magic numbers

|| Wonky Snowballed Stars Quilt Take 2 ||

September 5, 2022 By Katie

Gimme something happy, like a colorful quilt. Bright and summery even though lounging under it sounds a little…hot.

I finished the summer twin to the winter color way quilt I shared a few posts back. It’s a blend of two workshops I often teach, Magic Numbers and Improvisational Triangles.

The background is just a mix of gray from stash with a speckle of almost-solid print incorporated in. I love myself a toss up of the textures and it’s fun to revisit some fabric bought for another purpose.

Cat or dog, regardless they are smack dab in the middle or everything.

I wanted the back to matchy-match its twin so went with another large star.

I couldn’t decide whether to go with red or purple for the binding so I chose both by layering my regular binding over a flange binding. I learned this technique from Jaybird Quilts and it really couldn’t be any simpler. The only change I make from her tutorial is I cut my flange to 7/8″ since I liked it a little subtler. I love the frame it adds.

I used the same aqua color thread as I did in my last Wonky Snowball quilt and as usual just went with a simple run off the edge straight line for the quilting.

I think I’ll start washing my quilts before photos, I loved it even more when I pulled it out of the dryer.

The zinnias are blooming and haven’t made it into a vase yet, but I’ve cycled through a lot of the other bloomers.

We were certainly pushing up daisies around here.

A rainstorm took some of the cardoons down for me.

With the exception of the food garden, I give the yard a once over weeding in the spring and then wish it luck. Considering the changes we’re likely to see in our weather and most of my yard is west facing I rarely plant anything that requires much water.

Though it does get watered, just like the yard the window box on my potting shed got a once over in the spring. I didn’t really like it at first and it’s still a little too symmetrical for me, but it’s filled in nicely and adds some color. It’s fun to see year after year how it’s looked.

My kitchen appliances finally showed themselves mid-July, moving us somewhat out of our glamping style kitchen phase we’ve been in since the beginning of covid.

Cutting a hole in your roof for a vent is as unnerving as watching your spouse walk in flip-flops on it.

What could possibly go wrong?

To say I’m over the moon to have a hodge-podge kitchen would be an understatement. If only you could have read my thought bubble when I realized I could make rice AND a stir-fry at the same time;)

Sorry I have no great photos since it’s still in process, but way more functional and I bought some FLOR tiles that I’m loving.

Hang in there with me. I’ve got food to show in no particular order. Here’s the stack. Links are affiliate if you find yourself craving anything mentioned.

Shrimp & Grits is straight out of PCC’s Cooking From Scratch. It’s the same cookbook that the most delicious ground turkey chili on the planet comes from. Double up your grits or polenta to have the next morning with eggs and some sautéed greens (and for sure check out how to cook it in your pressure cooker or IP).

I fit into the category of people that believe frozen phyllo and spinach are staples, so add some leftover chicken and feta and I instantly have this pie in the oven. Chicken and Egg is full of that kind of kitchen cupboard food.

As usual Roan requested ice cream cake. Contrary to its name there is no cake. I’ve adapted its original recipe over the years to really become a hot fudge sundae complete with a layer of bananas. Roan joked that this year’s almost took the cake;)

I don’t know why every time I make a ganache I’m so surprised by how easy it is. This particular recipe came from Icebox Cakes which contains a lot of similar ideas to this “cake” with a fun seasonal flare thrown in.

I have 4 waffle irons…yes FOUR waffle irons. We don’t mess around when it comes to our assembly line style. Most waffles immediately go in our faces, some make it to the toaster the next day and if we’re lucky there might be some for the freezer. Sarabeth’s Good Morning Cookbook waffle recipe caught my eye because there are no egg whites to whip. I’ll make again.

Every summer post I mention this Spinach salad from Cookie & Kate. Spinach is sometimes switched out for arugula and the fruit and nuts vary from what’s in season, but the basics remain. Make it, I’m sure you’ll be in love too.

Jefe’s a pie guy. Since we were deep into July blueberry nectarine seemed to be the answer to his birthday dessert wishes.

Kate McDermott’s Art of Pie (she’s a PNW lady) lent me a hand, as did the pie crusts I already had in the freezer. A few friends of mine and I have a lunch date here and there to mass produce pie crusts. It’s a fun thing to get on the calendar before the holiday schedule gets full and plays double duty of being productive to prepare for the upcoming events.

Every neighbor had a bumper crop of berries this year, and the alleys were abundant in raspberries and blackberries so I had to make my annual lemon curd whip cream tart. I’ve fallen in love with the lemon curd from Daisy Cakes and subbed that.

The Northern Irish side of the family were here as are my folks. It has been so very delicious in every way. The family always requests grilled jalapeños stuffed with feta. Since the grill was out of gas we cooked them the way they’ve adapted it in Northern Ireland. We preheated the cast irons under the broiler and then popped them on the hot surface until the jalapeño somewhat softened and the cheese browned. Worked great.

I crave dishes this time of year that can be eaten the next day as a cold salad. I love being able to add some fresh veg crunch the next day.

Field of Greens bok choy udon and Milk Street’s chicken poached in broth fit perfectly into the salad crunch category. Plus the broth from poaching the chicken makes an excellent soup stock or liquid to cook some rice for the salad in. If I cook them around the same time I pop the shiitake stems from the udon dish into the chicken broth.

