Baby Hughes' baby LEXI

          In early June, I was able to start on a baby quilt at my quilt retreat.  I had decided to make some quilts using GE Designs' LEXI pattern.  One quilt was intended for a niece's second child, and I decided to use some of the same fabrics or similar fabrics that I used for the quilt for her first baby. I have a stash of 30s children's prints, and chose a palette of bright reds, yellows, blues and greens for this quilt.   I generally like to design my own quilts, but I have been enjoying making the quilts designed by Gundrun Erla.  They are not difficult, and are quite eye-catching!  

       We had an ersatz design wall set up, and I used it often to play with the color combinations.

 When I got home, the panel joined others on my own design wall! 

     When possible, I like to make my baby quilts a good size so the kids can use a nap blankets when they are bigger.   I decided to add a pieced border of the fabrics to finish this off.   I forgot to measure before I sent off to baby Hughes, but I think this is about  42 x 48.                

The quilt in the lake breeze.  Please ignore my trusty quilt holder's sock choice!

     Here is the quilt I made for Hughes' big sister, Pippa.  My blog about this quilt can be found here.  

I still had enough of the backing to use the same fabric for the backs, and I realize I used the same Kona red for the binding, too! This picture is from the Union Jack quilt, but the one for the Lexi quilt is identical! 

Welcome, Baby Hughes!  I hope the kids have fun matching fabrics in their quilts!

Take care,

Gretchen

Ring Around the Rosie

     Two of my college friends recently had a little girl.  (These are clearly art school friends -  a baby born to any of the women I went to college with in the 1970s would be well, miraculous!) 

     I wanted to make a quilt for this little pumpkin and decided that a panel I had already made would be perfect.  I had made two similar panels, and had turned one into a bigger quilt for a toddler who joined my extended family.  My blog about that quilt is here,   For this baby, a smaller one was perfectly sized and is colorful, bold and painterly, like her mom!  I forgot to measure it (!) but I think it is about 36 inches square.

     I haven't done concentric circle quilting in a long time, but felt that worked for this project! 

     I did have a few problems with the back for some reason, but spent some quality time with my seam ripper and got it fixed! 

In the middle of repairs! 

     I love both the front and back fabrics of this quilt!  All the colors and forms are so happy!

      I had a chance to meet the baby today, and she is a total cutie!  Welcome to the world, little Anais Rosemarie!  

 

     I can't believe that summer is winding down.   I'll soon share some pictures from the Fiberart International exhibit I recently visited in Pittsburgh, PA.  Wonderful, creative works!  So glad I had the chance to visit.  

Take care,
Gretchen 

'On Ringo Lake' on Lake Erie

     It has been some time since I have been able to sit down and post to the blog.  In addition to taking on an on-line summer course towards my art degree, I have had some family transitions which not only take up time, but also leave me emotionally exhausted! 
     I was grateful for the few days at the quilt retreat in June, and have been able to finish up three quilts, but didn't have the energy to write about them until now! 
     First up - the biggest and oldest quilt, the Bonnie Hunter "On Ringo Lake" quilt, which was the mystery quilt she released after Thanksgiving of 2017.   This was my first Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt.  I enjoyed the process, and learned lots along the way.  I switched up the colors to use fabric from my stash. using yellow/golds, reds, blacks, and light neutrals.

I finished the top in September of 2018.       My post about the top is here.   Then my steady progress slowed!  In early 2019 I got the top pinned, but didn't get to quilting it until a few weeks ago!   My guild's biennial quilt show is coming up, and I needed this quilt done in order to enter something!  
     Part of the reason for the delay was trying to settle on a quilting pattern.  I didn't want the quilting to distract from the detailed piecing.  I ended up decided to do a medium size stipple in the squares, and to just stitch along the seams of the sashing.   I used a red Aurifil for the quilting, which seems to blend well.

     I also had to decide about the binding.  I had considered a black and white stripe, but again, didn't want it to fight with the piecing.  I ended up using remaining yellow pieces to create the binding.

     This quilt got the cat approval!  

