Modern Elegance

Modern Elegance

for Megan

The front

The back

My new fave quilting style: squares on point

Color choices
I chose a bold navy blue and rose fabric and paired it with a gorgeous near-white print. The ladies at Boersma's helped me choose the white fabric. We were pairing pinks, purples, greens and a soft yellow all because I was against using white. But when we paired the "painter's canvas" white with the navy blue, this very elegant tone was set. I was surprised to love the combination.

Process
When I chose to teach a couple friends how to quilt, I needed to make the quilt myself so I knew what they'd be getting into. This was my sample quilt. I took notes along the way to gauge how long it took me to do each step. So much time for squaring those half-square triangles! The backing used up scraps-- something I always feel is "true to quilting." Making do, you know?

As always, a label

Result
I love love love this quilt. Thanks to a sewing day with a friend I managed to finish the quilting in one day, followed by a day at home in which I watched movies and hand sewed the binding on.

Recipient
Megan, one of my best friends also quilts. She's given me two quilts which I use and love. It's been on my mind to eventually make a quilt for her and my "Quilt Camp" was the best excuse to do it. I'm so proud of the finished product.

Girls at Play

Happy November! I finally finished a quilt. I have not finished a quilt since July!! I've been busy in my sewing room (check instagram for proof) but I've been wandering from project to project. And of course, the real problem is that I dread that final step of quilting.

Thank goodness that a friend requested a baby blanket or else I might not have finished any quilts during the second half of the year.

I've used this pattern before... all with the same line of deer fabric. See my list below
Deer No. 3 in 2014
Deer Crossing in 2013
Deer in the Woods in 2013
So it was a delight to branch out of that fabric scheme.

The white fabric is from Sarah Jane Studios. The other fabrics are all from my stash. I collect a lot of those colors so it was easy to select what I wanted. If you zoom in, one of those orange fabrics has little bicycles and tricycles. Adorable, right?! There are also itty bitty strawberries!

The backing really excited me. I can't remember where I bought that blue fabric but I love it. I have to force myself to buy blue or green fabrics normally because they don't automatically draw my attention. And the triangles on the right side are from my first or second quilt that I made. You can deduce my introductory sewing level by looking at those blunt triangle points. I'm happy to see that early work get brought in with a more recent project.

Girls at Play 

38 in X 38 in.

(stamped and handwritten label included on back- added after the photos were taken)

The front

The back

The quilting

My first quilt from which the back triangles originated

Orange Star #3

Okay, so remember this Orange Starburst quilt from last year June and this Orange Tea for Bear quilt from last year August? Well, welcome to 2015 when I finished a Final version of this quilt pattern.

There's not much to say about it except that when I was in the process of making Orange Tea for Bear, I bought double the fabric and cut double the amount of pieces for the blocks. So I could make an extra one-- I'm not sure why I thought this would be desirable, necessary, or fun...

Front

Back

Quilting straight lines using scotch blue tape to guide me

Quilt Repair in Photos

Somewhere between Fall 2012 and Spring 2013
When I was working only at the bakery, a regular customer learned that I sewed and asked if I could repair a quilt for him. And he'd pay me for it. "Sure thing!" I said. I was still beginning to learn how to quilt when I agreed and adopted his torn up quilt, but I was confident that I could figure it out. When I brought it home and laid it out, I was overwhelmed.

A quilt is made of three parts: a pieced front, a batting, and fabric for the backing. In his quilt, there were chunks where all three layers were missing! How was I going to fix it?

I folded it and stored it in the closet until...

July 2014
I sent out a plea to two friends to review this quilt and help me make a game plan. Molly said, "Sounds like an SOS. I can swing by today to look at it." Her assessment was that I should rip out all the quilting and "start over" with a new quilt front and scrap the backing and batting.

So I set to it. For a few weeks I would sit on the futon at my friends house during our crafting social nights with this quilt and my seam ripper. Luckily the hand-quilted stitches were easier to remove than had it been machine-sewn.

Then slowly, as I had patience for it, I would patch small holes with a similar looking fabric. And for the much larger gaping holes, I made my own mock log cabin blocks to insert onto his.