Field of Greens also has a grilled potato green bean with basil vinaigrette salad I take to summer gatherings. I always add some feta or goat cheese. My cherry tomatoes and basil are currently out of hand so everything gets some, and the green beans from my neighbor put the last I bought at the store to shame.

My dad Rog turned 89 so he gets whatever he wants, thus I made my first German chocolate at his request. It turned out amazing even if my idea for the numbers didn’t. I teased him he has to make it to 90 so I can get it right.

Since the German chocolate cake was so good, and the rootbeer chocolate cake is already in rotation from this cookbook I thought we’d try the fudge malt cake for my sweet friend and neighbor’s birthday. I love a dense old fashion white or yellow cake and the added malt with the fudge frosting was all that.

It’s good we’ve eaten our fill since we’ll be taking the kitchen’s ceiling and the walls down ~~this~~ next weekend for our electrical stage.

Sounds like the perfect time for me to have something else to do. Anyone else going?

My newest finish and I will be there;)

Boss continues to live up to his name.

Goof.

He is no doubt living his best life.

Even this side of the family is shacking up with us for a couple weeks.

Well when I started this post in the spring we were rolling in rhubarb, lettuce and kale, now here I am pulling blackberries during our alley walks and seeing the plums fall from the trees.

Blackberry gins with cassis and tonics are in our present, but plum torte, boots and quilts are in our near future.

Happy end of summer peeps, xoxo Katie

P.S. Improv Paper Piecing with Triangles and Quilt As You Go: Straight Line Quilting Basics are on the calendar along with other options.

:: 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;)

Garden Plot Magic Numbers Quilt

March 1, 2016 By Katie

Theses squares just reminded me of garden plots. This quilt’s four blocks were constructed using a method I call Magic Numbers. There’s really nothing magic about them, Magic Numbers is a system of using block sizes that automatically fit together for flexibility in design without alteration. That’s right, all tidy;)

It’s a great method if you want to hone your skills at designing your own quilts, pattern free, but aren’t quite ready to free piece it or figure out the math. It’s great for bringing improvisational pieced blocks together or for adding texture into a background with added seams instead of just one big block of fabric.

The quilting is my standard run-off straight lines, a quarter inch from each side of the seams. I used painters tape as my guide for quilting the lines into the wide purple sashing. I could have used Magic Number blocks instead of sashing if I needed more texture, but I think the blocks held their own.

I’m stilling piecing backs from stash. This improvisational back falls in line with my creative quilt backs post on building out on the design wall. Most of these fabrics are flannel, with a little hit of some quilting fabric and linen blend.

I branched out and played with an uplifting and happy thread color. As I was filling the bobbin with the orange, I became suspect about whether I would like the effect it would have on the fairly neutral back. In the finish the vibrant color added another level of texture to the back that a blended color wouldn’t have. What a happy surprise:)

The color way is crazy good and bold.

I generally don’t pick binding out until the quilting is done, but as I was putting this fabric back into the stash it came to mind it might work and that’s how it came to be. There’s not a lick of it in the quilt itself.

This is a real simple quilt. Anyone can quilt using this formula;) Seriously the hardest thing would be picking the fabrics or you could forget about that and just go scrappy. I’ve now made several quilts using the Magic Numbers method and each has a unique look.

Here’s some other examples of Magic Number quilts I’ve created. You can see more about this scrappy one here.

This one below is a great example of bringing the background fabric into the piecing to give the quilt’s blocks a floating deconstructed look. More about this quilt here.

I think it’s fun to play with how different each design can be.

Instead of offering this as a workshop I’m providing instruction for this method in Open Studios where we can merge some projects like box pouches and invisible zipper pillows. Really any project can be adapted. Simply respond if you’d like to schedule.

Happy week Peeps!

::Enter Sunshine::

November 25, 2011 By Katie

Scrappy Sunshine could not have finished up at a better time. We’ve had days and days of steady rain in Seattle and some rays of sunshine were definitely needed.

I made it using Magic Numbers.

I’ve had it on the bed for about a week and the weight with the flannel on the back is perfect. I keep thinking I’ll have a moment to spread it outside, but I’ll have to wait until this storm works its way through the Sound.

This morning we sat under it reading and I had the thought that it was time to share it.

This quilting wouldn’t have been possible with out the help of my dear friend Sandie and her generously offering her time and long arm to quilt it. We went with the Baptist Fan, which to me looks like a rainbow and fit into the whole theme of the quilt.

When it came to a decision on the binding, I decided to just not decide. I went scrappy. The back is purely Anna Maria Horner’s folksy flannel in this diamond yellow with the exception of the Roanism of “can we cuddle?”

This quilt is unusual in that it really isn’t my taste. I’m not even really sure if it fits into my home or bedroom for that matter, but it has grown on me. As we were quilting it and each row would puff up, it was pure love. Folded down at the end of the bed it is perfect, but I still want a king size value quilt for the end of the bed. I never seem to tire of making them.

Next week I’ll head to the laundry mat with it for a wash. I don’t think this would come close to fitting in my machine and it needs a run through. Maybe by then I can hang it out for a full photo.

I’m placing the binding on my Leftovers Quilt tonight and then it’s time to move onto something more improvisational. My mode of operation has some rhythm finally and working between improvisational and traditional quilting seems to keep me inspired.

My Anything Goes Quilt is back up on the design wall and after its fourth transformation (and visit with the seam ripper) it finally has a lay out that works (I think). Two more blocks and some paneling should complete it before I agonize over how to quilt it.

I hope you all had a day surrounded with those you love. I sure did.