First Light Designs

Slowly but Surely . . .

by Dawn Posted on April 4, 2015

. . . my kaleidoscope quilt based on the block known as Grandma’s Surprise is coming together. Here are the first six blocks:

Grandma's Surprise, blocks 1-6
I’m making this quilt in a class at the Pine Needle Quilt Shop taught by Joyce Gieszler, author of Then 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 from completely scrappy to batiks, 1930s reproduction fabrics, and prints from the Cotton and Steel collection. The block design lends itself beautifully to all of these. A couple other students besides me are using a limited color palette, and one student is using a gradated fabric to great effect. It was fun seeing the first blocks emerge at our class last Saturday.

I was unable to attend Part 2 of Joyce’s class this morning because of another commitment but I was determined to squeeze in some sewing time today. Happily, I managed to finish another block late this afternoon. It goes in the middle of the bottom row:

Isn’t it interesting that the circular shape emerging in the center is formed by spiky triangles?

Posted in kaleidoscope quilts, update | 5 Comments

Lions and Lambs

by Dawn Posted on March 31, 2015

March can’t make up its mind if it’s going out like a lion or a lamb, at least here in Portland. We’ve had bouts of sunshine today interspersed with rumbling 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 a kaleidoscope quilt based on the block Grandma’s Surprise. It’s homework. I’m taking a class from Joyce Gieszler, whose book Then and Now Quilts (published last year by Kansas City Star Quilts) features a very scrappy quilt based on this block.

Joyce created a second version of Grandma’s Surprise using just three fabrics:

Grandma's Surprise, Joyce Gieszler, 2 of 3 — Grandma’s Surprise, designed and made by Joyce Gieszler, 36″ square (2013)

That’s my 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 on a 3 x 3 grid: three rows and three columns. In the photo below you see the center block and the block directly above it:

Grandma's Surprise, blocks 2 and 5 — Blocks 2 and 5

Now I’ve added two blocks (Blocks 1 and 4) that go to the left of the first set:

Grandma's Surprise, blocks 1,2,4,5 — Blocks 1 and 2 (first row) and Blocks 4 and 5 (second row)

You are looking at the upper left portion of the quilt. Can you see how the pale grey triangles in the outer blocks are starting to give the effect of a circle?

Here’s where I am with the fifth block, which goes in the Block 3 position in the upper right corner:

Grandma's Surprise, block in progress — Under Construction: Block 3

I’m going back upstairs to sew. I hope you’ll come back soon to see the rest of my quilt!

Posted in kaleidoscope quilts, update | 7 Comments

Something in Common

by Dawn Posted on March 29, 2015

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 quilts have something else in common: they are made from the very same block!

Now look at this third version, also made by Joyce:

Made with Cotton 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 version in 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 her class on the spot.

The block in these quilts is called Grandma’s Surprise. Deconstructed, it’s a kaleidoscope block. Well, you know how I love kaleido quilts. Is it 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 way color, value, and fabric placement completely change the look of a quilt. 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 concept to 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 — but a more complex and sophisticated one.

The quilts are made of nine 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 chose red, 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, guildmate AnnMarie Cowley surprised me with several 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.

Posted in kaleidoscope quilts, Portland Modern Quilt Guild, update | 9 Comments

Binding Billie’s Star

by Dawn Posted on March 26, 2015

Today I’m linking up with Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation, who hosts a Needle and Thread Thursday (NTT) link party each week. I discovered Kelly’s blog a few weeks ago and have been enjoying it immensely.

My project du jour? Hand sewing the binding to the back of Billie’s Star:

I use just three straight pins when I sew my binding to the back, taking them out as I stitch and then moving them ahead to the next section. Billie Mahorney (after whom this quilt is named) taught me that years ago. I’ve tried other methods from time to time but always return to this way. Do you have a favorite method of stitching your bindings down?

