SewKatieDid

Because thread is the best glue

Finished Quilts

|| In Line Star Quilt ||

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I wasn’t sure which quilt to share this round, but since it’s about the time of year my retreat friends and I start getting excited and collaborate on projects, food, cocktails and books to the point that I kid you not, we actually have a private Pinboard, it seemed appropriate to showcase a quilt I started at our last one three years ago.

My dad Rog was in town to be my quilt holder on a beautiful October day this round.

And my friend Tai helping me at retreat.

I loaded a stack of fabrics that year, and finished three small quilt tops, including this other finish inspired by a boxed pouch I’d created when I was testing my pattern,

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Free-Wheeling Girl Quilt

or maybe it was my Single Girl Quilt that was the seed, it’s hard to remember which rabbit hole I fell down.

All the blocks I used to create the In Line Quilt are left overs from the strip pieced quilt above. It’s in the queue for quilting too, another example for my Strip Tease workshop.

I did change out the tips of the blocks that came together at the center to create the pinwheel effect. It needed something to draw the eye to its center.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m a lazy quilter. Though I admire those that bury threads and create intricate designs, my stack of quilt tops waiting patiently for their turn is too long to overthink their straight lines. Everyone gets a run off the side treatment.

I love adding a little flange edge before the binding. We’ll be covering that binding option in a quilt bindings workshop in a couple weeks. The workshop’s full, but something I can teach in an open studio anytime.

I’d purchased this lovely barkcloth for pillows, but it ended up needing some creative cutting to compensate for the off grain of its printing. My initial selvedge to selvedge cut skewed the print design so badly it looked like there were too many margaritas involved.

I put it up in the studio to take a photo and decided it was time to make a new pressing board cover, and it ended up somewhat matching. Learn to make your own here.

One of my students had been wanting to make simple zip pouches in an open studio, so I pulled the left overs from the ironing board cover and used it with the cork for my demo. We covered some of my favorite techniques for making pouches from a mix of Sotak’s and Krista’s (from her book Beyond Cotton /affiliate link).

My basement is currently a contender for an episode of Hoarders, and the pillow situation was getting a little out of control, so I killed two birds with one stone and repurposed some old pillow tops in order to test out a tweak of my boxed pouch pattern. It’s on sale until my birthday;). If you’ve purchased it in the past please let me know, I’ll look up your invoice and send you the updated version.

I’ll be teaching the Boxed Pouch Class at the studio on Sunday March 20th. Pattern is included, and no piecing or quilting is required.

Before

After

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After

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After

I’ve got a Straight Line Quilting workshop on the studio’s schedule as well on Saturday February 5th. We generally make our panels into functional buckets, but another option is to take those panels and merge them with the pattern at home to make your own boxed pouch. It’s such a fun way to play with different colors of thread.

I finished up the quilting on my winter version of my Snowballed Stars quilt and have the binding on. A few episodes of Westworld should do as it’s not very large. The improv triangles are such a fun technique that create designs only limited by your imagination. I’ve got one slot in February’s class if you’d like to learn.

I’ve got this quilt back out of the pile to try to for a quilting finish for Valentine’s Day. We’ll see how that works out.

I feel like I never get time to sew anymore so all these small wins are a good reminder that I’m still in the game.

I signed up for the January Cure, but have ignored each daily email with my tasks and wrote my own list with basement and repotting plants at the top, but first the cookbooks were out of control. I hate it when other stuff starts piling up.

Now that’s better. That fireplace to the right that we could never ever use? I heard Jefe throwing bricks off the roof last weekend after he rejected bids from between $23,000-$17,000 for taking it down and repairing the roof and walls.

Five hours later I could see sunlight. The rest is in the process of coming down between today and Sunday. Roof tomorrow and then onto framing the wall.

We ended up ordering a Rais stove. We’re all lined up to have the wood floors replace the hearth and extend through the kitchen.

If you are new here we’ve had a few stages to the fireplace.

This photo of when we moved in is another good reminder of ALL we’ve done. It’s so easy to walk through and mentally check off the endless list of what we’d like to attack. One of the goals for the house has been to invite in as much light as possible and removing the fireplace will get some across from the windows on either side.

We did neither Dry January or quit sugar for the new year, so feel free to skip to the end if you did. (All book links are affiliate).

I’d kind of forgotten about the scone and muffin kick I’d been on at the beginning of shut down and woke up one morning with a hankering for a blueberry baked goods. There were no blueberries to be found, but a freezer expedition unearthed some cherries. All scone recipes are versatile in my opinion to yogurt, sour cream, or ricotta and for sure fruit, but if you do happen to have a tub of ricotta I highly recommend the whole wheat ricotta scones from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. If you double the batch you can use the whole tub. I tried to freeze half the batch, but found the texture turned doughy losing their flaky dense biscuit texture.

