r0ssie (fresh modern quilts)

Movin' and Shakin' and Finishin' a Quilt

2013-05-13T22:00:00.000-04:00

Things are crazy over here.
I moved my studio.

I've taken on a new job. (That's me on the left and Whitney and Adam of Pink Castle Fabrics on the right).

I finished another quilt!

Ye olde studio was getting really cramped. My etsy shop has been doing well and its supplies were no longer able to stay in one corner, making it more and more difficult to keep the space clear and serene. I had the puppy with me one day when I stepped in to grab something and she was all "there's too much stuff....help!!!"

To solve this problem, I had resolved to take the etsy shop home. This was far perfect solution, for various boring reasons involving computers, flights of stairs, and shipping software.

Enter: Pink Castle Fabrics. As you may know, Pink Castle Fabrics is near me and they recently moved into a real storefront (Grand Opening coming soon!) The new space includes a huge classroom and Brenda asked me to be the program coordinator for Pink Castle's class offerings (and Camp Stitchalot). Knowing there was some space in the same building as Pink Castle, taking on this part-time job piqued my interest in the nearby spaces; being able to bop back and forth from the classroom makes a lot of sense. I would have my own, separate space, but can be at Pink Castle in 10 seconds (of, course, this could be dangerous, there's so much pretty fabric over there).

Earlier this week I signed a lease for not one, but two rooms in the same building as Pink Castle Fabrics. Three cheers for more space!

My rooms are far from ready, but the plan is for a serene studio space for creation and fun over here...

And an office and shipping center for business and pain over here...

I've already done the painting, had the carpets cleaned and moved most of my stuff. I need more time to organize (and put up two design walls, one fabric-as-wallpaper-wall, and all of the art.) Some of this was delayed because I had to stop everything and finish a quilt in the middle of my move!

This is the Curry and Catsup quilt which has appeared on the blog before in this post and this post. Sorry for the bad lighting in the above photo. The ones from the earlier day (before binding) are better, so I'll include them below. I needed to finish it up quickly because I sold it!

This little quilt is off to a lovely couple--they are getting married and having a baby. I'm told that they are big fans of my work by my pals L&N who own one of my earlier pieces and bought this one to give as a wedding gift.

I quilted it last Friday in the middle of moving chaos (Quilting went so well! I was so happy!) I bound, labelled, and washed it over weekend. It goes out in the mail today.

It's kind of a sweet project to work on in the middle of moving chaos because it is the first quilt that I pieced in the old studio. And now it's the first one I finished in the new studio!
I'm off to Portland, Oregon tomorrow morning (for Quilt Market, but also to see my brother.) If you'll be there, too, hit me up on Twitter (r0ssie). I'll try to keep up with Instagram, too, which anyone with internet access can peek at (I'm r0ssie_fmq). To Portland!

Camp Stitchalot

2013-05-12T12:30:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending Camp Stitchalot. This is an event put on by Brenda of Pink Castle Fabrics/Just a Bit Frayed. It's at a sweet B&B near Ann Arbor, which I've been to before for guild retreats.

Most of the activity takes place in the converted barn. The ground floor of the barn has space for so many sewists!

That's Stephanie of Stitch and Simmer, just one of many talented campers I got to share my weekend with. There's tons of free sewing time and some classes taught by awesome peeps. We made frame purses under Katy Jones's tuteledge (she blogs at I'm A Ginger Monkey). We also made skirts with Melody Miller and Rashida Coleman-Hale as well as Lickety Split bags with Rae (Made by Rae). (Pictured above are Rashida, Melinda, and Jennifer).

I'm already eager to go to Camp Stitchalot in August because I get to teach (yay!) and the theme is improvisational quilting, and I'm so excited to learn from Jacquie Gering, Amanda Jean Nyberg, and Dan Rouse. Amazeballs right?

If you're interested in going, the tickets are for sale here: Camp Stitchalot. Also, the nearest airport is Detroit (DTW) which is on I-94 between Detroit and Ann Arbor and about an hour's drive from camp. Brenda and I are trying to figure out if getting from the airport to camp is an impediment to folks who would otherwise like to come, so let me know if this is a problem for you and we'll see if we can sort out a shuttle or something!

Hexerley Swaitza

2013-05-02T10:30:00.000-04:00

Don't worry about the title of this post yet, it's basically gibberish.

This is a post about this little quilt I made:

Ta da!

Okay, you know I'd rather show a quilt in progress than spring it on you when it's all done, but I have good reason for keeping this one secret. You see, I made it in response to our little guild's challenge with this line of fabric (Madrona Road, designed by Violet Craft, manufactured by Michael Miller.)

There was no vow of secrecy, but I do think it adds to the fun when the guild hasn't seen the quilts ahead of time. All was revealed last week, so now I can share this quilt!

I used only one fat quarter of the fabric we were given (that is in fact all that I took on the day fabric was handed out). I'm not into making quilts from a single fabric line and I wasn't going to do the challenge at all, but then we decided that in addition to the fabric provided, we could use as many of the Michael Miller Cotton Couture Solids as we wanted. Those are rules I can work with...those solids are gorgeous!

Here are some screenshots (from my phone, looking at Pinterest) of some of the art that inspired this quilt:

The title of this post (Hexerley Swaitza) comes from mashing up the names of the various artists/studios. .Robert Swain, Kapitza, Frederick Hammersley, and Inaluxe.

I did the quilting myself. I'm definitely improving! I actually have a pretty easy time knowing where to send the needle next even though I was trying to think up a new doodle pattern for each color of fabric. I really just have to work on getting the pacing right so that the stitches are more consistent. Also, it seems like when I have to reposition my hands, that leads to trouble!

I have been following a lot of the advice I got on my blog post in January: I bought a Free Motion Quilting Kit from Day Style Designs. It contains a super slider, bobbin washers, and quilting gloves. I haven't bought a quilting table yet (to drop my sewing machine into).

But, I have been using these extra table-tops from Ikea ($2.50 each in the "as-is" section...holla!!!) in order to somewhat simulate a quilting table. The current set up does improve my ability to control the quilt and I can see how having a proper quilting table would work even better.

I'm pretty pleased with this little quilt! The fabric on the back is from my grandma's stash and the binding is from Jay McCarroll's Center City

It's fun to whip up little quilts!

The Arne Quilt

2013-04-27T15:30:00.000-04:00

One of my quilts is in the Spring 2013 issue of Modern Quilts Unlimited! This is one of my all-time favorites.

Yay!

The Arne Quilt is an improv pattern inspired by this textile design by Arne Jacobson.

I first doodled this pattern several years ago as I waited in a coffee shop to meet Anna (Noodlehead). Anna lives in my hometown and after emailing back and forth we agreed to meet next time I was there (La Crosse, Wisconsin.) Meeting Anna was so much fun, and it taught me that I should get out there and join guilds and meet up with people whenever I can.

Since that coffee shop doodle, I have been slowly working on this quilt. I remember cutting it out at an Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild sew-in in the fall of 2011. Only Brenda (Just a Bit Frayed / Pink Castle Fabrics) and I were at the sew-in that day, and I (normally a fairly private person) started telling Brenda about how stupid online dating is, which led her to introduce me to her friend Jon, who is now my boyfriend! This is a good luck quilt!

It's also easy to piece and I tend do most of the cutting in one go and then piece it as leaders-and-enders.

What's leaders-and enders? Basically, you are always chain piecing and you work on two quilts at once. The "leaders-and-enders" quilt is the second quilt. You keep a stack of already-cut pieces of that second quilt by your sewing machine and at the end of every chain of chain-piecing the first quilt (whatever it is), you sew together part of your second quilt. A leaders-and-enders quilt is sometimes called a "free quilt" because the piecing happens almost without your noticing!

The magazine features a second version of the Arne Quilt:

(Sorry for the particularly bad photograph...but, you get the gist! And the magazine has a better photo in it!) Hidden in my studio are several more versions, ready to be put on the design wall and then assembled!

Super fun! Anyway...here's some information about the original quilt that didn't make the cut over at MQU:

(1) The fabrics used are Woven Stripes by Kaffe Fassett which you can currently find at Hawthorne Threads or on Glorious Color (Kaffe's shop). I actually bought the stripes as scraps from another quilter (Faith of Fresh Lemon Quilts--you can see her quilt with the stripes on her blog). So believe me when I say you can make this quilt from scraps!

(2) The taupe fabric is from Yoshiko Jinzenji. It's hard to find. In fact I could only find it in other colorways. Here's the lighter, more colorful version currently listed at Fresh Modern Fabric on Etsy.

I just love Yoshiko's fabrics. Maybe because they already look like quilts? The possibilities with the Arne pattern are pretty endless. Part of the reason that I made an alternate version to send in to the magazine was to show how different the same basic block can look with different fabric choices and a little more negative space.

I can't wait to see what everyone does with it. Let me know if you make something!

You can find the Modern Quilts Unlimited (Spring 2013) on newstands for $7.99 (try Barnes & Noble or Jo-Ann Fabrics). A print subscription placed at this time would begin with the next issue, but you can buy an electronic copy of the magazine for $7.99 today via the website.

I love dye. I love bleach.

2013-04-05T21:30:00.000-04:00

My design wall got a huge dose of awesome slapped up there today!

Fun, right?
These will all be sewn together to make a quilt for my cousin Kelly, who got married in October On the big day, I gave the couple a card with a sweet note and a post card for them to send back to me. The post card asks about what they might like. (I've done this before, you can see the results in this old post). When Kelly's card came back, it said:

I decided to make a throw-sized quilt for Kelly's brown, sage, and burnt orange living room.

When I saw them on sale, I snatched up some charm packs (in case you are wondering, it's Field Study 1 by Anna Maria Horner, Birds and the Bees from Tula Pink, and Denyse Schmidt's Chicopee.) The colors in these lines play so nicely together and I figure they will look good in Kelly's home.

Once I had my fabric, I got down to dyeing and bleaching!

