My first trip to Iowa included a visit to Winterset to see the bridges, as well as the birthplace museum of John Wayne. My second trip included a trip to the Iowa Quilt Museum to see an exhibit by MaryAnn Fons.
So, obviously, my inspiration for Iowa has to be the Bridges. Obviously there is lots to see and do in Iowa. Corn, there is corn, lots of corn. A sea of corn - it stretches as far as the eye can see. The Amana Colonies are interesting from a historical and cultural perspective, as is the Mississippi River Museum in Dubuque.
Guilds and Shops in Iowa
Iowa is the home to Fons and Porter, the iconic quilting gurus who have been publishing patterns, magazines and videos for over 20 years.
The Generations Quilt Patterns website has 40 guilds and 132 shops on their list. I've visited a few in Des Moines, the Amana Colonies, and Council Bluffs - where my favorite shop is. Whenever my son AJ and I go to the Omaha Zoo (stay tuned for my Nebraska Quilt), we always stop at Cut Up & Quilt in Council Bluffs.
The Inspiration
The Bridges - Cedar, Cutler-Donahoe, Hogback, Holliwell, Imes, and Roseman are the remaining bridges in Madison County. But how to incorporate them? I took several pictures on my trip, but they really didn't sing to me.
I did find several fabric panels with covered bridges but a wall hanging with a panel also didn't sing to me. But I was getting closer.
My friend Liz Granberg-Jerome of Gypsy Dreamer Quilts teaches classes on using panels for One Block Wonder quilts. She calls them Hexified Panels. OK, that's it, the perfect technique for this panel wallhanging!
The Quilt
I found a panel that had good color, looked like the bridges I saw in Madison County and I thought it would be a great candidate for a One Block Wonder. The panel was made from a painting by artist Larry Hersberger. So I ordered 7 panels (6 to stack and 1 for the focus).
Due to the strong horizontal lines in the roof and tree line, I decided to cut the strips on the diagonal - after starching it 3 times to tame those bias edges. Since the panel is not very large, I cut the strips 2 3/4 inches so I can get the maximum number of hexies from the panel. Now comes the fun, but mindless part - sewing half hexies together and arranging them on the design wall.
Then comes some decision-making. To frame the panel or not? If I frame it, what color for the frame? To set the hexies in straight-edged or allow them to flow into the panel? This is where art and design meet craft and technique.
After trying several layouts, I settled on a small yellow border (to lighten up the dark sections of the panel) and then centered it within the hexies. I arranged the hexies so that they somewhat mimicked the color placement within the panel. A simple batik border finished it off.
I have to admit, even though I starched the heck out of the strips, it was still somewhat wavy due to the bias edges. I forewarned Lori Kukuk, one of the fantastic long arm quilters with whom I love to work, that it might take some special TLC to help it lay flat. Poor or inaccurate piecing won't always quilt out, but Lori is pretty talented and if anyone can tame those wavy edges, she can. She did not disappoint. I especially love the simple waves in the sky and the continuous curves in the hexies.
Iowa Bridges is the third quilt in my 50/50 series. I've already started on Oklahoma and have plans for about 25 more. Stay tuned!
The pattern is available to order as a hard copy, or as a download from my Etsy Site. So check it out!
I'm Curious about your visit to Iowa. Leave a comment and let me know.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending my second workshop with Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably at Sarah's Fabrics here in Lawrence (here is a post about my first workshop at Sarahs). WOW! This was a color class - and man did we do color!
I have also been to two lectures by Kaffe during which he provided some background, experience, previous patchwork, knitting, and needlepoint works, and sources of inspiration. Many of you know him and know about his art. I continue to be impressed by his legacy. I can't even begin to do justice to his body of work. I encourage you to read his biography on his website - you'll be amazed!
Kaffe and Brandon are two-thirds of the Kaffe Fassett Collective - the fabric design company that also includes Philip Jacobs. These three men have totally turned the quilting fabric world on its head (IMHO). Large patterns, rich colors, fanciful scenes - oh my it is glorious - Glorious Color that is!
So, as I have categorized it in my little quilty mind, Kaffe is all about fabric design and color. His quilt patterns are fairly simple in terms of design, what makes them sing is the fabric and the way he puts color and pattern together. So color and pattern is what we learn in his workshops - not color theory or anything so "boring" but working outside our comfort zone with color combinations and wild, daring patterns we wouldn't normally use.
