Category Archives: wonky Greek key

It’s Party Time!

Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs is hosting a Best of 2017 Linky Party, inviting bloggers to highlight their top five posts of the year. It’s a fun way to look back over the last 12 months and identify some of the high points.

My top five are below, in reverse order. Clicking on the links will take you to the original posts.

5. Dutch Treat. Although I didn’t finish this quilt till June, I started it in January during an epic snowstorm that kept me and many Portlanders indoors for several days.

4. NYC and VFW. A trip to New York City with my twin sister in March combined many of the things I love in life: family, travel, theater, museums, and quilting. The quilting part? A visit to the Manhattan shop of Victoria Findlay Wolfe:


Victoria didn’t happen to be there that day but I had the pleasure of meeting her the following month in Paducah, Kentucky during AQS Quilt Week:

3. Terrazzo Tiles and Piccolo Terrazzo Tiles. Using the free pattern Mini Mod Tiles by Sew Kind of Wonderful, I made two versions:

The larger one was made by “supersizing” the original pattern, using the larger of the two curved rulers Sew Kind of Wonderful designed for cutting curves. I wrote a tutorial showing how I did it.

2. Junior Billie Bag. This was the first of two JBBs I made in 2017:

Designed over 20 years ago by Billie Mahorney, it’s a fabulous quilter’s tote personalized by each maker, starting with the design on the front and back panels and ending with the pockets inside and out. Two years ago Billie turned the teaching of her design over to me, and I make a bag every time I teach a class. This may be my favorite of the eight I have made so far.

Without consciously planning to, I wound up making a suite of accessories to go with my Junior Billie Bag:

(See the rotary cutter coat in the lower left corner? I wrote directions for it in 2014 and it remains my most popular tutorial. Every now and then when I see a huge spike in the number of views on my website/blog, I know it’s because someone provided a link to the tutorial.)

1 . Where It’s @. Much to my surprise and delight, this quilt won a second place ribbon at the Northwest Quilting Expo in Portland, Oregon in September:

The design is Rewind by Karla Alexander of Saginaw Street Quilts. I started the quilt in a class with Karla in Sisters, Oregon in July 2016. Getting a ribbon was honor enough but the award came with a check for $500. My first reaction? “Think how many yards of fabric I can buy with that!”

Well, this has been a nice little trip down memory lane. Do you want to join Cheryl’s party, too? The link is open until January 2. Be sure to check out the top five posts of the other quilting/blogging partygoers. And thank you for checking out mine!

 

 

 

Posted in Billie Bag, family, Junior Billie Bag, Northwest Quilting Expo, QCR Mini, Quick Curve Ruler, Quilter's Affair, rotary cutter case, sewing tool caddy, tote bags, tutorial, update, windmill block, wonky Greek key | 5 Comments

It’s a Winner!

Where It’s @, 57″ x 72″ (2016)

I got a phone call last night from one of the organizers of Northwest Quilting Expo (coming up later this week in Portland, Oregon) that my quilt Where It’s @ won a second place ribbon. I am thrilled!

If I remember the rest of the phone call correctly (I was a bit dazed), winners will be announced Thursday at 1:30 pm at the quilt show. That was the day I was planning to visit the show with my quilt group, the Quisters, so the timing is perfect.

I started this quilt in July 2016 in a class with Karla Alexander of Saginaw Street Quilts and finished it late last year. The name of her quilt pattern is Rewind. Karlee Sandell of sewinspired2day.com quilted it for me.

Quilters who enter their creations at Northwest Quilting Expo can opt to have their quilts judged. I chose to have mine judged, as I’m always interested in what the experts have to say, hoping I can learn from their remarks.

In 2011 I won a ribbon in a non-juried show. Here’s a look at that quilt:

Midnight in the Garden quilt by Dawn White at First Light Designs
Midnight in the Garden, 66″ x 80″ (2010)

The venue was Quilts in Bloom, a small quilt show held at the Oregon Garden in Silverton, Oregon. Much to my surprise and delight, this quilt won the viewer’s choice award for Best Traditional Quilt. I’m sure that the beautiful custom quilting by Melissa Hoffman contributed to that award. (You can see other examples of Melissa’s beautiful work on her Instagram page, fiddlestitches.)

