classes

:: Side Hustle Quilt ::

April 5, 2019 By Katie

I really wanted to call this quilt Avocado Kitchen.

There’s something about these colors together that I love, but I get the feeling 20 years from now the combo might be like an avocado colored kitchen appliance.

I thought while making the blocks that I would repeat either this or this layout, but came up with a new design by folding and playing with them on the design wall before slicing. I’ve got my sights set on another layout in a binary color scheme now.

This one just needed straight lines.

I’m still using up stash for backs. It’s interesting to look at them all finished and reflect on what I like or what I would have done differently.

I feel like I really haven’t been doing that much sewing lately and I’m not quite sure what happened to March. Looking at the calendar April is going to blow by too. The good news about this is I get to go on retreat with my girlfriends in May.

I’m already sorting though possible projects to take. I’m thinking of pulling the cast off blocks from this quilt from the design wall and taking them with me.

I’ve got two more samples in mind to make for this workshop and then I’m ready to move onto some new workshop development. I’ve so enjoyed making and teaching this block. I can credit all of the block layouts and quilt designs to my inability to make the same quilt twice.

I haven’t listed a date for this workshop, so if you’d ever like to take it you can email me, more information here.

Happy Making Peeps.

The Bainbridge MQG workshop on Double-Trouble is full, but there are still slots at the Everett Quilt Show on April 27th. I’ll be presenting my quilts in a lecture at night on Friday, April 26th.

Tuesday

May 16, 2017 By Katie 2 Comments

Hi there;)

Popping in for a moment. The studio’s all clean and ready for some sewing this afternoon and I’ve organized quilts for Thursday’s lecture with the Tacoma Modern Quilt Guild (please come if you want;).

I’ve got the samples for Part II of the Psychedelic Baby Block workshop out for air. Tomorrow’s class is full, but if you’ve taken part one and want to come play with finishing it up or your secondary blocks please do! It will be an excellent opportunity to get your improv on.

I’ve had a request for the Modern Straight-Line Quilting workshop on Friday May 26th, if you’ve been trying to make it to this class here’s your chance! I’ve loved teaching this workshop. We make some useful nesting baskets with our panels.

One spot left in Memorial Day’s Value Quilt Workshop. We’ll cover how value drives quilt design and make hearts and other shapes with simple half-square triangles. I’m trying to get some squares cut from my stash to make available.

Some students and I’ve been playing in new color ways with one of the improv block techniques I’ll be teaching at Quiltcon. Even putting pillows on the bed puts a combo in my head and leads me out to the studio to pile fabric.

I pre-ordered The Modern Quilt Guild’s new book that has a few of my quilts in it. I’ll be sure to share when I receive it.

I’ve got a birthday present to make today and some celebratory roller skating tonight. We’ve been into making and gifting these Michelle Patterns grocery bags with fabric from stash in the studio lately.

That’s it for now peeps.

Hope you all have time to get your craft on this week.

Walk the Line | Straight-Line Quilting Workshop

January 28, 2017 By Katie 6 Comments

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.

I’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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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;)

Alignment Optional Pillows

November 6, 2016 By Katie 5 Comments

I’m still rolling with concept inspiration from my psychedelic baby block workshop and ended up with these fabulous pillows made with a block I’m calling Alignment Optional.

Back in September I thought I’d revisit a color way we used in Quilting Modern for the Shattered Quilt, replacing the Carolina Chambray with yarn dyed Essex as my light and Michael Miller Cotton Couture for the black.

I made some blocks, and well…they just didn’t look good. I packed them into a zip-lock and added them to the bureau in the basement where I collect marinating ideas. This approach is making the drawers a bit harder to open, but we all know the importance of play when it comes to creativity, which sometimes just means yielding your rotary cutter and making the cut. So that’s exactly what I did.

Though it was fun to try two different straight-line quilting styles, when it comes to a pair so similar in design I’d like the quilting to be identical. Problem is I’m not sure which design I like best.

