Quarantine Quilt 2

Quarantine Quilt 2

45’’ x 54’’

We’re in a Polar Vortex right now. Or, as I call it, proper winter. Perfect time to be finishing a quilt AND to make your children hold it up for you to take a picture before the sun sets.

This is the scrap quilt from Quarantine Quilt 1. In the midst of Morning Make in April 2020 I realized I had a stack of cut triangles and that begged to be used right then and there instead of being relegated to a scrap bin. My one block a day that month became two blocks a day when I started turning those triangles into Sawtooth Stars.

Two quilts for the price of one month.

This quilt finished up as a sweet little baby quilt. It is pretty and cute and soft and exactly what you want a baby quilt to be. And that was before I quilted it! Simple loops in a variegated 50W from Wonderfil give it the perfect texture for a piece that will hopefully get well loved one day.

While I usually go for a higher contrast binding the whisper of the low volume fabrics called for something quieter. I picked the peach crosshatch from Carolyn Friedlander this time. It was a total coincidence that I also had used some of her fabric on the backing. What can I say? She makes good stuff!

Now that this quilt is done and the weather is still frightfully cold I need to get another quilt done so I can sit and bind it while watching the world pass by. Mostly I will dream about babies that family and even friends could have so that I can bestow this sweet quilt upon them. I promise that by the time I give it away it will have a better name.

Quarantine Quilt 1

Quarantine Quilt 1

60” x 72”

Back in the early days of Covid the month switched and as I looked for Morning Make ideas I decided I needed sewing in my life right then and there. The kids were home and our days had a somewhat leisurely start to them as we navigated school at home. It meant I could putter in the sewing room a little, even if they woke up while I was at it. It meant I could finish what I started each day.

Originally, I chose the low volume X Plus blocks because I had some left over from when I filmed and promoted my Creative Live class on Quilting with Low Volume Fabrics. I thought that they could all play together in a big quilt, because you know I almost never make a small quilt! As the month went on and the reality of our times sunk in I decided that I wanted this quilt to be a specific monthly marker, with no additions. April has 30 days, so 30 quilt blocks.

The kids helped me baste the quilt. I clearly remember we cleaned the floors together, put on the Taylor Swift album (the only time I listened to it but people were raving so!) and ended up having a long conversation about Black Lives Matter and white privilege. The quilt really is a product on its time. To be clear though, it’s just a quilt.

The quilting is nothing fancy, a topstitch instead of a ditch stitch on all the seams of the blocks. Pretty blue Aurifil thread that happens to match the binding. In between the blocks I used the all purpose dove grey. Together, they give the quilt definition more than texture.

The binding, incidentally, is the only fabric I purchased for the entire quilt. Everything else I had in the stash or scrap bins. Yes, my collection of low volume fabrics is that deep. I was ordering the batting and saw the fabric on the site for one of my favourite local shops, My Sewing Room. It was fate. Especially because I already knew what I was using for the backing.

I’ve had this fabric in my stash for years! To be perfectly honest, I didn’t know what I would ever use it for, but I loved it so. It seems very, very appropriate for a quarantine inspired quilt. Doesn’t it just evoke HOME? With all apologies to my Mother-In-Law who also likes the fabric, I used everything I had to make the backing.

No fancy quilt picture for this project. It was made at home, inspired by home, and will be used at home. Although, not yet. We are having a gorgeous month so no extra quilts needed yet.

Oh look! That Quilting with Low Volume Fabrics class is on sale!

Morning Make - April 2020

Did you know that if you make one 12.5” square quilt block each day that you will have a quilt top at the end of the month? A lovely, cuddly size, perfect for couch snuggles. Also, perfect for mental health in the making of and finished product!

For Morning Make in the month of April I made one X Plus block each morning. It was actually quite nice to not have to think about anything but fabric selection. That’s one of the best parts, anyway! From start to finish - from picking fabrics to a sewn block - it took me about 30 minutes.

Let me tell you, I absolutely loved having a complete block at the end of each session. To have something tangible, something that marked the passage of the days, and something that gave me nothing but joy was EXACTLY what I needed this month. It’s probably what all of us needed this month! Covid Isolation is HARD, but we are doing all we can to keep our community safe and that means staying home. And for me, having this 30 minutes to sew before dealing with schooling and meltdowns (all of us) and keeping our business going was lifesaving.

