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:: Quiet, Light & Bright ::

December 23, 2020 By Katie

Christmas doesn’t quite hold the same decoration status Halloween does around here, but I’m a big fan of lights, pillows, buying Christmas themed fabric and doing nothing.

sew Katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio

I’ve got quite the mix of patchwork, Alexander Henry, and some Rashida Coleman fabrics made into pillows. Of course I’ve purchased more with the aspirations of adding to the pile.

The fabrics stretched on the frames above are older IKEA and Marimekko with some left overs made into pillows too.

Spare minutes on the couch are currently limited, but I have been sneaking in some binding while getting in on some Boss puppy snuggles.

We’re sleeping nightly under my Christmas quilt even though I’ve got two sides of binding to still sewn down. I’m hoping to have it popped into the washer this week.

There are pillows to match;)

Generally there is some gift making, but not so much this year.

I’ve got some more masks, zip pouches, free motion oven mitts and some napkins done.

I generally push repeat on purchasing a Norfolk fir. There would be too many displaced plants if we bought a large tree in and we have about two ornaments, so it always just has lights.

With everyone home it’s way harder to sneak new plants in, so having an excuse to buy them is slightly thrilling,

And the timing of some older plants blooming is impeccable.

I did a major IKEA run a few weeks ago when all the Christmas lights were on sale and got the star and tree lights for all the little people in our lives.

Plus a little something to brighten up the dark corners of the kitchen.

This holiday we’ll really embrace the doing nothing when it comes to cooking. I froze leftover ham and my favorite cheese and cream potatoes from Thanksgiving, a pie has been ordered, so a version of a kale salad is the only thing to make on the big day.

Since we’re still glamping with our minimal kitchen made somewhat complete with a small convection oven there will be no production baking of cookies this year. I’m not lacking in other kitchen cookware with shortbread pans and rosette irons at the ready for something new.

I’m not sure what the New Year will bring for resolutions, or anything for that matter. I guess I’ve got a few days to decide. Over the years I’ve run the gamut from making my bed daily, to running 5x a week to see where I land by the end of 365.

This year there will be walking, donating to the food bank at the grocery check out, but maybe a new recipe a week or mastering cooking in my clay pot (yeah that’s not a Snoop Dog cookbook up there). I generally have a pile of cookbooks at my side, so there’s no excuse of lack of inspiration, and of course some quilting;)

Cheers peeps, I hope you all are able to find comfort and provide some.

xoxo Katie

:: Dialed In Quilt ::

November 20, 2020 By Katie

sew Katie did | Seattle Modern Sewing & Quilting Studio | Spinning Webs Quilt

You know fall has arrived in Seattle when you more than occasionally face plant into spider webs. Considering its seasonal theme, I thought it time appropriate to finish up this quilt. I think it was going on its 6th year unquilted.

Obviously, I missed the seasonal window for posting it;)

How to quilt it was the problem, I just couldn’t decide. I thought about starting in the middle, echoing the octagons/spiderweb shape with angled straight lines, but that would be a lot of turning and I’m a lazy quilter. If I can run my quilting off the edge I do.

Finally getting some lines of quilting in was like shooting a current through it. It just made it come to life. Without a seam to readjust, I wasn’t completely sure how the measuring of the “V’ing” lines would turn out. It’s pretty easy to have the quilting get pretty wonk by the time you get to the outside edge when using this design.

I was super thrilled, it was no hassle at all.

I’m not a fan of the feel of a faced binding, but quilt needed one. I wish I would have had more of the yarn dyed Essex from the front. It would have framed the backing fabric a bit better, but we’re working with what we have here.

I’ll definitely be offering this block as an improv workshop starting in the studio when the world returns to right side up. It already has its person, they just haven’t been created yet.

I planned on getting a post of this quilt up by Halloween and can’t remember if the weather was good, so I was outside gardening, or if it was bad, so I was cooking and baking, I’ll use both as an excuse.

When you see these photos you’d think all I do is bake, but trust me, I share with my neighbors.

For Halloween and Day of the Dead I made pies and improv paper cut some stencils to decorate them.

The pumpkin was just ok. From can, pre-made crust, mixed with a physics lesson reminder that powdered sugar melts into anything with moisture. Way better presentation on a flourless chocolate cake.

I hadn’t made a cream pie in about 20 years, so in March I decided it was time. Banana cream is my favorite, though I’ll take a chocolate or a coconut with zero complaint. I’ve tried all the variations my cookbooks have to offer, but I faze back to the recipe in Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook. Cocoa powder works great for these stencil designs and of course what is better with bananas than chocolate?

