improvisational

:: 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.

:: Seeing Stars ::

September 21, 2018 By Katie

I’m certainly feeling a new season coming on here in Seattle. Gardening and seasonal cooking seem like kindred spirits to quilting so I’m always torn between the studio, the yard and the kitchen. Luckily the weather has started cooperating by providing us inside time with a squall here and there, and peppering in some sunshine and those huge fluffy clouds I love so much. I want time to do it all, so the weather has been good at compromising.

If you’re living in Seattle during the winter it’s crucial to have indoor hobbies. My Seattle peeps must be feeling the same desire to shift back to the indoor sort and are coming out of the woodwork to cultivate new ideas in Open Studios and request workshop dates.

I’m picking up the bug myself. I’ve been traveling around for months to lectures with the binding half done on my Seeing Stars Quilt and finally caught some couch time to finish it up.

If you’ve taken my improv strip piecing workshop Psychedelic Baby the triangles in this quilt might look familiar. I made the large star from my triangle cast off blocks we create in Psychedelic Baby and now have enough samples for running the Part II workshop.

This in studio workshop will focus on improvisational or traditional layout and design using the blocks from the workshop’s first session.

Here’s the original quilt called Full Tilt that I made with the blocks from the first workshop.

Other quilt examples for this Part II workshop are,

the Intersected Quilt,

Skewed Symmetry Quilt,

and my No Know Quilt.

Some are more improvisational in design and some are simply triangles sewn into rows. Easy to choose a design that works at a skill level you’re comfortable with.

Somewhere along the way stumbled upon a large star layout and decided it was a perfect design for my triangles’ placement.

Keeping with my tradition at this point I pulled from stash for the back. I have a love affair with this Alexander Henry fabric and have some pillows around with it that are in the household rotation.

The binding is a double binding so that the quilt would have a little framing and the quilting is a grid of straight lines.

I really like how it turned out and there’s a bit of star twinkle in some of the fabrics that have silver threads running through them.

A new quilt is always a welcome addition to lectures and for feeding interest in workshops and I’ve got a few of those coming up. October has some opportunities to visit me outside the studio and even the state. I’ll be at Quilting Mayhem teaching my Improv 101 | Coin Quilt.

If you live in Oregon I’ll be at the Stitchin’ Post teaching Psychedelic Baby October 18th and Double-Trouble Triangles October 19th. My Thread Talk is at 6:30pm October 17th; classes are 9AM-4PM. I’d love to see you!

With October being pretty full I’ve stuck mostly to Open Studios, but as always if you see a workshop you’re interested in email me and we’ll find a date that works:) Happy Weekend Peeps!

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.

Alignment Optional Pillows

November 6, 2016 By Katie

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;)

Double-Trouble Restitch Quilt

October 4, 2016 By Katie

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!

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

September 13, 2016 By Katie

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!

Night Owl Quilt Finish

March 30, 2015 By Katie

I’m here to show you today is my Night Owl Quilt.

At one of my lectures this week I got a bunch of questions from an attendee about my Night Owl Quilt. Typically I can send someone the link from my “Quilts” page where I post all of my finishes when they want photos.

Night Owl Quilt was MIA from that page.

So as I ran out the door for Roan’s field trip I thought to grab it and my camera for photos on the morning ferry commute and make use of my minions.

The design is a pattern called Supernova that is published in our book Quilting Modern.

I think quilters are drawn to reproducing this quilt pattern due to its simplicity of technique and construction. I come across its remake online more than any other quilt in the book.

The softness quality is exactly balanced for me on this quilt. Soft colors, soft Essex, wool batting, Osnaburgh on the back, and just enough density of an organic quilting pattern all add up to perfect.

The only thing I wish I would have added are the spin-offs into the background. There’s always something;)

I really love how the design allows you to play with just about any fabrics you’re in love with, including novelty if that’s your thing. I’ve always been drawn to this Alexander Henry owl print and used it as my starting point, layered fabrics from stash as I built out.

Quilting swirls=Starry Night.

I love these colors. For some reason I’m smitten with the binding pick on this one. Something about the small scale tone on tone and the color of this fabric attracts me to hoarding it. You can try to find it, but I’m pretty sure I bought it all so you couldn’t;)

There it is, Night Owl Quilt has landed on my Quilt page!

If anyone has suggestions of a graphic designer that does logos I’m in the market. Please only someone that has a real business, with a questionnaire to get us on the same page with design and fresh looking portfolio;)

Happy Monday Peeps!

