Modern X

I'm asked a lot what I do with my finished quilts. The truth is ... not much. I've given a few away to family and friends, and I usually have one draping on the couch that I snuggle under (and which I swap out once every few months). I don't even sleep under my own quilts! I know, I know ... but I don't have much of a say in that.

So I'm excited that this new quilt I've just finished, I do have a use for! It is a wallhanging that is going to go in our side entrance hallway.

This pattern is called Modern X by Christa Watson, it is a simple half-square triangle quilt, but made interesting in the fabric choice and fabric placement. That pop of wasabi is just so beautiful!

Since it's a super modern wallhanging, I kept the quilting very, very simple with all straight lines that basically follow the angles of the triangles. In other words, I used the same design that was on the cover of the pattern. But I didn't feel a need to improve on what's already perfect.

I absolutely love this, and I'm so excited to see it hanging in my hallway! But that's not enough ... now I'm thinking I want to make a throw-sized version of this quilt. It'll be quick and satisfying, exactly what we need in times like this.

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Linking up with: My Quilt Infatuation, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Powered by Quilting, and Meadow Mist Designs.

Moon Dance ~ Ready to Quilt

All quilts are special. But some quilts are more special than others.

I still remember the first time I saw Moon Dance by Sew Kind of Wonderful. It was during QuiltCon 2018 in the booth of You + Me for Hoffman Fabrics. I stared at it for a good while, completely in awe.

When the pattern was released a few months later, I bought it immediately. But I sat on it for 2 years. I wanted to make sure that I had the right fabric, the right skills, was in the right mood, everything. As usual, fabric is where I tend to mess up the most, and have the most amount of quilter's regret for. I decided to use Observatory by Alison Glass, one of my favorite collections ever.

Cutting and stacking took a long, long time ...

Sew Kind of Wonderful is known for their rulers and their patterns, but my favorite thing about them is that their patterns include a lot of leeway. I consider it curved piecing for people who can't do curved piecing (like me). When the blocks come out, they look pretty awful and skewed. But once I do the trim-down, they actually look pretty good!

The moment of truth comes when I finally place some of the blocks on the design wall and decide whether I like it or not. Usually by this point, even if I don't love it, I'll still finish it. However, I definitely breathed a sigh of relief when I realized that I really, really love this fabric with this pattern! The fabrics truly seems to glow.

Assembling was a bit painful but I got through it by doing it in small chunks. And anyway, the end result is worth it. I'm so in love with this quilt top! If I finish it this year (which is not likely given how much I need to emotionally detach myself from it), it has a good chance of being my favorite finish of the year.

Pisces

About a year and a half ago (has it been that long already?) I was signed up to take a class with Sharon McConnell of Color Girl Quilts. The pattern she was teaching was Pisces, a double curve quilt using her Classic Curves ruler. I had spent a few hours precutting fabric (Dot Crazy by Modern Quilt Studio) the night before and I was ready to go.

But I never made it to class. The weather that day was icy and slushy, and on the way there, my car got stuck going up a slight incline. It took me 20 minutes to extricate myself, and I knew that on the way to the quilt guild, it could very well happen again, so I headed home. I was bummed about missing out on the class, and knew the only way I would feel better is if I made this quilt anyway.

Well ... I did! Through Sharon's instructions in the pattern, I managed to make those double curves. I really liked the finished top with the black / white contrasting background, and the Dot Crazy fabric started to look more Asian the more I stared at it.

The most prominent design I used in this quilt is just straight lines, spaced half an inch apart. But I didn't just want to do straight lines, so I used a few other designs like plume feathers and continuous curves which I carried across each diagonal.

I quilted several different designs for the arches. This is my first time quilting in an arched space, which is sort of like a linear strip but a little more difficult. I think they came out okay, though!

After an intense quilt like Swoon and before the next intense quilt, I usually pick something simpler to work on. Occasionally my plan backfires and my simple turns into something hugely complicated (like Rafters) but Pisces didn't. It was the perfect relaxing quilt to work on.

I think I'm finally coming around to the idea that I don't have to quilt every quilt to death, and quilts that are not quilted to death can still be interesting and beautiful. Because I'm very happy with how Pisces turned out!

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Linking up with: My Quilt Infatuation, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Powered by Quilting, and Meadow Mist Designs.

Block Chain Quilt Along

When the Block Chain quilt along was announced by Christa Watson, I was hesitant about joining. I had just gotten home from QuiltCon and I had so many projects I wanted to work on, not to mention the mountain of quilt tops that need to be quilted. Do I really want to add another one to the list?

As it turns out, the answer is yes. A month ago I would never have imagined that we're in the situation we're in today. Schools are closed, events are cancelled, and life is uncertain from one day to the next. If sewing and quilting keeps us sane, then I'm so grateful for it.

The fabric I chose is a charm pack from Ruby Star Society, Crescent by Sarah Watts. It's a lovely line that contains unicorns and critters, but doesn't feel juvenile at all. Although the quilt along only started this week, I already plunged ahead working on mine. The piecing is very easy, and Christa's instructions as always are crystal clear.

The way this quilt is constructed is wonderful because I don't end up having any borders or sashings to add. (I hate those.) I'm in love with the way this top came out!

As usual with quilt tops I really, really love, I can't quilt on it quite yet. It needs to marinate for awhile so that I become less attached!

