Quasar

Today I get to show the other quilt of mine that will be in the QuiltCon show: introducing "Quasar".

This is a wedge quilt. But instead of the wedges being the focus, they become the background or "negative space" in the design and the focus is on the pieced strips between them. So the QuiltCon category I chose for this one is "use of negative space". If you have my book Wedge Quilt Workshop, I talk about using strips between wedges. This is one of the many possibilities with that approach!

This uses a 10 degree wedge template. I drafted my own because neither of the 10 degree rulers out there were the right size for this quilt. But working with paper templates is almost as easy as using a wedge ruler so no biggie. You have 72 seams creating that circle there. I knew it would be precise work, which is not really my strong suit, but it came together pretty well and with minimal exasperation!

I used only two fabrics for the quilt: the solid is from the Cotton Couture line and the rays are a Gelato ombre from Maywood Studio. Maywood studio is based here in Portland, and some lovely friends of mine work there. It feels just perfect that their fabric made the sparkly magic happen in this design! I had a great time quilting this on my domestic machine and I was a little sad when I was done. I wanted to get a lot of texture in there!

The pattern for this quilt will be published in QuiltCon magazine, which is available online now or later this month in print. And how about this: they put my quilt on the cover! I had to go back and check my email an hour after I read that: I started thinking maybe I had misunderstood. But no, it's real. What an honor! I'm tickled and I keep looking at the photo of the cover because WOW.

Thank you to the many volunteers who offered to help me pattern test. I'm finishing up my auction quilts for the kids' school, and then I'll be emailing you!

Modern Traditional Texture Sampler

I have two quilts that will be at QuiltCon this year. This is one of them!

I made this quilt to feature different free motion textures in my upcoming book. Rather than quilting a bunch of individual small samples I thought I would rather have one nice finished quilt to show. The stimulus to create it was practical, but I think it turned out really lovely! I designed the quilt during the Winter Olympics last year and I'm pretty sure I was under the influence of seeing all those different flags from around the world!

I picked the colors from the Pure Elements Solids line, and Art Gallery Fabrics sent me some to work with. I forced myself to work outside of usual color scheme and that was downright successful! It feels very energetic.

The most fun thing about this quilt is that my sister helped me make it! So the very first quilt she ever made is already in a quilt show, how about that? As usual I was behind schedule on the book because how does anyone get it all done you guys and she offered to help. It was so fun helping her do cutting and patchwork for the first time! Every block that was squares and/or rectangles she put together herself. The ones with angles I took care of. I think it worked out great.

When we started I gave her free reign to use whatever colors she wanted from the 13 that I had picked, with the recommendation that in any individual block the colors were analogous (lying right next to each other on the color wheel). I am certain that her color instincts are different than mine and that is where she really left her mark on this quilt.

I arranged the blocks and pieced them together. Then I got to quilt the top in all the lovely designs I had put in the book.

It was fun! I'm glad it will hang at QuiltCon. I'm a little self conscious about the back of the quilt: there was some funny stuff with the thread tension on the back in a couple of the blocks and I didn't notice when it was happening. It wasn't terrible, but I thought that some people might look at the back of the quilt too and I felt a little embarrassed. I tried to see if I could darken the red thread with a marker to match the backing better but that didn't work, so oh well. I can be calm about it.

It is sometimes hard for me to pick categories for my quilts from among the ones available for QuiltCon. I picked "Modern Traditionalism" because it is a sampler quilt, with a definite modern flair, incorporating some classic blocks as well as a ton of negative space (because how else are you going to show off your FMQ?).

I kept reasonably good notes of what I did when I made this quilt. Right now I am working on testing the angular blocks to make sure I wrote it down right, so I can get a pattern written! My goal is to have the pattern out around the time the book comes out, in early April. Does anyone who works kind of fast want to help me test a few blocks?

An Auction Quilt in the Making

Here is a project I'm working with for the annual art auction at my children's school. I'm working with the fourth graders and it's going SO WELL!!

When I signed up to lead the project for all of the over 100 (!!!) fourth graders I thought it would be fun to do something with fabric. I thought about it for a while and came up with a scrappy quilt (well, two scrappy quilts) based on value. Now unfortunately I would only have about 45 minutes with each class of 26 or so kids. I didn't think sewing machines or irons were going to be feasible or safe with so many students. I assumed hand sewing wouldn't fit in the time provided. So I settled on something verrrrrrrry similar to sew and flip foundation string piecing. I'll call it "glue and flip".

Since a lot of people are liking the look of this and asking me how I did it, let me share quickly how I approached it. I started by cutting a 30" strip for each student. The strips were 2" to 2.5" wide. I made them variable size so that when I inevitably had to cut some down due to mistakes it wouldn't be obvious. I cut up SO MANY of my scraps (if you decide to do this, you need more scraps than you think, or at least I did!). I bought a bunch of glue sticks, the purple ones so they could see where they had put the glue. We stapled each kid's name to the end of their strips to keep the classes straight and make sure we didn't misplace one.

Scraps were sorted into three different groups: light, medium and dark.