::Week In Review::

March 17, 2015 By Katie

I was rather nostalgic traveling to Victoria last week to talk and explore all things quilty with my hosts the Victoria Quilters’ Guild and some members of the Victoria MQG. Jefe worked on the Coho ferry between Port Angeles and Victoria for many years and Roan and I would occasionally go see him on board.

When we docked in Victoria this image of Roan pretending he was waving to all the fine people of Victoria popped into my head.

And reading in the wheel house.

It was a happy image to start my trip with.

I can never say enough about the hospitality of guilds and The Victoria Quilters’ Guild was exceptional;) It was marked with wonderful conversations, amazing creativity in workshops, and learning experiences. All wrapped up with a little “quilt fluffing” at the border.

My Victoria friend Jo-Anne drew me this Zentangle as a souvenir of the trip. The hair, boots, quilts, the “A” and socks…the whole thing is perfect. This is getting framed and going in the studio.

Big thanks to my friend Marianne of The Quilting Edge and Jo-Anne for entertaining and feeding me. So fun to hang out away from home and feel so happy and comfortable with good friends.

I travelled home Friday, taught again Saturday and regrouped Sunday and today so I can start it all over again tomorrow.

While I was gone amazingness happened in the studio. Jefe completed the electric, as well as hung and wired the lights. He put in the windows quite some time ago. Hunting for a door with windows and flooring is next.

I didn’t really want a closet, just good functional storage, so he build me a nook that holds two of these shelves to house my fabric. I’ll try to keep my fabric collection limited to that;) Now that I think about the niche I wanted at the top, that will house fabric dust and hopefully some rolled quilts. Originally the side niches were going to be walled to hide some structural stuff, but he made storage room there for me too.

This whole wall will be design wall. Everyone needs a padded room;) I figure when students come I can roll laminated backed design walls down over whatever I’m working on to provide them with their own space.

Jefe thought of things I never would have thought of, like being able to open the door and step in onto a platform rather than straight down some stairs. This corner I envision a little food/tea/coffee station.

I’m finding that I need things complete before I can envision a practical and functional set up. Luckily I’ve had a lot of opportunities to work in unique spaces and know what works and doesn’t work for me.

Of course I’m collecting my Studio/Garudio Pinboard, but I would love suggestions if anyone has any in making the space more efficient, what they couldn’t live without, etc…

I’m loaded up again for my week.

Happy Monday Peeps. I managed to post.

Have a great week;)

—————————————————————————————–

Thursday’s Improvisational Curves class is full, but if you were wait listed or just interested you can contact me (sewkatiedid@gmail.com) to attend another workshop on Curves this Saturday with the Mukilteo Lighthouse Quilters’ Guild.

March Open Quilt Studio is full, but there are a couple spots in my monthly Medallion/Magic Numbers Workshop and one spot in my Strip Piecing Workshop on the 24th.

We’ll hold our last Open Quilt Studio at Island Quilter on Sunday, March 29th until they find their new space. Keep current by following their Facebook page.

Diving Geese Quilt

March 9, 2015 By Katie

This year was a skip year for me at Quiltcon, but several of my quilts made the show.

Including Diving Geese. It was a last minute thought to enter it.

The process of designing and piecing the quilt seemed easy compared to the task of quilting all that negative space.

My thought was a sun-like concentric circle starting up in the top right corner, but actually sitting down to do it was, well…not happening.

So when in doubt consult a friend and a professional;)

Enter Krista Withers.

Amazing artist, long arm quilter, teacher, and FRIEND (MG;). Krista and I share a lot in common besides quilting and are even jokingly the only two members of our own secret society, which obviously I can’t tell you about:)

Krista brings a quilt top to a whole new level with her signature style of quilting.

AND she won 1st place in Machine Quilting!

It’s no surprise. It’s amazing.

My only request was some ‘ghost geese,’

and we had good laugh over the unintentional (or maybe) subliminal Star Trek symbol.

I polished it off with a narrow faux binding to give it a little bit of a frame with out the distraction of a colored binding or the flat edge of additional background fabric. It’s soft and lovely.

This is not our first collaboration merging design and quilting. When it comes to negative space I call on Krista.

(photo by Rendy Tucker Photography)

Krista quilted my Scattered Remake.

Plus the first,

and second Opposing Triangles.

And my Seattle Lone Star Quilt.

You can see more detail of Krista’s quilting in our other work together by following the links.

