SewKatieDid

Because thread is the best glue

flannel

::Smitten Kitten Magic Number Quilt::

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What’s the difference between this quilt?

sewkatiedid/smitten kitten quilt

and this quilt?

sewkatiedid/scrappy sunshine

Besides size and different fabrics, the answer is… placement.  Both are made using what Jacquie and I call Magic Numbers in Quilting Modern.  Three same size blocks are used throughout the design of the quilt.

sewkatiedid/smitten kitten quilt

Smitten Kitten will become a Magic Number class sample.   The last time I taught this class the quilts were as unique as the people making them.  Just like the Improv Coin Quilt class, everyone seems to throw in their own spin.

sewkatiedid/Smitten Kitten quilt

The quilting is the same orange peel design that I’ve used on my Mom’s quilt, Leftovers Quilt and on my cross quilt.  Orange Peel is easily executed on the home machine or on the long arm.

Oh Fransson has a great tutorial on how to home machine it.  I use a hera marker to draw a line through the center of blocks and help me stay visually on track.

sewkatiedid/smitten kitten quilt top

Without a straight line of blocks to follow I went with the long arming this one.

sewkatiedid/smitten kitten quilt

Some Alexander Henry dot to finish of the binding and Anna Maria Horner sunshine flannel.  I bought some more on sale to restock this favorite.

sewkatiedid/smitten kitten quilt back

I’m loving this one!  Yeah to a finish!

::Sunday Stash::

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I thought long and hard about sponsors on my little blog.  I feel strongly that my local shops have had my back and have supported me throughout my adventure here in Seattle.  So I reached out to them and you can find their buttons along my sidebar.

This week I hightailed it to Ballard to see Keli at Drygoods Design.  If you haven’t had a chance to browse Drygood’s well curated collection, then the time has come to pack yourself up, hit the farmers market and tap your credit card.  You won’t be disappointed!

They are now open Tuesday-Saturday 11-6pm and Sundays 10-4pm and online 24/7.  Keli has started a studio night one Thursday night a month and  is hoping to kick it up to two.

I love this Nursery Versery.

I knew the minute I saw this line that I wanted some new samples made with it for my Whole Cloth Quilt Class.  I picked the Ruby Sunday flannel and the Crumb Grass flannel by Cloud9 to coordinate.  I threw it in the wash last night and just as Keli said, it is remarkably soft.

Happy Sunday and hope to see you at the opening for Krista Wither’s exhibit at Island Quilter on Friday!

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::Improvisational Elongated Triangle Blocks:: $45 Thursday October 4th from 6-9pm at the Quilting Loft in Ballard.

Create an edgy block of triangles with this simple improvisational technique. Follow up with an invisible zipper class or create your own quilt. All levels of sewists welcome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

::Invisible Zipper Class:: $45/ Thursday, October 11th from 6-9pm at the Quilting Loft in Ballard.

Installing invisible zippers if easier than you think. Come learn how to make professional looking pillows, you’ll be hooked! All levels of sewists welcome.

 

Unknown Direction Quilt Take 2

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It must finally be summer in Seattle.  There just isn’t much time for sewing and it’s too sunny for photos.

But with Roan’s birthday here and gone, that unfinished quilt was calling my name.

I went with the same triangle quilting I did on the original Unknown Direction, but used citron and blue thread.  This time I spaced the quilt lines out a bit and was so happy I did since it took a load of time.

I stitched in the ditch to form the first large triangle in the middle and used masking tape to mark out from there.  To make sure quilting lines didn’t get out of hand, I would restart my measuring from the next stitch in the ditch line.

I made two quilt backs for this quilt before settling with a solo print.  I’m not sure where the lesson is in that, except maybe now I have two new quilt tops.  I bought the Anna Maria Horner flannel with this quilt in mind and it has got to be the softest flannel I’ve ever purchased.  Good thing since I went overboard when I found the line on sale.

Color inspiration came from these vicious little monsters that Roan sleeps under and the colors of the Sounders FC uniforms.

Have you found the pace of your sewing to slow in the summer?  Maybe I’m not thinking so much of curling up on the couch under a quilt with a cuppa tea?

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Wanna learn flipped triangles?

::Sonstar Quilt::

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Roan will be eight this month.  He asked me if he could have the Unknown Direction baby quilt I made when he saw it.

I thought I’d do better and go Roan size.

The rows are nearly sewn, but I’ve been waiting on some more aegean shot cotton to finish it to size.  The Anna Maria Flannel I bought up when it came on sale for the back.  The softness is amazing.

