Finished Quilts

:: Seeing Stars ::

September 21, 2018 By Katie Leave a Comment

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 Leave a Comment

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 Leave a Comment

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 1 Comment

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 4 Comments

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;)

Hearts Value Quilt

June 19, 2017 By Katie 10 Comments

I took my finished Heart Value quilt along on retreat. I like to have a quilt with me as a little reminder of home and knew I would have some helpers for photos. I think it was the only time I ventured outside and away from my sewing machine.

This is definitely the largest quilt I’ve ever quilted on the studio’s Berninas. It’s a little shy in width to a King. One of my Facebook readers asked when quilting if I go north to south, and then turn to go south to north? This quilt was too large to continually turn, so I just worked my way out from the middle. I started with a vertical quilting line ½” from the seams and then went back to fill in. It was the first time I’ve used the stitch in the ditch foot that came with my Bernina’s walking foot to tack down the seams. It turned out perfectly.

Oh, all that lovely color.

I combed through my stash to find just the right fabrics for each heart. Again a perfect sample of archiving all your lovely fabrics in one quilt. No matchy-matchy required.

I lack in low volumes except for an insane amount of light pink.

Full Tilt Quilt

March 14, 2017 By Katie 12 Comments

Well hi there;)

On my flight to teach in Jackson Hole I finished the binding on what I’ll call Full Tilt. I always love to have something new to share and this was just in time for a line up of winter-spring lectures and workshops teaching this block.

Traveling and spending time with my tribe is such a bonus of being in this industry and you quilters are the nicest people. The inspiration you pull from your own toolbox when given a few improv techniques and a little structure is quite energizing even when I feel a little exhausted. It all kind of kicks my brain and my wanderlust into overdrive.

Travel on top of the home front’s Open Studios and Workshops hasn’t allowed me a lot of time to get ideas out of my own head and into fabric. Good things take time I hear, and in the meantime I’ve been directing my sewing groove into quick projects we can explore in Open Studio like these reversible grocery bags and rope bowls.

| Inspiration |

I know, again with the Psychedelic Baby Block. You all might be sick of seeing this block, but I have yet to scratch the design surface with it and its secondary block that we make in this workshop. Full Tilt’s colorway was this sweet geometric dress I found in a catalog. Its layout is simple and inspired by another string quilt I made this year.

I noticed in lecturing this season that my solids have shifted over the years from a abundance of Osnaburgh to Essex. Solid fabric quilts can be so flat and the indigo here adds some much-needed texture. I went with 4 different blues, including some shot cotton and the Essex. The rest of the solids are a mix of Kona and Michael Miller Cotton Couture.

| Quilting |

I was asked in a lecture this month who was the favorite to quilt my quilts? I whole heartedly answered “Me.”

I didn’t always feel this way. Often it was where I stalled out on a finish. I didn’t feel I had the skills or vision to free-motion with the amount of precision I desired. I know, I know, ‘practice is the best teacher,’ and I did that, but I was just never feeling it with free-motion as I did with a straight line.

It took time for me, years actually, to figure out that my quilts really didn’t need the fancy quilting I thought they did. It often distracted or even clashed with the piecing, stealing the limelight. I think my patchwork holds its own quite well.

Once I just started quilting straight lines I lost the anxiousness AND actually started finishing quilts at a faster rate. Straight-line quilting felt intuitive to me. Another unexpected discovery was I liked my quilts more. Now they’re a 100% ME from start to finish.

The quilts I have with a variety of straight line quilting keeps building. As I was getting my Straight Line Quilting Workshop together, I first thought I would quilt some simple panels in a variety of designs until I realized how many samples of straight line quilting I already had. Actual quilts to demonstrate the tips and tricks, just like my other classes, duh.

That’s a long-winded way of saying Full Tilt got a simple grid in a light pink Metler thread and I like it;)

| Binding & Backing |

I went pieced. I considered the navy to frame, but regardless I had to order fabric for the finish. I thought it would carry the piecing of the blocks onto the edge for a detailed addition to the design.

My technique for this is to strip piece some panels and sub-cut them to the binding’s width. I sew it on until I’m about to turn a corner and then I’ll add a larger strip of one fabric that accommodates the turn so that I don’t have seams stuck in the miter. Once the corner is turned I reattach my pieced binding and continue until I come to the next corner.

I have a whole photo shoot of this process that some day I’ll get up here as a tutorial.

