Robert Kaufman No Prints Allowed Challenge

Finished this just under the wire for the KC MQG challenge. I chose the charm square set in the pastel palette. I knew that would be a challenge for me because I don't really love pastels. As you can tell it was difficult for me to stay with pastels only. The challenge rules allowed us to add as many solid fabrics as we desired, so I did.
I'm happy with how it turned out though there are loads of things I would change if I tackled it again. I'm not going to list the faults or the imperfections because I'm trying to get away from always talking about my quilts by what I'm not happy with. I do love the composition and I think I did a pretty good job with the colors. All in all it was a fun challenge.
I'm pretty happy with the quilting too.
The challenge was to use every color in the pack...this bit of green on the binding simply didn't fit in the piece, so this is where it ended up.
Kona solids are an amazing set of fabrics to work with. I've grown to love them and I'd love to have every color. My friend Tammy at Marmalade Fabrics has that same goal. She's hit a milestone this week with over 100 of the Kona colors. She's having a little celebration and is giving away a dozen fat quarters on her blog. Pop over to the store and start or add to your collection of Kona colors and then head over to the blog and enter the giveaway.
Happy Friday everyone!

Give Peace a Chance...Redux

It's nice to have second chances and to have friends who don't mind when you mess up.
I redesigned the pattern and remade the "Give Peace a Chance" quilt. This time it really is a peace sign. It all started with a Peace quilt that my friend Whitney showed at the KC MQG. I fell in love with her quilt and I asked her if she would mind if I designed one of my own. She said sure and so I did.
Sort of feeds my hippie wanna be, child of the 60's side. I love the back as much as the front.
I quilted it with straight lines 1/2" apart and then I crosshatched the 4 corners to emphasize the shape of the peace sign. I love that little detail.
I made the pattern to share so it's available as a free download here. This quilt is perfect for a beginner, lots of squares and a few half square triangles. Tammy of Marmalade Fabrics has put together bundles to make the whole quilt or fat quarter packs of the prints needed for the quilt. Check out the Marmalade Mix, it's fab!

I'm proud of this quilt. It's cute and kind of a cool way to spread a message.

I was going to keep this one and give away the first one that ended up being the Mercedes Benz quilt. I may have to keep them both.

Night Forest

It feels so good to finish this! Definitely out of my comfort zone, but that's what made it a challenge.I found a place for it over the bed. Looks like it was made for it.
It may move later, and now it's getting packed up to go with me to LA.
The quilting is only done in the background...makes the trees pop forward and kinda ups the creepiness factor. It's sort of spooky looking in person.

Have a happy hump day!

Atomic Connections....Finally Complete!

I'm embarrassed to say this quilt has been sitting in my studio with the binding pinned since September. It's so great to see it on a bed and ready to use!
The KC Modern Quilt guild had a hand sewing Saturday at Bon Bon Atelier in Westport on Saturday and this is one of the projects I brought to work on. Thanks for hosting us, Betsy. We had a ball! I didn't quite get it done on Saturday, but I pulled it out last night and finished it up. So glad I did!
I really love the simplicity and at the same time the complexity of this design. None of the atomic singles, pairs or triplets are the same. I also adore how it looks on the bed. I lucked out on that!Angela's quilting takes it to a new level....it's a bit like a Where's Waldo quilt...you need to cuddle in it and get close up to enjoy all the unique twists in the quilting.
I'm kinda smitten with the back too....this quilt nourishes my cravings for orange and nostalgia for the 70's.

Selvages in the House

It's finally done and hanging in the studio.

It's so inspiring to have it right in front of me when I'm at my desk. This is where I sit and sketch.

I'm working hard to get things done. I thought I had a free week, but now the calendar is packed again. How does that happen?

Broken Cogs

I haven't been sewing much lately, just writing, writing and more writing. I finished this awhile ago. It was planned for one of the quilts in the book, but it didn't fit. Good for me! I adore this quilt and when I have a free minute or two it's going to be a pattern. This is the Broken Cogs quilt. Most of the fabrics are Daisy Janie's Geo Grand. So bold, so graphic...simply perfect for this quilt.
The design was inspired the parts of an old meat grinder that we use to grind cranberries at Thanksgiving. (I know, a food processor would be faster, but it's tradition in our house!)
It's taken me so long to post it because taking a good picture of it was nearly impossible. It's big, it's dark, and it's been either freezing cold, snowy or wet. I finally moved all the living room furniture and threw it on the floor. Don't you LOVE the back? I do.
I collaborated on the quilting with Miss Angela again. I love the way she emphasized the sharp edges of the cogs. There are straight lines in the arms of the cogs to give it a bit of a raw, industrial feel and then the curves to give the background an amazing texture.
I'm so happy with the whole thing.
Just is case you wanted to look at it some more!
Oh, by the way, Angela is celebrating a little anniversary this week. You should pop over and say hi and congratulations!

