modern quilt

|| 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.

|| Wonky Snowballed Stars Quilt ||

May 15, 2022 By Katie

I started this post during my visit with the Omaha Modern Quilt Guild. Progressed a bit on it a week later in Seattle waiting for my 3xs over delayed flight to teach with the Longmont Quilters Guild, sat in my studio on my mattress, lounged by a lagoon in Mexico and now am attempting to catch a little time here again in Denver with the Metro MQG to bookend its finish. I promise the mattress situation will make more sense by the end.

Regardless of the physical location, I’m happy to finally make it back to this virtual space. Getting here has been on my mind, but placed at the bottom of the list.

So let’s start with a quilt;). A few weeks ago in between rain drops I got Jefe to hold up the first of my two Wonky Snowballed Stars Quilts.

Here’s the top and back of my second quilt.

No students during Covid meant the whole studio became my own padded room of design walls. I cut into intended fabric stack and started messing with it on the design wall. I didn’t intend to make two quilts but inadvertently a color wouldn’t work so I’d place the misfit to the next wall. I’m usually stubbornly committed to the back ground fabric of my original idea, but the second quilt was open to whatever other neutral for a different feel, so I went with a mix of the grey from my stash.

The good news is through this process I now had two new samples for my Throwing Stars: Magic Numbers meet Improv workshop with the Denver Metro Modern Quilt Guild.

Once I figured out the colors, it needed something else to make it pop. It stalled on the design wall for months as I wandered around navigating our weird world and Jefe took over the studio as an office.

I don’t know what sparked it, but it occurred to me that switchin’ out the stellar’s centers with their neighbors’ and adding the improv triangles to snowball the middle of the stars might bring it together. It was the breath of fresh air it needed. I love the improvisational evolution of a quilt’s design and when you realize it’s perfect and ready to be sewn into a top.

Since I started posting quilts with this improv mix I’m seeing more and more of these snowballed centers mixed with the magic numbers concept on Instagram in creative ways. Good reminder that these techniques belong to all of us.

Vertical quilting lines in aqua thread offered the zero disturbance to the quilt’s design I was aiming for. Depending on the math, my lazy approach to quilting is a quarter of an inch from seams, and then utilizing the side of the Bernina walking foot from the needle, which equals a ½” against those first quilting lines to fill in. I always give it a one over measure for even distribution. In my opinion a quilt design like this doesn’t need anything special. No burying threads for me.

With all that Essex as background and the mostly flannel back it will wash up double cozy.

Let’s talk binding. I ran out of the black fabric I’d used for some of the stars, so hacked into something similar from stash to use.

Adding a little sparkle and definition to its edge.

It’s a good mix of yarn dyed fabrics in the black color ways, front and back. If I didn’t have a million other ideas I want to try then I’d make a king size. The colors would be perfect for our bedroom and the dark background impacted less by a 90# dog.

If you’re interesting in learning the improv triangle technique I’ve had a cancellation, so have one spot open for the Saturday May 21st workshop.

Sorry about the garden disaster, also low on the list.

Last post I shared some repurposed pillow tops transformed into box pouches (pattern here), and then I went on a cutting spree through stash picking some favorite fabrics.

These top two have already found homes.

I was especially in need of a curves with a walking foot sample for my upcoming Straight Line Quilting workshop. I loved how it turned out. Both of the horse prints have lived in my stash since my first days of sewing and I have people in mind for their gifting.

The Buddhas went to Jefe. He needed a smaller size to carry his cords and miscellaneous stuff.

It’s all matchy-matchy with his Devon zip pouch he carries his passport in.

Quite some time ago I made some big ass buckets from the book Zakka Handmades. Mine lacked the structure a good mix of stabilizer would have given them, so with a baby shower gift in need it was the perfect opportunity to dig them out of the basement, spend some time with the seam ripper and add some soft and stable inside. Little Raja’s mom is using them in the nursery and I’m sure their use will transition over time.

Since I think they’re fun to make, next round I’ll be playing with the stabilizer, quilting, adding some more topstitching to the handles and perfecting the piecing of the curved bottom. They’re cute as all get out, reversible and utilitarian.