These are only the second project I’ve personally quilted with a lot of solid black fabric. When I did my first quilt with black I didn’t know about black batting and small fibers of the white batting became visible on the quilt top. The term in quilting for this is ‘bearding’ and I won’t go into all the reasons it can happen, but the right color batting and a new sharp needle can generally prevent this issue. Too bad I didn’t remember black batting for these pillows;)

Here’s an Instagram photo showing my starts of the Alignment Optional pillows at the top. Sharing this hopefully gives you an idea of the secondary design multiple blocks would create, very similar to the Psychedelic Baby Block. Though I was planning on making a coordinating pillow with the blocks at the bottom, they actually became a quilt. I’m hoping to get some photos of it today. And this time I used black batting;)

All finished off with my invisible zipper tutorial and this awesome Alexander Henry Ghastlies Clover.

Interested in creating some pillow tops yourself? I have three dates listed for the Alignment Optional Pillows AND since I taught myself how to create coupon codes let’s celebrate with $10 off classes (sorry, not open studios) until the 24th with the code ‘meagain.’

I’m already envisioning my next pillows being fabulous in red and white for the season.

Happy Week Peeps;)

New Tricked Additions In Pillow Form

October 15, 2016 By Katie 6 Comments

Seattle’s got Halloween kind of weather going on. We’re currently enjoying the light things up and warmth that electricity provides, but I have definitely put some thought into a list of backup chores for if it goes. My fabric shelves and scrap bins are due a serious clear out and that alone could easily eat a few days.

I’ve been joyfully moving stuff around all week. Decorations are up, and in their true place. Each year I love the hunt of a few well sought out additions, like these awesome lit pumpkins from Target for the top of my fridge.

And just like Christmas I allow myself a few new Halloween prints. Novelty print generally means pillows. You already know I’m seriously not lacking in pillows and nothing stops me from making more. I believe I’ve added five to the rotation this year for Halloween alone;). Last year my splurge was this zombie fabric by Riley Blake. A huge spiderweb pillow (more here) has become Roan’s perch when waiting for his morning carpool. Playing with this block ignited some new ideas.

Since it needed something matchie-matchie and I had left over test blocks I made a couple more.

These pillows I made last year are still my favorites. So in the Ghastlies print I made a couple long lumbars which are my favorite shape for comfortable couch lounging.

I generally buy the forms from Garnet Hill, though IKEA does carry a nice rectangle shape. They’re down-filled and puff out to the corners nicely. You don’t need tons of forms. Under Halloween lives the Christmas ones, and quite possibly another layer under that.

All have invisible zippers following my tutorial of course.

My favorite made addition of the year is the hanging candy bucket I created using this paper pieced pattern. I’ve collected a few new patterns for next year. There are so many more projects I’d like to do, but I think I might be considered borderline something at this point. I’ve been collecting them all on a Pinboard.

It’s probably time to think of a costume.

Happy week Peeps;)

Double-Trouble Restitch Quilt

October 4, 2016 By Katie 20 Comments

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

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

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

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

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

Happy week Peeps!

:: Blogger’s Quilt Festival 2016 ::

September 23, 2016 By Katie 12 Comments

Popping in for a minute in support of The Blogger’s Quilt Festival. This visual gallery of quilts is the brainchild of Amy Ellis. Amy and I both started blogging around the same time and like other quilters that have continued to share their work online, our blogs have served as a wonderful journal documenting our artistic growth and evolution.

This virtual festival celebrates and spreads our love of ALL quilting. You chose which category to place your quilt submission into. ‘Modern,’ ‘traditional,’ and everything in between are defined by the artists themselves.

It was a tie for me this year between BIG Tossed Hearts and my No/Know Twin Quilts. I couldn’t single down the No/Know Quilts to one, so I went with BIG Tossed Hearts.

I’ll place this quilt under original design, though I certainly think it could go under modern or scrappy quilts.

I have a whole write up about this lovely quilt here if you want to know more about its improvisational conception.

If this crazy piecing technique appeals to you then I’ve got another quilt created using it here. As you can see some other layouts I’ve managed to get somewhat out of my head and into fabric. It really never ends.

I hope that you take part in the festival either voting or entering. Regardless let’s spread the love of this art. I always find some new blogs to follow and hope you do too:)

Happy day Peeps.

:: Psychedelic Baby Quilt Top | Improv Strip Piecing ::

September 13, 2016 By Katie 8 Comments

Regardless of the pile of quilts in need of quilting, I’ve got a finished quilt top to show you! Another using what I call the Psychedelic Baby Quilt Block. It has just the right amount of improvisational technique mixed with a traditional on-point layout. I can’t seem to get enough of this string block, so after teaching this workshop for a bit now I’m trying to wrap my head around fabric amounts to make a quilt pattern.

