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Modern Quilting

|| 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

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Filed Under: boxed pouch tutorial/pattern, Finished Quilts, modern quilt, Modern Quilting, Modern Quilts, seattle quilting, seattle sewing

:: 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.

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

Reoriented is one of those quilts I might have looked at in the early days of the word ‘modern’ being put in front of everything, including quilting, and thought someone pretty quickly got sick of making blocks and just decided to fill the rest with ‘negative space,’ but I’ve gotta say I actually like it.

I ran out of the shot cotton I was using to surround the blocks and expanded and filled in with a yarn dyed Essex linen. I like the effect it created through all that negative space.

The blocks are a smaller version of how I teach my improvisational strip piecing workshop. My mom taught me how to do my binding corners a bit differently and if you’re interested I have a little tutorial on that here.

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

I can’t help but think that during our time in Manzanita things seemed kind of… well… normal. Reflecting on this photo from the perspective of a quilt maker reminds me that I love how quilts can place us in certain time/events of our lives.

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

I’m still pulling fabric for quilt backs from stash. Even though I’ve been bulldozing through stash for them for years it doesn’t seem to be creating a hole or dent.

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

This quilt got an all over of vertical straight lines.

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

I finally bought a raised lap hoop. I haven’t gotten beyond placing the quilt in it and I’m not sure I’m so impressed with it for the cost. I’ll let ya know. I also have no idea what design I’ll be quilting yet;)

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

And actually a quilt finish really is a BIG win;)

We have a saying we use in our house from rafting days, “Take part in your own rescue.” Please, if you need help reach out to your people, talk to yourself like you would talk to those you love, celebrate your small wins, wear your mask (over your nose please), and check your voter’s registration here 🙂 In some states you only have two more weeks to make sure you’re registered, so today’s the day.

xoxo Katie

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Filed Under: Finished Quilts, modern quilt, Modern Quilting, Modern Quilts, Uncategorized

Summer Sampler

April 25, 2018 By Katie

 

I’m not much of a joiner, but I really admire the ladies (Katie of Swim Bike Quilt, Lee of Freshly Pieced and Faith of Fresh Lemon Quilts) that host this sampler.  So when I was asked to design and contribute a block to this year’s I thought to myself to just keep it simple.

This year’s sampler is travel inspired and my thoughts went to all the solo and accompanied road trips I’ve taken throughout the years in the Southwest and those roads tucked between all that sandstone.

Thought I’d share the quilt mockup with you today!  They’ve mocked it up in 3 different color ways, and Sewtopia will be offering solids kits [10% off if you pre-order here], and so will Mad About Patchwork in Canada!!

Beginning May 14th, each week they’ll share a quilt block inspired by a different global destination.

Katie, Lee and Faith have 10 guest designers this year including me, with a total of 18 blocks to make an 80” x 80” quilt, and we hope you will follow them on Instagram [if you don’t already!] and get to know them all a little better.

You can purchase the 2018 Sampler here!

Katie Blakesley – www.swimbikequilt.com @swimbikequilt

Lee Heinrich – www.freshlypieced.com @lee.a.heinrich

Faith Jones – www.freshlemonsquilts.com @freshlemonsquilts

Daisy Aschehoug – www.warmfolk.com @warmfolk

Rebecca Bryan – www.bryanhousequilts.com @bryanhousequilts

Debbie Jeske – aquilterstable.blogspot.com @aquilterstable

Kristy Lea – www.quietplaydesigns.com @quietplay

Karen Lee – www.quiltaposy.com @quiltaposy

Melissa Mortenson – www.polkadotchair.com @polkadotchair

Carolina Oneto – www.carolinaoneto.com @carolina_oneto

Katie Pedersen – www.sewkatiedid.com @sewkatiedid

Angela Pingel – www.angelapingel.com @angelapingel

Christopher Thompson – www.thetattooedquilter.com @the_tattooed_quilter

Our hostesses have picked out three color ways.

 

Save $5 with special pre-sale pricing! Now through May 13, Summer Sampler 2018 is available for a one-time payment of just $24.99 total. That gets you all 18 blocks and everything else listed below!

