Shiver

Shiver of Sharks Improv Quilts

Shiver

Roughly 70'' x 70''

Uh, so I finished this quilt months and months ago. It was just hard to be motivated to take a picture of it. You know, with that long Prairie winter we had it didn't really feel like the tropical waters of the quilt. And I did mention that I live in the middle of the Prairies, right?

Shiver is done though and I am happy to share it with the world!

Did you know a group of sharks is called a Shiver? Things you learn. And things that you learn when someone makes a random comment on instagram and suddenly you are making more shark blocks than you could have imagined. 

Shiver on bed.jpg

The quilting emphasizes the oceanic inspiration with its waves repeated across the quilt. I stitched in the ditch to outline the sharks and quilted the waves on my home machine. The thread colour changes as you move down the quilt, to match the gradation of the fabrics. Some were Wonderfil threads, some Aurifil, whichever colour works (especially because I find them interchangeable in my machine). We will not mention the amount of threads I had to bury to make all this happen.

This was totally one of those quilts that is just for fun. It was all about play, play, play. Sometimes it turns into something your son begs to sleep under while insisting you call him Great White Niki Shark and sometimes things get cut apart and put in the scrap bin. This time it worked and it is awesome. 

Dear Stella Sharks Rover Kaufman Coral

Quilts for Broncos Finish and Delivery

Quilts for Broncos

It seemed totally appropriate to deliver a load of donated quilts, quilt tops, and blocks for the Humboldt Broncos in a hockey bag. Confession: no great symbolism though, it's the bag I had that they all fit in. And don't worry, it has never been used for hockey gear!

I was flying out to Saskatoon over the weekend so offered to take Calgary area donations with me, so people didn't have to ship them on their own. Save the expense, after all. The wonderful folks at My Sewing Room volunteered to hold them for me too. Between those donations and the ones quilters dropped off at my house I delivered 20 finished quilts, 3 quilt tops, and a enough blocks for another quilt top to Periwinkle Quilting and Beyond in Saskatoon! 

Quilts for broncos 1.jpg

My own top was finished in time too. With great thanks to Lee Dueck at Quilting by Lee for volunteering to quilt this on her long arm. Can you see the hockey sticks she added?

The block design was picked by Haus of Stitches, the local store in Humboldt. It was a great block to choose because it went together so quickly. So instead of people making one block, they made many. Instead of making just a quilt top, people finished their quilts. I've never seen so many finished quilts donated to a drive like this! And I've heard of many people learning to quilt because they wanted to make one of these quilts.

Me, being me, had to play around with the suggested layout though. I did not do conventional borders too. I might have skipped borders all together, but I didn't have enough good greens in the stash to simply make more blocks. The hashtag effect was unintentional though. Totally appropriate, however, considering the spread of the news and support via social media. 

quilts for broncos 2.jpg

The original goal was 200 quilts. Last count is about 700 and the deadline is still a few days away. 

Quilters are amazing people. The global response to this horrific tragedy is beautiful and almost overwhelming. This, simply, is what quilters do. We take our desire to create beautiful things and spread love and comfort through the quilts. It often feels like the least we can do when we aren't able to bring meals, provide shoulders to cry on, make people laugh, and look people in the eye with love. It often doesn't feel like enough, but it does help. 

In Saskatoon my friend, another synchro mom, drove me to the store. Her cousin's son was on the bus and the entire family is in awe and so appreciative of the support everyone is getting. Recovery for everyone is going to be a long, long road. These quilts will be one small thing in that journey

quilts for broncos 4.jpg

CMYK - Another New Start

Mighty Lucky Quilting Club Carolyn Friedlander

Another new quilt start. Smitten from the beginning.

The Mighty Lucky Quilting Club is running again this year. I am signed up for a turn hosting in a couple of months. This year, however, the Club will work together to make an entire quilt. That is, each month plays well with each other and the whole thing is designed to give you a quilt top at the end. Still regular challenges, but with a different end goal in site.

The other difference this year is that the entire thing is about colour. So by the end of it you will have a quilt top and a deeper understanding of colour for all your other work. All without making a colour wheel.

Carolyn Friedlander kicked things off in January with a discussion about creating a palette and translating colour inspiration to picking fabric. I love her piece. I will admit, however, to be to being stuck on what I wanted to do. I've never been stuck for picking a palette before! New territory for me. But I didn't stress. Instead I pet some fabric and lived my life, confident that something would tickle my fancy eventually.

Enter the latest issue of Uppercase Mag. Devoted to CMYK - Cyan, magenta, and yellow. The base colours for printing. As with all issues of the magazines I had to wipe up my drool as I read it. Then I knew exactly what I was going to do for this Mighty Lucky Quilting Club challenge.

Uppercase Magazine CMYK
CMYK Fabric Mighty Lucky Quilting Club

So I picked a stack of fabric in these intense, pure colours. Not stressing too much about whether this pink perfectly matched that one. If I went that detailed then there would be no point to piecing! You need a bit of contrast in value, texture, and hue to have some depth to your piecing.

Then I printed off the templates for Carolyn's rows. She is a paper piecing master and it was good to work with her pattern. Pretty straightforward as paper piecing goes. Do not be intimidated at all! It takes me about 45 minutes to make 1 block. A beginner would probably take about an hour or more. Don't stress, just do it one seam, one block at a time.

While I usually like to use freezer paper when I paper piece, this time I used Carol Doak's Foundation Paper for my templates. They print right on my home printer, are thin, and are easy to remove. The print at home factor was big as I didn't want to draw out the templates for 12 blocks. (No affiliation, I just like it.) 

In a week I have 6 blocks done. I will plug away on these then start the next round - it's improv!

To sign up to receive the bimonthly challenges, and the templates for this particular block, check out Mighty Lucky Quilting Club. It is $50 for the annual subscription. 

Ripples - A New Start

Ripples Improv Quilts Improve Curves

I literally woke up with this idea.

We all know I am a morning person, rising to practice Morning Make. I've never confessed that it is still tough to actually get out of bed. So I take a few minutes to breathe and think about what I want to do as soon as my feet hit the ground. If I haven't prepped my Morning Make the night before I decide what mood I am in that day in those few minutes. Sewing? Sketching? Writing?

A few weekends ago I had the pleasure of participating in The Creative Jam in Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Wonderful people, the ocean, and a phenomenal creative spirit. It was an incredible weekend. Total bonus for me was my morning walks. The rain and fog held off each morning and the ocean was still. I could watch herons, seals, boats, and the fog roll in like a quilt being pulled over a sleeping baby. 

Improv Curves Improvisational Quilts

The morning after I got home I woke up with this idea. Ripples. 

Two rough 4'' squares layered right sides up. One light blue, one dark blue, value being relative. A wavy cut with my good scissors. Sewing opposites together. Square up to 3.5'' x 4''. Repeat and repeat, a meditation. 

How could I not, with this as inspiration?

Prince Rupert Ferry View
Prince Rupert Quilt Inspiration
Prince Rupert Quilt Inspiration
Prince Rupert Quilt Inspiration
Prince Rupert Improv Quilt Inspiration
Prince Rupert Totem Pole View
Prince Rupert Quilt Inspiration