Fabric-Inspired Quilting

Invariable, once I write and publish a post about my latest finish, I remember some little detail I really had wanted to share with you all. And with Yay or Nay, it was where I got the idea for the quilting.

I bet you can guess. Right there in the fabric itself! I loved that uneven grid in the borders as I was sewing with it, so it made perfect sense to mimic it in the quilting.

Now most of the time, I choose a quilting pattern that reflects the design of the quilt in some way, and sometimes I go with an 'overall' geometric design that just feels right, like organic or straight-line quilting or a grid. So it's a treat of sorts when I can pull a design from one of the fabrics.

Here's another example of that, in my mini Still Swooning.

See that black square in the center of the quilt? The quilting design all came from that, and I shared about it in more detail in this post, if you're interested.

So just a reminder that there's more than one element of a quilt that can influence the quilting you choose to do. What do you think influences you the most?

It's Time for the Crosscut Quilt-Along!

Well the  Crosscut Quilt-Along on Instagram has begun! I've posted the Day One prompt, and have my low-volume squares and 1" strips cut, so now on to the sewing!

It's not too late to join in! And if you're stopping by for the complete tutorial with more visuals, click here! This is going to be fun!

Seattle MQG Giving

A while back I mentioned that Louise/I'm Feelin' Crafty and I stepped in as Seattle MQG's Giving Committee co-chairs this year, and we finally have a few finished quilts! We inherited lots of black and white print fabric when we took over, all of which had been donated last year by guild members, so we definitely wanted to use it!

So to start, we chose an Improv Quarter Log Cabin tutorial, and asked for 12 1/2" square blocks made with the black and white prints alternated with a true white solid. We encouraged the makers to give their blocks a little wonk when they squared them up.



With all of the blocks received back, we were able to make two quilts! I sewed the larger top together, which Arlene DeBuck kindly quilted with a delightful variety of quilting motifs and bound it as well. Louise came up with the clever name Fade to Black, and it finished at 72" square.

Then there were enough blocks left to make a baby-sized quilt. I pieced this one also, quilted it up with a diagonal straight-line, and passed it on to Yeechi Chen to bind.

Yeechi even added a sweet aqua flange to this little 36″ x 48″ quilt, which we named Blue Trimmed Cabin.

In addition to all the black and white fabrics, we also inherited some star blocks that were made by guild members a few years ago. Louise pieced this 36" x 48" top, I quilted it with a simple serpentine, then Deborah Christensen bound it. Once complete, it was christened First Star I See.

photos of First Star I See by Louise Wackerman; used by permission

All three of these quilts will be donated to Nurse-Family Partnership, a community health program in Seattle that helps transform the lives of young, low-income mothers pregnant with their first child.

By the way, these epic (and giant!) quilt labels were also inherited - screen-printed by guild members Dionne Matthies-Buban and Kristen Ballou. Aren't they the most perfect finish?

Crop Circles

One of the projects I've been working on lately was only imagined when I added it to my Q3 Finish-A-Long list, so it's been fun to make some real progress on it! If you remember, I started with a big ole stack of green prints.

It was fortuitous that when I was inspired to make an all-green quilt, the green stack in my stash was also the tallest, so I had plenty to choose from! I was surprised how few "green green" (kelly green?) prints I had, but for this project, I found quite a range worked well together.

The Clammy 12" from Latifah Saafir has been my sidekick for this, and even making full circles has been a breeze.

I've been fairly random about putting the greens together, making 10 different block styles. 

The one negative about this kind of scrappy-style process is once you put all the blocks together, no matter how you arrange them, you see the same fabrics too close, etc. So I'm still fiddling with the final layout, though I don't expect to mess with that too long. I'm anxious to get all these together and start quilting, whatever that might look like.

When I was first smitten by the original design, I was kind of regretting that so many curves would be involved. So I'm a little surprised how much I enjoyed making all of them! Isn't it great when that happens?