March 2015
I finally finished this gd quilt! I felt really proud. And then sometimes I would look at it up close and think, "God, this is shit in comparison to his original, original quilt." And then I'd remember, "But oh yeah... his dog tore through it and made the whole quilt impossible to use and now this is a fully functional quilt!" Mission accomplished. : )

Held up to the window to check for the smaller holes. The bottom center part is one of the log cabin blocks that I sewed on already.

Getting ready to tie knots to keep this baby together

Details of tying knots

Cramped. Machine sewing on the binding

(poor photo quality) The finished quilt!

Pajama Scrap Quilt

Good friends, Brehan and Jocela, had a baby girl in late November-- the day after Thanksgiving.  I was still working on their quilt, but didn't actually finish it until December 2nd. Here are photos of a blanket and a pillow with a pocket.  The bird fabric and (all the other square fabric) was set aside by Brehan's mom who passed away in 2013.  She had cut out all the pieces to make pajamas. Her husband was kind enough to let me browse her fabric collection, choose this pj fabric and cut it up to create the blanket and pillow.

Pillow on the bottom, Blanket rolled up on top

Pillow with a Rabbit book peeking out

Quilt, of simple design and the pillow

A glimpse inside the book

I included a book, Rabbits, to stuff inside the pocket of the pillow. The text is simple and charming. This page reads, "Rabbits like to get all dressed up if they are going to be in a storybook."

Love Postcards

Used to be K's truck, now it's Zack's

Our friends, K and B, just got married yesterday. I've been working on their quilt off and on since January. Over the Christmas holiday I sat at the dining table with my mom and Grammy and spread out all of my quilter's magazines and books. "Okay, I have friends getting married in July. I need to find THE pattern!"  My mom found the winner in the first magazine she looked through-- the Jan/Feb 2013 Quilty.  It was perfect! I had a goal with seven months ahead of me, so I could choose to work on it as I got pockets of time.

I call their quilt Love Postcards.  Granted, there's nothing postcard-y about the quilt pattern, but the hearts, the small size of the blocks, the fact that one of the fabrics has words on it, all reminded me of postcards. Plus, K and B lived apart during their college years (and then some) and so I choose to force upon them the notion that maybe they sent some love letters to each other via snail mail.

I added borders that the original quilt pattern did not call for and really love the result. It ended up measuring around 62 X 70 inches.  I quilted it at home with simple straight lines. I finished the binding the day before the wedding. Phew!

Packaging

Zack cleaned up an apple crate for me and glued a small wood tag to the box so I could label it with my Alberta Marie logo. I forgot to take a picture of it at home, but we grabbed one from the gift table.  It's not the most appealing packaging but definitely the most unique.

Quilt front

The quilt back

Back closeup, two fabrics for top and bottom

Happy Mistakes

I had been diligently working on a quilt for a friend. During the quilting process (the final step) I became extremely frustrated with my over-zealous effort to make lines at different angles.  I was so fed up that I almost folded up the project, stowed it under the bed and started all over.

Throughout the frustrated tantrums that I threw, I didn't even think about the size! When I was all finished I realized that the quilt was a 55 in. square-- way too small.  In the end, I'm making the quilt again, but much larger.

Here's the quilt that I'm now more at peace with. And I'm pretty sure Zack and I are going to hold on to this one.

This is what did me in: changing sewing directions

Front

Back

Funky Apples

A new record time for a quilt start to finish 4 weeks!

I used a couple fabrics from Aneela Hooey's "Little Apples."  Because it's scrappy and oddball, I'm calling it funky. PLUS, it's for a fun and funky couple - John and Jenny (mine and Zack's bosses) who are getting married in two weeks.  Congratulations to them! Not a large quilt, but enough to cover two pairs of feet on the couch, or it'll be great for an intimate picnic blanket.

Top, Posing with the gift before the wedding
Bottom, Back detail

Front

Back

Square Over Square

Last year around May a man named Michael requested that I make a quilt large enough for his queen bed. Sure! I'd love to! He had no color preferences, and was very vague in general as to what he wanted. (Luckily this is very liberating. I still feared of course, what if he hates it?)

