Fabric Friday Week 2: October 28

Here we are for week 2 of Fabric Friday Reboot! I have another bundle I've got stashed away this week, this one started out as a quilt kit so it feels a bit like cheating. I went to the Garden of Quilts at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi this year and it was so fun! I'd never been, and I didn't go to any classes, but it was a great and full day. They had a few booths for vendors and that was really fun, too. I picked up a quilt kit from Pine Needles (which has a brick and mortar in Gardener Village in Sandy) because I just couldn't say no! It was an economy block quilt made from the Little Women fabric by Jill Howarth. It was adorable. I'm not a Little Women fan per se, but it was just too much. I got home and resolved to make it larger and decided I wanted some additional yardage. But...I got sick, and didn't make it back to Pine Needles shop for several weeks and by the time I got back, they had only a few bolts left. I really needed more of the fussy cut yardage so I ordered some from Hawthorne Supply Co, which is one of my favorite online shops, along with the gingham I needed for the cowgirl Halloween costume. That's how I justified buying more Little Women fabric, anyway...

In the picture below, the row on the top is fat eighths (I think...I should check, maybe they're 1/8 yard cuts...) that came in the kit. I purchased half yards of a couple that I really liked. The stripe on the right of that row was the intended binding but there obviously won't be enough so I'll just use it in blocks. The row on the left is the focal prints I have that I'll use for fussy cutting the centers. On the right are the low volumes I've pulled, including the background print that came with the kit, and I think I'll mostly stick with the A/B block layout from the kit, with low volume prints on the outside of half the blocks. That's kinda the plan, anyway. 

I don't typically make quilts from one line, so I was happy to pull additional fabric from my stash to go with it. I really love how it's come together, and I love the additional fussy cut fabrics I found. I think it's really going to add to the quilt. I think I'll also make bigger blocks. The pattern for the kit used 6" economy blocks but I found a tutorial on Amy Smart's website, Diary of a Quilter, that has instructions for 8" blocks. I'm really anxious to get going on this one, but it will have to wait a bit longer...

Seattle Quilt

 I’ve been admiring scrappy quilts lately, especially the work of Amanda Jean Nyberg. I’m still sad, years later, that she discontinued her blog but I’m glad she maintains her instagram for now. And with all that scrappy goodness, I’ve felt inspired to just sew. 

After finishing a more finicky pattern, especially, I was tired and really wanted to just sew. And I have loads of solid scraps that seem to multiply and never get touched. I decided to try out some improv scrap quilting and opted for a log cabin. Not very imaginative, I know this has historically been a staple of modern improv. But I’m still pretty new to improv and it’s a staple because it’s effective. So I went for it. I chose a color scheme of mostly blues and grays with accents in pink and yellow. 

I tried to be judicious on my scrap usage because I hate wasting fabric and didn’t want to cut pieces down by less than I could use elsewhere and that really drove a lot of the design decisions, which means some blocks aren’t necessarily very sound color-wise. That’s okay. I’m pretty pleased with my first go, even though there are blocks that aren’t effective. 

I was surprised it felt smaller than I expected. It’s 60x70, with 10” blocks. It’s a reasonable size, but it still felt small. It’s okay. I was really running out of scraps anyway. Rather, I was running out of different appropriately-sized scraps. My solids box is still overflowing, haha. 

As I was getting ready to make this quilt, I sorted out my solid scraps. I had them in a cardboard box because they outgrew my plastic scrap box they had been in. They’re still in the cardboard box, but I separated them into a few different groups and use bags to keep them separated. I have grays and blacks, warm neutrals and browns, blues, greens, and yellows, reds, oranges, pinks and purples. I struggle with solids storage. I also have some solid cuts in my stash drawers, but some are so small they’re barely big enough for a binding. But they’re mostly still intact so they don’t really seem to fit in scrap storage…it’s a problem. I’m trying to reevaluate how I store them, so I might switch things up. We’ll see. 

