Quilt-achusetts

Merry Christmas!  I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season full of joy, family traditions and the remembrance of the greatest gift of all, the Son of God, Jesus.   I wrapped homeschooling on Friday and spent the last few days working on a Christmas design for the December Aurifil Artisan challenge.  I wanted to do some experimental curve piecing, my favorite, so I grabbed my Papper Sax Sten double drunkards path templates, some green, red and cream linen fabrics and started cutting.   I didn't have a purpose in mind when I designed this, it was more about testing my piecing problem solving skills, so I really had several options of how to style this quilt, 18'' x 24 1/2''.  I've done several wall hangings this year, two of which are up and on display in my home, so I didn't want another on of those but thought it made a great table topper.     I initially wanted to quilt this on my longarm but something odd happened today, while trying ...

If you follow me on Instagram, @quiltachusetts , you've seen that I've been posting a series of quilts made with my first fabric line , Sketchbook .  I've recently finished my Sketchbook Sampler, Topsy-Turvy and Office Daydreams quilts.  This took longer than I anticipated, for many reasons both in and out of my control, but I'm happy they are all done now and I can finally share them all together.  Keep reading until the end for a couple of surprises. SKETCHBOOK SAMPLER Sketchbook Sampler is a free pattern on Paintbrush Studios' website, pbsfabrics.com , and is fat quarter friendly.   This quilt has 6 different large scale blocks with varying prints, orientation and layout.  This quilt came together quickly but I stalled on how to quilt it.  I wanted to try an all over or edge to edge design since I'm not very good at them and thought this would be a great quilt to get some practice in. I chose two inch circles to tie together all the blocks and even thoug...

I have another behind the scenes project that I can finally share.  I made my Linked quilt this summer and  immediately shipped it off to France to be featured in the current issue of Simply Moderne !  I love how they styled my quilt in this picture.  It makes me wish I had a little nook in my house to setup this exact scene.     I am shocked and honored that not only is Linked a pattern in the magazine but it is also on the cover!  I really enjoy Simply Moderne magazine and couldn't be more thrilled to have a quilt on the cover of the magazine. When I began designing this quilt I really started with the idea of using black and white stripes to transition between different colors and then came up with the chain link shape.  I used one of my favorite color palettes, a mix of soft pastels and more saturated colors to add interest and depth to the design.  When I quilted the top I didn't want to do anything to disrupt the look of stripes and col...

 My friend Cheryl, Meadow Mist Design , is an amazing quilt designer and it was so exciting to see the design she came up with for my Sketchbook fabric line .  Her Awning quilt pattern is now available in her shop.   I love how Cheryl used the shapes in the prints to inspire her design.  She written a great blog post all bout her design process and quilting choices that can be read on her site, Meadow Mist Designs .  She colored matched the prints to different Aurifil thread, which is my favorite of course.   I hadn't thought of it myself, but I love the use of the wedge print for the binding.  The wedges look like a stripe when folded around the edge of the quilt but less structure, especially as the print moves around the quilt.  It's a great "lived in" feel. I love horizontal quilting and I really love the texture Cheryl added using horizontal quilting for the background.  It really brings the scallops of the awnings come forward and sta...

This month's Aurifil Artisan challenge was to make a bag.  I've done it in the past I'm not the best at it so I knew I should take on the challenge and expand my sewing skills.  What I didn't know was that my first fabric line Sketchbook would be out and available for the project! I picked out the Norah pattern by Sotak and the fabrics I wanted to use from my Sketchbook fabric collection, now available in my shop .  For the main body I used Stamped Circles in Ecru, the bottom and handles is Cabochon in Black and the lining Stamped Circle in Lime.  I really love the effect of the the lime colored print peaking out from the interior of the bag.     I wanted to used a thread that would stand out but not overpower the prints so I chose Aurifil 40 wt.  This was prefect for giving the stitches a presence but at not standing out too much.  It was also great for sewing through all the layers of fabric and interfacing.   Thankfully from all my past ...

At the end of September I finished up my Aurifil thread challenge, a wholecloth quilt featuring Aurifil 28 wt thread and Windham Fabric's Artisan Color .    Dot Art Wholecolth Quilt   When I started thinking about this project I was inspired by dot art and the use of circles and curves to make a intricate pattern.  I love that my longarm will quilt perfect circles so I thought the dot art inspiration adn my available tools were a great pairing for completing this project.   Dot Art Design I began by designing what I wanted to do in Photoshop.   I though it would be smarter to have layout completed before I began quilting, picking stitches is never fun especially if the quilt is loaded on a longarm.  After I had a design I was happy with I saved it and transferred the file to my longarm computer.  I imported the design into the software and rebuilt the design using the longarm software.  After I had the design done for the second time I...

I haven't had too many quilts to share this year but I have been working behind the scenes and I finally get to share one of those quilts, my Catalyst quilt for Make Modern Magazine.    I was initially inspired by the colorful resistors on a circuit board and set out to design a quilt with striped blocks.  By the time I finished I realized the blocks didn't look much like resistors but I liked the the heightened energy of the design from the mix of stripes and red.  Thankfully my own verbiage, heightened energy and mix, lead me to a quilt title that made sense, Catalyst. I decided to mat ch quilt this design with slightly skewed lines since there was already so much going on in the top .  This type of quilting added a great texture without distracting from the overall look of the quilt.  I used the same thread and color throughout, Aurifil Forty3 .   This quilt is currently available as a pattern in issue #36 of Make Modern Magazine and in addition to ...

I've been doing many behind the scene things this year and not much quilt making.   Some of the projects I've been working on include writing a book, magazine sewing and something I've been dying to share... designing my first fabric line, Sketchbook ! I started dreaming about designing fabric about 2 1/2 years ago.  I played around in Photoshop and researched how to make repeats but besides that I just jumped in to experimenting with textile design.  After designed an entire collection, not this one, I set it aside I got wrapped up in my first book, and about a year ago I sat down to design again. I had design and made my quilt, Swatches , and was drawn to the black outlines I'd quilted around the pink swatch blocks in the quilt.  I wanted to translate that into a fabric design so I set out designing prints that had a sketched out feeling.  This is especially obvious in the panel.  I designed the panel to be used as a panel or large print.  I am, pers...