I haven’t bought backing fabric in ages, just pulling and piecing from stash, I don’t see a noticeable dent honestly. Apparently I bought up all of this flannel so that none of you could have any. I’ve used it to back several quilts. The vans have now made an appearance in the blue and pink. It all seemed to compliment the front and come together simple enough.

All in all I love it;)

I’ve added a few more dates for the straight line quilting workshop onto the schedule, including an evening slot as requested. I also have a reader coming to the studio from Germany that picked playing with the Psychedelic Baby Block if anyone would like to join us. Just follow the links;)

Happy week Peeps! I’m actually heading out to the studio;)

Side-Lined Quilt

February 8, 2017 By Katie 5 Comments

I told you I still quilt:)

I completed this lovely ages ago and have just needed a brighter Seattle day to photograph it.

I thought it time to share it with you.

| Inspiration |

The Land of Nod spring catalog supplied an inspirational color way and it just so happens I didn’t have to buy any fabric to create it. Truly unbelievable.

There are a mix of Konas, Cotton Couture, some of my go-to shot cotton orange, and a flannel. The whites are quite a cocktail including some flannel. Amazing how different whites can be.

One thing about teaching workshops is you always need blocks in all stages to demo a technique. Before I know it I have enough blocks to finish them up into a baby/lap quilt which is a more manageable size to travel with, and yes, I do pack one King for lectures.

Can you guess the other thing not so easy to travel with? Books😉

I’d go mad if I have to remake the same quilt, so my inspiration was another variation of what I call the Psychedelic Baby Block for my improvisational strip piecing workshop. Teaching a technique over a pattern has its benefits for the short attention spanned like me. It gives me the flexibility to design something new.

At 15″ square, using the technique I teach, these blocks come together fast.

| Quilting |

Straight lined and Grid Grid Grid went the quilting. I started with light blue thread, but ripped it out after a few lines and replaced it with white. I have to say I was not liking the line quilting design at all, but kept adding and adding until it came together. Enough quilting to please the eye and little enough to still have a soft drape. It has a great texture.

| Binding and Backing |

I really wanted to purchase some flannel that I’d fallen’ in love with, but I poked around my stash and as usual was glad I did. These older Heather Ross prints and flannel came together into a lovely minimal back. My leftovers from the top were grey or white. White as a binding sounds like it would become a Swifter, so I went with the grey and it frames it nicely.

I love the controlled chaos happening in it. I’m going to make a larger one for our bed once I finalize the color way. Decisions decisions. I am slow moving, but am working on a pattern for this quilt.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you get in some crafty time Peeps;)

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P.S. If you’re in the mood to hear about my quilts I’ll be doing a lecture tonight at the Seattle MQG and this Friday with the Frasier Valley Modern Quilt Guild (workshop sold out).

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I guess my call to finish up those quilt tops was needed and the classes filled! I’ve added two new sessions (evening and next Wednesday) to the straight line quilting workshop if anyone wants to come learn the tips and tricks that work for me. We’ll be making our practice pieces into useful nesting baskets.

Skewed Symmetry Quilt

November 23, 2016 By Katie 14 Comments

| Inspiration |

I’m not quite sure where the inspirational starting point was for the Skewed Symmetry quilt. The blocks originally seemed destined to become matching pillows, but from the moment I stacked the blocks it just kind of developed on the design wall organically.

The mitered log cabin blocks were the cast-offs from making the Alignment Optional Pillows with my Psychedelic Baby Block technique. The color-way seemed best left alone and I liked the idea of the minimalist blocks partially floating depending on the background. I actually ran out of black fabric, so the planned symmetry of halfing the background eye-catchingly fell into the rule of 3rds instead.

Essex yarn dyed linen combined with Cotton Couture’s split personality of a dull and shiny side, offered multiple layers of texture.

Improvisationally pieced and designed. I love that.

| Quilting |

I went vertical with the quilting in a Metler black thread, subdividing the quilt with 1″ lines and then went back in for the fill. I didn’t really worry that they were evenly spaced, just eyed it up on the design wall here and there with distance as my assistant. Some are 1/4″ apart and others a little bit more or less.

Unfortunately, I tugged out the top corner of the quilt when I hung it to photograph, but this is truly one of the squarest quilts to date with no waving at the edges. No blocking, so satisfying.

| Binding and Backing |

The binding switches out in value/fabric to oppose what’s in the quilt at the top and bottom vertical strips. Not only do I like the design interest it adds, but I was able to scab together enough scraps of black to make it happen.