Trying Somethings New

When faced with making a little gift last weekend, I added some fun to the task by trying both a zipper pouch pattern and fabric that was new to me. The pouch? The Color Block Pouch by Svetlana/s.o.t.a.k handmade, whose patterns are always a delight. And the fabric was Windham Fabrics' Opalescence by Whistler Studios in three saturated, sparkly colors.

There were three templates to make the pouch front, but they were of the easiest kind, and the pouch, complete with metal zipper, went together quick and easy.

For the lining, I was pleased to find a small bit of Thomas Knauer's Frippery in my stash, an old favorite which coordinated with the pouch colors perfectly.

So that was enjoyable! Definitely a pattern I'll keep in mind to make again.

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday.

Slab Six :: Pineapples

To say I look forward to each month's block assignment for our #seaSLABbom project is to put it mildly. But I really, really do. Whether it's the fabrics, which are so not me, or the diving into another improv method, many of which have been unfamiliar to me, whatever. The fact is, I can barely wait.



This month is improv pineapples, and Matt/odditease referred us to Jacquie Gering's tutorial, which included the half log cabin variation, shown in the right half of my slab above, as well as the full block, on the left.

So now we're six slabs into the BOM, and I'm sitting here wondering what's next!

6 Tips for Making Zipper Pouches Easier and Neater

While making the zipper pouches for my recent Metal Zips 3 Ways post, I took note of several methods that I find help me make pouches easier and neater. Unfortunately, I took photos quite randomly through the process, so ignore the mismatched pouch pieces - just note all linen pieces are exteriors; all prints are linings.

1. This first tip I already shared in my metal zip post, but thought it worth sharing again here for reference. And that's to open the zipper and stitch the two open ends together to keep them aligned. It's not necessary at the zipper stop end, just the 'open' end.

2.  Placing wonder tape along the top edges of the exterior and lining pieces eliminates the need for any pins or clips (shown before and after the 2nd strip of protective paper is removed).

Simply place your prepared zipper down along the tape on the first piece of fabric ....

Then place the second piece of fabric on top of that. Finger-press well and sew!

3.  I have always found stitching past the zipper-pull messy, and more often than not, end up with crooked lines at that spot. Now I stop stitching when I reach the zipper pull, and completely remove my pouch from my machine. I move the pull past the area where I stopped, then start stitching again, overlapping when I ended by several stitches. Works wonders for a neater finish.

4.  To avoid a "baggy" lining, after the zipper installation, when you place exteriors right-sides together, trim 1/4" off the bottom of both lining pieces, then proceed as normal.

5. After the perimeter of the pouch is sewn together, but before turning to the right-side out, press the seam allowance of the opening back 1/4". This makes it much easier to get that area neat when you go to sew it together later.

6. A detail I never seem to see in zipper pouch tutorials is what to do with the seam allowances at the side seams when you are doing the final sew around the exterior. So this time I consciously chose to fold the seam allowances towards the linings and the tabs towards the exteriors, and that seemed to work well.

Well there are my little secrets! If you have some zipper pouch tips to share, we'd love to hear them!

Crosscut Quilt-Along!

It's been way too long since I hosted a swap or quilt-along, so after gentle prodding from my buddy Kate/@katiemaequilts, I agreed to host a quickie Crosscut Quilt-Along on Instagram! Starting Monday, July 25, I'll post daily step-by-step prompts.

By the way, big thanks to my friend Sharon/@redapplestitches, who shared process and finish photos from her Cross Talk quilt, made soon after I published the Crosscut Blocks tutorial. Her quilt finished at 24"x30", which is slightly larger than my original, but the techniques are all the same. (Also notice below how intrigued Rocky is with the process!)

all photos courtesy of Sharon/@redapplestitches

This is one speedy little quilt! And it doesn't take much - just some squares of low-volume fabrics + a pile of 1" contrasting strips. The best part of the prep? The squares don't have to be cut exact, and the strips don't have to be a certain length! Just rough-cut to start, and we'll trim and extend or whatever's needed as we go along!

