A quick update on my Love Rocks quilt:
1) The borders have been added to the back.
2) Here’s a better photo of the front and back side by side:
3) It’s already with the longarm quilter!
4) I’ll get it back next week!
All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need.
— the Beatles (1967)
When I made my Love Rocks quilt top a couple weeks ago using Sew Kind of Wonderful’s design from the new book Text Me, I decided I wanted to put a message on the back. Of course, it took me much longer to piece the back of the quilt than it did the front. The individual letters on the back range from 6″ to 9″ tall and are made from blocks that finish at 1½” square.
I still have to add borders to the back but here’s a collage photo showing you both sides:
You may remember I was using a positive/negative print from Riley Blake Fabrics (“Blossom” by Christopher Thompson) when working on the top:
After finishing the top I needed more of both fabrics so I went back to cool cottons, one of the best quilt shops in Portland, for more. There was plenty of the red print in stock but the background fabric was gone. Look what I found instead:
The very same “Blossom” print in the colors of the rainbow!
You gotta *love* it!
It’s time for the tenth and final installment in my Throwback Thursday series looking at quilts made in the last decade. Coming up with my choice for 2019 was easy: it was the only quilt I completed last year! Here is Give Me the Simple Life:
The pattern is Hazel’s Diary Quilt by Shelly Pagliai of Prairie Moon Quilts. Regular readers followed the making of this quilt from my very first block (and post) in January 2018 till its completion in September 2019.
I’m very proud of this accomplishment, as I made it my goal to become proficient in needleturn appliqué during the making of the quilt. It certainly provided ample opportunities for practice! Longarm quilter Kazumi Peterson did the amazing quilting.
Give Me the Simple Life will be on display later this month at Northwest Quilters’ 46th annual show, “A Festival of Quilts,” in its new venue, Camp Withycombe, in Clackamas, Oregon. Dates are Friday and Saturday, March 20 and 21. If you are in the neighborhood, please stop by. There’ll be over 300 quilts on display and lots of vendors selling wonderful things (like fabric).
Thank you so much for joining me in this 10-week lookback at some of my favorite quilts!
Hooray — March is here! Spring is on its way! In celebration of my favorite season of the year, I’m working on a new project featuring the quintessential color of spring: green, of course. My favorite color.
You’re probably wondering why on earth I’ve started something new when I have so many Works-in-Progress and Unfinished Objects (aka WIPs and UFOs) on hand. All I can say in my defense is that a) I like working on multiple projects at once, and b) there’s a method to my madness.
Before I explain, let me show you the new project:
I’m building a wonky neighborhood using the pattern Dresden Neighborhood by Kim Lapacek of Persimon Dreams. The wedges are made with a Dresden plate ruler, hence the name of the pattern. Isn’t my little neighborhood cute? The houses will have wonky doors and windows, and the raw edges in the center will be covered by an appliquéd circle.
Here’s Kim’s version as shown on her pattern cover:
I came across the pattern last year and bought it right away. After looking at some clever and charming versions recently on Instagram and Pinterest, I decided to jump in and create my own version. I’m also working on a couple of large quilts so the idea of a small (24″ square finished) project has great appeal. That’s one reason.
The houses in this little neighborhood are meant to be embellished with decorative machine stitches, especially around the roofs. Late last year I upgraded my Janome sewing machine to the Horizon Memory Craft 9450 QCP model. I am absolutely loving some of the new features but haven’t yet played around with the decorative stitches. This project is the perfect jumping off point. That’s the second reason.
And the third reason? I’m going to be teaching a “Wonky Dresden Neighborhood” class in June. (I teach at Montavilla Sewing Center’s Lake Oswego store.) This is going to be my store sample so I have some extra motivation to finish it up as soon as possible and get it on display. Hardly a burden. I can’t wait to get back to it!
Am I dreaming of pancakes?
Nope. What I have here is a short stack of curves, ready to sew into letters for a message on the back of my Love Rocks quilt:
The markings on the new Wonder Curve Ruler from Sew Kind of Wonderful make it easy to cut the curves. Once I’ve sewn and pressed the curves, I’ll trim the resulting blocks into 2″ squares and sew those blocks together to form letters that will be 9″ tall when finished.
Tall letters from a short stack. And I’ll have to cut several more stacks of curves to have enough blocks for the simple message I have in mind.
Now I can’t stop thinking about pancakes.
Hmmmmm. Pancakes for dinner? Why not?!
Today is Thursday so it must be time for Week 9 of Throwback Thursday. Ten years — 10 quilts. My choice for 2018 is Hip Hop, a wall hanging/table runner made using my own pattern Full Moon Rising:
A lively aboriginal print featuring kangaroos was the inspiration for this quilt. Each of the five circles contains a different ‘roo. Here are a couple of close-ups:
You can see the kangaroos were fussy cut to fit the circles. By the way, those circles are inset, not appliquéd.