Where I get my color way inspiration for my quilts is a common question. Since I’ve had a languishing half-written post about the various avenues I take for gathering it, I’ll just share a bit here and there as quilts come together. Like my last quilts of this nature, this color way was out of my comfort zone (step away from the purple Katie;).

For this version I found inspiration in a Land of Nod catalog. I often go this route because it gives me an opportunity to work with color combos that are trending or not on my radar. I’d recommend subscribing to catalogs that lean towards modern design (or traditional for that matter) and just like the endless bucket list of quilt ideas, you’ll never lack for a mixology of color. I generally rip out what catches my eye and pin it to either my quilt design wall or my Color Way Pinboard stocked with art, quilts and randomness, all inspiring.

Once I’ve got a color way solidified I try to shop from my fabric stash as much as possible and fill in the holes from there. I try to think of it as a good challenge when I run out of fabric and mix something I have in (even a shade or tint lighter or darker). Though not as drastic as some, this quilt had that going on when it came to the white. I supplemented some white flannel and off-white adding some texture and depth.

These blocks are BIG (15″ x 15″), and come together so quickly. The fun really is in seeing this block represented in each student’s fabrics and how excited they get about what’s happening on the design wall as the blocks are created.

This month I’ve got out of town students coming to take the workshop while on vacation in Seattle. Because I needed new step-outs to teach, them coming provided me with the perfect excuse to play with another color way. This time around the colors actually work with something in my home. I tease I get my color out when it comes to making things. You’ll be seeing this block here soon with a little twist and a binary scheme.

Because of the method in the workshop we actually can create two quilts (like my No/Know Quilts) at once. These blocks are great for teaching paneling and free-piecing. I hope to show you them soon as a finished quilt.

You can see more of the Psychedelic Baby block in use here, here, here and here😉 and I’ve added one more Saturday workshop to the website.

Happy week peeps!

Split Personality Christmas Quilt

December 7, 2015 By Katie 25 Comments

This quilt is a long time coming, as in years…

Alexander Henry’s Merry Moderns fabric was THE Christmas quilt fabric for me. I just fell hard for it the minute I saw it.

The fabric seemed a perfect merge for an improvisational technique I’d been brainstorming about. A block that was a faster way to produce ‘crazy pieced’ looking fabric. So I started playing with the block construction concept that became what I now call the Split Personality Quilt Block. The method quickly produces multiple blocks allowing you instant playtime with it in endless design concepts.

Fabrics from the stash that would coordinate with a Christmas theme were pulled, auditioned and sewn. Some favorites were eaten up in the process.

And so, all these happy fabrics have been living together as blocks for a few years, waiting for the perfect pattern to show itself.

My friend Laurel showed up at an open studio to finish up an Arkansas Crossroads quilt. I instantly envisioned my blocks in that design and the production began…last year;)

The essex linen in a cross weave black stabilized the scrappiness.

Merging traditional quilt designs with improvisational techniques has really become where my process leads me. I love the secondary designs traditional set blocks create.

When it came to quilting I lived and breathed this quilt for days. For once I didn’t overthink it and went with straight lines that ran off the edge and echoed the ‘Xs’ the secondary design created.

I dreaded the thought that I’d have to add another horizontal and vertical line because my body was done with quilting, but in the end I dismissed the addition. It has the perfect drape and isn’t over quilted into the luscious feel of cardboard.

Here’s a peek at the back. Leftovers and flannel of course.

The binding is the small scale print in the Merry Moderns line. It worked out that some faces landed on the front and back of the quilt’s edge.

You can see more designs and concepts with this block in my Instagram feed and I’ve added this block onto my January calendar as a daytime, nighttime and weekend workshop.

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and then of course there is spring!

Happy Happy Peeps;)

::A Summer Workshop::

June 15, 2015 By Katie 8 Comments

Thanks to all of you that have kept in touch about my workshops and teaching! I had the opportunity to make it to Circa 15 Fabric Studio in Kirkland a few weeks ago to talk with my friend and the owner Kristen.

Finally, all you East Siders that have continually come this direction don’t have to drive, it’s my turn to come to you;)

Kristen and I decided on a paper piecing class. I really enjoyed teaching this workshop last round and once you can repeat the little mantra that I teach, paper piecing will become second nature. Looks like we’ll do some other favorite small project classes in the fall, like quilted zip pouches and invisible zipper pillows.

