Modern Workshop at Vernon

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of spending the day with the ladies of Vernon Nutmeg Quilters. We worked on mini projects from Elizabeth Hartman's Modern Patchwork book. (It has been three years since I discovered this little gem, and I am still using these patterns all the time...way to go, EH!)

We had a lot of fun playing with color to make the Roller Rink projects. There is so much potential for unique variation on such a simple concept; for example, Maureen (far right) got an interesting fiery effect by using a graded floral fabric instead of pieced squares as her block centers. I believe Tammy had hers quilted by the time we wrapped up. (Nice job -- nobody needs more UFOs!)

Vernon Nutmeg Quilters with their spectacular Roller Rink minis

The Neighborhood projects were adorable too--look at that fun little quail! This is a project that I like to make as a housewarming gift, sometimes customized with the new address.

Vernon Nutmeg Quilters' Neighborhood minis

My own "Mother of the Year" Neighborhood mini -- no need to stick with birds in the center panel!!

As we move through this season of giving thanks, I want to make it clear how grateful I am to have the opportunity to lead workshops like this one. Thanks, everyone!

Hex finishes

Three hexagonal finishes this week, plus another photo from last week's Honey Mini class.

First, I used a few cute macaroni prints to try out this technique. I like the ring of hexes so much that I sketched out what this would look like expanded to a larger size, and figured out the fabric requirements. It would be a cute use for hex charms, or for a group of theme fabrics like the Mardi Gras prints that I've had kicking around for a few years. I did the tight quilting around the edges because it reminded me of a fork-sealed ravioli; I quilted the words in the middle because (a) I wanted to brush up on my cursive quilting skills and (b) the words seemed to fit, both physically and conceptually.

 Merry-Go-Round pattern (Atkinson Designs)

 Next, I had to try out the new Sidekick ruler from Jaybird Quilts.

The ruler is great, the pattern was a snap to follow, and the whole thing took no time at all. I used the scraps of the project I made from last year's Kendra Cousin California Quilting Challenge. I'm down to really tiny bits of those fabrics now, but I will savor them because I still love love love them! The flower-of-life quilting doesn't even need marking with this pattern, since the lines are all part of the piecing. This is my favorite way to quilt 60-degree angles -- it looks spectacular, it uses the walking foot, AND it's entirely one continuous line!

Rock Candy pattern (Jaybird Quilts)

Third, I finished one of my class samples to make a pillow. I didn't do anything particularly fancy for the quilting, just some gentle (flower-of-life) walking foot curves surrounded by straight-line echoing. I love the clothesline fabric on the back.

Honey pattern (from Elizabeth Hartman's "Modern Patchwork" book)

Since this post is a tribute to all things hexagonal, I'll also share a photo of Tina's class project. Last year when I made my sister's quilt, I used the same accent print in shades of teal and brown last year, but it looks 100% different in the hot colors. I love how she arranged the prints in the same position; it evokes a sense of comets or rocketry.

Tina's Honey project. 3 - 2 - 1...blast off!

Honey Mini class (busy as a bee)

The monthly mini class that I've been teaching all year finally got to my favorite one in the book, the hexagon Honey pattern. In addition to the sample that I made last year, I also made both a full-size quilt and two more minis in preparing for yesterday's class.

This one will be a pillow in the newly painted family/sewing room.

Honeycomb!! 

I recently acquired the Urban Threads "Mini Menagerie" collection, and this seemed like the perfect setting for the bee. I LOVE LOVE LOVE how this turned out!

The five students in the class made some pretty spectacular projects. Sara C used a musical instrument novelty as her print with rich wood-colored fabrics, Sara F used a beautiful combination of batiks and Asian prints, Nancy worked in some (for her) muted colors and was on her way to a lovely little autumnal project, Tina used fiery brights and a gorgeous print for the insets, and Liz made this:

Awesome use of Beatles fabric!

I'm getting down to the last cherished scraps of the Beatles prints that I have had in my Strategic Fabric Reserves, but this might be a good way to make the most of what's left in there.

Honeycomb!