Before you know it, you'll have a one-of-a-kind little quilt!

So if you want to dabble in some easy improv, make a fun and unique mini quilt, or just sew in community, join us!

We'll be using Instagram hashtags #crosscutquiltalong and #crosscutblocks so you can follow along!

Tuesday at the Table

I love that I routinely get phone calls that start, "Hello. I want to make a pie." Or even more common, "It's me. I have a cooking question." Of course it's not surprising in these days of texting, that just this week I got separate texts asking about the ingredient list for Nanaimo Bars, and how to make vinaigrette. Which is all quite amusing to me, considering I spend way more time sewing and blogging than I do cooking these days. But that hasn't always been the case, and my roots in food-love and the table are deep. So these calls and texts are a good and welcome reminder of what truly feeds me and my family and friends. And I am glad for them all.

Singleton

Ok, this was really fun. July's Mighty Lucky Quilting Club challenge with Cheryl Arkison was "One Fabric, One Quilt," and from the first block I enjoyed it immensely!

It was actually quite serendipitous, as I'd been thinking of trying a quilt using just one fabric. It was fun to try that using Cheryl's guidance, including her handy fabric-selection and design tips. I chose to make just a few sets of the suggested quarter square-triangle blocks and then filled in around them to create a basic design while still letting the overall piece do its own thing.

Quilting was done with Aurifil 50wt #2021 (Natural White) and I really enjoyed it, making a couple of spirals, and other random patterns, all trying to highlight those stripes.

As with all of my Mighty Lucky challenges, this one finished at 17" square - small in size maybe, but not in experience. Lots to think about with this one, and plenty to consider in the future.

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday!

2016 Finish-A-Long :: Q3 List

I'm going out on a limb with this quarter's FAL list, since not everything here is under my control. But considering that's pretty much the nature of my w.i.p. list right now, I'm going with it.

1. First up is my Modern Sampler, which is well under way, with only August's block left to make. But unbeknownst to me until recently follows some applique! Being a little anxious to continue working on this while still following the quilt along schedule, I decided to begin the applique where I could, incorporating a bit of machine stitching where it works. Still to be decided is what border fabric I want, so mulling that over....

2. Next are my Bee Sewcial Swap blocks, which is one project that is slightly out of my control, considering I don't have all my blocks yet. But I'm excited about what I do have, and what I know is yet to come. I'm still thinking about what I want to make with these, but I'm pretty sure it won't be a table runner....

Apologies to Kari, whose block I received since this photo was taken....

3. Also on the list that's kind of iffy is my new bacon-inspired Bee Sewcial quilt. I've barely shared the assignment, and I get that, but I'm choosing to be hopeful. Plus, two bee-mates already have blocks done!

 

Bacon bits with a side order of bacon by Anne/@playcrafts

Order up. Who wanted the bacon? by Hillary/@entropyalwayswins

4. And finally, a project I started after seeing an online photo of farm plots last week. I know it's crazy, but something about it called to me, which is pretty shocking considering there are lots of quarter-circle blocks. But oh well, I've pulled oodles of greens from my stash (37!), and we'll see where this goes.

So four is usually a pretty achievable number for me, and honestly, I'd have to start more to add to the list, since I'm not much of a w.i.p.-hoarder. Actually, these feel plenty challenging, knowing full well there will be plenty of other yet-unknown starts before this quarter is over.

Linking up with 2016 Finish-A-Long Q3.

2016 Finish-A-Long :: Q3 Now Open!

Here we are - already facing the THIRD quarter of 2016....can you believe it? This means 2016 is half over!!! As you are already aware, the 2016 Finish-A-Long has gone global - a community of bloggers across the world are jointly hosting the FAL:

• Jess - Elven Garden Quilts - Australia [elvengardenquilts]
• Stacey - SLO Studio - Canada [slostudio]
• Jennie - Clover & Violet - USA [cloverandviolet]
• Helen - Archie the Wonder Dog - UK 
• Nicky - Mrs. Sew and Sow - UK [nickyeglinton]
• Rhonda - Rhonda's Ramblings - USA [rhondatherambler]
• Leanne - She Can Quilt - Canada [shecanquilt]
• Cindy - Fluffy Sheep Quilting - Ireland [fluffysheepquilting]
• Debbie - A Quilter's Table - USA [aquilterstable] me!