I pieced the backing from some of those larger small cuts that I don’t want anymore. Colors purchased for specific purposes that are now finished, and pieces that are too small to be usable. It’s not pretty. But it’s the back of a scrap quilt and I think that’s fine. I’d rather use it than have it languish in the drawer, and using it on a backing feels less wasteful than donating it or discarding it. 

I got it back from my quilter and had to wait to bind it because I had other pressing things. I was finishing up piecing the block components of the All the Good quilt and didn’t want to put on my walking foot, and then I had to dive into Halloween costumes. With those finished, I was finally able to bind it. Yay! The binding is scrappy from leftover bits of bindings from other quilts, in the colors of this quilt, so I thought it turned out great. And, it means that this entire quilt (save the batting...) is made from scraps. I think that's pretty great. What is not so great is the wavy binding. When this has happened in the past, I thought it might be that I was pulling the quilt and the binding unevenly, and I guess I must have been doing that this time. This time, I was too lazy to move my serger that sits next to my sewing machine, because this quilt isn't *that* big, but it looks like I needed the space. Oh well...done is better than perfect...

I thought about a possible name while I was binding, and it was hard. I thought about the colors...the wonkiness, the log cabin block...I felt stumped. And then I thought about Seattle, which often has such dreary weather, and gray and blue seem very Northwest to me. But when I've visited, we've always managed to get a few days of sun, like the bright pops of yellow. And Seattle, like the Northwest in general, is a little wonky and weird, which we love, right? Plus, I asked for a wavy quilting design, which kinda looks like waves, an Seattle is on the Sound...So, Seattle. *shrug*

Fabric Friday Week 1: October 21

Years back, when I was trying to get a blog going, I did a Fabric Friday column because I'd seen so many successful bloggers with consistent weekly content and thought it would be fun, and a great exercise in color. I think it really helped me grow as a quilter, and it kept me familiar with my stash, which is always a good thing when you have a large stash! I eventually let it taper off because weekly was a lot of work.

I still love playing with my fabric and often have multiple fabric pulls ready for a quilt that I either can't decide on a pattern for or haven't gotten around to sewing yet. So, this week, I'll start with one of those, and share plans, and hopefully in the future, I'll get back to this habit and use it to stimulate my creativity through color schemes or fabric pulls. I'll shoot for weekly, but it probably won't end up being weekly, haha.

Today's pull is one I've had on my shelf for a while, waiting for a pattern. I've thought through different patterns I've seen, what type of pattern might work best, and I think I've settled on another Shimmer quilt by Allison Harris. I love that pattern, I've made it twice, and I've made Wallflowers once, which is nearly the same block with a different setting and different block size. I love it. It's a really fun quilt to sew up. I've also considered a Swoon, which is a similar feel, but I think I'll go with Shimmer.

 

Aren't these great together? I really love all the colors and it feels really me with the different prints. 

This bundle was inspired by the Rifle Paper florals. When they first came out, I had to have them. But I couldn't figure out how to use them. So one day, I sat down and pulled out fabrics in all the colors from the print with the exception of the background color. I really like it and I'm excited to see it as a quilt! I'm opting for a Shimmer quilt because I think the centers are large enough to show off the print. Some of my fabric isn't large enough as the pattern is written, so I'll have to use more fabrics to make up the difference, which I'm completely fine with. I love lots of prints in a quilt, and I think I've pulled more than necessary for a lap quilt anyway. 

Halloween WIPs

 I got my All the Good quilt laid out, but promptly had to pick it up and put it away so I could focus on Halloween costumes. It's just as well, I like to let layouts marinate and now that I've thought about this one, I'm not thrilled with what I've got. Now that I've thought about it for a week or so, I really want to bring the navy up so it's a rounder shape, and I want the "nucleus" to be closer to the center of the quilt and not so much in the corner. So I'll move a row to the left side, and possibly the top...all this switching sounds really tricky though so I'm not sure how to transfer my carefully-organized stacks of rows to the new shift...it'll be a big job. For after Halloween. 

