebrating her birthday.  I've decided that this will be a part of her birthday present.  That being said I am sure it will totally be trumped by the Elsa costume I bought her as her 'toy' birthday present.  Lol!

A Little Holiday Cheer

In 2014 I resolved to improve my overall quilting skills.  Nothing does that better than making things and things I did make!  All in all, I completed eleven quilted projects in eleven months. To list them off: one table runner, one sewing machine cover, two baby quilts, three regular sized lap quilts, one over sized lap quilt, one queen sized t shirt quilt, one twin sized quilt and one almost queen sized quilt.  I have to say working on these projects really did improve my quilt making skills.

On Sunday I finished quilting our guild's collaborative quilt that will go to Quiltcon for the Charity quilt display.  No photos to show. You'll have to go to Quiltcon 2014 to see it!  :-)  The quilt measures 65" by 70" and the quilting design was simple (phew!).  To be honest, I was very relieved to have finished my role in our collaborative quilt.  I think I may have hit, 'big project burnout'.

To reward myself for all my hard work (and to have something handmade to give at my workplace Christmas party this Thursday), I set out to make something start to finish in one day. I finished this mug rug in about four hours, start to finish.  The design is from Amanda Jean Nyberg of Crazy Mom Quilts.  She posted the tree blocks on her blog about a week ago and I knew they would be perfect for a mug rug.  The red is Kona Crimson which I bought a few weeks ago from the remnant bin at my local big, box fabric shop.....score!  I have to say it was very satisfying to make something start to finish in one day.  It truly was a reward!

So what's up for 2015?!?  Well, I do have some goals (that's just the way I am)......  First up is to finish up my version of the Missing U quilt from the book Sunday Morning Quilts by Amanda Jean Nyberg and Cheryl Arkinson.  Also, over the course of 2015 I want to expand my repertoire of piecing skills.  I am thinking of making some pillows using the tutorials and patterns I have saved up. Most of them have at least one technique I have procrastinated learning. Time to start broadening what I can do!

The other idea rambling in my head to make two (yes I said two!) low volume quilts.  I've been saving up fabrics for almost the past year and I'd like to make one for my daughter's guest room bed (queen) and one for me (large lap quilt?)!  Then......I started Tula Pink's 100 Modern Quilt Blocks in January and never finished them........and then........

So you get the idea......the quilts/ideas never end!  :-)

I hope you all have a wonderful Holiday season!  May all you do and make bring joy to those you love and to you!

A Wedding, a quilt, another chance to learn.

A good friend of  our family has a nephew who we have gotten to know well over the past years via canoe trips, ski trips and adventure travels taken together.  He and his long time girl friend announced their wedding last year and of course my first reaction was, "I'll make you a quilt!".   Since I like to please recipients of my quilts I let the bride know I would be making a quilt and asked what colors she would like.  She replied, 'Emerald, Silver and Champagne, the colors of my wedding.'  Thinking my email had been confusing and hoping she would change her mind regarding her palette, I replied to explain that I was asking about colors because these would be the colors that would be in her quilt and that they didn't have to be wedding specific.  She replied with the same palette.  Oh boy...... this was WAY out of my comfort zone, how am I going to make this work?

I had decided long before I had emailed the bride that the quilt would be 60 degree triangles, made from solids and it would be a over-sized lap quilt.  I had been pinning quilts on Pinterest like this for some time.   I loved the play of colors and the simplicity.  I also loved the secondary patterns that 60 degree triangles make.  With the palette given I knew to create interest that I had to include more colors than the three requested so I turned to my Kona color swatch card for inspiration.  From a on line class I had taken on color from Rachel at Stitched in Color I had previously cut up the card so that I could rearrange and play with the swatches to create color palettes.  I knew I wanted to keep the colors classic and also wanted an outdoor feel since both of them do a lot of out door activities, summer and winter.  After a lot of consideration and some input from the on line quilting community I created a palette of Kona Emerald, Aloe, Jade, Champagne, Silver, Medium Gray and Snow.

To make the triangles easier to piece I starched the fabric three times prior to cutting.  It was almost like paper but worked well so that there was no stretching in the piecing process. The rows came out very even and straight.  Once I had the rows pieced to a suitable length I started contemplating the negative space.  Just at this juncture of construction I watched Jacquie Gherings' webinar offered through the Modern Quilt Guild, 'Modern, I Know It When I See It'.  She displayed a quilt that was bordered with off centered negative space and I knew that's where my quilt was headed as well.  For the insert on the side, I had made a pillow earlier in the year with similar inserts and decided that would be perfect to create some interest in the negative space.  One thing I would change about the insert would be to float it versus having it extend the full way, top to bottom.  Another thing I would change is the narrower negative space on the top and bottom.  I would make it about two inches wider.  It was a bit too narrow to comfortably quilt.