I hope this little quilt brightens your day. It makes me smile every time I see it.
It’s Week 8 of Throwback Thursday. Over the last seven weeks I’ve shown you seven quilts, one for each year between 2010 and 2016. Today’s quilt is my first red and white quilt (though not my last, as you know from my most recent post). Here, representing Week 8, is Dutch Treat:
Made from the pattern A Mid-Winter’s Night by Cottage Rose, the quilt features a mix of reds and two light background fabrics, all from my stash. The quilting was done by longarm quilter Debbie Scroggy.
Dutch Treat gets its name from the windmill shaped blocks:
Eight weeks and eight quilts down, two to go! I hope you’ll join me next week for 2018’s pick.
. . . and on my design wall. Take a look:
The pattern is Love Rocks, from the brand new book Text Me by those talented sisters at Sew Kind of Wonderful. The curves were made with the Wonder Curve Ruler, also by Sew Kind of Wonderful, which made its debut last fall:
The book was just released at the end of January. Being a huge fan of Sew Kind of Wonderful’s other rulers and designs, I ordered Text Me as soon as it was available. And even though I couldn’t possibly justify starting a brand new project, I absolutely couldn’t wait to try out the new ruler and one of the designs in the book.
I already had the perfect fabric in my stash: a pair of positive/negative prints in red and white from the “Blossom” collection by Christopher Thompson for Riley Blake Fabrics. Here’s a close-up of the print:
To give you some perspective, the block above is 4″ square. The letters L, V, and E in my quilt top measure 17½” tall! The quilt finishes at 35″ x 40″. (Mine will be a little larger because I cut my borders a bit wider.)
Here’s a photo of the Love Rocks quilt on the back cover of Text Me:
As you can see, I reversed the red and white fabrics in my version. Doesn’t have to be red and white, of course. Wouldn’t it be a darling baby quilt in just about any combination of fabric and colors?
The book has instructions for making letters and numbers in three different sizes. Also included are directions for five quilts plus two bonus quilts made with leftover blocks. And there are 16 fun emoji blocks. The sisters even included an alphabet made from half square triangles (HSTs) in case you want to create letters without sewing curves.
Gosh, my post sounds like a commercial endorsement, doesn’t it? I’m not being sponsored by Sew Kind of Wonderful. I just love their designs and enjoy sewing curves using their rulers and no-pin method of sewing them.
And I have an idea in mind for the back of my quilt that may just involve some letters . . . and maybe an emoji . . .
My plan to showcase one quilt made each year between 2010 and 2019 by posting a photo every Thursday is showing me how quickly time flies. It seems I posted my quilt for 2015 just yesterday but no — an entire week has passed!
We are up to Week Seven of the New Year and I am pleased to show you a quilt I absolutely loved making:
It’s called Dragonfly Kisses, made from Chic Diamonds, yet another pattern by Sew Kind of Wonderful, creator of the Quick Curve Ruler. The quilt gets its name from the fabric line “Dance of the Dragonfly” from Benartex Fabrics.
I made some changes to the pattern . . .
. . . resulting in more background space, which shows off the beautiful edge-to-edge quilting by Sherry Wadley.
This quilt was given as a gift to a special family member. I have a feeling I will make another version if I come upon the perfect combination of fabrics.
Today marks Week Six of Throwback Thursday. Each week since the beginning of the year I’ve highlighted one quilt made in successive years beginning in 2010. This week we’re up to a quilt made in 2015.
Choosing my quilt for 2015 was easy. It had to be Catch a Falling Star, my version of Terri Krysan’s Reach for the Stars:
Often when I finish a quilt, there are one or two things I would have done differently. Not with this one. I love every block, I’m happy with every modification I made to Terri’s original design, and I’m thrilled to pieces with the combination of computerized and free-motion quilting done by Loretta Orsborn.
Instructions for Reach for the Stars appeared in seven consecutive issues of Quilters Newsletter Magazine, beginning with the Oct./Nov. 2013 issue and ending with the Oct./Nov. 2014 issue. Sadly, QNM is no longer in publication.
Almost every month I receive a request from a quilter wanting to know how to get directions for Reach for the Stars. A few years ago I could point to eBay or Etsy for the needed issues but copies are getting harder to find. My advice nowadays is to check with a local quilt guild to see if any member has these seven issues and would be willing to lend or sell them to the person wanting to make the quilt.
Catch a Falling Star was my first ever sampler quilt. I wasn’t sure I would ever make another one. But I did. You’ll see that one when I reach Week 10 of Throwback Thursday.
Thanks for joining me on my weekly trip down Memory Lane!