This is a process called shibori itajime.
So cool, right?
Its an ancient process that I first saw on Malka Dubrawsky's blog and then learned some of the specifics from an article about her in Quilting Arts (December/January 2009).

As you can see, I've gone straight down the path that Malka laid out for me in her cover...circles in squares is pretty hard to beat!

Of course, I did make some changes. I've thrown in some solids and offset the squares.

Also, some of those circles aren't circles, they are hexagons!I

The hexagons are a new shape I'm selling in my shop.

I include complete instructions with every order of my plexiglass shapes. But it's pretty simple....

Step 1: Clamp
Step 2: Dye with fiber reactive dye (like these)
(you also need table salt and soda ash)
Step 3: Rinse

As an alternative you can...
Step 1: Clamp
Step 2: Bleach
Step 3: Stop the bleach. (with Anti-Chlor or Bleach Stop)
Step 4: Rinse

It's magic of the best kind.
It's fun to see what gets a strong result and what doesn't.
In this picture, I've sorted my unaltered fabrics so that the ones I plan to bleach are on the left and the ones I plan to dye on the right. Basically, I'm bleaching the dark ones and dyeing the light ones.

The bleach will pull a lot of color out of some fabric and hardly any out of others. In my experience, purple and blue tend not to bleach as easily, so for fabrics of medium value, I tend to bleach the red/browns and dye the blue/purples.

Dye is fun, too, as it can completely change the appearance of a familiar print as it layers a new color on top (I used three colors here: a dark gray, a berry red, and a teal blue).

You'll notice that the edges of the charms are frayed from all handling. I plan on using a larger seam allowance to compensate and make sure my quilt will be up for a rough-and-tumble New York lifestyle.

I could stare at these for hours.

Especially this bird!

Pillows

2013-04-01T19:30:00.000-04:00

You'll have to forgive me if I end up being short on words here... I sometimes find it tricky to say much about a project if I'm blogging about it a while after I've completed it.

Why the delay? I whipped up these pillows in November, prior to a sale put on by members of The Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild. The plan was always to make them into gifts if they didn't sell and at least one of the recipients reads my blog, so I couldn't blog about them.

Anyway, now that the season of gift-giving has passed, I can share these three little quilt pillows.

(1) This one was made using a mini-charm pack of 2wenty thr3e that I picked up at market, the yellow is Kona Curry (one of my all time favorite colors...I own a bolt of this stuff!)

There's no pattern here, I just arranged the squares on my design wall and then pieced columns of fabric neutrals and blenders from a variety of fabric lines. I quilted it with straight lines, alternating threads with each column of patchwork. The threads are Sulky's Goldenrod (it's a really good match for the Kona Curry) and Aurafil's White (which I also used for piecing).

(2) This one was made with Pimatex in Steel (which is the other bolt of fabric that I own!) I had fun with quilting a whole cloth quilt here and the threads are different colors--Sulky's Goldenrod again and one of their variegated teals as well.

(3) Finally, this pillow was made using the leftovers of that charm pack of Lotta Jansdotter's Glimma line (the ones to the right of the ruler). If you're new here, you can see the rest of the fabric in a log cabin quilt in this older post. This line of fabric is coming out soon, and I can't wait to have more of it to play with!

Mixed in are some other fabrics from my stash. This patchwork is done using the "exquisite" process that Gwen Marston spells out in Liberated Quiltmaking.

Each pillow's insert is a king-size pillow that I purchased from TJMaxx (or maybe Home Goods) where they cost about $25/pair.

I think pillows are a great way to do small experiments with quilting and patchwork. At the end of it, you've got a useful and pretty object that can be used in your home or given as a gift!

**Full disclosure: I have been working to develop relationships with the manufacturers of products that I love. I am now happily affiliated with my two favorite thread manufacturers--Aurifil and Sulky. They don't control what I do or say, but I do get free thread from them on occasion! I should probably write a separate post about why I love these threads (or would that be boring?) Also, the Amazon link is an affiliate link.

Whoosh!!!!

2013-03-11T20:45:00.000-04:00

In the three weeks since last I blogged:

(1) I went to QuiltCon (yay!)

(2) I returned home from QuiltCon to a very sick boyfriend who had an emergency appendectomy that night. (Yuck!) But he's okay! (Yay!)

(3) I had a grueling week at work due to (a) it just being the time of year where a lot is going on; (b) chaos on the homefront due to emergency surgery; (c) needing to prepare at work for a my absence --a vacation that I might or might not be going on, depending on the pace of the boyfriend's recovery.

(4) I went on a weeklong cruise of the Caribbean (Yuck: I'm just not into this sort of manufactured vacation + I can't tolerate much heat or sun or sunscreen + oh my god all the people all the time. Yay: the boyfriend was happy + his family is fun + I really need to relax and not complain about being a guest on a luxury cruise).

What. a. month.

Some thoughts:

**
Who is this handsome minutes before having their appendix out? Ridiculous.

**
If you saw this quilt in person, you probably noticed that the quilting has tension issues. Quilting is my growth area for sure, but I'm just not one to undo and redo things. I mean, it's a blanket and I had fun making it. And I learned from making it. Anyway, I do wish that I had put some note about the quilting in the description or maybe called the quilt "Tension Issues" just so that people knew that I knew it's not "right." I'm so happy with good enough. It seems like lots of folks aren't, and I want to talk about that. Is there a "right" amount of concern over craftsmanship? I figure as long as you think about it and work on improving, that's good.

**
"Is it okay to make a quilt just to amuse yourself?" I actually found myself asking a friend this at QuiltCon. Because I'm planning a quilt based on The Nanny.

The fabric is piled up.

The plan is in my brain.
A variation on the X and + quilt.
It's probably going to be hideous, but I will love it.
It's going to have voice boxes sewn into it, with Fran's laugh and Fran's voice and maybe the theme song. I'm going to see if I can get the quilting to look like her hair.

Anyway, wasn't my question silly? Of course it is okay to make a quilt just for a laugh.

**
Denyse Schmidt. Her first book really started it for me. And by "it" I mean being truly passionate about quilts. It was such a pleasure to see her quilts in person. There are so many little things that pictures have a hard time capturing. Do you see the red quilting thread and the slight changes in the saturation of the purple? These quilts are an absolute feast.

I also got to take Denyse's improv class. Which was awesome. Because while I'm totes comfy with improv, I loved seeing her process and hearing her words. I learned a lot, as it turns out, and have more options and ways of seeing things now.

And at lunch that day, I ran into Denyse on the show floor, right by my quilt and I was so chuffed to show it to her.

The Conversation Quilt was selected for the "Best of QuiltCon" traveling quilt show, so if you weren't at QuiltCon but are going to be at HMQS in Salt Lake City, or Sisters in Sisters, Oregon or Patchwork Europe in France, look for it there!

**
This was my favorite quilt in the show, The Big O by Latifah Saafir (co-founder of The Modern Quilt Guild, she blogs (rarely) at The Quilt Engineer).

I got to say "hi" to Latifah at QuiltCon only so briefly and tell her how much I love her work.

**
If there's one thing I could change about my time in Austin, it would be to have more time to just hang out with people--old friends and new.

**
I also took a printing class with Lotta Jansdotter and a class on piecing curves with Sherri Lynn Wood. I loved them both and really hope to have the opportunity to take more classes in the future. Learning and working in community is so much fun.

**
Cabela's has a pretty wide selction of UPF clothes (sunscreen clothes) that are okay looking. And you can wear them on an excursion to Chichen Itza and be okay even in the blazing sun, even when dork dancing at the Temple of 1000 Columns.

**
Zoltar!

Zoltar predicts that the coming month will be much more relaxed!

The Conversation Quilt (with tutorial!)

2013-02-18T18:30:00.000-05:00

I've got two quilts in the show at Quilt Con this week.

I blogged about the one on the left fairly recently (you can read about it here and here), but the one on the right has only made one brief appearances when it was in progress.

It's "The Conversation Quilt" and I love the way it turned out! I had it quilted for me by the lovely Bernie. You can go back and read the earlier post about this quilt if you want to hear about its inspiration, but basically, it is a quilt for one of my dearest friends on the occasion of his wedding. He never stops talking, so the conversation bubbles are partly a joke on him about his non-stop chatter, but also meant to symbolize a relationship as a "long conversation." The fabrics used inside the bubbles are (mostly) re-used pieces from an enormously long bunting they had in their wedding tent.

The top row is single bubbles (their time before they met), in the second row they meet and begin talking to each other, the third row begins with their wedding vows, and the rest is them in conversation with each other. That blank spot represents those inevitable pauses and disconnects in relationships...they are normal, so I wanted to depict them in some way.

Anyway, I think this block is tremendously fun and has a lot of potential so, I am posting a tutorial for you!

The conversation bubble unit is pieced improvisationally from two or more fabrics. Since it is pieced improvisationally, there is no exact yardage for me to tell you to purchase. In the quilt above, which is about 36x45" I used less than a yard each of the white, gray, and tan fabrics. You could, of course, use a single fabric for the background or mix it up even more than I have.

You can use one, several, or many fabrics for the contents of the conversation bubbles. I have about 20 fabrics in the bubbles, which made it fairly easy to keep the spread them around the quilt (not next to the same fabric in any direction.)

The core unit of the block has three sub-units, labelled in the picture below. Keep these numbers in mind as I refer to them throughout the tutorial.

To make a few blocks today, I pulled out some pale teal fabric and some scraps.

This block lends itself well to using scraps for the bubbles as you only need a little bit of each print.

The first thing to do is cut a rectangle (sub-unit 3) from each of your bubble fabrics.

My rectangles vary from 4.5"x7" to 3"x6" I think the variation brings life to the pattern. You could, of course, cut them all identically if that's more your style. Leave some of each fabric for the triangle part of each bubble; these can be quite small, but a half-square triangle from a 3" square is a good starting place.

Sub-units 1 and 2 use solids as the base. For these pieces, I cut 3.5" strips of my solid fabric. I then cut those strips into rectangles of varying lengths, 3.5" to 4" You need two of these rectangles for every conversation bubble you'll be making.

