I’ve been extra productive lately! I finished a quilt top last week,
two quilt tops on Monday,
started a new quilt,
and started two new shirts!
I’m super excited about all of it.
So productive!
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Tag Archives: quilt
For Connor.
Remember this quilt? The guy I made it for is having a baby next month, Connor, and the first-time grandmother commissioned me to make a quilt for him.
It’s based on Oh Fransson‘s Baby Roller Rink pattern from her book “Modern Patchwork.” I pulled blue and green scraps and bordered the strips with FreeSpirit solids. It is backed in a Denyse Schmidt fabric from JoAnn’s and some scraps, quilted in a meandering square pattern with pale green thread, bound mostly in Madison from Happyland, and labeled.
I was excited to take photos of this quilt on a train up the tracks from my work. I’ve wanted to do a photo shoot there for a long time and a train was finally sided at just the right time.
I hope Connor and his parents (and his grandma) love this quilt for a long time.
My current WIP list.
It seems like something that’s good to start the year with, a compiling of all the projects in some stage of completion.
Swoon: I finally finished this top a few months back and I have the backing fabrics all waiting to be pieced. I’m looking forward to taking this to Lindsay and crossing it off the list!
Color wheel: this was one of the Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts projects that didn’t get completed last year. It was a frustrating project and doesn’t lay flat but I’m hoping a little long arm quilting will help mellow it out. It will make a great addition to my studio space.
T-shirt quilt for Holly: I have been working on this project for way, way too long. I MUST FINISH THIS QUILT.
Selvedge spiderwebs: I have been working on this quilt for about two years. I have all the linen cut out and glued to paper so I just need to sit down and finish it! Maybe at a sewing retreat this spring.
Single Girl: I have been hand quilting this for nearly a year and a half. While I am really wishing I had had it long arm quilted instead, I know that once I finish I’ll feel a huge sense of accomplishment and will cherish it for a long time.
It’s Blowy Out There: I made this HST quilt from scraps a couple months ago and now it’s all basted and read to be finished.
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Before I tackle those, I have a few commissions and trades I need to get (started and) finished first!
Kindle case for Sarah: this should be a quick project but it’s taking me along time! Nothing like a deadline though, I have to finish it by tomorrow!
Baby roller rink: this is a commission for a family friend and her first grandchild. It is based on this pattern and will be made of scraps. I’m hoping to finish it by the second week of February!
Set of dinner napkins: this is a trade for an art piece with my friend Liz. She is moving away in March so I need to finish them ASAP!
Chicopee log cabin: this is my first quilt commission for a stranger! It’s a really nice woman named Sarah who is getting it for her mom, to be completed by the first week of March.
Kaleidoscope in Field Study: this is a queen sized quilt for a trade for a large painting by my good friend Laura Lashley. I’m really excited about this and while there is no actual deadline, I’m hoping to finish it by the end of February.
Success!
The Krankies Craft Fair was this weekend and it was a resounding success! I have very little left, having completely sold out of a few things. Thank you so much to everyone that came out and supported me and all the other awesome artisans that were there.
My tentative plan is to buy a new sewing machine which is a pretty exciting prospect!
Riding the inspiration and motivation, I’m looking into becoming an LLC and expanding into other shops and endeavors. It’s a little overwhelming but I think it might be the right move.
My Modern Stacked Coins was auctioned off on Thursday night and I’m thrilled to say it went to a friend of mine for $390! I’m so happy that so much money was raised for the Garcia Family that night and honored to have been a part of it.
I did it!
I finished that quilt just in time! The bulk of it was done (everything but the binding) in four days in my studio, including about 12 hours of quilting alone, and I love how it turned out!
It’s based on the Ice Pops pattern from Denyse Schmidt’s Quilts. I really don’t like how she uses pattern pieces for everything so I made these log cabin, chain piecing style and then trimmed them all a little wonky. The fabric is Indie by Pat Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics purchased from Stash Modern Fabric and FreeSpirit solids in Spark Gold, Grey, and Arctic White from The Little General.
I quilted it in a khaki colored thread with a loops and leaves pattern and bound it in mustard, with a little bit of print.
Amanda received the quilt for her birthday on Sunday and I got a string of enthusiastic text messages of thanks afterwards :) Sam, her husband who commissioned me to make the quilt for her, kindly took some photographs for me.
She asked how I could make it with fabric that was so perfect for her, which is a big compliment. All Sam had told me was that her favorite color was yellow (which I took to mean mustard, since that’s the yellow I love) and went with it. I’m so glad she likes it!
Weekend of insanity!
I have to make a quilt from start to finish in the next four days! This is the lovely stack I’m working with:
The complete Indie Collection by Pat Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics from Stash Modern Fabric on Etsy and some great FreeSpirit solids from Gina at The Little General (I didn’t catch the names!). I’m making the Ice Pops quilt from Denyse Schmidt’s Quilts book with my own methods.
Be sure to check in on Tuesday to see if I did it!
I believe I can!
Progress.
Months ago, my friend Charla asked me to make a t-shirt quilt for her husband’s birthday out of some old shirts he loved. I went for a simple rectangle in a rectangle design with some scrappy strips. I got sick right around the time I was supposed to finish it but I powered thorough and completed it just in the nick of time, even if I wasn’t able to hand deliver it. It’s backed in a olive green sheet I thrifted, I sewed it around the edges and turned it instead of using binding, and labeled it.
