Monday, September 30, 2013

Quilting in the Garden 2013

Quilting in the Garden, Alden Lane 2013

My favorite local quilt show, Quilting in the Garden, was this weekend at Alden Lane Nursery in Livermore, Ca. They hang the quilts from these massive old oak trees.



This is what a quilt show should be, a celebration of quilting, fresh air and sunshine. Admission and parking are both free. If you are ever in the Bay Area at the end of September you have to go.

Double Dash by Sandy Klop


Every year they have a featured quilter, and this year it was Sandy Klop from American Jane. Sandy is a quilt pattern designer as well as a fabric designer for Moda. She had over 100 quilts hanging and a booth where you could buy her kits and patterns.

Wagon Wheel by Sandy Klop


I couldn't get away until late Sunday afternoon. With only a little bit of time left before they took the quilts down I circled around quickly to see as much as possible. I wish I could have spent the whole morning there. My favorite part is visiting with quilty friends, I always see a few familiar faces enjoying the show.

Sandy and I




I picked up a few goodies: a piece from Happy Campers, jelly rolls of Potluck and Pezzy and a super cute American Jane polka dot bag. I did get to see most of the quilts even though it was kind of a speed date. Sandy has such a wide range of designs and somehow you can always tell which ones are hers. What an inspiration!

Red Daisy by Sandy Klop

Gees Bend Housetop 9 Black by Donna Mecozzi


Scarecrow at Alden Lane


Garden Sculpture at Alden Lane

LINKS:
My photo sets from Quilting in the Garden 2011 and 2010 on flickr
American Jane (patterns, fabric and tools)
Quilting in the Garden, Alden Lane, Livermore, Ca

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Modern Maples Is In The House

Quilting Reinforcements - Starch and Candy Corn

Yes, there is a lot of sewing going on here lately. I'm not sure what is going on, but I'm happy to ride the wave. A fall project is in the works with a flurry of fabric pulling and pattern matching. I'm making a Modern Maples quilt. I have loved this pattern since it came out last year, but it was Erin's photo that pushed me over the edge to get started.


Fall Fabric Pull

We ordered a new couch that should be delivered any day now. When we moved, there was no question in my mind if we should take our old couch with us or not. It was well past its prime and super heavy. Did I mention we moved ourselves? We did. I looked at that thing, and even though we would have nothing to sit on but dining and camping chairs, I didn't care. The couch was a goner.


Fabric: Field Study by Anna Maria Horner

This quilt will be lovingly draped on the back of our new sofa. I chose a ton of different prints and colors and I didn't stop until it flowed just right. I'm all about color these days and I'm not picky about how I get it. A pink cheetah print for a Maple Leaf? Why not! The solid is a natural linen from my stash and I realized after I cut out all my blocks that I don't have enough for the spacer blocks. That raises some problems opportunities.


Background Alternates: Essex in Pumpkin and Grey

Sewing in snippets of time, mostly late at night has its advantages; it's cool and quiet, there are no interruptions and there is room to spread out. It also has its disadvantages - I get tired. That's when this happens. Another "design element"? I'm not so sure.


Oops Leaf

Modern Maples is a pattern by Amanda Jennings for the book, Pretty in Patchwork Holidays by John Adams. It's also available as a free project from the Lark website.


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Thursday, September 12, 2013

Granny is Finished!




A conversation from our lunch table:
Mmm, what kind of apples are these?
Granny Smith
Granny Sniff? Yuck!







Kids say the funniest things don't they? Thinking about this day still makes me laugh. My daughter was horrified that I was trying to feed her Granny Sniff apples. I'm dedicating this Granny Square Quilt to her.



I-can't-stop making granny squares.


These blocks date back to February 2012 (I had to check). Yikes! It was about time they got some love. They started as a quilt along with Dana from Old Red Barn Co. on flickr. We were all so inspired by this Granny Square quilt by Jolene from Blue Elephant Stitches.



Test Block, Granny Squares

The blocks came together quickly from my scraps and the last of my bolt of Moda Bella in Snow. I was going for a girly vintage look. The middle two prints above are from Nicey Jane by Heather Bailey. I'm not sure of the name for the fabric in the outer ring.




