Habitat J quilt

At the June meeting of the East Bay Modern Quilt guild we received fabric for a new quilt challenge. Free Spirit generously gave us each several fat quarters from the Earth colorway of Jay McCarroll's Habitat fabric line. The only rule was that we could add our own solid fabrics, but non-Habitat prints were verboten.

On his blog the other day Jay encouraged craven flattery (not his term), so I took that and ran with it. The result is my J quilt.

I was struck by two things in the fabric line. First, there is a crazy mix of colors. I latched onto the contrast between the pastels and more saturated colors, evident especially in the floral dot. Secondly I was surprised by how the most angular print in the collection seemed the most organic, reminding me most vividly of living plants, palm fronds and leaf veins. 

I chose my solid colors from the floral dot print. The pastel background colors became the stripes of the J. I cut solids matching the saturated dots into fractured blocks with the Habitat prints.

The quilt is pieced in three sections: the two improvised block sections and the precise stripes. Measuring, cutting and pinning those curves was nerve wracking, but it all came out right.

I quilted with a few straight lines in royal and white on the J, then a loopy triangle meander for the rest of the quilt. I like the loopy triangles with the fractured patchwork, and especially that angular print.

I pieced the back from various solid scraps, and the tiny bit of extra fractured patchwork from the top. If you squint you can see another J. The binding is more scrappy solids. The quilt is 60" x 74" unwashed.

Update:
The Habitat J quilt was featured on Modern Day Quilts. Thanks Heather!

Update 2: This baby finally got a name: "In One Way"

Gallery show

The Orange Lizard quilt will be hanging at the Redscout gallery in San Francisco starting next Thursday! The theme of the show is "An Unexpected Leap." I can't wait to check out the work of the other artists, but first I'd better get busy sewing a sleeve on that monster.

SFO -> JFK

SFO -> JFK
119 one-inch hexies basted
JFK -> SFO
70 one-inch hexies basted, plus some piecing. For some reason I'm never as efficient on the flight home.

The wrenches continue to be the most controversial fabric in this project. But I love them, so there.

A new stencil quilt -- and a new class!

I'm teaching a Stencil Quilts class at Berkeley's New Pieces in September. Enrollment opened today, and it's filling up surprisingly quickly. This is the sample I made for the class -- it's hanging in the store now!

The class is on two Sundays, September 18 and 25, 12-2pm. I'd love to see you there!

The fabric is an Indian wood-block cotton front with  a reverse-applique Joel Dewberry print. There's a splotch in the woodblock repeat -- you can see it twice about a foot in from the left. I considered positioning the stencil to hide the splotch for a moment. Then I completely changed my mind and decided to feature it.

I'll teach my technique using whole-cloth fabrics. I love the patchwork in my other stencil quilts, but I want to focus on the stencil technique in class.

I'll be teaching the technique I've developed for all my stencil quilts.

Green Stag

Orange Lizzard

Harvey Milk

Dialing up the FMQ

Finishing up a whole-cloth stencil quilt, I've decided to push myself on free-motion quilting.

The stencil is a ginkgo twig, very similar to the design on the back of my marquee quilt. The back fabric  is a Michael Miller green and yellow print.

If ginkgo leaves grew on vines (which they don't), they'd look exactly like this. I swear.

The top fabric is an Indian woodblock print. I'm binding the quilt now -- more photos when it comes out of the dryer. 

Just a little late for Harvey Milk Day

I finished my first portrait quilt this weekend. In celebration of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month, it's a portrait of Harvey Milk. I'm not much for big street festivals, as large crowds tend to make me anxious, but I can quilt!

I used a Denyse Schmidt small red check print on the back...

with five Marianne stripes across the width.

The design is based on the famous photograph by Daniel Nicoletta of Harvey Milk standing in front of his Castro Street photo shop. Dan graciously allowed me to use his image for my piece.

Harvey Milk. Photo by permission of Daniel Nicoletta

When I contacted Dan he told me that Elva Smith, the mother Scott Smith (played by James Franco in the film), was a dear friend and avid quilter until her death about a year ago. It was another reminder of progress and continuity. There is a famous refrain among quilters that nothing is ever new in quilting -- in the long history of the art, someone has done it before. While I strive in my work to be inventive and original, I am mindful of the work and creativity of those who came before me. Similarly, this time of year I remember the gay rights pioneers who came before, who fought, sacrificed and sometimes died to make the world a better place for all of us.

WIP Wednesday

If you've been following the blog you may be getting the sense that I've never met a pieced circle I didn't like. Lately I've been working on a new design, piecing lots of patchwork circles into a solid grid.

I've sewn 18 yellow circles into squares of kona ash. The yellow circles are 11" finished diameter.

Now I'm trimming the gray squares... 

into 15.5" circles.

And placing the circles at the intersections of a solid background grid.

I measure a 14.5" circle on the backround.

And cut around the template.

Then I pin the yellow piece into the background. I mark 8 compass points in the seam allowance on both pieces, pin at the 8 points, pin to secure the sashing seams in the background, and then pin 2 more times between each of the 8 compass points. I think that's 32 pins.

