quilting

Keeping it real and staying on track

by kath_red on May 11, 2012

in Books, Newsletter

My life in this very moment is just all about quilts, quilting, fabric, stitches, threads, rotary cutter, sweeping the mess, scrap bags of fabric piling up, making space for more quilts…

In between I am trying to keep the sanity by staying real. Real life keeps butting its head into my sewing realm. Kids. Dinner. Dishes. Responsibilities. Friends. Health. … so to stay real I have to stop procrastinating, need to use my time wisely. Need to be organised. Have to stay on track. Stay focussed. …

How to stay on track … Keep lists. Use the blackboard planner. Not in fact plan too much. Be realistic. Delegate. What do you do to stay on track?

Some organisation tips:: from Elsie :: Organising the family paperwork.

Check in on our creativity series:

We also hosted: Maya on her blog tour for her new book Reinvention.

Interesting links: 

Happy mother’s day this weekend to all the mothers out there. [I share mother's day this year with my husband's birthday -- so ... kiddos you better buck up! :)]

This week I am reading some traditional quilting books from That Patchwork Place:

Foundation-Pieced Quilts (Dec 2011) :: Civil War Legacies (March 2012) :: Pretty Patchwork Quilts (March 2012) and Kaleidoscope Paper Piecing (Jan 1012). All of these quilt books are full of traditional designs and techniques that have taught me a thing or two. That Patchwork Place always has such excellence in their quilt books. The instructions, diagrams, templates and images are straightforward. Don’t get these books for the pretty styled pictures or the conversational dialogue – you won’t find it. However do get these books for a good foundation in technique and some lovely traditional style quilt designs that will challenge your skills.

[Thanks to publishers and distributors for sending me books to review, I don't get paid to post reviews but I am an amazon affiliate] (Australians can purchase craft books online through can do books or booktopia or else browse booko for the best prices.)

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Guest post | How Blogging has Changed my Craft

by contributor on March 16, 2012

in Community + Creativity, Guest Blogger

Alissa Haight Carlton lives in Los Angeles and is one of the founders and president of the Modern Quilt Guild.  She has written two books, Modern Minimal: 20 Bold and Graphic Quilts and Block Party: The Modern Quilting Bee.   When not quilting, she casts reality shows including many recent seasons of Project Runway.  She blogs at www.handmadebyalissa.com.

How Blogging has Changed my Craft

It’s fair to say that my quilting and my blogging are directly linked and have each influenced the other enormously.  I started my blog handmadebyalissa in 2008 when I first started quilting so I almost can’t remember a time when there was one without the other.

When I made my very first quilts I was on flickr (which inspired my desire to quilt in the first place) and my descriptions were getting longer and longer.  I remember saying to my sister who was encouraging me to start a blog “really… a blog? What will I write?”  Well obviously I came up with plenty because here I am, a few years later and my blog has grown into something that has provided me many opportunities and led to an unbelievable sense of community and friendship for me.  I sometimes wonder what I did with my time before I quilted, blogged and worked on all of the things that it has led to.

The most important thing that my blog has done for my quilting is that it has helped me to push and grow creatively.  I’ll openly admit that this is partly driven by a sense of obligation.  I always feel like I need to get that next post ready, but I don’t think that is completely a bad thing.  As long as it doesn’t take over more important things in my life, it pushes me to get to my sewing room to design and sew.

It’s in my nature that I dislike making the same quilt twice, so I try to push and grow my voice with each quilt I make.  Not every quilt is equally as successful at taking a new step, but I’d like to think that a gradual, natural change and growth happens over time. What is certain is that without my blog I’d have made fewer quilts and therefore would not have grown creatively as much as I have.

Aside from the creative influence my blog has had on me, it’s been immeasurably important in terms of community.  In October of 2009 I co-founded The Modern Quilt Guild  (MQG), which has grown into an organization made up of more than 100 guilds all over the world and it all started with one blog comment.

I wrote a blog post about feeling that I didn’t see Modern Quilting represented at mainstream quilting events and wondered how we could work to change that.  Latifah Saafir, another modern quilter local to Los Angeles, posted “Maybe we should start our own modern quilt guild!”  And the rest is history.  The LAMQG met, I blogged about the fun we were having, and quickly there were other Modern Quilt Guilds popping up everywhere.  Now, under three years later, the MQG is still growing at an amazing pace and has added a lot of fuel to the fire of the Modern Quilting Movement.

In February of 2013, The Modern Quilt Guild will be holding it’s first convention and quilt show, QuiltCon, in Austin, Texas.  Tons of workshops, amazing teachers (including keynote speaker Denyse Schmidt), a huge quilt show and lots of shopping in the vendor hall will all lead to the first large scale event aimed specifically at modern quilters.  One blog post a few years ago (and a lot of hard work after that!) has led to this.  It’s astonishing what can happen when you voice your thoughts to a group of like-minded people!

Without my blog, I’d still consider quilting a hobby.  It would be a hobby I love and that would help to fulfill my life but with my blog it has turned into my passion and career.  Really what it comes down to is that quilting and blogging have changed my life – and for that I’m so, so happy.

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Little Bits Quilting Bee | talking pre-cut fabric | Community garden

by kath_red on February 29, 2012

in Little Bits Quilting Bee, Quilting

Community Garden — a wall hanging or lap quilt, by Kathreen Ricketson

Throughout February I will be featuring quilts from my book Little Bits Quilting Bee (published by Chronicle late last year). Because designer fabric is often only in print for one season it can be difficult for quilt designers and authors to choose fabrics that will be still available when the book or pattern is published; so to help you out I will be offering advice and alternate fabric choices for many of the quilts in my book. 

