Sonnets Baby Quilt

A little Sonnets quilt from Broadcloth Studio

Bars and Dashes Baby Quilt

This is a sweet, simple improvised baby quilt. 

Improv Flying Geese Baby Quilt

This darling baby quilt features flocks of wonky, improvised flying geese in navy, teal, and gold prints and solids. They're set on a greige sky (Kona stone). 

Usually, the process of making flying geese is very industrial for me. (I crank 'em out with the second method here, and have wound up with too many in the past!) 

Modern Linen Baby Quilt

Earlier this fall, I dove into my linen scraps that my friend Lynn at South Street Linen gave me to play around with.  I've used some of her fetching hand-printed linen before, but this time I decided to use exclusively linen for the quilt top instead of mixing it with quilting cotton.

Improv Neutrals Baby Quilt

This quilt is one of my very favorites!  Inspired by a long-time flickr favorite of mine, I used a mix of neutrals with bright centers in improvised log cabin blocks.

Wonky Zig Zag Baby Quilt

I took my most recent baby quilt finish to the beach for some photos this past weekend!

Improv Picnic Plaid Quilt: Finished!

I couldn't very well commit to summer WIP's without finishing this one, right? I am pleased to present my completed Improv Picnic Plaid quilt.  

A Home for my Mini-Quilt

Finally, finally, I figured out what to do with my spider legs mini quilt! Summer, for me, means quite a bit of free time, so I've been chipping away at non-sewing projects.

For over a year, my experiment with circular improv chevrons sat on my DVD player (gathering dust). Does this happen to your projects?

Blogger's Quilt Festival 2013

I'm so pleased to have remembered to participate in this year's Blogger's Quilt Festival, hosted by Amy's Creative Side!

This year, I've decided to link up my "July in January" improv wall hanging that I made to match these sweet Echino-centered pillows. (Improv sunshine this year, improv chevrons one year ago!)

I love how Amy encourages bloggers to tell a quilt's story, and here's what's behind this one, made for  couple of oldest friends. (I was the ring bearer at their farmhouse wedding at about 5 years old, and I still remember the fluffy yellow dress I got to wear!)

They gave me freedom over the quilt design, just requesting that it be improvisational in style, easily hung on a wall, and matching those pillows I had made them earlier.

Improv Picnic Plaid: Quilt Top

I've resolved to finish up as many WIPs as possible this summer. VERY tall order.

At first I thought I'd only allow myself to work on projects I already started and are in various stages of completion, using up some of my stash.

Then I started a new baby quilt with some new fabric.

Then, straight away (I promise), I hauled the pieces of this quilt top out of my cupboard and stitched it up.

Simple Squared Pillow

Somtimes, I need to do simple, straightforward, rewarding sewing.

No futzing.

No stretching.

No "just make it work."

No slaving away.

Just square edges and inspiring fabrics.

 This pillow is a product of that impulse!

July in January

My friends asked me to make this quilt in July.

And, well, now is the exact opposite of July. Until I get braver/it gets a little warmer, indoor shots may have to do. Or, next, you may see me trudging through the streets with a camera, a thermos, and a bunch of quilts slung over my shoulder.

This is Maine. There's snow. My car's thermometer said 1 degree the other morning.  BUT, the cheery colors and lighthearted design of this quilt were just the thing to warm up this winter! I've had some free time on an extended holiday break and have just been stitching away.

I decided to work with the concept of a mini version of this quilt, and went from there.

The palette is based off these Echino Lion pillows, but I wanted to focus more on the oranges, and used Kona orange, papaya, and tangerine.  There are also bits of aqua and periwinkle from Connecting Threads, and sneaky Echino scraps. Kona snow backs it all up.

A little bit of everything got thrown into the binding!

For me, making an improv quilt involves creating a bunch of little strips, and then playing around with them until I find a layout I like best. There's "no measuring" in the sense that I don't cut or trim as I go, or cut set widths of strips, but there's plenty of measuring and squaring when it comes to sashing and laying out the quilt top.

Since this is quilt is destined to be a wall hanging (measures about 45x58 inches), I included tangerine pockets on each corner of the back for a dowel.  

It is quilted in organic lines that sometimes cross intentionally. I feel like the organic lines go nicely with the feeling of the entire quilt, which is a little wonky, but still quite neat.

