My niece is having a baby at the end of this month. My nephews and nieces all get quilts when they have a baby. Thank heavens, I think they are slowing down now. This may be the last one. And this baby (we know it’s a girl) is getting a cute one for sure.
So I just want to say that I am not terribly fond of these somewhat complicated quilt instructions. If I had my way, every quilt would be improv. Or my other preferred way is 300 blocks of the exact same pattern. That way, a bad cut or a mis-measurement is not that big a deal. Lots of focus on color and design…not so much on fussiness. Plenty more fabric and ways to get around an error.
But this was a kit I purchased at the local quilt shop. And while I liked most of the fabric, they had a much duller color for the body of the fox. So I scrounged around in my sewing room and found something that had *just enough* fabric to be perfect for the fox body. But not an inch to spare.
That makes a slightly stressful process.
And here is an image of the many post-it notes necessary to label all the parts of this quilt.
Starting at A, we were well into HH and II and JJ. That’s a lot of different pieces.
But I managed to get it assembled.
I kept the quilting simple but fun. And added some lettering to the white border dedicating the quilt to the coming arrival, with my name and the year.
I’m pleased with the way it turned out. The assembly was a bit painful, but that’s just me. I always find that part hard to wrap my brain around.
If you are interested in the pattern, you can find it here.
I hope your new year is off to a good start. We have had almost all cloudy and foggy days.
The sun needs to show up soon.
Happy late winter. I’m already waiting for spring.
Well, it’s finished. Quilted on my trusted 780, which is no longer as trusted as it used to be. I think it needs to see the doctor.
I’m not sure why, but suddenly, one of the knobs is not functioning properly. So that is the first problem. Second, the machine just stops sewing from time to time. When I’m embroidering I have to push the button again to restart. It’s not a nightmare, but clearly, I’m in need of some replacement electronic boards. (Yikes, because that is not necessarily the easiest or cheapest fix on a sewing machine.)
Whatever the problem, I was able to finish this quilt along with a quilt label. And now, the quilt will head off to a friend of my Dad’s who has been very kind to him. And the machine, well I’m afraid it’s going to the hospital. Or at least a trusted tech.
And that’s all just fine.
You know why? Because I’m starting a new project which I’m sure can be done on my other machine. (I don’t know about you, but I have at least 3 sewing machines and a serger…or two. Because the instant one goes to the shop, I just HAVE to sew something. Immediately.)
So I keep spares.
But the exciting thing that I’m participating in this summer is run by Modern Quilt Studio. They have a “Summer Camp” that is a mystery quilt. All that I know so far is that we need a cohesive palette that contrasts from a background fabric. The fabrics should not be high contrast. Solids or tone-on-tones preferred.
If you are interested, go to their website, and click “Shop”. The Summer Camp project is listed there for $25. You can use your stash, as I am, and can participate on their Facebook pages. They also have a Youtube video announcing the project. See below.
I’m looking forward to it.
I’ve been curating this collection of colors for awhile without any purpose for them. I tend to do that with my scraps…put them in bundles that look good together. So this is where I’m starting.
The Summer Camp starts June 1, when we’ll find out more about fabric choices and see the first video. Then it skips two weeks and then every week after that for eight weeks. Check out the video here:
So what’s my palette?
Here we go:
“Deep greens and blues are the colors I choose…” As James Taylor would say.
As we go and as we learn more, I’ll add or subtract. For instance, I have some concerns that some of the shades are too close to each other. Nevertheless, I’m gonna go for it. That navy-ish blue in the back is my contrasting background color. It’s not a true navy, it’s much brighter.
Now.
Since this pattern and whatever it will be, belongs to Modern Quilt Studio, I won’t share anything else on this pattern until the end, where I’ll share my finished quilt.
So I invite you to join on their website.
In the meantime, check out the video, check out your stash, and get on the bus for Summer Camp!
I’ve been preoccupied with other things…health issues, cleaning out “stuff” from my house, and just plain doing other things.
But I did create a quilt top somewhere in the middle of all of it. It’s a design from Bonnie and Camille. Sunday Stroll–I think that’s the name. I purchased a kit, because who can resist. But then kits like this torture me until they are completed. Why?