And for Halloween, I got my four girls to commit a couple weeks ago so I could get to work. My second daughter mercifully chose to be a pirate, which my oldest had been 3 years ago. Or was it four? I can't remember. In any case, I only had to make a new skirt because the one from a few years ago was not big enough for my second daughter. But skirts are really easy and quick, and after I purchased the striped fabric, it took just about an hour to get it finished up. Love that.

My oldest and one twin want to be witches and want to match, and I had a super simple costume pattern with sizes for both of them that I'm working with. It has only 3 pattern pieces, and includes a gather neck with an elastic (which means no closures to worry about), and so I'm about done with that. My twelve year old has a vision, and making this simple pattern fit her vision has required a bit of finesse. She wanted puffy sleeves and flare out, so I took a cue from a different pattern and added an elastic casing to the bicep area (I got lucky with placement since I just guessed...). And I'm making a simple belt with eyelets from a different pattern (it's super basic, using the pattern is hardly required...) in a pretty lilac color to add some interest and some definition to the waist. 

The other twin wants to be a cowgirl, which isn't surprising at all, because she and two sisters are in horse lessons right now. I had a costume pattern I used a couple years ago for a witch costume (a different one...) for her, so I needed to retrace the size, but it's really cute. It's the most complex pattern but it's adorable. I bought a Robert Kaufman window pane woven gingham in blue and some tan canvas for the top skirt from Joanns, and some cute eyelet trim. I think it's going to turn out really cute and I hope she loves it. 

And I hope it doesn't take too long. I'd love to get this improv quilt sewn together, even though I know I can't rush it. And, I've got Christmas sewing to think about...this year, I'm making our annual Christmas pajamas because I just can't bear the disappointment and upset when the Santa pajamas don't fit right because my girls are so much taller than the average kid and off the rack clothes are just not made for them. Sigh. I ordered some cute Dear Stella nutcracker fabric for pajama pants and a great Art Gallery Fabric striped knit for the tops and I think they'll be really adorable. And if the girls whine and gripe about them, we'll have to find a new tradition because pajamas will be done, haha. 

Housewarming Quilt

My brother moved from Utah to Kentucky about six years ago. I can't remember exactly...it's been a while, and I feel like it was around the time my twins were born. They rented a home for a while and then were able to build a new home because they hadn't found anything they liked well enough to buy. It wasn't their first home purchase; they had owned a home in Utah. Still, we had just finished building our own home and I was excited for them to have a new place of their own. They came out to visit shortly after moving in, and I decided it would be perfect to send a housewarming quilt back with them. I wanted it to be a simple design, but I love big quilts and so I aimed to make it a large throw. It ended up closer to twin, but that's okay. 

I decided a simple house block would be perfect. I picked a neutral palate of colors, and, I'm a bit embarrassed to say, used it as an excuse to use a lot of prints I liked, but didn't love or want in my stash any longer. I like them all, I promise! Some I like very much, like the navy floral, that's a favorite. Some I love but I can't seem to figure out how to use them. Maybe because I don't usually make large blocks like this. And I do like them all together. It feels very primary color to me, even though I used green instead of yellow. 

I had recently reconnected with a former neighbor who also happened to move to Utah County (I grew up in Salt Lake County), and who I hadn't known was a sewist and quilter. She now works at a sewing machine/quilt shop near my new home, and I bumped into her there. She does long-arm quilting and so I thought I would try her services out. She did a great job and finished it more quickly than my usual long armer, who is quite busy now (because she's good!), but it was more expensive than I hoped for and I wasn't overly thrilled with it. Nothing set it apart from my go-to quilter. I don't go to that quilt shop often, mostly just for thread (they carry Mettler and a good variety of serger cones) and Tula Pink fabric occasionally. They have eclectic fabric: lots of traditional and juvenile, and then Tula and Kaffe. It's very odd. And it always takes FOREVER to check out. Their computer system is ancient. And slow. And doesn't always work. So I avoid it. And she is getting ready to retire so I think she has scaled back her hours. I actually haven't seen her there in a year or so, now that I think about it...maybe she's already quit. In any case, I still continue to use my go-to quilter.