     The finished quilt is 87 inches by 71.5 inches, after washing and drying to get the nice crinkly feel I prefer.   I am looking forward to finding the right place to use the quilt!  
    That is all I have time for today!  I'll soon post about the two baby quilts I finished, but they haven't yet been delivered.  
     I do post more frequently to my Instagram account because it is much easier to just take a picture than to write!  Please look me up and follow me @snugharborquilts!

Take care,
Gretchen 

  

Quilt Retreat Report, Part 1

     A few weeks ago, I was able to join some old and new quilting friends on a 4 day quilt retreat.  This is my third retreat with some of these ladies, and what a nice time I had.  If you have never taken part in one, you should!  It is a great way to spend large amounts of time sewing, being inspired by the work done by others, and getting to know other quilters. 
     What I didn't realize before I started going on these adventures is that there is a healthy amount of wine sipping that happens in the evenings.  Sewing while sipping is a thing, and now I plan for it.
     When I am figuring out what projects to take for the 4 days, I include precision projects for the morning and afternoon, and "drinking-proof" projects for the evening.  I always take more projects that I can actually finish!  My precision projects were three versions of the GE Designs Lexie pattern I purchased.  I got a good start on those, and will share soon. 
     For the evening, I had decided to work on two scrap projects.  I have bags of scraps, some of which I had previously cut into 2 1/2 inch wide strips.  Before going on the retreat, I sewed those together into two long rolls.  I also cut lots of scrap batting into 2 1/2 inch strips, with the intention of making a jelly roll rug. 

 During the retreat, while sipping wine and binge watching Grace & Frankie on Netflix, I managed to sew the fabric covered cords to create a rug.  I used up all the batting I brought, and created this nice big ball!

   Yesterday, I had a few hours free, and decided to try a sample rug.  Because I was curious about how far these strips go, I measured out 60 feet before starting.  I put on my zig zag stitch and went to town.  I like how it turned out, although I'll probably tweak the next one a bit, especially where the coils end.  The finished little rug is 24 inches in diameter.  A cute little mat for the sink or lav, and almost no cost, since everything was scraps!   

     My other "drinking" project was to start working on a crumb type piece with all my little solid bits.  From my various bins of solids, I filled a huge Marshall's bag!

 

  For this project, I just started on building from a small center, and kept adding and rotating as the mood struck.  I ended up with dozen small pieces ranging from about 5 inches square to about 14 inches long.  I like how these look individually and how they may look together.  I am still mulling over what to do with them.  I barely touched the scrap stash, so I can just keep going.  I enjoyed this sewing tremendously!  The lighting was pretty bad when I snapped this photo - sorry!  

     I wanted to check my values, and had decided not to include white, so I used my phone camera to see if I had a mix of lights, darks and mediums.  I think I do! 

   So, 4 days of sewing, and only a small little rug completed, but lots of projects started, and lots of great memories of the retreat.

Take care,
Gretchen

Hey, Wassily #2 - Quilt Expo Modern Mini Quilt Challenge

     April and early May were BUSY!  I finished my two college art classes, took a 6 week (one morning a week) watercolor class with my mom at a community art center, completed 24 hours of Continuing Legal Education classes, took over newsletter duties for one of my quilt guilds, and co-hosted a wonderful 90th birthday luncheon for my mom! Whew!  No wonder I haven't been quilting or blogging!  

     May 1 arrived, and it was time for the Quilt Expo Modern Mini Challenge (link to web site). I have entered twice before, with "Off the Rails" last year and "Stepping Stones" in 2017. I enjoy this challenge, but couldn't begin to work on my submission until May 8!

     I did have an idea in my head for my piece.  The art of German Expressionist painter Wassily Kandinsky fascinates me and his Color Study piece inspired me.  I wanted to work in solids, and use the Kona color of the year, Splash, as a part of this piece.  I decided to forego white or black, and tried to pick a limited and saturated color palette that had some contrast created by using warm and cool tones, and dark and light tones.  I wanted the colors to zing!  