With a round of over-ripe bananas I tried the NYT’s Nutella Banana bread. I think I’ve found my forever banana bread recipe. I’d just make it next time with chocolate chips and avoid the palm oil ingredient in Nutella.

I also found my forever recipe for oatmeal fudge bars. There was a box mix we loved as kids called Fudge Jumbles. This recipe is probably better than my 13 year-old brain remembers.

I’m usually reminded it’s time to bake of batch of almond kiss cookies when I see the kisses all wrapped in their holiday outfits. I don’t see many cookies in my near future since our kitchen is still in glamping stage. I’m baking about 5 at a time in a little convection oven , but If I’m going to make a cookie I make these.

Of course I’ve made a bunch of savory food, it’s just not as exciting to photograph. I have perfected my hot and sour soup and chicken pho during all this craziness.

I still have blooms happening in the yard though I’m largely in ignore stage now.

My cosmos from seed were really late to bloom and have been hanging strong ever since.

The snails love to eat the tips of these.

Last Friday the weather report for the unforeseen future looked solid for zero time socializing outside, so we took advantage of the last night, pack up some blankets, made some walk-tails and headed over to our friends for happy hour and a fire.

Roan and I finally wore Jefe down and we adopted this sweet little mutt to mix things up and keep us on the up and up. We now have a Jefe and a Boss in the house.

He’s already got his own quilt.

Lastly, Clark County Quilters is holding their annual quilt festival online starting today, so go check them out. I had planned on joining them as the featured quilter this year. I always enjoy the teaching, but was looking forward to a walk and talk of my quilts. I thought it sounded like a fun approach that I hadn’t done before. They will still be displaying quilts virtually and I’m guessing with all of us spending more time at home it should be quite a show.

I’ve got some tips on how I quilt a king size quilt on my domestic next time. I hope you’re finding joy in the things that keep you busy too;)

|| Small Wins ||

October 23, 2020 By Katie

Well the daily dose of sparkly bright exposure I like for photos is getting a little harder to come by. The days are getting shorter and those shadows longer, so snapping the right ones takes a little more planning. I find looking through photos an uplifting visual reminder that there is progress, I’m doing stuff daily, even if it doesn’t feel like much, and that I’m still curious about new things. I’ve got this.

So now, I’m going to photo bomb you;)

The theme of what I’m up to has remained constant though I have somewhat turned my back on the garden.

I basted my Star Player quilt with one pin to spare while watching the hawks game a few weeks ago and am still working out some sample quilts for a pattern.

Adaptability to our new world continues. Remember my little Livudio? ‘Livudio’ was my family’s portmanteau for the living room/studio shared space in our little old house. Jefe’s in the studio/office full time, so I decided to try out the dinudio (dining room/studio). I’ll not be missing the dusting involved in the aftermath of quilting this.

I sewed up some masks for my favorite cashiers and a birthday girl.

I plan to get outside somehow to celebrate with the full blue moon. I’ve been reading and visualizing what Halloween will be like this year, but regardless, as I showed you in the last post the house is ready.

Since I have no excuse I’ve been walking almost daily. Mostly alone, but I’ve got Jefe and a few friends in the weekly rotation. We mask up, catch up and explore West Seattle. I love looking at what people do with their houses and gardens, especially the Halloween decor, which seems to be full throttle this year.

Saturday was a celebratory day. We took a long walk up to Highpoint so that we could drop our ballots.

I love the creativity of the signs we’ve been seeing and limited myself to just one.

We’ve got garage doors at the front, back and side of our garage that we can open up, so we moved the lawn furniture in for Sunday’s games to get out of the pouring rain. Who ever thought a Snuggly was a bad idea might be reconsidering.

I got myself a couple little heaters too.

Quilts are great, but nothing beats a Pendleton in cold weather, though there was talk of a sleeping bags 😉

It’s a mutual relationship, I fuss over my houseplants and they return the love to me with an abundance of blooms. I’m not sure about the mushroom and succulent sharing a pot, but it might be the best example of coexisting regardless of your differences that I’ve seen in 2020.

A week of democracy and apple pie, or maybe rhubarb and sweet potato sausage hand pies because that’s what you have in the freezer. 9pm didn’t make for good photos of the banana cream pie.

I’ve finally got a couple of things up on craigslist. My featherweight needs a local home, listing here. I bought it for retreats and always end up taking my huge Juki. It’s been serviced and rarely used, but will need to be oiled. It has a brand new locking case that looks like an original.

