Category Archives: home dec

Little Labors of Love

by Dawn Posted on October 25, 2018


Thank you all so much for your kind comments on my last post about my father’s passing. I don’t often write about my personal life on this blog but in this case my connection with my dad intersected with my quilting life in such a meaningful way that I wanted to share it with my readers. I appreciate your words of comfort so very much.

My big project for 2018, the sampler quilt known as Hazel’s Diary Quilt, has been on hold the last couple months while I worked on small projects for friends and family. I think of these projects as Little Labors of Love.

In the past I’ve shown photos of pillowcases made for my sisters Reigh and Diane. Recently I made pillowcases for another set of very special sisters in my family, Jenny and Tracy. I asked them to let me know their color preferences and then selected fabrics from my stash I thought they would love.

Here are Tracy’s cases . . .

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background. . . and Jenny’s:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

(I followed my picture-heavy tutorial to make these burrito-style pillowcases.)

Another labor of love is this mysterious item made from quilted fabric:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background
It measures about 18″ square (not counting the straps) and is doubled in order to create four channels, each about 4″ wide and open at one end. On the inside it has Velcro strips along the sides:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

When folded in half the Velcro strips close and it becomes a carrying case:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

Can you guess what this is for?Only if you are a Mah Jongg player! In addition to being a champion bridge player, my stepmother Shirley is an avid Mah Jongg fan and plays regularly. She asked me to make a carrying case for the tile racks in one of her sets.

My guide for this rack carrier came from another Mah Jongg player named Dorothy Huotari who posted a photo on Facebook in June of one she had made and graciously gave permission to other crafters to replicate it:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white backgroundI have enough left of the quilted fabric to make Shirley a matching bag for the tiles similar to the one shown in the photo of Dorothy’s carrying case.

Last month I put the binding on a beautiful quilt made by my friend Virginia Hammon:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white backgroundThe quilt was one of many made by Virginia that were featured in a special exhibit atNorthwest Quilting Expo last month. The quilts illustrate a book she has researched and written about the U.S. monetary system. With the text finished, Virginia can now concentrate on finishing the quilts. Since I truly enjoy the binding process, I was happy to add the binding to this beauty.

I get so much pleasure working on these Little Labors of Love, sandwiched as they are between longer term projects.

 

 

 

Posted in family, home dec, roll-it-up pillowcases, tote bags, update | 1 Comment

Autumn Reflections

by Dawn Posted on September 22, 2018


Happy first day of fall! This year is flying by way too fast.

After our unusually hot summer in Portland with a record number of days in the mid to high 90s, many folks are relieved that fall has arrived. Me, not so much. As a native Oregonian I don’t mind the rain and cooler weather that fall brings but I do miss the long days of early summer when the evening light doesn’t fade till close to 10 pm.

The official change of seasons is my cue to change the wall hanging in the master bathroom. Off the wall goes Sun Flowers . . .

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

. . . and up goes Autumn Reflections:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

Both quilts were made from my pattern Season to Taste. They measure 18″ x 55″.

Here’s a look at Autumn Reflections in situ:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

Of course I had to buy coordinating hand towels!

 

 

 

Posted in free motion quilting, home dec, kaleidoscope quilts, update, wall hanging | 4 Comments

Salute to Summer

by Dawn Posted on June 27, 2018


I was out of town last week on June 21, the Summer Solstice. That was the day I was planning to switch out the wall hanging in our master bath. Back in April I hung Under Paris Skies, thespring version of my patternSeason to Taste, so named because I envisioned a table runner or wall hanging for each season of the year based on fabric choices. (You can see my spring version here.)

Up went the summer version today and it couldn’t be more, well, summery:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background
Sun Flowers, 2015 (18½” x 55½”)

For a fun little touch I added a “flower” (two stacked buttons) in the center of each block:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

I finished Sun Flowers in 2015 but it’s been hanging in a quilt shop. Now I get to gaze at it every day in my own home. I’ll enjoy ituntil it’s time to change to the fall version, made in 2014.