Charla also asked me to make her a clothespin bag for use with her clothesline in her yard. After looking around online for ideas, I came up with this pattern using the raindrops print from Somersault by Erin McMorris and an unknown print from my stash, and I love it!
When Cait and I got together to make those pincushions, I was so excited to have finished something in a day that I left her house with a bunch of motivation and inspiration, something I haven’t had in a couple months.
I pulled out my Swoon quilt from the WIP box, a project I haven’t worked on in months. I had all the pieces cut out but only three of the blocks sewn together. Now, I’m happy to say I have a completed top! And I love it!
I finally went by The Little General (what used to be Karen Gray) over the weekend to see the ever lovely Gina and see her shop. I picked up a few lovelies to add to the stash and will definitely be back there soon. I was also able to drop off some business cards with the potential of more commissions which is exciting!
From top down: Curious Nature from Parson Grey, Chicopee from Denyse Schmidt, Nightshade from Tula Pink, Fresh Cut from Heather Bailey, and another Chicopee print.
From zero to hyperspeed.
I haven’t had any deadlines for a couple months, aside from the Last Minute Patchwork projects (which I’m gradually doing worse on, it feels like. I will finish the duvet cover!) but all of a sudden I find myself having a craft fair on Saturday and two quilts due by the middle of August, not to mention another LMP+QG quilt!
The weather has cooled a little around here 
(lower 90s instead of lower 100s) so the studio has been bearable. I went in yesterday after work and found myself trying to pick fabrics for a quilt, making a new ironing board cover, sorting my craft fair things to see what else I need to make, drawing out a quilt design, and starting a special request project and I got so overwhelmed! So of course I started with the ironing board cover, the least important thing on the list..
Needless to say I will be really busy these next three weeks. I haven’t bought fabric in what feels like forever but I think I might get to indulge myself a little bit with these two commissions. I’ll do my best to check back in and let you know how it’s going!
LMP+QG May: Summer Breeze picnic quilt.
Once again, I am late posting this month’s project but better late than never, right?
My friend Cait and I are making a project every month from Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts. You can see past projects here.
Summer has definitely arrived in North Carolina and this quilt will be perfect for naps in the grass and afternoon meals with friends. I knew I wanted to use this particular vintage sheet for the backing so I kind of haphazardly pulled fabrics from my stash and ended up really loving the combination. There are a lot of different shades of dark blue going on but I still think it works.
I used a fake linen from my stash as the solid, the vintage sheet I thrifted a few months ago, Pearl Bracelet in green from Lizzy House (not pictured), a blue flower print that I’ve had for years from a Beatrix Potter collection (thanks Abby!), Opal dandelion from Joel Dewberry, large green mums from Valori Wells, grass Chinese lantern from Amy Butler, and just like Caitlin, gingham nut from Denyse Schmidt.
I wanted to use a whole cloth backing (something I don’t think I’ve done in years) but the sheet has some yellow discoloration so I might have to cut it up. I’m also stuck on what to do with the quilting. As long as I’ve wanted to make a picnic quilt, I’ve wanted to use a particular pantograph of ants that Lindsey has but she is on maternity leave from quilting!
I do know that I will bind it in the solid blue and add ties so the quilt can be rolled up and carried. Hopefully I’ll get it all completed before too long so I can enjoy this season.
Be sure to check out Caitlin’s beautiful quilt! Next month: pinwheel duvet cover (which will be the perfect excuse for me to buy a down comforter!).
The Undertoad.
I am not really one to name quilts but as I worked on this commission that’s inspired by the ocean, it came to me. Have you read “The World According to Garp” by John Irving? I read it a long time ago (in 6th grade, maybe?) and there is a part when Garp is a kid and his parents tell him to watch out for the under tow while swimming in the ocean, but being a kid, he thinks they are talking about a huge toad that lives under the water that will get you if you venture too far. Beware of the undertoad.
This quilt doesn’t have anything to do with toads, but it’s filled with flowing water and sky. This is the third quilt for my childhood friends, commissioned by their dad. Taylor and Casey received their quilts at Christmas and Erik received his this week, on his 24th birthday. Erik went to Thailand just weeks before I did last year and took some beautiful pictures of the ocean, which is what I kept in mind whilst I sewed.
It’s completely inspired my Sew Katie Did‘s Half Square Triangle love quilt and made of 11 different solids, picked because of their names that allude to water (and a couple others to round out the color spectrum: Kona cotton in Asparagus, Cyan, Jade Green, Sky, Lagoon, Lake, Pacific, Marine, Cross Weaves in Aqua and Storm, all ordered from Marmalade Fabrics). I didn’t do the math before putting the quilt together and I ended up without enough fabric so I scampered around town trying to find some more blue solids and got this great Robert Kaufman organic solid in teal. At $12/yard, I admit it was more than I wanted to spend but it was the perfect color and I’m happy I went with it. I used a few extra blocks I had to bring the movement into the border.
It’s backed with a Lotta Jansdotter print that reminded me of kelp, Heath in turquoise, a dark habitat print that reminded me of sea anemones, and all the scraps from the front. It’s quilted in a cloud pattern with pale blue thread on Ursula the Long Arm, bound in a Kaffe Fassett shot cotton stripe that worked perfectly, and labelled.
Did I mention I made this quilt start to finish in 10 days? Yeah, part of it was procrastination and part of it was because of the studio move and not having the space to spread out and work on it. But I finished it! It’s amazing what I can do on a deadline :)
I hope Erik loves his quilt. This has become one of my favorites and I will definitely make another HST quilt in solids one of these days.