The antique sewing case was a hand me down that takes up space in the basement. ~~It also needs a home.~~ SOLD. I’ll be listing an industrial snap press and vintage powder coated turquoise machine too.

Looking like the rain should clear here for the weekend, so I’m going to try to psyche myself up for some gardening. Sounds like a good opportunity for some photos!

I’ve got this, you’ve got this, we’ve got this 😉

xoxo Katie

:: Spooky Things ::

October 8, 2020 By Katie

Well peeps, I’m not sure we need Halloween this year to make things any spookier, but with a little more time than usual on my hands I was only able to put off the urge for decorating until mid-September.

We’ve had perfect foggy fall weather, the ferry horn blaring and sadly an orange sun and moon due to the smoke from the fires to kick off the season.

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | log cabin improv pillows

My seasonal handmade items are for the most part samples for classes with the benefit of fueling my love of Halloween, making pillows and decorating.

Two of my favorites are my pieced Ghastlies pillows created for an improv log cabin workshop when I first opened the studio. There were always dreams of an A-line skirt with this fabric, but the few I made over the years revealed improv and apparel making don’t mix.

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Quilting Modern

Fussy cutting the Hammer Girl and the witch were no brainers. I have no idea if the story is true (kind of fitting of the times eh?), but a student once told me she took a tour of the Alexander Henry studio and it was revealed that the witch is actually too polite to flip the bird, but that’s what she’s really gesturing with her pointed finger. Some of us can relate right now I’m sure;)

Why do we get so attached to fabric? I just traded the last of my orange Ghastlies fabric and I had to remind myself when I felt a tug at my heart for keeping it that I’d likely in my lifetime never create another thing with it. In return I received fabric that has at least a 10% chance of making it into a project.

I also use the pillows as samples for when I teach invisible zipper installation. If you’re looking to add a new sewing skill to your toolkit I’ve got a tutorial here. You can do it!

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Spiderweb Quilt Block

I usually teach Spiderweb quilt blocks this time of year. I just finished a faced binding on the solids one above as a sample for a new class using one of my go-to techniques, improv strip piecing.

The studio needs some Halloween spirit as well and I love to buy Halloween fabric as much as Christmas, so I made some thread/scrap catchers for the table. In my straight line quilting workshop it seemed a waste to not make something with our practice panels so we turn them into this fun bucket project. Since we can’t be together, visit the lovely Christina Cameli to get the bucket pattern and her insight and skills with free motion quilting or practice some straight line quilting ideas.

There’s a rabbit hole of good projects and techniques to adapt to Halloween, like a quilt-as-you-go trick or treat bag or paper piecing. I’d been making hanging locker bags with some of the middle school kids that come sew and thought to merge it with this paper pieced Skull from Twiddletails as a hanging candy bag and I’ve just reminded myself I’ve got it all printed larger for a pillow;)

Of course there is the endless and awesome Halloween bric-a-brac you can buy, but I had to put the brakes on that.

We did have a rainy week since I was last here, so I packed the freezer with some soups and put some cans of pumpkin and gifted apples to use in muffins.

I also froze some unbaked hand pies so we’d have something to munch on besides the usual lunch of sandwiches. Two of my favorites are Back in the Day Bakery’s sweet potato & sausage hand pies, and the chicken pot pies from Lucinda Scala Quinn’s Mad Hungry Cravings. Having never made a cream cheese crust I kept it to one batch, only to pressed repeat the next day it was so good and easy.

Lucinda’s book also had a tamale pie that was tasty.

We’re doing our best to physically distance, but still enjoy some company. We were able to watch the debates last week and football the week before with friends since the weather cleared. The pop up tent might be the next step.

I made a few masks for myself and others and basted my King size Star Player quilt during Sunday’s Hawks game. I finished binding my Spinning Webs shown above and if I get some brighter days and a cooperating human I should get some photos of that up next. RBG fabric is from Spoonflower and I bought some nose wires from Modern Domestic that function better than pipe cleaners.

I wasn’t feeling very productive about my week, but just writing this all down makes me realize there have been a lot of small wins.

I hope for your mental health you’re all checkin in with your small wins too. I’m sure you’re all kickin’ ass.

Cheers. xoxo, Katie

:: Reoriented Quilt ::

September 24, 2020 By Katie

It was on a whim, but we ran away to the Oregon coast at the end of August. For a whole weekend we were able to blank out 2020’s deluge of crap. Adding fires and the death of RBG to the mix dropped the year to one star for me. I feel this quote from Ironman sums up the break we all need, “Sorry, Earth is closed today.”

It’s all overwhelming and hard to process.