Despite my plans of leaving some of this undone, I couldn't stop myself from finishing the Honeycomb quilt. (Now I'm going to have to prep another mini, which I'll use as a pillow in my new pink & turquoise room.) The yellow from the Nuance fabric is a little bright -- it comes across lemony in the photo, but it reads as neon in person -- but since the contrasting prints aren't too contrast-y, I like the effect. I think I am going to leave the edges zig-zaggy rather than squaring them off as she suggests in the book; I'll leave the upper-right corner square just for a nifty "something-different" effect.

From outside (my husband tells me) it looks like we have been invaded by giant bees.

Honeycomb close-up: the orange architextures fabric is a perfect background. I finished this whole project with a single 2.5" strip leftover.

Honeycomb prep

This Sunday in the Modern Minis class that I've been teaching all year, we're finally getting to the hexagon honeycomb project that's on the book cover. This pattern uses six solids and six prints, so I'm using a length of a fruity-bright P&B Nuances fabric that I bought just for this project:

This fabric is printed with six strips of color running lengthwise, so it's absolutely perfect for this pattern. Instead of buying six separate one-yard cuts, I cut the four yards of my single fabric into six separate 5-1/2" strips. For the skinny background sashing strips, I'm using the rest of my orange squiggly Architextures fabric:

The pattern for the quilt calls for sixty one-inch strips, but I have found that Hartman's patterns tend to be a little on the wasteful side and, since I will have no use for a bunch of leftover one-inch strips, I have decided to cut just 32 strips to get started. I'm sure I'll need a few more, but not 28 more.

After I finished the Week 5 mystery units, I got a nice start on sewing the sashing strips onto the solids and cutting triangles:

The second-darkest segments are all cut (center), and the sashing strips are added to the other four colors. Time to cut triangles!

I worked through the entire set of the darkest shade, along with the coordinating print, and even assembled those half hexagons:

The violet half-hex units are pieced and ready for final assembly.

By the time Sunday rolls around, I should have most of this finished up and ready to assemble. I'm planning to leave just enough of the work unfinished so I can use it as class samples. Still loving all these 60-degree angles!!

Fire Drill class

I haven't posted for a few days because I couldn't find the USB cord for my camera. It was hiding eighteen inches away from its usual spot. (I must be in some kind of intellectual biorhythmic trough...)

Anyway, cord having been located, I can share a few photos from this weekend's Modern Miniatures class, in which we did the Fire Drill pattern.

Liz has been saving her black-and-white-and-red pieces for a while now and decided that this was the pattern they had been waiting for. I really like the black background -- I think it gives a lot of depth to the design -- and I love that she chose to cut off only the top edge and leave a banner shape.

The very thin b&w stripe did not photograph well, but it makes this little banner really dance!

Sue used a very fresh combination of soft greys and a vivid and rich (not neon!) orange. Beautiful and very modern looking:

The repeated pairing of the same dark fabrics down the center of the quilt works well on this small project.

Here's the one that I made in class. I couldn't resist this nifty stripe from P&B's new Hello Dahlia line, and it made the perfect accent for this pattern; it reminds me of both filing folder tabs and canyonlands. I used a red background for my B&W&Red project just because Liz used a black one and I wanted to see the difference. I haven't chopped it yet, but I think I'll cut both the top and bottom edges so it finishes rectangular. Even though I like Liz's banner idea, this little thing would have a LOT of solid red if I leave the bottom uncut.

Much better than my first Fire Drill mini.

Newington Group Quilt winner!!

Somehow I never got around to posting photos of the Newington Schoolhouse Quilters' finished group quilts from this year. We used the Roller Rink pattern from Modern Patchwork (with the kind permission of Elizabeth Hartman) in a black-and-white color scheme with pops of brights. Both quilts came out lovely!

Our lucky winner was Jean Scibek!

This second quilt will be donated to Northeast Utilities, our meeting location, for their annual charity auction.