It was nice little boost for me when my host from the Omaha MQG sent me a photo of my Psychedelic Baby Quilt from the exhibit at the National Quilt Museum. It looks so perfect next to that stop sign.

Speaking of centrality, since showing my In Line Star Quilt in my last post I’ve been playing with some big stars that have a very central layout. I made a couple myself and then had a few of my friends over to help me test drive this new improv strip piecing workshop. We all made stars, but the blocks can be altered to other designs.

I’ll be getting this up as a workshop soon.

I never use brown so this was a good challenge. I’ll be using this color combo again.

What we’ve really been working on is the house. We’ve made so much progress on the fireplace take down that I shared with you last post, and then before I left for my first Denver trip.

Nonfunctional, it made since to reclaim the space.

We were hoping the outer brick wall could stay, but decided it need to come down.

The room feels so expansive now, especially with the light coming in from windows on both sides.

In preparation for extending the wood floors we widened the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. We wanted to take it to the ceiling like the other entries but the ceiling is textured in the rest of the house and we want flat in the kitchen eventually.

Here’s a great little photo reminder of the progress that has been made. Eight years ago or so after scraping off four dark layers of wallpaper I found we had plywood walls in the kitchen.

Like there wasn’t enough wood to begin with.

Jefe was a good egg. I’ve always wanted a pink room and since the plywood walls would be coming down in the future he was agreeable to my wish. Enter Prairie Rose.

It feels right wider.

Then we packed up 9+ years of our crap into the garage and basement, moved the beds and all the plants into the studio, and had wood floors woven into the hearth area of the living room, added to the kitchen and refinished.

It was all very cozy.

Boss thought so too.

Getting the floors in and refinished feels like a huge step in the house remodel. There is now an actual walkway to the little attached room off the living room that doesn’t involve walking over a hearth and a flow into the kitchen.

The good news about the plywood walls I mentioned is little mess in taking them down. Next is electrical in the kitchen and insulation throughout the whole house.

We obviously have some painting and trim to catch up on.

What a difference a few years and some sweat can make.

A 51st birthday celebration came and went.

As did Saint Patty’s day. The boys were in Mexico City eating tacos and playing soccer, so Boss and I headed to the neighbors for bangers and mash and green cocktails with some soda bread in hand. This recipe with golden raisins has been my standby for as long as I’ve been baking. I probably should branch out, but why chance ruining a good thing?

A freezer with left over Easter ham and a package of puff pastry becomes a great breakfast treat when you add some cheese. All my cookbooks are packed until we paint, but these come from a recipe in one of the Back in The Day Bakery cookbooks and you should just buy them all. (affiliate link)

They also pair well with a salad.

Did someone say salad? Just like last year, I planted too much lettuce and greens, but have plenty to share with the neighbors that way. I was also given some asparagus ‘fingers’ that I’m hoping between the 72 degree day and the snow more than the few I’ve chopped into a salad will show.

When the chives come in I always make cauliflower au gratin which matches up with a nice salad and steak or salmon perfectly.

More salads. If you’re a fan of Thai food and have a bunch of fresh herbs this larb from Food and Wine is where it’s at. If you’re around a Trader Joes and they still have them on the shelf, then grab yourself a few cans of the fried jalapeños to toss on top with the peanuts for some spicy crunch.

Time for apricots again. Smitten Kitchen’s breakfast crisp is a seasonal treat and a good excuse to eat some delicious whole fat Greek yogurt along with it. Even if the apricots are a little bitter or under ripe, baked up they generally turn sweet with a great texture.

The said asparagus we have been eating in two other spring standbys. One is a raw salad with some toasted pine nuts and cheese. Check out Salad Days for it and be sure to eat the Napa salad too.

The other is Nom Nom Paleo’s asparagus eggs which is one of the best breakfast dishes I know and only takes about 6 minutes of your morning to make. You don’t really need a recipe to follow for it, but the book is worth it for some of the other recipes.

It’s halibut time again. 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 (or other firm white fish like sea bass), 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.

