First Light Designs

Ribbon Box Quilt, Version 2

by Dawn Posted on September 10, 2024

Friends, I am popping in to report a quilt top finish! This is my second version of the free pattern Ribbon Box by Cloud 9 Fabrics:

The first three vertical strips are from the “Party Dress” line Mo Bedell designed years ago for Blue Hill Fabrics. I’ve been hoarding the fabric, especially the print in the first strip, for years. Now that I see how good it looks in this quilt top I’m glad I took the plunge to use some of it. (Happily, I still have a bit left.)

If you followed along with my first version, the Picnic Quilt, you may remember I added three inches all around the quilt to increase the finished size. This second version will also finish at 51″ x 65″.

Speaking of the Picnic Quilt, I will be picking it up tomorrow from the quilter. Pictures to come soon!

Saying Goodbye Again

by Dawn Posted on August 31, 2024

A little over two years ago I donated a half dozen quilts to Hopewell House, a hospice facility in Portland that reopened in January 2023 after a three-year hiatus. A call had been issued for donated quilts that would be chosen by residents to offer them comfort as the end of their lives approached. I wrote about my donated quilts here.

As Jill Citro, the Comfort Quilt Program coordinator, explained at the time, “The Quilt Program will offer patients a quilt of their choice, handmade by generous and creative community members who have donated their time, talents and materials. Each quilt will remain with the patient during their care. Upon the patient’s death, their quilt will be part of their ‘passage observance’ with their family, friends and caregivers, and the family will be invited to take the quilt home with them. As you can see, the quilt becomes an extremely meaningful, moving and cherished gift.”

Recently I contacted Jill to see if I could provide a few more quilts and she responded in the affirmative very quickly. I forgot to take a photo of the quilts before I delivered them to Hopewell House so I’m showing them here as a way to create a visual record for myself.

First up is Billie’s Star, made in 2015 and named in honor of Billie Mahorney, my favorite quilt teacher and mentor:

It’s an original design inspired by Billie’s love of star blocks. It measures about 56″ square and was quilted by Nancy Stovall of Just Quilting. Billie encouraged her students to make pieced backs, often using leftover blocks, so that’s what I did here:

This is Stella by Starlight, made in 2016 based on a block design called “Spinners” by Heather Peterson of Anka’s Treasures:

It measures 51½” x 71″ and was quilted by Karlee Sandell of SewInspired2Day.

Next up is Spokesong, made in 2018 and based on the pattern Idyllic by Corey Yoder of Coriander Quilts:

Check out the leftover blocks on the back and the label made to echo the block design:

Spokesong measures 53½” x 67″ and was also quilted by Karlee of SewInspired2Day.

This is Currant Affairs, begun in 2015 in a class with Joyce Gieszler, author of Then and Now Quilts, and completed in 2021:

The quilt is based on a very traditional design called Grandma’s Surprise but the placement of the colored triangles and the limited number of fabrics give it a decidedly contemporary feel. It measures 66″ square and was quilted by Sherry Wadley.

Next up is Sea Star Sampler, completed in 2022:

It measures 59″ square and gets its name from the fabrics, which feature starfish and schools of fish and other prints suggestive of things like anenomes, seaweed, and waves. It was quilted by Karlee of SewInspired2Day.

The last quilt I offered Hopewell House was smaller than a lap-size quilt or throw but I thought it might resonate with a resident or a resident’s family and Jill was quick to agree. It’s a two-sided quilt measuring only 38″ x 44″ but it comes with a powerful message:

All You Need is Love is the name of this quilt (cue the Beatles song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney) made in 2020. I used the pattern Love Rocks from Sew Kind of Wonderful’s book Text Me featuring letters, numbers, and emojis created with the Wonder Curve Ruler. Sherry Wadley quilted this one for me.

Will I miss these quilts? Absolutely! But I have had the pleasure not only of making them and sharing the process with my blog followers but also of showing them to quilt guilds and displaying them in my home, where I (and presumably the Dear Husband) have enjoyed them immensely. I am grateful to have the opportunity to share these quilts with Hopewell House residents, hoping they and their families will find comfort in them. What more could a quiltmaker ask for?

Posted in family, faux-kaleido quilts, hexagons, Idyllic, kaleido-spinner, kaleidoscope quilts, quilt labels, sampler quilt, update, Wonder Curve Ruler | 10 Comments

August Anticipation

by Dawn Posted on August 3, 2024

Once I finish a quilt top, I am always eager to piece a backing so I can get both top and backing off to be quilted by a professional longarmer. In the case of the Picnic Quilt top, based on the free pattern Ribbon Box and completed at the end of June, making a backing got put on the back burner while I bound and labeled At the Corner of Cheddar and Indigo. Because of gardening and other household duties, that took up most of July.

