Charm Square Baby Quilt with Dogs and Bright Colors, "Dogs + Sunshine"

A fellow Boston Modern Guild member gave me this "Dog Park" fabric designed by Sarah Frederking for Studio E fabrics. She said as soon as she saw it, she thought of me!  How great is that!!

Another friend, who also loves dogs, is having a baby soon.  They don't know if it's a boy or a girl so for her baby quilt needs to be gender neutral.  As soon as I saw this dog fabric, I knew they'd love it!

I cut the charm squares (5 x 5 inches patches) to match the colors in the doggie feature fabric. The patches of "Dog Park" fabric are in diagonal pairs, randomly placed in the quilt top.  I love how bright and cheerful this quilt is!

The quilting is stitch-in-the-ditch with a walking foot across the entire grid of blocks. Then I added 3 sections of diagonal stitching and two more sections of vertical stitching running between the top and middle diagonals. The added quilting gives this simple quilt an interesting texture, more visible in the photos since it's already be washed.

I used the "Dog Park" fabric for the backing of the quilt.  This makes it a fun, reversible baby quilt!

The back of "Dogs + Sunshine" showing the "Dog Park" fabric

I can't wait to see what my friend thinks of this quilt I made for her baby!

Improv Scrappy Block Project 2017 March Blocks

I didn't get any improv blocks sewn for my Improv Scrappy Block Project sewn in February.  But I made 4 improv blocks in March, so I'm back on course with my 2017 project. (April blocks to follow in a later post)!

Three of these blocks have scraps of fabrics I designed--the dogs and the concentric circles on the teal background-- which were digitally printed at Spoonflower.com. (These designs and others are available at my Spoonflower shop).

These colors make me happy!  They match the feel of March which is very early Spring/still really Winter in New England!

Wake Up the Earth--Squares of Hope

A guild friend of my invited me to join her in making a block for Squares of Hope for the banner that JP Knit & Stitch is creating.  The banner will be used in Jamaica Plain's annual "Wake up the Earth" celebration event which will be on May 6th this year. 

On one side of the JP Knit & Stitch banner the squares will be knit, crocheted or woven and the opposite side the block will be fabric--either a quilt block or an embroidery block. Each square should be 6 inches finished (fabric squares should be trimmed to measure 6 1/2 inches to allow for seams).  The block should "reflect a community value you wish to champion including (but certainly not limited to) environmental protection, arts education, social justice, and human rights."  It's fine if they are abstract.

I chose environmental protection. Amanda Jean Nyberg (crazymomquilts) has a quilt pattern, Bright Birch Trees, that I thought would make perfect block. Since this is Spring, I added appliqued leaves and embroidered French knots to her design.  It's a fun block to make!

Then I got an idea about a polar bear block. When I was a kid, I'd often try standing on a kick board in the pool. It didn't have enough buoyancy to keep me on the surface, so I'd sink.  So in my square above, poor Polar Bear is standing on a melting ice floe that isn't large enough keep him on the surface of the rising sea. Sad--and true.

JP Knit & Stitch is hosting Stitch Nights at their shop on April 21, 28 and May 5th for folks to work on these blocks. If you are sewing at home, they've asked to have blocks dropped off by April 29th since they need to sew them together!  Click the link above for all the details about making the squares, sewing days and the May 6th event.

Boston people:  Do you have an idea for your own Square of Hope?  Join in the fun! Post your block on social media using #WUTECraftactivism.  Happy Crafting!

Half Square Triangle Embroidered Mini Quilt Completed

I've completed up my Half Square Triangle Embroidered Mini Quilt. It finished at 12 1/2 x 13 inches.  I'm so happy with these embroidered flower designs which I found in Kazuko Aoki's book, The Embroidered Garden.

I really like the front of this little quilt. As I showed in my last post, some of the threads from the flower embroidery are hidden inside the the quilt. I wanted to use the flower stems as part of this little quilt's quilting. I used two stitches for the stems--the running stitch which has gaps between each stitch and the back stitch. The running stitch looks like quilting stitches on the back of the quilt. The back stitch really doesn't look good.

I'm not unhappy about the back since this is a quilt that will be used as a wall hanging.  But if I were doing it again, I'd just use a running stitch for all the flower stems.

Half Square Triangle Mini Quilt with Embroidered Flowers--WIP

I'm currently working on a Half Square Triangle (HST) mini quilt made with more left over triangles from another quilt made with the stitch and flip method of block construction.  These HSTs finish at 2 inches square.

I had a idea about embroidering flowers, peaking out in the white patches but hidden by the colored triangles. It was an interesting idea, but when I found the designs I wanted to embroider, it made more sense just to work on the surface.

I embroidered just the flowers through the top of the quilt and the batting, saving the stems to use as part of the quilting. That worked really well. The colored threads are buried in the back of the batting and so aren't visible on the front of the piece. Here's a look "behind the scenes" on the back of the batting.

I learned to embroider in school in second grade, so it's an established skill. But I decided to look around the internet to see if I could find some inspiration and new ideas. 

I discovered a beautiful book, The Embroidered Garden: Stitching Through the Seasons of a Flower Garden, by Kazuko Aoki.  This is such a lovely book. I highly recommend it if you are interested in embroidering flowers. All her embroidered pieces are together in the front half of the book, with detailed stitching instructions in the back of the book.

I drew my flowers, one at a time as I worked, with a fading marking pen, using her embroidery as a guild. I needed to redraw portions of some flowers because the pen faded faster than I could stitch! I used flowers from two of her Summer Garden pieces to make my design, but I didn't very stray far from her beautifully balanced floral compositions. My embroidery design clearly echoes hers.

I'm nearly done!  I'll show the completed mini quilt in my next post.

Pinwheel Modern Doll Quilt

This year the Proper Bostonian Quilters Guild has been working on a mystery quilt which is a sampler of star blocks.  There have been lots of stitch and flip patches in the blocks. Those stitch and flip units have "waste" triangle units which are really ready-made half square triangle blocks!

I decided to make those little triangles into a couple of doll quilts. Here is the first one. The little pinwheels finish at 2 inches square and the larger ones at 3 inches square.

It's quilted with Big Stitch Quilting using #8 Perle cotton thread and there are French knots in the pinwheels.  When I first started quilting and was using a lot of applique, I added details with embroidery. Now that embroidery is making a big come back, I can see using it, sparingly, to add a little pop to a quilt. I've been adding dots to lots of my drawings so I decided it would be fun to put some little dots in this doll quilt!

This is a little doll quilt--a size chosen to be used with my Baby Waldorf Doll. Doesn't Lucy Birch look comfy under the quilt?

I have enough left little half square triangles to make one more quilt about this size. The design is done and it's ready to sew, so I'll share it soon!

Waldorf Style Baby Doll Clothing

In my last post, I promised to show some of the clothing I've made for my 9 inch Waldorf Style Baby Doll.

Safety Note: There are buttons on some of these outfits. DO NOT USE BUTTONS on doll clothes used by children under age 3 due to risk of choking.

Here is Lucy Birch wearing a pink and white heart dress, with short sleeves, full skirt and a ribbon detail at her waist. She is wearing purple felt booties.  Sometimes I add ribbon ties to the booties, but these are simple pull on booties.

Here is Lucy Birch in her chicken-and-egg sun dress!  This outfit makes me giggle! I love everything about it!

Here she is wearing a leggings! This outfit was a Valentine's Day present for a young friend's baby doll.

Booties with ribbon ties!

Here's another of my baby dolls, all ready for bed, in her cotton knit polar bear nightgown! This was a first time I'd drafted a pattern with raglan sleeves. This pattern can easily be modified to make a summer baseball T-shirt.

And finally, here is Lucy Birch, out in the winter kale patch, wearing a warm corduroy dress with purple ric rac detail.

My next pattern drafting project will be designing pants and shorts for this baby doll.  I love making clothes for this 9 inch doll but they are more challenging to sew than the outfits I make for my larger 13-15 inch Waldorf style dolls.

Waldorf Style Baby Doll Completed

Here's Lucy Birch. She is the third 9 inch Waldorf Type Baby doll I've finished. She the "model doll" that I use when I design new clothes.  I probably should cut her hair a bit shorter since she is a baby, but I like this blonde bob on her!

Because I designed the pattern for this doll, I also have to draft patterns for her clothing.  I don't have any formal training in pattern design so the clothes are often more of a challenge than designing the doll!

Lucy Birch is a baby doll. So she needed diapers, not under pants.  Her diapers are a layer of quilting cotton on the outside and a fine fleece on the inside. I used fold over elastic at the waist and a strip of folded ribbon with Velcro® stitched on to make the closures.

I'll share some baby girl outfits in another post!

Waldorf Style Baby Doll

Last summer I started working on a design for a small Waldorf type baby doll. I have designed patterns for 13 to 15 inch boy and girl Waldorf style dolls. But I wanted to try making a smaller doll.

I drew an initial working pattern and made the torso with arms and legs. Something just didn't seem right but I wasn't sure what needed to be changed. That prototype sat on my work table for 4 or 5 months.

Then one day I decided to finish the doll.  Waldorf doll knit fabric skin is expensive and so is the wool stuffing. So I made a head and and sewed it on the doll.  As soon as the doll had I face, I was in love!

But I still had design issues. The first head I made was too large for the body. I carefully un-sewed the first head and rolled a smaller one which was perfect. I also decided to make the legs a bit longer and the torso a bit rounder.

The doll above was made with my final pattern.  The doll is 9 inches tall.  It's arms are open and legs flexed like a newborn baby's. The doll body fits perfectly in my adult hand. 

I like all the dolls I've designed but this little baby has really captured my imagination and my heart!

Modern Doll Quilt Completed

Here's my completed Modern Color Block Doll Quilt.

I've quilted it by hand with Big Stitch Quilting using Pearl Cotton thread.  Each row has white stitching and three rows have a second line of stitching using aqua thread.

Here's the back of the quilt.  The baby blue fabric with the tiny white polka dot is really sweet.

A big shout out to Jeannette T. for her assistance with this project!

Coming up in the next few weeks:  My newly designed Waldorf Style Doll.

Modern Doll Quilt Top

Having made 4 good size quilts in January, I decided my next project would be a small doll quilt! I was given a stack of 2 1/2 inch squares as part of a Yankee Swap over the holidays. And I had a few left over white 10 inch layer cake Kona®squares which I cut into 2 1/4 inch strips. The 2 1/2 inch squares were pinked so 2 1/4 inches was a better match.

I haven't picked a backing or binding yet but I know I'm going to quilt it with straight line quilting. It's a sweet little piece!

Dalmation Quilt Number 3

Drum roll please!!  Here at last is the third and final quilt made with the 2006 "Firehouse Friends" fabric by Alexander Henry Fabrics!

This quilt was made using colors from the warm side of the color wheel.  The modern design is a collection of blocks which are all variations of the nine patch block.

This quilt makes me happy and is the only one of the three staying in my collection. In fact I was so excited to use it that I forgot to photograph it before I tossed it in the wash!  So the photos show the quilt in it's "lived in, natural state"!

All three Dalmation Quilts are in the gallery below. (Hazel photo bombed the Nine Patch Variation!) The three quilts all have the same feature fabricbut are all very different. A fun exercise!

Dalmatians and Half Square Triangles

The Dalmatian fabric I used in the "Dalmations and Diamonds" quilt has now been used in 3 quilts and one improv block (see my last post). That fabric is all gone now! Here is the second quilt in the series. I picked colors from the cool side of the color wheel for this quilt.

I call this one "Calm in the Kennel, Chaos Outside"! The blocks in the large diamond are all arranged into small diamonds. The blocks outside the large central diamond are all random.  I had thought this was going to be a totally random HST quilt. But when I saw the central diamond begin to appear, I really liked it so went with it.

In the gallery below you can see some of the process of transforming it from a stack of half square triangles to its final design. I use the black and white photos to look see if the more intense colors are balanced in the quilt. It's easy to go from color to black and white on a cell phone, but the photography program on a computer can do it too. These are quick design-in-progress photos so not "pretty"!

The top two images are the same. The HST blocks had just been put up on the design wall randomly. There is no sign of the central diamond.  You can begin to see it in the bottom two photos. The blocks inside the diamond in the lower photos are still random.

Here's final photo of the quilt. The wind has flipped an edge so you can see the back.

The third quilt in this series of Dalmation quilts features colors on the warm side of the color wheel.  I'm quilting it now so it should be ready in time for my next post.

Improv Scrappy Block Project 2017, January blocks

Here are the January blocks for the Improv Scrappy Block 2017 Project.

Work I am doing on other project does influence what I do with my improv blocks. The day I made Block 3 (shown above) and I had been working on a traditional log cabin block. The improv block has some elements of the log cabin courthouse steps design. 

I had also just finished the Dalmations in Diamonds quilt top, in which I was making triangles using the fold over technique. I used the same technique in the orange and brown strips in this block.

Here are all my January Improv Scrappy Blocks.  I've been putting their number on the back of each block so I can keep them in chronological order. That's easy now, but soon won't be!

"Dalmations in Diamonds" Quilt Completed

Here's my completed "Dalmations in Diamonds" quilt. 
All the quilting was done with a walking foot.  That took me nearly a week.  I have the time to do now that I'm only posting on the blog once a week!

I'm making good progress on another quilt using the focus fabric, using up the half square triangles (HST) from this quilt's flip-and-fold construction!  The new HST quilt has a more modern esthetic.

Here are some my other creative activities from the past week from the #40ddc2017 daily drawing challenge. 

With future surface designing for fabric in mind, I've been experimenting with digital drawing. Digital drawing requires learning a new set of skills. It's fun and has lots of potential. But I'm going to need to practice a lot for it to really be useful.

• Ink and colored pencil--Farmer Dog.  Prompt: Funny Creature
• Digital drawing--Dog in a Diamond.  Prompt: Diamonds
• Digital drawing--Cat on a mat. Prompt: Cat

Progress on Dalmations in Diamonds and other projects

I'm almost done quilting "Dalmations in Diamonds". I decided to quilt it with straight lines using a walking foot. It takes more time to do this kind of walking foot quilting. But I thought that using free motion quilting might distract from the design of the dog blocks.

The quilting pattern echoes the central square block, making a 90 degree turn across the block. Looks easy, but isn't. Even with the needle in the down position and checking to make sure the quilt relaxed and not pulling, I still get "peaks" sometimes at the corner.  I know that's due to the quilt moving with the first stitch after the turn. When my house got painted this summer, I took my quilting table set up down and never put it back. Looks like I really do need tables behind and to the left of the sewing table to support the quilt.

Here are some other projects I'm also been doing.  Left to right:

• I knit a sweater for a Bamboletta Cuddle Doll using the sweater pattern on Bamboletta's blog. It was snowing the afternoon I finished it. I took her outside to get a photo in natural light and ended up with a great snow angel shot!
• I've been participating in the 40 daily drawing challenge by I Still Matter. Daily prompts can be found on Instagram using the hashtag #40ddc2017. Here's a pen and a watercolor wash cyclamen for the prompt--"Flower".  Some days it just takes a few minutes. Sometimes it takes longer. And I'm still stumped by the prompt "pattern"!  Challenges like this get me to try things I might do on my own.
• I'm also doing Creativebug.com's new Creative Boot Camp hosted by Lisa Congdon.  One day the project was creating simple flowers with paper collage.  I used some origami paper I had on hand. Turns out that playing with scissors and glue is still a whole lot of fun!!

Dalmations in Diamonds

Here's the quilt I'm working on now. This collection of fabrics was very deep down in my stash! 

I do love the doggy feature fabric.  It's called "Firehouse Friends" and was printed by Alexander Henry Fabrics in 2006.  These dogs have such sweet faces! The dogs are Dalmations but the number of dogs and the general chaos in this design remind me of foxhounds before a hunt.

"Firehouse Friends" by Alexander Henry Fabrics Collection, copyright 2006

The quilt pattern is from Fons and Porter's Fun Quilts for Kids, 2012.  I really like how the small diamonds in the borders echo the large diamonds in the blocks.  Note: If you use this quilt pattern, the instructions in the book for the central blocks do not make a closed inner diamond. The points are blunted, as they would be in a snowball block. If you want a true square- in-a-square block, you need to cut your fabric differently.  You can find square-in-a-square calculators with specific cutting instructions for any size block with a simple Google search.

The quilt pattern in the book has two additional borders. I like the way the quilt looks now. I'll bring the deep blue back in the binding when the quilt is done.

Bonus:  Because I used the fold over method of making the diamonds in the central blocks, I have 24 half square triangle blocks from the trimmings. That's a head start on another quilt!  But I think I should finish this one first!

Improv Scrappy Block Project 2017

Improv Scrappy Block Project 2017

It's a new year and I'm starting a year long project!  If you quilt a lot, or have quilted for a long time, you collect a lot of scraps that are just too good to throw out but hard to use up!  I want see how many ways I can use my scraps to create fun and interesting quilt blocks.

I plan to make 2-3 blocks Improv Scrappy Blocks each month so that I'll have at least 30 blocks, enough for a good sized quilt, by the end of 2017.

Here are the rules I've set for myself.

1. As much as possible, blocks will be made from the pre-cut scraps in my stash.  These include rectangles, squares, strips and strings (strips under 2 inches wide)
2. If supporting fabrics for a background are needed, they must come from my current stash
3. The unfinished blocks will be 12 1/2 inches square
4. Blocks need to be pieced with intention.  They can be color studies, interesting piecing or just fun to piece.

The first 2 Improv Scrappy Blocks are at the top of this post.  There is a simple slab, a hot pink color study, on the left and flying geese, a blue color study, on the right.

If you have a stash of scraps you'd like to use up this year, please join the fun! I'll be posting my blocks here and on Instagram. If you are make blocks too, please post them using the hashtag #ImprovScrappyBlockProject2017. Thanks!!

Thoughts about the Blog for 2017

It turns out that a craft blog is a mighty hungry critter! Sometimes it is hard to keep up with it, Especially since I am blogging about projects that are all handmade! I love making and writing. I really enjoy this. But I've also noticed that there are days when the dogs don't get a second walk or I skip doing other things because I need to sew so that I have a project to write about. That's not so good.

I have been posting on Mondays and Thursdays for almost 3 years now.  This year I am going to try posting on a less rigid format. I want to write when I have something to share, not just to meet a deadline.

Blogs tend to focus in on a theme. Mine focus has been primarily quilting, with some doll making and a bit of surface design, drawing, band weaving and rarely cooking. Expect to see more on all these topics, though I will probably make fewer quilts this year.

So my loyal subscribers and faithful followers, for now, expect to find a new post most Thursdays. From time to time, I expect I may post more than once a week. I'll see how it goes!

Please feel free to leave comments and let me know what you are thinking!

HAPPY CREATIVE 2017! 

Orphan Block Improv Quilt

This is my final finish for 2016!  And it's a good quilt to end the year!

This quilt was made from orphan blocks, left over bits from other quilts, sample blocks, blocks from my posts on color studies and some left over strips and bits of fabric.

There is no reason this assortment of bit and pieces who work well but they do!  I love all the bright colors and the the organized chaos in this quilt! And the fact that there is nothing precious about it! The dogs are welcome to sleep on it and I can roll it up and use it for a picnic blanket!

But most of all I love it because I have a reminder of quilts I've made!

It's just about twin size.  I quilted it with a walking foot on my domestic machine. I let each block suggest the quilting: straight lines, echoing, Bernina's #4 wave, and even a little free form wave crossing a straight line. Free motion quilting would have been faster, but following the patterns in the each block was more fun!

See if you can match some of the orphan blocks with the quilts in the gallery below! (Note: There are orphan blocks without photos matching quilts). Have fun!
 HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Showcase: Sewing for Little Girls

Today I want to showcase my friend Marcia who knits, quilts and especially loves to sew for little girls.

Last week she sent me the photo above of a Doll's Bed in a Basket that she made for a toddler. She used my Lab Puppies Pink fabric design, printed by Spoonflower.com.  Marcia chose the Labs wearing the purple bandanas which are turned so they print well for baby blankets. She picked the minky option for the top of the doll blanket and used cotton for the pillowcase! I really like the gray and white fabric she picked to go with it. I love this doll bed! It's so sweet. And it's just perfect for a two year old to use and carry around. (Note the handles on the ends of the basket)!

Here's a jumper Marcia just finished. The patterned fabric is batik and the inside is corduroy!  Using those two fabrics together is really brilliant! The corduroy gives the light batik fabric more body and makes the jumper warm enough to wear in the fall and winter.

Batik and corduroy jumper

Marcia and others also sew dresses which they sell at the annual St Mary's Art Walk to benefit,  I Still Matter, an organization whose mission is "to foster mental and emotional healing through art and creative expression".  Click the link to find out more about I Still Matter.

Here's a photo of their dress display at this year's St. Mary's Art Walk in Jacksonville, Florida. Aren't these dresses beautiful! ALL the dresses they made sold!  Pretty awesome!

Dresses for sale to benefit "I Still Matter" at the 2nd St Mary's Art Walk, December 2, 2016, Jacksonville, FL

I'm going to give the blog nap next week, letting it dream of sugar plums and other wonderful things! But I'll be back soon!

Happy Holidays, everyone!