Great Grandmother's Geese - Modern Quilt from Vintage Fabrics

Great Grandmother's Geese

40'' x 48''

Days away from delivering her second baby a friend popped by my house. Part of her nesting was clearing out things from home. I was the lucky recipient of a stack of vintage fabrics once belonging to her grandmother. Now vintage fabrics aren't generally my thing. No doubt, they are pretty, but that doesn't mean I want to sew with them. Something changed a week later. I got the right idea and the fabrics began to talk to me.

As is my style, however, I started the quilt without a plan. I cut all these squares to make HSTs. I was going to just sew them together randomly. But this wasn't about making a Values quilt, I wanted some order and repetition. Without thinking it through I screwed up. Soon I realized that what I envisioned was not going to happen with the process I started. I very nearly lost the time and maybe the fabric to impulsive cutting. So I regrouped, cut my squares into triangles, and got very deliberate with placement. Of course it would have been better to cut the geese shape from the beginning, but so be it. The overall effect is the same.

The vintage fabrics were a bit of a challenge to work with. First off, I should have washed them. They were all clean, but one had that distinct old smell (mothballs) every time the iron hit it. The weight and stiffness of each fabric varied too. So I took my time, made sure not to pull or stretch any of them, and gave the quilt a lovely soak once I finished it all.

The yellow fabrics are all modern, with one classic Denyse Schmidt pink floral also making an appearance in the blocks (Just when I needed a few more blocks cut I temporarily misplaced the vintage fabrics in a studio tidy-up). 

Putting the top together required some patience and attentiveness. One row at a time. But I did it without messing up. Phew.

This is a baby quilt I hope will get used and loved, so I didn't stress about anything too fancy for the quilting. Texture and ease won out. Simple straight lines so the graphic design stands out. In case you were wondering, I used the magical Aurifil 2600, the dove grey. The quilt is pieced with it too, actually. 

On the binding I uncovered another old Denyse Schmidt print, this one from a Joann's release years ago. It was the perfect sweet touch. Because Denyse is so inspired by vintage textiles it works so well.

Now I get to hand the quilt back to my friend. It is a thrill to give these old fabrics new life, especially when there is a family connection like this. A handmade legacy.

Mighty Lucky One Fabric Challenge Take Two

Take one bold stripe and play. That's it. See what happens with no plan in mind.

The center of this piece started as I was prepping for the Mighty Lucky Quilt Challenge in July. I wanted to see what would happen with the stripe and the quarter square triangle. Then I added one border for fun. Now I am adding more borders. I want to see what I can do with the stripe. How many ways can I manipulate the directionality? How can I fussy cut? Can I make it confuse you that it is only a single fabric?

After the first round I went out and bought a couple of metres of the fabric. I'm going to play until I run out, or I get bored. Welcome to the current Morning Make.

Fabric is the Tick Tock Stripe in Mint from Chipper by Tula Pink.

Antonio's Quilt - Modern Improv Quilt for Blogger's Quilt Festival

Sneaking in under the wire for an entry for the Blogger's Quilt Festival. I remember when Amy started the festival, in part a way for those of us at home to share, be busy, and get excited while a large part of the industry was at Quilt Market/Festival. This was before Instagram even. Now, it really comes down to all the delicious eye candy in one spot. With prizes!

I'd hoped to have a new finish to share, but I am only just getting the binding on. So I am reposting one of my favourite finishes of the year.

Antonio's Quilt started with an image shared by Katrina Hertzer of her son and his painting in progress. I was so drawn to Antonio's shape that I immediately went into the sewing room. It took me a few years to actually get to a finished quilt, but it was worth the wait!

Completely improvised. Some clear intention in shape making, some slabs for the background, and rather dense quilting with Aurifil to make the design really pop.

To read more about the quilt check out the original post.

To see all the quilts in the festival, and they run the gamut of style and technique, make sure you check out all of the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

And did you know I teach these improv techniques? Check out my Classes Offered for all the details and options.

Improvisational Quilting, Australian Inspired

My #arkisoninaustralia quilt top is done. To be honest, I felt like I could keep going forever. That's what happens when I get going on improv!

This whole quilt started as technique demos while teaching at The Creative Retreat a few months ago. Some random fat quarters grabbed started the colour scheme and the shapes. It is entirely done from improvisational piecing. From those first demos I ran with shape as my guide:

• quarter circles
• triangles, both spiky and as flying geese
• inserted strips
• curves and wavy lines
• diamonds
• a few arrows, for good measure when I needed to fill space

The colour scheme was led by the mustard and pale blue, the ones I started with, as well as black and white prints. I used solids, linens, even a canvas. Some of the prints are those of Emma Jean Jansen, an Australian designer who attended the retreat in Point Lonsdale. Some others are gorgeous treats from Leslie Keating at Maze and Vale, plus the ones we printed together. 

As much as I was excited to get this quilt top finished I had a tremendous amount of fun putting it together. I made the components without any regard to specific size. I thought about scale - in terms of making the piecing large or small - but not a specific size. Depending on the technique you need a measured size to start, but that number was chosen out of the air or determined by the size of the fabric I had.

Components found a home on the design wall as I finished them. Eventually, I needed to find a bit of order. In stolen moments of time I would move, remove, and rearrange pieces on the design wall. With more and more mornings more and more components made their way up. Getting on the design wall allowed me to see where I had holes in technique as well as design. It also let me pick fabric to lend to the composition, as opposed to the composition being dictated by colour.

Putting together a quilt top with so many disparate sizes can be a necessary evil of improvisational quiltmaking. Personally, I don't see it as an evil, I absolutely love that part. One can always go the Magic Numbers route and square things off to relatable sizes. It makes assembly much easier, and for beginners that makes total sense. It might make sense for the design as well. I chose the path less travelled. It was a lot of fitting, adding, cutting off, making more, and y-seam construction. I stared at the layout a lot to figure out the easiest way to assemble. That challenge, for me, is a great boost. It gets me excited, the joy of accomplishing something difficult.

For tips and a demos and an understanding on improv quilting, check out my class on Creative Live: Improv Quilting Basics.

The next challenge will come with quilting. I have absolutely no idea what to do there. Open to suggestions... It is a busy quilt so an all over design, chosen well, wouldn't hurt. I'm not sure it would enhance things though. That being said, tackling each component individually has a lot of potential. Including the potential to take a really long time. I can't believe I am saying this, but i am considering hand quilting. I love what Jess, a student at the Kangaroo Valley retreat is doing with the the piece she made in our time together. Jess also designed and had printed one of the amazing black and white text prints used in the quilt. It could be a good winter project, defining my seasons.

This project defined my summer, for the most part. It started at the beginning and I put the last pieces together on Labour Day. My early mornings on this got me through the onslaught of parenting all day. Morning Make, Australia style saved my sanity this summer.