And now here it is August already! What do I have to show for it thus far? Nada. Zippo. Ah, but I do have plans . . . not for a backing for the Picnic Quilt but for another brand new version of Ribbon Box, this one featuring my precious horde of fabrics from Mo Bedell’s debut fabric line “Party Dress,” which came out in 2010.

I bought several pieces from the line when it first came out but these three fabrics are the ones that will appear in my newest Work-in-Progress (WIP):

The center fabric is obviously the main focus fabric. Isn’t it gorgeous? And the aqua fabric on the right has appeared in more than one of my quilts.

The pattern calls for eight prints. Here are the remaining five, all pulled from my stash:

Astute readers will recognize the navy and white print from my recently completed cheddar and indigo quilt. It was the only navy print in my stash that matched the navy of the focus fabric. It’s a vintage print and I will be very sorry when I’ve used the last of it.

Here are the eight prints all together:

Did you notice the green on white polkadot fabric the prints are resting on? That’s my background fabric, one of Lori Holt’s “Seasonal Basics” for Moda. It’s one of my all-time favorites for quilt backgrounds. I have it in at least three colorways and love it for its versatility; it looks great in both traditional and modern quilts.

August is shaping up to be a very busy month. The Dear Husband and I have a couple of road trips planned, my twin sister Diane is arriving in one week for an extended visit, and the garden continues to demand attention daily (not just weeding and watering but harvesting!). I have also been working on a PowerPoint presentation for an upcoming quilt guild meeting that I’m excited about. All this to say that I may not get much sewing done this month — but it’s all good. If the best I can do is duck into my sewing room from time to time to pet these fabrics, I will be a happy quilter.

P.S. For those of you interested in making your own version of Ribbon Box, I haven’t forgotten my pledge to pass on what I learned while making my first version. Quoting from an earlier post:

“In my previous post I mentioned making changes to the way the quilt is constructed. It has to do with sewing the quilt together in sections rather than in strictly horizontal rows. It enabled me to eliminate 17 seams! I’ll tell you all about it in my next post along with some important considerations regarding fabric choices, cutting instructions, and arranging the ribbons. If I ever make the pattern again — and I just might! — I will surely be keeping these considerations in mind.”

Posted in cheddar and indigo, economy block, family, floating squares, picnic quilt, Ribbon Box quilt, square-in-a-square, update | 4 Comments

It’s a Wrap: At the Corner of Cheddar and Indigo

by Dawn Posted on July 24, 2024

Gosh, it feels good to report a quilt finish! I hope to be more productive when the weather turns cold and wet but for now I must be content spending time with the Dear Husband in the garden, which is benefiting from the TLC we are both bestowing on it. The tomatoes are abundant (though not yet turning red), the herb garden is glorious, and just this morning I harvested three zucchini that the squirrels have mystifyingly ignored.

But let’s get back to the quilt! First the front . . .

. . . and now the back:

The back was pieced very simply, containing only two small pieces from the “Cheddar and Indigo” line of Riley Blake fabric that makes up most of the front. That’s because I boxed up all of my remaining fabric from the line and sent it to my new quilting friend in Virginia who has been looking for that same fabric since she saw Scattered Stars, my first cheddar and indigo quilt begun in 2019 and completed in 2020. She couldn’t find much of the fabric then — most likely because I had scoured the internet and bought up every single piece I could find. Now my friend has more than enough of the fabric to make her own quilt, which makes us both very happy.

I made single-fold binding measuring ½” finished, referring to my March 23, 2021 post In Praise of Single-Fold Binding: A Tutorial of Sorts. That tutorial has been attracting a lot of visitors to my website recently so I thought it was worth mentioning.

Instead of making my signature round label, I opted to create a label echoing the square-in-a-square block design:

Here’s a close-up:

In case you can’t read the label, the quilt is based on the free pattern “Floating Squares” by Carried Away Quilting. I added sashing and cornerstones to my version. It was beautifully quilted by Karlee Sandell using the traditional Baptist Fan design.

After taking these photos, I sent At the Corner of Cheddar and Indigo on its maiden voyage through the washer and dryer. Here’s another shot of the quilt in its post-washing soft crinkly goodness:

After laundering it measures 60½” x 70½” — a perfect size for a throw.

Edit added August 3, 2024: After my twin sister Diane wrote a comment demanding to know why I hadn’t included a photo in this post of Princess Cordelia (aka Coco), who is well known for photobombing my quilts, I laid At the Corner of Cheddar and Calico out on the carpet and waited for her to notice. It didn’t take long:

Such a regal pose!

