Announcing Quilters' Playcation

More than a few years in the making with a delay because of Covid - those kids took my computer for school! - but I am thrilled to finally announce my new adventure: Quilters’ Playcation!

I wanted to create an experience, and opportunity for all quilters to give themselves the time to play; to give themselves the time, period. We make sure the kids or grandkids play, we get outside for a walk or exercise, we fit in our quilting wherever we can, but so rarely do we give ourselves the chance to actually play.

With travel still currently on hold and maybe you are bored with your family staycation, now is the perfect time for a playcation!

Playcation is all about exploring your creativity and having fun. Through Playdates - live Zoom events with a demo and time to hang out with fellow quilters/future friends - and Parties - stand alone workshops you can take on your own time, any time - I will share techniques, tips, and quilt opportunities. We’re here to play, not necessarily make a quilt. I am a firm believer that you don’t have to necessarily be making something when you sew and Playcation is proof of that. Just come for a good time.

The first event is already scheduled too!

March 5 5PM MST

Playdate: Crumb Blocks.

Register here! Start Playing!

Right now I am in the process of filming the first Parties. And more Playdates will be announced soon. The best way to stay informed is to sign up for the Quilters’ Playcation Newsletter. Just head over to the website and enter your email under Get The Scoop! at the bottom of any page. And everyone who signs up to the newsletter will get a discount code for their first event. Use it now or hang on to it for later.

As this is a brand new adventure I welcome any feedback or suggestions. I want to build this to be something you all want and can use. Think of me as your travel agent on your own Playcation!

Angular Momentum

Angular Momentum

73” by 68”

My daughter, The Monster, named this quilt. She also helped baste it and held it for the photo shoot. Let me tell you, having teens has its advantages! Another one of those being the ability to sit and sew for extended periods of time without having to wipe a bum, get snacks, or fix the TV. Things sure have changed!

What hasn’t changed, however, is my love for all things Improv. It never will, it is totally my Love Language.

This particular quilt began life as a bit of play in 2017, the summer of 2017. One of the blocks in here actually inspired my Shiver quilt! I finished the quilt top itself in the summer of 2019. And I put the last stitches of the binding in just before the end of 2020. All in all, that’s pretty quick for me!

The entire quilt was an exploration of just a few improv techniques, led by a study in triangles. I made each block of the quilt with only two contrasting solids. I really did not think about how they might all look together, only how the two colours looked side by side. Selections came from my small stash of solids. This meant I was limited to what was on hand. Sometimes blocks are as big as they are because that’s all the fabric I had, sometimes I felt the composition of the block was good so I stopped.

The whole thing ends up being an exploration of positive and negative in colours as well as value. This makes you see different shapes or lines. (Is that a dragon’s tail or a zipper?) Playing with scale within blocks and among the blocks keeps it from feeling same same across the quilt. As does changing up the technique all over. There is so much to see, so much to study as you look at this quilt.

When it came time to quilt this I had a very specific free motion technique in mind. I spent a while doodling it on paper to make sure my brain understood how to make it work. It’s one thing to have the look in mind, quite another to translate it through the needle. Although it was terribly time-consuming, every minute was worth it. I LOVE the way it turned out. You could absolutely scale up this pattern so it isn’t quite so dense.

My go to thread on a quilt like this - multiple colours without a singular story - would be an olive green, but I had none. We’re still staying home so I picked something from my thread stash instead of shopping. Pink it was! I was pleasantly surprised at how well it performs in this quilt, never really being bossy, allowing the texture to be front and centre. The pink I used was Aurifil 2479, really nice medium pink.

For binding, that pink thread definitely influenced the fabric choice. I know a lot of people might have picked a single solid here. Or maybe a black and white stripe. Both would have worked. I also did not have enough of either. Besides, I wasn’t feeling those options anyway. That pink thread inspired me to look in my pink stash and as soon as I rediscovered this stripe I knew it was perfect. Unexpected and bold, but it doesn’t steal all the attention. You know me, I like the contrast on a binding.

The back came together with some panels purchased at a store close-out a handful of years ago and some of my own Tag Fabric. The pink kind of glows here, doesn’t it?

