It's Over?

Yes, it is a question. But my slump may be over. And I have to give all the credit to my students at the recent Quilt Canada workshops.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending Quilt Canada in St. Catherines, Ontario. This is the annual big deal in Canada, hosted by the Canadian Quilters' Association and put on by a different local organizing committee. It includes the National Juried Show (which had a modern category this year) and 4 days of workshops, on top of the fun things like banquets, merchant malls, and challenges. I had three days of classes, two days being an Improv workshop.

In our small, ridiculously hot classroom we played and played with fabric. When I teach Improv I like to teach a series of basic techniques via blocks. For an audience used to more traditional piecing I find it to be a good foray into the world of Improv. When I get multi-day workshops we then get more time to play.

And oh, did the ladies in this class play. They all embraced improv with open hearts and sharp rotary cutters. As we taped blocks to the wall, brainstormed possibilities, drew out more and more inspiration, and laughed a lot the excitement grew. I was completely caught up in the energy and inspiration. I'm not going to lie, I may have even jumped up and down a little.

At the end of it I was desperate to sew myself. But I had to rush off on a plane to be home for The Monster's 8th birthday. So I found some time in the following week to play. And when I did play I felt all the same excitement in my own little basement studio that I felt in that room. I felt grounded, I felt energized, I felt creative again.

Thank-you so much ladies, I owe you so much.

Here is what I played with. In the class we covered how to take an idea, and image, and translate it into an improv pieced block. Houses, letters, numbers, mountains, diamonds, they all came out that day. We also brainstormed other shapes and one of them happened to be a sewing machine. That idea planted itself into my head.

I think I may turn this into a full pattern as my mind is spinning with possibilities. And if it wasn't the last day of school I could tell you for sure that I would be sewing more of these every day. Yup, the slump just may be over.

Oh Canada Quilt Pattern Sale!

Canada Day is coming up in a few weeks. It's great holiday and being a proud Canadian I feel there is so much to celebrate. Our country is not immune to stupid decisions and passivity, but we are also very socially progressive, inclusive, and so incredibly vast and beautiful.

The Oh Canada! quilt pattern celebrates all this in one fun quilt. It is, by far, my most favourite quilt that I've ever made. The pattern includes the maple leaf template at full size, instructions for piecing the fabric for the block, as well as layout options.

In honour of Canada Day I'm offering the pattern on sale in my Etsy shop. Free shipping for a printed pattern and $1 off for a PDF.

And remember, I am still donating a portion of all sales to Quilts of Valour.

Klee's Trees by Malka Dubrawsky

Only about half the time do I like to do such precision piecing. I have to be in the mood for it. But every time I do it I get pretty excited by the results. Templates or paper piecing or just really good cutting, they all work. So when Malka Dubrawsky asked me to check out her her latest pattern and share it here I couldn't resist. 

In her words:

A while back I traveled to Switzerland and saw so many amazing things, but not the Bern Bears. Rather, I opted to visit the Klee Museum and view an extensive array of work by the artist, Paul Klee. I was especially struck by his drawings of trees. They were simple, stylized and abstracted. 

I came home knowing I wanted to translate those drawings into a quilt pattern and, after several attempts, came upon a block design that I feel captures the essence of Klee’s trees. 

This simple-to-piece block is graphic and clean and has a decidedly modern feel. Craft it in solids against a dark or light background or play with warm and cool colored prints to differentiate the “trees” from the “forest”.

It is a graphic pattern, that gives finishes to a rather cool quilt. Malka provides layout for a pillow and a quilt in the pattern. But you could easily change the size of the quilt but adding or removing blocks.

I made my block in about 30 minutes, but that was 30 minutes of supervising and providing snacks for 2 kindergarteners. And sewing upstairs to watch them play, but still cutting and pressing in my basement studio. Not very efficient!

It is wonderful for me to support quilting friends like this. Malka and I have only had a couple of brief conversations in real life. We live in totally different worlds - oh her heat of Texas. But we bond over swimming and colour. And I really credit her with my low-volume obsession. She was the first person to use the term and share examples, as far as I can tell. Make sure you check out her blog too, always full of her glorious colour and pattern.

The pattern is available in Malka's store, pick it up here.

Malka has very generously offered to give away two copies of the pattern to readers here. 

If you'd like a chance to win a pattern, leave a comment - make sure I can respond to you. Tell me your favourite colour, your favourite artist, whether you've ever been to Switzerland, or even what you had for breakfast! 

Giveaway open until May 14,  6:00 pm MST.

Modern Paris

Modern Paris

72'' x 72''

Do you remember this stack of fabric? And all these scraps? Well, here is the finished quilt. A pattern published in Quilter's Connection too!

This is one of those quilts that isn't difficult, but it does take a bit of time. Loads of half square triangles and circles. I never get bored of those, even with the trimming. And all with some of my favourite low volume love. It started with the Vanity Fair fabric from Dear Stella and an orphan block from my Craftsy class. Then it all came together as a wedding present for friends of ours.

The name came courtesy of our friends, actually. They honeymooned in Paris. And they let me take these shots at their house.

This is one of those quilts that definitely whispers. The value differences in the half square triangles are quite subtle most of the time. Texture matters more than value in this case. It finishes with a very soft and scrappy look. That being said, I think this design would be incredible in high contrast. So bold, especially with the positive/negative part in the circle blocks.

To accentuate the circles I quilted it with swirls all over. And used my favourite Aurifil 2600. That grey goes with nearly everything, I use it all the time.

Thank-you to Dear Stella for providing the initial inspiration with their fabric bundle of Vanity Fair. It is quite the pretty line and it was wonderful to work with.

And congratulations to our friends, may this quilt keep you even warmer as our winter keeps on.