I never got around to making a winter version, though it’s been planned for years. If I’m going tohave one ready by the time thiswinter rolls around, I’d better move it up on my project list!

 

 

Posted in home dec, kaleidoscope quilts, update, wall hanging | 6 Comments

Hip Hop Hooray!

by Dawn Posted on May 1, 2018


Rally ’round the maypole, folks — I have a May Day finish to report. It’s Hip Hop, my kangaroo table runner (or wall hanging — I haven’t decided which).There was just enough late afternoon light left on this overcast day in Portland to snap a photo outdoors:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

In a prior post I described how I quilted the background of each block, some with a walking foot and some with free motion quilting.

The last thing I did was stitch an outline around each of the five kangaroos. I was lucky that the fabric (from the “Walkabout II” line by Paintbrush Studios)included five separate ‘roos so I could put a different one in each circle.In these close-ups you may be able to see the outline stitching as well as the stitching-in-the-ditch around the inset circles:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background
A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

Last but not least, the label:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background
The label is a finished edge appliqué circle, my preferred method of making quilt labels. It’s fused in place but I will also appliqué around it by hand to make it really secure.

I’m really happy with my choice of turquoise for the binding. The acid green fabric used between the blocks would have been too strong, I think.

Hip Hop measures 16″ x 59″.

 

 

 

Posted in free motion quilting, home dec, table runner, update, wall hanging | 6 Comments

April in Paris — er, Portland

by Dawn Posted on April 22, 2018


April is my favorite month of the year. It’s the month when the promise of spring in Portland is fully realized. Lawns are emerald green, and the profusion of colorful azaleas, tulips, and other blooming things makes my heart sing. Today is a gloriously sunny day, one of the first of the year warm enough for Portlanders to open all their windows and let the fresh air in. I can hear the sound of a lawnmower starting up and if I’m lucky it will be followed by the scent of new-mown grass.

In honor of spring I hung Under Paris Skies in the master bathroom:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

This is the springtime version of my pattern Season to Taste, designed and made four years ago as part of a series based on the four seasons. The summer and fall versions are done but I must confess the one for winter hasn’t been made yet, though I do have the perfect fabric for it in my stash.

Thisis the first time Under Paris Skieshas been on display in my house. All this time it’s been hanging in the Pine Needle, the quilt shop in Lake Oswego where I’ve been teaching the last eight years.

After 25 years running the Pine Needle, owner Geri retired and closed the shop at the end of March. Several of my quilts had been hanging in the shop, and all of them got to come home with me. (Happily, Geri is still involved in the quilt industry and the Pine Needle location is being taken over by a local family-owned sewing business. More on that in a future post after an official announcement has been made.)

Back to Under Paris Skies for a moment.First you have to imagine April in Paris. Think of Ella Fitzgerald singing “April in Paris, chestnuts in blossom, holiday tables under the trees . . .”

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white backgroundThose are real chestnuts in blossom, taken on my trip to Paris three years ago this month. If you look carefully you can see the Seine in the background.Now imagine clusters of peoplesitting outside at cafe tables, taking in the fresh air while sipping a citron presseor café crème, like the two below (apparently still waiting for their order to be taken):

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background
All three blocks in this kaleidoscope quilt contain two different images of outdoor Parisian life, carefully fussy cut to fit in the confines of the triangles. Here’s another scene that always makes me smile:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

When the rains return (which they will, because it wouldn’t be spring in Portland without them), I’ll look at these bright and cheerful scenes of Paris in anticipation of the next sunny day right here at home.

 

 

 

Posted in home dec, kaleidoscope quilts, Paris, table runner, update, wall hanging | 7 Comments

Hip Hop: Almost a Finish

by Dawn Posted on April 19, 2018


Earlier this week it hit me that I’ve finished only one project since 2018 began. Only one! Plenty of things started, of course. I decided to spend some time this week addressing that rather pathetic record.