I’m off to lecture and teach this week in Victoria B.C. for The Victoria Quilter’s Guild (information on that here if you want to join in). I really enjoyed looking through their event lists and seeing how open they are too inviting ALL types of quilters into their world. I’m sure I’ll learn a lot in the days I spend with them.

Have a great week peeps;)

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~~Full FYI (1) spots in Saturday’s paper piecing workshop.~~

New York Beauty Pillow

February 16, 2015 By Katie

Paper piecing workshop development and sample made, CHECK! And totally drool worthy if I don’t say so myself.

The Foundations of Paper Piecing Workshop is listed if you find yourself with some spare time on March 14th.

A New York Beauty block has been on the bucket list F-O-R-E-V-E-R.

I bought just enough new make me happy fabrics and combined them with some old to create a new to me color way. It seemed to just come together on the design wall so effortlessly. As usual it matches nothing in my house.

The white/creams I pulled from the scrap bins. There’s even some flannel in there.

It ended up that neither the shot cotton and the flannel on the front, nor the voile on the back created the headaches I imagined.

I crosshatched it in a lightly variegated lilac thread. This easy off the edge quilting design has the kind of impact makes me happy. Off course all quilting minds of Seattle that I saw last week were consulted;)

I almost put the voile back into the stash.

It’s one of those fabrics I have to force myself to cut into if I had curtains in mind five years ago. There’s still that hope of getting to that alive;) The decision was a good one, it pairs perfectly with the front.

If you’re headed to Quiltcon please go say hi to my quilts. There are two on exhibit and I just finished up this one here for display there in Island Quilter’s booth.

It will look a little bit more lively than it does it this taken at midnight photo.

This quilt thoroughly falls under the “it doesn’t have to be perfect to love it” category and I considered not sending it due to some obvious struggles I had quilting it, but then I reminded myself that perfection isn’t what it’s all about.

Happy week peeps. I hope it’s a good one;)

::Throwing Star Pillow::

February 2, 2015 By Katie

That leftovers thing happened again. Hexes turned into triangles, and now I have another shape to show as an example in my triangle workshop with a hexagon shape center to boot!

The stars turned out pretty wee by the time I cut them from the left over hexes.

The precision I’m pretty happy with, no paper piecing involved for those of you that asked, just 60 degree triangle piecing.

I floated them in Essex Linen.

These prints are favorites and deserved some limelight.

The diamond shape the quilting forms was simple enough to execute.

And it matches the pillows on my couch;)

Finished off with my Invisible Zipper Tutorial.

The weather couldn’t be any more perfect for quilting and if my child’s mood this morning is any indication of how most of Seattle is feeling today I think I’ll make the best of it and stay home to sew.

Chin up Seattle.

Happy Monday;)

::Double-Trouble Take Two::

January 26, 2015 By Katie

As I’m making one quilt I generally have block cast-offs and another design lay out evolves. That’s just what happened with the leftovers from the Scrappalicous Double-Trouble Quilt I made a while back.

What I call the Double-Trouble block is a half-square-triangle with an improv Stitch and Flip triangle on one side. Merging the two triangle techniques creates a block that is both controlled and chaotic. The Swirling Medallion quilt we made in Quilting Modern has the directions for the Stitch and Flips and my tutorial for hst is combined with my value quilt tutorial.

This time around I thought I’d try out the squares by turning what I had on point and giving them some space to breath. I love the scrappy controlled sets.

I tried my best to create the whole quilt, even the background with scraps. There’s a mix of flannel, muslin, and other neutrals that I used for landing the improv triangles. Anything goes for the triangles, voile, flannel, home decor and corduroy are all present.

I failed on using left overs for the binding. This small scale print from Alexander Henry’s Farmdale line was perfect.

I could have adjusted my neutral squares in some places with a larger size, but keeping everything to 3 1/2″ squares created more texture and depth.

The backing is another old Alexander Henry. Shocking I know.

One of my goals this year is to have my backings consume cast offs from the front and fabric from stash. This challenge so far has led to creating some backs that I’m rather smitten with. Unfortunately I don’t have a current full shot to show you what I’m talking about.

The quilt hangs at Island Quilter on Vashon Island for the month of January with other lovelies made by my peeps in the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild. Go take a ferry trip!

Happy Monday Peeps!

:: Side Hustle Quilt ::

:: Seeing Stars ::

Intersected Quilt

Alignment Optional Pillows

Double-Trouble Restitch Quilt

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

Night Owl Quilt Finish

::Week In Review::

Diving Geese Quilt

New York Beauty Pillow

::Throwing Star Pillow::

::Double-Trouble Take Two::

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