Tag: Quilts in the Wild

The Night Garden Quilt

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Let’s talk about a dramatic shift from loving low volume backgrounds to being enamored with blacks, navy and every shade of blue/gray to mimic a night sky. Add in the flowers of a garden and the creatures that visit under the cover of darkness and you’re here, the start of my first Night Garden Quilt.

How does your garden grow?

I was cruising through summer and prepping my holiday gift lists and even getting some projects started, when my IG friend, Elizabeth (@lizzymakes) started sharing pictures of a night garden quilt. It caught my eye immediately, mostly because the dark fabrics were so out of the norm for me, but I really liked what she was doing. I’d zoom in….see more details, finding myself even more intrigued as I studied her quilts. Then she shared the idea of a loosely structured / no deadline sew-along and I jumped right in. Yes, 100%. I went about pulling all the bright colors for flowers and all the darks for backgrounds. I was intent on not buying more fabric, but as you might imagine, that was a short-lived idea. I have a lot of scraps, but this was going to require more dark prints than I had available for the size finish I wanted.

Flowers

First up, flowers. I started with the zinnia blocks, a pattern by Lori Holt. I literally went straight to my scrap bins and pulled everything for the petals, and then built in the other elements of the flowers. I wasn’t really sure how many flowers I’d make or what the formation of the sky might entail or how closely I could replicate all the creatures I’ve seen walk through my yard. But it was ALL swirling in my thoughts. I started to remember other floral block patterns I had purchased and only used once. Could I add those? Yes. It was back to my digital files and scouring the archives to make use of the things I had purchased with other intentions. So much of it came into play for this quilt. Revisiting patterns is a good thing!

I could easily overthink the animals & whether they are night or day visitors, but in the end, I just wanted representation of what I like – stars, crescent moon, bright/lively flowers, flying friends and the all time favorite, the bear. Everything else would be a cherry on top.

Here’s another flower variety, this one a pattern by On Williams Street. More chances for tiny scraps to come to life!

Details

It’s all in the details. While the scrappy-ness of the bigger blocks is typical of my wild-color, improv loving heart, I also like to sneak in little details. At first glance you may not see them. If you’re sitting snuggled under the quilt with time to spare, you might notice. If you know me well, you know why it’s there. That kind of stuff. I like it in my work. The storytelling through images makes me happy.

This little segment has old & new fabric, pieces from pattern testing and even fabric my husband brought home from a business trip in the UK. Nobody else would know, but I do and I like how it all continues to find a way into my quilting.

Is there such thing as “tiring of rifle paper co. rabbits”? I don’t think so.

Foundation Paper Piecing

Foundation Paper Piecing. For me, it’s the love / hate piecing method. I love the accuracy and precision. I loathe the removal of the foundation. I love the tiny bits; it means every scrap has potential. But those papers, there has to be a better, less messy way. It’s a test of patience for me, for sure. However, as much as I take deep breaths and sigh about the mess, I go back for more. Ha!

In all seriousness, I could NOT make this hummingbird without foundation paper piecing. So, tiny pieces of foundation to tear away, it’s ok. I’ll keep doing it to have results like this.

For the past few summers, I’ve planted gardens that are welcoming to butterflies and hummingbirds. They are frequent visitors to our home every single day, so they had to be included in this quilt. As the weather chills and some of the flowers die off, my flying friends aren’t as frequent to the patio. I look forward to seeing them next summer.

There’s a tiny note in this block too. I’m sure you see it; wink. 🙂

Be still my heart; owl….I think you are stunning. This is a pattern by Griffin and the Bear, which made my piecing work so easy. I hear the hooting from the woods…this one needed to be included too. There is such a thrill and a gift to living in a forest.

Speaking of forests….wouldn’t you gnome it? There has to be a gnome.

It’s a wrap

I worked on this daily and from start to finish; add in long distance quilting and photos. It took less than 8 weeks?! I think that’s right. To say I was slightly obsessed would be accurate. I *may” have left my fabric out and purchased more backing for another one. Once I got in a rhythm with these blocks, it just flew by.

This was professionally quilted by Kaitlyn, http://www.knotandthreaddesign.com. It’s fantastic. She’s finished several of my quilts and I’m always pleased with the results. I finally had a chance to meet her this summer; so thankful for my quilt community. I bound it with the same fabric I used for the backing.

See the bear? I see them often; of course one makes an appearance here.

