wise craft

echo star pdf pattern available

I have finally put the pattern for the  Echo Star quilt in my shop. This is a downloadable PDF pattern, as all my quilt patterns are. When you place and pay for the order, you can immediately download it.

This pattern also contains instructions to make a pillow version of the Echo Star.

Several of you have asked about this pattern, and I'm so sorry for the delay. Working with your husband can sometimes be, um, interesting (love you Peter!).

My original Echo Star quilt and other beautiful star quilts made by the members of the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild will be on display at Island Quilter on Vashon Island as part of their June Artwalk, with an opening reception on the evening of June 7th. This is a wonderful Island, wonderful shop, and if this gorgeous weather holds out, a wonderful opportunity to walk around the island. I can wait to see all the star quilts hanging together!

 

 

sliced swoon quilt

My niece in North Carolina is getting married in June. It's the first wedding in our family in quite a while, and I am plenty excited. I love weddings. And isn't a wedding gift a great excuse to make a quilt? I think yes!

Not knowing what the couple's home decor looks like, or even what my niece wants it to look like, I wasn't sure where to start. But after a little snooping around her pinterest boards I did get one home decor clue, the color blue is apparently favored.

I decided on Swoon by Camille Roskelley (pattern available here), it felt like the perfect choice. Am I the last one to make a Swoon quilt?  Maybe so, but if you haven't made one, I highly recommend it. Anyway, thinking about the color blue, and wanting to stay away from flowers and feminine prints, all the Sketch Basic blues came to mind. I used the same color formula for each of the blocks and always kept the deeper-valued blue in the same position for each "star", to keep them all visually weighted the same. Also, my version cuts the side star blocks in half (the "sliced" part). Just a personal preference, but I do not like to use square-sized quilts, it just feels like an odd size, but I'm probably the weird one here.

It's well-documented by now that I really love a design that just runs off the edges of the quilt. So this one finishes out around 54" x 80".

The back is pieced with the scraps of Sketch and Joel Dewberry's Notting Hill "Historic Tile" in Citron. Straight line quilting (I would space them farther apart next time) and Essex linen/cotton binding.

 

Here's hoping it will loved and used for years to come!

friday favorites: quilting books i'd grab in a fire

I have a special bookshelf in my studio that is filled with favorite quilting books. The ones I pull out to look through when I feel in a creative rut. Each of them inspire me in different ways (some for color, some for pattern, some for symmetry of design) and they are the ones I turn to again and again. In my eyes, these books represent quiltmaking as an artform, not simply craft. I thought I'd share a few of them.

Anna Williams: Her Quilts & Their Influences by Katherine Watts

This book was published by the American Quilter's Society in 1995, so not really vintage, but the quilts of Anna Williams span a lifetime of instinctual, brilliant color patchwork piecing, a lifetime of honing a skill she described as "what I do to take my mind off my troubles". The copies of this book left in circulation are not cheap, and it is shockingly thin (a mere 25 pages), but it is truly inspiring. As Denyse said in her workshop where I first learned of Anna, "you can't fake" what Anna did with color, pattern, and quilting. Sadly, Anna passed away in June of 2012. I love having this book of her work to inspired me.

 

Quilts by Roderick Kiracofe. 

This book was a gift from Erin and I absolutely love it. Not an old book at all, quite new in fact, available as a self-published book on Blurb).The colors, the patterns, the entire collection of quilts in this book is completely inspiring on so many levels. Some of these quilts were shown at QuiltCon recently (another reason I should have gone!) and it must have been wonderful to see these in person. Great fabric and color reference on these pages. And something about seeing beautifully colored quilts on a stark white background really appeals to me.

 

Abstract Design in American Quilts: A Biography of an Exhibition by Jonathan Holstein

This book is the story of an exhibition that opened in 1971 at the Whitney Museum in New York. This book reminds and inspires me to remember the art of quiltmaking. There is an entire story within the pages of this book of how the exhibit came to exist, along with full pages of the quilts themselves with information about each one. There is page after page of graphic inspiration and use of color and pattern. This is a beautiful book for any quiltmaker to have in their collection.

