Posted on April 17, 2017 in Quilting, sewing

Quilt Completed

This quilt started last year as two separate pieces from an in-person class at Country Roads Quilt Shoppe and a Carolyn Friedlander paper piecing creativebug tutorial. After combining the two pieces into one I added a border to even out the prints and piecing.

From West Virginia to Las Vegas and then to Virginia, this quilt was snuggled under after becoming only a sandwich! It also had a lot of machine quilting removed and redone; I found this task trying, but necessary.

For the paper piecing I used the scrap stash, with many of the fabrics being from Moda.

Quilting free form lines mesmerizes me because of the movement given to the quilt.

Many of these fabrics are from projects I completed prior to making this blog. It’s wonderful to see those scraps from previous projects, efforts, and little things of love I sent off in the world.

The main border fabric is from “Honeymoon” by Sarah Watts for Cotton + Steel. It reminds me of James Wright.

Since I’m a Robert Kaufman and Carolyn Friedlander fan this wide backing was perfect. It adds a nice softness.

The sunlight gives the machine quilting great shadows. Aurifil thread was used on this quilt.

One quilt done and another one on the way.

Our Kickstarter is going amazingly well. Thank you to all the supporters and those that have enjoyed the work. We’re really excited to being working on a new series of embroidery projects, and to be expanding Brambleton Threads.

Posted on October 9, 2016October 7, 2016 in Household, Improv

Pincushion Progress

I made a pincushion with some of the scraps left over from the quilt tops I’ve been working on. The fabric is from Andover’s Natural History deisgned by Lizzy House and Robert Kaufman. Lavender is one of my favorite scents, so PlumEasy‘s pincushion filling was a natural fit. The finished size is 5″ x 6 1/2″ x 2″, and it holds a lot of pins!

What is your favorite pincushion?

Posted on August 29, 2016 in sewing

Creating Creation

Exciting things have been happening and that energy spawned a new quilt design. Here is sample number one.

The idea for this quilt top happened after I’d cut out triangles from fat quarters, sewed those in to hexagons, and looked at the results. The results are a blend of the past and the present. While I was sewing it up my grandma filtered through my thoughts, and this is a quilt inspired by her.

Cut out triangles for sample quilt top two.

My supervisor stopped in to make sure all arranging was up to snuff.

Problem solving looks classic here.

What have you been making?

Posted on July 25, 2016 in Household, Quilting, sewing, Uncategorized

Colorful Quilt Top

This quilt is an amalgamation of cloth, time, patterns, and my brain. I started making this quilt for a class using T he Rabbit Factory’s Homespun Hill. The pieced blocks were fun and quick to put together. The color palette is dewy grass.

I modified this quilt top by adding Carolyn Friedlander‘s Creativebug Polk block. I’ve done some paper-piecing, and found this exercise to be helpful and inspiring. Paper-piecing is a great stash buster. Creativebug provides excellent instructions, visually and in print format (I’m big a fan!).

The quilt top has batiks, prints, solids, and paper-pieced blocks. The fabric on hand became this quilt; in the past year my taste, knowledge, and understanding of fabric has become more robust, and I’m happy to see some old fabrics being incorporated into a quilt and removed from the stash. Sarah Watts’ Honeymoon made it in and some batiks my auntie gifted to me. I’m partial to Sarah Watts round lines.

Honestly, sitting close to this quilt top since April, I don’t know if I’m ready to look at it as a whole. And really, it isn’t complete, because I have to add quilting, backing, and binding. Overall, I like the movement and the quilt top.

What did you make over the weekend?

Posted on May 1, 2016May 1, 2016 in Improv, Quilting, sewing

Scrappy Quilt Top

This improvisational quilt top happened a few weeks ago when I was staring deeply into the ever growing stack of quilt scraps crowding different areas of the house. I felt a bit overwhelmed. What should I do? I just sat down, started trying out fabrics, and boom: quilt top started. I was cutting and pressing and sewing away for a couple of days. Then I folded it up and put it away (except to snap thess photos so quickly I didn’t even press the fabric smooth!).

Improving is a skill I come to naturally in quilting; the first four quilts I made never saw a ruler or felt pins, and I thought those quilts were the best. The ruler is my friend now, and I use it unsparingly, but what I learned is that I’m a person that likes to explore a craft and all the different approaches.

The quilt top’s colors and lines are playful. Watching the sunrise from the window is such a great way to start off the day, and this quilt top turned in to a compilation of a few different sunrises. For the borders I would like to push my boundaries and go for a big lush floral print, because the clouds here are often large and crowded.

On my travels I was able to stop by the beach a few times. Growing up coastal, I always feel grounded when I’m near the ocean.

What have you been improvising lately?

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