“Ho hum,” you must be thinking. “That’s old news.” Yes indeed, but since bringing that beautiful floral fabric home earlier this month I have been fixated on using it in Heather’s patternin a different way. I hinted as much in an earlier postabout this fabric.
You already know that I am, to put it mildly,fond of kaleidoscope quilts.I’vefinished at least10 quilts containingkaleidoscope blocks. All of them weremade of eight 45°triangles formingan octagon.Until today I hadnever made a kaleidoscope block composedof six 60°triangles forming a hexagon.
In case you hadn’t noticed, the Spinners block contains six 60°triangles.Instead of meeting in the middle to form a kaleidoscopic image, however, the triangles “spin” around a center hexagon.That didn’t stop me from testing my idea that six identical triangles placedin aSpinners block would produce an interesting effect.
Before I show you my Spinners block, take a look at thekaleidoscope blocks I could have made. Because the triangles are equilateral, any of the three points cango in the center, providingthree different outcomes.
Here’s the first one:
The second one:
And the third one:
I like them all but am partial to the first one.A quilt made of these blocks and more would be very striking, to be sure. The floral printlends itself beautifully to kaleidoscope blocks. But we’re headed in a different direction this time. Take a look:
Block Measures 15½” x 13½” Unfinished
A new spin, both literally and figuratively.I’m calling it a “kaleido-spinner” block.
I placedthe blockon a piece of dark blue fabricso the block would stand out and I like the effectso well I’m going to use that fabric.I’llmake a couple more blocks before deciding whetherto make a wall hanging or keep going to make a quilt.
The first day of 2016 is here! It’s a time for looking aheadbut also a time for looking back. Specifically, looking back at what I accomplished in my sewing room in 2015.I never accomplish as much as Ithink I will, especially when it comes to finished quilts,but I have to remember thatI made a variety of small pieces and craft items last year in addition to quilts. It will be fun torevisit them as well.
First up, the quilts.
My first finish of 2015 was Catch a Falling Star, based on Terri Krysan’s star sampler,Reach for the Stars:
Then came Toile Story (73″ x 89″), started in 2009 but not finished till 2015. Designed by Alex Anderson and featuring fabrics she designed as well, Toile Story was quilted by Debbie Scroggy of All Quilted LLC:
Next: Olivia Twist, a 31″ x 76″ bed runner made using my own 4-Patch Wonder with a Twist pattern. It was quilted by Jolene Knight of Good Knight Quilts:
Usingleftover fabric from Olivia Twist, I made Billie’s Star (56″ x 55″), an original design inspired bymy favorite quilt teacher Billie Mahorney, who taught me a lot about drafting and sewing star blocks:
Billie’s Star was quilted by Nancy Stovall of Just Quilting.
Next came Simply Dashing (58″ x 74″), a simple design thatcombines 4-Patch Wonder blocks (my name for four-patch kaleidoscope blocks) and Churn Dashblocks set on point.Simply Dashingwas featured on the cover of the Pine Needle Quilt Shop’s fall 2015 catalog. Quilted byDebbie Scroggy of All Quilted LLC.
Piecedin 2014, IfinishedSun Flowers, a wall hanging based on my Season to Taste pattern. It’s #9 in my series of kaleidoscope quilts and the third of four quilts I’m making to reflect the seasons of the year. It measures 18½” x 55½”:
My final quilt finish of 2015 was Loose Leaf, begun in a workshop with fiber artist Pat Pauly. Made from her New Big Leaf design, it finishes at 24½” square:
I quilted the last two pieces myself but was happy to have the larger quilts go out to some extremely talented longarm quilters.
In my next post I’ll show you the array of Pretty Little Things I made in 2015.
It hardly seems possible but eight months have passed since I last worked on Sun Flowers, pictured above. It’s the third of four kaleidoscope wall hangingsI’m making of mySeason to Taste pattern — one version foreach season of the year. This is the summer version, made from a lively floral print fromCamelot Cottons.
I had quilted straight lines inthe grey background and free-motion quilted a swirly design inone of the kaleidoscope blocks. Thatwas as far as I got back in March.I quiltedthe last two blockson Friday and finished binding the piece today.Here it is quilted,bound — and buttoned:
Yes, buttoned. In the center of each block are two layered buttons, adding a bit of whimsy:
The back is pieced of leftovers and includes a sizeable piece of the original focus fabric:
I love to featurethe focus fabric on the backs of my quilts, especially when I’ve used it tomake kaleidoscope blocks.
