Glam Clam Quilt

I kept this fabric pull on my shelf for months before committing to a quilt pattern. Some of the prints are large scale, so I needed pieces large enough to show them off. And, I'm always adding and subtracting fabrics until I actually cut into them. I was pretty sure I wanted to use the Clammy ruler, of which I had bought two at Quiltcon a few years earlier. But, what style? Traditional clamshell? Or orange peel, which I've had on my list for ages? Or, half circles?...in the end, I decided that since I had some low volume prints as well as some really saturated ones, the clamshell was the best choice because I couldn't decide on a background fabric for the orange peel. White would have been out of the question, and what other color would work? 

I'm really glad I went with the clamshell. It's a fun pattern, and it's a quick sew when you use the clammy ruler because they're so large. Of course, the painful part of clamshells is the copious waste from cutting them out, especially if you can't nest them because of directional prints or because the cut isn't wide enough. And, since they're so large, I had to put back a few of my fabrics because they weren't wide enough, but they would have worked for the orange peel. And, it's rather painful to trim the quilt when it's time to bind it: Latifah has a couple extra inches all the way around so you can trim it precisely and not lose any points/curves. The finished product is amazing, but man, cutting that much off...it hurts a bit. 

I am really thrilled with the finished quilt, though. Once I had it put together, I thought how perfectly me the color scheme is. It's bold but not harsh, and warm with enough coolness...and I got the color distribution pretty even. I love it. So very much.

As far as the pattern goes, sometimes I feel like Latifah's patterns are a tad lacking on the explanations. But she makes up for it with thorough video tutorials easily accessed on youtube and her methods are top notch once you figure it out. She accounts for the little details that make a big difference while not requiring extreme precision. 

I backed it with navy minky and bound it with a caramel color I had left over from another project...the travel tags quilt I made a few years ago. It's not a perfect match but I think it works pretty well, and I love clearing out leftovers from my solids drawer. I love the drape and coziness of minky fabric for a backing and this is the current favorite for my girls to snuggle with in the living room right now. 

Efflorescent Explosion

My final finish of 2024 is this beautiful Hexibore quilt. I got it back from Mindy Powell, who did the beautiful custom quilting on it, in mid-December, but I was knee deep in Christmas sewing. I got all my Christmas sewing wrapped up a few days before Christmas, but then I needed to dive into a pattern test I had been selected for, so my quilt had to wait a few more days. I finally got to bind this quilt on December 30, and luckily, I had the binding all ready to go so I could finish it up quickly. 

Birds of a Feather (a Glare quilt)

I've finally finished my quilt from Sewtopia! Latifah Saafir taught her Glare quilt pattern, and I was excited about it. Latifah's patterns are graphic and modern, and I already had several patterns and templates. When I decided on fabric for the project, I wanted to make sure I used a focal print that the large centers would really show off. I opted for Tula Pink's Daydreamers flamingos. And from there, it just kinda snowballed. I ended up using exclusively Daydreamers fabric for the quilt, and even used Tula Pink solids for the alternating blades and background. I don't think I've EVER made a quilt from exclusively one line. I always mix in other fabrics even if it is primarily from one fabric line. But I don't often use Tula Pink fabric. When my friends saw my quilt, they said how unlike me it was. I disagree, I think, but I can see where they are coming from. Even thought the Daydreamer line doesn't have the garish clashing colors that some of Tula's lines have, it is ALL BRIGHT, and my quilts tend to be at least a little tempered. 

I really love how it turned out, though, and my kids fight over it right now, even though I backed it with a Tula wide back instead of the usual minky. I love how the rounded corners give it a little extra something, and that it wasn't that hard to bind. 

This quit pattern was a fun one to sew and went together relatively quickly. The blocks are large. It does take some finessing, some getting used to the technique, and I did do some unpicking. It's interesting that on curves, the way you iron (whether toward the curve or away from the curve) can impact the puckering, and not every circle was the same. 

I would definitely make this pattern again. I loved how it turned out and would love to try out some different fabric choices. I used the background fabric as some blade fabric as well on a couple of the blocks and hoped it would blend into the background to make it appear more spiky, and I'd love to try that with all the blocks, to give it a feel like the suns we all used to draw in elementary school. I think that would be cool.

Winning Ribbons

I posted my Garden Gem quilt already, and I mentioned I planned to enter it at the Springville Art Museum for their annual quilt show. I like seeing my quilts hang in museums, it's fun! And I was really happy with how it turned out. I try to not worry about winning things, because it's not why I make quilts and honestly, I'm not technical enough to really worry about it. Still...I kinda thought, *maybe* it might win a ribbon, my points (the very few there were) lined up really well and Marion did a fantastic job quilting it. I didn't dare hope, but honestly, I really hoped. I just tried to say I didn't care. 