Rapid City class sample

One of the things I did while resting my fingers from the microhexies is to get ready for this month's Modern Mini class at Lisa's Clover Hill Quilts, so I whipped up another Rapid City sample, this time using the Ghastlies fabric that I am hoarding. I wanted a background that pulled out the accent pink in the print, but I didn't have enough of any one of my batik scraps. Exigency led me to use a slightly lighter pink in the upper left corner of the border and a slightly darker one in the lower right; I mitered the corners where the colors met to make the whole thing look like it's on a beveled surface. I think the full-size quilt would look good this way too. It's amazing what a difference such a little detail can make.

Beveled-edge Rapid City witches (17 x 22")

Mini Neighborhood Class

It's the first Sunday of the month = time for another monthly mini class! This month's project was Neighborhood, which is a super-fast log cabin technique. We talked in class about doing this as a stitch-and-flip project; it would be a fast way to make a big quilt-as-you-go project.

Teaching this class is making me feel like a quilting midwife -- here are today's projects!

Liz used a friend's photo of a flicker as her centerpiece. Love that dotty background!

Sue's chicken coop is awesome! We learned that a fat quarter is JUST enough to do the background when you use a directional print like these eggs. Don't you just want to hang this in your kitchen and tuck into a big fluffy omelet??

Sara made this adorable little bird project. She has really gotten into the spirit of the whole
"Modern Patchwork" thing !

Tina used a terrific retro print surrounded by some sewing-motif prints; she's going to add a thought-bubble applique that says "Will the glamour never end?" Ha!

This is my class sample. A little plain but I like the sun. I'm hoping that some quilting will jazz it up a bit...

Thin Mints: Quilted

Finished the quilting on Thin Mints last night! I used the spirals that I practiced last year in the Free-Motion Challenge -- because I wanted it to evoke round stacks of chocolate cookies -- surrounded by a wavy line, which I did with the walking foot. As usual, all my quilting is with Sulky Blendables threads, this time using two different colors. Nothing is jumping off the shelf as a binding choice, but the right thing will turn up soon.

The chocolate Pearl Bracelets that I used on the back is peeking out at bit at the top of the photo...I liked how this motif supported the "Thin Mints" name that this quilt gave itself.

spiral quilting close-up

I couldn't pick which photo I liked best, so what the heck. This is just the best darn pattern.

Thin Mints

I was inspired to finish these blocks after last week's Modern Patchwork class. I have had the brown strip sets made for this version of the Roller Rink pattern for months, but I finally picked out the accent teals during the class. After I had two blocks together, I had enough momentum to finish the whole darn thing. Then, once the whole thing was on the wall, the stacks of brown surrounded by those minty greens practically named itself: "Thin Mints." Plus, I loved Girl Scouts (and their cookies) so darn much.

"Thin Mints"... 'cause it kinda makes me want to eat a whole box of cookies...

Roller Rink class

On Sunday we held our second monthly class for the miniature versions of the Modern Patchwork quilts. Show and Tell from the first month Metropolis projects was fun -- Ginger and Tina are making full-size quilts, so they're still working, but Liz and Sue had finished projects to show off.

Liz has a wall hanging ready for her office!

Sue made a lovely wall hanging with three Metropolis blocks.

The Roller Rink block itself is extremely simple to construct, so most of this month's focus was on selecting good runs of fabric to make a nice gradient. We talked about value, and how to use Joen Wolfram's 3-in-1 Color Tool for getting a nice even spacing between the steps of a gradient. I love that tool -- it's like having an entire collection of paint chips at your fingertips! Once everyone settled on their fabrics, the minis went together in no time at all.

Liz's block had a great contrast between the greens and a fuschia border...like summer watermelon! I know that she has already quilted and bound it too -- way to go!!

Nancy joined us this month and made a little wall hanging with a wonderful African feel. I think she was inspired in part by the Newington group quilt. I was impressed at what a difference it made switching to black-and-cream prints rather than black-and-whites.

Sarah used shades of grey with a terrific orange contrast border. My photo doesn't really do justice to the orange.

Ginger chose some cherry pinks with chocolate and cream borders -- I can't wait to see this one, because after I made Jess's quilt last year that has become one of my favorite color combos. Somehow Sue managed to sneak out before I photographed her block, which was bright greens bordered with vivid red and the lightest possible tint of green. She did a great job contrasting the colors. Tina is using the same greens that Sue used, but bordered with royal and turquoise blues; it will be interesting to compare her analogous color scheme with Sue's complementary-color project.

