Paper: Packed. Poor Mailman.

I’ve never done a mini-quilt pattern before nor have I done an embroidery pattern before. But now, I’ve done both.

I was a certified, dorkified cross-stitcher a looong time ago. Then (what turned out to be) inflammatory arthritis took over my life. It was hard to machine piece a quilt, hold a pencil long enough to fill out a simple form and even typing was painful. With all of that (thankfully) resolved, I’m happy to say that I have my hands back!

I’ve been working on the Aurifil Designer Block of the Month blocks (I’m November… keep stitching!) and drew this up while I was at it. It’s heavily inspired by home — in a similar way Pomaceous was.

The original cover idea was to have it hanging on the fireplace. It was there for about 2 weeks and I constantly took pictures of it in different light, different times of day, etc. I just didn’t work. This was the best I got — not horrible but just didn’t have the umph needed for a cover.

In the meantime, Liam grew accustomed to having a quilt hanging there. I eventually gave up on getting the right light and took it down so I photograph it elsewhere. This annoyed him to no end. He is now planning on us designing and sewing a new quilt to hang on the fireplace. He’s very adamant about this. Thankfully, I have an idea brewing. Now to find the time…

The quilt portion is made from Kona Charms and was again quilted by wonderfully sweet Angela.

The jump from dorkified cross-stitcher to embroider-er was quite easy. It’s somewhat freeing not to have to work within a little grid, but that’s probably humorous coming from me if you think of all the quilts I make <<<blush>>>.

The pattern includes a list of the Aurifil 12wt colors needed. I can’t say enough good things about the thread. It’s dreamy.

And that’s it for Spring! All pre-orders will go out Monday. Many thanks for all the kind words about the new stuff!

I’m already in the thick of it for the next release. It’s a biggie. And flippin’ awesome.

I’m going to go out on a limb – and based on pre-orders – and say you guys are somewhat fond of this pattern.

One of the challenges of making the quilts and photographing them is keeping them from getting wrinkled between the last stitch of binding and picture day. In the old house there were a lot more rooms to just lay a quilt on the floor where no one would touch it. Here though it’s tough. So when I finished this one, I took it upstairs and laid it over our bed. Mostly so it could just lay flat, but I also wanted to see it on a bed.

The good:

a) it looked really awesome with the dark wood furniture
b) it just looked really awesome

The bad:

c) we eventually had to go to bed and another quilt = too hot
d) it really (really) clashed with the walls in our bedroom
oh, and e) I just made a new quilt for us

So The Husband found a flat space for it to live and luckily it was somewhat sunny the next day for pictures.

This one was interesting to draw. It had curves. Not much of what I do has curves. But, damn, I like them.

When I send the quilts to Angela for her magical touch, I try to send her some thoughts if I have something particular in mind though I’m sure I’ve said to her before, “I have no idea. Make it pretty.”

For this one? The words “groovy, trippy and acid” where mentioned too many times. You can read Angela’s post on the quilting here.

The almost-white color in this quilt isn’t white — it’s Pale Mint (Robert Kaufman’s Kona). When I looked at just the swatch, I honestly questioned my sanity. While not a bad color, it just wasn’t a color I would normally touch. But with the rest of the colors I just loved it. It gave the almost-white sections just a little something that it needed.

This project also come with everything you need to make it in five sizes. You can have your own little Brady Bunch of quilts! Yay!

The thing behind the photo is Gas Works Park in Seattle on the north side of Lake Union. It is just a freakily neat place to look at – and I knew from the second I finished the drawings of this quilt that it *needed* to be photographed there. It was a bit of a challenge as it’s (sadly) a popular place for taggers, but with the right angles and a big enough quilt it ended up working.

I’m happy that the blue skies decided to visit. This is looking the other direction.

Not so blue over there.

We leave the 60s and head to the 50s tomorrow: No. 064 — Quilt-O-Matic!

Believe it or not, this quilt was drawn way back when. Like living-on-the-other-coast way back. Since then, approximately 3,284,882 zig zag quilts have been made in one form or another. I thought about scrapping the project, but I also decided that I need to refocus and stop worrying about such things and simply make what I like. That’s how the business started and that’s how it needed to continue.

The pattern includes everything you need to know to make this quilt in five different sizes. Crazy zig zags for the whole family!

More Robert Kaufman Konas in the quilt too. There’s a theme to this release!

I found out that I have a thing for Cerise. I love it. I can’t believe it ended up in two different quilts — with completely different looks. The palettes were picked a couple days apart and I didn’t remember what exactly I had picked for the previous one. And then I was compiling the list of fabrics I realized Cerise was everywhere. It’s a good color to be everywhere.

Angela did an amazing job with the quilting on this one as well. I had an idea of what I wanted but knew it wasn’t really technically possible. Thankfully, she came up with something amazing and included a bit of my crazy idea as well.

I should title this picture:

Yet Another Woeful Attempt to Take a Picture in Seattle

It is a beautiful city with amazing backdrops but, goshdurnit, it’s windy! I swear 90% of the pictures I take look like that.

But at least once the work is done we get to play…

Tomorrow… No. 063 — Groove.

I’ve been craving anything and everything serene — and when I need calm, I head to the water. Hearing the waves recede through the rocks is perhaps the most soothing sound imaginable.

The blues of the sky, mountains and water that surrounds us is what inspired this quilt. This quilt is a subtle gradient of the blues of home + my obsessive love with letters.

Angela Walters had the job of quilting this one. My guidance was just something within the letter circle vs. the background. I love her swirls — and I know that sounds dorky, but seriously, they rock. I stare at them and try to figure out where she starts and ends and have yet to figure it out.

The fabrics in this project are Robert Kaufman’s Kona Cotton Solids. I pulled out my Kona Chips and started looking on the blues and aquamarines and then realized there was a ‘Poseidon‘ fat quarter bundle. A quick head-smack later and my colors were picked.

The pattern includes full-sized templates and applique instructions for how I chose to applique it. Feel free, however, to stitch as you please.

Click here for the shop listing.

But wait! There’s more!

First, I must clarify, this version of the quilt is not part of the pattern. If you want to make it, just substitute the colors of the rainbows instead of those listed in the pattern and you’ll be set.

After the success of hanging a quilt on the wall in the family room, I wanted to try another and have a change of scenery in the dining room. But with scraps — Scrap Republic style.

I didn’t have room for the background portion to be as large as it is in the pattern, so I changed it to fit the space. Honestly, it just was easier than changing the size of the dining room.

The background is entirely pieced of scraps — and not all of them are large. Most are quite tiny.

I took on the task of quilting this one. I really do like the quilting part of making quilts, I’m just usually lacking time and (lately) mojo to keep doing it. I challenged myself to do it, and to do it right. I have bitty bubbles in the circle, surrounded by concentric rings with random spacing between them.

The applique portion is also different than how I described it in the pattern because I wanted to experiment with using Aurifil’s 12wt thread (currently being used for the Designer Block of the Month) in the machine. I put 50wt in the bobbin and started sewing. And it worked. Fabulously. I’m totally hooked on it. The only hitch is to make sure your needle can accommodate the thicker thread.

Liam was my helper for these photos. He was by my side for every shot — except for those when he was taking a picture of me taking a picture of him. The kids love this quilt and are always trying to spell words with all the letters. Liam’s only complaint? Some of the letters are sideways and upside down. He gets very distressed over this.

You can see the two rainbows in this shot — plus my little helper. Liam is already planning the next quilt to hang on the house. More about that in Friday’s post.

I apparently have a thing for rainbows in a basic circular shape. I wonder what this means?

Tomorrow… No. 062 — Ascend.