     I also wanted to experiment with free cutting (no templates) and piecing circles.  I continue to be inspired by Maria Shell's work.  I attempted a piece last year, but wasn't entirely pleased with the end product.  The curves weren't as curvy as I had intended and I also wasn't entirely happy with the composition of the final piece.  

I called this Hey, Wassily. 

     I started with a few test pieces to see how much work and fabric was required to make these blocks. 

You need lots of pins to sew curves like these! 

     I had picked 8 colors for the circles, and pieced them one layer at a time, trying to keep the center and finished shapes generally the same size.  I was enjoying the variety and the wonkiness of the shapes!  
     Since I was on a tight timeline, I made lots of decisions as I was going along.  I started with circles of just 2 colors.  I was also undecided about the background, which was between white or Kona's "Splash", a turquoise shade that is the color of the year.  
I put the two color circles on my design board.

     I looked at this for a day, and decided to use "Splash" for the background of all the blocks, and to add another ring of color to each circle.   

     I pieced the background around the circles, and used a square ruler to cut each block 8 1/2 inches square.  

      Once I fussed with the block placement, I began my quilting, using thread that pretty much matched the colors.  I usually like Aurifil for quilting, but didn't have all the colors on hand, and so ended up using Sulky (which worked just fine, too!)  I used a few different designs in the quilting to add a touch more textural interest.   Here are a few close-ups 

     I considered binding the piece in a black and white stripe, and also considered facing the piece.  I ended up binding in the turquoise, to to keep the focus on the colored circles.  

     I am quite happy with this piece, which measures 24 inches square.  I am glad I finished it in time to enter it into the contest.  There are loads of really interesting and beautiful modern quilts entered this year.  Please check them all out!  You can find all the entries in a photo album on the Quilt Expo Facebook page here.    

Submissions can be added through May 21, and winners are announced the following week.  

     Here is a photo of the back of the piece, where you can see all the quilting against the white backing.  

I am heading to a quilt retreat soon, and can't wait!  

Take care,
Gretchen  

Electric Stripes!

   Finally finished the quilt for little Nayla, a new arrival to my big extended family.  

    This quilt is the result of some experimenting with striped fabric.  Last year I had won some batik striped fabric in a raffle.  I loved how fun it was to work with the stripes, and figured out what the fabric was (Hoffman Artisan Batiks Elemental Stripes) and ordered up more.  

     One of the fabrics was in very bright, primary stripes.  

     I cut the squares to make the half square triangles that form the basis of these pieces, and tried many variations of putting them together. 

     I really enjoy the watercolor effect of these fabrics, and how interesting the squares are when mixed up and put back together.  (Isn't that just the beauty of making quilts?) 

     I tried out a pretty big lap size layout, but didn't really know where such a quilt would go.  It was quite vibrant and busy.    I ended up making two smaller pieces for baby quilts out of the squares.

     The baby quilt tops:

     Nayla is now two, so I wanted something a bit bigger than those pieces.  I decided to add some bright yellow solid to one of the center pieces, and then created a border of the striped fabric.  I ended up binding it in the yellow as well. 

     I like how the yellow sets off the center, and really like how the border looks.  The border had to be mitered, or else it would have looked odd!   The quilt finished at 48 inches square.

      Now that my Tiara is in my sewing space with the other tools of the trade, pinning and quilting went fairly quickly. I am enjoying  listening to the audiobook versions of the Agatha Raisin series by M.C.Beaton while sewing.

   Betty found the quilt to be just perfect and comfortable.  Unfortunately, this means I had to wash it again before sending it on! 

   The backing is a Kona Cotton wide fabric.  I have been looking for an opportunity to use it.  I did a simple big stippling all over the quilt.

     In other news, the "Turnabout Patchwork" quilt I made for the blog hop has also been gifted to another new member of my extended family.  Little Baby Coen is going to be cuddling with the fun circus animals!  

   

     I keep hoping that spring will come soon, but there is still snow on the ground, but there is also some open water!  Hurray!  

     Enjoy the spring, and I'll catch up again soon! 

Take care,

Gretchen