Monday, February 17, 2025

Blanket Stitches | Detached Stitches | Filling Stitches

Last summer, Rebecca Ringquist of Dropcloth Samplers @dropcloth asked if I'd be interested in stitching ahead on a few samplers that would be part of her new stitch of the month program that was coming out in 2025. I said, "yes, please!" right away, not really knowing what to expect, other than that the samplers would feature different stitches.

Well before long, I got a package, and it contained way more than I expected! Rebecca had included nearly everything I'd need to stitch the samplers.

  • Wonderfil x Dropcloth—Picnic Perle Cotton Threads set
  • Tulip Hiroshima Milliner’s Needles Size 3
  • Vintage Thread Label Needle Minders
  • Polka Dot Embroidery Scissors in Wonderbread
  • the three samplers backed with Shape-Flex Interfacing

Gotta say, that all made starting in even more fun than usual! Here are the samplers I stitched.

Blanket Stitches


Detatched Stitches


Filling Stitches


I was excited to see that the series that these samplers are part of recently got released - as 
Stitch Passport Samplers. The set includes twelve samplers, each focused on a different family of stitches. Plus there's a corresponding class available on creativebug - Embroidered Sampler Passport Book: A Daily Practice. If you look close, you might get a glimpse of my three samplers in the class sessions. Glad I can finally share about them!

Friday, February 14, 2025

Open Jar TEXT | UN(settled)

The @open_____jar prompt this month is TEXT. It could be used literally, or as inspiration only, so I spent some time mulling that over. I had a word that kept coming to me, and over the weekend it really took hold. 


The word was 'unsettled.' It was in my mind and swirling in the actual feelings enveloping me. I was concerned about the well-being of family members and about changes taking place in our country. As an introvert, I was anticipating the extrovert paradise that is QuiltCon. And of course, so much more. So 'unsettled' became the focus of my TEXT piece, and I began with pulling some scraps from the scrap basket - bright, bold colors along with various shades of gray and natural. The colors themselves meant nothing to me. They just felt like something I'd enjoy playing with in that moment.


I had a speck of time to sew a few days ago and as a way of expressing the inspiration word, I decided to use just too letters, un. They were easy to piece, and obvious in a way, but not overtly so. More of the inspiration would come in my sharing of the finished piece.


Once I had the UNs pieced, I filled in with Kona Dresden Blue, and then grid-quilted with Aurifil 50wt 2600 [Light Gray]. The grid is pretty dense - about 1/8" - 1/2", as the piece is relatively small - about 18" square. As I was piecing and quilting, I started thinking of other words that started with 'un' besides unsettled that were currently resonating with me.... unkind, unnecessary, understanding, undervalued, unfair, uncertain, undone, unlawful, unbelievable. The list could go on and on.



When it came time for binding, I used what Dresden Blue I had left to cut strips 2.25" wide. I would have liked it wider in this instance, but that was still wider than my normal 2" so whatever. What I was able to follow though with was in the trimming. Or lack thereof. I trimmed, but I didn't square. Let's call it unexpected, shall we?


The goal of making UN(settled) was to embrace a given prompt, and in this instance, it affected me in a personal and emotional way. Is it my best piece ever? I don't think so. But I appreciate what it offered me in the making, and that's worth a lot.

Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Block Studies Collective | Big Slice

February has been FULL, and we're not even halfway through! With QuiltCon looming, I've just been trying to get all my sewing commitments fulfilled, and I wasn't even sure I was going to make it to this month's Block Studies Collective challenge, Big Slice. Luckily I did!


Otherwise known as a Double Wedding Ring block, Tara @tarafaughnan gave us patterns for several different arc configurations, and I chose the one with 8 arc pieces per block, honestly because I thought it might be quickest, and I liked its chunkiness. Tara's technique involved freezer-paper templates, which actually worked really well for me. I also really appreciated all the tips she gave for block construction.
 

This month, I created my own palette from stash, inspired closely by Tara's. Note that what looks black in my photos, is actually a very dark blue; and the 'white' is a pale lavender. If I struggled anywhere, it was sewing the blocks to each other at final construction. The intersections between blocks are not perfect by any means, but for today's purpose, I can live with them. Overall, a very good and enjoyable exercise. 

Monday, February 10, 2025

Bee Still My Heart

February's Bee Sewcial @beesewcial prompt, Bee Still My Heart, came from Stephanie @spontaneousthreads. We were to be inspired by the abstract art by Clyfford Still (click for Clyfford Still Museum to see some of his work), using a color palette of our own choice. 


The other component of our blocks was to represent the lifeline from our own palm. Mine is represented by the blue line. The final block measures 15.5" x 25", and I will deliver it, untrimmed, to Stephanie at QuiltCon, per her request. This was a challenging prompt(!), but I was glad to be exposed to Mr. Still's work.

