Beach Quilting

Last week we spent a week at a NC beach. The weather was beautiful although stupid Covid caused us to miss a few actual sitting on the beach days. (Everyone recovered fine.)

I always like to bring my travel machine for sewing in the afternoon when the sun is too hot to be outside. This year I worked on the Brushstrokes pattern by Shiners View. The pattern was a perfect travel project. Basically each block consisted of the background fabric and one of four fabrics. Blocks were made oversized and pieces were cut wonky to add a look of improv.

Once I returned home, everything was pressed and trimmed and assembled into rows. Often when dealing with a large quilt, I will assemble in quadrants. For this one, I went with rows to make sure no blocks were flipped in the process. Fabrics used are all Paintbrush studio solids - pale aqua, marine and gulf stream.

The quilt top will be 56" x 63" when done. I am thinking about making it slightly larger and considered just add a border all the way around. If I went with 7" (the finished block size), the quilt would be 70" x 77". I could also just make some more blocks and add another column so that it is 63" square. 

Thoughts?

This was our family's first experience with Covid. One family member tested positive before we left but was feeling fine so we decided to mask up and open all the windows. While having half your vacation impacted by Covid is not what I would have hoped for, being able to sit on the back deck and enjoy the fresh air and ocean views was a pleasant way to recover.

Local House #5 - The Browns

Welcome to the home of the Browns! A friend organized a fun QAL using the Local pattern by Carolyn Friedlander. Each month, we'll each make a house and read the back story about the owner. Several of us plan to add our own homes to the neighborhood. ( I've printed off the pattern at 50% scale.)

Here is my neighborhood so far - the Carlos, the Cahills, the Minkos, the home of Lynn and Terrence and now the Browns! Next up for June is the homes of Paul and Lucy which are actually two houses.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Pickle Bird - Make Modern Magazine issue #58

I am very excited to share that my quilt Pickle Bird is in the latest issue of Make Modern Magazine - issue 58!

Pickle Bird was designed for the QuiltCon 2024 fabric challenge. (Sadly it was not juried into the show.) I love my whimsical birds made from a modernized pickle block. You can read more about the quilt and see some close-ups of the quilting on this post.

The quilt top assembles quickly and the pattern includes FPP for an easy way to make the triangle-in-a-square units (aka the Pickle Bird beak!)

My youngest joined me for a photo shoot at our neighborhood playground. In their twenties, it had been quite a few years since they had played around at the park!

Make Modern is a digital magazine, originating in Australia, which publishes six issues a year. There are many options for subscriptions, both yearly and all access.

Issue 58 has 9 others wonderful projects in addition to Pickle Bird. You can purchase a single issue for under $12 US ($15 AUD).

If you make your own version of Pickle Bird, please share!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Scrap Quilts May update

Spent time this weekend getting caught up on my blocks for the Seattle MQG's free BOM. (And, no this isn't my guild but they have graciously made it free to anyone!). This is perfect for using some coordinated large scraps.

My guild collects quilts in support of kids in the foster care system. I hope to finish two quilt tops this year using scraps. The second one is all based on HST and was temporarily misplaced in my sewing room. Thankfully it has now been found. I've got 44 done and trimmed, 32 waiting for trimming, and then at least 92 more to go. Everything is kitted so now I just need to not loose it again!

Once the May blocks post, I hope to get right on it!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

London Quilt Spa Day

One of the projects that has kept me quite busy is a quilt to gift to my nephew and bride for their upcoming wedding. My sister suggested a palette of red, white, and blue with a theme of London. After considering a bunch of different ideas, I decided to have fun with quarter circles and orange peels in the requested colorway with a bit of orange for an extra pop of color. For the back, I found this great panel using the same colorway. My plan is to surround the panel with the blue fabric.

My quilt is now at the Spa! In other words, I've dropped it off with my LAQ. I used to have all my quilts LAQed but now I just do so for special quilts (larger than baby sized) that will be gifted. I can't wait to get the quilt back and see the transformation that quilting brings!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Local House #4 - The home of Lynn and Terrence

Welcome to the home of Lynn and Terrence! A friend organized a fun QAL using the Local pattern by Carolyn Friedlander. Each month, we'll each make a house and read the back story about the owner. Several of us plan to add our own homes to the neighborhood. ( I've printed off the pattern at 50% scale.)

Here is my neighborhood so far - the Carlos, the Cahills, the Minkos and now the home of Lynn and Terrence! Next up for May is The Browns which looks to be the simplest one so far.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Magic Bag

I needed a break from walking foot quilting on my quilt Peachy Keen and decided to make a bag. Last summer, my son gifted me some Dr. Who themed fabric and given that the next season of the show is about to begin, I decided it was time to put the fabric to good to use.

There are many tutorials out on youtube which detail the drafting of a template and bag construction. I've watched several of them and found this one to be the easiest to follow. I did end up doing something different with my side panels (folding them over to avoid binding). Once the bag was done, I also saw this tutorial (~29 min mark) which is a better method then what I improvised. If you are interested in making a similar bag, I did see that there are a few patterns available. 

I do see myself making this pattern again and do a few things differently - try canvas instead of quilting cotton to have more structure, put tabs on the zipper ends, and consider a zipper with two pulls.

Interested in making a bag but think this is too difficult? My favorite go to bag tutorial is Noodlehead's Wide Open bag. I made the large size last year to help transport things when I go for my daily swim

Have a wonderful day! Patty