Sun Flowers(18″ x 55″) is now hanging in the master bath:
It’s a cheerful and colorful addition to the Portland White House. On the greyest of days in Portland — and we have many of those in fall and winter — it will be a spot of sunshine.
Seeing one of your own designs interpreted by another quilter is one of the pleasures and rewards ofdesigning quilts.Lastweekend I was at the Pine Needle, the local quilt shop where I teach, and wasthrilledto see Maxine Borosund’s version of my pattern Season to Taste:
Maxine’s Table Runner
Isn’t that stunning? Season to Taste can be atable runner or a wall hanging, depending on the maker’s point of view and intended use of the finished piece. Maxine’s version is a table runner.
The triangles that form theoctagoncanbe made with a variety of fabrics, like Maxine’s, or from one fabric for atrue kaleidoscope effect. You can see both optionson the cover of the pattern:
pattern cover
Maxine added adesign element to her quilt that I just love: a very thin flange right next to the bound edges.Take a look at thisclose-up:
See that narrow strip of chartreuseright next to the binding? She did a beautiful job on the flange, as well as theseams in the eight triangleswhere the thin chartreuseaccent strips and outer black strips meet. Everything lines up perfectly, the sign of a quilter whosews with care and precision.
I asked Maxine to pose with her table runner so I could post a picture at this site:
This is a book report, not a review. A review suggests impartiality, and I can’t be impartial because Marie Deatherage, the author ofPieces of Portland,is a friend of mine. But even if I didn’t know her, I would be rhapsodizing about this book because it is about two things near anddear to me: quilts and Portland.
This photo, appearing on page 20, pretty muchsums up the appeal of the book for me:
Quilt by Marie Deatherage. Photo by Joyce Brekke.
My family moved to Portland, Oregon when I was seven years old. That means I have spent the better part of 60 years in this city. I have watched it grow,have grown along with it. It is, quite simply, my city. Author Marie Deatherage andphotographer Joyce Brekke, whose beautiful photographs enhancealmost every page, have created a unique and wonderful book that explains in words and pictures everything I love about Portland.
Trained as a geographer, Marie has also been a college instructor, foundation grant administrator,disability rights advocate, and writer.She has drawn onthose experiences — plusfour decades of living in Portland– in writing this book. Joyce took up several hobbies, including world travel and photography, after retiring from a career in law.Originally from the Midwest, she settled in the Pacific Northwestand now lives across the river from Portlandin Vancouver, Washington. Friends since their college days at the University of Chicago, Marie and Joyceshare several interests, includingquilting.
In 2011, in preparation fora one-woman quilt show by Marie, the two sought out landmarksand iconic places in Portland to use as backdrops forJoyce’s photos of Marie’s quilts.An idea for a book was born — but not the book you see pictured above.The original conceptof acoffee table book featuringquilts photographed in Portlandbecame somethingmuch more.The subtitle of the book says it all: An Inside Look at America’s Weirdest City.
In prose that is sometimesserious, sometimes wry, oftenhumorous, frequently irreverent, and occasionally deeply personal,Marie writes about every topic under the sun that touches on Portland. Bridges.Urban farming. Politics.History. Flora and fauna. Food and drink.The environment. Parks. Neighborhoods. Fashion. People of Portland, past and present.
And, of course, the things that make Portland weird. Like the Unipiper, astreet performer whoplays the bagpipes while riding a unicycle. Like theminiaturetoy horses thatappear in old neighborhoods tied tothecast iron ringsthat were attached to curbs back in Portland’s horse and buggy days when folks needed totether their horses.
Like theroll of carpet recently removed fromPortland International Airport (PDX) that was “appointed”grand marshal of the 2015 Rose Festival Starlight Parade. Here’s a photo of that carpet before it was removed from PDX:
PDX carpet shares the stage with a quilt by Joyce Brekke. Photo (page 93) by Joyce Brekke.
Whatever the subject, Joyce’s photos cleverlyillustrate Marie’s words — with quilts. Lots of them.Take a look at pages170 and 171:
Quilts by Marie Deatherage. Photos by Joyce Brekke.
On the left facing page arephotos of two famous statues in Portland: Allow Me (aka Umbrella Man) in Pioneer Courthouse Square and former Portland Mayor Vera Katz on theEastbank Esplanade alongthe Willamette River, both artfully draped in quilts made by Marie. On the right facing pageis the People’s BikeLibrary of Portland, amonument to thebike culture of Portland.
I love the fact that Marie’s kaleidoscope quilt — a favorite design of mine– evokes the spinning wheels of a bicycle:
Detail of quilt by Marie Deatherage. Photo (page 171) by Joyce Brekke.