So, here's the large quilt I made for my brother! He said they loved it, I gave it them in person when they visited since they drove, and that save me massive amounts on shipping. I backed it with minky because, minky. But that made it HUGE and heavy. I'm so glad I didn't have to ship it. 

Housewarming, quilted by Ruth Ann LeBaron, completed February 2021, gifted July 2021.

A Memorial Quilt

I think we've all seen the elusive traveling quilts, where a small group of quilting friends get together to piece together quilts. Each person starts with a theme and a color scheme and creates the center. They mail it to the next person who adds to it, and then it continues on through the circle until it makes it back to the owner, much larger than when it starts. I say elusive, because there don't seem to be that many but they always look so interesting and spectacular. I was always intrigued by them.

And then, my dad died. He had early onset dementia and was not doing well, but he died from a stroke. We all had a chance to say goodbye, it wasn't a sudden death from the stroke and we felt very blessed. But, I was five months (or so?) pregnant with my twins and was already extremely uncomfortable. I didn't feel able to really mourn the way I wanted to, which was to go to the mountains, his favorite place. So I sat and mourned as best I could. I brainstormed quilting ideas. 

First I made a mountain mini quilt, designed by Amy Ellis. I love it and it hangs in my living room. 

And then I thought of those traveling quilts. And the wheels started turning. I started brainstorming memories that could be turned into quilt blocks. Mountains, obviously, specific phrases, favorite books, favorite foods. I originally thought I might assemble it as a traveling quilt but quickly realized that it would be best to assemble the blocks and then try to work out how they all fit together. 

So I made blocks. Lots and lots of blocks. For nearly four years. Periodically I would see a pattern that was perfect and it would get added to the list. Lots are paper pieced and by the end, I was really done with paper piecing. In my mind, it's a necessary evil. I love how the blocks finish but I sure don't love making them. Here are few I liked a lot (not necessarily the making part, but the design, haha). Hufflepuff was from Fandom in Stitches (which has reliably good paper piecing patterns, usually for free) and the aspen leaves are by Center Street Quilts, available on Etsy. The lettering is all paper pieced as well, designed by From Blank Pages.

I also really liked this camera block, a free block of the month block from Fat Quarter Shop years ago as part of one of their charity fundraisers.

Finally, I finished the last block. Somewhere between the first block and the last, I purchased an embroidery machine and so there are several machine embroidered blocks I designed. I love what they add. Possibly my favorite is this digitized version of an illustration from the book Me and My Dad by Mercer Mayer. It took HOURS of digitizing, and at least four attempts at the multi-hooping before I got it right.

Once they were all finished, I laid them out and they fit pretty well together, I got pretty lucky. I added strips of fabric here and there to make them fit, but it wasn't as hard or awkward as I feared. I'm really glad I assembled it this way, I never would have thought of the camera strip otherwise, and I think it's a fun detail. And it turned out to be a great size: generous lap size. Nearly twin? Maybe it is a twin. But it lives in the living room, not on a bed. 

I took it to Marion McClellan, who is absolutely fantastic with custom quilting. She gets all my really special quilts, and she did a great job with this one. 

I love it. I love pulling it out and remembering. And I love pulling it out and telling my daughters the stories of their grandfather. They were too young (or not born yet) and only remember him in his illness. He was among the best of men, and, as Billy Joel says, only the good die young. I ache that they will never know his goodness. 

In Memory, long arm quilted by Marion McClellan, started in 2018, completed March 2021.

Magic Squared

During the pandemic, April Rosenthal designed a follow up collection to her very adorable Midnight Magic Halloween collection from a year or two earlier. I'm not generally a big Halloween fan, but I really loved (a lot of) that line, especially the florals. It was Halloween, but not overly cutesy, not overly Halloween-esque, and just really nice. However, the fabric faced major delays, and apparently, a lot of shops cancelled their orders. When I saw Abby Latimer had precuts, I ordered a jelly roll and a charm pack to make sure I had at least some of the fabric, and luckily, a local quilt shop got most of the line in yardage so I was able to buy some cuts of the best prints, especially the florals. 

