The Start of Mountain Meadows

Hmmm.... I'm not sure about these.

I had a chance to play with my green scraps recently and this is where I started. I did sort the scraps by value/colour to begin with. This is the first go around, with predominantly light greens. My overall concept is to have light and dark areas, to mimic the race of light across the mountain meadow. I don't want each area to be a solid block though, that's why there are some dark bits mixed in. The dark blocks will be the opposite.

This is also the beginning of adding in the idea of flowers in the meadow. In a real meadow the flowers are small and scattered across the hill, that's why there aren't many here. I've got some pink, yellow, orange, and white scraps set aside to make more flowers.

However, I'm not sure about these. Maybe the green chunks are too big? Maybe it is too random? Should I stop being so literal with my interpretation and make these blocks instead of one giant slab quilt? What I do know is that I need to play a little bit more before I make any more judgements.

Maple Leaves

There have been many bursts of patriotism in my life over the years:
- Silken Laumenn winning a silver medal at the 1992 Olympics after a brutal accident
- When our former Prime Minister Jean Chretien attacked a would be burgler with a soapstone sculpture
- Watching any Olympic hockey, but especially Crosby's goal in 2010
- The moment I see the mountains as I round the corner on the road to Banff, the splash of seals from the bow of my boat on the Halifax Arm, or the endless gold and blue of a Prairie sky
- Every time the gay marriage and abortion debates are raised in other countries I am thankful for our protection of freedoms
 - And when I saw Amy's Union Jack quilt

Yes, I'm serious about that last one. I have no special affinity to the UK, unless you count Earl Grey tea and Masterpiece Classic series. But Amy's quilt made me think about whether a Maple Leaf quilt could be made just as cool. She had confidence in me to do it and this weekend I finally tried.

I wanted to adapt our national flag into quilt form. The red portions are all pieced slabs - a technique we describe in Sunday Morning Quilts. The proportions are that of the real flag. And I eyeballed the actual leaf based on the original. Using fusible I cut the leaf out from a slab then fused it to a white background.

There are more blocks to be made, possibly in other colours. Let's see where this goes! Cool? Not sure about that, but I do think it is pretty neat.

Green Scraps

Much to my dismay, I'm still not getting much time to quilt. I would love to sit at the dining room table and make a giant mess with this gorgeous fabric. Alas, the mess being made in my house is from the painters and tilers working away in the basement. This, of course, is a very good thing. But between that and this, all I can manage on my mountain meadow quilt is a little organization by value.

Dream Big

I made a quilt. It's taken me almost a year. It was very intense to make. Both in terms of the effort in the quilting and the emotions it brought up. It's finally been delivered to the recipients.

Last August Jennie's husband died quite suddenly. He was helping his daughter on her bike on the streets of Brooklyn when he collapsed. Jennie was only someone I knew through her blog, tweets, and the occasional email. But I, like many others, needed to rally around her in a mass of support for this unexpected loss of the love of her life. We made pie, we sent notes, we read her posts about the grief. And I, well I did what I do, I sewed.

I think it was the fact that Jennie could have been me. Two young girls, a vibrant writing career, and a relationship with a great husband. Her story was tragic and life-altering and it could just as easily have happened to me. I've never met Jennie and so embarking on a queen sized quilt seemed overly generous to people I know. But it felt like the right thing to do - for me, yes, but for Jennie and her girls.

Grief can be all consuming and very lonely. It matters to know that people are thinking about you. And even though it wasn't my intention to take so long to finish, it is nice to have these gestures after the fact, when the initial support has gone away. I hope to meet Jennie one day, give her a hug, and watch our girls feel each other out then walk in front of us, hand in hand in their coordinating Saltwater Sandals. For now, I can only encourage her on her journey to Dream Big.

Dream Big

Approximately 80'' by 90"

Scrappy letters in low-volume fabrics, pieced then fused

Machine quilted at home with Aurifil 50wt

Fabric contributed by Jen Yu

Wine Gums in Progress

When we were writing the book I was in awe of Amanda Jean's quilts. She specializes in making use of the teeny tiny scraps. It's a great use of fabric, but all those pieces do mean that even a small quilt takes some effort. Don't be fooled by the size. You get great impact and an amazing use of fabric. And truly, it is hard to appreciate the scale of some of these quilts from the book.

It wasn't until we were giving our schoolhouse at Market that I could appreciate this. And now that I am out and about giving trunk shows I realize that I need to share these quilts to show more quilters the awesome opportunity presented by these designs. The first of Amanda Jean's little pieces quilts I'm tackling is Gumdrops.