I bought those blueberries I was dreaming about the next day and used my standby recipe from Smitten Kitchen Everyday.

I bought the book What’s Gaby Cooking on a whim on my last trip to Palm Springs, but everything I’ve made has been easy and delish. The Chicken Parmesan Pappardelle has been made and consumed three times in the past month, even winning this ‘no pasta please’ eater over. Perfect winter comfort food to fuel teenagers and the rest of my pasta loving family.

And yes, pasta won me over again, especially when everything is already in the cupboard and we are rarely a family without broccoli. This recipe caught my eye since we’re trying to use up items in the pantry to cut costs on our grocery bills. I saw an opportunity to use the anchovies, but we liked it so much we ended up buying more so we could make it again. Home Cooking is full of food tips, stories and recipes from the Olympic Peninsula. I’m hoping next retreat to make the Mystery Squash Cookies since the recipe is gluten- and dairy-free.

We didn’t eat as many apples as I thought we would over Christmas, so we decided one night to pull the last of the pie crusts from the freezer and tag team making an apple pie. We usually just wing it when it comes to fruit pies, but I consulted The Art of Pie to see her method and for the first time tried vinegar as suggested since we lacked a lemon. Perfect. We ate the rest for breakfast so there was nothing left to photograph of its finish, but an empty plate. I look forward to having a real oven instead of my little convection, but it did the trick. Someday I’ll go take a class with her.

Both Half Baked Harvest Cookbook and the Half Bake Harvest Super Simple Cookbook have egg with polenta recipes, but the recipe with the kale and mushrooms in her first had all the combos of my favorite breakfast. My only tweak is I cook my polenta in my Instantpot. So much easier than stirring and being spit upon by corn meal.

I’ll tell you more below about my efforts to use up the last of the eggnog, but in Tiegan’s second book Super Simple I found a recipe for Roan and Jefe’s favorite cookies, Snicker-Doodles, but these are topped with an eggnog frosting. I rolled the dough up into logs for the frig and kept the frosting separate. We’d slice some up nightly to bake. These will for sure be a seasonal favorite.

We had ham for Christmas, and since we need to eat down the freezer to move it for the floors, it, two packages of puff pastry and a bag of shredded cheese came out to defrost. Poof or should I say ‘Puff’ (sorry;), I baked up the ham and cheese pastry puffs from Back in the Day Baking. This is the same cookbook that I bake up my favorite sweet potato hash hand pies from. I hope to someday make it to teach in Savannah and visit their bakery.

It wouldn’t be a family party without a request for the root beer chocolate cake from Baked. Since you’re probably all bored of seeing this cake from me I want you to know I bought some malt balls to make the milk chocolate malt ball cake next.

Perhaps the third time would be the charm, but the eggnog is all gone. You’d think I’d never baked before, but somehow doubled my butter when I softened it up for this cake from Kiss My Bundt. As I was spooning in some incredibly stiff batter I knew it was all wrong. I remade it the next day and had it pushed back on the counter when from the basement I could hear Boss jumping up and down. He’s efficient consumed half the bundt by the time I got upstairs.

Awe, but look at him;)

He’s my big buddy Bosser for sure, and starting to behave himself better minus cake issues.

And Franko and Fiona were so fun to have around for Christmas. Mass amount of cuddles. They’ll be headed to the Bay Area soon and I’ll miss having family close, but delighted to have somewhere new to explore.

We’ve been seriously socked in for a couple weeks with fog here in Seattle. I had to bring Roan back to reality this morning, that it’s January, which means it’s the middle of winter and there will be several more months of mildly cold weather with clouds, but then we’ll turn the corner and warm our bones and minds with the tease of spring. I’m not the only one who can’t wait.

I guess that’s kind of it. Hope it’s all clear enough cuz I’m all done editing. Have a great weekend!

xoxo, Katie

Christmas in August

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Best intentions for a Christmas in July quilt showing or August for that matter, but you know how that goes. We’ve been embracing summer and sipping up as much of the last days as possible.

I mentioned in my last post that I had the binding on my Merry Gifts quilt and enjoyed some time on the back porch to sew it down. Apparently Boss was in disagreement that nothing says summer more than sitting under a quilt and decided in protest to eat the basket I toss my Wonder Clips in.

The world doesn’t need another post on quilting supplies any more than it needs one on binding, but my little kit is made up of a quilted needle case, a zip pouch and basket for my wonder clips, this needle threader, and a thimble. That’s it.