I showed them a quilt, I'd made, talked briefly about what a quilt is, told them we were going to make a quilt together and showed them a finished strip I'd made. I pointed out how it was dark at one end and light at the other. I pointed out how you couldn't see the fabric strip between the fabrics, or the raw edges. Then I demonstrated the technique three times.

The technique is:
First, put a dab of glue on the end of the strip and just place your first scrap over that. Show them that the scraps go beyond the side edges and they are supposed to do that. You'll trim them up at the end. For each piece of fabric after the first one, here is how they add it:

Using the glue stick, apply a strip of glue to the raw edge of the last scrap AND a strip of glue onto the foundation piece. 

 Lay the next piece face down aligning the edges. Some kids really do not get this face-down-edges-aligned thing. Clearly point out what you're doing during your demo. After it's in place, press it down to get the glue stuck.

Next flip it back, leaving a little bit of a "seam allowance" (I didn't use this term with them, I called it the folded underside). This was the hardest part for them. Some kids want to pull it back too far and expose all the glue and raw edges, some want to leave like an inch or more. Show them clearly during your demo how far you are folding it back. Double check as they start that everyone is getting this part.

Finally, have them roll the seam flat. I had a few seam rollers available and for the rest of the kids we gave them ink brayers, which the art teacher had plenty of. They worked great! It gives the folded edge a nice crease without needing to sew or iron.

Now, not everyone gets value. And that's why I sorted the scraps for them. Seriously I asked another mom to help me sort them and it was clear that it was stressful to her and based on where I found the fabrics I think seeing value is just hard for some people. If you had more time you could make this part of the project, maybe have some of that red film for people to look through, but we didn't have that. My solution was only putting one group of fabrics on the table at first (the darks) and not adding mediums until they'd gotten about 1/3 of the strip filled with the darks. Then once they were about 2/3 of the way done I distributed piles of lights. It was really fun doing this part, I felt like the fabric fairy and I loved hear audible gasps as I set down handfuls of fresh fabric for them to choose from. Having only a small pile on the table kept them from pawing endlessly through a bag. Only adults got to paw through the bag in the interest of time and crowd control.

A few students work slow, of course. As we were approaching our last 15 minutes the adults started doing 1-on-1 support with kids that weren't going to be able to finish without help. I would glue, they would choose the fabric, they would roll. We had an adult to child ratio of 1 to 8 in the morning. That was doable but 1 to 6 that we had in the afternoon was a world of difference. Some kids got almost to the edge but not quite. For those I just tucked under the final raw edge and glued it down (see the picture above of a finished strip from the back).

Once I got home I did a quick line of stitching up one side of each strip, about 1/8" from the edge, just to make sure no one's creation disintegrated. Then I pressed and trimmed them (I think you could press before the stay stitching if you prefer, I just really wanted all those fabrics locked down). Then I started sewing them together. There is a row of strips on the top and a row of strips on the bottom of the quilt, with the dark ends of the strips meeting in the middle of the quilt. Here's a closeup of the first strips on my design wall.

They sure look pretty and I'm having a great time putting them together! I'll update when there's progress to share. My first session with the kids was three weeks ago and when I was back at the school yesterday several of the students told me they had fun doing the project. I can't wait to bring the finished quilts back and show them what they created together! I hope this helps those of you that want to bring patchwork into the classroom! If you try doing this with kids in your life let me know how it goes!!

Everything Colorful

I realize it's been a while since I blogged. When it's summer how can you do anything but, well, summer? It was a great season for my family, lots of journeying and playing together but we are settling into the routines of school and fall without much fuss at all. 

The joyous colors of summer are still with me, though, so it's time to share some photos! In no particular order: 

I have a book coming out early next year! Step-by-Step Texture Quilting. 

It's got all the stuff that I love teaching right now: how to get glorious texture from not-too-hard quilting, plus lots of grids! It's available right now for preorder. I'll also probably take preorders here on the website once we get closer to the release date, if you're in the market for a signed copy. 

Next in the color line up: zip pouches ("Eco Pouches", because they're made from recycled plastic sacks), with my quilts on them!

C&T Publishing just made my year by putting two quilts from my book Wedge Quilt Workshop on these gifty bags. Quilters at my in-person classes have been loving them. I'm already out of my first order and need more! What's so delightful to me is that earlier this year I asked you all to vote on which quilts were your favorite, and the two quilts that C&T picked for the bags were the very same ones that you, my readers, voted as your favorite. You all are on the same scrappy happy colorful wavelength!  The pouches are for sale online at C&T, AQS and even Walmart (online only, don't head over there!!). I love that the little one says "hello gorgeous" on it, and every time you use that bag please know that's directly from me to you, gorgeous! 

And finally, I've been doing a lot of teaching this month. Here's a photo from my trip to Spokane to visit the Inland Northwest Modern Quilt Guild. I loved the color happening in this photo with everyone's different projects. It's so inspiring to see how each quilter takes the concepts in their own unique direction. 

I just looked ahead to my 2019 schedule. Next year is quite full with traveling for quilting, but I do have two spots left to offer: March 26-30 (Phoenix, Arizona area only) and Sept 6, 7 and 8, 2019 (anywhere!). If you think your quilt guild could use some free-motion or wedge love, send me an email and we can figure it out! Until next time, stay colorful!