I actually started this quilt in March, when I got my new scissors. And when cutting up little pieces of fabric was about all my big ol' pregnant body could handle. The little pieces then got put aside in favour of the baby and other work. But after my last trunk show I decided they needed return to daylight and be put to use.

Of course, I had to do things differently than Amanda's pattern. I have such a hard time following patterns. This time, however, it was unintentional.

In the pattern Amanda suggests fusing the scraps to a lightweight fusible BEFORE cutting the shapes. I neglected to read these instructions before I started cutting out my gumdrop shapes. That meant I would have to add fusible in tiny pieces, after the fact. That bit of work did not appeal to me. But, I do think you need some stabilization of the pieces to the background prior to assembly.

This piece has you sew down your applique and quilt as one step, so the pieces need to be stabilized prior to basting.

Instead of fusible I rummaged through the girls' craft supplies for a glue stick. Yup, a plain old glue stick. A little bit of glue on the back of each piece tacks it to the background. Then you can sew your strips together, baste, and quilt. As long as you don't coat the back there is no residue left after quilting and washing. You also don't get the stiffness associated with even a lightweight fusible.

As a bonus, this becomes a craft project with a bored preschooler missing her big sister at school all day. An excellent alternative to the endless tea parties.

Mountain Meadows

I have this quilt in mind. In fact, I've had it in mind for a year. We went on our first family hike in the mountains near us. It was a gorgeous day, everyone had fun, and I was completely taken with the mountain meadows. One usually focuses on the view, but I couldn't stop staring at the little bits of colour in the flowers all around us.  And now I hope to capture some of that magic in a quilt.

The inspiration:

Gathering fabrics, courtesy of Modern Quilt Guild members who responded to a plea for solid green scraps. Yes, solids. I'm pushing myself here! Now, let's see where this goes.

Scrappy Sunday - All Together Now

If you've had the opportunity to see our book, Sunday Morning Quilts, you know that the photography is gorgeous. It isn't just a bunch of quilts on a bench/chair or quilts on a wall. Sadly, we weren't able to participate in the photo shoot but we were absolutely thrilled when we were sent the photos to preview. The photos show the quilts being used, something very important to us. And they reflect the spirit of the book perfectly.

To achieve this C&T smartly used some gorgeous and real people, in addition to simply loverly settings. My favourite photo in the book is this one:

Those feets and legs are none other than Kristy, C&T's Art Director. On a photo shoot you make use of all the folks around you!

One of the girls, our cover girl, is none other than Sarah, the niece of a longarmer that one of C&T's staff, Ruthmary Schauer knows. Did you follow that? Amanda posted her story. Contrary to popular belief, she is neither one of our kids.

The photos in this book reiterate just how much putting together a quilt book is about collaboration and working as a team. It wasn't just Amanda and I sewing and writing furiously to produce beautiful things. That is the crux of the work, yes, but that doesn't make a book. The editing, the photography, the design/lay out work - they all come together with the projects and words themselves to create something beautiful and cohesive. We had an amazing team in Stash Books. They respected our vision for the book, but translated it with their experience and market knowledge. There was so much back and forthing between us and them that we never felt like the rest of the process wasn't also ours once the quilts and manuscript were submitted.

And even though the book is out in the world, and has been for months now, it still feels like we are a team. We all want the book to do well. And we are treated like part of their family. It's been a wonderful experience.
...

We're wrapping up our Scrappy Sunday series today. At this point we'd like to celebrate the next phase of the book process - what happens when readers get their hands on the book! Honestly, this is the most exciting part. We've seen posts, received emails, and had conversations with people inspired by the book. Whether they tackled their scraps or made a gorgeous quilt, we love to see it and hear about it. If you are a store teaching classes based on the book, or you've got a wonderful sample display, we'd love to see it!

To this end we're hosting a linky party. Share with us, we want to see and celebrate with you. And speaking of celebrating, of course there might be some prizes for all of your partying with us!

Thank-you so much for making this entire experience ever more wonderful.

Scrappy Sunday - Alternatives

When Amanda and I started on Sunday Morning Quilts we had grand plans of showing two versions of each quilt. Well, aren't those plans grand?! It isn't in the book, but we've since decided to sew our way through the book. In addition to all the great versions other people are making, we wanted to make our own version of each other's quilts. This is the first instalment of us sewing our way through the book.

Skittles

62'' by 88''

On this one I went to the opposite spectrum from Amanda again. I emptied out my string jar, dividing the colours into warms and cools. (And I still had strings left over!). My Monster has already claimed this one because it is striped. 