 

Patchwork Simplified by Alice Timmins

This is a well-used old library copy with a copyright of 1973. I love the mod, geometric feel of the patchwork in this book. Look at those wonderful quilted skirts above (although I'm sure she is beating her head against the wall on the right, wondering why she didn't just make that fabulous patchwork into a full quilt instead of a skirt).

 

Patchcraft by Elsie Svennas

Another treasure, beautiful use of color and shapes within quilts. Gives great examples of applique and embroidery used in quiltmaking, although many of the images are black and white. Still...

 

The Perfect Patchwork Primer by Beth Gutcheon

This book is just a great reference book for so many techniques, standards, and really just the whole idea of quilting's place in a creative life. A must-have for any vintage quilt library.

I would love to hear what quilting books you have to inspire you!

Happy Friday!

jewel boxes

I began this quilt, or should I say, I began the scrappy improvisation blocks for this quilt, during the first workshop I took with Denyse Schmidt. You can see my blocks from that weekend more in the second part of the write-up. In the class, we randomly grabbed and pieced small strips together using her paper bag piecing method. This is just what it sounds like, grabbing little bits of fabric from brown paper bags, with absolutely no thought as to what gets paired with what, or what color combinations result. (This is exactly why so many of the blocks you see from her classes have that beautifully random, "use what you have" homespun look.)

friendship bracelet quilt revisited

I've been wanting to play with my Friendship Bracelet quilt pattern again. Someone once asked if this pattern could be done with pre-cut jelly rolls, and after the Jelly Roll Race quilt and the Echo Star, I decided to actually try it. I thought it should work, but wanted to sew one up to be sure. Plus, this quilt is so quick to sew up, I knew it would be a relatively fast project.

how i now pin baste my quilt layers together on a tabletop

Thank you all so much for all the kind words on the Echo Star quilt! The quilt pattern for it is currently in work and will be available very soon, I will keep you posted. And I can't wait to see the Echo Stars you guys make!

I already mentioned wanting to try out a new way to baste my quilt layers together. After some research, I have basted 2 quilts using this "new" method and I decided to write up a tutorial for it, in case anyone else would like to try it out.

friday favorites: echo star quilt

Updated to add: The Echo Star quilt is now available as a PDF pattern here!

 

 

 

 

Sometimes making a quilt from my head is all about exploration of what looks right together, or what type of patterning might seem harmonious, really just playing with the possibilities, hoping I will like the outcome. (That was definitely the case with Sunshine Medallion.) But there are times when my mind's eye has a crystal clear vision from the very beginning of what I want the end result to be. That was the case with this quilt, Echo Star.

echo star quilt progess

Updated 5/6/13- This quilt is now completed, and available as a PDF pattern!

Oh...this quilt.... I love it so much. What began as a painting, then became a pillow, and now this large version. It has been so incredibly nice to just hunker down and work feverishly sewing this up during the drear and drip of winter. Somehow it feels so cheerful to me.

friday favorites: quiltcon 2013 lectures on craftsy

I have been working feverishly on my newest quilt pattern, Echo Star, in actual quilt form all week long and nursing a few sick ones around here. In between, I have been watching the Quiltcon 2013 speakers on Craftsy and am so inspired! Angela Walters, Heather Jones, Jacquie Gering, David and Amy Butler are the ones I've watched and listened to so far, but there are even more!

Quiltcon is the first conference created and held by The Modern Quilt Guild. I couldn't attend (but don't plan to make that mistake again!). Looked like such an inspiring 5 days. But, luckily for us, Craftsy has put together video of many of the lectures as a free offering on their site!

To be truthful here, I didn't quite get Craftsy when they first launched. But I'm totally converted at this point. I have taken several Craftsy classes and their platform is wonderful. The videos are clear, if you have a question, ask it and the instructor will email you a reply. There's lots to like about it. (This is all totally unsolicited by the way!)

Have a great weekend everyone, see you on Monday with a new desktop image for March!

in the studio, the remains