The backing is a Micheal Miller fabric (sorry can't remember the name) that our local quilt shop owner suggested.  It was perfect!  I quilted the quilt on my APQS George and this was the first REAL quilt done with George.  There were some frustrating moments which resulted in taking out of some quilting and redoing.  I chalk that up to learning curve.  I did love the the 20 inches of harp space to work with.  The quilt is 68 inches by 72 inches and I didn't even know it was under the harp space.  This was the first time I have done Orange Peel quilting.  Once I got the first two passes done doing the sides of the triangles I had to tell myself....wait till you do the bottoms of the triangles.  With only the sides done it looked like the quilt was filled with bunny ears!  I loved the quilting after the bottoms were done.

This is the last large project of the year.  Of course that's what I always say!  :-)  If I had to name this quilt I would name it Breathe.  It reminds me of a crisp winter day out skiing where you can breathe in the the cold, piney air.

A Fabric Surprise Becomes a Baby Quilt

One of my favorite on line fabric sites, Pink Castle Fabrics, was having a great sale.  They had a fat quarter bundle of Anastasia prints by Alexander Henry for a really nice price.  Now I have to admit when I ordered them I thought the white flowers in the print would be smaller and I had another use for them in mind.  When I opened the package and realized the scale of the white flowers, I realized the fabric wouldn't work for what I had in mind but  it would be perfect for a baby quilt.

My husband's nephew and girl friend are expecting in  October so, voila......I was ready to sew.  I've always admired the quilts done by Rita of Red Pepper Quilts.  She combines a fantastic eye for color with traditional blocks and piecing.  All of her quilts have a striking and beautiful simplicity.  With that in mind I started out with my quilt hoping some of her inspiration flow through this quilt.

Gathering up together the right amount and variety of 'low volume' prints was a challenge.  I put the term 'low volume' in quotes because in reality very few of my white or cream background prints are low volume.  As a result I really do have some with too much color in them and if I were to do the quilt over I'd find more true low volume prints to incorporate.  One of my favorite prints is the chicken tracks in black and white.  They were part of a low volume swap I was a part of and I love them in this quilt. The black and white with the movement they create is awesome.  It is a Timeless Treasures fabric.

This is the second time I have quilted one quarter inch from the seam line using my walking foot.  The first quilt where I had used this quilting method had 4 1/2" blocks.  I think this type of quilting looks much better on a smaller block such as these, which were 2 1/2" blocks.

All, in all I am pleased with how the quilt turned out.  It was a quick project, which was exactly what I needed after so many long projects this summer.

Tilting Log Cabins

I am a big fan of Mad Tesla and the work he does with Kona Solids.  His eye for color and his improv block construction is clean and clear.  At present he has a quilt in progress called Off Centre that has improv blocks in a variety of colors which are then pieced so they tilt at various angles and places within the quilt top.  If you have a chance, go over to his blog (www.madtesla.com) and take a look at his quilt in progress.   His quilt is going to be awesome when completed.

With Mad Tesla's inspiration in mind and guidance from Gwen Marston's Liberated Quiltmaking II, I decided to make a long delayed cover for my Juki sewing machine.   I had a pattern from Modern Quilting Unlimited where I liked the clean lines of the machine cover but not the blocks that made up the front and back.  So I decided to replace the suggested blocks in the pattern with some tilting log cabin blocks inspired by the blocks in Mad Tesla's Off Centre quilt (but not the same...his blocks were far more complex than I had imagined) and using Gwen Marston's 'liberating' techniques for traditional quilt blocks.

The 'spine' of the machine cover was supposed to be strips of color.  Instead, I decided it would be fun to make some single tilted blocks of color 'tumbling'  across and down the machine.   You can't really see them in the photo but they were fun to play with and I could see myself using this technique with a full quilt somewhere down the road.

I quilted the cover with my Juki using the walking foot and a guide bar taped to the side of the foot to set the 1/2 inch quilting lines.  The thread I used was Aurifil Dolphin grey, which I have come to realize blends with nearly any color.

My sewing room is all off white so the splash of color is a nice addition.