This quilt is very special to me. It was made from my own pattern 4-Patch Wonder, published in 2010. I originally called the quilt Carmen, after the name of the fabric line from Timeless Treasures, changing it later to Midnight in the Garden. I don’t have it anymore but it’s still in the family. I gave it as a gift to my twin sister Diane as a 60th birthday present. It’s on display in her home in Georgia and I get to enjoy it on my annual visits.

The Northwest Quilting Expo runs Thursday-Saturday, Sept. 28-30, at Portland Expo Center, 2060 N. Marine Drive. Maybe I will see you there!

 

 

 

 

Posted in 4-Patch Wonder, faux-kaleido quilts, kaleidoscope quilts, Northwest Quilting Expo, Quisters (Quilt Sisters), update, wonky Greek key | 13 Comments

Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show 2017 — Part 3 of 3

And now . . . my final post on the quilts displayed for one day only (July 8) at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in Central Oregon, starting with one of my favorites:

In Honor of Great Granny (82″ x 94″) by Tamra Dumolt of Bellevue WA, quilted by Laura Simmons

 

Doves in the Window (73″ square) by Sheree Lloyd of Eugene OR

 

Blue Plate Special (51″ x 64″) by Kathy Chism of Bend OR, quilted by Marilyn Littleton

 

Slaphappy in Sisters (97″ x 104″) by Sharon DeBoer of Bend OR

 

Best Friends Forever (48″ x 64″) by Marcia Jacobson of Prescott AZ

 

Wedding Ring for Samantha (60″ x 70″) by Brenda Sirignano, quilted by Corni Quinlivan

 

Cursive (34″ x 36″) by Paige Alexander of South Carolina

 

Man About Town (62″ x 78″) by Carol Croak of Bend OR, quilted by Tracy Mertes

 

Two for One Deal (62″ x 70″) by Tamra Dumolt of Bellevue WA, quilted by Laura Simmons

 

Mom’s Love (65″ x 88″) by Patty Six of Santa Barbara CA

 

When I saw the next quilt from a distance, my first impression was that it was inspired by Native American or perhaps Inuit art. Imagine my surprise to learn it was based on a winter vegetable garden!

Winter Squash (89″ x 73″) by Maren Johnston of Santa Barbara CA

 

Spring in Bloom (46″ x 56″) by Linda Reinert of Vancouver WA

 

Round the Bend (92″ square) by Kristi Willard of Camano Island WA

 

Sometimes the simplest quilt designs are the most striking. I love how the two quilts below, made primarily of blue and green batiks, make such a strong visual impact (despite the distracting effect of the sun’s rays):

Not Just Another Square (58″ x 66″) by Crystal Darr of Willamina OR

 

Welcome Home (51″ x 71″) by Dawn Williams of Terrebonne OR

 

Some of my friends have made quilts based on designs in Lori Holt’s delightful Farm Girl Vintage book. I know they will enjoy seeing these two versions:

Farm Girl (62″ x 76″) by Frances Drennen of Sisters OR, quilted by Sandy Lachowski
Farm Girl Feedsacks (60″ x 81″) by Carol Dixon of Sisters OR, quilted by Sandy Lachowski

Carol’s quilt was made with 1930s-era feedsacks. Check out the vintage fabric on the back of her quilt:

Back of Carol Dixon’s Farm Girl Feedsacks quilt

 

Fans of foundation paper piecing and the designs of Judy Niemeyer will appreciate the work that went into this beauty:

The Birth of Paradise (95″ square) by Mark Palmer of Richland WA

 

There was one quilt on display at the show that is very special to me: Lee Fowler’s Pickle Dish quilt. My photo failed to do Lee’s quilt justice, not only because the photo was taken in the harsh afternoon sun but also because I inadvertently included my thumb in the photo. This photo, taken in 2013 just after it was completed, gives you a better look at it:

Pickle Dish (65″ x 66″) by Lee Fowler and Friends, quilted by Janet Fogg

The quilt was made by Lee with the help of several friends and completed two weeks before her untimely death in July 2013. You can read more about Lee and the Pickle Dish quilt here. My favorite photo of Lee’s quilt is this one, taken in a park in Sisters in 2015:

Lee Fowler’s Pickle Dish Quilt

And there you have it. Over the last three posts I have shown you about 50 of the nearly 1500 quilts on display at the show. Though the percentage is small, you can see that the quilts cover a wide range of styles. That’s one of the things that makes a quilt show so enjoyable: there really is “something for everyone.”

I didn’t have a quilt in the 2017 SOQS show but I did have one on display for a few seconds one evening before the show. A few seconds? Yes! You see, during Quilter’s Affair (the week of classes and special events preceding the outdoor quilt show), quilters who’ve taken classes in previous years can show their completed work during an evening event that also features quilts made by this year’s group of teachers. Each quilt is walked across the stage so that audience members can get a good look at it.

In 2015 I took a class from Karla Alexander based on her design Rewind and made a quilt I named Where It’s @. When you see the quilt, I think you will understand the name. Since I was on stage when my quilt was shown, I didn’t get a photo. On my way out of town after a wonderful week in Sisters, I stopped at a particularly scenic spot and took this photo:

Where It’s @ (57″ x 72″) by Dawn White, quilted by Karlee Sandell

 

Thanks for taking a virtual stroll with me through the 2017 Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. See you next year!

 

 

 

Posted in Quilter's Affair, Sisters OR Outdoor Quilt Show, update, wonky Greek key | 6 Comments

Farewell 2016, Hello 2017

Here’s to 2017! Specifically, here’s to lots of sewing and quilting in 2017. I’m already looking forward to several projects — and not just new ones. There’s a stack of UFOs beckoning that I am actually enthusiastic about tackling. But not today.

On this fresh new day of the year, I’m looking back on what I created in 2016. Rather than going in chronological order, I’m grouping my finishes by categories.

This was the year of the Junior Billie Bag, the quintessential quilter’s tote designed by Billie Mahorney. I made a bag for myself . . .

dawns-jr-billie-bag-2016

. . . and one for my friend Deborah . . .

Debeorah's JBB other sideDeborah's JBB one side
. . . and one for my friend Miriam:

mirs-jbb-1-800mirs-jbb-3-800
Next category: baby quilts. This is the first of two incorporating a charming giraffe-themed fabric panel:

Abe's quilt
Abraham’s Quilt, 40″ x 49″ (2016)

Here’s the second one, using the same fabrics in a slightly different setting:

Malachi's quilt 1.2016
Malachi’s Quilt, 41″ Square (2016)

I didn’t use a pattern for these quilts, preferring to play with simple shapes (squares and rectangles) so that the giraffes on the fabric panels would be the focal point.

My third baby quilt of the year was this one using the pattern Just Can’t Cut It from All Washed Up Quilts:

stefans-quilt
Stefan’s Quilt, 46″ Square (2016)

All three were quilted by longarmer Sherry Wadley.

All by itself in the mini quilt category is Ring Toss, based on the pattern Mini Rings by Sew Kind of Wonderful:

Coco's quilt
Ring Toss, 32″ Square (2016)

Mini Rings was quilted by Karlee Sandell of SewInspired2Day. Oh, and that’s our new rescue kitty Princess Cordelia (Coco for short).

Lap quilts is the next category. Once again I used a Sew Kind of Wonderful design, adapting the pattern Chic Diamonds into this quilt I named Dragonfly Kisses:

dragonfly-kisses-dh-aug-2016

It was quilted by Sherry Wadley.