After talking about white batting bearding in my Alignment Optional Pillows post, I actually did have the foresight to order some black batting. All said, done and basted I realized my backing fabric had white in it. I was a little concerned the opposite effect of black batting bearding through would happen, but all went well.

This quilt will be a great workshop sample to explain how I improvisationally panel out a quilt on the design wall.

I’ll be the visiting artist at the Arts Center of Jackson Hole teaching a two day Psychedelic Baby Block | Improv Strip Piecing Workshop January 21st and 22nd. I’m pretty excited to have two whole days in Jackson Hole to hang out with students and play with both of the blocks this technique creates!

I should mention that I’ll also be in B.C. Canada in February and a bunch of locations in Washington come winter-spring. All my locations are up on the Events page.

Happy be grateful weekend Peeps!

Double-Trouble Restitch Quilt

October 4, 2016 By Katie 20 Comments

So I kind of reincarnated this quilt. It really is the original Scrappalicious Double-Trouble quilt I finished up in 2013. I provided a blog post around the same time featuring only a few of the wonderful design layouts you can create with this improvisational quilt block. I am always amazed when I look around at the design walls in this workshop and see the amazing designs people create with such a simple block.

To remake this quilt I took out all the quilting, removed three seams, switched around some rows, and sewed it back together. I know, a little crazy. Some things take more then one try to deliver favorable results. It’s a little wonky around the edges and one row too long, but better in my opinion.

It just kept telling me it needed simple straight lines, but I guess almost all my quilts do now a days.

The thing about quilting or practicing any art is sometimes the finish is so satisfying, and sometimes…well, it’s just kind of ‘meh.’ But all these finishes lead to the next great idea. Besides discovering that I should never remove quilting ever ever ever again, I learned a couple of new things. One, I don’t think the imprint from the long arm quilting will ever really dissipate, and two, any quilting that has sharp points to it creates really tiny stitches at the turn that are strong and difficult to remove, even with my Quick Seam Ripper.

What I do know is that I still love myself a scrap quilt. Every little bitty one;) You can see more of this block if you want, I’ve collected some of those images here.

Happy week Peeps!

No Know Quilt/s

June 30, 2016 By Katie 19 Comments

Two quilts for welcoming babies.

My friends said they were going old-school and not finding out the baby’s gender. Their neutral color palette of grey and white was a challenge long overdue for me, but to stay interested I had to add one color at the very least. So all the mustardy yellows in my stash that didn’t nod towards girl or boy were thrown in. That turned out to be mostly Cloud9 fabrics and some older Heather Ross.

I called to acquire the guesstimated birthday and was given an exact date, so on the back the Taurus fabric went, plus a little dose of Katie neutral.

It was all quilted, bound and ready.

Well you might be wondering why there are two quilts?

A few days later I got word that the BABIES were here. That’s right, joke’s on us, a boy and a girl. I haven’t gotten the whole story yet, but they must have known.

It just so happens that when I made the first quilt I was experimenting with a method of teaching my modern improvisational strip piecing workshop that produces two unique styles of blocks at once. Not only was I covered in the quilt department when it came to the business of twins, but my quilts were matching. Just like I planned it or something;)

I finished up the last of my bolt of Carolina Chambray building out the blocks. It becomes so soft with use.

Both got the horizontal and vertical grid quilting treatment with a little variation.

The patch of Taurus fabric made it onto the back of each, but I pulled this old Alexander Henry from stash to complete the second.

Generally I would have given them different binding, but the same Kai dot seemed appropriate.

I’m not sure who gets which, I’ll let them figure that out.

I’ve got one workshop up for July teaching this fun and easy method, but these samples will be delivered so I’ve already got some new basted and ready. I’ll miss seeing these around the studio.

Hope all is well in your world. I’m pretty happy to be playing in the garden again and enjoying the slower pace of no school.

I’ll be here next week with another string quilt for Riley Blake’s Quilted Modern Blog Tour. Happy week Peeps;)

Finished Quilts

:: Seeing Stars ::

Intersected Quilt

Cross Roads Quilt

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

On Point Scrappy Double-Trouble Quilt

Hearts Value Quilt

Full Tilt Quilt

Side-Lined Quilt

Skewed Symmetry Quilt

Double-Trouble Restitch Quilt

No Know Quilt/s

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