Briar Rose Quilt

Oh, swoon...I am so in love.

I was definitely late to the Heather Ross-obsession party, but I fell hard for the her latest line, Briar Rose...it has a lot of bees in it and y'all know I got a thing for bees and a cute little "Honeybee" to prove it (I am not kidding---"honeybee" is on her birth certificate...poor girl, someday she will sigh about her hippie parents).

Anyway, she had yet to get her "mom-made quilt" being number 4 and all.  My goal was to make one before her 3rd birthday, so I was so excited to be inspired to make this great and easy pattern designed by Rae of Made by Rae for Windham Fabrics.  You can download it for free here.

This fabric is still in stores, so if this beautiful and simple pattern inspires you to get sewing, like it did for me, then run out and get some!  I can guarantee it won't last for long!

Deadlines.

Let me start this post with a little background.  1) I LOVE deadlines.  Pretty much if I don't have a deadline, nothing gets done.  2) I am also a terrible procrastinator. Always have been, always will be.  3) After having four kids in quick succession, I have very bad sleep habits.

So...when the invitation to the Garrison Children's Education Fund "Spring Thaw" fundraiser arrived last week, I thought: "Oh, what a great opportunity to do something with those quilt blocks from sewing class last winter!!" Six of my sewing class students that worked on these blocks go to the school the auction benefits, so I thought making a quilt from these scrappy green blocks they made would be a nice addition.  

*Note: Most likely this photo was taken at about 2 a.m.

The morning after that late night, I got right to pinning...

Pinning led to a great fort diversion...

And dove into quilting:

A quick machine binding last night and, voila, a finished quilt for tonight's auction! (I am still kind of in shock myself).  

 Hopefully, the parents will think this turned out as great as I do!  This is a wonderful cooperative effort and I am so proud of all of my students!  Thank you Anna, Fiona, Evelyn, Caroline, Emerson, Ava and Natalie for your contributions to this quilt!!

Farm Friendliness or Color Revealed

One of my favorite categories in the juried exhibition at QuiltCon was the "Modern Traditionalism" catagory.  So many of us quilt precisely because it links us back to the history of women making beautiful objects, by hand, for family and friends.  And, yet, we are looking for a way to put our own stamp on this tradition.

One of the bees I am participating in this quarter is a "sampler" bee, so I went to my bookshelf and pulled out my favorite go-to block book:

The block I chose was the "Farm Friendliness" block, pictured here:

I made a couple of test blocks...only to realize I flipped the corner triangles---oops.

Ah, well, I decided I liked it that way anyhow.  Then I started playing with the way this layout could look depending on your value choices:

Version 3

Version 1

Version 2

Next, on to color choices. The drawings above provide layout for a twin sized quilt, consequently I needed to raid the stash for a color I had a LOT of...and here you have it.

While I chose fabrics, the monkeys played "bedtime":

Here you have the results of the cutting process.  That is 24 blocks, each comprised of 9 squares, 8 of which are seamed...so that is a grand total of....drumroll please...408 pieces!!!!!

The pile of chain-pieced rectangles...

With all this seaming and triangles, there are A LOT of places to screw up (if you are ME).  Needless to say, I was spouting a few expletives at one point last week.  After one row, I decided to take a break.  Here, is the beginnings anyway:

Forgive the light---there are not a lot of places in this 100-year old house to photograph something this big and I am just not trekking out in March snow (!!!) to pin it to the fence!  

Now...just 20 more to go!! What do you think?


Part of:


 

Quilt Con 2013 Wrap-up

Hello Readers!! 

As those of you who follow me on FB know, I spent the last week in February in Austin, TX for the Modern Quilt Guild's QuiltCon where it was a balmy 75 degrees almost the whole time! It was an awesome time and I have already posted a bunch of pics here on the HVMQG site, so check 'em out. 

Just so's ya know, this is not your grandma's Quilt Show. There is a whole group on instagram #tattoosofquiltcon.  You can see one here. And I have recently discovered a new FB group: the Bad Ass Quilters Society. In my house, where we listen to Quiet Riot at breakfast, there is only one word for this: Awesome. 

For my personal experience of QuiltCon, here are a few more snapshots:

A very fun printing class with textile designer Lotta Jansdotter

The stencil I made for Miss Honeybee, who turned two (no, not ONE---you are TWO!) the day after I returned.  I think these will become pockets on a dress.  What do you think?

I saw a bunch of people with these excellent sewing kits.  Must make!

This is how much SWAG I came home with! Dear god.

All in all, it was a fantastic time.  We saw amazing quilts, met other quilters from all over the country, heard inspiring lectures from designers and quilters, took very helpful classes and just basked in the glow of a totally kick-ass community.  

And just a vignette, for which there are no photos:

Rounding a corner in the exhibition hall during set-up clad in my blue Volunteer shirt, I found a woman struggling to put up her booth display.  As I offered help, she (like many of us small business owners) tried to put me off---insisting she could do it on her own and anyway her assistant would be here soon.  Needless to say, I insisted and we ended up getting the panels put up together.  At one point as my new friend struggled to bend over, she admitted to me that she had a medical device due to a certain kind of cancer---in fact the very same cancer my mother is struggling with right now.  She stood up, raised her arms and said, "You were meant to help me---because I am here to tell you---it can all be OK!" As the tears streamed down my face, she gathered me up in a big hug and said, "It's going to be ok. I am living proof."  

It is often hard for me to put into words why I feel so drawn to quilting and the modern quilting movement.  But in that moment, supported and connected to someone I had just met, being seen and being real, it was all clear.  This kind of connection is what it is ALL about. Quilting just happens to be the one little corner of the world where I am finding that right now.  It could be anything though, right? As long as we are REAL and CLEAR.   That is the ultimate challenge.  

Anyway, my favorite take-away from the show:

 Made by the Austin MQG for one of its members. It was designed by Bobbi Brekke and Heather Scrimsher. This my bad iPhone photo.  Better photo here.

Great discussions of pushing the boundaries of what quilting is here and here. More on this later, but for now, suffice it to say, I am excited to see where the tide takes us. BAD ASS QUILTERS UNITE. 

A few inspiring favorites:

Don't Blink by Caro Sheridan

Bang! You're Dead by Jacquie Gehring

Just One More Slice by Patty Simmons

You Rule by Brigitte Heitland

Untitled by Lindsey Stead

Both Ways by Lauren Hawley

Rhythm and Blues by Anne Deister

I cannot wait to process all that I saw, heard and felt while at QuiltCon and work on adding my own unique voice to the mix. 

Paper Piecing Pinwheels

This is one of those happy accidents. And it's February in the Northeast---a dark and wet time, so I am telling you---I can use all the happy accidents I can get!! 

In searching for a pinwheel pattern I liked for my latest round of Flickr quilting bees, I came upon this pattern by Peggy Miller.  Turns out it was included in a Craftsy class that Peggy had done. As I have mentioned before, I am a big fan of the Craftsy platform, so I hopped over there and got myself a whole class on paper piecing.  

Paper piecing by definition includes a LOT of paper! Each of these blocks comes with four quadrants.  So for 6 blocks I had to make 24 of these squares:

After I ripped off the paper---before assembling each block---my 5 year old decided to make a puzzle of the piles of paper on the dining room table and make me a Valentine! Love him.

The resulting block has two layout options: 

 I went with having more of the lighter layout and here is the finished result:

So the happy accident is this:  I meant this as a Bee block---I would do one for each person in the group.  However, I misread the pattern, thought I needed to resize it (which I didn't) and so this original block came out bigger than expected.  I liked it so much I decided to run with it and make a quilt I never intended to make.

What do you think?  Leave me a comment!