The world however does need another photo of Boss, who turned 11 months on the 17th. He’s a total goof ball that continually makes messes for us to clean up.

And my world needed another Christmas quilt.

I believe the last time I followed a pattern for a quilt was around 2009 and I can’t say I loved the process, but I sure loved the outcome.

Inspiration for this quilt really came from Nicole of Modern Handcraft. Her colorful way with solids in her version of Sherri Fall’s quilt pattern in the book Holiday Wishes (affiliate link) was such eye candy that it didn’t fall of my radar.

I pieced it all together at the beginning of the pandemic, and from the get go envisioned the swirling snow style quilting that my friend Sandie executed so nicely for me on her long arm.

I’m still working my way through stash for the backings of my quilts. Much of this Christmas fabric was purchased for my Magic Numbers star quilt, which since its debut in December remains on my couch. My friend Melinda pointed out that I already had my Christmas quilts out and my response was they hadn’t ever left. IMO you can never have enough flannel in your life, so the snowflake fabric was a purchase for matching pillow cases.

The colors for the present blocks came together one by one since pulling from my stash like that is my favorite way to design a quilt. I love to place block by block up on the design wall as they’re made and see it come together.

It seems to be the way of the universe that the fabric I “need” is the one I’ve used up. Finishing the red gift block turned into a treasure hunt through the scrap bins, but with some Frankenpiecing it came together. I still haven’t been able to match it on any color card from my mass collection of them. One larger fabric company during the shutdown responded to my inquiry of whether or not they had color cards for their solids collection with, “They don’t, but I could consult a list of stores in my area and go there.”

Of course I couldn’t make a quilt that didn’t have some patterned fabric in it somewhere, even if it was an almost solid in character. I focused on the bows which was another deep dive into the scrap bin for the finish due to some cutting mishaps.

The binding got the little print sparkle treatments too. Into the wash and that swirl quilting sunk in and textured this quilt perfectly. Not too distracting, but enough to lend itself to the holiday vibe.

I have been so burnt out on cooking that we’ve been eating more frozen/instant food and didn’t think I’d have much to add here, but looking through my photos I’ve still been pretty prolific in my glamping kitchen. (FYI All links are affiliate). Since it was so bolted I finally tore the last of the lettuce out of the planter boxes and I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but we were getting super burned out on salads everyday. We’ve shifted focus to the tomatoes, basil, kale and chard that are going off now.

Let’s start with the beginning of the day. I’m not a good breakfast eater, but I am a huge fan of fruit and a couple of lattes. In the summer to jump over this hurdle I generally juice a few mason jars worth of vegetables on grocery day. Here’s my favorite juice: 1 cucumber, 1 bunch each of celery, kale and spinach and a green apple. Then I blend it with whatever, but the best is frozen pineapple and honey yogurt.

It’s hard to buy good granola unless you get it from a bakery, but Alton Brown’s recipe is a morning staple. If you made this you would never look at store bought granola the same. I do like it with just milk, but berry season is my jam, so those generally make it in the bowl with some yogurt. I wouldn’t be surprised if you could find his recipe online.

It is very seldom that a week goes by that I don’t cook from one of Lucinda Scala Quinn’s cookbooks. She speaks to the midwestern side of me that loves comfort food with a heap of steamed broccoli or green beans. With some modification her tamale pie, Sherpard’s pie and/or her mac and cheese are easy recipes that seem to consume the remaining ingredients in the fridge. Instead of her suggestion panko, this batch got the end of a loaf of bread on top. A tip I got from Martha;). All the ingredients are waiting for me to try out her phyllo spinach pie recipe from Cravings.

I shared a rhubarb cake recipe here a few posts back that I believe was from Perillo’s book Homemade with Love. Again this chicken and biscuits is not only comfort food, but required only cupboard and frig staples minus the chicken. The biscuits were drop style so no mess outside the bowl required. I like a lot of ground pepper in this sort of dish.

I thought I’d share some online recipes that we rotate into our menu as well. This grilled chicken kebab recipe on the blog Mom’s Kitchen Handbook was introduced to me by one of my amazing student friends. When Kim lived closer than a ferry ride away she always came with something delicious to share and introduced me to so many good cookbooks and food bloggers. This recipe was one of the many meals we shared that I loved. We eat it more as a salad with a side of plain yogurt. If you can’t find any frozen garlic naan at Trader Joe’s you can blame me. I buy it up and always have a stack of it in my freezer. It makes the most awesome croutons too.

Smear that same naan with some butter and add some hummus for an open faced sandwich topped with a Greek salad sort of mix. Cherry tomatoes, cukes, kalamatas and feta. I generally drizzle on some olive oil and again with the black pepper. I like the Instant Pot hummus from Melissa Clark’s Dinner in an Instant, but there are so many good pre-made that this is a common lunch or easy dinner for us since it’s so quick.

