free-motion quilting

Mod Pinwheel Quilt

May 4, 2015 By Katie

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!

::Block Up-cycle::

November 19, 2013 By Katie

During one of my clear outs (this is an ongoing project for sure) I found some quilt blocks I first made but never used in the back of this quilt. The blocks got quilted and almost repurposed into pillow tops for Roan’s room. I then scratched the project and shoved them away again.

They have finally resurfaced AND repurposed!

Third time’s the charm, and to think I almost just threw them out.

I got the idea when I started playing with the samples for my free-motion quilting nested basket class coming up.

I figure it’s time to start thinking about gifts. That’s 6 down and a little more space for those other unfinished projects that need some time to percolate. I’m thinking they are a perfect gift for teachers.

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p.s. one spot left in Thursday’s Hexagons by Machine class.

::FMQ Workshops::

November 6, 2013 By Katie

Have you made the plunge into Free-Motion Quilting yet? I was years into quilting before I did. Once you do you’ll wonder why you waited. Though I love the look of straight lines there is something very meditative about finding your ‘zone’ and making all these fun shapes.

(photo by my friend Allison Parrott Thompson)

I think for most of us it’s etching out the time to learn something new. For some it might be an equipment and/or space barrier, or maybe the desire for a little hand holding.

The classes I’ve taken myself on FMQ were very fun, but prescribed. I found they provided a nice launch pad for learning the basics, but lacked the practice time needed to explore my own spin-offs of the shapes I was most drawn to.

There’s no denying it, practice really is the best teacher when it comes to free-motion quilting.

Hmmmm, so how do you combine all these needs?

How about an Open Free-Motion Quilting Studio or a Free-Motion Quilted Nested Basket Workshop on quality Bernina machines at Drygoods Design to give you wings? It’s not too early to think about some gifts either.