Goodbye 2022

This year has been full of fun, friends, adventures, family, smiles, and quilting! It was a year of laughs and big moments, as well as quiet moments found in nature and in prayer. Quilts for gifts, for swaps, for me, for fun; alongside movies, music, bakes, biking, walks, and creating joy. I enjoyed traveling to see friends & family coast to coast and getting to hug some of my favorite people this year. 

Here's a few of my fav snapshots from the year. Looking forward to discovering what 2023 has to hold - Happy New Year!

People & Places

Quilts

Star Gazing - the 100days project

Remember my star blocks from 2020? Well, let me introduce you to 'Star Gazing,' the finished quilt!

A quick recap: in 2020 I did a 100 days project, making a star block every day. I tried to keep them under 12", but otherwise didn't put any limits on size or shape for the blocks since I knew I wanted to put them together in a non-grid layout. The fabrics in the individual blocks all came from my stash - a fun way to really dig in and see what I had!

Some blocks have ties to specific days, or events, while others were chosen to showcase the star theme. It was fun to search for so many variations of  a star block, and I used a variety of techniques: hand applique, machine applique, reverse applique, fusible applique, raw edge applique, english paper piecing, foundation paper piecing, machine piecing. 

Assembly of the top required a lot of partial seams and quilt math. The filler/background fabric is a low volume star print; and of course the backing fabric and binding fabrics also are star prints to continue the theme. :)

The top sat for a little while as I decided how to quilt it, and so I could get this beast basted. To counter all the star points and angles, I quilted an all over, curved fan design with a variegated yellow thread. This type of design needed to be pre-marked, so I gathered some specific tools: EZ Circle Cut Ruler, Dritz purple marking pen & lots of patience!

From the bottom of the quilt, I marked about 8-10 rows of the largest fan curve. Then I free motion quilted across those markings. Once the initial marked rows were quilted, I continued to mark a couple rows at a time and quilt them. This created a foundation of quilting across the whole quilt. From here I was able to then mark the smaller, inner fan curves a row or two at a time before quilting. Rinse and repeat until the entire quilt was quilted. Whew!

While labor intensive and exacting, I'm really happy with how the quilting turned out, and how it looks on the quilt itself. It really shows up well on the backing too!

Binding is hand stitched to the back, and this quilt measures up at 86" x 86"! It's ready for snuggles which is good timing since it's getting chilly outside again. I enjoyed the process of this quilt a lot and would like to do another 100 days project in the future.

You can see all of the individual stars here or on Instagram with #bumblybs100days.

Syncopated

I find myself admiring quilts made with all solid fabrics, and wanting to emulate that in my own quilts. However, when I try to stick to an all-solids palette, prints work their way into the mix every time! (Not a bad thing at all)!

When thinking of a class project, I decided to challenge myself to make an all solids quilt. Of course, that meant the class was going to make all solid quilts too. The wedges are freehand cut, and machine pieced. I love how the colors blend into each other across the quilt.

It's quilted with coordinating Aurifil threads in organic, wavy lines. My signature bee was added into one of the corners too. Binding is hand finished, and final quilt size is 39" x 52". this was bought by R to brighten up a blank spot on the wall at home and I know it'll be lovely there!

The title 'Syncopated' came from my love of music, and the way the wedges create their own off-beat rhythm of color.

Bloom - a quilting bee quilt

This summer I managed to finish this quilt from my time (May 2019-April 2020) in the #birthdaywishesbee on Instagram! For my month as queen, I asked for drunkard's path units of purples or blues with low volume backgrounds. This way I could mix around everyone's units and blend them together more cohesively across the quilt.

I love this Kaffe 'fan' print, and lovelovelove how well it coordinates with the colors!

For quilting, I did some echo arcs inside each of the partial circles, in coordinating Aurifil 40 wt. threads. In the background, I used a light purple variegated thread in a stipple design. Binding is hand finished to the back, and the quilt measures 59”w x 68”h.

Many thanks to my bee mates for their help in creating this ever blooming quilt!

Kailie, SJ, Sue, Karen, Marie, Brooke, Ashley, Caitlin, Cheryl, Kerry, Cassie

Field of Sunshine

In August R & I adventured eastwards to Ruby Branch Farms to see their sunflower fields! It rained on and off, and of course started up again once we arrived but that didn't stop us! We almost had the field to ourselves, and it did not disappoint!

I took a ton of photos, and since R & I are creative types, we were looking up close at the details/shapes/textures.

I'd say that the stormy skies actually made the sunflowers more vibrant in color and contrast, and they were really cool once you were surrounded by them. 

I'd definitely go back and maybe next time I'll remember to bring a quilt to photograph!

Tide Pools of love

When one of your bestest friends is getting married you have to make a quilt, and at this point, my friends know it's my go-to for gifting because quilting is my superpower!

I started with their colors- sea green dresses and peach in the flowers- and ended up with this range of teal fabrics from the shelves with a pop of the peach. 

I used the wall hanging pattern from "A Quilter's Mixology" by Angela Pingel, and made it 4 times to make a larger sized quilt. I liked the modern feel of the design, and in the teal & peach it felt beachy & calm. Though I did tweak it a little bit to make it a bit more rectangular in size with a little breathing room around the edges.

The little curves in the blocks were fiddly, but not difficult, and I spent weekends and evenings piecing all the different shapes together. Watching each shape come together and planning to quilt different things in them had me thinking of tide pools, which inspired the name for the quilt. I chose quilting designs that were water-like, bubbles/pebbles, ripples, waves and swirls to emphasize the tide pool idea. 