Scrap Like Dat

72'' by 72''

This is an alternate colour treatment for Scrapper's Delight. Amanda did an amazing job with random, colourful scraps. I didn't want to recreate that look, so I went to one of my favourite quilts from the book. I took the fabric choices from Sunday Morning for this version. And a controlled use of pale grey in each block.

Both of these quilts were long-armed by Janet Madeyski, from Pieces and Threads quilting.

Don't forget about our  Sunday Morning Quilts Flickr group. Share your projects there too.

Winners!

Thank-you all for entering our little celebration this past Scrappy Sunday. I loved learning more about you. Funny, it never occurred to me that people would quilt more in the summer because they stayed inside with the AC! And it was great feedback to hear what quilts you liked from the book. There was no clear winner. I think that is just perfect too. It means we succeeded in providing a whole lot of inspiration.

Here are the winners. If you haven't received an email from me it means you are a "no-reply commenter" in your posts.

...

Aside
No-reply commenting is a big pet peeve of mine. I may not always get the time on every single post, but I do like to respond to comments and questions whenever I can. But if you have it set so I can't hit reply to your comment then you'll never hear from me.


Here is a great walk-through to change your settings to allow people to respond to you. Take a second to check, and maybe change your settings. Quite often we don't know we have it set that way.

...

Now back to the winners!

Leanne wins a copy of Sunday Morning Quilts. How generous of her, she's going to share it with a friend.

Hildy in Germany wins an electronic copy of the book.

There are 4 scrap packs to be had.
Renae
Patti Shanks
MJB
Kitkatknit

I've only got an email for one of you, so if you see your name on this list drop me a line (cherylATcherylarkisonDOTcom). I'm happy to share my scraps with you! If I don't hear from you by the end of the day on the 8th then I'll be drawing someone else's name.

Thanks for sharing. Join us this weekend for another Scrappy Sunday!

Scrappy Sunday - Let's Celebrate

Happy Canada Day! Happy 4th of the July in a few days! And most importantly, Happy Birthday to Amanda Jean in a few days!

In light of these wonderful things to celebrate we thought a celebration was in order. And what's a party without gifts?

We know that for new quilters or, really, for all quilters, acquiring scraps can be a little exciting but time consuming. We both have a quilting addiction where we are constantly in our stashes cutting and slashing. That means we have LOTS of scraps. I think I have more scraps now than I did before I started all the quilts for Sunday Morning Quilts!

Today I'd like to giveaway some scrap bags. I'll fill an envelope, or 4, with scraps a plenty. Strings, your favourite colour, some low-volume. You name it and I've probably got it! And, of course, some books get to leave the house! A Canadian reader will win a hard copy of the book, and I can send an electronic copy to an international reader. So much goodness to share!

Amanda is doing the same thing too, double your chances to win.

Leave a comment below (international guests are always welcome). Tell me, do your sewing habits change in the summer?  Or, let me know which quilt in Sunday Morning Quilts is your favourite and tell me why.

Giveaway open until Thursday, July 5, 8 am MST. 

Friday Favourites - Japanese Tailors Scissors

There is a guy here in town, the Knife Nerd. He has an unnatural love for Japanese steel, so he opened a knife shop called Knifewear. It's a drool worthy place for anyone who even marginally enjoys cooking. Indeed, Hubby treated me to a great knife for Christmas this past year. One of the perks of the Knife Nerd's job is research and buying trips to Japan.

One of the perks of knowing the Knife Nerd is asking him to buy something for you specifically on one of those trips.

Enter my new favourite scissors. I'm not a collector or anything. For years I've very happily used the Gingher's that technically belong to my husband. But when I started using these Japanese Tailors' Scissors a new level of fabric peace was achieved. So smooth, so sharp, so comfortable.

Perfect for trimming scraps.

100 Days

She went through my snippets jar, picking out 100 unique pieces of fabric.

She trimmed them into relative squares and rectangles.

She sat on my lap in front of the machine.

She learned how to line up the edges of the fabric, place them, and drop the needle.

She guided them through the machine while I worked the pedal. Or we switched jobs and played Red Light. Green Light.

She placed the rows and sewed some more.

She celebrated 100 Days of school.

She celebrates her craft. Here it covers her, but more often she covers her baby brother in this special quilt.

Or,

She fights with her sister over it.

Important Letters

This is a fun little project I've got going on these days. I took some scraps and made letters. Put those letters on white et voila! I can't wait to share this one, but I need to wait as the recipient may be reading...

I'd volunteered to make the quilt for her after a tragic event. Another friend gave me some fabric and it languished. Lack of a clear vision kept me from moving forward. Then, one night, I had a dream. Pregnancy dreams are always quite vivid. And for once it wasn't a nightmare or something completely messed up. I dreamt this quilt. Hormones for good!