The monster is back. We cut the wisteria back multiple times in the growing season or it would literally lift the roof. I do love it.

Everything is blooming in defiance of the colder than usual weather here in Seattle. I’m all done for the season with my travel teaching and looking forward to spending some time home, especially in the yard in between teaching at the studio.

Of course no post is complete without the puppers. Boss is Boss.

And we took care of the pugs for a couple weeks. Fiona is still the sweetest girl ever.

Franco is just silly, always reminding you he’s hungry by bringing you his bowl.

And we spent some time with Hazel who was quick to put Boss in his place.

I’ve got the quilting done and the binding on the second quilt. Due to the Swedish finish on the floors we’ve had all the windows open to air out the house and it’s nice to have an excuse to cuddle up.

Hope your spring has sprung. Unless I’m on vacation I won’t be writing posts from a hotel lounge, but it is kind of fun. Make sure to be kind to those people taking care of you in your travels, they’re working their tails off.

Cheers, Katie

|| In Line Star Quilt ||

January 28, 2022 By Katie

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

Before

After

Before

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

:: 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 this 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;)

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.

:: Split Crumbs Quilt Top ::

October 4, 2017 By Katie

Loving this finish.

This Split Personality crazy piecing technique that I’ve been teaching is so fast and satisfying. I can’t stop making the blocks in all my favorite color ways.

I’ve made several sets and they’re waiting for their own quilt designs to come to me. I’ve also had a little personal challenge going on to make quilt tops come together with fabric I already have, a task that takes a little more design time.

I used traditional block techniques like half squares and quarter squares and randomly placed them up on the design wall filling in here and there with solid fabrics. For the quilting I off set it a bit, diagonally coming together somewhat in the center. It was enough without distracting.

Alexander Henry from stash for the back.

I love this Notorious line by Cotton and Steel for the binding.

This turned out to be an easy baby quilt and I love the heart pillows I made with the left over blocks even more.

I wish I could have both of these in two places at once so that I could show them at my lectures in Ashland next week and at the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild as samples for the November 4th workshop.

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:: Fractured Hearts Pillows ::

September 19, 2017 By Katie

I don’t know what it is about these crazy pieced blocks I call Split Personality, but I’ve got to say they’re nothing short of addictive. In talking with a few students in Saturday’s workshop, I’ve realized I’m not alone in this addiction. After learning the technique they’ve created more than a few sets and let them marinate on their design walls until the perfect quilt design idea came to them for their placement.

I had some left over blocks from my Split Crumbs Quilt top, so I placed them into one of my favorite shapes, the heart. I used the improvisational stitch and flip triangle technique we teach in Quilting Modern for the tops of the heart, and a good ole half square triangle for the bottom.

I’ve been wanting to play with a binding/sashing for pillows, but will have to start teaching myself another zipper or closing technique besides an invisible zip.

The variegated thread stitched up a lovely line. I was thinking a grid, but it didn’t need it.

In the Studio’s evening Open Studio for September and October we’ll focus on installing an invisible zipper into a pillow. I know it sounds complicated and scary, but I actually know 12- year olds that do it without calling their mommy and trust me, making pillows is addictive in a good way. You are welcome to bring any project though.

Of course if you don’t need the hand holding, but just a good tutorial for installing your own at home you can check my invisible zipper pillow tutorial out here.

The Seattle Modern Quilt Guild will be hosting me to teach the Split Personality Quilt Block November 4th. They’ll open up the workshop here soon, so save the date! Not sure but there might be some spots left at Quiltcon too.

Happy Week Peeps:)

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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;)

Full Tilt Quilt

March 14, 2017 By Katie

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;)

|| Wonky Snowballed Stars Quilt Take 2 ||

|| Wonky Snowballed Stars Quilt ||

|| In Line Star Quilt ||

:: Dialed In Quilt ::

:: Reoriented Quilt ::

:: Wee Raindrops Quilt ::

:: Throwing Stars Quilt ::

Intersected Quilt

:: Split Crumbs Quilt Top ::

:: Fractured Hearts Pillows ::

On Point Scrappy Double-Trouble Quilt

Full Tilt Quilt

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