The wedding was lovely, and it was so good to be there in person! I had the joy of gifting this in person and see their surprise on opening it. :) 

The background white is stippled with some hidden messages inside: bees, a bumblee tortuga, hearts, and their names, making a fun search & find for them.

I know it'll be well-loved & enjoyed by C&K for years to come - love you guys!

Quilt Camp After Party

Each summer I teach Quilt Camp at work for youth ages 7-17. There are 3 different skill levels and each skill level has a different project. Campers learn basic quilting methods like choosing fabrics, machine piecing, quilting; and as their skills expand, they move on to rotary cutting, machine quilting, binding, and techniques such as paper piecing or curved piecing.

Camp can be chaotic, but it's always fun and inspiring to see how each participant chooses to create their quilt. After a number of years, I thought it could be cool to create a quilt that includes all of the projects from Camp and this quilt is the result!

"Quilt Camp After Party" includes all 21 projects from 2011-2017! 

That's a lot of projects to mesh together, so having a design wall while at quilt retreat was essential to puzzling out the final layout of the blocks. It measures ~69"x70". A lot of the fabrics are leftovers from the work stash so they add an extra layer of memory to the quilt. Of course, there are some bees tucked into the quilting too!

I finally got it together for quilting earlier this year, and free motion quilted it with a variety of coordinating Aurifil threads. Finding ways to emphasize each block had some challenges, but I usually start near the center with the first block that I have a plan for, and then the more time I spend quilting, the more ideas pop up for what to do in the next blocks. 

L was a great sport in holding this quilt for photos. No matter where we tried for a good backdrop, the wind blew in to cause havoc. She snapped this one of me holding on tightly despite the wind!

Several blocks came from/inspired by:

*Circle of geese by Beth @Piecebynumber

*Pinwheels- Sunshine and Marmalade pattern in Macalls Quikc Quilts June/July 2012 issue by Susan Guzman

*FG medallion star - Pattern from May/June ‘14 Quiltmaker; Jelly Beans 

*1 Carol Doak star

Seeing Stone

Naturally, springtime means it's time for a Star Wars themed quilt swap, this year hosted by Kristine @kcswapshost and you can go check out all the amazing quilts at #maythe4thswap2022. Star Wars swaps are such fun - which is why I can't resist!

My partner had some awesome artwork in her mosaic that I used to inspire the design for my quilt. I found the pattern for Grogu from FandominStitches and he is tiny, with some teeny pieces to boot!

I mixed the regular black fabric with the metallic print to add some extra fun, and after Grogu was complete, paper pieced the extra background space around him. I placed him on the Seeing Stone as he reaches out through the Force. It's free motion quilted, with some fun detailing across the stone, and a little bee too.

Secret swaps keep the element of surprise until you open the mail to see what lovely quilt came your way. I was thrilled to open mine and find this awesome Ahsoka mini made by @sew_some_good was for me! I love it a lot and it'll be happy as part of my mini quilt wall at home.

Update Fun Fact: Both of these quilts are featured in Make Modern Issue 47!

Happy quilting friends!

Quick Step for baby P

 I love making baby quilts for friends! There's something so happy about creating a quilt specifically for a brand new soul - choosing colors, fabrics, and design to make a special gift. Usually I'll consider any nursery themes/ideas from the parents, and sometimes I just go for whatever I think would be fun as a surprise.

This one was for the 4th baby of a close friend, so there was an added challenge of not making it the same as any of the quilts I made for the older kiddos! There wasn't much pressure to create this one either, as I waited until she had the baby before making any final decisions on fabrics. I went with a simple herringbone design which I cut with the 60 degree lines on my ruler - so easy.

I used a green texture print as the neutral/background, and then chose a variety of colors to coordinate. The angled edges on the top and bottom were really cool, so I didn't want to just cut them straight across completely. Instead I opted to leave one end angled which gives it a cool, funky look.

Simple back and forth lines in the print sections, and ribbon candy designs in the background pieces meant the quilting zipped along pretty quickly. I found the binding fabric in my stash - a warm-color zig-zag print that was prefect for the finishing off this quilt! It was sent with some goodies for the family and happily received by its new owner - baby P!

Sonata for Bee

 Okay friends, this one was a finish in 2021 that I hadn't shared here yet! To really get the story started, we go back to 2016 (!) when I took a Double Wedding Ring class with Victoria Findlay Wolfe. It was a fantastic class - Victoria is an excellent, energetic teacher and really helped all of us experiment and play with our fabric choices.

For this quilt I decided to use my stash of music themed fabrics that I had been finding over the years. So even with a wide mix of colors and styles - they all ended up blending well all together. By the end of class I had most of the top pieced, and then finished it up at home that week.

From there, it sat in the to-be-quilted pile until I finally got it basted and under the needle summer of 2021. The backing is pieced with some of the bigger leftover pieces of music fabrics to continue the theme, and it's bound with a yellow-gold Grunge.

I free motion quilted music notes- quarter notes, eighth notes, sixteenth notes, and treble clefs- across the quilt in a blue Aurifil thread.⁣ This was a challenge that I enjoyed figuring out to make the notes flow into and out of each other throughout the quilt.

It's called 'Sonata for Bee' and hung in an exhibit of staff-made/owned quilts at the Quilt Museum in fall of 2021! Super exciting to have it completed & exhibited!