Marie made most of the quilts in the book but there are several by Joyce and a few by Marie’s motherand grandmother. An annotated quilt indexprovidesinformation on each quilt,allowing credit to be given to the designer, piecer, and/orprofessional quilter, and revealing theinspiration behind many of the quilts.
Publishedearlier in 2015by Quiltlandia, Pieces of Portlandwas officially launched in July.In late June, the week before thelaunch party,Marieaccepted aneleventhhour invitation to bea replacement guest speakerat a meeting of theWestside Modern Quilt Clubheld at the Pine Needle Quilt Shop in Lake Oswego. She broughtarmloads of quilts andboxes of books so fresh from the printer they hadn’t even beenopened yet.
Marie told the assembled quiltersabout the making of the book as well as the stories behindmany of thequilts that appear in the book.It was a marvelous trunk show. When well overhalf the quilters in the packed classroom bought copies of her book on the spot(which Marie graciously signed), I knew Pieces of Portlandwas a winner.
Now Pieces of Portland (258 pages with 400 full color photos)is available locally at Powell’s Books and just about every local quilt shop in the metropolitan area, including cool cottons in my own neighborhood. It’s also at New Seasons Market (a quilt book at a grocery store?How veryPortland.).It’scoming soon to the Made in Oregon stores, and I have a very strong hunch it will be distributed much more widely very soon. You can order directly from the publisher by clicking here.
I’m so happy that I have my own autographed copy of Pieces of Portland!I have several people in mind who will be receiving copiesin the near future. It’s the perfect gift for someone who lovesquilting orPortland.Or both.
Marie and Joyce did not ask me to write about theirbook. I was motivated to do so by a desire to spread the wordin Portland and beyond about a uniquebookthat opens windows on a city and acraft that I love.
My quilt top based on the kaleidoscope blockGrandma’s Surprise is finished:
Dawn’s Version of Grandma’s Surprise, 57″ with Borders
It’s the resultof a recent class I took fromJoyce Gieszler, author of Then and Now Quilts (Kansas City Star Quilts, 2014). TheGrandma’s Surprisequilt in Joyce’sbook was made of Civil War reproduction fabrics:
Grandma’s Surprise, 36″ square, made by Joyce Gieszler (2013)
My version, with just three fabrics, looks quite different, doesn’t it? It was inspired by this three-color version, also created by Joyce:
Grandma’s Surprise, 36″ square, also made by Joyce Gieszler (2013)
I put my red fabric where Joyce put her black because I wanted the red to dominate.And dominate it does!
My red fabric reads as a solid but it’s actually a blender from Timeless Treasures. I wish the texture of the redshowed up better in my photos,as well as the very pale mottled grey, which looks white in the photos. Perhaps this close-up will help:
A Closer Look
On my computer screen the red fabric has an orange cast but it’s really atrue red, like a currant. The print fabric with the red flowers is part ofthe Black, White and Currant 5 line from Henry Glass. My friend AnnMarie gave me some large scraps from that line, including this wonderful print, which I will incorporate into the back:
Black White and Currant V by Color Principle for Henry Glass Fabrics
. . . my kaleidoscope quilt based on theblock known asGrandma’s Surpriseis coming together. Here are the first sixblocks:
I’m making this quilt in aclass at the Pine Needle Quilt Shop taught byJoyce Gieszler, author ofThen and Now Quilts, a new book from Kansas City Star Quilts. This quilt is one of the designs in Joyce’s book.
It’s fascinating to see how varied the fabric choices are among my fellow students, ranging fromcompletely scrappy to batiks,1930s reproduction fabrics, and printsfrom the Cotton and Steel collection. The block design lends itself beautifully to allof these. A coupleother students besides me are using a limitedcolor palette, and one student is using a gradated fabric to great effect. It was funseeing the first blocks emerge at our class last Saturday.
I was unable to attend Part 2 of Joyce’s class this morningbecause of another commitment but I was determined to squeeze in some sewing time today. Happily, Imanaged to finish another blocklate this afternoon. It goes in the middle of the bottom row:
Isn’t it interesting that thecircular shape emerging in the center is formed by spiky triangles?
March can’t make up its mind if it’s going out like a lion or a lamb, at least here in Portland. We’vehad bouts of sunshinetoday interspersed withrumbling thunder and heavy rain. It’s sunny as I write this but I see ominous clouds rolling in.