My plan is for this quilt to be a teaching sample, stay tuned for those details. In the meantime, it is already in heavy rotation in the house. My son grabs it when he wakes up in the morning for snuggles with me or the dog. It’s also keeping me warm now that winter truly arrived as I read on the sofa. The whole thing is such a shot of necessary colour right now.

That’s 3 quilts finished in a month! Who am I?

PS

Lest you think I am some kind of a machine, check out the full glamour of quilting literally in the middle of a blanket fort over the Christmas break.

Show and Tell

Show and Tell

43” x 45’

First quilt finish of 2021!

I’m in a mood. A mood from the state of the world and politics and Covid and all of that. But also a mood to finish things. Head down and focus on something else. This is 1 of 3 quilts I’ve finished in the last few weeks.

This particular project came about as class samples. When I taught improv curves in person I would grab from the same stack of fabric to demonstrate various ideas. Bits would get used and reused in each class. Eventually, I ran out of the background fabric. That meant it was time to turn things into a quilt.

I do this a lot. It’s better than using random fabric for class samples and being left with a bunch of orphan blocks. This means that the next time I teach this class I will have a different selection of fabrics to use, which will eventually turn into the next quilt.

I was able, thankfully, to use a single width of fabric for the backing. The quilting was based on a sketch I had. My daughter said it made her googly-eyed, but as a quilting pattern it worked fantastic. I’ll admit, I was tempted to stop after one pass, but on a small quilt the second pass isn’t that much more work. Enjoy this badly coloured, but blown out photo so you can see the quilting. One pass was a quarter circle, repeated. The other pass was a modified wave pattern in a different direction. It was all done with a walking foot and 50W Aurifil thread.

The background fabric is covered in little coloured dots. I used most of the colours in the quilt, so when it came time to choose binding I went with yellow, the one dot colour I hadn’t used. Besides, we all could use a little sunshiny optimism right now!

Maybe these finishes will be just what I need to clear some mental space to get back at it? It’s surely a point of privilege to even think that way, a luxury to get to escape to quilting and ignore the real world. Life isn’t going to change overnight, we know that. A lot of us have a lot of work to do to make the world a better place for all. Yellow binding isn’t going to fix anything. Ignoring the world to finish a quilt is probably the wrong thing to do as well. But we all need respite at time in order to have the energy to keep fighting the fight.

HOME - From Virtual Workshop to Fundraising Opportunity

Wrapped up my last virtual workshop of the year this past weekend. What a whirlwind fall it’s been! Two of the most popular classes have been HOME and Make Words Not War. HOME is a more focused version of the other but both are about making Improv letters and using intention in our improv piecing.

As I developed samples for the HOME class a collection of blocks grows. Different text styles, different piecing techniques, and different homes.

A while back I asked followers on Twitter what home means to them. Interestingly, no one mentioned a physical space. It was more about a feeling - of warmth, safety, comfort, love, a deep breath. I’d always envisioned these blocks as representative of a physical space, so it presented a design challenge. It got me thinking about the different physical spaces that can be home - an apartment, a bed, a hearth. And about the non-tangible feelings. Not sure how to represent the latter, but I am working on alternatives to a single family dwelling.

This particular block started in a workshop with Keystone Modern Creative. It was about showing a few different ways to use curves in making the letters. Then that O happened. Doesn’t it look like a flame? That got us talking about the hearth of a home, the idea of warmth and comfort. With input from students I picked the fabric to make the tile surround and mantle.

Home really is the heart of life at the moment. For good and bad. I realize that for so many it is not safe place, not a place of respite. It can be scary or boring or dangerous or not even there. I’ve decided to take the HOME blocks I make for these workshops and turn them into a quilt come summer. After that it will be used as a fundraiser. I will also donate a portion of my earnings from each HOME workshop. So the more workshops I do, the more potential for fundraising.

Not exactly sure how this will all unfold, but I want the money to go towards a shelter that helps those finding home. I am open to suggestions, but will likely pick a local option.

Thank you so much to everyone inspiring these. Thank you to everyone staying home, staying safe.