I had some help, as usual. Nothing beats a cold day, a cup of tea, a podcast, and sewing, so there's more to come!

What?

A month since my last post?  Apparently. 

I while back, I was approached with a request for a custom baby quilt like this one, only done in  beige, brown, and cream.  Oh, light blue, navy and gray could be included, too, in little bits.  

Needless to say, using a constrained and subdued palette was a challenge for me, but I was able to work with the customer to incorporate fabrics we both liked, with enough of a range of values to make the improv log cabins look interesting.  

I think that while I really enjoy sewing with bright and crazy colors, they aren't necessarily the colors that I would always decorate a room with, so I also was interested in the project for the practical challenge.  

While the original Dewberry trees weren't available in this color range, I found this cute but not cutesy print from the Storyboek line from Birch Fabrics.  

I liked it so much that I fussy cut the cute animals and trees into a strip for the back. 

I had never done a "repeat" quilt before, and I found it to be pretty hard.  It felt more like work than fun, which is what sewing is supposed to be, for me.  I would up LOVING the back of the quilt, though, and I guess that having to repeat the front pushed me to come up with something new that I'd like for the back.  

I quilted it in alternating single and double diagonal lines, bound it up with cute beige dots, and sent it off to its new home all washed and crinkly.  

Quilting Bee Spotlight: Neutral and Not

I love my quilting bees, as you can see here, here, and here.  After getting comfortable with their structure and rules, I wanted more, so I decided to start my own!  Neutral and Not was born out of my love of monochromatic quilts.  I'm so drawn to quilts that use limited colors and high contrast to create geometric impact, so I thought this would be a fun framework for a bee.  

(If you're interested, Rachel wrote a fantastic post about bee basics: what they are, how to find one, how to start one!)

The idea for this bee is that, each month, the queen bee can pick a one neutral tone, and one that is decidedly not. Red and white is such a classic, but what about red and bone? Gray and yellow? Aqua and sand? Coal and rose? Flame and stone? Before I got carried away, I also wanted bee members to be able to branch out to whatever colors/ideas they wanted, since I think getting what you want is an important part of a bee.

It can be a lot of work to lead a bee, wrangling 12 members all over the globe, tracking fabrics and blocks and missing members, but these lovely ladies have made it a breeze for me!  We're at a halfway point right now, so I thought I'd share what we've worked on so far.  

November 2011:

In November,  Esther assigned us Dresdens - any kind! - sent out a deep brown and some grassy prints, and changed my life.  I used this tutorial, modified to make the petals smaller.  No more Dresden fear!

January 2012:

After a holiday break, Stephanie asked for dark bird silhouettes on bright wonky tree branches.  I really loved seeing all the other members' blocks coming in for this one, since they were all so creative and different!

February 2012:

For February, Susan sent out some really lovely grays and aquas, requesting wonky log cabins.  This was actually the first time I'd ever made one!

March 2012:

Who doesn't love working with all solids??!  In March, Christina sent us some grays and a gorgeous array of purples, and requested star blocks.  I used this pattern for this little beauty. Christina's star inspiration mosaic is a terrific resource for star patterns, too!

April 2012: 

In April, Melisa took her inspiration from an improvised table runner made up of little strips.  I think this will make such a stunning quilt!

May 2012:

And, for May, Ella sent out grays and rosy tones to make these graphically bold wheel blocks.  Quick to sew up, with stunning results.

Can't wait for the fun to continue! To see the rest of our talented members' work, check out our Flickr photo pool!

XL Improv Quilt

This super-sized improv block quilt, finished last summer, remains one my my favorites, both for its simplicity and for the little extra details that make me smile.

I made this for a friend who told me she liked solids and Gees Bend quilts a lot (who doesn't?), and more subdued colors than I usually work with. I went ahead and created an XL improvised patchwork strip with navy, cream, and a hint of violet.  It was so fun to make, and I couldn't resist adding some quirky elements.

I hid some little vintage-y print scraps with tape measures, as well as some hand-stitched details.

It's a relief, sometimes, to work with a constrained palette, and I think solids swing the quilt's focus to shapes and patchworked textures.

It's backed and bound in medium gray, with the exception of  tiny bits of bright green and violet that I couldn't resist!

It's quilted in double organic horizontal lines-- close enough to give it some structure, but far enough apart to keep it very soft.