::The Foundations of Paper Piecing::

Sunday, July 19th from 10:30am-4:30pm at Circa 15 Fabric Studio in Kirkland. Call (425) 309-9553 to register.

The traditional technique of piecing quilt blocks on paper is well known for its precise results. Sharp triangles and sleek curves are easily a stitch line away. Learn and practice the fundamentals of basic paper piecing while creating all types of star blocks.

This is a great workshop to refine skills in choosing fabric and where to place it in a quilt pattern, we’ll cover how color, value and prints work and drive design in quilts as we create our own unique blocks.

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As always, let me know if you have any questions or wish to be added to my newsletter;)

Happy week peeps!

Boxed-In Quilt

May 11, 2015 By Katie 6 Comments

I swear no quilt in history has been put up and taken down from the design wall more.

I kept recycling the left over blocks that I call Psychedelic Baby Block into new design/layout ideas and now have an ample supply of samples for teaching the workshop.

I was in high gear to finish it for submission to the MQG’s Texas Museum Exhibit, but I realized that with the minimal quilting it would start to sag if hung for long. Like how I’ve already envisioned it as accepted for exhibit?

The softness is amazing. I don’t think I’ve even made a softer quilt.

Not only did I mix in leftover blocks, but my neutral scrap bin got dug into. Though no dent was made in that bin, texture was added through a mix of linens, flannels, and Osnaburg fabrics. Shockingly even with the shot cotton it quilted up lovely.

It was difficult to not throw in a print or two. It is one of the reasons I feel in love with quilting.

Here’s a little peek of the dot I added too.

Eleven year old boys are worthless at quilt holding for long, but good for showing scale.

I did it again and used a fabric from stash for the back. Twice I ran out of thread when quilting and of course both times I was smack dab in the middle of that red strip where it would show the most. I left it.

It’s a favorite Alexander Henry.

The binding I actually cut for my On Target Quilt before I changed my mind to something darker. I held onto it thinking it would work here.

It’s all perfect, just perfect;)

For Mother’s Day Jefe installed my flooring, cooked every meal and did the dishes while I went shopping.

I’m so thrilled with what I picked. That goes for guy and floor.

Happy Week Peeps!

Mod Pinwheel Quilt

May 4, 2015 By Katie 19 Comments

I’m continuing my documentation of projects that haven’t yet made it to my Quilts Page for one reason or another.

Mod Pinwheel is another quilt pattern Jacquie and I created for Quilting Modern that didn’t make the cut, but is available as a free e-book.

The adjective Mod is a little off for this quilt in my opinion, but we named it years ago. When I look at it now it speaks to the traditional side of quilting that I love, with a taste of something a little different.

It’s these ‘eyes’ that are the twist, removing it one step from a traditional straight set layout.

Hanging this quilt up gave me a new appreciation for it.

As always, I have a love/hate relationship going on with this quilt. A little more thought with the value and color placement might have elevated the design, but truly I think this is a pattern that speaks to going scrappy, something we stayed away from in the book, but where my heart really is in quilting.

I see myself playing with this foundation pieced block again with a bin of scraps to see if my vision is true. What a great baby quilt it would make.

Teal dot for the binding and a delicious red dot flannel for the back.

If I had to pull one component that I love most in this quilt it would be the quilting by Angela Walters combined with the flannel backing. Oh wait, that’s two.

I pulled out some sample blocks to dream up something new with, but ‘been there done that’ set in and cutting seemed necessary.

You can make your own Mod Pinwheel with the instructions posted here.

I went ahead and ordered the flooring on the right for the studio. We’ll hopefully install it and paint in the next few weeks. Three Berninas have arrived for student use and tool kits are collected.

Things are coming together;)

Have a great week peeps!

classes

:: Side Hustle Quilt ::

Tuesday

Walk the Line | Straight-Line Quilting Workshop

Alignment Optional Pillows

New Tricked Additions In Pillow Form

Double-Trouble Restitch Quilt

:: Blogger’s Quilt Festival 2016 ::

:: Psychedelic Baby Quilt Top | Improv Strip Piecing ::

Split Personality Christmas Quilt

::A Summer Workshop::

Boxed-In Quilt

Mod Pinwheel Quilt

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