To make the sub-unit marked "1" above, simply take one of the solid rectangles and attach a triangular scrap to the corner.

The process is the same as what is described as "the exquisite" from Liberated Quiltmaking or "stitch and flip triangles" from Quilting Modern. Simple take your scrappy triangle and position it right-sides together over your base fabric (see the diagram above). You'll be stitching along the line marked in yellow, you can quickly check that you've positioned the fabric correctly by gently folding a 1/4-inch seam in the fabric, and seeing if the background fabric is covered (as in the photograph below).

You can do all of these in one go, but keep in mind that if you want to have the conversation bubbles talk to each other like this:

You need to mix up the location of that triangle you're stitching!

Once you've sewn those seams, trim away the excess from the background.

And then press the triangle.

You may need to square up the sides marked with arrows in the following pictures.

Once that is done, take each sub-unit 1 and join it with a sub-unit 2. If it's for a bigger bubble, grab a bigger rectangle.

Finally, attach the bubble (sub-unit 3) along the top.

Square up these units. I recommend using the seam that attaches the bubble to the rest of the block as the guide for squaring up.

Where you go from here is up to you! In my new version of this quilt, I'm planning on floating the conversation bubbles in negative space:

In the version of the quilt on display in Austin this week, most of the bubbles were paired with another, then had more background fabric added to each side and the top.

I also think it could be fun to have tiny bubbles floating around a big bubble OR patchwork inside the bubbles AND this could be a really fun way to use novelty fabrics. Basically, the options are unlimited!

If you're lucky enough to go to Quilt Con this week, please stop and say hello to my quilts! Also, if you see me, holla!

MY TUTORIALS COME WITH TIP JARS

If you use this tutorial, remember to credit me and consider leaving a tip!

CREDIT REQUIRED: Anyone is free to use this tutorial to construct a quilt; However, if this is where you got your design idea or where you learned this method, you should credit me, Rossie, with inspiration and please link back to this blog post (The Conversation Quilt with Tutorial).

TIPS ACCEPTED: If you use the tutorial and feel so moved, please throw a buck or two in my tip jar (no obligation). Rest assured, the money goes into my business account and I will pay taxes on it through the business.

Why do I post tutorials with a tip jar?

(b) I'm a copy-leftist. As such, I don't think it is possible or moral to claim ownership over most ideas or to try to control an idea. I'm interested in people's willingness to volunteer payment for inspiration.

(c) I have bills to pay. When this goes reasonably well, I can post more quilts on my blog, rather than keeping them secret while waiting for them to show up in magazines or books.

Book Review: Quilting Modern

2013-02-11T15:30:00.000-05:00

Today's review is of Quilting Modern: Techniques and Projects for Improvisational Quilters
by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pederson

What it is:
A review of seven techniques used by improvisational quilters, showing several quilts using each technique.

Basic breakdown of the book’s contents:

(1)
Introduction and basics

Introduction (1 page) (less than 1%) This page provides a brief definition of improvisation and some mottos for the improvisational quilter.
Tools and Materials (6 pages)(4%) This set of pages provides an extensive list of the tools for “the modern quilter.”
Piecing Basics (6 pages)(4%) These pages explain ¼-inch seams, chain piecing, truing-up fabric and more.
Color Theory (6 pages)(4%) These pages lay out some basics of color theory and suggest three basic color schemes (monochromatic, complementary, and analogous).
Finishing your Quilt or pillow (12 pages)(8%) These pages explain how to back, quilt, and bind your blankets as well as how to finish quilted pillow projects.

(2)
The techniques and the quilts

Techniques and quilt patterns (126 pages)(80%)
This is the bulk of the book. It is arranged into seven sections. The lovely introductions to each of the techniques really stand out, “Let instinct, intuition, and possibility be your guide. Release perfectionism and trust your ideas.”

Each section begins with a stylized picture of a quilt constructed using the improvisational technique. This is followed by a two-to-five page explanation of the improvisational technique. The techniques covered in the book are free-piecing, log cabins, inserting strips into blocks, adding corners to blocks, strip-piecing, crazy piecing, and curved piecing. The explanations are clear and have computer-illustrated diagrams for each step.

However, sometimes the diagrams and the text are a bit at odds. The photograph below, you’ll see that the text says to “Place piece B on piece A, right sides together, aligning the newly cut edges (fig 6.). ” However, in order to save as much fabric as possible, the instructions should read to place B on A and then slide B down, such that the top edge of B crosses the top edge of A ¼-inch from the edge that will be sewn. This is what is depicted in the diagram; its not clear to me why the writing doesn’t describe this adjustment, which saves both labor and fabric.

{and yes, I write in my books!}

Overall, I think the instructions are excellent, but readers should note that there may be places where the diagrams show a better technique than what has been described in the text.

Following each explanation of an improvisational technique, the authors show three quilts that were pieced using that technique with full explanations of how that particular quilt could be recreated. These include full-on shots of each quilt an excellent tips on how to use a design wall to help visualize a design.

What it is not:
(1)
My single greatest disappointment with this book is that it fails to communicate anything about the long history of improvisational quilting. Even the “recommended reading” section at the back fails to point readers to books in this vein.

This is particularly disheartening when it comes to the work of Gwen Marston, whose 1996 book Liberated Quiltmaking contains all but one of the techniques covered by Gering and Pederson (and the seventh is covered in one of Marston's later books). In the pictures below, I have placed Liberated Quiltmaking and Quilting Modern side by side to demonstrate the parallels.

Marston, it is worth noting, begins her book by discussing the history she is working within, discussing at length the utility quilts made by African Americans (think Gee’s Bend), and providing a list of quilt books about those quilts. It saddens me that this tradition of tipping one’s hat to their predecessors wasn't upheld.

(2)

Gering and Pederson's recommend a scant-1/4 inch seam when piecing. I think this is a good starting place for quilters who are new to improvisational piecing and want a basic rule of thumb, but six of the seven techniques in the book require only a straight, strong seam, so I was surprised to see a full page dedicated to achieving and checking for a scant-1/4 inch seam. This fussy, controlled approach seems at odds with the fun and free approach advocated in the book.

Similarly, I'm not sure that one needs to square-up fabric before rotary cutting when that fabric is just going to be cut at odd angles and pieced with bias-cut and wonky-cut scraps a few minutes later. The space used to discuss squaring up could have benefited from a more general discussion of the importance of avoiding stretching and distortion and various ways to achieve this (starching, pinning, careful handling, gentle pressing).

(3)
Given that the book is titled "Quilting Modern," I think it is also worth mentioning that the authors do not discuss what imbues their quilts with a modern aesthetic or provide any general rules about how that look might be gernerated. They do define improvisation and explain how to follow that path, so perhaps they equate improvisation with modern quilting (though somehow I doubt that).

I love the look of so many of these quilts and wish they had provided more insight into their decision-making with specific quilts.

Who is it for?

This book is an excellent resource for quilters who have been following patterns and are interested in branching out into improvisational piecing. The tone is very encouraging and the instructions are clear.

Gering and Pederson have well-developed voices, so simply looking at the images of the 21 quilts may be worth the price of the book for quilting enthusiasts.

The quilts are lovely and have a more modern aesthetic that Marston's, and so any quilter who can't see the modern possibilities in Marston's processes, might benefit from the addition of Quilting Modern to their library.

Quilting Modern: Techniques and Projects for Improvisational Quilters
by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pederson
is full color throughout, printed on high-quality paper, and 175 pages long.

Publication date: April 2012
Rossie Crafts review date: February 11, 2013
The list price is $26.95, it’s selling for $17.79 today.

I purchased this book with my own money; I am not paid to review books; if you click through to Amazon and then make a purchase, I will receive a small kickback from Amazon.

QuiltCon Linky Party

2013-01-30T16:00:00.000-05:00

The MQG has a post up asking people going to QuiltCon to share their faces a little information about themselves so that we can all know each other a bit better when we arrive in Austin.

Well, here's me...

As for five things you may not know about me:
1. Let's start with one that makes me easy to find in a crowd: I'm quite tall: 5'9" (175cm).
2. I grew up in Wisconsin and am a huge Packer fan.
3. When my school suggested that I skip kindergarten, I had only one question, "Do they have naptime in first grade?" I'm still a big fan of sleeping.
4. I have a patch of varicose veins on my left leg; it is odd, but I kind of like them...they remind me of my Grandma.
5. I love board games. My latest obsessions are Carcassonne, Dominion, and Rummikub.

Oh, scrap!

2013-01-28T16:30:00.000-05:00

Thanks so much for all the thoughtful discussion and feedback from my last post. I love that we can be supportive and diverse! I've got a few ideas cooking as a result of our conversations, but not much that is fully formed enough to put into action. I'll let you know. For now, let's get back to our regularly scheduled blogging...

An interesting side-effect of my engaging in uncharacteristic behavior and making a quilt from a pattern was that I found myself with a huge pile of scraps.

Okay, maybe not HUGE, but if you consider that my scrap bin is this small cardboard box and it never fills up, this pile is enormous in comparison.

Do other improvisational quilters find that they don't produce very many scraps? I think I usually just go into my stash, pull out some yardage, cut a bit from it, and fold the yardage back up and put it away. I use what I cut and the tiny bits leftover just aren't worth saving.

Anyway, I now understand why people love scrap projects. These scraps are stressing me out! I want them gone!

Since most of them are half-square triangles and they are already color coordinated, I've decided to make a quilt from just these scraps. I'm going to make more half-square triangles and then go from there!

Here's one idea I've had...

The plus in the middle will be the tricky part...I think it will involve a lot of partial seams to get the look I want.