The good news, or the bad news depending how you look at it is none of us are unicorns. COVID has changed EVERYTHING FOR ALL OF US. I’m leaning hard on my friends and family, beyond grateful for what I have, and still embracing my mental health strategy of dealing by keeping on with celebrating the small wins.

Like binding a quilt that’s been around for years AND actually getting photos of it.

sew Katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Reoriented Quilt

So as to not waste all that precious van time for hand sewing, I made it a priority to add binding to two quilts before hitting the road. This in itself is a feat since the studio hasn’t held my attention in months.

Reoriented is one of those quilts I might have looked at in the early days of the word ‘modern’ being put in front of everything, including quilting, and thought someone pretty quickly got sick of making blocks and just decided to fill the rest with ‘negative space,’ but I’ve gotta say I actually like it.

I ran out of the shot cotton I was using to surround the blocks and expanded and filled in with a yarn dyed Essex linen. I like the effect it created through all that negative space.

The blocks are a smaller version of how I teach my improvisational strip piecing workshop. My mom taught me how to do my binding corners a bit differently and if you’re interested I have a little tutorial on that here.

I can’t help but think that during our time in Manzanita things seemed kind of… well… normal. Reflecting on this photo from the perspective of a quilt maker reminds me that I love how quilts can place us in certain time/events of our lives.

I’m still pulling fabric for quilt backs from stash. Even though I’ve been bulldozing through stash for them for years it doesn’t seem to be creating a hole or dent.

This quilt got an all over of vertical straight lines.

I finally bought a raised lap hoop. I haven’t gotten beyond placing the quilt in it and I’m not sure I’m so impressed with it for the cost. I’ll let ya know. I also have no idea what design I’ll be quilting yet;)

And actually a quilt finish really is a BIG win;)

We have a saying we use in our house from rafting days, “Take part in your own rescue.” Please, if you need help reach out to your people, talk to yourself like you would talk to those you love, celebrate your small wins, wear your mask (over your nose please), and check your voter’s registration here 🙂 In some states you only have two more weeks to make sure you’re registered, so today’s the day.

xoxo Katie

:: Wee Raindrops Quilt ::

September 9, 2020 By Katie

Though I never met a boot I didn’t like, I’m not somebody that craves fall. When people point out a wink of it at the end of August I jokingly tell them to shut up. September seems like this sweet spot in between, but things can really go either way in Seattle.

sew Katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting and Sewing Studio | Wee Raindrop Quilt

Turning my attention back to the studio/office/school room and mentally embracing the grey and rain is something I’ve begun planning for by taking inventory of some hand sewing I’d like to do.

The Wee Raindrops quilt resurfaced. It was quilted and bound over 8 years ago, just missing its appliqué raindrops that had lived in my imagination long enough. Seemed an appropriate quilt to slowly start my adaptation.

It has a new home waiting for its person and the cooler weather to arrive. Perfect timing for all that lovely flannel on the back and binding.

One of the first quilty skills my mom taught me was how she creates appliqués making templates and that same technique is how I created the raindrops.

I started by freehand drawing and cutting the raindrop shape on a cereal box in a few sizes (or find the shape and print from the internet) An emery board for nails should smooth out any edginess to the curve.

Pick a scrap.

I go for one that’s at least a 1/4″ larger than my template.

Trace the template onto the wrong side of the scrap and trim a 1/4ish” from the line.

Starting at the bottom of the curve stitch just outside the drawn line with short stitches leaving a tail of thread at the beginning and end.

Pull the two tails to shape the fabric tightly around the template. At the raindrop’s point I sometimes clip a little of the extra bulk out or just fold one side over the other. Get your iron hot and if you have some starch give it a spray front and back.

Press and let cool. Once cooled I carefully pull the template out and place it face down on the ironing board to give it a final press from the front or clean up any issues.

From here I choose their placement and ladder stitched (invisible stitch, slip stitch, blind stitch) them down. Youtube has a worm hole of videos on this.

My thinking was that any free-motion quilting that wasn’t perfect could be covered up with an appliquéd raindrop and if they all fell off the quilt would still be structurally sound. It could be the perfect I-Spy or cute with some hand quilting stitches added around or on the appliqués.

It’s so happy and reminds me that rain is good;)

None of the appliqués are perfect and I was gifted a reminder that few things are, even in nature with one of my sunflowers this week. Yup;)

Ok, maybe tortes are perfect;), especially with a pile of billowy whipped cream;)

Plums from my alley are the star player right now. One of my favorite recipes is a plum torte with a third of the flour replaced by cornmeal.