Posted in cheddar and indigo, economy block, family, floating squares, single-fold binding, square-in-a-square, update | 11 Comments

S-l-o-w Progress on the WIPs

by Dawn Posted on July 11, 2024

I am slowly getting the binding tacked down on my cheddar and indigo quilt. It’s a process I enjoy but between my household duties, helping the Dear Husband in the garden, and dealing with other obligations, finding time to sit down for even a few minutes at a time to sew has been challenging. I haven’t even gotten around to piecing a backing yet for the Picnic Quilt (the second of my current Works-in-Progress).

On a positive note, I’ve come up with a name for my cheddar and indigo quilt:

What do you think?

I’d been casting around for a name that included both cheddar and indigo. If the name also referenced the quilt design, that would be even better. The free pattern Floating Squares is based on the traditional square-in-a-square block, which creates both squares and diamonds, and I added cornerstones between the blocks. Every block contains 90 degree angles. That’s a lot of corners.

At the same time I was musing on corners, I was reviewing my stash of cheddar fabrics, deciding which one to use for the label. I chose the one by Zen Chic featuring a street map of Barcelona. That’s when the name At the Corner of Cheddar and Indigo popped into my head. I ran the name by my twin Diane who immediately gave it her seal of approval. (Thanks, Nubs!) That prompted me to steal some time to whip up a label. Sewing the label on is always the last step for me in making a quilt; now I have some extra incentive to get the rest of the binding tacked down.

Posted in update | 6 Comments

Update on the Picnic Quilt

by Dawn Posted on June 28, 2024

The top I made using the free pattern Ribbon Box from Cloud 9 Fabrics is finished! Before I show it to you, take a look at the top before I corrected a mistake:

(Pay no attention to the feline photobomber in the lower right corner.)

What’s the mistake, you ask? This: I sewed one of the pieces upside down. Compare the two versions and see if you can spot my booboo:

(Hint: look in the lower left section.)

It may not be obvious at first glance but I saw it immediately after taking the top photo. The mistake occurs at the bottom of the first vertical ribbon, the black print with all of the fruits on it. If you look at the watermelon wedges, which to me are the ones that immediately draw the eye, you’ll see that the wedge in the bottom section is upside down compared to the wedges in the rest of the ribbon. It’s a directional print so it’s important that the print be oriented the same way so the ribbon appears to be woven from a single piece. (In the fourth vertical ribbon featuring the same print on an aqua background, I deliberately oriented the print in the opposite way; you can tell by looking at those watermelon wedges.)

It was a simple matter to unsew four seams in order to turn the rectangle of fabric around and resew the seams. It’s possible very few people would have noticed it but it would have driven me crazy if I hadn’t fixed it.

Another thing I did (which almost did drive me crazy) was match the seams in a couple of sections of ribbon so as not to interrupt the design. Here’s the fourth vertical ribbon with one matched seam . . .

. . . and the first vertical seam with two matched seams:

Can you spot the seams? They should be almost invisible.

In my previous post I mentioned making changes to the way the quilt is constructed. It has to do with sewing the quilt together in sections rather than in strictly horizontal rows. It enabled me to eliminate 12 seams! I’ll tell you all about it in my next post along with some important considerations regarding fabric choices, cutting instructions, and arranging the ribbons. If I ever make the pattern again — and I just might! — I will surely be keeping these considerations in mind.

Posted in picnic quilt, Ribbon Box quilt, update | 5 Comments

Taking the Plunge

by Dawn Posted on June 22, 2024

Remember those “picnic quilt” fabrics I showed you a couple of weeks ago? Here’s a reminder:

You can read the post about my fabric selections here if you wish to revisit it.

My plan was to make a test block of the pattern I had in mind. I usually do this to confirm that my vision for a quilt is sound and that the fabrics work well with the pattern design. Turns out making a test block was impossible — because the quilt design is not made of blocks.

I’ll show you what I mean. This was the pattern that inspired my purchase of fabrics:

It’s a free pattern from Cloud 9 Fabrics called Ribbon Box. I saw it recently on a website advertising a new line of fabric for Cloud 9 called “Hidden Thicket” by Leah Duncan. Eight prints from the line were showcased in the design featuring four vertical and four horizontal “ribbons” weaving in and out. It’s on the small side for a lap quilt or throw, finishing at 45″ x 59″.

Over the last few years I’ve seen several quilt patterns with interweaving ribbons but none of them grabbed me like this one did. A bit more research revealed an earlier version, also a free pattern from Cloud 9 Fabrics, dating to 2014 and a subsequent version dating to 2017. Designed by Michelle Engel Bencsko, the first quilt featured 12 different prints — six vertical and six horizontal ribbons — and the second one featured six prints used twice, both quilts finishing at 55″ x 63″. This is the 2017 version:

I much prefer the most recent version and decided to make it — with one significant change. I’m making my quilt larger by adding 3″ to every side of the quilt. My version will finish at 51″ x 65″ — still a bit small on the throw/lap quilt side but it will certainly suffice.