Modern Pill

2013-01-25T17:45:00.000-05:00

After seeing about a dozen "I love my local quilt shop" posts on Instagram and the blogs with no explanation of where this ritual came from or who was behind it, I posted the following on Instagram:

Under my image, people answered my question (Fab Shop Network--a trade organization for "independent quilt and fabric shopowners and design studios"is behind it) and some interesting and informative discussion ensued (you can see some/most of it here: http://instagram.com/p/U4_laWArMf/ )

However, elsewhere on Instagram, a post went up that stated that I had diminished the event:

The poster here (Rachael / imaginegnats) probably thought she was being polite by not linking to my post in hers, but it was almost certainly a poor choice because in my post I had only done the following:
(1) Asked a question: "Who is behind the 'I love my local quilt shop' thing?
(2) Stated my reason for asking: "This is weird to me."
(3) And stated my opinion of my LQS: "I only kind of like my local quilt shop."
She characterized my post as "diminishing the event" and being outside what she sees as the omni-supportiveness of the online quilting community. Under her post, commenters (who may very well not have seen my post/known what they were talking about) go on to suggest that I am a dick, dumb, terrible, and that i have pooped on someone's good idea (you can see that here: http://instagram.com/p/U5F4UJO-zB/ ).

I emailed Rachael this morning to say that I was writing this post and she was very sincere in responding, apologizing, and explaining where she was coming from (she works at a quilt shop) and that some of what was said (i.e., "people are dicks") are ongoing jokes with friends and not intended to be taken personally, though obviously, I couldn't know that. Further, Rachael wrote, "i am glad that you're writing that post. b/c i think it is an important discussion. we do need to make sure that we're supporting each other. and we all need to be aware of what that means (obviously myself included)... for lack of a better phrase, to act like grown-ups. and i am happy to own up that the choices i made were not ones i'm proud of."

So, I'm not writing this to call her out. The reason I've named names as I begin to write this post is because I think vague references and not naming names leads to people forgetting that there are real people on all sides. I'm not picking a fight, I'm trying to start a discussion.

So, with that introduction, I want to talk about four things today:
(1) What it means to be a dick.
(2) What it means to think critically and offer criticism.
(3) Things that have been said to me at my Local Quilt Shop.
(4) Advice for Local Brick-and-Mortar Quilt Shops.

These are all somewhat related in my brain.

(1) What it means to be a dick.

Upon observing a collective behavior that was new to me, I called it weird (definition: out of the ordinary course, strange, unusual) and asked who was behind it.

Am I a dick? A dick is a person who is a jerk or does mean and stupid things. Sometimes, I'm a dick. On this occasion I was not. Unless it's stupid to not know that the Fab Shop Network was behind the event (that information was not part of any Instagram posts that I saw and was--I went back and checked-- 2+ clicks away for the blog posts I read); because then, yes, I was stupid.

Am I dumb? No, I am capable of speech. If we're using this term in the (offensive and outdated) sense of "ignorant" than yes, I was ignorant of the root cause of the mass postings about local quilt shops.

Am I terrible? According to some of my students, who think they write A papers and are given C's by yours truly, yes I am terrible (definition: harsh, severe, extremely bad, appalling). Was I terrible on the occasion of posting a question and two personal sentiments on Instagram? No.

Have I pooped on someone's good idea? I did not literally or metaphorically defecate on anything. I asked a question about an event. I said I found the mass event unusual. I said I kind of liked my local quilt shop.

Did I diminish the event? If I have the power to diminish a nation-wide event by asking who is behind it, then something is very wrong.

Was I unsupportive? No, I didn't say it was a bad event or that people shouldn't have taken part, I was mystified by what was going on and why and asked a question. I *am* only tepidly supportive of my local quilt shop, but that's well-earned on their part (I'll follow up on this below).

So, who's a dick? Arguably, the people who misunderstood and mischaracterized what I posted and then posted insults elsewhere. Unfortunately, I don't think this behavior is that uncommon. Is it intentional? I doubt it. However, we're all grown ups, right? We can think before we type, yes? But here's the root of the problem as I see it...this online sewing community over-prioritizes and misunderstands what it means to be nice and it also under-prioriticizes and misunderstands what it means to be critical.

(2) What it means to think critically and offer criticism.

I'm an academic. As an academic, it is my job to take nothing at face value. It is my job to value progress over banal politeness. It is my job to know random facts like the fact that the word “nice” spent centuries meaning ignorant and it still kind of means that. "Be nice," is often said instead of "shut up."

I know that my professional world is strange. How? I worked in corporate America for a few years. I have family and friends whose experience with Universities and the people that inhabit them is limited. They can find it exhausting to talk to me because I pick at every idea. I'm trained to be inquisitive, direct, and assertive; that's also my nature. I'm not easy going. I'm insensitive (in both the sense that I'm slow to take personal offense and the sense that I am not the most intuitive about what will give offense).

Most importantly, I have this periodic blind spot in that I think that people should always, immediately, recognize the difference between picking at an idea and picking on a person. But a lot of people don’t see the difference. I try to remember this and be kind and limit my criticism unless criticism in specifically invited.

Nobody has asked for it here, but here are some thoughts that come to mind in regards to the local quilt shop love day:
1) There are two assertions floating around: craft business are experiencing a boom and local quilt shops are struggling. Does anyone actually have any data to support these statements? Would they share it with me?

2) If local quilt shops are struggling, why are they struggling? Are they losing business to online stores? Are they losing business to chain stores? Are they losing business because they aren't changing to meet the needs of the quilters in their communities?

3)Fab Shop Network is a trade organization for "independent quilt shop-owners." Aren't most online shops owned independently? Are they part of Fab Shop Network? We will have a day where we recognize how online shops promote the craft, sponsor blogs and conventions and other places where people learn and grow? Or are we assuming that online shops either don't contribute or don't deserve recognition or don't need recognition? Why?

4) If shops pay to be part of Fab Shop Network and then are blogging about this day without disclosing that connection, is that a "material connection" and if so, are they running afoul of Federal Trade Commission rules on disclosure?

5) What does "local" mean in this setting? Because if I were to map out the locations of the quilt shops I frequent, the one that is 2.0 miles from my house is an online shop. Is it "local" or not?

To me, the above list is just a bunch of ideas flitting around that I would like to play with and find evidence to answer. It's not about specific people. It's not even about me. It's about wanting to make a useful map of the world. It's purposeful, reflective thinking about what the world and what it might be like. It's critical thinking.

Here's some more:
Why does the national board of the Modern Quilt Guild claim to represent me/us? Did I vote them in and forget?
In the context of art and craft, the word modern does not mean "what's popular now." Modern has a specific aesthetic meaning and it's a cop-out to pretend otherwise.
Will "modern quilting" be like every other upstart subculture...slowly watered down and co-opted by more mainstream forces? Reduced to a vaguely defined brand and used to sell things?

Again, these are just thoughts that I have. They are things I want to talk about. They are my responses to things I have seen and done. I just want to think about things and make my own choices and do my best to be wise.

However, there have been numerous situations where I have been shushed or otherwise told these thoughts and questions are inappropriate. Like a kid who starts to ask about Santa or sex in front of their younger siblings.

And here's my big question: Is it possible to have a healthy community when critical thoughts are considered outside of the realm of legitimate discourse?

I don't think so. I also don't think you can call a community supportive if it demands uniformity on a whole host of issues.

(3) I only kind of like my local quilt shop.

Here are some things that have been said to me at my local quilt shop:

"Are you going to use these fabrics together?" (With a tone that implies the correct answer is 'NO, I would never use these together. These are hideous together.')

"Oh, I find this print so...interesting...what are you going to use it for? I wouldn't have any idea what to do with a print like this!" (With a tone that suggests that what you I am about to buy is SO GROSS!)

Dropping off a machine for repair, "This is the thread you use?" (With a tone that suggests my thread is made out of poop.) Please note: the problem with the machine was not thread or lint related. The thread was Aurifil.

I shop there sometimes for solids, because they have all the kona solids. I also look through the prints and occasionally pick something out. I get their emails about classes, but they aren't relevant to me since I'm not a beginner, and I don't sew garments or quilts from patterns. I sometimes ask if they are going to get a particular line of fabric (ex: I asked about Lizzy House's latest, because I remembered them selling her older lines), I was told, "I don't know," and the salesperson didn't go and check with the owner. I bought that fabric elsewhere.

So, yeah, I don't love the shop. I know people that do, and I don't try to dissuade them from that opinion. My support for that specific shop is a bit tepid, but I do understand the value of local quilt shops and I saw them getting what I considered vague advice and some bum advice at Quilt Market, so I have written my advice here.

(4) Advice for Brick-and-Mortar Quilt Shops.

Be kind. Here are some neutral, chatty things that you can say, "What a lovely blue!" "Have you decided what you're making?" "Are you a quilter?" "Do you spend much time a week quilting?" "Are you making something for yourself?" Fire workers who can't be kind, you are in a service economy.

Don't assume you know more than your anonymous customer. I have been in quilt shops all over the USA with quilt book authors, award-winning quilters, big name bloggers, non-quilters, and beginning quilters. They all behave the same way in quilt shops. They all look similar. Ask some preliminary questions before trying to sell a person on your beginner's quilt class.

At Quilt Market, I sat in on Bill Kerr's schoolhouse class where he tried to explain how brick-and-mortar stores could try to appeal to modern quilters. He said that fabric didn't matter. I disagree. Modern quilters know fabric lines and designers and are looking for specific things. If I had a brick-and-mortar store, I would have a website that listed what lines I had ordered and I would update the website (and send email to interested persons) when the fabric came in. My employees would know this what lines were coming in and would look it up when asked by customers. I would shelve modern fabrics by line, not by color; I would keep fat-quarter bundles and half-yard bundles of lines in stock.

If you're trying to get modern quilters to be regulars in your shop, you've got to cover their basics: keep some solids in stock (always keep white, snow, ash, and coal; add in more if you have space) Stock some of the trendier blenders (text prints, pearl bracelets, bike path, sketch) and maybe some luxury solids (shot cottons, crossweaves, yarn-dyed linen).

Figure out a way to turn over your stock more quickly. Things sell out really quickly online and brick-and-mortar stores can be a nice counter-balance to that. However, some of the shops in my area seem to have the same fabric for years with no change, that's too slow.