I quilted Hip Hop, the wall hanging/table runner pieced in January using my Full Moon Rising pattern. The quilting motifs were suggested by the fabric, a lively aboriginal print featuring kangaroos hopping around in the bush. The kangaroos were fussy cut and centered in the circles, which are inset (not appliquéd).

Here’s a look at the entire quilt, measuring 15¾” x 58″ after quilting and trimming:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

All told I used four different quilting motifs. You can see three of them in this close-up of Blocks 1 and 2 bordered by the end piece:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

Block 1, with the turquoise background fabric, was quilted with uneven wavy lines patterned after the wavy lines in the fabric design. Block 2 was quilted in a simple loop-de-loop design suggested by the dotted batik background fabric. For the end pieces I quilted angled straight lines at random using my walking foot. All the quilting in the other blocks is free motion.

Here are Blocks 3 and 4, stippling in the dark blue background of Block 3 and a repeat of the waves in the turquoise fabric in Block 4:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

Here are Blocks 5 and 6 and the other end piece, with repeated quilting motifs:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

Still to do: outlining the kangaroo in each circle using white thread, just following the lines on the fabric. I already did it in Block 1, though it’s hard to see in the photos.

My binding is already cut and sewn. I’m using the turquoise fabric, cut on the bias to show off the wavy herringbone pattern to better advantage:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

I’m very happy with this little piece and will be even happier when it is bound and labeled. Only then can I claim my second finish of the year.

 

 

 

Posted in free motion quilting, home dec, table runner, update, wall hanging | 2 Comments

Old Fabric Crushes

by Dawn Posted on January 12, 2018


I happened across one of my posts the other day written in October 2012, a little over five years ago when my blog was in its first year. I was writing about three fabric groupings in my stash that I was wild about even though I hadn’t yet decided yet what to make with them.What a pleasant surprise to discover that I have, in fact, used all three groupings!

The first was this one, a mix from several lines anchored by the red and aqua floral print in the center from Denyse Schmidt’s line, “Flea Market Fancy,” reissued earlier in 2012:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

Several of the fabrics wound up in this sewing machine dust cover . . .

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

. . . and this set of king-size pillowcases, both made in 2013:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background
The second group was this one, primarily from the “Ainsley” line by Northcott Fabrics:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

From this group came a small project, a kaleidoscopic table topper made in 2014 . . .

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background
. . . and a large project, my queen-size sampler quiltCatch a Falling Star, completed in 2015:A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

The third group was from the “Scarlet” line by Pamela Mostek for Clothworks:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background
These fabrics remained in my stash until 2017, when I used them to make my current Junior Billie Bag . . .

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background
. . . and matching accessories:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background
Now when I see a new group of fabrics I just can’t live without, I’ll remind myself that the fabric in my stash is indeed getting used. I’ll just need three additional lifetimes to sew my way through all of it. Can you relate?

 

 

 

Posted in Billie Bag, home dec, Junior Billie Bag, kaleidoscope quilts, Reach for the Stars sampler quilt, roll-it-up pillowcases, sewing machine cover, sewing tool caddy, table topper, update, windmill block | 5 Comments

Ain’t That a Sham?

by Dawn Posted on December 4, 2017


When my husband and I fly from Oregon to Georgia for our annual two-week Thanksgiving visit with my twin sister and her husband, I almost always make something for their home. It’s a small way to thank Diane and Ed for the generous hospitality they show Charlie and me on these visits, and it satisfies my urge to make something when I’m away from my sewing room for an extended time. You know how it is: a maker’s gotta make.

I knew ages ago what this year’s project would be. That’s because Frugal Fabrics,a home dec fabric store in the Atlanta suburb where my sister lives, announced at the beginning of the year that it was closing. Diane and I have found beautiful fabrics there in past years that have made their way into home dec projects in her house.

Before the shop closed its doors for the last time, Diane bought a gorgeous piece of fabric called “Brandywine Paisley” by Duralee Fabrics. She bought what was left on the bolt – about 6½ yards – without any idea what she would do with it. (At $2 a yard, I would have done the same thing. I have a thing for paisley prints.) We consulted via text messaging and concluded the fabric would be perfect as new pillow shams in her master bedroom.