Life in Technicolor

I'm so happy to be able to show this quilt. It started out many months ago when I had an inkling to make a colorwheel quilt. I thought I was going to make Jovelle Hoverson's giant colorwheel, but then I put an arc on the design wall and it took me a different direction. I started playing with those graceful arcs of color and Life in Technicolor was born. It's a queen sized baby and fits in my guest bedroom just perfectly. This one will put a smile on your face on the dreariest winter day.
Angela worked with me on the quilting. As you can see...simply stunning.
Can you say, breathtaking!
My favorite part probably doesn't show in these pictures, but I love the rainbow colored binding. Have a happy weekend everyone! Another new quilt on Monday!

Proposal Moon

The moon looked like this the night he proposed to me...

...and this is 'Proposal Moon.'

The back with the moon in another phase for the next phase of our lives together.

Buzz and Jake...that's us.

The quilting...perfection. This was all Angela. I know she's proud of it and I'm in love with it. I'll let her tell you about her quilting.

"When I talk about working with Jacquie, the first thing I gush about is the collaboration we have. We trust each other's vision for the quilt and we are willing to move outside our comfort zones. Since the first time we worked together, we have pushed each other further and further with amazing results.

Proposal Moon was no different. This amazing quilt had such an awesome story, I wanted it to be perfect. Jacquie isn't afraid of giving me suggestions or letting me know what direction she wants the quilting to go. For this quilt, she thought large concentric circles overlapping the moons would be great. Then she left the rest up to me. She pointed me in a direction, and I ran with it.

First I pulled out the orange thread. I knew it would be perfect for the moons. Once those were finished, I had to decide what to do with the rest of the quilt. I decided to keep with the circular theme, and I repeated it throughout the quilt.

I quilted medium sized circles in the strip below the moons. I wanted them to blend in so they didn't compete with the ones above. Pebble quilting helped make them pop. The back view of the medium sized circles is fantastic. They went right through the name Buzz. I didn't plan it, and I didn't notice it until I took the quilt off my machine. It was a happy coincidence!

Moving down the quilt, I quilted the final strip with even smaller circles that were more like large pebbles. They stretch across the quilt and help break up the pebble quilting.

Sometimes in life things turn out far better than you could ever expect. This quilt is a testament to our creative partnership and will hopefully bring joy to her family for generations to come.

Thanks so much Jacquie for being a motivator, teacher, customer, and most importantly, a friend."

I'm lucky to have her, don't you think?

Feast your eyes on her quilting.

Love in a quilt...what's better than that?

It's All About Jon

Sorry Ben, this one is all about Jon. This quilt was inspired by a drawing that my youngest son, Jon did for me. I think he was about 10. I gave that drawing to my Sew Connected Bee buddies as inspiration. They came through with flying colors!

I played with negative space in this quilt. It wasn't easy to put together....lots of set in seams in this one, but it was worth it.
Angela quilted it for me and again that girl is a genius. We talked through some ideas and she took it from there. Can you see the design that is throughout the negative space?
Love this little detail.
Inspired!
My only struggle with this quilt is what to call it. In my world, all quilts need names. Ideas?

For those who asked, the solids in this quilt are Kona snow, espresso brown, and ice frappe.

Orange Crush Revisited

I do actually finish things.
This is a remake of the 'Orange Crush' quilt I sold. I've missed it. I wanted one of my very own. It so fits with my orange sectional.

Said goodbye to my youngest yesterday. He's back in St. Paul ready for the fall semester.

Excuse me while I brag. He's a fabulous musician, composer, arranger, music producer...Quincy Jones in the making.

He's a DJ too...he's got a BIG gig in a Minneapolis club tonight.

You're going to rock the house, J.

(Pictures by Jon's friend Baylee Bishop , a soon to be famous photographer!)

Miss you already!

Hot Summer Reading and a Few Winners!

I'm sorry I'm late with this. I seem to be saying that a bunch lately, but life comes before blog. The 'Hot Summer Reading' quilt is finished and ready to head to a new home.
The back echoes the front with a panel and half borders.
I did some experimenting with the quilting....I've been playing with some spirographesque (remember that toy, anyone?) straight line quilting designs. This is one of them. It needs some tweaking, but there is so much potential for interesting quilting with these.
All of us who finished at least something were winners in this challenge. The big winner is Quilty Goodness! The 'Hot Summer Reading' quilt is heading your way and Rebecca of Craft a Little will be getting a lovely fabric pack from my friend Cheryl of Naptime Quilter. (I have a picture of that fabric somewhere on this computer, but I can't find it to save my life!) Trust me, it's gorgeous! Ladies, please send me your mailing info and we'll get your prizes off to you ASAP! Thanks to everyone who participated!