At a bare-minimum, for your online presence, make sure your shop is listed on Yelp! with the correct address and hours. This should take about 10 minutes. If there are no pictures or reviews, add pictures and ask customers to write descriptive reviews.

In conclusion:

Don't be a dick, whether you are an individual on Instagram or a worker in a quilt shop.
You can disagree with people, but don't do it behind their backs: start a conversation.
Don't confuse critical thought with being unkind. If humans didn't learn to think critically, we would have modern medicine or civil rights.
Not loving a particular quilt shop because of specific, repeated experiences there is not the same as pooping on all local quilt shops.

mega XPLUS is pieced!

2013-01-21T17:55:00.000-05:00

It was mega fun, and now piecing is mega done!

I can't decide which is my favorite block, but it's probably this one:

In her tutorial for this Setsuko Inawaga block, Badskirt points out that the X-part of the block is most effective when the stripes run to the corners. This means that with some fabrics you have to cut on the bias.

That had a particularly cool effect on this dotty ombre print! (Don't worry about that large piece of fabric I just cut a hole in...it is already part of another project.)

This watercolor print from Sarah Watson's line is just so cool that I simply cut squares on the bias and didn't do the "X" parts of those blocks.

I think I will be quilting this soon...I've (a) got a stack of quilt tops building up and (b) need to stick to my plan to quilt one top a month!

If you're interested in this informal quilt along, check out the flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/xandplusalong/pool/
and, if you're on instagram, look for the hashtag xplusalong.

Uncharacteristic behavior (part 1)

2013-01-14T22:30:00.000-05:00

Oh my goodness, I'm making a quilt from a pattern!

My friend Brenda (of Just a Bit Frayed and Pink Castle Fabrics) got me going on a quilt-along via Instagram hashtag and Flickr group. It's an informal thing where anyone can join at any time.

The tutorial for these "x & + blocks"is over on Badskirt's blog. I think Badskirt's tutorial makes an 8" block. Brenda posted instructions for a 12" block in the flickr group. I ended up going larger.

Why? I have been dying to use this yard of blue fabric from Lizzy House in a way that featured it and I saw an opportunity with this block. A fabric pull (100% stash!) confirmed my suspicions.

I didn't want to cut the blue fabric too small, because I love the little drawings and wanted them to show up whole at least some the the time! So I put on my thinking cap and figured out how to make the block even bigger: 24"square. Here's my little diagram:

The way you piece the 5.5" square and 10.5" squares produces some waste, but I've been stitching the waste as I cut it away and hope to use it in some improv work later (they should trim down to 4.5" half-square triangles).

As you can see, the constellations fabric shows so many of the fabulous drawings:

Added bonus: 12 blocks = a twin size quilt!

On Documentation

2013-01-12T12:10:00.000-05:00

I realized, when moving house this summer, and coming across my old photo albums, that I had been doing a pretty crap job of keeping a photo album.

I've never been one to preserve extensive documentation of my life and I am, in fact, in the habit of burning my journals as quickly as I fill them up. For so many things, I don't need to remember them, it was enough to live them. However, I do like to keep a bit of documentation...snapshots of close friends, places I go often, things that are special to me, and remembrances of travels. One of my prize possessions is an album of photos from my childhood.

So, I decided to ease back into some documentation of my life.
My rules:

It's got to complement what I'm already doing (taking snapshots with my iPhone, posting on Instagram, and saving little bits of paper from events).
It's got to be simple.
It's got to be cheap.

I think I've found a solution:

What's this? Well, I've used Printstagram to print some of my Instragram photos and I'm glueing them into a SmashBook with notes and odds and ends.

I picked up a Smash Book at Joann's. I think I first heard about Smash Books on Instragram...it's a pretty neat concept, it's spiral bound and has thick, patterned papers already in there, some with doodles. There are different styles of Smash Books, I liked the modern, neutral look of this one:

At Joann's (and I've also seen them at Meijer--a Michigan grocery store and at Target) it's possible to flip through the books and see which you like best. They have different papers and themes. But if you want to take my word for it that the red one is awesome, you can order through Amazon over here: Smash Book in Red Doodle ($13)

I've been doing pretty well at keeping up with this book! I even put Christmas in there already. I don't celebrate Christmas, but ye ol' boyfriend does, so I did my best not to ruin it for him.

As long as we're talking Christmas, look at what I did to the tree...selvedges as tinsel!

The bottom is bare because a certain puppy likes to eat socks and I figured the same would go for selvedges.

Better safe than sorry where little Vin and her little nose are concerned!

---
Disclosure of Material Connection: The link to Amazon above is an “affiliate link.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The Painted Pebbles Quilt (with tutorial!)

2012-12-29T18:00:00.000-05:00

I had an idea for this bubbling in the back of my head whilst I was making my log cabin quilt and so I started in on it right after.

It's a Painted Pebble Quilt and it was pretty quick to make.

This quilt is based on this lovely painting by Garima Dhawan of Garima Studio.

I first saw this painting on Pinterest without a name attached (damned orphan images!) I was really pleased to finally learn the name of the artist when it showed up over on the Creature Comforts blog. And then I found Garima over on Facebook, and asked if it would be okay with her if I shared my quilt on the blog and showed her painting and then posted a tutorial with a tip jar. She said go for it! Hooray!

I think what really needs explaining on this quilt is the process I used to get the pebbles into their blocks. I have no idea what the method I used should be called or if I invented it. I’ve tried googling around for appliqué methods and I haven’t found it presented elsewhere, but that might be because I just don’t know the proper name.

Anyway, I think my brain cooked this up from two things:
(1) Have you seen Lucie Summers’s Porthole Quilt? I don’t think she ever said how she made this or posted a tutorial, but I freakin’ love this quilt and have stared at the pictures enough to have my guesses on how it was made. I think I’m doing something very similar to what Lu did (but I’m guessing.)

(photo by Lucie Summers, used with Lucie's permission)

(2) Jenna (of How to Be Jenna and The Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild) has done some really lovely appliqué on her recent projects and they are using a method she calls “sew-and-turn appliqué.” She just posted a tutorial on her method over on her blog (Sew-and-Turn Applique Tutorial) which you should check out! The applique method I’m about to describe is the reverse of Jenna’s method.

So, here it is: TUTORIAL TIME!

1. Preparing the Background:
a. Cut a 15.5-inch square of your background fabric (in this case a text fabric with a gray background).

b. Cut a 10-inch square (approximately) of a fabric (hereafter called the flipping fabric) that matches the main color in your background fabric (an even darker gray would be great!)

c. Trace a pebble shape onto the 10-inch square of fabric, being sure to leave at least an inch of fabric between the edge of the drawing and the edge of your fabric.

2. Assembling the background:
a. Place the 15.5-inch square right-side up on a work surface.
b. Place the 10-inch square of flipping fabric on top of it with the traced pebble shape showing.
c. Rotate the pebble to desired angle then use masking tape to adhere the edges of the flipping fabric to the background fabric using masking tape (I'm using a 1/2-inch wide tape).

d. Using a smallish straight-stich (a 2 or 3 for stitch length on most machines is advised), stitch ¼-inch around the edges of your traced line. Leave several inches of thread tails at the beginning. Go all the way around your pebble, keeping a smooth line. Do not worry too much if your stitching wanders a bit away from the line, so long as the line is smooth and you're reasonably close.

e. When taking your block away from the machine, leave several inches of thread tails attached to your block.
f. Pull thread tails to the backside of the quilt block (either by lifting the last stitch on the back and pulling the small loop through or by threading a hand needle with the top thread and sewing it through to the back). Tie off the thread tails (knot them) and then snip them.

I use Aurifil Mako 50wt thread (Aurifil on the orange spool) for all of my piecing. This is a really strong, thin thread and so my knots and stitches hold tight and do not create any bulk or bumps in the patchwork.

3. Flip that fabric!
a. Pull the tape off. If there's a lot of excess flipping fabric, trim it down. I like to leave an inch or two all the way around.

b. Place the block on your rotary cutting mat and cut out the pebble shape in the middle. Cut about 1/2-inch inside your stitches. I do this with my 45mm rotary cutter; you may be more comfortable using scissors.

Sidenote: I saved all my pebble shapes, rather than throwing them in the scrap bin. I’m going to use Jenna’s method to appliqué the pebbles onto another quilt! I stitched them together right after cutting them free.

c. Clip the seam allowance, being careful not to cut all the way to your seam.

d. Set your seams by pressing the block.
e. Begin flipping the flipping fabric by folding it into the open hole and around to the back. It's easiest to start with the straightest part of the pebble edge. Be patient with the fabric and move slowly. Use the iron to press as you go. You may find it useful to use a rolling motion with your fingers to get the seams in the correct position.

Once you've gone all the way around, your background is ready!

4. Make your patchwork pebble.
Make your patchwork at least 1-inch bigger in all directions than the hole it is going to fill. I played around with a few variations on these pebbles and discovered that with these bright colors and the texty background prints, it worked best to keep the pebbles simple...one piece of bright fabric with a solid stripe across it (or a solid chunk in corner). I think fancier pebbles might work with simpler backgrounds.

5. Attach pebble to the background
a. To put the pebble in the hole, lay the prepared background fabric upside down on a work surface and then lay the pebble over the hole, making sure to cover the entire hole with at least 1/4-inch overlap on all sides.

b.Tape down the edges of the pebble, making sure no tape is to close to the edges of the hole (at least 1/4-inch away from the edge.)

c. Place block right-side up on your machine and stich around the edge of the hole (about 1/8-inch looks great!) Leave several inches of thread tails at the beginning. Go all the way around your pebble, keeping a smooth line. When taking your block away from the machine, leave several inches of thread tails at the end.

d. Pull thread tails to the backside of the quilt block (either by lifting the last stitch on the back and pulling the small loop through or by threading a needle with the top thread and sewing them through to the back). Tie off the thread tails (knot them) and then snip them.

e. Trim excess fabric. Press block. Trim block down to 15x15."

6. Fantastic! You're done! Nine pebbles in 15x15" backgrounds will make a 44x44-inch square quilt top (a baby quilt). Make more blocks for a larger quilt!