Fast forward to my arrival in November. After Thanksgiving was over, Diane and I designed the shams, starting with the notion of a simple envelope with braided trim on the “flap” of the envelope on the front. She likes her shams up against the headboard with sleeping pillows arranged in front so it was important that the flaps be short enough for the braided trim to show.

If Diane were a quilter, she would have freezer paper in her house. She’s not and she doesn’t, so I made a pattern for the flap out of two sheets of parchment paper:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

I had to pin the two sheets together because scotch tape doesn’t stick to parchment paper!

Being somewhat obsessive-compulsive, I wanted the design on the fabric to match where the flap meets the sham. That meant the flap needed to be a separate piece that could be attached to the back of the sham in just the right place for the design to match up on front after the pillow form was inserted.All of thiscalled for some careful fussy cutting – in triplicate, because there are three shams.It took me the better part of one afternoon just to cut the fabric.

What you see below is one sham in two pieces. The body of the sham is essentially a square with rounded edges and a lapped opening on the back where the pillow form is inserted:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

This is what the sham looks like flat:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

While I was working on the shams, Diane was auditioning pillowcases I’ve made for her over the years (all made from this tutorial). She found three pair that looked especially good against the shams:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white backgroundShe decided to use the pair in the middle first because the reds and greens in the fabrics are right in keeping with the Christmas decorations that started coming out that week.

Here’s a look at the shams in place in the master bedroom:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

Don’t they look nice? I love the addition of the Christmas pillow.Here’s a view from across the room:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

I’m back home in Portland now, ready to get back to work on a couple of projects I want to finish before the end of the year. And the end of the year is only 27 days away!

 

 

 

Posted in family, home dec, roll-it-up pillowcases, update | 9 Comments

Quilt Camp, Part 2

by Dawn Posted on November 14, 2017


I finished a UFO at Quilt Camp last week. It was the table runner I started as an experiment when I was teaching at the Pine Needle‘s quilt retreat in June. Remember this?

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background
It’s a bit difficult to see from the photo but the outer edges of the runner were cut to match the curves inside. I wanted the binding on the quilt to echo the design, which you may recognize as Mini Mod Tiles, that marvelous free pattern from Sew Kind of Wonderful that has been the subject of several posts over the last few months.

I had just enough of the dark green batik fabric for the binding:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background
Didn’t that turn out nicely? I machine quilted it very simply with my walking foot, stitching in the ditch and adding a simple starburst in the center of the curved shapes featuring the focus fabric:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background
There wasn’t enough of the wintry blue print to cover the entire back so I inserted a strip of the blue polka dot:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

I used light blue thread on the back to blend in so the runner is essentially reversible. The label can go in the very center, to be covered by a candle or bowl.

Binding the curved edges presented quite a challenge, as the angle is greater than 90 degrees plus you have the curve to deal with. Fortunately, Heather Peterson of Anka’s Treasures has a wonderful tutorial on her website that shows how to bind an outside edge greater than 90 degrees. Following her excellent instructions, I was able to bind those corners. Here’s a look at the pinning technique:

A pattern of green and yellow colors with white background

I don’t think I would ever have figured that out on my own. Thanks, Heather!

The runner measures 13″ x 38½”, a nice size for the center of a table or dresser.I’m giving it to my twin sister in Atlanta this weekend as a birthday/hostess gift; my husband and I are headed there later this week for our annual extended visit over Thanksgiving.

I’m very pleased with this variation on the Mini Mod Tiles design. And, having made two quilts (a mini and a supersized version) from the pattern, I am finally ready to put MMTbehind me. Just in time, too! The Sew Kind of Wonderful team has come out with some marvelous new patterns. I have no doubt there is another Quick Curve Ruler quilt in my future.

 

 

 

Posted in family, home dec, QCR Mini, Quick Curve Ruler, table runner, update | 5 Comments