Dreaming little dreams

The last 6 months felt like one big project after another. But at the beginning of April I turned in my next book, and for the past month I've been in creativity mode (where all good ideas are born). Creativity mode is a lot of playing with fabric, or sketching like crazy, thinking new thoughts and trying new things...

Here is some improvisationally cut foundation that's then improvisationally pieced and joined back together. I want to do this x1000. Big and over the top scrappy. This is my "fabric sketch". Right now I'm appliquéing the edges down but I bet with some practice I could do this all on the machine.

Spring is making the world bright and lovely. I've been thinking about fabric design and how I love shapes and color and so I made an entry into a recent Spoonflower challenge. It's gotten a lot of love over at Spoonflower which felt really good! I have plenty of sketches of other design ideas, it's just a matter of time at the computer to get the repeats and colors right.

Getting everything to fit just right is an interesting (sometimes frustrating and slow!) challenge. But I've enjoyed learning more. And it turns out the same skills are applicable elsewhere too: I was invited to turn some of my quilting designs into pantograph patterns! These are quilting designs that can be followed by long arm quilters manually or used digitally to finish quilts. I've made 5 so far, and hope to be able to show one on an actual quilt soon! (I don't own a long arm! Minor inconvenience...) If you have a long arm though, the designs are available through Willow Leaf Studio and I'd love to see what you quilt with them!

It's fun to see how much there is to show for the last couple of months from playing around and following my curiosity. I'm looking forward to exploring and experimenting a bit more before I dive into my next big project, whatever that ends up being! Are you trying new things right now too? Spring seems to be full of that kind of energy!

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Star Lattice

For the record: I'm still in love with wedges. I'm having a geometry moment in my life right now I think. 

This quilt is made with a 10 degree ruler! It's pretty simple construction: just a Magic Triangle block with the triangle point and the outer wedges the same color. You can really do so much with that block!  This pattern is called Star Lattice. It's all written and it should be available after this week. More details here when I have them! 

I'd really like to do this quilt again all scrappy. That's a funny thing about writing patterns. I like improvising and using scraps, but the less systematic I am in my construction, the harder it is to write a pattern for another quilter to follow. I'd like to get better at including scrappy construction in my patterns. My nod to improvisation in this pattern is that I substituted 1/4 yard of the yellow solid for a nearly the same yellow print. I didn't even put that in the pattern instructions but you can see it in the close up. 

I quilted this quilt with the grid quilting technique I so love right now (GEOMETRY!!). I teach all about it in my Craftsy class, Quilting the Grid.  Oh, and do you see the facing on the back? I really didn't like any of the bindings I auditioned for the quilt and I just needed it done, so I jumped at a facing instead. I like the crisp edges and I also like that it was made with the extra backing fabric I trimmed away after quilting. I might do more of that in the future because it's so straightforward and resourceful. 

You can see the quilting better from the back, naturally. The play between the navy and the aqua is my favorite part of this quilt. It looks kind of sparkly. I feel like navy is making itself present in my color sense a lot these days. Am I the only one or is this a color trend thing? Happy stitching!

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How to decide on a Wedge Quilting Ruler

Q: Christina, which wedge ruler should I get?
A: All of them!

Just kidding, I know we aren't made of money. So that's why I wrote this post!

You don't need a wedge ruler of course. But they sure are nice. All the quilts in my book Wedge Quilt Workshop can be made with just TWO wedge rulers:

The 9 degree ruler from Doheny Publications

And the 10 degree ruler from Phillips Fiber Art

I fell in love with these rulers one at a time. I started with the 9 degree ruler ruler and I think that's an excellent choice for anyone new to wedges. The nice thing about a 9 degree angle is that when you put 5 of them together you have 45 degrees. That is a magic number that can be easily squared up on the angled line on most of our cutting mats. So if you are new to wedges, this would be a great ruler to start with.

The 10 degree ruler ruler caught my eye when I started to get interested in the repeats that are possible. Because when you put 6 of these wedges together you get 60 degrees. And 60 degrees is a magic number for equilateral triangles, diamonds and hexagons. The possibilities! If you've ever seen my Magic Triangle Tutorial you'll know what I mean.

The repeats possible with a  9 degree ruler  are: 2, 4, 5, 8, 10
The repeats possible with a 10 degree ruler are: 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 12

Still wondering? Here's my one question approach: Do you like to follow patterns? If so, the 9 degree ruler has 6 patterns in the book to make with it. Get the 9 degree and you'll have the most options. Like these!

However, most of the things you can do with a 9 degree you can also do with a 10 degree (except for the squaring up at 45 degrees thing.) So if you like going your own way, and you're not too worried about that squaring up thing, or if you just LOVE the 60 degree angle, then you'll probably be happier with the 10 degree ruler. The quilt below, from the book, was easy to make with the 10 degree ruler and extension.

If you're like me, you'll fall in love with one of these rulers, and then need the other one in your life too! Until then, if you don't have budget for a ruler you can use the printed templates in the back of the book to make the patterns using your regular quilting ruler.

Feel free to ask questions, I love sharing the wedge magic!