Homegrown summer tomatoes and corn are also perfect.

I’ve gathered up three more unfinished projects that need either binding, mending, some appliqué and/or hand quilting and added them to the pile by the couch.

I’ve been able to subtly listen in on the remote learning that’s happening here while writing this and I’m hoping to add/delete the pile to keep busy and present if I’m needed. Yesterday it was a little sad on my walk to see kids through windows sitting alone at tables in front of computers, but I’ve been pretty impressed with the emotional support Roan’s teachers have been providing the students.

I hope you’re all etching out some sewing time or other good for you things too.

xoxo, Katie

:: Win Win ::

August 25, 2020 By Katie

Hey there;)

In my attempt to stay upbeat, I’m celebrating the small successes/wins in accomplishing literally anything.

Here’s why, I read that the word “anxiety” was trending on Twitter and it made me realize people in my small world were using the word more themselves in text and conversation. We were all feeling fatigued and unproductive. These are normal feelings when your world’s turned up-side-down, but I wondered if it was time to step away from the news a bit, and focus on small projects to mentally cope and gain some feeling of control in all this crazy.

Falling under the category of “if I only have time, I would do this” was to organize/or delete 7200+ photos into albums. I started it one morning rather impromptu, and it held my focus here and there through out the day. It was a small win, but filtering through the photos of our house reminded me that it’s so easy to forget all the big wins already made on its progress.

So this blog post isn’t the usual patchwork that you all signed up for and since design inspiration is something that circles through most of my obsessions I thought I’d share some of the house developments to celebrate the small and big wins.

We knew this house was “The One” when its listing popped up late on a Friday night. We were the first in Saturday morning and to place an offer. After 9 months of looking we knew it was a star player. We saw past the carpet and bars on the windows to see the house was well loved and had good bones.

Bye bye to sparkle paint and flowered carpet. Off with the 80s prom dress curtains and the Renoir Parisian cafe border wall paper. Yes, that actually ~~exists~~ existed.

We knew once we took up the carpet that there wasn’t any wood flooring at the front of the living room. We’re guessing this was once the porch and the old couple had absorbed it to make the living room larger. There was zero insulation down there as well.

There were different stains through out so having them match really gave the house more cohesion.

The previous owner, “Old Man Joe” as we call him had a wood shop in the basement. In my opinion, this is a horrible idea, but a testament to how much his wife loved him, for sawdust magically appears there, no matter how much I’ve vacuumed.

He made wood EVERYTHING for the house including the fireplace mantel. See those tiles? I’m sure there’s a story behind those and we still have a matching bathroom sink that has to go. A signature design for sure.

Since the brick was sanded in spots we decided to just paint it all. I’d like to restretch the wood print in the second photo to fit the opening, but that might be a small project that never sees a win.

The fireplace isn’t up to code and maybe on the list to come down next summer. The brickwork inside and out needs help, and we don’t exhaust an oil furnace through the chimney anymore. Once it’s gone and the new hearth set back we’ll gain space, light, and a better walkway flow to the adjacent little room. I’ve got all sorts of free-standing fireplace dreams on my pinboard.

The dining room windows I have to admit grew on me, especially once the bars were gone.

The mustard tint was dated, they were single paned, but the morning light through them was cheery and they opened. Plus there was a ledge for plants.

It was hard to decide, but we went with a lined obscured glass on all the east side windows in the living and little room. Our neighbors on that side are so close that the privacy is welcome. Someday we’ll finish patching the drywall surround.

The grid front window isn’t missed.

I love the front windows. We’re a total fishbowl from the street, so though I enjoy waving to people I know and don’t know from my couch we’re messing with the idea of panels and plants for privacy instead of a solid fence.

Here’s a little more realistic photo of what it all looks like in the morning and after I’ve moved the cookbooks out. At some point we want a front door with windows and be gone security gate.

There’s that pass through next to the fireplace to what was likely in the past a third bedroom. We call it the little room, Claudia’s or Chris’s room. There’s a small couch with storage that can be made into a bed.

Again with the wood, carpet and bars.

When we took the closet doors off to do the floors we discovered that the backs were modge podged with old posters and magazines, including the World’s Fair when it was in Seattle. There was an unconvincing conversation about them being art pieces in the living room, but I thought they should be hung and displayed where they belonged. Looks like I can count that under ‘win.’

My small win for the weekend was getting my cookbook collection into its new and expanded home. I think this storage will be temporary, but I’m excited to organize them in one place. The artwork and some houseplant rearranging will likely be the next win.