They cost real money.
They are easy to get started.
They don’t require a lot of overthinking about matching patterns, colors, etc.
Once you start, it goes fast.
At any rate, this moved right along. And the colors were cheerful and the pattern was uplifting. Sometimes, you just need to work on something happy.
The thing about kits, however, is that you don’t always get to choose what *particular* print you want to use. This kit often stated “from the reds” or “from the greens”. And when I work that way, I never know if I’m going to have enough fabric for the next section. Or will I have cut it too small already in order to complete something down the line.
I hate worrying whether I have enough fabric. It’s a pet peeve. (Which might explain why I have a room full of fabric scraps.)
Anyway, when I got to the last section on this quilt, I found myself short by just one fatquarter. I guess I could have used a color I didn’t particularly like, but who wants a grey flower? Not me. Sadly, plenty of grey was left.
But the beauty of having quilty friends is that I can just pick up the phone and say “Hey, do you have any Bonnie and Camille that is pink with strawberries?” And, of course, suddenly that extra fatquarter is available.
I’ve finished the quilt top now, but I am stalling on doing the quilting. I know, I know, I can just do it and have this project finished. But I just cannot decide how to quilt it. I like to do it myself on my home machine. And once I start, I don’t want to take forever.
I thought about using machine embroidery, but I’m just not feeling it for this quilt.
Sometimes, I just have to wait for the moment to strike, and then I will be inspired and finish it within a few days.
Until then, I have a pinned quilt sandwich folded neatly on my sewing table. Waiting for me to be in the mood. I know, I know, anyone with sense tells us that you should never wait til you “feel” like doing something. Jump in and do it, and the inspiration will come.
But I just have to clean out a bit more in the basement…and do another load of laundry…and bring those extra clothes to charity…and plant those native plants in the garden…and make dinner…and mend my husband’s pants…and paint the front door…and visit my Dad…and clean out…
Well, you know how it is. I’ll get to this project. It’s certainly not going anywhere without me.
The beauty of sewing is that you don’t have to work on the same project all the time. Some days you can work on something difficult. Some days you can switch to something repetitive and mindless. Some times you can try something new. And if you are just wanting to sew without a lot of planning and over-thinking you can K.I.S.S. And I’m sure we all know what the acronym stands for.
Nothing in quilting is super simple or without requiring some skill or knowledge. But some days, you just want to use what you already know and have something finished without a lot of hassle.
Riley Blake makes these monthly kits and my local quit shop had many of them on sale over the holidays. I always make something for Valentine’s Day, and I’m not sure why it means something to me. Growing up, it was just a day I sat home. And even after I got married, we have never taken this holiday very seriously.
Yet when it comes to sewing, I’m always inspired to do something for Valentine’s. Maybe it’s the weather. Maybe it’s the emptiness of the post-holiday household. Maybe I just want something bright in my house this time of year. I’m not sure.
It’s a fairly simple pattern. Although, of course, I found an error in the pattern instructions. You know that’s my favorite thing (sarcasm), especially with a kit, where you don’t have any room for error with the fabric you’re given.
Luckily I *am* someone who reads a pattern all the way through before beginning. Been burned way too many times not to. And it’s a simple fix. Even if you cut it wrong to start, you’ll figure out the problem by the time you get to the next step, and you won’t be short any fabric. I imagine that’s why there’s no correction on their website for this. I won’t tell you here. But if you buy it, drop me a line by commenting here or send an email to carol.edgestitch@gmail.com and I’ll tell you what to watch for.
I found some tiny little roses for backing fabric at the local shop. Thank goodness for them. Please shop your local stores so they stay in business.
That’s all for now. Just a sweet little 36 x 36 room brightener. Happy Valentine’s Day to those who celebrate.
And if you’re sitting home with a box of chocolates–I feel you.
But I really got hung up on the border. I wanted so badly to incorporate red and white buffalo checks. I tried it in so many ways. I wanted it to fit with my soon-to-be Christmas theme of red and white gingham. (Never mind that my whole house is going to look like a CrackerBarrel.) Anyway, you can see from the top pic that the red was jarring and annoying.