But luckily, I DID win a ribbon, which makes my second this year if you count my Sewtopia ribbon, which I do. :) Interestingly, both quilts use designs by Jenny Haynes of Papper Saxsten, so clearly, she's designed award winning quilts. As a ribbon winner, I was invited to the opening reception award ceremony and of course I went, I was anxious to find out what ribbon I won! I didn't dare take my girls because I didn't know how long it would be and I didn't want them to be disruptive or bored... but I probably should have taken them. Instead, just my husband and I went. Of course, they began announcing the winners from the bottom up, starting with those that had been awarded honorable mentions, and then awards of excellence, and then judges choices, and I kept waiting for my name to be called and it kept not being called. Finally, there were only a few ribbons left and they finally announced my name as the director's choice! She was announcing the awards so she shared a little bit about my quilt and how much she loved it and was so glad she got her first choice, which doesn't always happen. I was absolutely thrilled! 

We brought our girls down a few weeks later to see it at the museum with the ribbon and they weren't all that excited...but I did see another quilter who had won a ribbon in the same gallery and we talked for a bit. She told me there was some drama on the ribbon winning for the Dear Jane quilts and I realized going for ribbons is not for me. I'm so glad I won, and I'm not going to lie, I'm excited to see how much money I won for winning a ribbon, but I don't think ribbon seeking is for me. I mean, I machine bound my quilt. :D

Sewtopia Milwaukee

I am so excited to share about my trip to Sewtopia in Milwaukee! It was amazing. More amazing than I could have hoped. There are a bunch of pictures, and a lot of them are even more terrible than my usual sub-par standard because interior lighting is ROUGH. But hopefully they give you a good idea!

 

First, while my sewing bestie did not get a ticket initially, Megan and Amy saw my note on an instagram post that she had not gotten a ticket and when one came available a week before the event, they emailed me and offered it to her directly. So she got to go! I was majorly impressed with her spontaneity. I was nervous about being by myself when so many of the attendees had been before or were attending with friends and I worried I would feel lonely. That worry was unnecessary, as everyone was so exceptionally friendly and inclusive, but I was still glad she got to go. I didn't really know what to expect, but I did anticipate bringing home more than I took with the shop hop. I didn't realize how much extra stuff we'd bring home, though! We got amazing swag bags with patterns and precuts and batting and more, and everyone gets a doorprize at some point through the weekend, and many of them were fat quarter bundles. You can see the one I picked in a picture below, barely, in the picture with the pouch I received in the swap.

 The event on the whole was so fun. The shop hop was great and I got some fun fabric, including some great additions to the quilt I worked on for Latifah's class (more on that later). The saddest part to me was that the shops seemed understaffed and overwhelmed by our visit, and cutting and checking out took FOREVER. I only got to one shop at the second stop instead of both shops (which were just a block away from each other) because they had only one person cutting and one person checking out. So I waited roughly 40 minutes to get cut. I try to not feel FOMO too hard, but I was disappointed to not get to both shops. We also visited a quilt and textile museum, which was pretty cool, although it took longer than I think we really had budgeted for in the shop hop unfortunately. There was a 25 million stitches project on display, which was in recognition of the refugee crisis. It was dark, and there were so many embroidered panels, so pictures were hard and I only took some of the some of the panels I really loved, one is below.

I took my Wasatch quilt project to work on because it seemed like it would be mindless sewing since it's a log cabin construction and I used solids, and it was a great choice. I was in the afternoon classes, so we had a couple of open-sew periods before our first class, and I nearly finished my blocks during the weekend. I miscut and was 8 pieces short of one of the colors, so I couldn't finish it. But, I was so happy with my progress and was able to quickly finish the quilt after I got home. It's now at my quilter's for longarming. 

 

We had two instructors for the weekend: Latifah Saafir, who taught her Glare quilt, and Violet Craft, who taught us how to turn a photo into an EPP pattern. Both were so great! I got three "blocks" done for my Glare quilt, and I'm excited to jump back in this weekend to work on more. I'm a little nervous about the assembly, because she showed us briefly at the end, but it seemed a little tricky even though the curves are nice and big and gentle. I am using Tula Pink's Daydreamer line, and it feels funny to me to use a single line. I never do that! But I thought the flamingos were perfect for the centers and it just kind of snowballed from there. It's going to be a pretty bright quilt for me, but I think it'll be really pretty. 