The next quilt, Where It’s @, was started in July in a class with Karla Alexander of Saginaw Street Quilts. It’s based on her pattern Rewind. I really stepped outside my comfort zone with this quilt, and I absolutely love the result:

where-its-recropped
Where It’s @, 57″ x 72″ (2016)

The last quilt in this category is Stella by Starlight, a “kaleido-spinner” using the Spinners block by Heather Peterson of Anka’s Treasures:

stella-bound-front
Stella by Starlight, 51½” x 71″ (2016)

I call it a “kaleido-spinner” because the six equilateral triangles in each block were cut from identical repeats of the focus fabric, creating a kaleidoscope effect of sorts. The four small hexagon blocks are true kaleidoscope blocks.

Both Where It’s @ and Stella by Starlight were quilted by Karlee Sandell.

The next category is runners, both bed and table. I made one of each, using the same focus fabric in each (Wander by Joel Dewberry) and the same block design (Spinners by Anka’s Treasures) with completely different outcomes. Here is WanderLust I, the king size bed runner made with five blocks:

WanderLust complete
WanderLust I, 20″ x 88″ (2016)

I liked the focus fabric so much I made the bed runner reversible:

WanderLust back and front

It was quilted by Coleen Barnhardt of the Quilted Thistle.

Here is the same focus fabric made into WanderLust II, a “kaleido-spinner” runner converted into a wall hanging:

wanderlust-2
WanderLust II, 20″ x 53″ (2016)

This was quilted by Debbie Scroggy of All Quilted LLC.

The final category is a bit of a hodgepodge. I made a quilted cover for my stepmother’s new iPad Pro . . .

ipad-pro-cover-with-straps-from-back-to-front

. . . and a cardholder for her bridge hands:

2016-09-28-14-43-32
For my friend and fellow Quister (Quilt Sister) Vickie I made an iron caddy that doubles as a pressing mat . . .

iron-caddy-3
iron-caddy-2
. . . plus a matching 4″ x 4″ fabric box that she can use as a threadcatcher:

4x4-fabric-box
For myself I made some accessories to match my Junior Billie Bag: a rotary cutter coat made from my tutorial . . .

rotary cutter cut

. . . and a scissors case . . .

scissors-case-3
. . . and a sewing caddy that sits upright in a Lucite stand:

caddy-open
A 4″ x 4″ fabric box (yes, it’s a threadcatcher) completes the ensemble:

ensemble-2

dawns-jr-billie-bag-2016

As you have surmised, I’m crazy in love with that fabric line (Paradise by Alisse Coulter for Camelot Cottons). I expect you’ll see more of it in 2017, as I bought a lot when it was released a couple years ago.

I’m sending a shout out to the talented longarm quilters who transformed my 2016 quilt tops into beautiful quilts — Coleen Barnhardt, Karlee Sandell, Debbie Scroggy, and Sherry Wadley — and to you, my loyal blog readers, for your continuing interest and support of First Light Designs.

A toast to you all on this first day of 2017!

 

 

 

Posted in 4-Patch Wonder, baby quilt, bed runners, Billie Bag, cats, faux-kaleido quilts, hexagons, iPad cover, iron caddy, Junior Billie Bag, kaleido-spinner, kaleidoscope quilts, QCR Mini, Quick Curve Ruler, Quilter's Affair, Quisters (Quilt Sisters), rotary cutter case, sewing tool caddy, tote bags, update, wall hanging, wonky Greek key | 7 Comments

Where It’s @: Finished!

When I finished piecing Where It’s @ last month, I looked at all the batiks used in the quilt and wondered what color I should choose for the binding. Green, orange or purple?

where-its-recropped

As you can see, green was the winner . . .

where-its-binding-detail
. . . and when you look at the back of the quilt, you’ll see why:

where-its-back-recropped

The back just had to be framed in green, right?

For a touch of whimsy I made a wonky Greek key block for the label and appliquéd it to the back:

2016-12-019

Finished size: 57″ x 72″
Pattern: Rewind by Karla Alexander of Saginaw Street Quilts
Quilted by Karlee Sandell of sewinspired2day.com
Fabrics: batiks pulled from my stash

This quilt was started in July in a class with Karla at Quilter’s Affair, the week of classes in Sisters, Oregon that precedes the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.