When we received the keys to the house we hosted a ‘post it party’ which basically meant we provided a keg, post it notes and sharpies and requested people post their ideas for what we should do to areas of the house. If you’d like to see the post about that it’s here. I highly recommend doing this if you find yourself with a fixer, it was really fun and we wouldn’t have thought of some of the perspectives.

Like these for above the mantel.

And for the walls.

We’re likely to welcome you to our 10 year remodel still in progress 40 years from now, but we’ve enjoyed the process and creative outlet, especially as a focus now. We’re so grateful.

I guess I’m mentally preparing myself and my family for the long hail in this current state and I want our home to be a visually/functional/happy place to help make that easier., especially with remote learning happening here soon.

Whether it’s sewing, cooking, gardening… I hope you’re all finding an outlet and focus for energy that’s beneficial to your mental health.

Keep it up. xo Katie

p.s. I made you lemon sour cream pie;)

:: Much to do about Nothing ::

August 7, 2020 By Katie

It’s been amazing out, so once I finished quilting my spiderweb last week I abandoned the studio again except for some clean up.

The light was so nice coming in the other morning that I thought I’d snap some photos of what I’ve been working on in rotation to share.

Several individuals have emailed me with interest about making their own Magic Number/ Star Quilt, so I thought I’d start working on a simple pdf pattern. It was hard to decide what color way to go with so I just started two at one time.

I last posted 5 quilt tops that need quilting, only to walk into the studio and realize I forgot this one on the design wall. I could probably count on one hand the number of quilts I’ve made from a pattern, but I was smitten enough with Modern Handcraft’s rendition of the Merry Gifts quilt by Sherri Falls from her book Holiday Wishes (affiliate link) that I intended to make my own someday. On a whim I decided the day had come and started pulling my solids from stash.

I don’t know why it always works for me this way, but there always seems to be limited quantities of the colors I want and no color card match, so lots of digging in scraps and Frankenstitching happened to pull together a few of the blocks.

Since I delightfully finished quilting Tangled Webs I guess I’m sticking to that number 5 of unquilted tops. I am dwelling over a faced binding for it and have another one in the hand binding stage, so I’ve got time to think it over. I split the 8 sections up and quilting them with “v”s. I really thought it was going to start buckling as the the “v”s got smaller, but reversing directions kept things in place.

My big push to piece Merry Gifts was to free up the larger design wall for a bunch of hearts I’ve got made, but no space for. I’ve doubled down on those as well, making one set with a mix of super white background so that I can play around with an additional improv stitch and flip triangle heart in the negative space and another set using Value to create the light and dark hearts. It’s been fun to try to get the colors tight.

The houses were an idea I had at the beginning of the healthy at home orders. Thinking goes that I would make one a day through out quarantine. As you can see things dragged on longer than my interest, but I’ve been finishing one here and there for a baby quilt and will pull some black into it for some breathing room. You can find the free pattern here (I might have one hand full now) and there is a peek-a-boo template to help fussy cut the doors. Digging through stash for that is the best part;)

That’s it peeps. If I can get some help with holding up some quilts here soon I’ll have some finishes to share next time.

xoxo, Katie

:: Quilting the Stack ::

July 27, 2020 By Katie

I’m officially burned-out on gardening, the kitchen was torn apart limiting the cooking (thank god), and I couldn’t face cleaning the basement. Just like the week before, I found myself spending most of last week in the studio. The summer light, windows open, and every wall full of inspiration has been good for my mood and spirit. All of us need a padded room, especially now.

So that my students have space I usually limit myself to one of the studio’s design walls, but being that I’m solo I’m taking over. An opportunity to focus on piecing the ridiculous amount of long forgotten quilt tops (and maybe start a few new ones;).

Since we weren’t going to be road tripping anytime soon I saw no need in getting to the binding for a hand-quilting project. I was stopping at the piecing or basting phase. Of course this also gives me time to overthink the quilting design;)

But I came to realize we’ve been spending a great deal of time in our back yard ~~socially~~ physically distancing with a few friends and family so my thought process shifted back to hand binding as another opportunity to get some work in on these visits and keep my hands busy.

So I thought I’d show you the stack.

Two contenders for quilting and binding are quilts I finished at a 2019 retreat with my Camp Run Amuck group. My first ‘world turned upside down’ finish was their triplet sister quilt here. All made with the same improvisational strip-piecing technique.

I love both of these way more than the first in the series. Their quilting will be an easy straight line grid of some sort.

After quilting my king size Hearts Value Quilt, I said I’d never do it again, but I’ve talked myself into quilting my Magic Numbers Star quilt myself. That one will get vertical lines.