That’s a wrap. I’m a convert. Give me all the dark backgrounds now! Thanks to Elizabeth for the sew-along, Kaitlyn for the quilting, and Cass for indulging me in awesome fabric from Nova Quilts. There were moments along the way I wasn’t sure how my intentions were going to be puzzled together, but it worked. It’s another “I love it” finish for me! Night Garden 2 – I’m coming for you.

-Happy Quilting…enjoy!

All photos and content property of Two Terriers Studio and not to be copied or distributed without written consent of the owner. This is not a sponsored post.

Star Pop 2, #2

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Lately, I’ve been documenting things out of the chronological order in which they were created, so here’s one more to keep it going! Star Pop 2, the second one I’ve made. I made the first Star Pop 2 quilt in the spring, as a baby gift for my American Sign Language teacher, but I kept it under wraps to keep the surprise. My youngest fell in love with that first version and asked me to make another. Of course, the answer was YES. Now, many months have passed and I’ve made a second of this same pattern. It goes together quickly and the structure of the blocks allows favorite prints to shine, as they aren’t cut too small. Also, who doesn’t love stars in a quilt?

Star Pop 2 is a modern sawtooth star pattern. It’s beginner friendly, too. The pattern comes with six size options: baby, square throw, large throw, twin, queen, and king. The first one I made in baby size, this one is the large throw which measures 60″ x 75″.

The Fabric

This quilt is made with some favorite Art Gallery Fabrics I purchased from my friend, Brittany at http://www.whiteplainsquilts.com when she had an online fabric shop. She still designs and sells beautiful quilt patterns, so go give her website a look. She phased out the fabric portion of her business, but when she was in the thick of it, the curated bundles were exceptional. Several of these prints are from my own AGF stash, but they all came together beautifully, in my opinion. I was drawn to the “Willow” fabric collection by Sharon Holland, and most especially, Rosewater Ballet. It truly reminds me of ballet, the days watching my child at the conservatory; the swans also remind me of the Swan Boats in Boston…it was the spark for this particular quilt.

This beautiful Rosewater Ballet print and the stack of white blocks, that will become the stars, makes me smile. I think there’s something really cool about seeing the elements stacked and ready, knowing the end goal.

Piecing

Seriously? How sweet is this? The owl, the flowers, the colors. Let’s all just acknowledge the simplicity of the block too. If you’re one who likes chain piecing and efficiency, this pattern by Emily Dennis, http://www.quiltylove.com , is a good choice.

If you’ve seen many of my quilts, you know I often finish them with a pieced back. I use up all the bits from the front or make duplicate blocks for a section across the center. I am still learning to piece backs with a single fabric, but I knew this one needed no interruptions or other fabrics. It’s not perfect pattern matching, but with only a couple of these under my belt, I’m OK with it. I also know the recipient won’t be judging it harshly. I’ll tell you, it boosted my respect for people who hang wallpaper! Geez. That’s a skill.

Ready for Travel

Here she is, pieced and swirled and ready to be quilted. When the colors and the prints are all tossed into one shot and there’s that exhale of relief that what was in my mind, worked out in the process. Even better, a thumbs up from the one who requested it. That’s all I need.

In the Wild

This summer, my husband and I were in Utah and visited two national parks. Not having been to Zion National Park before, I didn’t really know what all we would see, but I thought this quilt would photograph well in that environment. The rugged terrain and the delicate prints, a perfect balance. If you’ve never been to Zion, ( http://www.nps.gov ), I recommend giving it consideration. The trails were not as crowded as I anticipated and the views were unbelievable. I found myself stopping every few feet because the view was even better and then realized none of the photos were as breathtaking as the real thing. So, it became “take photos, but take it in”.

Is that not jaw-dropping, beautiful nature? I thought my quilt was pretty cool, but the landscape dwarfs it by comparison. I mean, seriously. How is a quilter supposed to compete with the Master Artist and thousands of years of time? Impossible. Just be ok with being second, here.

A little closer look; plenty of wrinkles after the hike

The sun shifted just a bit as we were walking out of the canyon, across this riverbed. We paused to take a few more minutes to soak it all in, not knowing if we’d be back. The air is so clean; there was hardly a sound even though we weren’t alone, and the scent of the vegetation is unlike anything in New England. I wish I could add sound/scent to these pictures. The quilt draped across this branch, a little airing out, but looking like stained glass windows. I’m always a sucker for quilts in the wind.

I couldn’t do this without my husband (photo assistant, location coordinator, wearer of big river hiking boots!)

Finished

I had this professionally long-arm quilted by Jenn, http://www.knottedthread.com. This is the Macintosh Rose pantograph in white thread. I chose this because it’s sweet and the swirl of the roses is a nice contrast to the larger square blocks and star points. It’s a feminine finish…I love it.