In the weeks since purchasing the flannel I received Denyse Schmidt’s new book and couldn’t stop thinking about the string pieced star quilt in it.  Roan and I both have a lifelong love of singing “You Are My Sunshine,” so I believe there are some words going in here somewhere too.

I constructed the large block in nine-patch style with improvisational points and bypassed Denyse’s muslin foundation triangle blocks with matching points.

Now I’ve got to figure out a design to combine the flannel and the star for the back.  To achieve this I needed to order more shot cotton.  Does anyone else seem to have this problem of constantly ‘needing’ more fabric?

I’ll be quilting it in the same style as Unknown Direction, minus the mess up and more distance between lines.  Unknown Direction has since post quilting disaster been renamed Two Martini.

I doubt I’ll wrap this one up in time for his birthday next week, but I’m aiming for the end of the month.

::Leftovers Quilt Top::

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Up early, house picked up, bathroom clean, laundry done and the kid to school.  A day off yesterday with rain showers and a sore throat…sounds like an excuse to sew to me.

Turns out never leaving my clean enough house and burning through the second season of Breaking Bad was the motivation I needed for sewing together a few hundred squares left over from Scrappy Sunshine.

I did add a few extra prints, but the rest were all leftovers.  It certainly could have a better name, but it’s fitting.

I do love a charm quilt, no matter how simple they are, they live up to their name.

I plan on free motion quilting Leftovers with the same orange peel design I used on my Mom’s quilt and the cross quilt.  My intension was to have a sample to compare to the cross quilt showing how value drives design.

Scrappy Sunshine has a quilt back too.

When Roan was a toddler he would crawl up onto my lap repeating, “I want to cuddle.” The saying has evolved into a question over the years.

My intension was to use Scrappy Sunshine in the summer, but I decided to go with flannel as usual for the back.  If we continue to have the summers we have had here in the Pacific Northwest flannel shouldn’t be a problem.

::Summer Pop Quilt::

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The name changed on this quilt.  I finished up the binding on Thursday during some waiting room time.  I was calling it Summer Effervescence, but ‘effervescence’ has been replaced with ‘pop’.

Three reasons for this:

1) Bubble quilting.  Super fun to do.  Jeffrey said he thought I was going to loose my mind doing it, but it’s kind of addicting.  Highly recommend it if you are a newbie to free motion.

2)  Pop Music. The waiting room solidified my distaste for Pop Music, so the word ‘Pop’ stuck in my head.

3) Soda Pop.  I actually drank not one, but two pops as we call it where I come from in one day.  This is unusual for me, but we went all American and had pizza for lunch and cheeseburgers for dinner and pop is the libation of choice with these foods.

The bubbles worked wonderfully on the flannel.  Pulling it out of the dryer was the most joyful experience.

I was concerned that the quilting canceled out the prints, but I actually ended up liking the effect.

By the end I certainly had my stitch length down, thank goodness for flannel, washing and drying to meld all those stitches together.

Plain ole solid binding worked out fabulously.  I think this is Kona Ice Frappe.

Now I need to vacuum up the dust, and LOOK sunshine!  Seattle has only had something like 74 minutes of 80 degree weather this year…polar opposite of the rest of the country eh?

I always like to do a little clean up before I move onto the next project.  It might look something like this.

Pulling from the strips scrap bucket.  It’s too balanced in its blue/orange.  I like to go more one color or another if it’s not scrappy.  Although, now that I’ve seen this wonderfulness I want to abandon it all together.

Do you have proportions of color you aim for or a formula that works for you when choosing prints?

::Oh Get On With It::

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Do you ever just over think a quilt’s quilting?  And finally just jump in?

I get sick of them all basted and taking up my limited design wall space (and I need those basting pins to move on).

I finally just decided to go for the effervescent design that I was procrastinating on.

I almost ripped it out at the start, wavering on whether I liked it or not.

Now that the quilting is nearly complete I’m glad I persevered.  I love it so.

::Good-Bye Junuary::

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First day of Summer and the sun has finally made an appearance in Seattle.

I did make it outside to work in the yard a bit and opened up the doors to mop so I could baste my appropriately named Dreamin’ of Summer Quilt.  Although it is made of flannel so maybe I should stick the word Seattle in its name somehow.

The blocks are left overs as I am trying hard to stick it out on finishing up dropped projects around here.  I think I’m done though, my brain is bubbling with too many new ideas.