The village border embroidery, however, was adorable and I had to use a mid-tone fabric, so that the snow trim on the village would show up.
I finally landed on a layout that seemed calm, and simple and peaceful, like the images on the quilt.
Now for the snowflake quilting. The first thing I did was stitch out the design on pieces of cutaway stabilizer. I stitch out the first right side up, and the second upside down. Yes, I could have just turned it around in the machine each time, but I also saved the design in software both ways. So with each hooping, I could choose A or B, and didn’t have to fuss with turning the design upside down and back on the screen every time. I cut them to precisely fit the inside of the hoop and used it as a guide to hoop each design.
With the first stitch out, I knew I was going to love the quilting.
Giant snowlflakes falling on a sleepy Christmas village. Yum!
But then I started to really worry about the darker color. Would the snowflakes be too busy? Would the embroidery design underneath hold its integrity against the quilting?
It worked just fine, I’m happy to say. The quilting adds texture, and if you look closely you can see the snowflakes. But they do not overwhelm the village, which was my fear. The quilting thread throughout is Isacord white. Top and bobbin. And it worked like a dream.
Do not try to do machine embroidery quilting with Aurifil. Look. I love Aurifil as much as anyone else, but it really is not designed for the high speed of machine embroidery. It breaks and you will want to scream. (Ask me how I know. Luckily, I learned that lesson on a prior project. Now I only use machine embroidery thread when using machine embroidery for quilting. Just imagine doing 40-some-odd hoopings, and you have to keep stopping for thread breaks. Trust, me on this one…use embroidery thread.)
And one more word of advice: Be sure to leave plenty of batting and backing around the outside of your quilt when you are embroidering. I had to do several hoopings that reached the edge of the quilt and stitched off. You need the room to let the design stitch on something as it runs off the end of your quilt.
In the end, the quilting turned out lovely, and I’m really enjoying the tiny details. It’s a “look closer” kind of quilt.
I want to encourage you to try machine embroidery for quilting. I know it’s intimidating, and 40+ hoopings sounds daunting. But each hooping took about 7 minutes to stitch out. So maybe 8 hours of work spread out over 2-3 days. I was able to precisely place each sequential hooping by using the 2 different cutaway stabilizer templates.
The look is exactly what I wanted. But let me tell you, along the way, I was never sure it would work. I guess that’s what makes it fun.
Happy Stitching to all of you, and Happy Holiday Season!
I wanted a clean-lined quilt for my newest great-nephew. His mom had mentioned that the colors of the baby’s room were tan and forest green, with woodland creatures.
The curved piecing was very reminiscent of leaves, so the first challenge was rounding up all the fabrics that I thought would work for my project. I didn’t want to go with the grey background and thought I might be able to substitute a tan and still get the same transparency effect.
In keeping with my effort to only purchase organic fabric, I found some that were nearly perfect from Hawthorne Supply Company. Many of their regular quilt fabrics have an organic option.
So the above fabric was the inspiration, but I knew it would just be on the back. I really loved the idea that the quilt would have this slick modern look/feel on the front but still have an element of the baby’s room and theme on the back. It’s always nice to have something that will extend beyond just “baby”.
At any rate, I was a little concerned about the curved piecing, but to be honest it was pretty simple. The directions and graphics in the pattern are very straightforward. I made a copy of the template on some template plastic that I had hidden somewhere for years. (It was perfect for the task.)
And I set about piecing and laying out the quilt. It had plenty of white space so overall it was a fairly quick assembly. The hardest part was all the planning in order to get the colors just the way I wanted them.
The result was an extremely cool pattern and vibe.
I ended the quilt with some machine embroidery which I put on the front of the quilt next to the binding in one straight line. It added an element of interest, like a painting signed on the front. I don’t have a pic of the quilt label, because I don’t want to make all the names public. (sad face emoji)
From this pic, you are seeing the bottom half of the quilt as it hags over the railing, so it’s about twice that high.
