Half Baked Clams

Is it bad to say that making a clamshell quilt wasn't on my list? Not that I didn't love them. I was definitely intrigued by them, and when daughter dear made one for grandgirl, I was duly impressed. But I still didn't feel the need to make one myself. That is until Latifah/Latifah Saafir Studios came to town. Oh yeah.

I've admired Latifah's work for a long time, briefly been in a bee together, and enjoyed seeing her at QuiltCon 2015. Of course I wanted to take a class with her when she was in town visiting the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild. The workshop I chose was an inaugural presentation of Glam Clam II which offered instructions for several pieced clam variations. With my The Clammy 12" ruler in hand, I chose the Half Baked Clams. And let me say right up front, that Clammy is awesome, and I can't imagine doing this quilt without it. Having a 14" rotating cutting board helped alot too.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I had taken a stack of Cotton + Steel prints with me, having used the viewfinder's as my focus fabric when I pulled other prints from my stash. I'm really pleased with my choice, as they make such a colorful and fun quilt! For the backing, I chose Melody Miller's Jacks from her Playful collection, and thankfully, I had plenty for the binding too. Quilting was 1/2" horizontal lines, simple yet striking.

One thing Latifah verbally shared at our workshop was a couple of ways to make her signature chunky binding (1" finished). I stumbled my way through on making it for this quilt, and though I need to perfect my technique, I'm super pleased with how it turned out and think it really adds something special to this particular quilt.

Finishing at 52"x64", I'm glad to have conquered the clamshell! It has a piecing technique so different from the traditional 'blocks in rows' quilt, and I found it enjoyable and relatively quick. 

The connection of taking a clamshell quilt to the beach for a photoshoot was lost on me until I was already there, but I must have subconsciously known it would be a good choice. All-around, a pretty satisfying make.

This quilt was on my 2016 Q2 Finish-A-Long list!

Half Baked Clams

Though I totally expected to enjoy the Glam Clam II class with Latifah Saafir and the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild yesterday, I did not really expect to love the Glam Clam itself as much as I found I did! I mean, curves! But thankfully, when I supported Latifah in her KickStarter campaign last year, I chose the The Clammy 12" ruler as my 'reward.' As far as clam-shells go, the bigger they are, the easier, which resulted in very little curve-related stress for me.

When I got the pre-class packet, I chose one of Latifah's new variations for my first clam-shell quilt, so I waited until I got to class to cut anything out. But I had pulled a nice ole stack of Cotton + Steel from my stash, using the viewfinder's as my focus fabric. I also grabbed some neutral solids to add, just to lighten things up a bit.

I managed to get three rows done, having eight more to go for the "big baby" size quilt I'm planning. In addition to getting comfy with The Clammy and this pattern, I appreciated learning some tips from Latifih, and of course seeing some of her quilts. I think I already know how I want to quilt this and I plan a new-to-me binding method, which is very Latifah. All that to say I'm pretty psyched to keep working on my Half Baked Clams.