Now when you make these blocks you cut off some decent sized triangles to be thrown in the scrap pile. Rather than be indiscriminate with these scraps I sewed the offcuts together as they came from the block. I was left with a pile of half square triangles. After doing some math and some sketching I decided to turn these HSTs into Sawtooth Stars. From 30 X Plus blocks I could make 30 Stars.

Two quilts for the price of one!

All the fabrics for these quilts came from my stash. Yes, I have a very, very deep stash. Quarantine is a great time to be able to shop from your stash, let me tell you. About halfway through I was worried I wouldn’t have enough light and low volume fabrics to get through but I dug through all the bins and was able to come up with some really great fabric combinations. Some fabrics are brighter than others, some even get a little bossy. I only chose fabric one block at a time and didn’t think about whether they would go together at all. Because my overall feel was low volume it comes together. Besides, the most successful of these X Plus quilts are scrappy and full of unexpected fabric delights!

Now if I did this for Morning Make every month I would have a great collection of quilt tops. Just the tops though because nothing would get quilted! Of course, that kind of thing has never stopped me before! And right now I am totally wishing I had access to a long arm because I would love to get these quilted right now. As it stands, I have 2 basted tops waited for their turn under the needle. I also think part of that may just be me wanting the change after nearly 8 weeks of social distancing. Let me go play in the quilt store! So I wish, but I am still happy to do my part and stay home (and shop online for curbside pick up).

My plan for May was to embrace Me Made May and tackle some clothing projects I’ve had on the list. But this happened toward the and of April. It seems 2/3 children are suddenly wanting to sew with the machine. While I am lucky enough to have a dedicated sewing room, it is not big enough to be set up for that many people with different sewing needs.

For those wondering, the X Plus blocks can be found as a free pattern all over the place. I believe the original block comes from the 1930s but it really peaked in popularity a few years back when we were all on Flickr. I used the 12.5” measurements in my Creative Live class on working with low volume fabrics. Indeed, I had 10 blocks leftover from samples from filming that I intended to use in this quilt, then decided to let April 2019 stand on its own. If anything needs to be defined it is these times.

Snowflake Quilt

Snowflake Quilt

60“ x 72”

Pattern by Nicole Daksiewicz, Modern Handcraft

Anyone who follows me knows that I am not much of a pattern (or rule) follower. Once in a while, though, something just grabs my attention and won’t let go. From the first moment I saw the Snowflake pattern I knew I would make one. I tried to resist, honestly. But the design was too good to let it slip by. Then, shockingly, I went start to finish on this quilt quite quickly. The top did not sit for months or even years. I finished the top a little over a month ago and the last stitches went in the binding last week, making it the first finish of 2020.

The pattern itself provides instructions for making it a bold two colour quilt, one with four background stripes, or this scrappy option. And if you follow Nicole or the hashtag then you can see many, many more creative options people did. Things like plaid, diagonal stripes, fussy cutting. #snowflakequiltalong

I may have been following someone else’s pattern here, but I did stick true to my style, even if it wasn’t a deliberate decision to do so. Low volume and scrappy, please, you know I like it! While I did debate a four colour linen version I ditched it because of seam lines. Like panty lines, I didn’t want them visible.

My girls helped me baste the quilt - some crappy Christmas movie their entertainment - which made me very happy. Time together and voluntary help! It went so well I asked them to help me baste a second quilt but that is a different story.

While quilting I did attempt to do something a bit fancier but not really. To emphasize the snowflake I did point to point straight lines, a mimic crystal. The hardest part was making sure I repeated correctly on other points of the snowflake. My plans for the background were more intricate, then I reminded myself that you don’t see the quilting much on a scrappy mix of fabrics, so why go through the effort? Wavy lines for texture and to remind me of snowdrifts. It does add a nice contrast to the snowflake itself. All quilted with Aurifil 2600, that beautiful pale gray.

Because I love a contrast binding I was going to choose a pale pink to finish it off. However, I used the only pale pink in my stash on the back of the quilt! Binding went on just before Christmas when hibernation mode was strong and the budget was gone. Into the stash for this lovely gray instead! I’m pretty sure the pink and the grey (plus some of the blues) are Uppercase fabrics. All the fabrics came from my stash.

A number of family members are trying to lay claim on the quilt. My husband would be glad to see another quilt out the door, but this one is going to keep me snuggled for this winter at least. It’s only January so there is a lot more winter to come. That means a lot more snuggling.