I'm already thinking of new color schemes for this quilt...what about mixed prints for the backgrounds and solids for the pebbles? Multiple sizes of blocks mixed together? There are so many possibilities!

If you use this tutorial, remember to credit me and consider leaving a tip!
Anyone is free to use this tutorial to construct a quilt; However, if this is where you got your design idea or where you learned this method, you should credit me, Rossie, with inspiration and please link back to this blog post (The Painted Pebbles Quilt with Tutorial).

If you use the tutorial and feel so moved, please throw a buck or two in my tip jar (no obligation). Rest assured, the money goes into my business account and I will pay taxes on it through the business.

Why do I post tutorials with a tip jar?
(a) I often feel that quilt patterns are over-priced, especially if I can tell just by looking at something how it was made. I am almost never willing to pay $8 for a PDF quilt pattern. However, I would be willing to give someone a dollar or two for using the idea they brought to my attention, I think you might be like me.

(b) I'm a copy-leftist. As such, I don't think it is possible or moral to claim ownership over most ideas or to try to control an idea. I'm interested in people's willingness to volunteer payment for inspiration.

(c) I have bills to pay. When this goes reasonably well, I can post more quilts on my blog, rather than keeping them secret while waiting for them to show up in magazines or books.

A Whole Lotta Log Cabins

2012-12-20T12:10:00.003-05:00

Remember when this:

became this?

If not, check out that that old post: Glimma by Lotta Jansdotter

Well, now I've got this:

It's a generous twin-sized quilt at 68" x 95"
It's always fun to finish a major stage in a project, but getting a bed-size bit of patchwork done is an extra rush. I mean, it took hours to go from having the top laid out on the design wall to being all stitched together! I always forget how long that stage can take!

Speaking of a the design wall, I tried to make a video of myself putting the blocks up and then rearranging (and rearranging) (and rearranging) them, but something went wrong and I ended up with no video. This series of photos will have to do:

My favorite blocks are the craziest ones:

This is a bit of Glimma in the middle, then some solids, XOXOXO from a few years ago, Atelier & Akiko (I just love the line-drawing quality!) from a few years ago, a bit of a gray chevron sheet from Target, then some of Lotta's Bella birds, which I used fabric paint to stamp on with an art stamp from Carolyn Friedlander (bought at Quilt Market this fall) and some stamps from The Small Object (bought years ago at Renegade Craft Fair).

And this one...ooo I just love that Seedpods in Mustard print. It's a hand-printed fabric; I bought it from from Maze & Vale on etsy not too long ago. I used up the pieces I had and just might use some holiday money to replace it. The mushroom print is also from Maze & Vale. And again we've got a little bit of Glimma, some solids, some Atelier & Akiko. Plus, a little bit of Heather Ross that has been in my stash for years (I actually had yardage of that one at some point and now I'm down to scraps.) I just love cutting fabric up and sewing it back together!

Random tip:
I love using these file labels to mark the blocks once I've sorted out their placement.

I find them easier to use than masking tape, just mark the labels, cut the block in half, and stick them on the fabric! They are a little pricier than using masking tape, but I usually get them by adding them into Amazon orders in order to get my order total to $25 and qualify for free shipping. So, basically, they pay for themselves. :-)

I'm not going to quilt the Glimma Log Cabin quilt just yet. I had a lot of interesting suggestions when I posted about the the quilting part of quilting (the comments are worth going back over!) and so I'm going to try to make a few adjustments to my quilting space(get those gloves, cut a hole in the table, etc) and then quilt one quilt a month in 2013! Woot!

Book Review: Modern Quilts from the Blogging Universe

2012-12-14T16:00:00.000-05:00

What it is:
A collection of 19 quilts made by bloggers with piecing instructions for each quilt and a “bio” of each designer, written by the designer.

Basic breakdown of the book's contents:
(1)
Introduction (1 page) 1% of the book
In this section, a brief explanation of the book is provided.

(2)
The Quilt Patterns (77 pages) 88% of the book
Each pattern begins with a big, beautiful photograph of the quilt. Each pattern is approximately four pages long. The instructions seem clear and easy to follow; they include step-by-step computer illustrations. If the quilt back is pieced a picture and explanation is included. The difficulty of the pattern or the skills it requires used isn’t indicated; only one version of each quilt is shown.

(3)
Biographies for each designer (10 pages) 11% of the book
These were written by each of the designers and are included at the close of his/her pattern.

**There is no space given over to on basic quiltmaking techniques (1/4-inch seams, binding, etc.) Should you need it, this information can be found on the publishers website! I think this is awesome, it keeps the price of the book lower and most quilters don't need that information.

What it is not:
This book is not everything it claims to be in its introduction and on its cover.

(1)
In the introduction, the editor--actually, it is unclear who wrote the introduction, I’m assuming it was the editor--states that the book, “focuses on a specific aesthetic.” To my eye, there is quite a wide range of aesthetics being presented.

While the variety could be a strength of the book, the quilts aren’t organized thematically and so the book ends up feeling a bit aesthetically jumbled. A little bit more connecting material from the editor could have turned this book from a series of disconnected patterns into a well-curated set of patterns that are not only useful, but could increase understanding of quilt styles. I know a lot of traditional quilters and would-be modern quilters are confused about what makes a modern quilt look “modern,” I don’t think this book will clarify that point, which is unfortunate because the title begins with the words “modern quilts.”

(2)
I feel that the editors needed to insert a bit more of a narrative if they are going to claim to capture an important part of “quiltmaking history.” For example, I found the blogger biographies really interesting. Many of the bloggers push on the idea of modern quilting, claiming that they have “never agreed with the idea” (Allison Harris of Cluck Cluck Sew) or have a style which is, “neither modern nor traditional but a little bit of both” (Katy Jones of I’m a Ginger Monkey) or are, “always surprise[d] when someone thinks I am a ‘modern quilter.” (Jessica Kovach of Twin Fibers). I really wish the editor(s) had picked up on these ideas that run through the bios and found something to say about them. A set of disconnected discussions about the (false?) modern/traditional binary is pretty much par for the course in the blogosphere, a book provides the opportunity to do more, but that opportunity is not capitalized upon. Perhaps I hold books in too high of esteem and thereby expect too much, but I can’t help but want books to be MORE than a bunch of separate patterns and ideas bound only by proximity in a physical object; I want some story or argument about how they fit together and what they represent.

(3)
The book claims that all of the quiltmakers are “innovative” and each of the 19 quilts is “unique.” Not all of these quilts are going to live up to those claims, especially for folks who regularly read quilt blogs or look at the quilt groups on Flickr. Some of these quilts will look very typical.

I don’t see any problem with providing patterns for what are arguably “modern standards” like a half-square triangle medallion quilt or a zig-zag quilt, but its weird to call them innovative and inaccurate to call them unique.

Thankfully, between the front and back covers of this book and the “look inside” feature on Amazon.com, you can see the vast majority of the quilts from the book and decide for yourself if you’re interested in these patterns.

Who is it for?
Quilters who collect books showcasing bloggers and their contributions.
Quilters looking for a set of patterns (there are 19!) for quilts with a wide-range of aesthetics, most especially those who like block-based quilts like the following, as that type of quilt is most heavily represented.

Recommended for quilters who like pretty quilts and following patterns.

Modern Quilts from the Blogging Universe
is full color throughout, printed on high-quality paper, and 95 pages long.

Publication date: December 3, 2012
Rossie Crafts review date: December 14, 2012
The list price is $26.99, it’s selling for $23.99 on Amazon.com today.

Review copy was supplied by the publisher; I am not paid to review books; if you click through to Amazon and then make a purchase, I will recieve a small kickback from Amazon.

the quilting part of quilting

2012-12-11T17:00:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited about the enthusiasm over my book review project! I'll be trying to post one every week or two until I've done the titles on my bookshelf. I really appreciated the feedback I received about what books to do next. Right now, I'm planning three ahead, and this is what I've got lined up:

1. Modern Quilts from the Blogging Universe
2. Quilting Modern by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pederson
3. Geared for Guys by Emily Herrick

Other stuff you guys suggested:

a way for you all to get involved, like maybe a central place to link to your blog when you write a serious review. I'm totally down with this! I just need to figure out how to make it easily navigable. I've been planning a proper website (around the blog) so that tutorials, reviews and such are more easily cataloged. I think once the website launches, I can set this up.
my personal opinion. On the website I'm planning on making recommendations for specific categories and subcategories. I'm not sure if I'll go further than that. I imagine that what is appropriate and useful will reveal itself. I guess that I just don't expect that what I want or need in a book is necessarily what YOU want or need, so I'm happiest to just describe what is in the book and who I imagine would want/need it.We'll see!

However, ya'll know that I love to talk about process, so since I just reviewed Free-Motion Quilting by Angela Walters and then went on a quilting binge to wrap up some works-in-progress that were due (at magazines, or as gifts), I figure I can talk about my process in choosing and using quilting designs.

Quilting is probably my least favorite step in the process of making a quilt. It's also, probably because I send quilts out pretty often, my biggest ~~problem~~ growth area. I just haven't put in the time on quilting that I need to in order to have those gorgeous even stitches and in order to get onto the quilt what is in my head.

I tend to like quilting that is somewhere between an all-over pattern with no relationship with the patchwork and a one that is micro-coordinated to the patchwork. Usually, this results in either a fairly minimal all-over design (see the The DoublePlusGood Quilt, Miss Stinky's Particle Board Cabin) or for a long time I have favored straight-line quilting (The Full Stops Quilt, The Green Quilt, The Kelp Quilt). It probably helps that these designs are pretty straightforward requests for me to make of my lovely local long-arm quilter, Bernie.

I also tend to send things out to the long-arm quilter when I'm short on time or when I've made a large quilt (and most of my quilts are large!)

I recently realized that I need to do more of my own quilting. Why? Because I came across this work in progress:

I made this quilt top in 2005. 2005. 2005. I f**king love this quilt top and it hasn't been quilted because I haven't developed the skills to execute what is in my head. ARGH!!!! Time to grow some ovaries, slap that darning foot on my little Janome, and get to work!