Posted in update | 5 Comments

Putting a Spring in My Step

by Dawn Posted on March 20, 2015

Late to the party. Auntie Em at Quilt Crossing wrote a post on Monday about a rainbow color challenge on Instagram last week that I missed completely. The challenge, issued by Paul and Lianne of Swirly Designs, was to post a photo a day showing the tools and supplies used in crafting, with each day’s post featuring a specific color of the rainbow. Auntie Em did the red-orange-yellow-green-blue-violet of the challenge. She went on to play with pink, turquoise, and black, and wound up with a nine-photo collage worthy of framing.

Not only did I miss the Instagram challenge, I also missed posting Tuesday on St. Patrick’s Day. Late to the party again.

Since today is the first day of spring — my favorite season — I’m celebrating with a photo that references 1) the Instagram challenge, 2) St. Patrick’s Day, 3) the advent of spring, and 4) my favorite color:

Have a wonderful weekend!

Posted in update | 3 Comments

UFO Watch: New York Beauty

by Dawn Posted on March 19, 2015

All the buzz about Bill Volckening’s soon-to-be-released book New York Beauty, Quilts from the Volckening Collection, published by Quiltmania in France, has inspired me to revisit the New York Beauty blocks I started making seven or eight years ago.

Here is one of my blocks . . .

. . . and another:

The designs for these blocks and 28 more are from the book New York Beauty: Traditional Blocks with Contemporary Variations, self-published by Karen K. Stone in 1995 (out of print now, I believe.) It contains paper foundations and freezer paper templates meant to be removed from the book. If the quiltmaker makes all 30 blocks shown in the book, there won’t be much left of the book!

I made 18 different blocks before putting the project aside. Just now I randomly stuck them up on my design wall:

Judging from some of the fabrics I see, this is one of my oldest UFOs. My collection of black, white, grey, and red fabrics has grown substantially since I last worked on this project!

I think it’s time to get back on track with my New York Beauty, don’t you?

Posted in New York Beauty, update | 8 Comments

Billie’s Star

by Dawn Posted on March 16, 2015

I’m back from a fun-filled week in Arizona.

My first errand of the day was a happy one: a trip to longarm quilter Nancy Stovall’s studio, Just Quilting, to pick up this quilt:

I asked Nancy to quilt gentle wavy lines horizontally across the quilt. I love the effect. Her quilting adds texture and visual interest yet lets the star blocks be the center of attention.

Here’s a close-up of the only block that features a butterfly:

The secondary star in the center of the quilt has a faux-kaleidoscope block in the center:

The quilt top started out a perfect 56½” square. After quilting and trimming, it measures 55¾” x 54¾” . This is the reason I don’t often make square quilts: they are rarely square after quilting. (But it looks square, doesn’t it?)

The back of the quilt includes leftover pieces of the focus fabric set on point:

At my request Nancy used the same pale blue thread on the back. It’s almost like having a reversible quilt. The batting is 80% cotton/20% wool, a low-loft blend I will surely ask for in the future.

I’ve named this quilt Billie’s Star because it was inspired by my quilt teacher and mentor, Billie Mahorney. Billie is very fond of stars and featured them in several of the classes I took from her between 2005 and 2009. She taught for over 20 years at the Pine Needle Quilt Shop in Lake Oswego, Oregon. It was a sad day for her legions of fans when she and her husband moved to Idaho to be close to grandchildren. Happily, she comes back to Oregon to visit now and then but her students sure do miss her.

To finish Billie’s Star, I’m going to bind it in the pale blue background fabric so the stars continue to float.

Posted in faux-kaleido quilts, update | 7 Comments

Ball Games 6, Quilt Shops 0

by Dawn Posted on March 14, 2015

More than a week without a post. Are you wondering what happened to me? This is what I’ve been up to:

I’ve been in sunny Arizona following the Cactus League. For the uninitiated, the Cactus League is comprised of half of Major League Baseball’s teams, here for a month of spring training before the season officially opens next month. (The other half of the MLB teams are in Florida playing in the Grapefruit League.)

