Rainbows

I took a wonderful course with Jo Avery at QuiltCon on needle-turned applique rainbows - read about the class. My class project is now done and finishes at 17" x 17".

All steps of this project have been enjoyable. The applique finished up quickly and since then I've been slow stitching the hand quilting on my piece. It has been my go-to handwork project for guild meetings and coffee meetups. 

While I could certainly keep adding more quilting texture, I decided to call it done and shift my attention to a new version, done in colors of the trans flag.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

On My Cutting Table

Warning! This post is filled with beautiful fabric. 😉

I've been playing with some beautiful fabric in my sewing room. First up is the QuiltCon fabric challenge using Ruby & Bee solids in colorways slate, rain cloud, stormy, unicorn, turmeric, and poppy. These fabrics are so soft and wonderful to work with. My quilt top is in the works - here is a sneak peak of one of the blocks I was experimenting with.

I drew up a design for the quilt and then deviated from the specifics quite a bit. Its been a fun make and I look forward to sharing.

Next up is this beautiful rainbow of rich color - Speckled from Ruby Star. I'm working on a quilt for a Fat Quarter Shop pattern launch coming in August. 

The blocks have been fun to put together and I'll be donating the finished quilt to my guild's community giving project.

Since I'll have lots of scraps leftover, I've decided to pair them with this Ruby Star Ten Years of Magic panel and make lots of economy blocks.

These will be a really fun sew and I can't wait to get started.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Layered Legacies - NC Museum of Art Exhibit

I spent a delightful afternoon yesterday visiting the Layered Legacy exhibit at the NC Museum of Art. (The show closes later this month so check it out soon if you are local!) The quilts on exhibit, the majority of which were created in the early to mid-1800s, were on loan from Old Salem. 

The quilt above was the oldest in the exhibit and was dated as 1796 and from the household of Elizabeth Webster. The word household was used multiple times throughout the exhibit and there were posters on the wall to acknowledged that some of the family of some of these quilt holders owned slaves which may have contributed to the quilts but most certainly freed the quilt maker from daily domestic duties so they had time to create.

My favorite quilt in the exhibit is this blue and white quilt, created by a girl who died young and was preserved and treasured by her sister. Although hard to see in the photo, there was wonderful hand quilted motifs in the white areas.

I was most intrigued by all the hand quilting and the resulting texture. 

Outside the exhibit were 4 pieces of textile art from 3 different makers. The quilt is the work of my friend Michelle Wilke. The exhibit store had some of Michelle's work for sale plus books from my friend Frances Dowell. I have such talented friends!

In the main gift store, they had a repurposed cigarette machine which dispensed mini works of art for $5. So fun! I treated my daughter to a token and several people came up while we were having fun choosing and then went to buy their own tokens!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Happy July - 2024 goal check-in

Happy July! Didn't see fireworks this year but we did enjoy some ice cream sundaes at a friends house on the 4th - so yummy.

With the year half over, I decided to check in with my goals for 2024 and join Yvonne's planning party. I'm making good progress against most of these goals. See my 2024 goal post here.

Starting with my making and creativity related goals:

• From my making perspective, I am working on two quilts for QuiltCon submission - one was my Pantone challenge quilt Peachy Keen. About half of the quilting is done and it has been sitting in 'time out' while I decide how I want to add some hand quilting. (Goal: Make at least one quilt to submit to QuiltCon 2025)

• I've a lot of fabric in stash that could be put to good use as donation quilts for my guilds charity. This small quilt is finished and I've got two donation quilts underway right now, all from stash. My HST quilt and the Seattle BOM quilt. Next up for the HST quilt is to pull together backing and binding so it can get quilted. Feeling good about being on a path to exceed this goal. (Goal: Donate at least one quilt to our guild charity using only fabric from stash.)

• Important to me is a goal to just play. I am working with large curves in one of my (fingers-crossed) QuiltCon submissions. Plus I made a mini improv quilt (not yet blogged out) and started a 2 color improv. I hope to focus more on the play aspect for the second part of the year and I still want to tackle some garment sewing. I also made this bag just to get a complete before tacking other projects (Goal: Play! Lots of ideas for this - explore new color combinations, start two color improv, experiment with large curves, make more mini quilts, and give garment sewing a try.)

Then my general well being goals:

• I've been postponing a big fabric clear out but still hoping to get to it this summer. (Goal: Adopt the 'container' concept in my sewing room and donate or sell fabric I no longer want.)

• Blogging is important for me to record what I am working on and I've continued to blog at least once weekly. It is really helpful to have a record of when projects were started and finished. For my newsletter, I started including some book recommendations since reading daily is something I continue to prioritize and enjoy. (Goal: Blog 1-2 times weekly plus I want to revamp my monthly newsletter & I intend to continue to make reading a part of my day.) 
• Perhaps my most important achievement is that I started taking twice weekly sessions with a trainer to improve my overall strength and balance. I really enjoy how these sessions make me feel. (Goal: I hope to add weekly strength training to my daily walking or swimming exercise.)

In addition to those mentioned above, I've got a number of WIPs that I do hope to give some attention to:

• I'm working on a quilt for an upcoming Fat Quarter Shop pattern release. The quilt top is done but I've got to get backing together and get it quilted. (This will also be a donation quilt.) Pattern releases in August so I can't share until then.
• The Local pattern is something I working on with a group of friends. I've finished 5 houses and much of 6 and 7 but I'm thinking of just making a small mini with four houses. 

Lots accomplished so far and (hopefully) more fun and creativity ahead!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Charm Square Stash HST Quilt Top Ready

One of my goals this year was to use my stash to create some donation quilts. (My guild donates to kids in the foster care system.) I had lots of leftover charm squares in my stash so I decided to make a HST quilt! I played around a bit with layouts and am happy with the result.

The HST were started as part of a guild retreat in November. They are easy to sew while chatting with others. I made good progress doing the sewing part but then let them sit for a while because trimming and ironing!

We have guild members who volunteer to LAQ our charity quilts. I need to pull together a backing and then get this quilt submitted. Can't wait to see all that quilty texture so that it can be donated.

The current size is 50" x 60" which is the minimum size that we want to donate. I am still thinking of making it just a bit bigger although I've yet to find a white fabric in my stash that is the same white. 

Have a wonderful day! Patty

HRT and HST Donation Quilt

A fun and quick finish! 

Blocks were created way back in January 2023 as part of the Modern HST BOM and then they were misplaced and forgotten about! I was happy to get a small quilt top assembled and quilted with a simple meander. I had just enough fabric leftover for the binding.

Quilt is 36" square and was donated through my LQS be a incubator quilt. (The quilts are draped over the incubators for those babies in the NICU and then go with them when they are ready to go home.)

Have a wonderful day! Patty