We’re doing our fair share of outdoors with friends still and I’ve been bringing that same Greek salad combo above from the sandwich, but putting it on top of the hummus for a Greek 7-layer salad sort of thing. This time I’d generally add some syrupy balsamic too. Bread, crackers, whatever you have around does just fine for the dip’s vehicle.

Like I said, we grew and ate a lot of salad greens this summer. We take the bun out of the hamburger equation and make it into a salad with some bacon and cheese. The family goes ranch, but I generally top with vinegar and oil. This salad lacks them, but my favorite way to make croutons is a recipe from Canlis restaurant that is featured in the America the Great cookbook. Tossed in bacon grease and a bunch of herbs for some extra flavor.

This one’s an easy ceviche we use to eat when we’d go to Guerrero, Mexico in our past lives. Cut up some halibut, white onion and jalapeño. Squeeze a bunch of lime all over it and let it sit until it goes opaque white. Regionally it’s served with Ritz crackers and some Buffalo Chipolte sauce. Yum. Make sure to crack a cold crisp beer or make yourself a Margi.

I’ve mentioned these sausage and sweet potato hand pies again and again from Back in the Day Bakery (they freeze really well if you don’t eat them all), but I don’t think I’ve shared the Spinach Berry Salad from the blogger Cookie and Kate. I can hardly wait for berry season to come along so we can make it. I love this food blogger’s stovetop technique for candying the nuts and generally I add pepitas to the sunflowers and double the batch.

Oh this is so good! Spicy Grilled Shrimp from America’s Test Kitchen’s the Best of Mexican Recipes. I’ll for sure be trying some more recipes if this book doesn’t get buried. We paired it with a fideo pasta recipe adapted from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Suppers book. If you’re not familiar with this noodle it’s like angel hair pasta all broken up. A friend of mine use to make an amazing dish with it when we lived in Flagstaff and though I’ve lost track of her I was able to adapt her dish pretty close. It’s fantastic with avocado and a jicama/watercress salad.

Oh my, did someone say dessert?

We’ve got every birthday in this family landing in June, July or August with the exception of three. During usual times some combining of parties happens. Roan, aways quick to smile and crack a joke turned 17. He requests an ice cream cake yearly and I thought to combine the root beer cake from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, with the vanilla ice cream they recommend serving it with. I can’t stop making this cake.

I have a few desserts that I love to put berries in. Some sort of cream tart like Saveur’s Raspberry Lemon Curd tart or any mixture of tarts from Martha’s Pie and Cake book are my annual pick. Don’t they look pretty?!

Again with the root beer cake for Jefe’s birthday. It looks prettier not frosted. I did dust the bundt with cocoa powder so it doesn’t have that white flour powder on the surface.

It’s fun to experiment with frosting and decoration and see what you can do that’s not fancy. I also only have a little tabletop convection oven so my cake layers are limited to ummmmm… ONE.

You know I like hearts in quilting, so why not play with them in sprinkles and frosting.

We actually celebrated Jefe’s birthday with some friends indoors/outdoors for the first time without masks, but that’s sadly all done now and we’re all back outside.

When Roan was a toddler we lived in what we called the ‘gated community’. It was just easier to put a gate up in a few places to corral him rather than saying ‘no’ all the time. Boss Dog has required us to recreate this type of environment in the garden with chicken wire protecting all the beds from a digging Labrottie. It’s led to very little gardening this year.

I’m pretty constant in what I plant in my potting shed’s window box, but this year I’ve actually kept watering it so it’s survived much longer than most years. I missed a photo opportunity when the Colieus had its purple flowers. I love all the color.

I have four varieties of poppies now. Two red, a bunch of yellows that are kind of the bullies of the garden and an orange that a squirrel must have gifted me. I need to get out and cut the dried pods to reseed for next year. They’re amazing.

Our wisteria is a monster, though few are anything but. We had some unsolicited advice that we were hacking it back too aggressively and it wouldn’t bloom, to which it gave that information the bird and threw out flowers three times this summer.

What do you do when your first estimate to remodel your kitchen is $112,000 and that’s without appliances, materials, nor moving any plumbing? Gain a small win and redo the entry!

Bye bye terra cotta tiles that were dislodged since we bought the house 8+ years ago. It’s so hard to pick tile, (let alone a couch) that covers everything from chocolate to dog hair and drool. However, we came pretty close going with the darker. I’ll try to get a better color photo, but there’s a honey and grey color line that runs through it that works really nice with the wood floors.

