A field study of triangles.

Posted on 13.May.13 by kait

I put this simple quilt together with some Anna Maria Horner Field Study (a current favorite, if you can’t tell!) and solids from the Little General and I love it! Especially under the red bud trees just before sunset. I quilted it at Eileen Quilts in a bubble design and backed it in the butterflies, one of my favorite large scale prints.

I bound this one by machine. I don’t like it as much as a hand stitched one but the binding has begun to come off on a couple older quilts of mine, what with the heavy wear of having two dogs that like to pull quilts from their places. Hopefully machine sewn binding will stand the test of time and I’ll keep getting better at it.

I’m excited to say that this quilt is available for sale at the Little General! Hopefully the first of many, Gina is graciously showing and selling some of my quilts made of fabric from her beautiful shop. If you’re in or around Winston Salem, be sure to stop by!

It’s Blowy Out There.

Posted on 07.May.13 by kait

I finished piecing and basting this a few months back and finally got it quilted. I rarely name quilts but a friend had said it reminded her of the wind and that sounded better than “half square triangles arranged randomly” :)

After the mini I made for Tara, I wanted to do more straight line quilting. I did a spiral echo design in the white areas and while I’m still not totally confident in my straight line skills, this was good practice. The back is pretty puffy in the un-quilted parts, but I’m really happy with how it came out!

It’s backed in more scraps, bound in Flea Market Fancy seed print in grey, and labelled.

I was so happy to take photos in the park on my block, pinned to a dogwood tree. Happy spring!

Gifts for friends.

Posted on 29.Apr.13 by kait

My friends Austin and Erin, the people who graciously let me live with them last year after a break up, recently bought a house so I made them this mini quilt.

I pieced the tiny houses from scraps, raw edge appliqued a key in one block, quilted it in a boxy meander with their name in one corner, backed it in a vintage sheet with my label, and bound it in white with a couple scraps.

Congratulations on the new home, dear friends!

My long time friend Tara got married recently so I made her a little wall hanging.

Her bridesmaids dresses were yellow so I pulled a few yellows and greys, drew up the plan, and put this together in a day.

I have been inspired by Megan at Canoe Ridge Creations lately, her simple patchwork, her straight line quilting, her mini quilts. This is the first time I’ve quilted something this heavily and I love it. I can’t imagine quilting a large quilt like this but it was great for this little lady.

I backed it in a yellow floral I’ve had for a long time and bound it in more yellow with a tiny bit of heath in black. I’m really happy with it and hope they are too.

Congratulations Tara and Jeremy!

I made this pillow a while ago but never blogged about it. It is now my friend Lindsay‘s and I made it to thank her for her kindness and friendship.

I used Anna Maria Horner’s feather bed quilt block and her Field Study fabric scraps, surrounded them with FreeSpirit light jade, added an exposed zipper, bound it, and left it behind as a little surprise.

Thanks for being awesome, Lindsay!

For Mom.

Posted on 23.Apr.13 by kait

I am embarrassed to admit how long I was a quilter before I made one for my Mom and how long ago I started this particular quilt. But all that aside, it’s finally finished and received and we are both so pleased with it.

I received a fat eighth pack of Jay McCarroll’s Habitat line for a MQG challenge quilt awhile ago and I fell in love with it so I ordered more and got to work on the Swoon quilt. It’s a bit of a tedious pattern so it languished in a box for awhile until I got the burst of inspiration I needed to get it finished.

I pieced a back with the scraps I had, quilted it in Virginia with a flourish pattern called Denali in a pale mint green thread, bound it in Kona berry, and labeled it.

It was a windy and very sunny day when I photographed it, which makes for washed out pictures, but big thanks to Denise and Austin for helping out and holding it up for me!

Some quilts.

Posted on 27.Mar.13 by kait

I spent a lovely and snowy weekend in Roanoke with Lindsay and Ursula working on a few quilts.

I took two with me and finished up a third one while I was there. I left behind a feather pillow (made from Anna Maria Horner’s block pattern found here) as a gift to Lindsay for all her help and willingness to let me use Ursula. And of course, for her friendship.

Stacked Coins for a good cause.

Posted on 11.Dec.12 by kait

This quilt was the February project from Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts that Cait and I did. I finished it today and I am donating it to a charity auction for a woman named Sarah Garcia, a 32 year old mother from my church that has triple negative breast cancer. The benefit is Thursday night and I hope it goes to loving home and helps out the Garcias.

This goes on my list of favorite quilts. I ventured into unknown territory for the quilting, trying a feather fill for the turquoise areas. I definitely had a few puckers but overall it went really smoothly and much quicker than I anticipated.I backed it in some fabric I got from my cousin last year (from Ikea maybe?) that has a nice silver shimmer to it. I added one of my labels and bound it in a Habitat by Jay McCarroll and old Joel Dewberry print.