Then there’s this problem child, I’m sick of trying to figure out what I need to change, so I’m just going to quilt it. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be the perfect picnic quilt, the kind you feel are smiling at you when you pull them from the car:)

What else?… awful timing with the warm weather, but I seem to have mastered Hot and Sour Soup. To get some practice Roan drives me around in circles in parking lots, to which we joke is an analogy for our current lives. All but one of my indoor plants have new soil, the kitchen has a new subfloor and walls again, I’ve gotten back into an exercise routine and 100% remote learning was announced…

I’m trying real hard to fight Anna Kendrick’s sentiment, “I guess I’ll never be able to lie to myself again about all the shit I would do if I just had the time,” but also trying to be grateful that for once all I have is time, there’s no hurry.

I hope to show you some progress next week on the stack. Take care Peeps.

xoxo Katie

:: Run-In Quilt ::

July 16, 2020 By Katie

Since last week the neighbor’s chickens and I are up around 5:30am. About midweek I found myself wandering into the studio instead of the garden or behind the computer. I puttered around with a couple of quilts and soon I’d filled ALL of the design walls, mostly with new projects, because, why not?

My routine has been to piece one block for each of the quilts daily. You’d think that wouldn’t take long, but I swear, I sew much faster in my head and before I know it I’ve ended up spending a full day in the studio. Rotating through each quilt has been a good improvisational process for developing the color ways and holding my attention. I’m hoping to show you one of those in the next post if my momentum continues.

Today I’ve got another oldie that has traveled all around the world with one of the first Modern Quilt Guild shows, but never made it to some good photos. It deserves a remake, but reminds me of how far modern quilting’s evolution has come in design and artistry.

I can’t recall much about my creative process in making this quilt, but I remember having played with the improvisational Slice & Insert technique from our book Quilting Modern in the same way early on in this quilt here and wanted to apply it to a different layout.

Run-In has been my best example in my straight line quilting workshop of a more organic 90ish degree turn using a walking foot. Quilting it this way was pretty carefree. I don’t think I’d do it differently in a remake.

I like a generously sized baby quilt and for backing went for a wider Echino fabric intended for some pillows that never got made, no piecing required. Linen on the front and linen on the back gave it fabulous drape. Washed up it’s super soft and finally ready for a new home with a neighbor baby.

I finished the ironing station I mentioned last week. I was trying to be all precise with measuring to make a top (here’s the old one and the tutorial) and somewhat achieved a satisfying cover. It will do and certainly needs some use to lose the puffiness three layers of batting gives it.

Luckily I’ll be looking at it from the top most of the time so the off-set of the print on the side will only bother me when I’m walking down the stairs.

One of the quilts on the design wall is a scrappy mix between my Value Hearts and Splintered Hearts Quilts with a plan of adding improvisational triangles. Not sure how it will develop, but having my scraps handy is pretty convenient and inspirational.

The timing was perfect. With the subfloor in the kitchen leveled/replaced yesterday my old pressing station became a mobile unit for some of my cookbooks and a few plants. We’ll move everything back in as we figure out floor plans for altering the break your neck basement stairs and the impact that will have on the kitchen layout. At least now things won’t magically roll north.

To answer a few questions I’ve been getting:

-No, it’s not you, I turned off comments since I was getting spammed too much for Viagra.

-My website contact form isn’t working for some people, but the email address is there on the page.

-Thanks for the inquiries, but I decided not to teach at Quiltcon next year. I’m still contemplating Craft Napa and some sort of live on-line guild/workshop things. If you’d like to be notified when just shoot me an email and I’ll add you to the list and/or will announce here.

The good news of no kitchen is take out for lunch AND dinner, freeing up the whole day for the studio. Hope you’re all finding some creative ways to embrace all this change.

xo Katie

:: Leftovers ::

July 9, 2020 By Katie

It seems ridiculous to me that it’s July 9th and I’m freezing, all wrapped up in a quilt on my couch;)

I guess we got spoiled in May.

But snuggling up in a quilt isn’t all bad, so I thought I’d use this lounging moment as an opportunity to share some projects I’ve posted on Instagram, but have yet to make it here.

My Mom use to tell me jokingly that her favorite part of quilt making was buying the fabrics. I can’t argue with that fun, but second best for me is always picking the color way. It’s super hard for me to limit my palette and/or not throw a print in, so even this one felt minimalistic.

The color way was inspired by this creative lady’s quilt. I added a little texture to the mix via a yarn-dye fabric in gray.

sew katie did |Seattle Modern Sewing & Quilting Studio | Side-Hustle Quilt

Obviously, I needed more pillows AND I had leftovers from the my Side Hustle Quilt above.

