July Morning Make 2021 (Meet Dot)

Remind me never to hand quilt in the summer again.

Not sure what possessed me to think it was a good idea for July Morning Make, other than a desire for the act. We started the month with record heat so it wasn’t my smartest move. But when it comes to the quilt, it was brilliant!

When you only commit to a little each day hand quilting is far from overwhelming. Hand quilting an entire quilt, no matter the size, is definitely a big deal. Just thinking about it gave me the sweats (or is that the menopause transition?). Quilting a little each day, however seemed manageable. One stitch at a time. In the end, I finished this in the middle of the month! Every step is a step in the right direction.

On this particular quilt the stitching followed one single line. Each day I started where I left off so that now that it is done, it is a trail across the quilt. Twisting and turning here and there. Sometimes following the appliqué, most of the time ignoring it. Just taking whatever path felt right at the time.

The quilt top was another Morning Make adventure from last year. One appliqué shape stitched down per day. No preplanning, just improvising the composition and shapes as I went. Great fun!

Dot

49” x 54”

Meet Dot. Dorothy, if you must, but she prefers Dot. Just like she prefers her coffee with a wee bit of whiskey in it, her steak pretty rare, and her men on the younger side. She might look like your Gran, but do mistake Dot for her. Her heart aches for the baby girl who left this Earth when only a toddler. For years she barely moved, barely breathed. Life wasn't worth it until she found a way to find her spot in the world. A spot that can only be occupied by her alone. Dot moves with double the energy of most, playing with expectations and attitudes. You won't find her marching on a path, rather, she finds a winding road and moves where her whims desire. No worries, she'll get where she needs to in the end, but she has to do it her way.

Not being your typical gal, Dot was finished with a lovely contrasting binding. Unexpected but perfect. Her backside is a woven from Anna Maria Horner’s Luminous collection, with a scrap of yellow because sometimes you make mistakes when doing math.

We should all be like Dot a little more - take a few unpredictable paths and see what happens. Whether it is with your quilt making or in life.

Morning Make - May 2020

At the end of April my son decided to learn how to sew All. By. Himself. He made 2.5 quilt blocks, they were awesome. He told me he wanted making a quilt big enough to wrap around himself. He also said he wanted to start the day with sewing, like me. So rather than have any machine work on the go in the mornings I made May Morning Make about hand stitching so I could be available for him. And he hasn’t sewn a stitch since!

I, however, got a quilt top finished in May with that hand stitching. One applique shape at a time.

The background fabric was a single piece of linen I picked up in California years ago. It was intended for a different applique project, but things change! I liked that it was a single piece of fabric, as opposed to something I had to sew together. It also constrained the project in a good way. As for the other fabric choices, I simply went into my solids bin and picked mostly based on size. And ability to match with thread I already had in the house. The green and the periwinkle came first then I chose a yellow to have some pops.

It was absolutely coincidence that I had the spool of Aurifil 80W that matched this vintage mystery fabric in periwinkle. But using it made me want this thread in ALL. THE. COLOURS. for any future applique work.

Other than having a general idea of a collage, I started and progressed with no real plan. It looked quite questionable at the beginning, I won’t lie. But halfway through the month I could see the vision come to life. Every couple of days I cut a few shapes out fabrics. Some general shapes are repeated, but never measured to be the same. By cutting a few at a time I could have a bit of control over the distribution of colour. Then each morning I would pick a shape that motivated me or looked good that day and stitch it on.

While it’s been a while since I did any applique, I stuck with my tried and true basting technique. I didn’t invent it, but I will certainly sing its worth.

The original influence came from the collage and painting work of Lisa Congdon as well as the watercolour marks made through Lisa Solomon. That being said, when I was flipping through old sketchbooks I came across an image I made seven years ago that could definitely also be an influence.

One of the most difficult parts of an applique project for me is then deciding how to quilt it. A part of me worries about ruining the applique with quilting. Or questions whether I should highlight the applique or ignore the specific construction. Needless to say, this quilt top will sit for a bit while I figure it out more.

We’re halfway through June and I decided to put the needles down entirely for Morning Make. And my son still hasn’t sewn anymore himself.

Pocket Squares - Improv Applique with Tag Fabrics

Pocket Squares

40’’ x 50’’

So many of my quilts start with random ideas. Some times the ideas come to a full quilt, other times not so much. Happy to say that after a few years this quilt is now fully done.

It started with mini charm packs of my Tag Fabrics that I cut for giveaways. I had one left over. Enter the need for a hand work project. The mini charm pack made friends with a charm pack of Kona solids sitting on the cutting table. I snipped a corner off each minicharm and appliqued it to the charms. Each one has slight variations - improv in hand applique!

After finishing all those I decided that I would do another layer of applique, bringing Tag fabrics back in to it. Each fabric in this collection of mine is represented in the quilt twice - once small and once as the background.

NOTE: This is why I am no good at promoting fabric collections. I started this quilt 2 years ago when my first collection came out and I am only just finishing it.

It isn’t a fancy quilt. I’m not breaking any design barriers either. But it sure was fun to make! Another great example of the process being as important, if not more so, than the finished quilt.

Because it’s been a long time since I quilted anything myself I got back into the swing of things with some straight line quilting. Originally, I thought I might do a grid, but at first pass my lines are 1/2’’ apart. That would have been a tiny grid! With chronic pain plaguing me these last 9 months I didn’t want to push it too much. I was just happy to have got through basting the thing. The Aurifil thread in this purple ended up perfect.

If you’ve ever seen me talk or paid attention to my quilts you know how I love to throw contrast into the whole thing. In this case, I introduced a completely different colour with this teal and white binding. Which brings me to my first finish of 2019 and my first finish since May of last year.

Oh, and full naming credit goes to my friend Sharon at Color Girl Quilts. Every time I posted a picture of this quilt on Instagram she said it made her think of pocket squares.

Tag Fabric + Improv Applique = Fun

Seriously, I might just call this quilt Fun. It's nothing precious and doesn't take itself too seriously. It was just some play time that resulted in a finished quilt top - shocking!

I started with a bundle of mini charms of my Tag fabric. It was one left over from a guild trunk show where I gave them away. I also happened to have a bundle of Kona Cotton charm squares. One day they landed on the table together. It happened that that day I was sheduled to teach Improv Applique. So I grabbed to two bundles and they became friends. And well, you know me, I don't like mini quilts all that much so I couldn't very well just sew 20 charms together and call it a day. So the solids got attacked by the scissors too and then those got sewn to more Tag Fabric.

True confession: there was intense debate with my daughter about what shapes I should cut. She said the initial shapes I cut out of the mini charms reminded her of Alberta so the other ones should have been too. I argued that it would get too meta, even for me. So now we have gems/envelopes/whatever you might see. 

That's the joy of Improv Applique. Take some scissors to the fabric and see what happens!