I'm  really interested in continuing to make quilts with this blown-up quality: taking a quilt block concept and making it extra-large.  Like this one, too.  Hm.

Sometimes, even if you're feeling a little bit too grown-up, you can still just wrap yourself in a quilt.

This quilt was also featured on Modern Day Quilts, an amazing eye candy collection that never fails to inspire!

Quilting Bee Spotlight: New Bee on the Block

 

With a nice long holiday weekend in the fresh air behind me, I'm quite happy.  But my sewing machine had to stay behind!  So I decided to work a bit more on chronicling my past work, specifically, for New Bee on the Block, a quilting bee started and hosted by the wonderful Shanna to help people get into the quilting bee world.

Um, it worked for me!  Last July, I was a total Newbie.

If you're interested in joining a quilting bee, I'd say: 1) sign up for Flickr and post some photos of your work 2) visit the Quilting Bee Blocks group's discussion thread where people post about new bees they're organizing to see what's going on!

I really appreciate the collective effort and group atmosphere of virtual bees.  I don't have a community of quilters in "real life", and it's so fun to have these deluxe virtual penpals.  They are so supportive and cheerful, and I love the updated version of a historical pastime!  We gather around glowing screens instead of glowing fires in a barn (yes, that's how I imagine back-in-the-day quilting bees), but the sentiment and outcomes are the same.

I've been so lucky to work with this group of very talented quilters!  New Bee on the Block is a 12-month, non-themed bee, where each month, one member sends out fabric and instructions (for whatever they want!) to each of the 11 other members, they sew them up, and send them back.  As you'll see, this bee has exposed me to ALL KINDS of blocks, and has really expanded my skills and sensibilities.

Here's what we've worked on:

July 2011: 

To kick off our bee, Holly sent out fun, bright fabrics to make a perfect pinwheel Merry Go-Round block (without paper-piecing!)

August 2011: 

Ella sent out gray heath and raindrops fabrics and asked for a version of Quiltjane's teardrop block.  It's paper-pieced, and was my first experience with a really non-traditional paper-pieced shape.

September 2011: 

For our first taste of free-form quilt bee blocks, Lina gave us very simple guidelines:  rectangular blocks in the theme of books or reading.  What could be better than a stack of books and a cup of tea? I had a lot of fun with this block!  I sketched out a teacup on some graph paper and paper-pieced it,  adding some hand-stitched steam, and swiped a bit of Anna Maria Horner selvage for one of those books :)  

October 2011:

More freedom!  Ellie assigned us any kind of wonky stars we liked!  So, I decided to put a tiny star inside a big one. I just love those elephants.  

November 2011:

Natasha asked for sharp, graphic, Piet Mondrian-inspired blocks.  I got to slice away and piece improvisationally, and I almost stole the honeycomb and herringbone prints she sent!

January 2012:
After a customary December break, Diane got us back into the swing of things with scrappy Japanese x and + blocks from Badskirt.  These fun blocks are all over the place these days, and this was a great opportunity for me to try making them!  Di has been working away at these blocks, and has even started mocking up her quilt.

February 2012: 

In February, Tonya asked us for a paper-pieced Friendship Circle (how appropriate for this bee!) This is one of those blocks that also makes a secondary pattern when you put them all together, and I think this is going to be a really lovely quilt!

March 2012:

For my month, I asked for help making blocks that are all about texture, using Elizabeth Hartman's Mod Mosiac tutorial. I had made a pillow like this before, and I decided I wanted a whole quilt! I switched up the typical scenario, choosing a solid color to frame mostly white scraps, instead of using white for sashing colorful scraps.  The blocks are still coming in, and I can't wait to start putting them together!

April 2012: 

For once, I'm a little ahead of the game!  I finished up this Kansas Dust Storm for Lia, who picked out a bunch of different stars for us to make.  I loved using the springy, fresh colors she sent out for what will be a picnic quilt.  I hope it gets a lot of use!

I'm a little sad that we're approaching our last few months, and excited to see what else is in store!

On a side note, I just learned about what it means to be a no-reply blogger-- basically, people can't easily find you to write back if you leave a comment!  I was one, but fixed it, thanks to Shanna (kind of like your nice friend telling you when you have something on your face...) and this post I found at Pleasant Home. (Are you a no-reply blogger? Do you know how to check?)