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Essex Wallet

After making the scrappy journal cover with fabrics from my Studio Mystery Box, I didn't want to put those fabrics away. So I did the logical thing... chose another project to use them on. And that happened to be an Essex Wallet, a new-to-me pattern by Svetlana Skumanicova @sotakhandmade

I used two fabrics - a lightweight canvas print for the exterior, and a quilter's cotton print for the lining. None of the fabrics were large enough for the pockets, so I chose a solid - Free Spirit Tango - from stash.

The wallet construction was inspired. Not intuitive (for me at least), I followed the instructions closely one step at a time, and all went well.

The finished wallet measured 5.5" tall x 4" wide when closed, has way more room than I need, but I'm looking forward to putting it to good use!

Monday, February 3, 2025

January Fabric Usage

OK, I more than made up for my excellent fabric usage stats in December. Yikes! I started off with this big ole bundle, full of restashed solids, some selections to include in the Effervescence qal pull, and a few options for the Pantone COTY Mocha Mousse.



And then there were a few more Mocha Mousse options....



And of course, just a bit of the new Kona COTY, Nocturne.



In all honesty, I also have to include the fabric included in the afore-mentioned Studio Mystery Box from Anna Graham.





All in all, that's A LOT. But it does feel good to have a bit of fresh stock as we head into the new year. Already I'm putting it to good use.

January Fabric Usage

Used up: 16.33 yards [10.44 projects + 5.89 recycled/gifted]
Brought in: 26.95 yards
Net: 10.62 yards

Saturday, February 1, 2025

14 Years of A Quilter's Table

Yesterday was the 14th(!) anniversary of my beginning A Quilter's Table, the blog, back in 2011. I really wanted to post here, as an acknowledgement of sorts, but the words just didn't come. So instead, I sewed. Come to think of it, sewing, has really been the impetus for my writing all this time, right? So maybe this year, that was ok. Don't write, if the words aren't coming, but do what feels right to do. Just sew.

So in that small way, I did celebrate my blog anniversary, making a new thing that I could share with you all. I grabbed the bag of scraps that I'd gotten in the Studio Mystery Box from Anna Graham @noodlehead531 a few weeks ago. They suddenly seemed perfect for a journal cover I'd been wanting to make. I used a tutorial I'd used before by Rachel Houser @stitchedincolor, and luckily, I had just a few composition books stashed, so that was fortuitous.

Knowing the dimensions I'd eventually need - 12" x 29.5" - I started laying scraps out, piecing sections, and just figuring out shapes and placement as I went. I love working improvisationally like that!


Due to the lightness in color of some of the fabrics, I chose to line the cover, as Rachel suggested. The fabric I chose to use was something I'd ordered by mistake, Brussels Washer by Robert Kaufman. Though the color was perfect, I didn't realize until later that it was a linen/rayon blend. Its texture caused me to loosely quilt the layers together, which despite my first inclination, ended up working out ok. At any rate, once it was all sewn together in its final shape, I thought it was more than fine.

Admittedly, friends, I had no profound words to share on this anniversary. But I AM profoundly grateful for your presence here. Whether you're new, or you've been around for years, as many of you have been, I appreciate you. No matter what I choose to share (on not), you are encouraging, affirming, and kind. For all that and more, thank you.

Thursday, January 30, 2025

An Art Swap

Randomly a few weeks ago, I was tagged on IG and saw that one of my mini mini quilts that I'd donated to a local Free Little Art Gallery, had traveled all the way to Arlington VA and was in a FLAG there! The curator, Stacey @freelittleartgallery_arlington and I got to talking, and before I knew it, we'd agreed to a little swap. I'd send her a few more mini mini quilts for her art gallery, and she'd send me a piece of art from hers. So I set to work making more mini minis.


For this set, I cut up a small finished quilt, Golden Honey, into 4" squares, binding each one with single-fold binding using a tutorial by Yvonne @quiltingjetgirl.

I sent four off to the Arlington VA art gallery, and kept two to donate elsewhere. And just this week, I got happy mail from FLAG | Dominion Hills - Arlington VA @freelittleartgallery_arlington - two pieces of art + a sticker!


The landscape is by Jen of @littlefreeartgallery_oldtown; and the pretzel is by Anastasia Inciardi @inciardi, who happens to be the creator of Mini Print Vending Machines @inciardimachines. I'm pleased to have them both.


Meanwhile, through the FLAG community, I also arranged to send the last two mini minis from this batch to Jennifer @freelittleartgalleryga. Looks like I need to make more soon!

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

A Year of Doodles

After finishing up the Oh Christmas Tree stitchery from Stitchdoodles, I went looking at the website, to see what else might be fun to stitch. And there I found A Year of Doodles

A monthly embroidery fabric panel, I ordered the pre-printed panel, which comes with a square of soft Calico stabilizer to put behind the panel before putting it into an embroidery hoop. I'm using a double-thickness of Aurifil 12wt for this panel. I'm thinking of using a different handful of colors for each month. And yes, I paid for shipping from the UK, but I figured for a year-long project, it was definitely worth it. Just a few more days, and I get to start in on February!