I had a few lap-sized quilts in need of quilting, so I decided to woman-up and quilt them myself. Unfortunately, I can't show you the quilt tops (gifts and such), but suffice it to say that I wanted something non-swirly and non-straight-line and moderately dense.

My go-to-spot for browsing free-motion quilting designs is The Free Motion Quilting Project from Leah Day. More than 365 designs being given away for free with pictures and videos and explanations? Yes, please! They are also, very helpfully, categorized in multiple ways, including difficulty, design type, and directional texture.

I decided to practice on a small quilt I anticipate donating to charity.

This is the Basic Chevron design. Pretty easy. I got much better as I went, so I was glad to be working on a practice quilt as I got the worst of the wobbles out of my system.

I then slept on it (your brain processes skills as you sleep, making you much better on the start of day 2, than you were at the end of day 1. Seriously, here's my reference: RadioLab. Yay science!)

On the second quilt, I decided to use the Square Spiral

Again, it was a bit clunky at first, but I practiced a bit, slept on it, practiced a bit more and then was competent enough to do it on a "real" quilt.

My practice quilt doesn't look half-bad though!

The actual quilts were similar to the practice quilt in that they had a columns of patchwork and I wanted to quilt in a way that went with the columns. Like the practice quilt, there are two passes of the quilting within each column. I tried the chevrons wider, but I lost control doing something that wide on my machine. I think I am going to invest in some grippy gloves and see if that helps with control. Leah Day sells quilting kits with gloves and sliders, so I'll pick one up from her, since her shop is how she supports her awesome website.

I think I'm going to finish upthe patchwork for my log cabin quilt next, but in the back of my head, I'm contemplating how I will quilt it and also the Halloween Quilt. I actually, think I'm pretty close to settled a design for the Halloween Quilt---varying sized squares filled with the matrix design.

Project Bibliophile

2012-12-05T22:30:00.000-05:00

I'm going to start reviewing books here on a regular basis. There seems to be a need for information-rich, serious reviews of quilting books. Since I'm a major bookworm and happy to make distinctions, I've volunteered myself for the job.

A few things have led me believe there's a need for serious reviews:

Blog hops typically contain only a small amount of information.
Magazine reviews often simply repeat the publisher's promotional materials.
At least five different people have told me, of Free-Motion Quilting by Angela Walters, "I like it, but it's not what I thought it was going to be." And I've heard that about other books as well. The fact is that I (and maybe you) rarely get to look at a book in a bricks-and-mortar store anymore. The shops around me just don't stock the books I'm interested in and so I almost always need to make purchases online, so sometimes a book isn't what I need it to be, and I'm probably missing out on books that would be right up my alley!

My idea is that I will let you know what you might find out by flipping through a book:

how much space is given over to what
what the book does and doesn't cover
the style of writing/instruction
the style of patchwork is--block-based? minimal? asymmetical? interesting use of negative space? geometric? improv? wabi sabi?
who is this book for?

I'm also planning on only reviewing books that I have a copy of so that I can answer questions about books basically forever after the review goes up. So, let me know which books you think should be reviewed and what you want to know about them and feel free to ask more questions about a book after a review is up! My intention is to be useful.

I'm putting together a page to make my relationships with book publishers clear; but rest-assured that while I'm getting some advance copies of books, I'm not getting paid by publishers. I do participate in the Amazon Associates program, whereby I earn a small percentage of all sales made via links through this site. So, anytime you link through me and then make a purchase from them, I get a small kickback, for which I'm grateful. I'm hoping to use that money to purchase older books based on your recommendations and reviewing them. I know some of my favorite books have been around for years and I'd love to talk about them and explore some others!

I'm going to begin with review of Free-Motion Quilting by Angela Walters because I own it (bought it myself) and because, as I mentioned above, it might not be what you expect!

What it is:
A book with a friendly, approachable, and encouraging tone. Walters conveys her experiences, her opinion about the special challenges when quilting modern quilts, her favorite quilting designs, and her methods for deciding how to quilt quilts.

Basic breakdown of book's contents:
(1)

Introduction and supplies list (11 pages) 10% of the book.

In this section Walters introduces herself and lists her favorite supplies.

(2)
Presentation and explanation of Walter's favorite quilting designs (55 pages) 50% of the book.

There are 28 designs total, arranged around themes of how they look (curves, lines, etc). The relative difficulty of the designs is not discussed. The step-by-step explanations of how to create each design are clear.

(3)

Show-and-tell of the designs as they are used in a series of quilts (43 pages) 40% of the book.

These pages are organized around types of patchwork that have been popular lately: for example, log cabins, zig zags, and quilts with a lot of negative space. This section provides clear pictures of many quilt tops, as Walters discusses her approach in choosing quilt designs for each top.

What it is not:
This book is not intended to build skills in the nitty-gritty of machine quilting. There is no discussion of trouble-shooting tension problems, keeping your stitches even, or burying threads. The focus of the book is on how to make specific designs when quilting--which is discussed exclusively in terms of where to go next with your needle.

There is no discussion of the best approach to getting a design onto a quilt when you are contending with the small harp on a domestic sewing machine. While you can use these designs with a domestic sewing machine, you'll have to puzzle out your strategy to working with the harp on your own.

Who is it for?
Quilters looking for a catalog of design options for free-motion quilting (28 designs are included).
Quilters looking for some guidance in deciding what kind of quilting to use with their patchwork.
Recommended for quilters who are already comfortable with the technical aspects of free-motion quilting on their machine.

Free-Motion Quilting with Angela Walters: Choose and Use Quilting Designs on Modern Quilts
is full color throughout, printed on high-quality paper, and 119 pages long.

Publication Date: July 16, 2012

Rossie Crafts Review Date: December 5, 2012

The list price is $22.95, it's selling for $14.71 on Amazon.com today.

Quilt 489

2012-11-30T20:30:00.000-05:00

I submitted this quilt to Quilt Con this morning! It was Quilt 489.

Of course, I think of this quilt not as "489" but as "The Full Stops Quilt" since it is based on a paper collage by Anna Betts called "Full Stops." You can see the collage here along with process shots of me dying the fabric circles.

For anyone who is new here, I sell the plexiglas resists used to make shapes while dying in my etsy shop. The process is a variation on immersion dyeing (read my tutorial here) and the shapes ship with complete instructions for clamping and dyeing. I'm mostly-out of circles at the moment, but they will be back soon, and I'm getting hexagons, too!

I started thinking about this quilt in 2010 and did some of the dying then, but I did most of the dyeing this summer and then the piecing at a retreat with the Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild. A few months later, a week before the Quilt Con deadline, I decided to see if I could finish this quilt up and submit it! This was, of course, the day before leaving for my Thanksgiving trip (5 days out of town). I had a little bit of piecing left to do, so I put some hustle in my bustle, finished the piecing, and then packed up the quilt top, some batting, and a back with me to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving. I pin-basted the quilt at my parents house.

By the way, check out my mom's dog, Olive.

Crazy cute, right?

Once back from my trip, I snuck out to the studio whenever I wasn't needed at work and by Wednesday night had this baby quilted and bound! The quilt then went through the washer and was ready for photos on Friday morning (this morning!)

I was so excited to wake up and see a bright-but-overcast day. That's my favorite light for photographs.
This orange wall is attached to Spur Studios (where I work on my quilts). I have always liked the color.

The quilt is held up with masking tape. I was a little worried that the quilt would fall off, so I threw my easily-washed not-easily-stained fleece blanket on slightly-wet-and-cigarette-butt-littered ground. That slipper? That's my camera case at the moment. :-) My old case doesn't fit around the longer lens I keep on the camera now and the slipper is clean and padded. I don't know if anyone oversaw this photo shoot, but if they did, I can only assume they were greatly amused.

Especially as I moved around to get close-ups from a variety of angles.

This little piece remains my favorite.

I hope this quilt gets to go to Quilt Con! I think the show is going to be great and I'm really looking forward to taking classes--I'm signed up for classes with Sherri Lynn Wood (Friday), Lotta Jansdotter (Saturday afternoon), and Denyse Schmidt (Sunday). There were many more classes I was interested in, but only so much time in the day and money in the wallet, so decisions had to be made. If only I had a time-turner and a million dollars.

Home Alone

2012-11-26T09:00:00.000-05:00

As a kid, I always thought my mom was so funny when my dad left town. She would take on huge projects like rebuilding the deck or painting the ceiling in the living room (it's a cathedral ceiling, this is not an easy task).

Well, I did something similar the other weekend. I've lived with my boyfriend for a few months now and this was the first weekend where he was out of town and I was at the house. What did I do? Take on a bunch of projects and make a huge mess and then bust my butt trying to get everything done and cleaned up before he came home. Yep, I'm turning into my mom.

Now, some of these projects were pretty boring and un-blogworthy...painting storage shelves, organizing my books. But, one of them was not only fabric-y but also hilarious.

It started simply enough. I had a half-yard set of the blue colorway of Bari J's Splendor 1920. I had in my head a plan for using it that involved cutting the half-yards into fat quarters and then bleaching half of the fat quarters.

Bleaching fabric is a remarkably straightforward process. Technical term: discharging. You mix water and Clorox, add the fabric. You make a bath of Bleach Stop. You watch your fabric change and when it is changed to your liking, you take it out of the bleach and put it in the Bleach Stop. After 20 minutes of Bleach Stop soaking, you dump out your buckets, throw the fabric in the washer and you're done. No fuss, no muss.

Sounds easy. But sometimes the fabric doesn't change the way you expect. In this case, the fabric didn't change at all. Now, I have my guesses about this. They are as follows (1) I grabbed a bottle of Clorox from the laundry room. I didn't buy this Clorox. I don't know who did or when, but knowing my boyfriend, it may have been a very long time ago. Does bleach go bad? (2) Blue doesn't bleach easily. In a mixed-color print, it's not usual to see the reds drop out completely while the blue only lightens a little. I was expecting the fabric to need a long bath to get a slight change. Instead, I did a long bath and got no change. Maybe these are just really awesomely bleach-proof blues?

