Katie

Phew, I’m home cleaning up all my messes.  I simply dropped and ran from everything as I flew or drove teaching here, there and all over.  I’ve always been a lover of people and the adventure of visiting new places is in my blood.  Words can’t even explain what a fun, amazing, and inspiring time it was hanging out with EVERY ONE of you, but I’m certainly happy to not drag a hundred pounds of quilts around or live out of my carry-on for a bit.  With that many quilts, you’ve got no room for clothing;)

As I folded my Heart Value Quilt at the end of the bed this morning it occurred to me that I’ve made quite a few quilts and patchwork projects with this graphic symbol, the shape might even rival stars by now.  Poor Jefe.

And I’ve got another.  Actually I have two of the same design, but one using the wrong colored thread and wrong quilt design that might or might not ever make it to these pages.  Mistakes and experience make the best learning tools.

I’ve been tagged on IG by some creative quilters and their inspirational heart shapes using the improvisational triangle from Quilting Modern and thought about a little twist on it.  This fractured heart image using the Double-Trouble Block stuck in my head.

I pulled out a bunch of half square triangles from another design idea that never panned out, added an improv triangle and popped them up on the design wall, filling in the blanks from stash for the background.

I love it when ideas work.

In Seattle this time of year you have to take advantage of the light when you can for photos, but the problem was the quilt wasn’t/isn’t still 100% done.   Since the sun was a shining and I hadn’t yet sewn the binding down to the back I used Steam a Seam tape which is a double-sided adhesive to keep the binding in place.  It’s a good tricky trick if you need a photo of a ‘finish’ for a show.

Making smaller quilts makes for smaller pieces for backing.  I think I’m on my second year of piecing backs from stash and no dent in stash has been yet sensed.

The quilt top came from those pieced blocks and stash as well.  Piecing a quilt from stash is a little more doable now that I’m scaling quilts down in size for easier travel.  Run out of that blue?  No problem, just grab another similar value of the color.  That piece too small?  No problem, sew 2 scraps together and cut square.  I love all the texture it adds.

I quilted out from the center in a quartered-V shape with Mettler white thread.  I’ve been using this brand of thread for years for quilting tops. I’ve learned quite a few tricks for quilting this design that I teach in my straight line quilting bucket class to keep it flat. I go for a stitch length of about a 3 on the Berninas.

Like everything I make I ask myself, “Is this one teachable?” For sure!  And once I back into the best teaching methods I’ll have the class run solo and finally get a pattern together for those of you that have asked.

I love having multiple examples of what students can do with the improvisational quilting techniques I teach in workshops, so when I taught the Double-Trouble workshop in B.C. and South Florida MQG this season I had another new sample.

I’ve updated the available Open Sew Studio dates for April.

 I’ve got some traveling peeps coming through Seattle requesting workshops at the studio.  Perhaps you’d like to join.  I’ve got a Saturday in April focusing on Straight Line Quilting that combines the quilting technique we practice into some useful buckets and a May weekday workshop for the Improvisational Strip Piecing workshop I call Psychedelic Baby.

I’ll be back once I have the new classes ready to roll.

Hope you’re getting crafty.