We had two dead zones in our house when it comes to daylight. One is still in the hall which I hope might eventually get a solar tube, and the other was the solid wood door at the front entry. I’m kind of the cat lady of plants so this window door provides another bright location to house more.

I’ll share some more progress photos as it happens. Obviously we need trim, there’s talk of the white floating cupboard leaving and we’ve pulled the wood trim from the opening to the hallway, but progress and opening the house up to more light feels so good.

I’ve got open studios on the schedule for those that want to start from the beginning or work on a project with help or some company, but I’ve also got one space in a paper piecing workshop and added an invisible zipper workshop for September. Certainly let me know if there’s something you’d like to learn from my workshops and we’ll coordinate for a date.

We’re masking up, vaccinated and limited to three people.

I’ve had a few requests on Instagram for how I make my masks. I came upon a tutorial at the very beginning of needing masks and lucked out with one that’s super simple. I’ve modified the topstitch to put a nose piece in that I buy from Modern Domestic. I also bought my elastic from there.

It’s a good excuse to play with your fun novelty fabric.

Boss did his first alpine mountain hike to Mount Elenor in the Olympics last week. It was lovely, but I’d much rather hike to a lake for a swim than go uphill or even worse down. I loved how the marine layer stuck into the Hood Canal until the early afternoon, and seeing Lake Cushman from above instead of our usual swimming view.

Fiona is coming to live with us for a couple weeks. Fun to have another furry face around to keep us busy.

Boss and her like to annoy one another and he won’t let her have any toys or bones of course.

Hoping to get this star quilted to show you next.

We’re buttoning down again after venturing to a Sounders game and feeling uncomfortable with the amount of unmasked adults of unknown vaccination status around unvaccinated children. It’s ok, we have plenty of projects to keep us busy at home. Certainly soon some rain will end the fire ban and we’ll be able to gather around the fire pit for some football viewing. When life gives you blackberries, mix them with gin, tonic and cassis I guess.

xoxo, Katie

:: Dialed In Quilt ::

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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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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;)

:: Reoriented Quilt ::

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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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

This quilt got an all over of vertical straight lines.

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

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;)

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

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 ::

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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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

Pick a scrap.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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;)

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

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;)

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

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

:: Throwing Stars Quilt ::

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sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Throwing Stars Quilt

I cracked up finding photos I have of Throwing Stars. This little quilt really gets around 🙂 There’s photos of its prestudio starts in the little sewing room in the house and Birch Bay, as a quilt top on Vashon Island, and all finished at the front and back of our house, some during a snowstorm, Whidbey Island, Quiltcon…

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Throwing Stars Quilt

Lately, you’ll mostly find it keeping me company on my couch. For always thinking it was oddly sized, it’s become my go-to lounging quilt since the day I laid it upon my lap to bind it.

One place it hasn’t been in all this time is here. Time to share.

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Throwing Stars Quilt

I love scrap quilts. Scraps are an opportunity to play with ideas. They’re almost magical in the way that they bring back memories of past projects, people and special or not so special times. I even love watching people dig through the studio’s scrap bins to see the look of joy it brings to their faces. I feel the same. Sometimes they’ve found just the right scrap for their master plan, or a bit of a fabric they’ve always admired.

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Throwing Stars Quilt


Those are the kind of scraps that made it into the improv triangles in this quilt along with a couple colors of yarn dyed Essex linen as background. The Essex, or something similar like a Carolina Chambray with all that soft texture really allows scraps to show their true character, giving them all a place to shine.

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Throwing Stars Quilt

I sorta merged the block size system from my Magic Numbers Workshop (online tutorial here) with the pieced improv triangle (you can find the triangle technique in Quilting Modern).

I placed my blocks into the throwing stars shape as a layout example. I think I had to stop at about 12 block examples for the workshop, but I certainly could have continued as the layout ideas just wouldn’t stop.

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Throwing Stars Quilt
sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Throwing Stars Quilt
sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Throwing Stars Quilt
sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Throwing Stars Quilt

Above are just a few block layouts repeated in the Layout app. The designs a few of my friends and I came up with during a little workshop run through were, like I said, endless. Repeating the block designs certainly isn’t necessarily and could create an improvisational design.

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Throwing Stars Quilt

Of course, playing with color can only add another layer.

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Throwing Stars Quilt

I debated going with swirls on this one with the quilting, but didn’t diverge from my straight lines. Initially I was a little unhappy with some of the quilting creating puffiness possibly due to poor basting, but as they say, it all came out in the wash.

I pulled from the stash for a backing. That might never end.