Since making a test block was not doable, I had to commit to forging ahead with the entire quilt. Friends, I took the plunge. Here’s a little over half of it:

That black floral fabric at the bottom of the picture (the third horizontal ribbon) was an afterthought. I played around with the eight fabrics you saw in the first photo and determined that I needed another dark print to achieve the balance I was seeking in value and scale. This one is a companion print from the “Fruit Loop” line by BasicGrey for Moda. I found all of these fabrics at Montavilla Sewing Center in Lake Oswego OR, where I teach.

I can’t wait to show you the rest of the quilt. I’m almost done with it but garden duty is pulling me away. When I return with the finished quilt top, I’ll tell you about a major change I made in the way the quilt is constructed. I think you’ll be interested in the whys and wherefores!

Posted in picnic quilt, Ribbon Box quilt, update | 8 Comments

Cheddar and Indigo Quilt: Quilted, Trimmed, and Ready to Bind

by Dawn Posted on June 14, 2024

It’s always a happy day when I get to pick up a quilt from my longarm quilter. Karlee of SewInspired2Day does such nice work. Because this quilt features a very traditional block (known as Economy and Square-in-a-Square), I chose a very traditional quilt motif: Baptist Fan. I love the look of the curved quilting lines on the straight edges of the diamonds and squares.

Here’s a look at the entire quilt after trimming:

The trimmed quilt measures 62½” x 71½”. I cut the border strips extra wide (6½”), giving me the option of trimming them after quilting if I wanted them narrower but I find I like them just the way they are.

Although the prints from the “Cheddar and Indigo” line by Penny Rose Studio for Riley Blake Designs are traditional, I did sneak in a couple of modern prints, most notably the cheddar in this block:

It’s called Barcelona City Map from the “Barcelona” line by Zen Chic by Moda. I used some of it in 2020 while making Scattered Stars, my first indigo and cheddar quilt, and liked it so much I replaced it in my stash — and bought the same print in three other colors!

The indigo print in this block was a vintage find, produced back in the day when selvages carried little or no information at all about the fabric designer or manufacturer:

The selvage on this fabric reads “© Springs Ind., Inc.” Out of curiosity, I googled that just now and much to my surprise a website popped up with a brief but fascinating history of Springs Industries, a cotton textile company founded in 1887 by Samuel Elliott White of Fort Mill, South Carolina. You can read about it here. The website is run by the Institute for Southern Studies at the University of South Carolina.

Here’s a look at the back of the quilt . . .

. . . and a detail shot:

I’m going to bind my quilt in an indigo blender by Maywood that reads as a solid. It’s a fabric I use so often I buy it by the bolt.

The only decision remaining is what to name this quilt. The quilt is based on the free pattern Floating Squares by Carried Away Quilting. The only thing I have come up with so far is “Diamonds and Squares Afloat” which is descriptive but not very clever. If any of you have suggestions, I’m all ears.

Posted in cheddar and indigo, economy block, floating squares, square-in-a-square, update | 3 Comments

Here Comes Summer!

by Dawn Posted on June 5, 2024

My recently completed quilt was all about Celebrating Spring; in fact, that’s the name I gave it. My new project, as it happens, is all about celebrating summer. Just look at these lovely prints:

Do they shout “Here comes summer!” to you, too? I’m already thinking about this as “the picnic quilt.”

Two lines are represented in this grouping:

The five prints on the left are from the “Fruit Loop” line by BasicGrey for Moda. The three on the right are from the “Strawberry Lemonade” line by Sherri and Chelsi, also for Moda. They sure play nicely together!

All of the prints are sitting on my background fabric, a subtle aqua-on-white swirly design. You can’t really see the design in the first photo so here’s a close-up of it paired with my favorite print from the line:

The background fabric is also from the “Fruit Loop” line. The selvages on the Fruit Loop fabrics carry a rather odd message:

By the way, I bought that fruit slice print in three colorways, shown here . . .

. . . but didn’t include the top one in my final fabric pull because it felt overpowering. I do love seeing them together, though. Isn’t it interesting how the same design can indicate different things solely on the basis of color? Here we have watermelon slices, lemon slices, and apple slices. If I wind up not using the watermelon slices on the front of my quilt, they will most likely put in an appearance on the quilt back.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. I have to make the top first. The fabrics have all been washed, ironed, and folded — and I can’t wait to start cutting into them! I do have a pattern in mind but I’m not going to tip my hand until I’ve made a test block to confirm my choice.

Posted in picnic quilt, Ribbon Box quilt, update | 2 Comments