The DH — that’s Dear Husband, not Designated Hitter — and I came to Arizona for a five-day Road Scholar program on Spring Training that included tickets to four San Francisco Giants games. By tacking on games with other teams before and after the Road Scholar program, we’ve turned our eight-day trip into an eight-game marathon. Six down, two to go.

At the Giants-White Sox game Thursday evening at Camelback Ranch, comedian Will Ferrell dropped in — literally — to play for both sides. At the top of the ninth inning a helicopter descended into center field and deposited Ferrell, already decked out in a Chicago uniform. He went right into the lineup for the White Sox and hit a foul ball before striking out.

Before the bottom of the ninth began, Ferrell had been “traded” to the Giants. He emerged from the San Francisco dugout in catcher’s gear and took a short-lived turn behind the plate. Ferrell made appearances at four other parks on Thursday, wearing the uniforms of 10 MLB teams and playing all nine positions — quite a feat! His appearances, all part of a program to raise funds for cancer research, will be featured in an HBO special later this year.

I had hoped to visit a few quilt shops during the week but our Road Scholar program was packed with lectures and other activities along with the games. The program is over now, so my plan is to hit a couple of shops today and tomorrow before we fly home to Portland.

You know it’s a good weekend when it combines baseball and quilt shop hopping!

Posted in family, update | 2 Comments

Quilting in Progress: Sun Flowers

by Dawn Posted on March 5, 2015

Finally — a quilting plan is in place for Sun Flowers, the wall hanging I set aside in January:

You may remember that Sun Flowers is the third of four kaleidoscope quilts I am making that represent the 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 Flowers is a combination of straight line quilting with a walking foot and free-motion quilting (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 is to make the lines look as if they are going behind the blocks. The swirly free-motion quilting motif is the same one I used on Autumn Reflections and wrote about here. I used 50-weight Aurifil thread in pale grey so the quilting would add texture but 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 of the quilt.

You can see the FMQ design in the kaleido wedges more easily on the 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 at My Quilt Infatuation.

Posted in free motion quilting, kaleidoscope quilts, update | 3 Comments

Snapshots Quilt-Along: Block 2

by Dawn Posted on February 28, 2015

Like so many in the quilting community, I am enchanted by the Snapshots quilt you see above, designed by the mother-daughter team of Bonnie Olaveson and Camille Roskelley. Each woman is a talented quilt designer in her own right; as Bonnie and Camille, they design fabric for Moda. They collaborated to design this sampler quilt celebrating moments of happiness in our lives. The quilt is the centerpiece of a year-long Quilt-Along organized by the Fat Quarter Shop and Moda Fabrics for the benefit of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

I willingly donated to this worthy cause and am downloading instructions as they are released on the 15th of each month, even though at this point I don’t plan to make the entire quilt. I do plan to make at least two blocks.

Many happy moments in my life have been spent in front of my sewing machine, so I knew as soon as I saw Snapshots that I would make February’s block, named “Sew On and Sew On” by the designers. Here is my version:

How do you like the “knobs” on my sewing machine? My color scheme was dictated by the piece of fabric in my stash that strip came from.

Bonnie and Camille’s block measures 12½” x 16½”. Since I’m not incorporating my block into a quilt, I added strips to the top and bottom and widened the side strips. My block measures 15″ x 17½”. I’m thinking about framing it and hanging it in my sewing room.

As the end of this month is mere hours away (how quickly it flew by!), I’m claiming this as my final February finish.

Posted in Quilt-Along, update | 7 Comments

First Light Designs

Slowly but Surely . . .

Lions and Lambs

Something in Common

Binding Billie’s Star

Putting a Spring in My Step

UFO Watch: New York Beauty

Billie’s Star

Ball Games 6, Quilt Shops 0

Quilting in Progress: Sun Flowers

Snapshots Quilt-Along: Block 2

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