It just needs a quick wash, another hug and then off to live with my youngest. May she feel the love wrapped up in this project.

-Happy Quilting

All photos and content property of Two Terriers Studio and not to be copied or distributed without permission of the owner.

Eastern to Mountain, Part 3

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Well, this post was a long time coming to press! Goodness gracious. The second post in this 3-part series was written five months ago, but this particular quilt has been finished for a year. I’ve clearly not kept up with the blog or the chronology of my projects this year.

Time. It’s fleeting.

Let’s just get to it…meet the quilt lovingly called “The Beast”. The third in a 3 part series.

The Beast

Why “The Beast”? First and probably singularly named because it’s huge. Huge by the standards I’d set for some of my quilts when this was finished in the summer of 2022. With this being an improv style, there wasn’t a pattern or an end size in mind when I started. It was finished when I was finished and that took months (years?). It’s perfectly suited to keep my tall husband cozy on movie nights, so all’s well that ends well.

Strings

There’s no surprise this is another scrappy quilt. I never tire of seeing a decade of fabric bits thrown together into something useful. Thrown together may be a stretch, but I can say without hesitation that I don’t spend much time thinking about which fabrics are pulled from my overflowing bin. I’ve purchased all these pieces because I like them individually, so my thought is that collectively, it will work out. This quilt represents years of previous projects. I love it.

Like most quilters, I have a multiple scrap bins. Some sorted by color, some by designer, some by size. The pieces of this quilt came from the “strings & strips” bin. With the completion of each project, I sort scraps into the appropriate bin and anything more than an inch wide, but in a long strip, goes into this one space. When it hits overflowing, it’s time to piece them together.

Foundation Paper Piecing

I started these blocks with ten inch foundation paper piecing squares from http://www.missouriquiltco.com. The lightweight and easily torn-away foundation papers made these blocks a breeze. I constructed this like a “string quilt”, with a fabric strip placed face-up, diagonally across the center and then worked in each consecutive strip to one side until the foundation was covered. I flipped the square around and repeated on the other half of the square. Everything was given a good press, trimmed and set aside. Over and over and over!

As you can see, there isn’t a theme. The strips vary in color, width, designer and style. It seems to me that in scrappy quilts, the more fabrics, the more it makes sense. It’s not like trying to stay in a zone and missing it…the more the better. At least to my eye.

A Traveling Top

From New England to Utah, this quilt saw some mileage. In the summer of 2022, my husband & I were in Provo, Utah as well as Sundance. The scenery is incredible; perfect for quilt photos. We hopped around town, a bag of quilt tops in tow, and then headed into the mountains. I’m so lucky to have a husband who will carry quilts up steep terrain and then also hold them off the ground while I try to capture good angles. He’s the best. We’ve learned that photos of large quilts in the wild are easier when they are just pieced tops. These babies get heavy!

Stewart’s Cascade Trail

Into the mountains we go. These photos were taken along Stewart’s Cascade Trail, a 1.9 mile hike from the south side of Mount Timpanogos. The trail traverses through thick fir trees, oak, maple, aspens, and an avalanche path. It is stunning. The aspens were spectacular and when the sun shines just right, everything is more beautiful. The elevation is significantly higher than what we are used to at home, but it was manageable. The snakes, not my thing. I kept a good watch after the first one crossed my path.

Anyone else love to see quilts in the wild or in the wind? I love the burst of color among nature’s glory.

The goal was to get to the waterfall and take the photos there. A few people stopped to ask what we were carrying, so the trek took more time as we stopped to explain the quilts. I never know if other hikers think it’s cool or wacky that this is what we are doing, but I’m guessing it leads to a story of “you’re not going to believe what I saw on the trail today!” Just as we got to the clearing and the waterfall was within sight, a young couple moved passed us and perched on a rocky ledge and made themselves comfortable. We debated waiting them out, but also made note of the time and impending sunset. Hiking back down a trail we didn’t know, in the dark, wasn’t top priority. The waterfall shot was over. So here we are…imagine a waterfall just behind the quilt. It’s there, I promise.

Quilted

I had this longarm quilted by Jenn, http://www.knottedthread.com using the Time Warp pantograph. The movement of the panto across these angular cuts is exactly what I wanted.

With so much going on in the front of the quilt, I opted for a simple black & white striped binding. The back of the quilt is mainly black and white with a pieced section, too. I like how the striped binding frames everything.

I had two bolts of the terrier fabric & it has come in handy for quilt backs. I really like this print and have used it on quilts I know I intend to keep in our family.