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Open Jar LEAP | DOT

When Jen Broemel @jen.broemel and Robert Bosscher @rjbosscher announced their @open_____jar collaboration on January 1, I was intrigued. A 'no rules' place for creatives to play and experiment, I decided to at least follow along. Then a prompt for January was announced - LEAP. "We encourage you to interpret what this means for you and entice you to express this interpretation HOWEVER YOU WANT! JUST FOR THE SAKE OF DOING IT! ... It doesn’t have to be good, it doesn’t have to work out, it just is." Oh I loved the sound of that. I already had a project list a mile long, but I added 'LEAP' to it just the same. Just in case.

Over half way through the month, I finally took time to respond.  I grabbed a scrap of inspiration fabric  that I'd picked off of the free table at our guild holiday party last month.

I also rummaged through my scraps to find pinks that would coordinate. Then I went back to the Open Jar post to remind myself what else Jen and Robert had said about the prompt. 

"We encourage you to interpret what this means for you and entice you to express this interpretation HOWEVER YOU WANT! JUST FOR THE SAKE OF DOING IT! What a beautiful thing, right? It doesn’t have to be good, it doesn’t have to work out, it just is. . . and it will benefit you, we promise. We challenge you to open the jar and take a LEAP!"

And so I did, and these 'blocks' were the beginning. I wasn't sure where they were headed, but they were inspired by a quilt I'd seen with pieced columns. I left them on the design wall overnight, liking very much what I had so far.


But in the morning, when I was ready to continue on, I decided to change course, and cut all the wide enough slabs into 6" x 7" blocks. Where needed, I pieced slabs together, or added more fabric, until I had 16 blocks.


I took another pause, and that led to me adding space between some of the blocks.


And from there, I began to fill things in. Where I'd begun with a dot fabric (unknown) by tildasworld, a stripe by Just Wing It! by MoMo for moda, and various pink solids, I used Kona Ash to help fill in and around. It took me a couple of sewing sessions, but eventually had a quilt top I was happy with.


And then of course, I whipped up a pieced quilt back, begun with solid scraps leftover from the front. The dotty fabric that brought it up to size was Now We're Goin' Places by Monica Lee for Timeless Treasures.


I chose two Aurifil 50wt threads for quilting - 2600 [Dove] and 2423 [Baby Pink].


An uneven grid seemed to fit for the quilting, and where I normally do minimal marking before quilting, with this one, I marked every single line with my trusty hera marker. Bound in Kona Ash, this little quilt, which I named "Dot," finished at 25.5" x 29".




This project gave me inordinate amount of pleasure, so I'm really glad I took the leap, so to speak. AND in keeping with the commitment I recently made to take more photos of me with my quilts, I had hubby do just that.



Monday, January 27, 2025

Floral Stitches IX

Lately, when I'm finishing up the latest Floral Stitches sampler, I don't want the stitching to end. So I've taken to keeping it going with my own stitches where there aren't lines to follow. 

For this one, I filled in the petals of the flower, and outlined all the leaves with a double row of stitches. 

I'm continuing to stitch this series with Wonderfil perle cotton #8, just working through the stash of thread colors I have on hand. Nine done, and just three to go!

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

My Mocha Mousse

Lucky me, I found a swatch card of the Pantone COTY 2025 Mocha Mousse in my Christmas stocking! (Thanks @snippetsofsweetness!) So once the holidays were past, I got out my color cards and ordered up some possible fabric matches.
 

Honestly, I'm not 100% happy with my findings. It was really surprising how many colors looked like possibilities on the color card (or website), but in person, just were really not close at all. So here's what I gathered up to consider....


Bottom to top: 
  • Kona Suede
  • Kona Biscuit
  • Ruby & Bee Field Mouse
  • Moda Bella Solids Cocoa
  • Riley Blake Confetti Nutmeg
  • Painter's Palette Mocha

See the range of browns there? 


Of these, there is no perfect match, but the closest is Painter's Palette Mocha, and that's what I'm going to deem 'my' choice for mocha mousse. (No matter where I took a photo, the match seems closer in person than in a photo. Go figure.)


Second in line is Kona Suede. After I'd placed my fabric order, I was able to look at Steph @stephskardal's Pantone Matcher on her QuiltySolid app. (I have an Android phone and wasn't able to access the info earlier for some reason.) Anyway, the app now shows a few more considerations, if you want to search even further.

But I think I'll stick with the Painters Palette Mocha for now, and am looking forward to the annual Pantone Quilt Challenge @pantonequiltchallenge hosted by Sarah @bysarahruiz and Elizabeth @elizabethkray sometime this year. I'll be curious to see what they - and others - think is a good match. Until then....