 

 

 

Posted in Quilter's Affair, update, wonky Greek key | 3 Comments

Where It’s @: Quilted!

Last month when I finished piecing Where It’s @, my wonky Greek key quilt made using Karla Alexander‘s pattern Rewind, I was pretty pumped. Now that Where It’s @ is quilted, I’m even more excited. I think you’ll understand why when you see it:

12-16-wheres-its-quilted-1
Karlee Sandell
, the same talented longarm quilter who did the custom quilting on Stella by Starlight (subject of my last post), quilted an edge-to-edge design on this one. The undulating curves are the perfect counterpoint to the sharp angles of the wonky Greek key blocks. Here’s a close-up of four blocks:

12-16-where-its-quilted-detail

When selecting fabrics I started with a basic color scheme of green, orange, and purple, with values ranging from light to medium-dark to dark. My definition of purple stretched to include cornflower blue and a bright orange-red. I needed a thread for quilting that would look good on all of these colors. My first thought was a variegated thread but then I decided to go with one color that would work well across the surface of the quilt. Karlee and I auditioned khaki, straw, and light olive threads. Khaki was the clear winner.

I almost always piece a backing with elements borrowed from the front. Not this time. Out of my stash came a large-scale batik print I bought a few years ago while on a visit to Georgia. I had no idea at the time how I might use the fabric. It seemed to be perfect for the back of Where It’s @:

12-16-where-its-back-quilted
This close-up of the back shows how well the khaki thread works on the leafy print:

2016-12-07-12-45-55
Since the back doesn’t include any design elements carried over from the front, I’m going to incorporate one for the label. That should be a fun addition.

I am so grateful to Karlee for getting Where It’s @ quilted in record time. She was able to squeeze it in ahead of a couple of custom quilts so that I can get it bound and labeled in short order. Why the hurry? So it can be displayed in the Pine Needle, the quilt shop where I teach. I’m going to teach this design in February 2017!

 

 

 

Posted in Quilter's Affair, update, wonky Greek key | 9 Comments

Where It’s @: All Wound Up

where-its-nov-2016Last night I finished piecing my wonky Greek key quilt, which already has a name: Where It’s @.  The name comes from the resemblance of the @ sign on a keyboard to the classic Greek key motif, which gets a decidedly funky treatment here.

The pattern is Rewind by Karla Alexander of Saginaw Street Quilts. I had the pleasure of taking Karla’s class last summer in Sisters, Oregon during the week of classes known as Quilter’s Affair. Karla provided a template for the block, which is made up of strips sewn in rounds like a log cabin block, and she also demonstrated how to make a block by cutting the strips free form. I can’t tell you how much fun it was cutting those strips free form — the wonkier, the better, as you can see from comparing a few blocks.

By the time I got to the last few blocks, I had finally developed a system for keeping my strips in order — imperative, since I was cutting through four layers of fabric at a time. Before getting to that point, I made a few mistakes, requiring some of the strips to be pieced, but I was hard pressed to find them by the time the finished top was up on the design wall.

One of the things I love about Karla’s design is how the background fabrics in the outer blocks extend to create a pieced border. My blocks finished at 8″ square. With the borders added, the quilt top measures 57½” x 73½”.

Where It’s @ is quite a departure from the quilts I am normally drawn to. It was good for me to step outside my comfort zone and make something a bit on the zany side.

 

 

 

Posted in Quilter's Affair, update, wonky Greek key | 7 Comments

Still on Rewind

Thank you all so much for  your comments on my Refresh and Swoon blocks! To be honest, I was dubious about my Swoon block. I wasn’t sure I had used the leaf print to its best advantage but several of you liked what you saw here and on my Instagram feed, so I’m pressing forward with two separate baby quilts.