The Beast finished at 75″ x 87″; a decade of fabric, many months of sewing, a bit more than two thousand miles of travel and a day’s hike in Utah. Worth every minute of effort.

-Happy Quilting!

This is not a sponsored post. All content and photos property of Two Terriers Studio and not to be duplicated or shared without written consent of the owner.

Eastern to Mountain, Part 1

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The Retro HST Quilt

In three seasons of 2022, I made three quilts that traveled with me between the Eastern and Mountain time zones of the USA. I love “Quilts in the Wild” and capturing these in different cities and seasons, in various stages of completion was a treat. So, with that in mind (and because I’m about a year delayed in writing these stories), I’m going to do a 3 part series. One more thing they all have in common is that they were all three made from my scrap stash. It’s hard to say now, but I’m guessing some element of it was an Earth Day focus, using what I have without buying new. There truly is a blessing in using what you have; I could not be more pleased with these quilts.

A Sew Along

One of the great things about the Instagram quilting community are the friendships that can develop between quilters who may have never even met in person. A shared passion for fabric & design, is something we can talk about for days. Fine tuning skills with tips & tricks, as well as collaborating on patterns or even sew-alongs, is actually fun. This Retro HST (half-square triangle) Quilt was born out of an IG sew-along.

Quilty friends, @lizzymakes, @knotted_thread & @graccieone were the spark behind this sew-along in the spring of 2022. It was inspired by a half-square quilt created by Red Pepper Quilts (the original is a 9-patch HST block) and had been made by Elizabeth. Jen & Amanda hosted a “create at your own pace” sew-along and I liked the idea of a giant quilt, but at my own pace, and not on a group deadline. I started pulling fabric and pairing up squares.

Keeping the momentum going with more fabric pairings and trimming. In true to me form, once I started, I was pretty singularly focused!

A few tools to help with accuracy and flat blocks are always right by my sewing machine. The wool pressing mat, my LDH snips, a hot iron and a tailor’s clapper are all used in a day’s work.

The Block Assembly

Accuracy in the first cut is important, but it’s also important how we press (not iron) and trim our blocks to size. This particular quilt of mine has 576 half-square triangles. A little bit “off” x 576 will result in a wonky, not square or flat quilt top. I knew that if I was going to cut this many pieces, they had to be spot-on!

What’s on the inside matters too. I love how quilt blocks look from the side you’ll never see once it’s quilted.

Little by little, I pulled fabric and paired the darker pieces with some low-volume prints. I tried to stick to a schedule of making a few each day because I could tell right away I was going to like this and wanted to see it through to the end. That isn’t always the case. Some “starts” are not the favorite “finishes”.

Off to Utah

I finished this before our trip to Provo and lovingly packed a suitcase with three quilts to take for photos. It’s been a long time since I was in the mountains west of home, so I was excited about the potential for great scenery. Provo did not disappoint!

Two perspectives along the same sidewalk at Bridal Veil Falls. I wish there was sound…the waterfall and the gentle breeze cannot be captured here; it was a spectacular spot.

I like the contrast of the color and softness of all this fabric against river rocks and the roar of nature. Of course, I was on alert for gusts of wind so that my quilt top didn’t get blown into the stream. That would likely not be pretty!

Back to the East Coast

Once I returned home, this was sent to be long-arm quilted. I’m so thankful to have the option to send big quilts out for the magic of edge to edge quilting. I don’t think I could do it justice, for a quilt this size, on my domestic machine.

I chose a swirl pantograph to give movement to all the angles and squares. The backing is a text print (my editing / writing days shine through in fabric prints, sometimes); the binding is a Liberty print. It pulls colors from the front, coordinates with the print on the back; subtle, but interesting, in my opinion.

I’ve shifted to machine binding my larger, personally owned quilts. Yes, it’s special to have them hand-bound. But, we use our quilts and they are washed often, so I like the added assurance of a solid, machine seam.

Retro HST in Autumn

The good thing about an “at your own pace” sew-along is that I wasn’t behind schedule when I finally had it pieced, quilted, traveled and bound for photos in a New England Autumn! As much as I loved the Utah mountain shots, the backdrop of red trees is pretty cool too.

This one is well traveled and well loved, season to season. I look forward to making another!

All photos and content property of Two Terriers Studio, not to be copied or distributed without written consent of the owner.