One thing (which I mentioned in class) that I really love about this block is that, the last time I checked there aren't a heck of a lot of opportunities to use the full seven-color Roy G Biv spectrum -- seven-point stars and heptagons use weird angles -- but this block uses seven two-inch squares: that spells Roy G Biv in my book! My sample block takes advantage of this. I'm not going to add anything else to this little thing. A bit of quilting, a pillowcase facing, and some jingly bells hanging off the bottom. Maybe seven chakra-colored sequins or beads just for the glitz factor.

I whipped up a single block on Sunday morning before class. When I pulled out the fabrics that I decided to use for every month, I realized that I could fussy cut circles to have a chakras block! If I were yogic-minded, I would hang this in my studio.

Tune in next month for the Glam Garlands block!!

Newington Group Quilt(s)

After a few winter-weather postponements, the ladies of the Newington Schoolhouse Quilters finally managed to schedule a successful worknight for assembling our group quilt. This year we are using Elizabeth Hartman's Roller Rink pattern, using a vibrant combination of blacks, whites, with small random pops of bright color. I made ten blocks a few months ago; the ladies of our group provided over 200 blocks for this project!

We started with about 100 blocks of each border color.

Eleven of us got right to work, starting by sewing blocks into pairs, then pairs into quads, then quads into strips of eight. About halfway through the process, I stopped sewing and started directing, because I didn't want us to end up with too many long units that would eventually need to be taken apart. Before we realized it, we had ten strips of 19 blocks!

The tables filled up fast!

Our energetic co-president Tammy, taking a turn at the pressing table.

Within three hours, the eleven of us had assembled TWO beautiful finished quilt tops! Each measures 76 x 80", a very generous and usable size. The second top actually still needs the final seam sewn, which I volunteered to do in the interests of everyone getting home before it was too late, and because I felt bad for shirking my sewing responsibilities while everyone else worked so hard.

First finished group quilt top! (76 x 80")

Metropolis class

Last Sunday, which feels like it was a century ago, I started a monthly class at Lisa's Clover Hill Quilts that showcases the 12 patterns in the Modern Patchwork book that I have been so obsessed with. It was a lot of fun working with everyone to find the right combination of fabrics for this design, and I carefully took photos of everyone's Before fabrics and After projects. Then, however, I misplaced my camera's memory card. This was extra sad, because I hadn't emptied it since Christmas, and it had birthday photos too. I thought it had fallen out of a bag in the parking lot or my driveway or somewhere in between. Today, though, it turned up right where I had stashed it so as not to lose it. (Is there a word for the feeling of immense relief coupled with self disgust? I bet the Germans have a word for that.)

So, at long last, here are a few photos from last Sunday:

Sue started with a lovely airy floral as her feature print, with some perfectly shaded coordinates to offset it.

Sue's finished block! So elegant...makes me want a cup of tea in the garden!

Tina went for bright! Her fabrics were vibrant reds, oranges and pinks; the class had a fun time shopping for just the right taupey gray to offset all these brights.

Tina's finished block! I think she's making more to assemble a full quilt...can't wait to see how it comes out!

Liz brought some wonderfully vibrant prints and batiks as coordinates.

Liz went home with a really fun finished block! I love the geometric prints as the "background" choices!

I didn't get a photo of her fabric choices, but Sara's finished block looked so fresh and modern...like sherbet on a summer afternoon!

Carol had scads of great choices, but decided on this fun button print paired with some brights...I will track down a photo of the finished block!

Ginger wanted to feature a pretty floral print; I love how the dark pink backgrounds pick up the shades of the hydrangea!

My fabric selections. I'm planning to use this same collection every month, then assemble all the blocks into a single sampler quilt.

The blue background is hard for me to appreciate, but I like the circus-y effect of all these brights together.

I plan to start next month's Roller Rink class with a Show and Tell session, because I'm eager to see how Ginger and Carol's projects came out. Thanks to all of you for letting me photograph your projects!