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Throwing Stars Quilt

I’m guessing this won’t be the last example you’ll see from me merging these two techniques and you’ll for sure be seeing this class on-line in the next year, so hope to ‘meet you’ there;)

:: Brighter Skies Quilt ::

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I know, this photo has nothing to do with quilting and I’m not even wrapped in a quilt, but truth be told, there has been very little sewing. During all of this crazy Seattle has been delivered a gift of mild weather. I’ve taken advantage of it by spending the majority of my time outside.

sew Katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Brighter Skies Quilt

Any studio time has been purely spent in mask making production mode with the exception of a two week binge in the beginning of shelter in place. I shared my Coin Quilt probably a month ago now and Brighter Skies I finished right after.

sew Katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Brighter Skies Quilt

Elizabeth Hartman’s Sparkle Punch caught my attention several years ago, and like most new starts I got a wild hair one day and just started pulling from stash for each star as I went along.

sew Katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Brighter Skies Quilt

The improv stitch and flip triangle technique is one Jacquie and I covered in our Quilting Modern book and I’ve applied it to all sorts of designs over the years.

It didn’t need anything special with the quilting and I have a box of Metler spools in white so that was its finish. Of course I picked a fabric that I had very little left of for the binding AND I wanted the stripes to be adjacent to the edge, so there’s probably way too much piecing involved, but I love it.

sew Katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Brighter Skies Quilt

A few stars that didn’t fit in the front of the quilt created their own constellation at the back. What a great go-to baby quilt design.

sew Katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Brighter Skies Quilt

If you’re looking to start something from stash this would be a great way to use up scraps and the background blocks a good exercise in practicing color value.

sew Katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Brighter Skies Quilt
sew Katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Brighter Skies Quilt

I’m often conflicted on a regular day of showing my personal life on social media, especially now when so many aren’t experiencing all the gardening, baking and cooking, or sitting by a fire, but these hobbies are kindred spirits to sewing for me and I’m grateful for their distractions and the happiness they bring me right now.

Though Seattle is where I’ve grown roots, my hometown in Michigan is experiencing another catastrophe on top of all this. People need help, please make sure to reach out to your friends, family and neighbors. I’ve been asking those I’ve made masks for to please donate to any food bank. We can all help in small ways and it adds up.

I’m not sure why or what all of you are doing in your spare computer time, but the bots and spammers that leave comments here seem to think quilters are super interested in Viagra, gambling and sports t-shirts, so I’ve disabled comments on my site. If you need to get ahold of me for any reason go ahead and use the contact form on my site and I’ll get back to you.

I’m hoping to make it to finishing a back for this Magic Number version of the stars tomorrow since it’s looking like rain. Crossing fingers for motivation;)

xoxo Katie

P.S. and please please please wear your mask.

:: Pony Up Quilt | Design Potential ::

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In our current state it’s rather dreamy to think about packing up and going on a sewing retreat, but that’s where this quilt started and where my mind was as I finished it here one sunny morning.

This will be the first year in many my little tribe won’t go sew, eat, drink and walk the beach so it seemed the most appropriate pull from the growing pile of UFOs.

Because I sew faster in my head than in real life, I tend to have an unrealistic vision of what I can complete in four days + days of retreat, same goes for the cooking.

A no boundaries approach would lead to the entire studio being loaded, so I tend to look for something double or triple duty in tools and material. Under those guidelines there’s no technique full of more potential than improvisational strip piecing. Half hatched ideas using that technique made the cut this past trip.

I enjoy teaching what I call an Improv Coin Quilt as my beginning improv class and wanted to take my teaching samples to make another example quilt for layout options.

In my workshops there always tends to be student or two that have taken a beginning quilting class with a more traditional scope. All those important skills like precise cutting and matching points have been covered, but what I love the most is how they just light up when they come to discover that quilting doesn’t always have to be that way.

You’d never guess from it’s simplicity how much I messed with the layout.

As far as the quilting I went with straight lines which is a divergence from the quilting design I used on my first quilt sample for this class back in 2011.

I’m a lazy quilter and like to run off the edge of my quilts. My process wasn’t any different for this one, starting with quilting a quarter inch from the seams to tack them down and working in lines here and there until it seemed visually pleasing;).

I tease at my trunk shows that I bought all of the Anna Maria Horner flannel out there so no one else can have it and I’m still using it for my quilt backs. I love the weight and drape.

I went with faced binding, a first for me. The jury is still out on whether I like it or not. I can see its appeal on an art quilt or wall hanging, but I make utilitarian quilts and I think the cuteness factor of a baby quilt would have held better had it had a binding.

You’ll be seeing more of this fabric combo and improv strip piecing in the two other quilt tops I finished at the retreat last May. They all match my box pouch. I love the color way and the pony fabric.

I’m calling Pony Up my second quilt finish of 2020.