Summer Sampler 2018 includes:
• Fully-tested instructions for a new 12″ (finished) block each week, beginning May 14 and running through September 17
• Complete finishing instructions (delivered September 24)
• All fabric requirements and suggested Kona Solids colors
• Quilt mock-up coloring sheet for planning
• Weekly Summer Sampler newsletter email subscription with information about our inspiration, tips for sewing that week’s block, and other bonus content
• Access to a subscriber-only Facebook group to interact with other quilters and the designers

If you have already purchased, you should have received a “Welcome PDF” with fabric requirements and much more information about the quilt-along. (If you purchase now, you will automatically receive that and all other future files.)

The first block pattern will be sent the week of May 14.

Customers in the European Union: Please visit Lee’s Etsy shop to purchase this pattern.

Fabric requirements for the blocks: Approximately 2-1/2 yards of white for the blocks and a total of 3 yards of colored fabric to make the blocks, as well as 1 yard of white for the border and 4-5 yards of solids for the hourglass filler blocks. More detailed information is available in our Welcome PDF that you can download on purchase.

 

 

 

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Filed Under: Modern Quilting

Modern Quilts: Designs of the New Century

January 23, 2018 By Katie

Forming The Seattle Modern Quilt Guild seems like such a long time ago now.  I’ve met some of my closest friends through the group.  In the beginning we just hung out together in a lovely church up on Phinney Ridge and quilted.  I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss the days of the guild being small, but movements take hold because there is interest in doing more and we became one of the first to formalized into our non-profit status as part of The Modern Quilt Guild.

Had the Modern Quilt Guild stayed small and this movement not grown, my quilts, studio and teaching likely wouldn’t have evolved and intertwined itself into my life at the level it has.

And then the Modern Quilt Guild conceived Quiltcon and I had a comfortable avenue to submit my quilts for exhibit and I did so every year.  2018 is the first Quiltcon I haven’t submitted to the exhibit and I have to say that it was a mix of bad timing, needing my quilts for the workshops, and that having my quilts in the new release of Modern Quilts: Designs of the New Century felt like accomplishment enough.


It’s certainly an honor to have my quilts placed next to some of the artists I admire most in this beautiful coffee table book by the Modern Quilt Guild. Two of my quilts are in the book, Skewed Symmetry and Diving Geese.  You can read more about these quilts and the process of making them here and here.

I submitted a few quilts to Quiltcon last year and tag Skewed Symmetry on at the end.  If you were ever to see my trunk show/lecture you would probably think this one doesn’t fit in with my other quilts.  It lacks the color I generally go for, but it’s good to push the limits and make something out of your comfort zone every once in awhile.

My Diving Geese quilt was made with a crazy piecing method I’ll be teaching at Quiltcon this year.  It hung a few years ago.  Quilted by my friend Krista Withers, it won Best in Quilting.

Good thing the book is hardcover.  It’s pages have been thumbed through by all the students in the studio and there might be a little margarita salt stain already.  We all agree what a beautiful and well published book this is.  Very inspirational.

I’m bookending the tour here, but go have a browse at all the other amazing artists involved and pick yourself up a copy of Modern Quilts: Designs of the New Century, you won’t regret it;)

 

12/13/17 Amber Corcoran Fancy Tiger Crafts
12/14/17 Heidi Parkes Heidi Parkes Art
12/15/17 Melissa Cory Happy Quilting
12/16/17 Penny Gold Studio Notes
12/18/17 Shruti Dandekar 13 Wood House Road
12/19/17 Amy Friend During Quiet Time
12/20/17 Paige Alexander Quilted Blooms
12/21/17 Angela Bowman Angela Bowman Design
12/22/17 Lysa Flower Lysa Flower
12/27/17 Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill Whole Circle Studio
12/28/17 Jacquie Gering Tall Grass Prairie Studio
12/29/17 Christa Watson Christa Quilts
12/30/17 Heather Black Quilt-achusetts
1/2/18 Kristin Shields Kristin Shield Art
1/3/18 Krista Hennebury Poppy Print Creates
1/4/18 Cinzia Allocca Deux Petites Souris
1/5/18 Suzanne Paquette Atelier Six Design
1/6/18 Yvonne Fuchs Quilting Jetgirl
1/9/18 Ben Darby Hunts Patch Quilts
1/10/18 Nicole Daksiewicz Modern Handcraft
1/11/18 Kristi Schroeder Initial K Studio
1/12/18 Kathy York Art Quilts by Kathy York
1/13/18 Marla Varner Penny Lane Quilts
1/15/18 Brigette Heitland Zen Chic
1/16/18 Stacey Sharman Hello Stitch Studio
1/17/18 Stacey O’Malley SLO Studio
1/18/18 Kim Soper Leland Ave Studios
1/19/18 Steph Skardal Steph Skardal Quilts
1/20/18 Cheryl Brickey Meadow Mist Designs
1/22/18 Shea Henderson Empty Bobbin Sewing Studio
1/23/18 Katie Larson Katie Larson Studio
1/24/18 Katie Pedersen Sew Katie Did