As I've shared previously, I didn't feel comfortable participating in the Super Secret Swap just in case I wasn't up to enough awesome sewing before the event. But I did sew a swap item and Phyllis got my Luisa crossbody bag, which she loved with the focal Tula Pink print. I got a lovely pouch made my Anja. The zipper work looks so tricky and she said she struggled, but it looks like she breezed through it. The topstitching was well done, I assure you, and my girls have already tried to take it for themselves but I wouldn't let them. 

The biggest news I have to share is that I won the fabric challenge!

 For every event, Sewtopia hosts a fabric challenge, and this one was sponsored by Windham. We were sent 6 fat quarters, including three prints by Heather Ross and three solids. I brainstormed and wanted to use the stripes creatively, that was my biggest focus. I decided to make an Above the Cairns quilt, designed by Jenny Haynes, even though I haven't taken her workshop. I have taken her Hexibore workshop, and I have some of her templates, so I just went with it...I had to print the largest durkard's path template from Electric Quilt. My goal was to have the lighter peach snail print and the orange solid blend together with the striped fabric which had the peach and orange colors in it. I used the strawberry print for the centers and since they kind of resembled cobblestones, I titled it Roman Cobblestones because of the delicious strawberries we had there when we visited a few years back during strawberry season. I quilted it with my walking foot, using a design from Jacquie Gering's Walk book for the main center. Amy said my quilting was what really sealed it, and I got loads of compliments on the quilting. I felt so proud of it!

 

 I never quilt my own quilts, and this was really as big as I'd want to quilt myself. I got a first place ribbon, made by Megan, and a box of fat quarters of the full line of Windham solids. I'm thinking maybe I'll order Violet Craft's peacock quilt pattern and use them for that, which seems fitting.

Garden Gem (a Hexibore quilt)

Somehow, I came across Jenny Haynes' Instagram feed and discovered her amazing curved piecing. I ended up signing up for her Hexibore class and ordering her acrylic templates because I had never seen anything quite like it and just HAD to make one for myself. She offers her more complex patterns only as online classes, and only live, though you do get a recording of the class afterward. 

This was the second iteration of the class, where she introduced a four-petal version, and that's what I opted to make first. Since, I have also made a six-petal top that I'm trying to decide how to have quilted. It's tough, I'll tell you. These quilts are so graphic that you really want to make sure the quilting will accent the design.

For the four-petal version I made first, I decided I HAD to have it custom quilted, and in the past, I've hired Marion McClellon for that. She always does amazing work! I just trust her, and know she'll do some amazing art. So, after I finished up the quilt top, which went together pretty quickly since it doesn't have many pieces. Jenny gave great tips on how to get the pieces lined up just right so you don't lose the curves. Her instruction was great, I wish the class were just a little more professionally done. It was very informal, which is why she hasn't created contents ready for streaming anytime. I can't really complain about the content as she really does give great instruction. And, it wasn't very expensive as far as classes go. I guess I'm mostly disgruntled because I'm really interested in some of her other courses, but I've never caught them with openings at times that would work for me. 

I just got back my quilt from Marion a week ago, and I finished binding it. I picked the binding out when I bought the fabric originally, which is so unlike me! Usually binding is an after thought. But I thought the orange would be striking. 

I was blown away by Marion's quilting when it came back, and I had tried extra hard on the piecing to get the points lined up just right, so I decided I will probably enter it in the Springville art museum quilt show this summer. And with that in mind, I decided to try a little harder on the binding. It didn't work out perfectly, I'm not good at binding. But I think it's okay. I backed it with minky which means the drape is excellent despite the dense quilting, and since I backed with minky, there's no way I could hand stitch it down. So, instead of sewing the binding first to the front and then turning it to the back, I stitched it to the back and turned it to the front so I could "topstitch" it down. I reasoned it would look more intentional and better. Of course, true to form for me, it's a tad wavy. I tried so hard! I cleared off my table and tried to not pull either the quilt or the binding. But it was a heavy quilt and that's hard to manage. Oh well...I don't really expect top marks from the show anyway. It's just fun to see your work hanging in a museum! 

Completed March 2024

Florentine Sunset

 I loved Quiltcon earlier this year. It was such a fun, but exhausting day. So inspiring. The quilts were just amazing, and I loved browsing the vendors area. It was so large! I was hoping I would be able to get a Clammy ruler, and I was happy that I could. Sewtopia had them for sale and I bought two sizes, plus a Hurty ruler. I can't remember where I had seen a clammy ruler quilt, but I knew I really wanted one, and that Latifah Saafir, the designer behind the clammy ruler, was a MQG darling. 

I bought a bunch of other things too...it was fun. I did try to restrain myself, but it was just all so inspiring! 

I came home and was promptly very intimidated by the Clammys AND the Hurty. So I "brainstormed" color schemes and designs so I could avoid them for a bit. I really wanted to try them, but I was so intimidated!