Effervescent bubbles were suggested as quilting and I think I might start bigger at the bottom and go smaller as they raise and blow away.  That’s theory though, so don’t quote me.

Seeing as last day of school is today, sewing will take a back seat and slow down.

I loaded up the classes however, cause a girl has got to get out.

Hope you’re all getting some sewing time too.

 

::Bloggers’ Quilt Festival 2011::

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Yeah, it’s that time of year again.  I enjoy looking through all the quilt inspiration that the Bloggers’ Quilt Festival offers.

My quilt idea all started with this fabric.

First, the idea became a pillow when the Hope Valley line came out.  I used Joelle Hoverson’s technique for her Little Bits quilt.  I designed it by stacking the blocks and liked the effect so much that I started a quilt.  It got pushed aside with the book quilts taking front stage.

My favorite quilts of the year are in the book, or not yet finished, but Split Decision is up there.

As I spread it out fresh from the dryer, I was in love.  It went straight to the shop for a class sample, but I’ll look forward to the day when I can lounge under it.

Especially because of its buttery flannel back.

I framed it out with the pink for binding.

I think the loops make it fun.

I’m hoping next year with the book likely being on the shelves to have a real reason to go to market.  

::Split Decision Quilt::

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I see lavender loops and I like them!  Right out of the wash and up for photos.  Only wish it was a brighter day in Seattle.

I didn’t want to remove Split Decision from my home, but I dropped it off as a class sample today.  It’s my favorite quilt to date besides a few in the book.

Wanna know a secret?

I was a free-motion quilting virgin until this quilt and now I have a new addiction. Since finishing this one I have three baby quilts under my belt.  Can’t stop.  Though my first love will be a straight line F-O-R-E-V-E-R.

Let’s back up, you don’t want to look at those loop’s stitch length too close.

The backing isn’t Alexander Henry.  So if it isn’t Alexander Henry than it must be flannel in the quilting world of Katie.

Right?

Knew the Folksy Flannel was it when I saw it on sale on Sew Mama Sew.  I loved the weight of it as I sat under it and stitched on the binding.

In fact, if anyone has a yard of the Hope Valley I used for binding I’m in the market.  I think I wanna make another just like it for my bed. Do you think my husband will repaint the bedroom walls AGAIN?

Eeekkk, I’m so excited to have this done.

Happy Monday!

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out of print destash here

::Split Decision Quilt::

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I finished the Split Decision Quilt top except for a row right before we left town.  The bits had been tucked away and my goal in life is to not start ANY new projects until ‘the list of the unfinished’ is conquered.

I made a similar pillow when the Hope Valley Line came out last year.  I don’t think I’ve ever used this much of a single  line of fabric in a quilt, but I think the orange chambray helps it out.

My pillow was inspired by a pillow made with this fabric.

I discovered that Joelle Hoverson’s technique for her Wee Bits quilt was easily adaptable to an improvisational technique I used for the quilt.  I’ve taught the Slice and Insert Technique in my Improvisational Patchwork Classes here in Seattle.  I now have the Split Decision Quilt top on the class calendar.

I’m a little over the fabric, but still love it and have my quilting design in my head.  Just need to piece a back with this Anna Maria Horner (flannel yeah!) I scored on sale.

::Tilted::

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Love how the quilting turned out on this one!  I didn’t really have a plan and was a bit worried.

Just wish I could get the plum sashing (it’s not brown) around the blocks to photograph correctly.  Brushing up on my photographic skills is quickly plummeting on the list.

I got ahead of myself and ordered some more Smitten Kitten for backing when I found it and then of course switched to flannel.

Which the flannel of course had its own spot on the front of the quilt too.

Some other favorite prints nestled in.

Including the wee block, which someone commented earlier that,  “You  just couldn’t help yourself, could you?”

Oh, and the binding dilemma.  Here are the contenders.

I almost went stripe and chickened out at the last minute.

I think I feel a Beginner Quilting Class coming on for this one, plus a lap size with chambrays, but a little less predictable.

Next on the list is quilting this big boy, which isn’t going so well.  I might be getting friendly with my seam ripper.

And then onto its Value Quilt sister which I’m as equally puzzled with how I’m going to quilt.

Of course there is a new pile of fabrics brewing too.

Thanks everyone for supporting my destash!  I had to shell out some cash to have my passport expedited for our weekend in Vancouver and of course support my own fabric indulgence.  I pulled a ton from the stash last night to list when I get back.

See you next week!