In any case, I had fabric that I wanted to alter and it hadn't altered, so I decided that I'd do the only logical thing: dye it instead.

Also logical: if you're going to be dyeing, you should make some batik to dye, too.
Super logical: set up the batik in the basement so you can catch up on The Voice while you stamp the wax on the fabric.

Next logical step: without pausing to clean up your batik kit (the wax does have to cool after all), set up dye baths in the bathroom. (You can find my tutorial on immersion dyeing here.)

Next logical step: without pausing to clean up the batik kit, and only minimally cleaning up the dye baths, start boiling off wax in the kitchen. Also, while you're in there, make some banana bread.

See how that happened? 3 rooms full of craftastic mess. Made me laugh. And then clean like the wind. I'm usually the tidy one.

In the end, the house was cleaner when Jon came home than when he left and I was pretty pleased with my fabric. This picture shows the Splendor 1920 originals on the right and the overdyed prints on the left. Most were overdyed in shades of blue, but a one was in a bronze-colored dye.

Here they are with some fabrics pulled from the stash and some of the batik fabrics I made.

I've already made some of the fabrics into half-square triangles.

This isn't the way I'm going to use those HSTs, but I always get a kick out of looking at manipulated fabric next to the original.

Now, who wants some banana bread?

Glimma

2012-11-19T23:00:00.000-05:00

One of the fabric lines I was so super-excited to get my hands on at Quilt Market was "Glimma" by Lotta Jansdotter.

I've already begun playing with it. First, laid out all of the charm squares. I decided not to use brightest colors yet. They went into the stash.

From the stash, I pulled out some solids to match my chosen charm squares.

Then I added in some stashed prints.

I decided to make a log cabin quilt because while I've made log cabin blocks for others, I've never made one for myself (or a whole quilt of them!) I cut a bunch of strips of the fabrics.

The design wall was so useful as I built a bunch of cabins simultaneously.

This type of fabric play is a large part of the reason that I keep a somewhat large stash. I love the choices it provides at the start of a project and also the flexibility to change course as I go without having to stop and run to the shop. In this case, I started with a lot of medium value fabrics, but I ended up really loving the lightest fabrics and the darkest ones. So, I went with that, and made some dark blocks and some light. Here's the quilt as I left it...21 blocks done, 14 to go.

The plan is to add mostly light cabins...two more rows to the top.

New Favorites

2012-11-01T15:00:00.000-04:00

1. Going to market. Quilt Market was quieter and less hectic than I thought it would be. I was really worried that the environment would automatically trigger a crazy migraine (big places with noises bouncing around are a problem for me), but my head stayed pretty normal, so I was happy.

I was able to get through my to do list: that list had a couple of categories: manufacturing needs for my etsy shop and networking needs related to the blog and getting more of my quilts into magazines. While it was fun to see the fabric designers' booths in person and sometimes even get to chat with the designers, I tried not to fangirl.

2. I made an exception to my "no fangirling" rule for Carolyn Friedlander. You may have seen (and gotten wanty over) previews of her fabric line Architextures (due out soon).

But her quilts and her quilting are so awesome it makes me swear and pull out my hair.

I want her to teach me all of the things!
I may have told her as much and done a little dance for her. :-)

3. Meeting quilters in person. It's nice to put faces (real, 3-dimensional faces!) to blogs and flickr-streams. It's also amazing how honest and open people are in person. I've always felt myself a bit at odds with the SUPER NICEY NICE culture of online quilters, probably because my RealJob is one where giving someone criticism = doing them a favor. And I have a personal and professional disposition towards making distinctions. Anyway, I find that I'm much better able to have the type of conversations I want in person--honest, respectful, but tricky conversations. I found myself talking with a lot of people about how weird it was to see so many things trying to brand themselves as "modern" or for "modern quilters" and (a) completely missing the boat, (b) commercializing the "modern quilt" space to the point of ickiness, and (c) making useless, divisive distinctions.

4. Eating this dish:

I can't even describe how good it is! Get the recipe here: Butternut Squash Salad with Farro and Pepitas (I used barley in place of farro and toasted pumpkin seeds instead of pepitas).

5. Seeing quilts in person. This of course includes seeing my very own Kelp Quilt hanging in the Modern Quilt Guild showcase. It was the only bee quilt that was hanging, so I was really glad it was there, because bees and collaboration are really important and should be celebrated and displayed.

If you are new to this quilt, check out this post for a tutorial explaining how to make your own:
Kelp Quilt Tutorial
And check out these posts to watch the Kelp Quilt grow over time:
the proposal
getting blocks back from bee members
pieced but not quilted
finished

(All bee members are listed, sorry that the names aren't easily read in this photo).

I really enjoyed seeing all the quilts hanging in the showcase and in the festival more generally. It was so cool to get up close and see the stitching and amazing craftsmanship. I also liked cruising by the show at different times to see how busy the show was and which quilts were getting attention. To see more of the quilts, check out my friend Lynn's blog post here: The Little Red Hen
and/or the Modern Quilt Guild's post here: The Modern Quilt Guild.

A Halloween Quilt

2012-10-22T15:30:00.000-04:00

As you may recall, I decided a couple of weeks ago to use the spooky batik fabrics I made to make a Halloween quilt. Well, the top is complete!

I've already shown it to it's intended recipient, my boyfriend Jon. As you can see from his smile here, he likes it!

Halloween is one of Jon's favorite holidays and I'm going to miss the big parties this year because I'll be at Quilt Market. I figured a quilt was a good way to try to make it up to him.

Most of the quilt blocks are a stack-and-whack improv variation of a pinwheel. I like to call them Spooky Triangles. I started out thinking that I might follow my friend Natalie's tutorial for pinwheel blocks you can find her tutorial here: Wonky Pinwheel Tutorial

Awesome, right? However, Natalie uses squares of neutral fabrics and adds colors to either side. This isn't exactly what I wanted to do as I wanted to vary where there was color and where there was neutrals. Also, I didn't have scraps of fabric, I had yardage, and Natalie's tutorial works best with scraps.

Next, I looked a this page in Denyse Schmidt's new book Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration:

I liked how the values switch places, but I wasn't interest in making a quilt exactly like the one depicted. I decided to find my own way to get a similar effect, which I'm sharing with you today.

Step 1:
Select two pieces of fabric of different values (one dark, one light). Press your fabric.

Step 2:
Place the fabrics on top of each other right-sides-up. Cut both pieces to 9.5" inches square.

Step 3: Decide where you'd like your triangle to point. In this case, I've decided the triangle will point to the lower-right corner, so I'm cutting a triangle off of the upper-left corner (the opposite corner.) I'm cutting a triangle that is about 3x3x4. Any size is fine and should vary.

Step 4: Cut from the opposite corner to one of the points you just made in Step 3.

Step 5: Now do the other new point made in Step 3 to the same corner.

Your cut block should look like this.

Step 6:

Take the center pieces from each fabric and stitch them to the the small triangle cut in step 3 (of the other fabric) with a 1/4" seam.

Step 7: Press the seams away from the center.

Step 8:

Attach another side to the central triangle. Proceed carefully. It is easy to get mixed up and attach the triangles the wrong way. Remember that all the points are in one corner and the big edges are in another.

You can attach the final side without pressing first.

Step 9:
Press the block so that all seams are away from the central triangle.

Step 10: Trim the blocks.

I trimmed my blocks to 8" square, keeping the sharp point in the block, but cutting off the others.

Ouila! You now have two blocks! If you wanted to make a lap-sized quilt, you'll need just 46 more!

Notice that the city print is still upright in both of these blocks. I love that! I can't stand it when fabrics end up on their sides or upside down. Please note that if you use a one-way print (a print with a "top" and "bottom") you'll need to vary where your triangles point in Step 3 and throughout cutting, because you can't simply rotate the triangles without putting the fabric on its side or upside down.

It helps to use a design wall to keep track of your blocks. These blocks have been placed to show that they are both in the upper-left of a set of four.

If you want to make something similar to my Halloween quilt in overall effect, here are a couple of additional notes: about 1/3rd of the blocks are NOT spooky triangles. I'm not the biggest fan of block-based quilts--they look too controlled/soulless/tidy for me--I find that messing around puts a little bit of extra life into a quilt.

Here's a picture with lines pointing to most of the non-spooky triangle blocks:
-the green lines point to traingles that are more like mountains than windmill blades.
-the blue points to a pair of block that just have a diagonal stripe
-the pink ones point to other variations

Some variation was also made by beginning step 1 with a piece of patchworked fabric, rather than a whole piece. This usually happened because I was low on fabric, but I really liked the way it turned out!

Some of the other variation was made by sticking extra bits of color in as below. This is me just deciding to spice things up by digging through the scrap bin!

And my favorite block was made when I messed up in Step 8 and then, instead of unpicking and resewing, I just kept going and made some weird spikes out of my wrongly done blocks!

Did anyone else make a Halloween quilt this year? I'm surprised that I made a holiday quilt and that I might make another one to celebrate the coming of Winter.

Anyone is free to use this tutorial to construct a quilt; I just ask that they credit me, Rossie, with the design or inspiration. If you use the tutorial and feel so moved, please throw a buck or two in my tip jar (no obligation). Rest assured, the money goes into my business account and I will pay taxes on it through the business.

(a) I often feel that quilt patterns are over-priced, especially if I can tell just by looking at something how it was made. I am almost never willing to pay $8 for a PDF quilt pattern. However, I would be willing to give someone a dollar or two for using the idea they brought to my attention, I think you might be like me.

(b) I'm a copy-leftist. As such, I don't think it is possible or moral to claim ownership over most ideas or to try to control an idea. I'm interested in people's willingness to volunteer payment for inspiration.

(c) I have bills to pay. When this goes reasonably well, I can post more quilts on my blog, rather than keeping them secret while waiting for them to show up in magazines.