No matter. I’m happily ensconced in my sewing room working on akaleidoscope quilt based on the block Grandma’s Surprise. It’s homework. I’mtaking a class from Joyce Gieszler, whosebook Then and Now Quilts (published last year byKansas City Star Quilts) features a very scrappy quilt based onthis block.
Joycecreated a second version of Grandma’s Surpriseusing just three fabrics:
Grandma’s Surprise, designed and made by Joyce Gieszler, 36″ square (2013)
That’smy inspiration for the red, black, and pale grey quilt I’m making. The quilt has nine blocks, and I’m midway through the fifth block.Want to see my progress so far? Of course you do.
The quilt is based ona 3 x 3 grid: three rows and three columns. In the photo belowyou see the center block and the block directly above it:
Blocks 2 and 5
Now I’ve addedtwo blocks (Blocks 1 and 4)that go to the left of the first set:
Blocks 1 and 2 (first row) and Blocks 4 and 5 (second row)
You arelooking at the upper left portion of the quilt. Can you see how thepale grey triangles in the outer blocks are starting to give the effect of acircle?
Here’s where I am with thefifth block,which goesin the Block 3 position in the upper right corner:
Under Construction: Block 3
I’m going back upstairs to sew. I hope you’ll come back soon to seethe rest of my quilt!
Aren’t these two quilts striking? They were both made by local designer and teacher Joyce Gieszler, whose book Then and Now Quilts was published last year by Kansas City Star Quilts. These quiltshave something else in common: theyare made from the very same block!
Now look at this third version, also made by Joyce:
Made withCotton and Steel fabrics, this quilt is as contemporary as the the upper left quilt, made of Civil War reproduction fabrics, is traditional. I first saw this third versionin January at the Pine Needle Quilt Shop’s Open House. Joyce was there introducing herself, her new book (which includes this design), and an upcoming class. I signed up for herclass on the spot.
The block in these quilts iscalledGrandma’s Surprise. Deconstructed,it’s a kaleidoscope block. Well,you know how I love kaleido quilts. Isit any wonder I wanted to make one of my own?
When Joyce showed me a photo of the three-color quilt(upper right), I knew immediately that I wanted to make this version.I’m intrigued by the waycolor, value, and fabric placementcompletely change the look of aquilt. Joyce’s three versions illustrate this beautifully.
A basic kaleidoscope block is made of eight 45° triangles, forming an octagon, and finishes with four corner triangles to make a square:
The Grandma’s Surprise block takes that conceptto the next level:
Do you see how four triangles fill the same space as one triangle in the basic version? It’s still a kaleidoscope block — buta more complex and sophisticated one.
The quilts aremade ofnine blocks in a 3 x 3 grid. In the two quilts at the top of the page, Joyce made 12″ blocks so the quilts finish at 36″ square. The Cotton and Steel version is made of 16″ blocks with a 3″ border, finishing at 54″ square.
For my three-color version of Grandma’s Surprise, I chosered, black, and a very pale grey.Here is my center block:
It measures 16½” unfinished. The black print is from the Black, White & Currant 5 line by Color Principle for Henry Glass & Co. At a recent Portland Modern Quilt Guild meeting,guildmateAnnMarie Cowleysurprised me withseveral large pieces from this line left over from a quilt project of her own. (Thanks so much, AnnMarie!) I’m delighted to find a project that puts her gift to good use.
Finally — a quilting plan is in place for Sun Flowers, the wall hangingI set aside in January:
You may remember that Sun Flowers is the third of four kaleidoscope quilts I am making that representthe seasons of the year.The first two quilts, representing spring and fall,are Under Paris Skies and Autumn Reflections, each of which measures about 18″ x 55″:
The quilting on Sun Flowersis a combination ofstraight line quiltingwith a walking foot andfree-motionquilting (FMQ)in the eight triangles that form each octagon:
The straight lines don’t cross the kaleido blocks as they did in Under Paris Skies. My intent here istomake the lineslook as if they are going behind the blocks. The swirly free-motion quilting motif is the same one I usedon Autumn Reflections and wrote about here. I used 50-weight Aurifil thread in pale grey so the quilting would add texturebut not stand out too much.
I couldn’t resist adding those buttons(not yet sewn on) for the photo.Layering the buttons creates a secondary sunflower, reinforcing the theme ofthe quilt.
You can see the FMQ design in the kaleido wedges more easily onthe pieced back:
It feels good to be this far with the quilting. I have two more blocks to go but seem to have overcome my procrastination, always an issue where FMQ is concerned.
Linking up on NTT (Needle and Thread Thursday) with Kelly atMy Quilt Infatuation.