My 1st Pixelated Quilt

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This is the latest scrap busting quilt I’ve made and I love it. Every quilt comes with a story; how it began, who it is for, the process, the fabric, the quilting and boy, does this one have a story. It’s one that I’m glad I trusted the process and continued sewing, even amidst the doubt and layout fatigue. What started as a project to use scraps and have some “mindless” patchwork sewing, quickly became anything but mindless. It’s more of a study of value and every block is placed with intention. Such intention isn’t usually found in scrappy or improvisation quilts I’ve made in the past. This one took time.

Sorting Scraps

I tend to be frugal with my scraps; almost to a fault. I’ve now been quilting for just over a decade and while I buy a lot of fabric, I use and keep almost every little bit until it’s a size that I can no longer find a use for. After each project, I’ve cut leftover fabric into 5″, 3.5″, and 2.5″ squares and store them together for future patchwork. The bigger pieces are sorted and stored by color and become zipper pouches or something like that. I’ve made so many “scrap busting” quilts and will be sharing them here soon. I’m a couple days late for Earth Day celebrations, but I always feel that using every little bit and not dumping it into a landfill is a responsible way to move through this process. My goal here was to not purchase a single piece of fabric to make this giant quilt and in that, I succeeded.

When I decided to make this Pixelated Quilt, I pulled all my 2.5″ squares and just dropped them on my cutting table. That’s the mess above. I don’t sort my squares by color, but by size. It seemed to make sense until this quilt assembly.

After a few days of sorting through all those little random pieces, I spent time sorting by color into a storage box. I don’t work well in chaos, so while I like all the fabric, the lack of order was making it a challenge to get things done. I was reminded that I have very little orange, yellow, or purple fabric in my collection. I needed to cut into some other larger pieces to develop the right amount of color gradient.

It was at about this time that I wasn’t sure I wanted to make this a large quilt. I started questioning what minimum size would still show the pattern, but allow for a quick finish. It was taking more time than I had anticipated (or wanted to spend) and rather than using the 2.5″ squares I’d already cut, I was having to cut into more fabric I already owned. I said to my husband, “I thought this was a good idea, now I’m not sure. Maybe it can be a baby quilt? I’m actually not loving it; is the value gradient actually showing yet?” He will say that the story went something like, “I have an idea; I love it; I think I’m OVER IT; insert mild curse words; I’m SO OVER it; a few more curse words; Ok, I really do love it!” Ha.

The Layout

My block layout is a 6×6 pattern with the darkest line on the center diagonal. I also wanted the graphic images to be oriented top to bottom; the quilt front would have an obvious “top”. This was one more place where the intentional layout became time consuming. In addition to the gradient, I wanted the orientation to be consistent. Sometimes, I don’t worry about that. This time, I was trying to get each piece correct. With a quilt measuring 68″ x 80″, that meant 1,512 pieces…all measuring 2.5″ unfinished, 2″ finished.

Quilt in the Wild

I like to photograph my quilt tops before they are quilted and bound for a few reasons. When I finally get the top finished, the first photos feel like a bit of a celebration. It’s also easier to travel with quilts of this size before they are quilted and bound, because the weight of something 68×80″ is heavy. My husband always helps me with the full size photos, so it’s also good that he’s not standing there, arms completely outstretched, trying not to let a heavy quilt hit the ground. I think it’s fun to see my work out of the studio, so “Quilts in the Wild” is top of my photo list.

These photos were taken at the Northfield Daffodil Farm in Litchfield, CT. It’s a magical place with rolling hills and so many beautiful flowers. This is was the second time (and second quilt of mine) photographed here.

Longarm Quilting

I sent this to be professionally longarm quilted by Jen, http://www.knottedthread.com. I chose a continuous Baptist Fan pantograph and I think she did a wonderful job.

The backing is of sea turtles and the binding is a Moda Fabrics grunge. I like how the binding matched the sea turtles, but also framed this span of so many colors.

Finished

Quilted and bound, I took it to Massachusetts for one more photo. It was just the burst of color needed by the sidewalk on this cloudy, spring day. If you look closely, you can see those turtles peaking out at the upper right corner.

While there is truth to the way my husband would relay the story of this quilt’s making, I look at it finished and I’m thankful I continued on. Isn’t that the way with most things in life? It’s the mentality to keep going that will get us where we need to be. Within these one thousand five hundred and twelve squares are fabrics from my very first quilt, made over a decade ago, as well as pieces from almost every one in between. I’m definitely seeing repeats and I notice the gaps in my own stash. This one will be staying at home with us. I made a considerable dent in my scrap squares and celebrated using every little bit.

It’s just a fun, cozy, colorful quilt, made with love.

All photos and content property of Two Terriers Studio and not to be copied or distributed without written consent.