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Filed Under: Modern Quilting

:: 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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Filed Under: Classes and workshops, Improvisational Quilts, modern quilt, Modern Quilting, Modern Quilting Classes, Modern Quilts, Split Personality Quilt block, Uncategorized

:: 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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Filed Under: Classes and workshops, Improvisational Quilts, Innovative Patchwork Piecing, invisible zipper, invisible zipper pillow, modern quilt, Modern Quilting Classes, Pillow Tutorial, pillows, Projects, Quilting Modern techniques and projects for improvisational quilts, Split Personality Quilt block Tagged With: heart pillows

:: Spilt Crumbs Quilt Top ::

June 12, 2017 By Katie

Anyone that knows me well, knows that I take organization to a serious level.  So I was teased for showing up to retreat with two cart loads and no real project plan.  Clothes are easy to pack for this type of vacation, but my time management for planning projects just didn’t exist.

SEW KATIE DID | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | No Foul Quilt

Along with a lot of other random stuff, into the car went some blocks a few of my lovely students and I created last month.  They helped me test drive a crazy piecing technique I call Split Personality as a three hour workshop at Quiltcon.  It’s an easy technique that creates multiple blocks with ‘crumbs’ of each fabric in all sorts of fun linear shapes.

I’ll be teaching this block as a full day workshop in the studio this month.

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting Studio

I started with the blocks we had made in colors I honestly didn’t like much together.  I figured I didn’t have anything to lose by cutting them up.  If I didn’t like what was happening I’d trash them and move onto the next set.

SEW KATIE DID | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio | Crumb Quilt

I loved what happened.

I aimed for an easy design.  Nearly everyone with some quilting experience has trimmed many a half square triangle, so merging one with the crazy piecing seemed ideal as a sample.  Some time with the design wall led to this layout.

I love to have loads of examples of how to use a technique and/or block and students appreciate the inspiration, so I played with one of my favorite shapes that utilizes half square triangles AND improv stitch and flip triangles with the Split Personality blocks with my leftovers.

SEW KATIE DID | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio

I think these will be pillows, just have to decide whether they need sashing, piping or another colorful background.  Stay tuned, I have 3 more sets of these blocks in a range of color ways left.

SEW KATIE DID | Weekend Retreat

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting Studio

As far as sewing at retreat, here’s what I walked away with.  I find with the studio I don’t have as much time to sew and even though I needed to stick with making samples, I was also much more relaxed and organized on my walk out;)  It might have been the inspiration, awesome company, good sleep or the margaritas…really doesn’t matter.

I highly recommend retreats.

SEW KATIE DID | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing Studio

I’m pretty much smitten with this block.  I love that you could fit it into just about any improv or traditional quilt design as a ‘made’ fabric.  It just seems now that I find inspirational quilt designs I want to put it into everywhere.

I’ve got a weekend and weekday workshop on the studio schedule for this block.

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting Studio

And Seattle’s got nothing but clouds in our future this week, so I’ve picked out a backing and am ready for some quality quilting time if I pay my time management cards right;)

SEW KATIE DID | Seattle Modern Quilting & Sewing StudioAnd of course there’s Quiltcon.  I’ve never been to Pasadena, so if anyone has some hot tips they’re willing to share about eating & where the best margarita is I’m all ears.