It took me about two months to decide on the color scheme and pattern. If it wasn't for a weekend away with my quilting buddy Megan, I would have never found the right inspiration. Thank goodness she had her own quilt of this pattern; and thank goodness for Moda Bakeshop tutorials!
(A note on my creative process: I originally chose green and brown fabrics and a pinwheel pattern but found that the tones that I was drawn to were altogether too pukey. Oops! So I went out and bought new fabric and chose a totally different pattern. And making all these choices takes time!)

Laying it out to measure in the dining room, furniture removed

This quilt is made up of 9 large blocks. I actually had them all finished right before the wedding.
 But then it took all of November for me to cut sashing strips, to plan the layout, and make all the pieces one single piece. Then it was easy. I used a single fabric for the back, sent it out to be quilted and then sewed the binding on after Christmas. I even added a quilt label-- my first.

This is the biggest quilt I've ever sewn. Not sure if I'll ever make another quilt of this grandeur again.  I hope to... and I hope to eventually make time to create quilts that I keep.

Inside Hotel Oregon, natural light was better than at my house

On the rooftop of Hotel Oregon for kicks

How does it look on a bed?

Ready to deliver!

Quilt Label

The quilt is SOO big!

Elephant Alphabet

Fourth of July weekend a friend asked me to make a baby quilt for clients who just welcomed a grandbaby into their family. I was excited, accepted the project and then as life seems to go, things got busy. Zack and I went on vacation, got engaged and then were married a short two months later.

So I am absolutely thrilled to finally be done with this project... in late November... a good five months later...

 I've been holding on to this bright elephant fabric, just waiting for the right idea. I knew I wanted to use it, but didn't know how to. There are so many "novelty prints" that I love! But it's difficult for me to place them in a quilt. I suppose, that it's the idea of cutting through the fabric that holds me back.

But I had the adorable elephants, I chose some equally bright orange and teal alphabet prints and then just pieced as I saw fit.  I didn't use a pattern, like I normally do. I just chose matching green/blue and orange and "went for it."

Instead of quilting on the machine, I chose the more peaceful option of hand tying. Traditionally I think I would have kept the knots on the front side, but I wasn't sure if the little ties would be bothersome to the baby lying on it. So all the knots and loose ends are on the back, which leaves a refreshingly clean front amidst the chaos of color and print. ; )

Back

Front

Barely see the light blue thread from the ties, right?

Ready to be shipped!

Primary Alphabet

Primary Alphabet for Baby Houston

I had been working on this quilt, somewhat simultaneously, as I was finishing What a Bunch of Squares.  It was ordered at the same time and I felt guilty for "neglecting" it.

I was happy to have finished it right at the beginning of June when the baby was born.  (Apparently this was especially lucky because he was unexpectedly early.)

Zack and I got to drop off the quilt and spend time with proud parents Mary Beth and Brian. Grandma Lynn even put in a request for her own quilt! 

Houston is so adorable even while he was fussing a bunch and making really loud farts that Zack fully enjoyed.  I'm sure this quilt is going to get a whole lotta lovin!

Congratulations Mary Beth and Brian!

What a Bunch of Squares

This quilt was made with a specific couple in mind. I can't say that what I made matches their character description, but I always kept their images in my head. I was given an entertaining characteristic profile:

They always wear navy blue, grays, black&white, camel, and plaid patterns. Some things they enjoy together are: reading, books, words, coffee, Woody Allen movies, Twin Peaks, Northwest aesthetics (like douglas fir, rain, clouds, Hood River), Mad Men (Sixties aesthetics).

So where did I end up with this? Oh goodness-- a bright colored tribute to some natural-ish things.  Butterflies, Feathers, Flowers, Leaves, Logs and Peacocks are just some of the fabrics to look out for.

Front, 66 in. X 78 in. (I think)

Back

 

Trying to show off the quilting

Allison and Michael, Congratulations!  I'm so happy that you two will have one of my quilts to snuggle up with.

Cheers!