While I didn't follow it directly when it came to constructing mine, Elizabeth Hartman has a great tutorial here for making the letters.

Scrap Splatter Done

Scrap Splatter 2011

30'' by 30''

There is no other name for it.

I did think about, quite literally splattering the little squares across the quilt top, much like my little one did across the dining room table. Then I sat down to sketch. And my girls sat down with me. Instead of family portraits The Monster asked if she could sketch quilts too. Together, her and I came up with this design.

In the interest of the challenge I used the Kona white I had, added a few other scraps (in solids only), and used a batting scrap. It's a poly blend batting, not my favourite, but it was what I had around in the right size. Because I like to be different I did the quilting in turquoise, not white. Goes well with the binding, doesn't it?

Soon enough it will become a little playmat for the neighbour's brand new baby. If it doesn't get stolen by a certain baby loving child of mine.

Scrap Splatter?

Do you ever sign up blindly for things and then promptly forget? I could never be a sweepstakes player for this reason. I'm very forgetful these days.

So, it seems I signed up to be in a scrap challenge. Makes sense, with a scrap quilting book coming out! But I completely forgot and when the email came asking for my snail mail addy I almost backed out. But as forgetful as I am, I have a hard time backing down from a challenge.

Scrap Splatter, I accept.

Oh, and Thomas, I will get you for this in Houston.

Big Announcement!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fireside

This weekend was the first Arkison camping adventure. Hubby and I used to go, before kids, but we'd never been brave enough to take the kids out. You know the real issue for me? Sleeping in a tent with them. We do not sleep together, ever, at home, so I was stressed at the thought of being in such small confines with them. Other than a moment the first night when The Monster feared the tent because she didn't know how it was made (?!) it went great.

We hiked, we played by the river, we went to the bathroom in the woods like a bear, we covered ourselves in dirt, we ate bacon in bulk, and we had fire. Hubby's obsession was trying to start a fire with a magnifying glass, the girls fawned over their cousins and specialized in getting as dirty as possible, and I stole moments to sew.

Yes, even on a camping trip I sewed.

Last week I decided I need a hand project for when I'm out and about or when I just don't feel like taking the machine out. I saw an image in a book of the girls', experimented with shapes, then pulled out my scraps (augmented by Amanda Jean and and Heather).

I have to give a lot of credit to Barb, who came for a visit last week. Her handwork is phenomenal! It was so inspiring, as was my afternoon with her. After that I knew I needed to slow down to address the roots and get out hand sewing needles. Templates too!

To be honest, I'm not sure where I'll take this project. It may be hand sewing, but it's still me. That means that I've started without a plan of any sort. I don't know if I'll run out of steam - probably - but I sure am enjoying the steps along the way. Especially if it means more camping.

Friday Morning Mess

Well, I guess it is time to organize the scrap bin...

Workshop in Progress - April 21

So, in the Workshop this week I wanted to talk scraps. This is the bag of brand new scraps left over from piecing my Dad's quilt. I'll be honest, it makes me kind of giddy to look at it. I almost wish there were more!

My question for you is about selvages. I never used to keep them, but I do now. For those of you that collect, do you like partials, or does the entire row of text and dots need to be there? And how much of the actual fabric is necessary to cut off with the selvage?

Now, on to the rest of you.

Elle is back at her original WIP project. Her Wind and Water piece seems softer to me now. I love watching it evolve.

Somehow I missed the naming of this quilt, but remember we helped Felicity on the name game. Check out this post to see what she went with.

Next week I will be well and truly insane with all the goings on for Quilt Canada. If you are around next week, find me - I'm the one on the crutches with the long black hair. I am chairing the Professional Development Conference and helping out at all evening events. I hope to see you!

Because I will be away, I've asked Lesly at Pickle Dish to host the workshop. Make sure to check in with her next Wednesday. And if you have any posts get them up there in the blogosphere and let her know. 

Another One

I need another new project like I need a hole in the head. But I just couldn't resist. Of course, that's what I thought months ago when I actually started this project. This week I think I've gone insane.

Oh well, what else is new?

I finished almost two weeks of single parenting and the only good thing about it is the quiet at the end of the night. It means I can write or quilt without listening to whatever crap on TV Hubby is likely watching. And I can do it without guilt because I'm not not spending time with Hubby. 

Most of the projects I have on the go are ready for basting and quilting. But that single parenting thing combined with the knee thing means no basting is getting done. Oh darn, more piecing. So pulled out this project and got myself sorted. All my squares are pressed, cut, and paired up. Another quiet evening and my half square triangles are done!

Hmm, where can I find another quiet evening?