In general, it was one of the most satisfying quilts I’ve done. Matching the colors to the back, maintaining the theme, and still incorporating craftsmanship and interest. I wanted it to be a quilt that could be washed and washed and loved to pieces.
Don’t be afraid to walk away from your usual work or traditional quilts once in awhile. You might be surprised to find a fun and interesting new aesthetic. I never want to be boxed into a corner or predictable in this craft.
If you’ve been plugging along, feeling like you are in a rut, try something completely different. In fact, try the opposite of what you normally do. I’m personally feeling like I need some improvisational quilting these days. Structure is feeling a little uncomfortable.
I guess we’ll see what comes next. Happy stitching, friends!
I thought I would share the final version of this quilt.
Looks like I’m ready to move on to a baby shower gift. The next one will be a modern quilt. I’m busy cutting out pieces at the moment and will share it with you as soon as I get a bit further.
But here’s a little idea for those of you who do machine embroidery and drop food on yourselves. Wouldn’t you like to see the Venn diagram for that?
Anyway, I do both those things. And so I had a stain from something delicious on a shirt that I made during the pandemic. The fact that it has held up for a few seasons and many washings makes it even better. Nevertheless, I had some kind of drip down the front of it that the washing machine and dryer just made permanent. I’ve never been good with stains and I will take any and all suggestions. I don’t remember quite what the stain was on this shirt, likely some reddish fruit juice. (That’s not a euphemism for wine. I only drink white, and that’s rare.)
So I added an embroidery design. I wanted it to be light weight…and it needed to be the shape of something that dripped while I was eating or drinking…or cooking.
Luckily, I found this collection from Embroidery Online called Heirloom Birds. Turned out to be the perfect design. Lightweight, easy and quick to stitch. I purchased the whole collection. I am a healthy eater, so there’s bound to be more where this came from.
Anyway, I hope you are enjoying your craft. Don’t be afraid to use it to your advantage. None of us is perfect. But a little embroidery goes a long way. (That has to be in a Jane Austen novel somewhere.)
Happy Spring! I’ll be in touch as my next quilt gets further along.
I started working on this quilt last year, hoping to send it with my son as he headed off to college. Now, after spending some time on it, he will likely see it when he gets married. Some day.
Just kidding. Sort of.
I’m in the final stretch, but it has been quite a journey. Thankfully, my son loves the pattern, and has been patient.
It starts with hundreds of half square triangles. The pattern is Les Petales from French General. I managed to scrape up enough of their fabric to use as well. I’m not even getting into the hours spent cutting all the fabric before a single stitch is sewn.
Here is a look at it from above, before it was completely pieced. At this point I thought I was getting close to being done. Nope.
Once the bulk of the quilt had been assembled, I went to work on the border. How hard could it be, I thought. Ha.
Have you ever pieced a quarter square triangle border? There is just not a single intuitive thing about it, and the pattern did not give any specific instructions.
An acute angle sewn to a right angle SEEMS like it would be an easy and quick thing to do.
Not so. Or not sew.
Every piece needs to be measured, marked and pinned, almost like a Y seam. On the acute angle, you must measure 1/4 in. from each side, and the pin goes at the intersection. Same of course for the right angle…which is much easier.
In the next step, it’s the mirror of the process, and so on, and so on…
Here is a link to a video that I found very helpful from Fons and Porter.
At one point she refers to part of the process as an “idiot check.” I’m not going to take that personally. No, I’m not. And if you try it, you won’t either.
A quarter square triangle border is a lovely thing.
But it takes forever to piece. And even when you are working very hard to get it right, you will still have some points that are not perfect. But you can fix them as you assemble as long as they are not off by too much. Don’t ask me how many I ripped and redid.
Finally, I am at the quilting stage. I want the quilt to be soft, washable and survive a lot of uses, so I am going with a simple quilt pattern.
I’ll give you another peak once it is complete.
I hope you are challenging yourself with new patterns and new techniques. It’s all about process, isn’t it? When it’s done, it’s just done. But the learning journey and the persistence to follow through…that is the thing.
Though it’s not a great picture, I created this quilt over 20 years ago in the aftermath of 9/11. I distinctly remember yarn-tying each and every little intersection with hunter green yarn. The news was on all day, and doing something with my hands was the only way to stay calm.