For those of you who are new to the FAL, it is a place to find motivation and encouragement to complete those unfinished projects that are hanging about becoming UFOs. Every quarter you post a list of projects you hope to finish in the next three months, and then at the end of the quarter, you post a link from your blog, Flickr or Instagram of each successful finish from your original list. Each finish is an entry for wonderful prizes from our sponsors. There is no penalty for not finishing a listed project, so feel free to make your list long or short as you wish. The 2016 Schedule and Rules for the FAL are on my permanent FAL page. We have some fantastic and generous sponsors for Q3 - you can see each of their prizes listed under their logo. Do think about visiting them and saying thank you!

Fluffy Sheep Quilting - £25 (25 Euro) gift certificate	Clover & Violet LLC - choice of 3 patterns	On the Windy Side, pattern pack
The Quilt Ranch, $25 gift certificate	Knotted Thread, $30 gift certificate	Sew me a Song, $20 gift certificate
Laurel Bee Designs, 2 pin bowls for 1 winner	Simply Solids, £40 (40 Pound) gift certificate	Imagine Gnats, $40 gift certificate
Fat Quarter Shop, $50 gift certificate	Mariners Compass Quilt Shop, $50 gift certificate	Sew Sisters Quilt Shop, $25 gift certificate
Sunny Day Supply - $30 gift certificate	Sew Sweetness, copy of Windy City Bags	Make Modern Magazine - 6 month subscription
Porch Swing Quilts, 2 winners, 3 patterns each	7 Acres Cleared Fabric Shop, $50 gift certificate	Oakshott Fabrics - £75 (75 Pounds) gift certificate
The Tartankiwi - choice of 3 patterns	Christa Quilts, copy of Machine Quilting With Style	Green Fairy Quilts - $25 gift certificate
Happy Quilting - choice of 3 patterns	Mad About Patchwork - $40 gift certificate	The Intrepid Thread - $50 gift certificate
3 Making Merry Patterns

InLinkz.com

Do you enjoy tutorial week at the end of each quarter, between the opening of the link for finishes and the day that link closes? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below! If you have a tutorial that you would like to share, please let me or another host know.

So it's time to round up those projects you want to finish over the next three months, take a photo of where you are now, and make your list! Please link projects that had already been started - at least pulled fabric with a pattern or plan, and remember that it is finished projects that will get you entry toward the above listed prizes. So while we love to see your bee blocks, the "finish" is when they are a completed, usable project. For those of you who post only on Instagram, it is very helpful if you tag your Q3 list as #FALQ3yourname.

The 2016 Q3 link for your list of proposed finishes is now open below on my blog and on each of the hosting blogs. You only link your list once, on one blog - and that link will show up on all of the blogs. If you are using Flickr or Instgram, link a mosaic and put your list in the description. Katy of The Littlest Thistle has a great tutorial on how to link-up if you have need it. We also encourage you to become part of the FAL community. Please check out the links of others and visit and comment on their lists. We all need encouragement to get those finishes done, so please share some of your own too. And when you do have a finish, send a photo or blog post link to 2016finishalong@gmail.com and we'll post it on our FAL facebook page!

When creating your list there is one thing to remember.... There are no deductions for not completing something so go for it! There's nothing to lose!!! The Q3 linky party will stay open until 11 pm EST, July 16. As we are global, you might want to check your time zone to determine your last possible time to link. Remember: you only need to link up on ONE hosting blog and it will automatically show up on all hosting blogs. Let's do it!

An InLinkz Link-up