At the same time, I don’t want to lose the momentum I have going on my Where It’s @ quilt, begun in July in a Rewind class with Karla Alexander, so I’ve made two more pairs. Here is the first pair . . .

rewind block aug 2016
. . . and the second:

rewind blocks late aug 2016
These two sets were made by stacking four layers of fabric and cutting the wonky Greek key blocks freehand. It’s one of the fun techniques I learned in Karla’s class. The squares start out at 12″ square and the unfinished blocks measure 8½” square.

I used the bright green fabric above as the darker of two values, whereas in an earlier pair of blocks it served as the lighter of two values, the darker being purple. Here are the two sets of blocks together:

rewind blocks compared aug 2016

So far I have 30 of the 48 blocks I need for the quilt. I can’t predict how these blocks will look when I am ready to put them all together but I sure am enjoying the process.

Are you planning to get some sewing in over the long Labor Day weekend? It seems strange to be writing those words: Labor Day weekend. A lot of folks think of Labor Day as the end of summer but don’t forget — we have almost three weeks before the Autumnal Equinox. I’m hoping for a few more al fresco dinners on the back deck.

 

 

 

Posted in Quilter's Affair, update, wonky Greek key | 1 Comment

Where I’m @ on Rewind

Rewind blocks mid august
Isn’t that a pretty jumble of batiks? I’m almost half done with the wonky Greek key blocks for my Rewind quilt, the one designed by Karla Alexander that I started in a class with her last month in Sisters, Oregon as part of Quilter’s Affair 2016.

I need 48 blocks to make the design pictured here:

RewindP436FB_lg

I’m working in sets of four, stacking my squares and drawing my cutting lines freehand the way Karla showed us in class. Here are my two most recent sets:

Rewind blocks freeform

More freeform Rewind blocks

In the pair of green/gold blocks directly above, take a look at the gold print, which reminds me of spots on a giraffe. Do you see how the giraffe fabric is the dark in those blocks and the green is the light? I used that same giraffe print in one of my early pairs, and in those blocks it was the lighter of the two:

2016-08-12 11.30.28

Here are the two sets of blocks together, with the giraffe print reading dark/light in the top row and light/dark in the second row:

Rewind blocks with giraffe fabric
My quilt is going to be called Where It’s @.  I’ll bet you can figure out why.

 

 

 

Posted in Quilter's Affair, update, wonky Greek key | 3 Comments

Pondering and Sewing

While I ponder how to move forward on my Chipmunk Love quilt, based on the “Star-Crossed Lovers” class with Colleen Blackwood that I took last week in Sisters, Oregon, sewing continues on two other WIPs (works in progress).

I’ve made a few more wonky Greek key blocks using the pattern from the other class I took in Sisters last week, Karla Alexander’s “Rewind” using her new pattern of the same name. Here are the blocks I made before we came home . . .

Rewind first 9 blocks
Blocks Measure 8½” Untrimmed

. . . and the ones I have made since then:

Rewind blocks free form
Four More

These last blocks along with two from the first group were made by cutting the strips free-form rather than following Karla’s template.

Despite the wonkiness, all of the blocks look a little like the @ sign on a keyboard. Because of that I’ve decided to name my quilt Where It’s @. 

I’m also working on a quilt based on Chic Diamonds, a new pattern from those talented sisters at Sew Kind of Wonderful. This design calls for the original Quick Curve Ruler, and it’s been enjoyable working with these easy no-pin curves. Here’s one of my blocks:

Chic diamonds block
Block Measures 9½” Unfinished

Aren’t those fabrics gorgeous? The prints on the dark side of each blade are from a brand new line of fabric called Dance of the Dragonfly. Designed by Maria Kalinowski for Kanvas Studio in association with Benartex, the fabrics are due in stores next month. The Pine Needle, where I teach, will be carrying several fabrics from the line. I paired the prints with batiks for my blocks.

I’m doing something a little different with the Chic Diamonds design. Here’s a hint: I’m naming my quilt Dragonfly Kisses. I’ll post a photo when I have the top together, which should be very soon.

 

 

 

Posted in Quick Curve Ruler, Quilter's Affair, update, wonky Greek key | 7 Comments