The hilarious and fearless Lynne at Lily's Quilts recently wrote a great tutorial for piecing circles. It's very close to the method I had been using, but she convinced me to use more pins. You can believe me when I say I hate pinning, but it's worth it.

Sew and press the seams to the inside to form a 15" finished circle. (this photo is a different block, because I don't have it in me to sew another circle right now!)

This 74"x74" quilt top has 12 full circles and 12 half-circles along the edges. I've completed 1 full circle and 3 halves. Although I am getting better at it, it does take a lot of time and concentration.

Two little quilts

I finished two little quilts this week. They are simple geometric designs.

The first has two yellow patchwork circles, sashed in bright blue on an improvised patchwork background of green prints and solids.

I quilted with diagonal lines that follow the on-point grid of the yellow circles.

I love how the chevron pattern shines on the white back. The quilt is bound in the same bright blue and measures 41"x44".

I used the rest of my green patchwork and blue sashing for a second modern geometric baby quilt. The quilting is white and follows the grid established by the sashing.

I have to say working with all this kona white was a little bit intimidating. I don't know if it's actually less forgiving than an off-white or print, but the it sure felt that way. Maybe I'll get used to it if I keep at it. The good news for me is that my next project has lots of white, too!

Another bright geometric back and blue binding finish the blanket.
Both blankets are now available in my shop.





Update: The Mod Wheels baby quilt was featured on Modern Day Quilts

Hexagon WIP

I've made quite a bit of progress on my hexagon quilt lately.

It languished in a corner for several months, but recently I've spent a fair amount of time on airplanes, and hand-piecing hexagons is a great way to pass the hours. This is not without its hazards, as my fingers tend to be pretty sore by the end of a six-hour flight. On one trip I wore my right elbow raw on the armrest from the repetitive stitching motion. I didn't even realize it until I stood up to get off the plane.

The design has expanded a bit since my original sketch and may yet grow more. I'm currently working left to right. All of the large four-inch hexagons are done (with some machine piecing) and I have mostly small one-inch red ones to add to the right side.

My favorite detail so far is the way the small shapes meet the big shapes with half hexagons.

Hero's nemesis; or, the orange lizard

If a had to choose a favorite among my three stencil quilts, it would be this one. I love everything about it, starting with orange and blue (the colors of the California poppies and blue lupine blooming all over the hills right now.) The background is a disappearing nine-patch of royal blue and deep turquoise prints and solids. The stencil is a grid of half-square triangles in orange shot cotton and prints.

I'm also pleased  with the sense of menace and movement created by the dinosaur entering the frame from the side.

The back is also pieced in orange and blue collected from trimmings and extras from the front. Once again, The quilting along the stencil outlines has a surprising impact on the back.
The stencil design was inspired by a piece of clip art I saw on SLOG (the blog of Seattle's Stranger newsweekly). My favorite things on SLOG are the Savage Love letter of the day and Mary Traverse's regular Dinosaur News updates, in addition to lots of other delightful nuggets. Mary was kind enough to send me the full image of the articulated skeleton. Thanks Mary! And thank goodness the Stranger has its priorities straight and put her on the dinosaur beat.
I quilted the blanket with concentric zig-zags emanating from the T. rex's gaping maw. It was as close as I could get to a menacing roar without spelling it out.

My nine-year-old wants a dinosaur quilt, but he insists on a red one. So the orange lizard is now available on Etsy.

Milestones

It's turning out to be a big week. Two big things have happened: I've finished three new quilts, and I've decided to set up shop on Etsy. More on Etsy later, but first I want to show my first stencil quilt.

I'm calling it the green stag quilt.

The quilt features a green deer reverse appliqué on an undulating neutral background. It's one in a series of “stencil quilts” that I have designed and created (I'll have pics of Hero and his nemesis soon!). I posted about my technique recently. It involves creating two patchwork quilt tops, sewing the layers together along the lines of a stencil, then cutting out the top layer to reveal the stencil beneath. The raw edge of the appliqué frays, softening the edge of the image and creating a weathered effect.

I was inspired by an antique quilt whose well worn top began to disintegrate, revealing and even older and more worn quilt inside that had been used as batting.

The green stag is a patchwork of squares and rectangles in the disappearing nine-patch pattern, while the background is a series of improvisationally pieced curves intended to create a sense of rolling landscape.

The reverse of this quilt is made with a soft chambray fabric with a meticulously pieced green circle and ivory sashing. You may recognize the green circle from the missing patch in Sharon & Bill's baby quilt.

The quilting highlights the shape of the appliqué and echoes the undulating curves of the background patchwork. On the solid quilt back, the subtle shape of the deer makes a surprising counterpoint to the bold green circle. 

I've listed the Green Stag quilt for sale on Etsy, along with my Seeing Water quilt. I'll be listing two additional stencil quilts later this week.
I'm planning on sprucing up my storefront soon, but I'm at something of a loss. What do your favorite Etsy stores look like? What makes them your favorite?