Monday, April 30, 2018

April OMG: Rolling Waves Top!

My April One Monthly Goal over at Elm Street Quilts was to finish piecing this Rolling Waves quilt top. I finished, and hung it up this morning in the bright sunshine (what's that? we haven't seen much of that around here lately...) to take a photo. I'm looking forward to quilting and binding this one. And finishing writing the pattern! 


The dot fabrics are from Benartex's All About Color collection--I am in love with those colorful circles! I designed this quilt while playing around with the Monkey Wrench block (also known as the Snail's Trail block). You can read more about the quilt design here.

Thursday, April 19, 2018

The Checkerboard quilt

I'm excited to share my latest magazine quilt, Checkerboard, which is in the May/June 2018 issue of Modern Patchwork. It's always a thrill to see my name in print! The quilt is made using Paintbrush studio's Painter's Palette Solids. They're my favorite solids to sew with--they're silky smooth and so saturated with color. You can see all 168 colors here

The cover: 

Find the magazine here.

I love improv log cabin blocks! They're fun to make, and each one turns out different from its neighbors. I made a smaller version of this quilt last year (below), but wanted to do more with the design. 

When I designed the Checkerboard quilt, I tried a few versions that were all log cabin blocks (in other words, a bigger version of what you see above) and it was just too much. The quilt needed breathing space. I really liked what the negative space above the below the block row added to the design.

I took some more photos of my quilt to share. 
If I'd taken them a day earlier, I would have had a snowy backdrop (ugh!). 

The full quilt:

I love how the transition of colors makes the block centers look like they're popping out (orange) and receding back (blue). I really enjoyed choosing the colors to use in these blocks, but it was harder than you'd think!

These next few shots really show off the quilting. Diane Oakes did a fabulous job! She quilted a spiraling square in each block, and then straight lines in the solid sections.

Blue block close-up:

Orange block close-up:

Saturday, April 7, 2018

April OMG - Rolling Waves

I didn't make my March goal. I might have been able to if I rushed the last day, but I went with quality over speed and didn't finish.

I did all the background (shades of gray) quilting, and I finished the straight line boxes in the green and orange blocks. I still need to do the purple and blue blocks and then do some wiggles in all the blocks. 




But that's not my April project for One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts. My April project is to complete the top of my Rolling Waves quilt, which will soon be a pattern. (Read more about it here.)

I have two blocks done: 


And 14 more almost done. 


Here's what the quilt will look like:


Can't wait to get it done!

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Crossroads in American Patchwork & Quilting!

Happy April!
I've been eagerly awaiting this day for a couple weeks. The June 2018 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting goes on sale today, and I have a quilt in it! My quilt is called Crossroads, and it uses Sarah Fielke's Wordplay collection for Windham Fabrics.

Here it is! Don't you love that dark blue wall behind the quilt? 
Used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine.
 ©2018 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.

The cover quilt is pretty great, isn't it? 


Let me tell you how this quilt came to be.
I had the idea to use large log cabin blocks to make a version of an eight-pointed star. My husband and I were returning from a kid-free mini vacation last summer, and while he drove, I pulled out my laptop, enjoying the silence (there are usually three boys in the back seat!), and played around with a design. 

Here's what I came up with:

Okay, so maybe not a star, like I'd envisioned, but still cool! I thought it might be a winner, and started looking for a fabric line to use in the quilt. I knew I wanted the outer sections of each block to be a mix of low volume prints. Then I saw Wordplay and fell in love. These prints were perfect for my quilt! I plugged in the digital swatches, submitted it to American Patchwork & Quilting, and here we are, eight months later. This is my first quilt published in AP&Q--I was excited! 

I got the quilt back last week and took it outside for a short photoshoot. I love how the brights pop against the low-volume background. The contrast shows up beautifully in photography. I also love the variety of colors in the prints--several blues, bright green, red, yellow...it was fun to choose which prints to use in the quilt. 

On our swing set's climbing wall:

Hanging over our deck railing:

I need to send a big thank you to two people involved in the making of Crossroads. 
First, my mom, Lindy, who happened to be in town for the weekend while I was piecing this quilt AND the hourglass quilt last September. She helped cut the first log cabin block strips and then pressed after I pieced. I love these prints, but we had to cut very carefully to make sure each strip was as straight as possible. The results were worth it!


And second, Diane Oakes, who quilted it so beautifully. She and I talked about a couple different motifs, and she varied them, stitching a design in each strip row. You can see some of the detail below. 

I have two more quilts featured in magazines coming out in the next month or two which I'll be sharing as the issues go on sale--you're seeing why I was so busy last fall!