Finished Quilts

:: 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;)

:: 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

:: Throwing Stars Quilt ::

June 15, 2020 By Katie

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…

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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 ::

May 24, 2020 By Katie

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 ::

May 3, 2020 By Katie

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 ::

December 29, 2018 By Katie

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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 ::

September 21, 2018 By Katie

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.

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.

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,

the Intersected Quilt,

Skewed Symmetry Quilt,

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.

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.

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

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

August 8, 2018 By Katie

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.

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

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

August 1, 2018 By Katie

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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:: Fractured Hearts Quilt with the Double-Trouble Quilt Block ::

March 23, 2018 By Katie

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

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

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

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

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

I love it when ideas work.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hope you’re getting crafty.

On Point Scrappy Double-Trouble Quilt

July 19, 2017 By Katie

Where to start? We’re pretty much being spoiled brats around here right now.

Our Northern Irish have invaded and it sure doesn’t seem 2 years ago since we parted at the steps of a cafe in Spain. It’s only like we saw them yesterday. The calendar has been filled with the usual Seattle summer adventures we do together as a family. We’ve spoiled ourselves with full menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner and shared our love of margaritas. We’ve jumped off the raft in Lake Washington, shivered in the Sound and added floating down the Yakima River, laughing that we were eating quiche and that our cans of Rainer were chilled by the river just like our butts.

Many a birthday to celebrate in July. John’s passed with a raised glass to him, who knew our last goodbye would happen on those same steps in Spain.

Jefe celebrated another anniversary of his 21st,

and in the keeping it real department, my brother in law Jeremy’s 50th is at the end of the month. Living 4+ years with ALS he is still bossing us around. Everything’s different, yet everything’s the same he says.

His partner of 20+ years, Hallie is our hero and his rock.

Oh yeah, and quilting has happened here and there too. This quilt is an oldie.

I remember moving into the house and piecing this double-trouble quilt top in the little room that is now the kid domain. The crumbs that started the quilt are half square triangles from Roan’s quilt. I simply added improv stitch and flip triangles (you can find the technique in Quilting Modern) on the neutral side of each hst.

The scrap bins got a sifting through for the perfect fussy cuts of kid prints.

I placed and pieced the blocks on point to form the squares rather than diamonds. And then it sat patiently;)

I used the top as a template for building quilt backs in my class a few months ago. I figured when I was cleaning up the design walls after class that I might as well just sew together its back. One stage done and onto the next.

I ran the quilting a quarter inch along the seams vertically and horizontally first, before deciding to fill in more with the diagonal. I used a light blue Metler thread.

This quilt is a perfect eye spy with its bits and pieces from clothing I made Roan as an infant and the receiving blankets that my mom sewed.

Of course there’s fabric from stash on the back, some favorites in fact, all pieced willy-nilly together. It screamed green or orange for binding and the last of the Flea Market Fancy went towards that.

It looks kind of summery and cheerful.

Since I love having quilts in all various stages, I’ve got 2 more basted and a finished top up on the design wall, not to mention all sorts of play with the Split Personality block drifting around. It’s hard to say it but I’m trying to wrap my head around a few classes for fall coming up here. I’m excited to get to the samples, something new and fun.

Until August Peeps;)

:: Dialed In Quilt ::

:: Reoriented Quilt ::

:: Wee Raindrops Quilt ::

:: Throwing Stars Quilt ::

:: Brighter Skies Quilt ::

:: Pony Up Quilt | Design Potential ::

:: ‘Cue It Up Quilt ::

:: Seeing Stars ::

Intersected Quilt

Cross Roads Quilt

:: Fractured Hearts Quilt with the Double-Trouble Quilt Block ::

On Point Scrappy Double-Trouble Quilt

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