I-Beams

I found some free time this past weekend to sew up another quilt top! This is I-Beams by Purple Pineapple Studio. I found this pattern at my local fabric shop and loved that it used only 1 fat quarter/beam. The background was quite a bit of yardage, but I certainly got a lot out of each of the six fat quarters!

This was also the first time that I selected the colors/patterns myself. In hindsight, I think that I could have gone with at least one more bold (darker gray? tan?) color between the coral and multi-color far left beam. I am learning!

I hope to drop this top and the batik top off with my quilter later this spring - I'm excited to be building up a nice stack of homemade quilts for our family. When these last two are complete, it will bring the grand total up to 6! I figure I will need at least 3-4 more so I won't miss them so much when the girls take one with them as they grow older.

New Quilt (brown tones)

(ETA photo in February 2020)

I was so excited coming off the flannel quilt that I immediately got to cutting another quilt top, this time in brown batiks. Since I really struggle with selecting fabrics and patterns, but love to sew, quilt kits - and a good relationship with a local long-arm quilter - are what allow me to continue down the path of creating beautiful and functional pieces for our family.

This one is a discontinued boundless batiks kit from bluprint. I love the way it is coming together!

Flannel Quilt - quilted and bound

This one is going to be a favorite for the girls, I just know it. It's warm, and just heavy enough to get your cozy on in front of the fireplace (or reruns of Parks and Rec).

This is the Marcus Fabrics Blue Boxes Flannel Quilt Kit by Craftsy, quilted by Heather of Blue Turtle Quilting.

Sun Salutations Quilt Top

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ETA (2/8/20)

What an absolutely lovely quilt. I am so happy with how this one turned out - and it came back to me in February, right when we need some respite from the gray and white snowscapes all around us.

The quilting was done by the extremely talented Heather of Blue Turtle Quilting.

Flannel Quilt

I surprised myself with some extra time this holiday break and cut and sewed another quilt top! This one is made of mostly blue flannels and was a joy to cut and assemble.

This is another quilt kit - my preferred way to sew quilt tops these days - this time from Bluprint (Craftsy). It is the Marcus Fabrics Blue Boxes Flannel Quilt Kit.

I was a bit nervous after reading some of the reviews. Lots of folks talked about crooked prints and running out of fabric. I had just enough and not much to spare (I didn't run out) and I also wasn't too bothered by prints not lining up exactly. I can see how this might annoy some quilters, but I am not a perfectionist. I am more of the 'let's see if we can even pull this off' kind of sewer - so I was thrilled with the final result.

The finished top, batting, backing, and binding is already with Heather at Blue Turtle Quilting. She thinks this one might be done by mid-February!

Holiday Quilt (quilted)

Just in time for the holidays! I got my quilt back from Heather and hand stitched the binding down. What a fun addition to our living room this winter. And as my daughter says, "Quilts are in heavy rotation in our house during the winter - we can always use another one!"

Holiday Quilt

During some vacation time from work I was finally able to do the assembly for this whimsical holiday quilt. I purchased the kit last year and did most of the cutting. Then it sat until this year when I was able to assemble the blocks and put the whole top together.

I dropped off the quilt top, batting, backing, and binding strip with Heather of Blue Turtle Quilting. I am really looking forward to having this one around the house for the winter holidays!

WI Quilt Expo

This was my first time at the show and I was amazed.  It was HUGE and overwhelming, but I am so glad that I checked it out (and with my Mom no less!)  I came home with some fun fabrics, a pattern for a sweet zipper pouch and grand plans to sew myself an umbrella!  Stay tuned for that adventure.

FO: Quilts for Daughters #3 and #4

My other goal for the summer - aside from clothes for myself - was to finish two more quilts for my youngest daughters.  Building off the design and look of the quilts for daughters #1 and #2, I went with a stacked coin method again.  The prints are all from my stash but I did purchase cotton on sale for the binding.

These two quilts are very similar to each other, which was a happy accident.  The original two quilts I made in 2009 were on the narrow side so I set out to make these wider.  Each color block measures 4.5 inches by 7 inches.  In my over-zealous attempt I made too many vertical strips; so many that I only had to cut and sew one extra to get a second quilt.  So while I set out to only make one for my 6yo I also finished up a second one for my 3yo.  It is certainly too big for her toddler bed and has been tucked away in the linen closet for a year or so until she moves into a 'big girl' bed.




















Something wonky happened towards the bottom of the first quilt (first photo) and I think it was because I pulled the backing fabric too tight when taping it to the floor to make the sandwich.  I caught my mistake for the second one and didn't have any trouble.  Luckily for the first one it seems confined to the second row only.

One back is all the same cloth (the waves on the far left in the photo below) and the other is as you see here - pieced with a few different pieces of fabric from the stash. 

The binding strips worked out great this time - I think after working on bias for armholes I really have the hang of machine sewing binding and bias on.  I hand stitched the backs, however, while catching up on episodes of "Suits".

My 6yo loves her quilt already and has been using it every night.  I think they are a success - and it is nice to walk by various bedrooms upstairs and see the quilts splayed out (but very rarely on their beds, smile.  They are kids after all.).

Gift giving

This gift started over 5 years ago.  In September of 2008 I finished the quilt top (you can follow the posts backwards here).  I am not sure why I ultimately folded it up and put in on the shelf.  Maybe it felt too big to quilt myself?  I had the batting, the backing and top done, but never got around to finishing it.