I love the colors in this block especially with the binding. That's a scrap of Loulouthi by Anna Maria Horner in the middle and the pink and green prints are both from Sunkissed by Sweetwater.

My motivation for finishing this quilt pittered out after making the blocks. It hung out for awhile on my table. I added the sashing and then I moved it to a project box. I brought it out again this summer after we moved. I needed a warm up project and sitting down to some meandering quilting felt just right. Up, down, in, out; a quilter's meditation.





Finishing the How About Green quilt on Monday felt so good that I wanted to finish something else. I chose this one because it just needed some binding. My daughter loves it, but she already claimed Summer Trip for her bed so I'm going to give this one to a local charity. It will bring a smile to another little girl who might need one.



I'm linking up with Katie and her charity quilt drive, 100 Quilts for Kids.

Name: Granny Sniff
Size: 42"x42"
Pattern: Granny Squares by Jolene, Blue Elephant Stitches
Fabrics: Scraps and Moda Bella in Snow


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Monday, September 9, 2013

How About Green?




This quilt was made for the joy of playing with fabric and color. I picked up a few of the new prints from Denyse Schmidt and Juliana Horner (yes, Anna Maria Horner's daughter) from Joann's and I couldn't wait to use them. I was getting an aqua and orange vibe and I pulled additional prints from my stash in those two colors. I selected several prints from Denyse's older lines. I love the fresh retro vibe they have. There are also some deer, scissors and typewriter keys mixed in for good measure. To add depth, I included some deeper tones of tomato, teal, charcoal and black.

I don't know how exactly, but I decided I wanted to make some flying geese. Little rows of triangles marching up and down in a random, scrappy assortment. The pieces were cut and I was deciding between white and grey for my background fabric, then my son walked by. He was curious what all the piles of fabric were about and I explained that I was trying to choose the one color that made all of the other colors bright and happy. He went over to my fabric shelves and picked out this fabulous green polka dot print. "How about green?" he says.


How about green?! Yes! Brilliant!! I think I should consult him more often.

The combination of fabric was so busy, that I wanted a simple quilting pattern to add texture only. This is the wavy stitch on my machine. It's #19 on my Janome and I adjust it as wide and long as it will go. The machine does all the work and it looks and feels great when it's done.

The blocks are 3"x6" each and the finished quilt measures 42"x54"

Friday, September 6, 2013

Negative Space Swap



This was from a fun little swap between SBAMQG members. The goal was to make a small swap item featuring negative space. We wrote down hints of inspiration on scraps of paper to get our partners started. Some wrote down colors they liked and some wrote down items they would like to receive (pot holders, mug rugs, mini quilt). Then we blindly chose our partners names out of a hat. Or was it a bag? Anyway...

I picked Sharon's name and she wrote down blue, green and melon. I really liked the addition of the dark grey and chalky white. Without knowing what I wanted to make, I pulled out this stack of solids.





Once they were on my worktable, I got my inspiration and I knew I wanted to make a mini with floating triangles. They are all cut identically, but isn't it interesting how some of the colors seem larger than the others?




I quilted dense lines all over it to give it lots of texture. The thread I used is a medium grey which I chose to both compliment the background and not overwhelm the lighter shades of the triangles.

The binding fabric is so awesome! It's from Moda and it has ruler markings all over it. I knew a fellow quilter would love it. It's printed on canvas, so it wasn't the easiest to hand stitch on, but for a mini quilt it wasn't too bad.

Monday, September 2, 2013

Classic Modern Quilts

We have a title and a cover, people! Let me introduce you to ... Classic Modern Quilts!!!



The book is due out next month from Kansas City Star Quilt's newest imprint, My Stars. We're mixing modern with tradition and it's a beautiful thing. 

That's my quilt on the very bottom. I am so excited to be a part of this project. We all contributed separately so it's really fun to read the little snippets of each quilt. 


Here is another sneak peek of my quilt. This photo was taken right after I finished hand sewing the binding. Teal binding? Check. Garden Party by Anna Maria Horner on the back? Yes, please! 

Our editor, Jenifer Dick, wrote a post the other day and described the photo shoot for the cover. They went to a trendy thrift store in Kansas City. Doesn't it look like a cool store? I want that teal cabinet!

See the stack of fabric I started with in this post.


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