I finally got the courage after coming up with a fun color scheme (and testing out the sewing method with some scraps) and I went for it! I was inspired by this watercolor that inspired my mini quilt I blogged about here. I referenced this quilt in that post too, but I hadn't started yet. I couldn't decide if I liked the more visual bridge idea that I used in the mini, or this clamshell color scheme better. So I just made both.

Unfortunately, these pieces are a bit off a fabric hog and so I really went through a lot of fabric. It doesn't create useful scraps either, with the shape...and the pieces are so large that some fabrics I wanted to use weren't large enough. Everything was from my stash, I don't think I bought anything specifically for this quilt...pretty sure. That's my favorite way of quilting--I keep a large stash and then sew from it instead of purchasing fabric by the project. I feel like it gives my projects a uniquely me look.

The assembly was tricky, and I bet it was a bit wonky for my quilter. She is a good sport and doesn't complain. Hopefully most of my work is flat and straight enough that once in a while she's willing to tolerate it, haha. About half way through, I realized I really should have starched my fabric. But I never starch, so it didn't occur to me before it was too late. 

We backed it with a mustard yellow minky. I love the ombre effect this quilt has as they blend together and I'm proud of myself for making something hard! Maybe I'll even make another clammy quilt sometime. With starch, though. 

Parisian Summer Blooms

 I often struggle with naming quilts. It's hard enough to come up with a name that suits the quilt, and then I worry I'll feel self conscious if someone looks at the label and notices the name, and then thinks it's silly.

I shouldn't care so much about what other people think of me. If I like the name, that's all that matters, right? But I do care. I think it's human nature and it takes a lot of discipline and confidence to not care too much. We should care at least a little, I think, otherwise, we'd be psychopaths. But not too much.

I fretted as I named this quilt. It is a pattern from Angela Pingel's excellent book, A Quilter's Mixology, which I love. I've made several quilts from this book, and it's one I keep returning to. She has excellent instructions for piecing curves and interesting modern designs. This pattern has been on my list for a while. In the book, the name is simply Curved Nine Patch. Simple. Descriptive. No frills. 

But I think it lacks personality, too. Which is fine, because then a maker doesn't need to feel influenced by the name when they're naming their own quilt. 

In the end, I named it Parisian Summer Blooms. The curves form flower blocks together, the colors seem summery to me with bold bright colors leaning into autumn, and there are a few Paris themed prints. I'm not sure it has the right feel, but I think it works. 

This quilt was quick to put together, which is always nice. It did take some thinking during assembly, and I didn't have quite the variety of fabrics that maybe would have made that easier. I tried hard to not have the same fabric in the same groupings, but with so many blocks coming together to form the pattern, it was pretty impossible and I settled for the few I ended up with. 

I almost regret not making it a little larger, and I have to keep reminding myself that it's a completely acceptable size for a lap quilt. I tend to make my quilts large. But, we are all tall people, so we like our quilts big! :-)

Arno

 I like picking up small pieces of artwork when I travel. We bought a small watercolor in Florence of the Arno River from the view of Piazzale Michelangelo. It's a classic view of Florence and the painting we bought was done at sunset, so the colors are just lovely and perfectly Florentine with the terra-cotta roof tiles. The painting lives in our bathroom now so I get to see it every day. 

Recently, I started thinking about how the colors would be perfect for a quilt. I pulled a bunch of fabrics out and decided to use the Clammy ruler I had just picked up from QuiltCon. 

I got cold feet for a while, though, and in the meantime, decided that I really wanted to make a wall hanging to replace a piece of art that I've always hated. Why is it even in my house? Long story, don't ask...lol

So, instead, I pulled some solids that worked together and created a bridge design that reminded me of the view of the bridges in Florence. I made an extra one or two curved block pieces for each row so that I could stagger them and I added sashing strips between the rows so they looked more like bridges and I absolutely love how it turned out!

I wasn't sure how I wanted to quilt it, so I waited for a few weeks and brainstormed. I ended up with a design meant to mimic the Arno River running horizontally through the middle, as it appears on maps of Florence, and then added perpendicular lines to it. I used a walking foot, which is by far the most comfortable way for me to quilt, and I'm pleased with it. Even though the tribute is subtle, I still appreciate it and I like the softness the curved lines add to it. 

Some of the blocks aren't pieced super well, and that's okay. They don't all line up perfectly. I still like it and it turned out better than I expected. And the best part is that they were all scraps/leftovers from other projects! I find that extra solids tend to languish in my drawer so I'm trying to use them up.

PS I also did manage to get the clamshell quilt top made and just dropped it off to the quilter's. I LOVE it and I'm excited to get it back!