The quilt was enormous. It is a giant square, so 40 % of it is hidden on the other side of the railing. The squares are homey, comfy flannel. It was designed to say “cozy” every step of the way. Of course, even my first quilt, knowing absolutely nothing, I didn’t use a pattern–just laid it out in a way that seemed pleasing to me.
I didn’t have any idea how to quilt, though…thus the yarn-ties. And I put it together, like a pillow case. Turning the whole quilt sandwich inside out, I sewed 3 sides, turned it right side out, and managed to secure a seam along the remaining side. Then I started tying.
And it does work. You really could make a quilt that way.
However, the yarn started to fall out. Every night on our bed, I would find another one or two strings. And the quilt was so massive, that it was impossible to find where the yarn came from. After a few weeks, I decided that it needed some more work.
So I put it away.
In a closet.
For 20 years.
My nephew recently married, and he and his wife have a cabin-themed home…they love all the pine trees, the deer and northwoods-type atmosphere.
I went back to the closet and pulled out this quilt. I sent a pic of the pattern to my sister: Will they like this? Oh yes, was the answer. That’s just their style.
I examined the quilt and that night I got out the seam ripper.
I took off the entire backing and pulled out the batting. I straightened and corrected and made sure the quilt top was completely solid again.
I found some neutral backing which had also been in my closet…hmmm…maybe 7-10 years now.
And I laid the whole quilt sandwich out and quilted it for the first time, on my home machine. This time done right.
It really was a huge quilt to attempt at home, and remember the top is flannel. Not lightweight.
But I got it all quilted with an overall pattern and an edging that gives it some distinction. I still have to make a label and bind it, but I think it will make a perfect Christmas gift for them.
An heirloom, in their style, with a breath of fresh life. Nothing thrown away–just recycled, re-used and re-incarnated.
I wish I were better at re-purposing. I think it’s a skill I want to improve and increase.
May your holiday season take you on a spiritual journey… to loved ones, to the Earth, and possibly to the back of your closet.
This barren pathetic patch of earth is where I’m setting up my community garden plot this year. The ground is hard, prone to weeds and, frankly, as inhospitable a piece of land as I’ve worked on in a long time. It reminds me of pics from Curiosity, the Mars Rover.
It’s clear to me that it’s been deprived of nutrients and expected to perform over and over with nothing returned to the soil.
But it’s mine this year.
In our house, it’s a season of beginnings and endings. My son is heading off to college in August, saying goodbye to an old school, old friends, and his old parents. Yesterday, he was 10 years old, reluctantly traveling with me to 30 quilt shops one summer. We did the entire Northern Illinois Quilt Shop Hop. He was supplied plenty of food, was instructed to be Chief Navigator and man of the GPS, and off we went. We found our way to unknown towns (with candy shops) and got lost in cornfields and stopped in strange places for food and potty breaks. He later told me it was the best summer he ever had.
Fast forward a few years to the present, and he (again reluctantly) is tasked with helping his mother by carting 10 bags of organic compost and spreading it out on that empty, unyielding piece of land. (I’m going to make sure he’s happy to be headed off to school.)
In return, I’m making him a quilt of his choosing. I won’t go into the horror on his face when I showed him all his t-shirts from middle school and high school and suggested I’d make a quilt out of those. It was as though nightmare zombies from the dead had reappeared and come back to haunt him and travel with him to college. In the end, he selected a tasteful French General pattern. And it just so happens that I’d been collecting that fabric for years so…hooray…no new purchases.
With the cutting done, I’m ready to start sewing. I figure, if I don’t finish by August, it’s OK, I can always ship it to him. He won’t need an extra quilt for a month or two.
In the meantime, at the garden plot, I’ve had a few seed failures. I tried purchasing flower seeds from an independent grower, and most of those seeds just haven’t germinated. The commercial seeds have begun to emerge, and some of the vegetables are doing OK.
On we go into summer. I hope you have some exciting things planned. I’ll be delving into this quilt in between trips to carry water buckets at the garden plot. Wish me luck.