I haven’t been in the studio much since the initial order to physically distance ourselves with the exceptions of finishing these two quilts and have just let that be. Jefe has etched out a corner of the studio for an office and our dining room table is now a school.

For me, gardening and cooking are sewing’s kindred spirits and with the weather playing so nicely my garden has been where my head space seems best. I got back to my running routine this past week after more than a few weeks of pure laziness. I’m amazed not only with how quickly things grow and bloom this time of year in Seattle, but also how quickly the muscles atrophy;)

We have rain this weekend so a little studio clean up happened yesterday with hopes of making it in there today.

Hope you are all well. xoxo

xoxo

:: ‘Cue It Up Quilt ::

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Sew Katie Did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | 'Cue It Up Quilt

This quilt came together with blocks Sandie made while she was helping me test out my improv strip piecing workshop.

Sew Katie Did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | 'Cue It Up Quilt

I’m always a fan of Sandie’s color ways, and the fabrics she picked from her stash were perfect.   We’re kindred spirits when it comes to purging, so I was only too happy to accept her starts on her last round of clear outs.   I only had to add a few blocks to finished it up.

Sew Katie Did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | 'Cue It Up Quilt

The Navy Essex and the Kaffe print really pop the rest of the colors.   ‘Cue It Up offers another example of how the layout of the blocks can change the quilt’s design.

Sew Katie Did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | 'Cue It Up Quilt

I was saving this apple print for some grocery bags, but they were perfect for the back.

Sew Katie Did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | 'Cue It Up Quilt

A grid of straight line quilting as well as a simple binding finished it off.

Sew Katie Did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | 'Cue It Up Quilt

I think it turned out to be a very sweet baby quilt.  I’ll be teaching this technique at Quilting Mayhem Saturday January 19th if you’re thinking of learning a new skill for the new year.

Sew Katie Did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | 'Cue It Up Quilt

It’s been a good holiday and I’ve added a few Saturday Open Studios to the schedule.  We’ll be making simple zip pouches, grocery bags, invisible zipper pillows or working on individual projects.

In honor of Valentine’s Day I’ve switched up some classes.  I’ll be offering two classes that make heart shaped blocks, if that’s not your cuppa tea we’ll also be exploring other geometric block shapes.

Sew Katie Did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Fracture Heart Pillows | Split Personality Quilt Block Workshop

 Crushed It | Improv Crazy Piecing (photo above) and Quilting with Color Value Workshop (photo below) will be the studio’s January workshops.  We’ll cover zippers with some cute Zip Pouches and practice some new skills in Free Motion Quilting, each have one space left.

Value Quilt Hearts | Sew Katie Did | Seattle Modern Quilting and Sewing Studio

February’s studio workshops are Splintered Hearts and Quilt Binding.

I’m looking forward to the new year, and as always hope to make it to this space a bit more.  I’ve got more finished quilts to show once I get some better light here in Seattle to photograph them.  I’m still dwelling on what I might do as my little resolution.

Happy Merry Peeps.

:: Seeing Stars ::

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I’m certainly feeling a new season coming on here in Seattle.  Gardening and seasonal cooking seem like kindred spirits to quilting so I’m always torn between the studio, the yard and the kitchen.  Luckily the weather has started cooperating by providing us inside time with a squall here and there, and peppering in some sunshine and those huge fluffy clouds I love so much. I want time to do it all, so the weather has been good at compromising.

If you’re living in Seattle during the winter it’s crucial to have indoor hobbies.  My Seattle peeps must be feeling the same desire to shift back to the indoor sort and are coming out of the woodwork to cultivate new ideas in Open Studios and request workshop dates.

I’m picking up the bug myself.  I’ve been traveling around for months to lectures with the binding half done on my Seeing Stars Quilt and finally caught some couch time to finish it up.

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

If you’ve taken my improv strip piecing workshop Psychedelic Baby the triangles in this quilt might look familiar.  I made the large star from my triangle cast off blocks we create in Psychedelic Baby and now have enough samples for running the Part II  workshop.

This in studio workshop will focus on improvisational or traditional layout and design using the blocks from the workshop’s first session.

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Psychedelic Baby Quilt Workshop

Here’s the original quilt called Full Tilt that I made with the blocks from the first workshop.

Other quilt examples for this Part II workshop are,

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Intersected Quilt Workshop

the Intersected Quilt,

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting and Sewing Studio

Skewed Symmetry Quilt,

sew katie did | No Know Quilt/s

and my No Know Quilt.

Some are more improvisational in design and some are simply triangles sewn into rows.  Easy to choose a design that works at a skill level you’re comfortable with.