This fabric is made with some delicious hand screen printed Ink and Spindle fabric, I collected a few different fat quarters and cut them into charm squares myself. That delicious centre panel of fabric is Birch in Saffron.

More suggestions:

  • Aviary 2 by Joel Dewberry – Southern fabric does a charm pack of the yellow colourway.
  • Or else you could try some delicious organic fabric from Daisy Janie.
  • Or Julia Rothman’s Miscelaney collection from Cloud9 is pretty special (pictured below).

To make this quilt top you’ll need:

  • 2-3 packs charm squares or 72 squares (that is 6 fat quarters), you’ll also need a solid fabric for the background 3/8 yard (35 cm) of natural linen, plus a bit more 3/8 yard (35 cm) for binding.
  • You’ll also need a copy of my book - and they are available in all good book shops and online too.
  • I have quilted this quilt in a free-style leaf design, mimicked from some of the seed pod and leaf designs in the fabric.
All images are copyright John Paul Urizar who did a great job on the photography in the book.

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Little Bits Quilting Bee | talking pre-cut fabric | Constructivist

by kath_red on February 27, 2012

in Little Bits Quilting Bee, Quilting

Constructivist… Wall hanging or cot quilt by Kathreen Ricketson

Throughout February I will be featuring quilts from my book Little Bits Quilting Bee (published by Chronicle late last year). Because designer fabric is often only in print for one season it can be difficult for quilt designers and authors to choose fabrics that will be still available when the book or pattern is published; so to help you out I will be offering advice and alternate fabric choices for many of the quilts in my book. 

Constructivist was inspired by creative kids and their building blocks and was made with Lush by Erin Michael for Moda, sadly I don’t think this fabric is available in online stores anymore – although you might be lucky to find it at your local quilting shop. What I loved about this fabric was that it is a gender neutral and it was a breath of fresh air to find a fabric that doesn’t scream boy or girl. I love that woodsy feel to it, outdoorsy and natural, the green, and blue and brown tones are offset by that occasional pop of colour.

There are woodgrain fabrics available still – they were quite popular last year with several designers (for example Joel Dewberry for Freespirit - if you search on Etsy you will find a few) and, so you could easily find a bunch of woodsy fabrics and combine them with neutrals to recreate this quilt.

If you are looking to use a pre-cut charm pack I made it easy for you by researching current charm pack ranges that would be suitable for this quilt and came up with a few options for you…

  • Or some earth tone solids such as Bella solids in warm pastels (try Fig Tree Olive for the background and Buttercup for the binding)
  • Or try this more feminine woodsy range for a girl: Little Apples Charm Pack Aneela Hoey for Moda Fabrics (try Pencil leaves for the background and Olive leaves for the binding)
  • I also really like Anna Marie Horner’s LouLouThi collection for Free Spirit Fabrics (charm square packs available from etsy store Sunnyside fabrics)
To make this quilt top you’ll need:
  • 1 pack (40) charm squares, you’ll also need a solid fabric for the background 1 1/3 yard (1.2 m) should do it. You will also need to get some extra yardage of one of the prints from your charm pack or a darker solid fabric for the binding 3/8 yard (35 cm) will be enough.
  • You’ll also need a copy of my book – and they are available in all good book shops and online too.
  • As you can see from the close up image above, the quilting on this quilt is done in a whimsical woodgrain pattern, echoing the woodsy feel of the quilt. I used a variegated thread for the quilting to really make it stand out but a grey thread would otherwise suit perfectly.

All images are copyright John Paul Urizar who did a great job on the photography in the book. And special thanks to John Paul’s son who is the lovely model in these photos.

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Little Bits Quilting Bee | talking pre-cut fabric | Sunny Day Mat

by kath_red on February 17, 2012

in Little Bits Quilting Bee, Quilting

Sunny Day Mat … a circular quilted play mat by Kathreen Ricketson

Throughout February I will be featuring quilts from my book Little Bits Quilting Bee (published by Chronicle late last year). Because designer fabric is often only in print for one season it can be difficult for quilt designers and authors to choose fabrics that will be still available when the book or pattern is published; so to help you out I will be offering advice and alternate fabric choices for many of the quilts in my book. 

Sunny Day Mat is a textured mat that is perfect for play and equally wonderful as a couch throw. This mat is sunny in name and sunny in nature, it is bright and cheerful but does require some attention to detail when piecing those points.
For this quilt I used a Layer cake called Botany by Lauren+Jessi Jung for Moda, it is not longer available, but what drew me to this fabric was the range of yellow and oranges and greens, I then chose a few solid coloured fat quarters from various manufacturers to coordinate and then finished off with some chenille from moda that matched as well.

I have some ideas of alternate fabrics that you might like to try:

  • I love Salt Air by Cosmo Cricut for Moda Quilts
  • Delighted  by The Quilted Fish for Riley Blake Designs (you’ll need 1.5 packs of these) (layer cakes available from Quilt essentials) (pictured below)
  • Pair these Layer cake packs with any of the fat quarters from Candy Corn Kona Collection (available at FabricBub) or Creamsicle by Hoffman Fabrics (available from MapleLeafDesigns)

To make this quilt top you’ll need:

  • 1 pack of layer cakes, 7 fat quarters and 14 inch (36cm) square of chenille, plus 1/2 yard of fabric to match your backing for the binding.
  • You’ll also need a copy of my book - and they are available in all good book shops and online too.
  • I quilted this in a free-style stipple design.
Quilt images are copyright John Paul Urizar who did a great job on the photography in the book.

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