Happy making Peeps;)


Check out other quilts made with the Split Personality block:

  • BIG Tossed Hearts
  • Split Personality Christmas Quilt
  • Diving Geese 
  • Splinters Quilt

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Filed Under: Classes and workshops, Improvisational Quilting Classes, Innovative Patchwork Piecing, Modern Quilting Classes, seattle quilting, seattle sewing, Split Personality Quilt block

Walk the Line | Straight-Line Quilting Workshop

January 28, 2017 By Katie

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting and Sewing Studio | Straight Line Quilting Workshop I still quilt, I swear.

The New Year brings out the clean, organize and purge in me. So on the 1st I jumped into The January Cure, a scheduled out month of house chores. Even with a few missed days to teach in Jackson Hole, the momentum to finish is still present.

I’ve also made my yearly mental checklist of unfinished tops or other projects that could use some quilting.

Maybe some of you are making these lists, and organizing for the year as well.   I thought you might even welcome the opportunity to refine your straight line quilting skills in a workshop before you tackle all those unfinished quilt tops on your own home machine.

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting and Sewing Studio | Straight Line Quilting WorkshopI’d certainly like to share all the know-how of straight line quilting I’ve accumulated and I happen to have a closet, a very clean closet 😉 full of quilts to show you as examples.  Each of them have their own straight line quilting story.

To practice these geometric, curvy and geometric designs I thought we’d go with the New Year’s theme of ‘organize’.  Nesting buckets seemed appropriate, made with either whole cloth (we won’t count that as a new project;) or orphaned blocks (you can see that look here).

We’ll learn the tips and tricks of using a walking foot, marking, turning and burying knots as you master modern straight line quilting designs on the studio’s Bernina machines.  The bucket’s panels make perfect practice palettes and you can pull from your stash to make them happen.

Take a closer look at my finished quilts and smaller projects with straight line quilting, or SIGN-UP to develop this skill for yourself.

Hope the New Year has been rich in craftiness Peeps.

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Seattle-Modern-Quilt-Guild-1

I’ll be showing my quilts and speaking at the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild’s Wednesday, February 8th meeting from 7pm-9pm.  You don’t have to be a member to attend, so this is a great opportunity to check out what they have planned for lectures and workshops this year.  I promise to entertain;)

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Filed Under: Classes and workshops, Modern Quilting, Modern Quilting Classes, Projects Tagged With: classes, nesting buckets, quilting, seattle, straight line quilting, workshops

Skewed Symmetry Quilt

November 23, 2016 By Katie

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting and Sewing Studio | Skewed Symmetry Quilt

| 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.

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting and Sewing Studio | Skewed Symmetry Quilt

| 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.

dsc_0551

| 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.

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting and Sewing Studio | Skewed Symmetry Back

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.

sew katie did | Seattle Modern Quilting and Sewing Studio | two-for-the-road quilt

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!

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Filed Under: Finished Quilts, modern quilt, Modern Quilting, Modern Quilts Tagged With: classes and workshops, improv quilting, improvisational patchwork piecing, modern quilt, quilting seattle

Christmas Flurry Pillows

December 17, 2015 By Katie

SEW KATIE DID:Marimekko Panel

It pretty much started with this VANHAKAUPUNKI fabric Jefe bought me last year for Christmas.

I stretched it over the frame covering the other Marimekko for the season.

So what do you do with the leftovers?

SEW KATIE DID:Marimekko Pillows front and back

Well duh.

SEW KATIE DID/Christmas Pillows

SEW KATIE DID:Christmas Pillow 5

And of course you need coordinates.

SEW KATIE DID:Christmas Pillows 2015

And as it happens the coordinates match the ones from last year:)

SEW KATIE DID:Christmas Pillow lineup

But with the endless rain here all I want to do is sew or sit on my pillows,

SEW KATEID DID:Christmas pillow 3

so I made some more for the family room too.

SEW KATIE DID:Christmas Ghastlies Pillows two

I finished up some more dopp kits and napkins that I’ll share next week, but I think that’s it for my #handmadechristmas this year.  Here’s the link to my invisible zipper tutorial if you feel in the mood to make some holiday pillows yourself.

