Posted on August 23, 2017August 23, 2017 in Quilting, sewing

Crib Quilt

This crib size baby quilt is 54″ x 41″ and has a cotton batting. We aren’t sure if our friend’s baby is a boy or a girl, and not knowing that allowed for me to play a lot with color and some prints. I pieced together the top earlier this year, of course using Aurifil thread. The binding are batiks I had left over from another quilt.

This quilt reminds me of watching the sunrise over the Atlantic ocean, something I’ve been able to enjoy pretty often lately. The quilt backing fabrics are both Cotton + Steel. I love the pink’s lushness.

I used a deep gold thread to machine quilt this. In all spots that looked like a square I made an X and filled in the rest of the quilt with lines. The ocean often has pockets of smooth water on the surface and I thought of those spaces while I was making X’s.

A thank you to my husband for holding up the quilts!

I find machine quilting on cotton batting to be a lot smoother and quicker experience than with wool batting. The fibers in wool are much more like a bramble. Cotton typically settles down with itself. What do you like to use for batting?

Thanks for stopping by!

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 April 10, 2017April 10, 2017 in Quilting, sewing

Flannel Baby Quilt

This flannel quilt is simple in its appearance and construction. I was thinking a baby’s close up view of the world, about the spaces between the meeting of matter, and how those meetings blur into lines.

The finished size is 57″ by 58″. Robert Kaufman flannel is the front fabric. Aurifil thread is used for the sewing and quilting.

For the back fabric a plain blue Robert Kaufman quilting cotton. The print fabrics used in the backing and binding are from Abi Hall’s collection “Jurassic Jamboree” for Moda.

Here is the original concept. Creating one-off designs is one of the reasons I love to make quilts and embroidery pieces. Translating an idea from one form to the next presents a natural challenge for me.

We are launching a Kickstarter later today for a one-off embroidery series! Click here to check it out. Thanks for the support and kind words.

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 July 5, 2016 in Appliqué, Hand Sewing, Quilting, Uncategorized

Summer Colors

The morning light is soft, warm, and surprising. With all of the resettling here I surprised myself by cutting out squares for applique on a quilt top. The color palette is warm with pinks and oranges highlighted by blues, greens, and purples. Looking up from under the water reminds me of summer, and for me these colors reflect the interplay between sun and sea.

Posted on July 1, 2016 in Appliqué, Hand Sewing, Quilting

Prepping to Applique

I find prepping applique pieces relaxing. After today’s beautiful sunrise, not unlike these colors, I am ready to get to work basting. A couple of quilts are in my future for the new apartment, because we moved when we were only staying for vacation: life has a natural flow and I can’t, and don’t want to, stop it.

The printed fabric is Kim Anderson’s Tidal Lace from Windham Fabrics. I picked it up at Super Buzzy last time I was in California. Both fabric and store are amazing.

What have you been making lately?

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?

Posted on March 31, 2016March 31, 2016 in Free-Motion, Quilting, sewing

Diamond Star Baby Quilt

This is a quilt for a special person: first nephew I’ll ever meet! He comes from very bright and sweet people. When I saw Lizzy House‘s fabric line Natural History I fell in love with the playfulness of color and design. She seems pretty awesome. Check her out on Creativebug too (I am a huge fan of Creativebug, but more on that another time). I consulted School of Sewing‘s instructions for a baby-sized quilt, but then added in my own arrangement.

Carolyn Friedlander‘s new line Caraki tones down the color and adds to a structured effect. Bones are the best. We all need bones and they are beautiful to look at. Caraki is beautiful and strong. Perfect!

I wasted no time using my favorite FM curved shape while quilting. I love this quilt, and I’m excited to meet the little guy it is for.

What have you been sewing up lately? Happy end of March to everyone!

Posted on March 20, 2016March 20, 2016 in Appliqué, Free-Motion, Quilting

Free-motion for the First Time

Yesterday held firsts. The Janome serger and sewing machine arrived! I’ve been waiting all month and it flew by. After returning home safely, I wasted no time switching over needle plate, threading up, and trying out free-motion quilting; Lori Smith’s appliqued piece was my first choice.

Complete satisfaction: I loved every second I spent trying out this new skill. The hours flew by while I stitched. I’m nowhere near steady, but am enthused to keep practicing; I want to quilt everything and am quickly on that path. Free-motion work is what drew me in to quilting for good: Fabric doodling! I was captivated by the work of other artists/quilters, and I couldn’t wait to join.

Doodling is an activity I love. I wasn’t sure how I wanted to transfer my ideas from brain-to-fabric. Many draw with friction pens or use an overlay, but I was so excited to try out the machine and an eyeball worked best for me. The endless options are incredible! Before I knew it, I had a sweet little table accented by a window. This stitching made easy with Aurifil thread.

The table was a little hard to see, and I wanted to play with texture, so in came some thicker thread paired with hand stitching and a great outline formed. All of the applique practice has paid off in the stitch regularity category.

Happy Spring! It has been a busy and exciting March. The spring peepers are out and the trees are pushing to bloom. Have you been working on anything exciting?