Somewhere along the way stumbled upon a large star layout and decided it was a perfect design for my triangles’ placement.

Sew Katie Did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Seeing Stars Back

Keeping with my tradition at this point I pulled from stash for the back.  I have a love affair with this Alexander Henry fabric and have some pillows around with it that are in the household rotation.

Sew Katie Did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Seeing Stars

Sew Katie Did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Seeing Stars

The binding is a double binding so that the quilt would have a little framing and the quilting is a grid of straight lines.

Sew Katie Did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Seeing Stars

I really like how it turned out and there’s a bit of star twinkle in some of the fabrics that have silver threads running through them.

A new quilt is always a welcome addition to lectures and for feeding interest in workshops and I’ve got a few of those coming up.  October has some opportunities to visit me outside the studio and even the state.  I’ll be at Quilting Mayhem teaching my Improv 101 | Coin Quilt.

If you live in Oregon I’ll be at the Stitchin’ Post teaching Psychedelic Baby October 18th and Double-Trouble Triangles October 19th.  My Thread Talk is at 6:30pm October 17th; classes are 9AM-4PM.  I’d love to see you!

With October being pretty full I’ve stuck mostly to Open Studios, but as always if you see a workshop you’re interested in email me and we’ll find a date that works:)  Happy Weekend Peeps!

Intersected Quilt

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 I’ve had my sights set on running a Part II Psychedelic Baby workshop.   We create secondary or cast off blocks in the Psychedelic Baby workshop that can be simply used on the back, but why not make another quilt?

 I’ve been focusing my studio time on finishing up a variety of samples for this new workshop and now have enough to start rolling them out here.  I’ve popped some sessions of Part II on the calendar for those of you that have already taken the first session or are signed up.

Here’s the quilt I made using the secondary blocks.  I’ll call Intersected.

Here’s the Cross-Roads Quilt I shared last week with blocks from the first session workshop.  You can read more about it here.  I’ve added one more session since the two I had up filled last week.

My past samples using the secondary blocks have been more improvisational in design, so I was aiming for a ‘traditional’ layout with Intersected.  We’ll cover how to size our blocks into geometric shapes, study the construction of several more traditional designs and learn how to build out improvisational designs like I did here and here.

I’d like students to also bring with them several inspirational quilt designs from books, patterns or photos so we can talk about their potential construction using the blocks as a group.

A few details about this quilt… I’ve straight line quilted vertical random lines at different widths in white thread.  The binding could really have been any of the fabrics in the quilt, but I went with the neutral Essex to have more flexibility in picking the backing fabric from stash.

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Intersected Quilt Workshop

The backing is a fabric that you’ve seen before if you follow the blog.  I have a 70s love for this Smitten Kitten.

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Intersected Quilt Workshop

As always, if you’re looking for a specific workshop to fit your schedule let me know;)

Back in the 90s here in Seattle, but looking at a cooler weekend for our workshop.  Enjoy Peeps!

P.S.  Big thanks to Curated Quilts for featuring my quilt in their triangle issue.

Cross Roads Quilt

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Well happy summer.  Finishing quilts doesn’t seem to be an issue, but getting them photographed and up here to share is another story.

Cross Roads quilt is yet another sample for my Psychedelic Baby workshop.  The versatility of this block in creating different designs is part of the fun in the class.  Perfect timing as I’ve got a Sunday class in the studio coming up on August 12th (Full) and another requested for Sunday September 16th (Full).  This month’s Sunday open studio (Full) is up as well if anyone wants to come socialize and finish up some projects.

The colors for this one came right out of a Garnet Hill catalog, but walking through IKEA yesterday they seem a staple there as well.  The dark grey leaning towards black in my photos.

 Pulling from stash to match the colors to my inspiration there’s a mix of Kona, Essex linen for the neutral and some Michael Miller Cotton Coutures.

Simple straight line quilting of course on this one.  Let the patchwork shine.  The quilting on this one done in a grid about 1″ apart on the long arm.  White thread.  I think it finishes up about 54″ x 54″.  A good size baby quilt.

I added the white flange before putting on the natural Essex for binding.  I really wanted the square blocks to stand out and not have the binding be a distraction.

I’ve long loved this Alexander Henry hills print and it finally found its home on the back.  A few left overs popped in to bring it to width.

We’ve finally dropped back to normal temps in Seattle and I’m missing the hot already, but my garden is ready for the rain we’re suppose to get the next two days.

We spent nearly three weeks out of the country with the majority of time in Croatia.  We had an amazing time.  I’m back in the studio tomorrow now that I’m caught up on life back home.  New projects and workshops are ready to be sampled up for fall.

Hope you’re all having some down time and a relaxing summer peeps!

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