This past fall I have had to prioritize my time in a way that is different from the years and months past.  No longer am I crafting to take a break from writing my dissertation.  Likewise I am not crafting to fill my days with something other than baby food and diapers.

Life has shifted in our household: we have four growing daughters now - no babies anymore - and no plans for more children.  I have gone back to work teaching and am spending the remainder of my time this year volunteering at their school.  I know that life balance is ever shifting and precarious.  This past fall tilted more towards the computer/classroom/meeting end-of-things and less towards the sewing machine/knitting needles/making end-of-things. 















This fall, however, I re-discovered this work from many years ago and called upon a neighborhood friend for help.  She is an incredibly accomplished quilter and after seeing my work agreed to complete the project for me.  I left her with the top, batting and backing.  Two weeks later I went back to her house and picked up this beauty.

There is history behind this quilt.  Briefly, the backing fabric was a cover for a blanket that was kept at our family cabin for many years.  It used to be bright fuschia, but faded in the sunlight.  I salvaged the fabric for later use when the cover developed a big rip down the middle.  More than this, however, is the additional story layer added by my friend that helped finish it.  She added a heart patch to the back - covering a small hole - that gives it the extra touches that will be discovered, and re-discovered in years to come.

I intended the quilt go back to the cabin, but my Mom wants to keep it around the house instead.  I don't blame her - it did turn out quite nicely.  This, along with a pair of upcycled wool mittens, were the only hand-made presents I gifted this season.

Amish Quilt Auction

my bidder number

This past Saturday there was an Amish Quilt Auction in southern Wisconsin, near the communities of Brodhead and Albany.  We are lucky to have relatives that live down that way and we spent part of our weekend at the auction with friends and family.

one of ten racks of quilts and quilt tops for auction

There were hundreds and hundreds of quilts: finished quilts, King-size quilts, antique quilts, pieced quilt tops, baby quilts and everything in between.  And that was just under the quilt tent.  There was another tent devoted to Amish furniture and other goods, as well as a farm equipment auction, food, cold drinks and a horse that made ice cream (by pulling on the hand crank).

under the quilt tent

We had a fantastic time - there were a couple professional auctioneers that kept things lively - and I came home with two quilts. One is a double-wedding ring quilt in very bright colors, and the other is red polka-dots on a tan background. These are bright and modern looking quilts; they are not a good representation of the traditional designs, historic quilts, antique quilts and solid colors that dominated the auction. But they are in keeping with my personal aesthetic. 

double wedding ring quilt, queen size

All the quilts went for good prices and I hope will provide for the kids of the Clearview school, and all the members of local Amish communities, in the coming year.

red ball quilt, full size

And if you are interested to attend in the future you are in luck.  It is an annual event.

detail of double wedding ring quilt

Inspiration: Quilts of Gee's Bend

Earlier this month I went to a very unique party.  It was put on by my friend, a woman that is a constant source of creative inspriation and do-it-yourself energy.  Her idea was to host a painting party - so she advanced ordered canvasses, paints, pallattes and brushes.  She turned her living room into a studio and along with about 15 other woman I painted late into the night. 

I am not an accomplished painter, I can't draw for anything, and any project that requires I recreate something on paper (without tracing first) scares me.  In fact, I don't think that I have ever painted except for things with those little plastic paint pots from the cheap-o craft kits you can pick up at the big box stores.  But I jumped in with both feet - firm in my belief that getting out of my comfort zone was going to be fun.  Sure enough, it was.  And while I went to the party with one idea for my paintings, what I came away with was oh-so-different.

I started with some tracings of birds on branches.  And those three paintings (black silouettes against a yellow background) turned out sweet and nice.  Perfect for my daughters' rooms.  But I had three more canvasses left over.  And in a moment of leg stretching/wine sipping/chatting I spied the Gee's Bend book on a nearby bookshelf.  After looking through the book for 10 mintues I sat down again, and started drawing a wonky log cabin on one of my canvasses.  And then another, and then another.  

I left the party with three canvasses of quilt squares.  And when I came home I let them float around the house for a week or so.  Then suddenly it hit me.  I wanted to make an entire painted quilt, inspired by the work of the women of Gee's Bend. 

I placed my own order for canvasses, paints and brushes and about two weeks later I had what you see pictured above.  I worked on a few squares at a time, until one Saturday I had just the baby with me and I went to town; cranked out 15 squares in a few hours time.  There are 25 painted quilt squares mounted on the dining room wall.  They whole piece measures 26 x 26. 

I like that each square is wonky (just like the squares in the Gee's Bend quilts). This design choice is also a hidden asset because the canvasses aren't exactly square, or exactly the same size, to begin with.  I also painted the sides of each canvass black to give them some dimension and depth.  I used a gold acryllic paint pen to do all the 'seams' and edeges.  That gives the squares some serious glow when the light comes in the room at just the right angle.

I also have to thank my husband for being willing to drill 25 holes into an already beat up old plaster wall to hang these squares.  I know he did it because he loves me - but more likely I know he did it because he secretly wants to take down that wall some day to open the kitchen to the dining room and doesn't care much about the condition of the wall. 

I have two left over blank canvasses.  Not sure what I am going to do with those yet.  Maybe they are the seeds for a family painting party?!  The girls certainly want to try out 'momma's special paints' and my BIL and SIL seem interested in giving painting a try too. 

And if you want some of your own quilt inspriation, check out these two amazing books: The Quilts of Gee's Bend, and Gee's Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt.