kodachrome quilting

And April was the month of wresting a rainbow into a sewing machine. 

I can walk to the local library, and I am thrilled that they have a well stocked crafting section. There are a lot of great volumes on fiber arts including a great selection of quilting books. One book in particular, Walk: Master machine quilting with your walking foot by Jacquie Gering, was an incredible find. The pages show all kinds of creative ideas for straight line quilting and they are designed in a way that is achievable on a home sewing machine. I am looking forward to trying many of them out. 

For this quilt, I took advantage of the regular geometry of the top to try out this nested chevron pattern. It kind of reminds me of the Star Trek logo or a flying geese unit. It is difficult to see in the picture of the full quilt top, but the overall effect of the angled lines against the rectangles is one of movement. I'm so glad I chose something different than just mirroring the rectangles to make it more interesting. And I didn't have to mark anything!

The dark thread color I chose looks equally good on the warm fabrics as well as the cool ones. It of course disappears more on the darker cool fabrics while maintaining that texture that the eye can pick up even without seeing the thread. Quilting is always the hardest part for me, the trimming and binding will be the reward!

 

moths can be pretty too

This has been a really nice project as winter has given way to spring - I started this on February 17 and tied off the last knot as April began. Finishing the needlepoint flowers felt like a triumph that deserved an encore, and I remembered that I have a foursome of embroidery kits with whimsical nature motifs. Checking them out, this moth seemed like one of the simpler options, so away I went. And just look at those colors!! So cheerful. 

As I stitched in the early stages I wondered what on earth would posses someone to design something with a moth in it. After several layers of color and weeks of progress, I got it. What a delightful thing! The rusty tan that makes up the bulk of the wings seemed like an unusual choice until I got the blues and greens added, then I really liked it. I have also reconfirmed for myself that satin stitch stresses me out, and the filler stitching is a bummer, too. Flowers are much more fun! I actually expected to like the stems and leaves the least of all but it turns out that adding them in a final flourish at the end was quite pleasant.

For now, it is finished and I am not certain what I will do with it. I am likely going to work up the other three (at some point...) and then finish them all off in their hoops and hang on my wall somewhere. They may also end up in a quilt, or as something else. I am leaving open the possibilities. A collection of some kind would be really pretty. Tiny pillows? We'll see. 

gentle reintroduction

I took stock of my sewing room recently. I have a lot of quilt tops. Like - a lot! They are all neatly hung in the closet waiting their turn out of the way, but they do feel "in the way" mentally. Whenever I think of starting a new sewing project, I feel them staring out at me suggesting that I might consider finishing something first. And so we baste. 

I already had batting measured and cut for this quilt top, and the piece is on the smaller side compared to some of the other things in there, so it felt like a gentle reintroduction to sandwich and baste just this one. 

I fell in love all over again with the design and the rainbow of colors. It was fun to see all the bits of fabrics from projects-gone-by and to remember how proud I was of myself when I had the gumption to actually cut and organize all of those rectangles. 

I might not know how I want to quilt it yet, but getting it to this point feels like an accomplishment and a significant toe dip back into this room after a long hiatus. 

stitching my way back

I started this panel in August 2023. I can remember how quiet the house was. With Dave and both cats gone, there seemed to be so much space both physically and mentally. I wasn't quite certain what to do with it all. So I stitched. 

One evening I thought to myself - what haven't I been doing that I have wanted time for? Well, so many things. But one of them was making. Crafting, creating, playing with color. Sewing seemed like such a big undertaking, I didn't want to work on any of the knits in progress I had, so this needlepoint kit felt right. It was self contained, did not seem to require much brainpower, and would set me on the path to filling time with more than my circular thoughts about how much had changed and whether it would be for the better. 

I got this from DMC as part of a tranche of goodies I got to order on their dime after my 2020 National Embroider Month project won a contest. It's funny that I can so vividly remember working on that project - it was February 2020 and a time that felt so unaware of what was to come next. Despite the retrospective poignancy, it was also a project that helped me settle a then-anxious mind and accomplish something I never imagined I could. And so perhaps this needlepoint was more than appropriate for the moment given that connection. 

It took much longer than I thought it would, but I did enjoy the making. Once I got to the flower petals, it was absorbing and enjoyable, and filling in that deep dark brown was especially satisfying. It is quite large and is intended to be a pillow. I'm not quite certain how to get it from this to pillow cover yet. It seems to me that the canvas would be gnarly for a needle to work through? Will puzzle it out at some point! If not, it would make a fine framed piece of art. 

giant julekuler

Made for Dave and the cats, who now live in Santa Cruz. The moose pattern has been his favorite, and we affectionately call Laker "moose" so it felt especially appropriate. Instead of the usual size, I used some chunky yarn leftover from a pair of hats we've got and some vampire-slaying needles. It turned out looking great, I should keep that in mind for more. 

 

quilt in a week

My cousin is having a baby soon, and mom wisely suggested I sit down in my sewing room and try to make a quilt. The creativity hasn't been moving too well for a long time and the stash cabinet has been neglected, but it was fun to sift through and find some beautiful things. 

This fabric was an extra from an order at the height of the pandemic (from Hawthorn Threads maybe?). It's quite a nice, thicker weight cotton with just a small amount of sheen and was meant to be a pre-printed pattern to cut out to make kitschy masks. Well, I didn't do that since I had a lot made already, but I did like the prints so it got folded up and stashed. 

It was relatively quick work to cut things out, rearrange, and sew them back together in simple patchwork style. The colors are really classy together, so I had to add these quirky kitties on the back to lighten up the mood a bit, and I used a really pretty pink, gold, and gray feather print for the binding. 

pineapple quilt finished

I had the batting for this cut and ready since literally July 2020, but it just hasn't happened until now. I can't say that I love the process of basting, and I just wasn't sure how I wanted to quilt this one. I ended up using gray thread in simple x's to blend in with the piecing rather than to try to augment it in any way. The geometric alpacas on the back make me smile, and I think riff off of the intense pointy-ness of the pineapple block in a really pleasing way. 

When we first moved in, I had ideated this quilt for our living room downstairs, but I think I'm going to keep this on on my hip pink chair in the craft room. I can remember finding the fabrics at Back Porch Fabrics in Pacific Grove on one of our trips down there. I think I bought all fat quarters to make this on that trip - I was at that table for quite a while! 

I started this in March 2020... how times have changed!