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.

Friday Favourites - Inuvik Thimble

With the smell of campfire wafting through each stitch I sit and bind this vintage quilt. My thimble is made of moose hide tanned by the Inuvialuit near Inuvik. And beaded so preciously. It is my new favourite thing.

 - It is pretty and dainty and tough at the same time.

- It reminds me of the people in Inuvik, namely my students, who were awesome and listened to my enthusiasm.

- It works really, really well.

Let's bind all the quilts.

Giant Hexagons Update

In need of some mindless sewing and a real break from work - yes, even I go to quilting when I need a break from the work of quilting - I pulled out these old blocks. With a million (or 40) WIPs sitting in my sewing room it only made sense to grab one of those projects instead of starting something new. I'd always had it in my head to add a coral block to these giant hexagons so I went ahead and did it. Then I added that low volume grey, and a yellow one. 

You can see more of these in my interview with Alex Anderson.

When it came time to playing with layouts I tried something new. There is a lot of bias in these blocks and I didn't want to handle them that much. Plus, as you can see, there is also some other work on my design wall that a certain five year old is not ready to remove. Needless to say, I was quite excited to find some hexagon graph paper!

The internet is a wonderful thing. Sure you can make it yourself, but the chances are someone has probably already done it for you. That was the case when I typed in a few choice words into the search engine the other night. And up pops a PDF of graph paper that is exactly what I need. A little more digging and there are sites where you can create and print your own graph paper in many shapes and sizes. It is a quilter with a penchant for colouring's dream!

http://www.freeprintableonline.com/categories/graphs
http://www.printablepaper.net

Have fun!

Now, I'm only waiting for the rest of my perfect background fabric for these to arrive. Then I can add this to the pile of quilt tops ready for attention.

Quilting Happiness (Weekend Reads)

Isn't this the best title for a quilting book? I know it goes without saying for most of us that quilting makes us happy. But it can also frustrate, intimidate, and suffocate. Even I know that. So I'm pleased today to be sharing this book,  Quilting Happiness, written to bring even more joy to your quilting.

Christina Lane and Diane Gilleland have done a wonderful job capturing the happiness quilting brings - from the creation to the giving, from sewing something you love to sewing for others. And there are patterns.

Two things make this book stand out - Creative Exercises and Happiness Practices. These one pagers are littered throughout the book, leading the reader through some personal reflection. Asking the reader to examine their own inspiration, habits, and joy is a wonderful way to get us to stop and reflect on quilting. Sure, we all want to barrel through to the next project, the next stack of fabric, but taking a moment to pause and examine the practice of quilting for us as individuals is worth more than cutting up fabric.

Seriously, I mean that. 

I, myself, have stopped to examine my practice as instructed in the book. For instance, they describe a Morning Seeing exercise. In this you write down what the first five things are that you see every morning for a month. In doing so you can pick out the patterns, pay attention to the routines you have, and train yourself to be an observer. Me, I'm a bit of a pessimist so I always see the mess first! That means I've been tidying more before bed and it makes my morning more positive. Which makes that creative time for me more productive and peaceful.

And there are patterns in the book - large quilts, mini quilts, and small projects. The instructions are detailed and leave nothing to question as far as I can tell. Christina is a stickler for details so this is not surprising. I've made one project inspired by a quilt in the book. And that chevron pattern pictured above is next on my list.

I will say that I wish a quilt book could be written without patterns though, because I think the strength of this one in particular lies in all the non-pattern stuff included. A book focused solely on creative exercises and personal exploration for the quilter could be quite intriguing. There is a lot of that in this book and for that reason I would recommend this one, even if you never made a pattern from it.