Swoon

When I'm about halfway done machine quilting a quilt, I start thinking about what quilt top to quilt next. While I was quilting Color Pop, a slew of candidates came to mind. So I was very surprised that when I went to my rather alarmingly large stash of quilt tops, I pulled out Swoon. It was not even on the candidate list!

But it was calling to me, asking to be quilted, while some of my other quilt tops seem rather reluctant to leave the shelf. Swoon is a pretty new quilt top for me, as it's only several months old, instead of several years old like some. But it was a quilt that I was incredibly unsure about due to my wild fabric choices, so I wanted to finish it to put that uncertainty to rest, one way or another.

I wrestled with two choices for quilting Swoon: treating the negative space as one backdrop and doing a lot of improv style quilting over it, or dividing up the negative space to create secondary spaces and filling them. I chose the latter because it is easier for my mind to process.

The Greek cross-like shapes in between the blocks provided a big backdrop for lots of fun fillers, and I used that space to showcase lots of nature motifs such as leaves and feather swirls.

For all of the other negative spaces, I filled it with feathers and wishbones. I wanted quick and easy designs in those areas that had a predictable flow.

The Swoon blocks themselves were quilted very simply with geometric designs. I almost always do this (Urban Mod was a rare exception), because I've found that straight line designs always look good with prints, while more complex designs can be a bit of a hit or miss. This also allows the fabric to pop forward and take center stage.

After so much uncertainty about this quilt, I'm happy to report that I really, really love the end result! It has such a Mediterranean vibe that goes so well with the nature motifs, and I'm not sure if I like the blocks themselves, or the quilting I did in the negative space more. Either way, I'm super happy with how it turned out!

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Linking up with: My Quilt Infatuation, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Powered by Quilting, and Meadow Mist Designs.

QuiltCon 2020

Ah, QuiltCon. My favorite quilt show. The only show I feel like I must attend. The place where I feel overwhelmed and inspired, intimidated and rejuvenated, all at the same time.

Last weekend I attended QuiltCon 2020 in Austin, and as always, it was an exhausting but fantastic time. I tried not to overload myself, but still ended up with 4 classes over 2 days. It was supposed to be 5, but I had to cancel one at the last minute.

I took 2 longarm classes (Fill It With Style, More Than Just Lines) with Jodi Robinson where I learned some great ideas for background fillers. Sometimes I feel like I'm in a quilting rut where all I can come up with are swirls and more swirls, so it's nice to take a class to get more ideas! However, I realize that I don't like the longarm portion of these classes. I'd rather they be drawing / design classes so I'm spending time learning new designs instead of spending time on a totally foreign longarm machine.

My third class is called Making Color Work with Heather Black and it's a very interesting class, totally different from anything I've ever done before. The class uses watercolor to explore color theory, and though I knew most of the theory, actually experimenting with them is a totally different experience. Now, I'll never get tint, shade, and saturation confused again! My watercolor skills are horrendous, but it was a fun class and I think I shall play with these color ideas more ... digitally, that is.

My last class is Serpentine Line Designs with Angela Walters. I'm a total Angela groupie so I always try to get a class with her whenever I can. I always feel so inspired being in the same room as her, enjoying her energy, humor, and enthusiasm, and of course learning from her. She is such an idea factory!

Taking classes is great, and form 49% of my reason for being at QuiltCon. But what is the 51%? The shopping, of course! At most quilt shows, I'm interested in about 10% of the booths. At QuiltCon, I'm interested in all the booths. I had originally planned to drive so I didn't have a restriction on how much I can buy (budget notwithstanding) but at the last minute I scrapped my plans and flew to Austin instead, so I could only take home what can fit in my suitcase ...

... which still turned out to be a lot. This is due to me bringing as little clothes as possible so I can squeeze in as much shopping as possible. Hey, I've got my priorities!

Scrappy Market Tote

The Scrappy Market Tote is a class by Christina Cameli on Bluprint, and I have watched it quite a few times, but I kept procrastinating on making one of my own. Improv terrifies me, and scraps intimidate me. So imagine how I feel when I'm faced with a project that's both improv and scraps.

But I finally decided to give it a shot. I'm using a palette of yellows, blues, and greens, and I combed through only the top of my scrap bins and already I was shocked at how much scraps I have accumulated over the last few years.

I then made a variety of improv patchwork, just putting things together however I want. Bias edges? No problem! Weird angles? No problem! Chop up whatever, add whatever. Anything goes. It's both terrifying and freeing at the same time. Improv completely goes against my usual factory assembly process, so it's challenging but also exciting because I never quite know how it's going to look.

After that, I auditioned which of those will make it into the final bag. This is the part I really had to rely on instinct, to tell me what works where, and especially if I need to insert extra things here or there to break up a space, to unify a space, or to add more jazz.

Since the panel is quite busy, I'm really glad for the big solid piece at the bottom of the bag to help tone it down and tie it together, and the matchstick quilting also helps unify it. However, I haven't done walking foot quilting on this scale in years, and now I remembered why I learned to free-motion quilt: because I hate doing walking foot quilting.

After all that, assembling this bag was the easy part. I also made a false bottom for it to give it a bit of structure. I'm super proud of this bag, because it far exceeded my expectations. I didn't think I could handle scraps or improv, so I'm quite amazed at how it turned out. It's a really gorgeous and happy bag to look at, and it's quite big too!