The backing is the softest fabric IKEA ever sold. I wish I had more.

Quilted it out in these easy Vs.

I want to make everything out of this color way.

Good thing I have like a gazillion blocks leftover from making that first quilt.

They’ve been up on the design wall in a couple layouts and then folded up and put away for another day.

I’ve got quite a pile of unfinished tops now, so more focus should probably be applied to quilting, but with zero road trips planned I’m not really feeling the pressure to have quilts in binding stage.

After I talk myself out from under this quilt and off the couch this afternoon’s project is going to be Frankenbatting large batting scraps together to make a new ironing station for this lovely.

I almost talked myself into the ease of ordering a piece of batting large enough to cover it with the 3 layers it needs, but I’ve got so many large pieces of batting leftover from quilts it seemed frivolous. It will take some time to measure and give them some straight edges, but then I can simply butt those pieces together and connect them with a zig zag stitch to get the sizes I need. I could use one less tote of something in the basement anyway.

I’ll have to remember to snap a photo of its peek-a-boo drawers full of scraps I sorted by color. Its usefulness for organization makes me so happy.

Since we don’t have enough projects started, we demolished the kitchen after the dishwasher started leaking and the rest of everything had exhausted itself. My original station might go back to being a cookbook shelf as it would be a functional mobile unit to shuffle around.

So I guess I’m also crossing my fingers for better grilling weather.

Having some faith in our future here, the Denver Metro Modern Quilt Guild and I are going to hang out in 2021 for a workshop, they join the Kenai Peninsula Quilting Guild and the Beach Cities Quilters Guild on the calendar. I love that we’re looking to the future of being in person again even if it seems far off.

Take Care Peeps. xo Katie

:: Deep Freeze Pillows ::

June 29, 2020 By Katie

I often mention cooking and gardening being kindred spirits to sewing for me. The other day as I cleaned out the freezer and tidied up the studio it got me thinking that quilting projects and frozen food live somewhat parallel lives and that the same phenomenon occurs in both spaces.

Surely I’ll remember my meal plan for that unlabeled jar, and similarly, there must have been an intention for those strips boxed in the studio? A photo might have been snapped or a cookbook inspiration dog-eared, but why not just start from scratch, just make something?

I don’t think the strips were originally destined to become pillows, just like that apple cider I thought was chicken broth wasn’t meant to be added to the sauce, but in the end I liked the finish.

Same block, but two different designs depending how you slice it. As you likely have figured out, I’ve got a thing for this yarn dyed Essex. The grey and white play so nicely together with my million other pillows.

Reality is, the more pillows you make, the more you have that go together;)

I quilted straight lines in white.

Unlike quilts, pillows require so little backing. This Alexander Henry found its home.

I finished them both with my invisible zipper tutorial.

Of course there’s still an abundance of strips left. We’ll see what recipe these unlabeled left overs cook up into at a later date. I’m sure several times over they’ll transform, it’s in the air lately.

I’ve had inquiries about online teaching for guilds and yearly events since the world has been turned upside-down. This move will happen at some point, but altering my business model is going to take some time, especially since it’s looking like schooling will be at home this fall. I’m slowly considering my angles, rewriting contracts and consulting my peers about what’s working best for them. But I’ve gotta say that virtual teaching isn’t where my heart or mind currently are. Of course I’d much rather be with you all.

After a great deal of thought I cancelled with an online teaching event announced last week. On the day classes were announced Instagram was lit up with teacher’s studios transformed into recording studios, lights and equipment galore. While I’m so excited for my peers, I’m beyond words relieved that my studio remains a sewing studio, its design walls full of the stuff that comes out of my brain and continues to transform and inspire. I don’t think I would feel the same about it had I done what is referred to now as the “pivot.”

Things have a way of working out. Just like when you think that unlabeled jar of apple cider is chicken broth and you add it to the pan. You don’t always have to follow the recipe, the pattern or the crowd.

That’s it peeps, hope you’re getting some clean out time and sewing/cooking/gardening/happy time too;)

xoxo katie

« Previous Page

:: Quiet, Light & Bright ::

:: Dialed In Quilt ::

|| Small Wins ||

:: Spooky Things ::

:: Reoriented Quilt ::

:: Wee Raindrops Quilt ::

:: Win Win ::

:: Much to do about Nothing ::

:: Quilting the Stack ::

:: Run-In Quilt ::

:: Leftovers ::

:: Deep Freeze Pillows ::

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