::GIVEAWAY::

SEW KATIE DID

Oh, and the fabric giveaway as promised are these lovely Christmas fabrics.  No annoying follow me here and there stuff, just copy and paste a link to your favorite PATCHWORK or QUILTING handmade gift tutorial in your comment and you could win…

  • (2) large scraps Heather Ross Flannel
  • (1) FQ+ out of print Alexander Henry Merry Moderns large print
  • 1/4 yard out of print Alexander Henry Merry Moderns small
  • (2) large scraps Cotton and Steel Candles
  • (1) FQ out of print Alexander Henry Birds
  • (1) FQ Folk lore print in grey

Good Luck!

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Filed Under: invisible zipper pillow, Modern Quilting, pillows, Projects, seattle quilting

Modern Domestic Gallery Show

December 14, 2015 By Katie

katie-Pedersen-Quilts-split

I’ve always enjoyed teaching at Modern Domestic in Portland.  They sell quality fabric, Bernina machines and have an amazing classroom that doubles as their gallery space.  Of course I should mention the friendly and knowledgeable staff;)

They kindly asked me if I’d like to be featured.  It turned out December was the month I could manage since I have no scheduled trunk shows or classes.  I figured people are making and shopping to boot and would see the quilts.

katie-Pedersen-Quilts

  I pulled all of these wonderful images from their blog, and Instagram.

I selected quilts from the series I created, my Value Quilt Tutorial and then a few that reflect my favorite technique workshops, like elongated and double-trouble triangles.

katie-Pedersen-Quilt-2

xkatie-Pedersen-Quilts-split-2.jpg.pagespeed.ic.en0EuGosSA

I loved this photo that Sometimes Crafter posted on her Instagram account.

SEW KATIE DID:MD Show

It’s always so fun to “see” (I wish I could have gone) all the quilts hanging together, especially in such a light and bright space.

I’ve been working on holiday gifts that I’ll likely pop back in to share at the end of the week.  Maybe a Christmas fabric FQ giveaway??? Be sure to add your email to the “follow me around” button in the sidebar for that update.  I’ve got some out of prints you surely need;)

  This Tuesday, next Tuesday (22nd) and this Thursday I have a space in  Open Studio with requests to teach/work on double sided napkins and other holiday projects like the dopp kits and zip pouches I’ve been making and posting on my Instagram.  Drop me an email to join us;)

Happy Monday Peeps!

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Filed Under: Modern Quilting, Modern Quilts Tagged With: modern domestic portland, quilt, quilting, seattle

::Playing with Hearts::

November 10, 2015 By Katie

SEW KATIE DID:Split Personality Quilt Block

I’m still quilting my Christmas quilt made with blocks that I call ‘Split Personality.”  Both the vertical and horizontal quilting lines were finished over the weekend and I’ll move onto the diagonal lines once the week’s open studios and workshop are done.

I try to give my body a break from quilting every hour or so and since staring at my design wall is a favorite activity I’ve dedicated my move around time to these solid fabric versions.  Last season I was rather smitten with all the heart designs I’d been seeing and decided I’d really like to play with an improvisational variation of this shape.

The block’s effect is similar to what the crazy piecing technique in Quilting Modern produces, but this new technique is rather quick and without fuss.

SEW KATIE DID/Split Personality Hearts

These Split Personality blocks have evolved into the “what” with their heart shaped design element, but they have yet to find the “how” of their final composition.  I’ve been inspired by so many traditional quilts layouts where I could place this block, but am really trying to stay improvisational with this one.

SEW KATIE DID/Split Personality Hearts

I have plans at the end of the week to play with some I made that I’m not as happy about and see where an elongated heart shape might land me.  Pays to not always throw away the ‘not so goods’ eh?  Maybe in the end I’ll have some great trivets for Christmas presents at the least:)

Happy midweek Peeps!

—————————————————

I’ve got new Open Studio dates up and a few spaces in my design wall/improv workshop left.  Thanks to everyone’s feedback and response to my newsletter.  I’ll be working on an evening Open Studio and a Sunday monthly in the new year.  Hope to see you soon;)

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Filed Under: Modern Quilting Tagged With: improvisational patchwork, modern crazy piecing, modern quilting, sew katie did

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