But, what to do with the precuts? I don't usually use precuts. I feel wasteful if I don't use the entire piece of fabric, so trimming a charm square down to 3 or 4 inches is out of the question. I thought about a simple star block, using the charm squares as centers and the jelly roll to make flying geese for the points, but I didn't love the math. And then I saw a quilt on the cover of a book, and realized it would be perfect. I had seen the book at my mom's, but it was simple enough I was able to do the math myself. 

I cut some 2-1/2" strips from some of my Halloween fabric to mix in because I don't love quilts made from just one line of fabric, and got to work. It came together really quickly and I love it!

Apparently, other people loved it too. My quilter, Abby Latimer, posted a picture of it on Instagram and lots of people asked what the pattern was. Abby didn't know, I responded to one person who tagged me and gave the details, but I couldn't believe how rude some people were. "Why post a quilt without posting the pattern information??" or some such variation. Berating a longarm quilter for not providing detailed information she didn't have just seemed very rude. I hopped back onto the post to check out the comment section when I received a DM from someone I don't know who asked if I sold patterns because Abby wouldn't respond to her questions. I was appalled at how she had berated Abby, telling her she was so unprofessional and how could she possibly run a quilting business like this...Abby was more patient than I would have been, and I didn't dare respond because I didn't think I could without being rude back. However, a simple glance through the comments would have revealed my source for the design, and if she'd spent as much time scrolling through comments as she did berating Abby, she would have seen the answer to her question. Sigh. The internet has killed civility. 

I backed it with an amazing Halloween print I found on Hawthorne Supply Co on clearance. Love that! I think it's Art Gallery, but I'm not totally sure...

Magic Squared, long arm quilted by Abby Latimer, completed 2022

Travel Scraps

 My Patchwork City Sampler was such an undertaking. I did a fair amount of fussy cutting, which can leave your fabric just in shreds. Or rather, holey. As I got ready to reintegrate the fabric I had set aside for the quilt back into my stash, I decided to clean it up a bit and also opted to see about making a quick scrap quilt from the cleaned up bits. I chose a scrap pattern I've had on my list for a while. It's from Scraps Inc, volume 1 and it was designed by Camille Roskelley. It's called Delightful. I loved how she offset the blocks and I love the simple block construction. With the larger centers (I think they're 4 1/2" to accommodate leftover charm squares if I remember correctly...) I thought it would be perfect to use up some of the novelty prints I had fussy cut from. 

I pulled out a bunch of the prints that needed to be trimmed up and then I had to pick a background fabric. This was really tricky and I opted to go bold for a couple reasons. First, there were enough prints that  Was using that had white or light backgrounds that I knew I needed something for them to stand up against. Second, I figured I could experiment with something bright and bold on a scrap quilt that I didn't necessarily care about, something that was extra. 

I went with Kona in curry, one of my favorite yellows. I figured, it wasn't too bright since it's a muted yellow, and it was more fun than a blue or a gray. I tried to audition it next to some of the prints, but it was really difficult to tell. It looked like it would work, so I went for it.

But it did NOT turn out awesome. I really thought about not having it quilted even. In the end, I hoped that quilting and binding would help finish it up and I would like it better. The picture here actually doesn't look as terrible as it does in real life, haha. 

It helped only a little. It's definitely not a great quilt. You know it's bad when your quilter tells you when you pick it up that the back is really fun, haha. But I am proud of myself for trying something out of my comfort zone.

I used some leftovers for the backing that I didn't anticipate wanting to use in the future and the backing turned out okay. Maybe better than the front, lol. 

It's okay. It really is. It was good practice and I think it's nice to remember that everything doesn't have to be perfect. That not every time we set about to create something, it will work. And now it sits in my closet. It can come out if we needed a quilt for warmth, or for some other utilitarian purpose, but I doubt it will come out to decorate. And that's okay.

Remnants of Dreams, pattern by Camille Roskelley, long arm quilted by Abby Latimer, completed 2021