One down, one to go.

Posted on 04.Dec.12 by kait

I was a part of the Hand to Hand Market in Greensboro yesterday. There was a good turnout including some friends that came by to see me. It wasn’t quite as successful as I hoped but I had a good time and people seemed to like what I make. Special Friend Ian hung out iwth me for a few hours which I really appreciated.I am glad that I don’t have to sew frantically for the next two weeks to prepare for the Krankies Craft Fair. I am going to make a few new-to-me things in that time, which I’m excited about. Hopefully I’ll sell a couple quilts, too!

In my craft fair preparation, I finished two quilts last week, two that I had started a long time ago and am so happy to have finally finished!

This quilt started as one of a pair, a boy and girl version, but the first one was finished almost two years ago and I sold it at last year’s craft fair.

I used the grey, green, and blue colorway of Denyse Schmidt’s Hope Valley along with Kona in navy and charcoal. It’s backed with Valori Wells’ rose flannel, a strip of scraps, and my label, and it’s bound in a green solid from my stash and a few more scraps.

I quilted it with an orange peel pattern in navy blue thread, one of my favorite designs. It’s a little wonky since I wasn’t really following any lines but it works.

Little Bits is a quilt that was one of the Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts projects I’ve been doing with Cait this year (read the first post here).I was going for a more sophisticated look on the front and more playful on the back. I pieced in a label, quilted it in a swirly pattern with pale green thread, and bound it in a black plaid.These two were part of a basting spree I went on last week so I still have two more to quilt and I think I’m going to try something new on one of them. I pieced in labels reading 2012 so I have to finish them by the end of the month!

I did it!

Posted on 26.Sep.12 by kait

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!

Finally, a finish!

Posted on 14.Jul.12 by kait

I haven’t been very productive on the quilting front lately but I did finish the Summer Breeze Picnic quilt this week from Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts and I love it!

I added ties to one end while I was sewing on the binding so that it can be rolled and tied up. I’m happy with how compact it is while still being a nice size when spread out.

You can see my first post about this quilt here. I was going to back it in one vintage sheet but the one I had used on the front had a lot of yellowing on it so I used what I could of it, scraps from the front, and another vintage sheet from my stash.

I quilted it in vertical organic lines with a dark sage colored thread and bound it with a green gingham from Denyse Schmidt and the same solid blue as the front. I matched the binding seams with the quilt design for the first time and I’m really happy with how it turned out.

Hopefully I’ll get to put this utilitarian quilt to good use soon!

For Silas.

Posted on 27.Apr.12 by kait

I am all about spreading the quilting love. When my friend Ashley mentioned that she had a quilt all cut out but that she didn’t really know what to do next, I really wanted to sew with her and see if I could give her some guidance. That, combined with a mutual friend from church that is having a baby in May, we decided to make a baby quilt together.I was inspired by Handmade by Alissa’s Queen Baby Quilt but we made ours with log cabin blocks. I grabbed my scrap bins of blue, green, brown, and grey/black and we went for it, making two each. We then surrounded it in Kona cotton in slate (love that color!) and I threw together a back and quilted it in straight lines that walk around the blocks.I thought that simple would be easy but as it turns out, all that negative space was hard to deal with! The basting had to be redone a couple of times and shhhh… there’s still a few puckers and shifts in it. But a good run through the washer and dryer does wonders!Erin and her husband Austin are excited to welcome their baby Silas in just a couple weeks. I met them through my friend and coworker Philip, and now we all go to church together (occasionally) and are in a small group. They are so very, very graciously letting me live with them right now in a time of transition.

I don’t always get very personal on my blog but things in my life have changed a lot in the last few months. I ended a long term relationship and am learning a lot about myself. I’ve been surrounded by wonderful friends and I am especially thankful for Austin and Erin’s support, their prayers, and all their encouragement.

So back to the quilt, Ashley and I finally gave it to them at a picnic this week and it was received with many squeals, hugs, and thanks. It was just the reaction we were hoping for.

The front, as I mentioned, is scraps set in Kona cotton in slate. It’s backed with more scraps and a geometric print I bought at JoAnns a couple years ago, which coincidentally, Erin made curtains out of at the house! I quilted each block with a square spiral in different color thread and echo quilted the blocks with walking lines in a pale blue/grey thread, it’s bound in Amy Butler’s oxford stripe from the Belle collection, and simply labeled.

I can’t wait to show off pictures of their little guy bundled up in this quilt!

kaitcetera

quilting and other sundries.

Tag Archives: quilting