After a day of cutting hexagons and triangles and putting them up on a gray flannel design wall, Kaffe goes around and "critiques" our work. It was so interesting to see how different setting triangles changes the whole look of a quilt that used the same color hexagons. Here are a few examples of yellow hexagons and the variations in setting triangles. Many thanks to my class mates for their wonderful examples (sorry, I did not get everyone's names).
In order to provide some focus, I choose Moroccan Spice Market as a theme and narrowed by pile of Kaffe Collective fabrics down to paprikas, chili powder, a bit of tumeric, hot red, orange and pink. I wanted the reds to glow and zing, so I choose a dark blacky purply smoky series of 6 fabrics for my triangles. I'm happy with the outcome. I'm planning on making Moroccan Spice Market about twice as large as it is now, so I have lots more hexies and triangles to cut.
This quilt is from Quilts in Moccoco. His books have patterns, but are more like coffee table books with wonderful photography. Check them out, they are gorgeous.
Although I don't feel like I know Kaffe, Brandon, and Philip as well as the other designers in my Favorite Designer series, I know and love their fabrics and look forward to each new release. Sarah's hosts a Kaffe Club which meets monthly to celebrate and challenge ourselves to use Kaffe Fassett Collective fabrics. I have learned so much from and been inspired by these creative ladies in the club. Now I can spot a KFC (not the chicken) fabric at 50 feet.
I've joined the Kaffe Collective on FB and get to see amazing quilts made with amazing fabrics. I also follow Philip on FB and love seeing how he makes and paints his fabrics - when he's not scouring the English countryside for old WWII bits and pieces using his metal detector.
I have a few other quilts made from Kaffe Collective fabrics. Some finished, some almost finished, and some in my pile of many UFOs. I have 4 shelves on my FQ storage tower devoted to KFC fabrics. I'm smitten, in love, hooked.
Curious about KFC? Get a book, follow on FB, get some KFC fabric. Jump into color and pattern. Wallow around in wonderful!
You probably know by now that I'm in love with intricate, sophisticated, and technically difficult quilts. One of my favorite designers designs quilts that totally fit this description - Jacqueline DeJonge of BeCorlourful Quilts.
Jacqueline lives in Delft in the Netherlands. When I first met her, she was still working a day job as an office manager in a medical practice. Now she is a full time designer, teacher, and quilter. She is very soft spoken, but don't let that fool you - she's got lots to say!
So far I have taken 3 workshops from Jacqueline and hope to take many more. Even before I took workshops, I bought my first BeColourful Pattern - The Colourful Quilt. It was waaaay over my head (6 star difficulty). I still have the pattern and fabric that I started collecting to do it. One day . . .
So I started a little more realistically - I took a workshop down in Dallas about 5 years ago. I bought the Circle of Life kit (only 4 star difficulty) so I wouldn't have to obsess about getting just the right fabric to achieve the rainbow effect. Unfortunately my hubby had a health incident and I had to rush home on the first day. Obviously I didn't get far on the quilt but I was hooked.
So, about 3 years ago, I learn Jacqueline is coming to Kansas! WhaHoo! I talk my friend Bobbie into coming to visit from Seattle and take the workshop with me. Quilting on the Square in Holton Kansas is our host. I decided to keep working on Circle of Life. I got the center star and spikes done. I picked up a few more tips from Jacqueline. One of the best is her idea of a supplementary quarter inch seam allowance. Her technique is to do the piecing with an extra seam allowance and then when its all together, you trim the piece up to a quarter inch. And, guess what? I added several more patterns to my collection.
In the last 3 years, my BeColourful Quilts sort of took a back burner. I knew I could do it, but I think I just had a bit of a crises of confidence. I was angsting about how to use the fabrics so that the colors flow. Ok, so no progress, but I did add a few more to my pattern collection (grin).
So, fast forward to June 2018. Jacqueline is back in Holton! My friend Kim and I signed up and this time I decided to do one of Jacqueline's new patterns. Infinity (another 6 star difficulty) is based on her award winning quilt from 2013 quilt called Celtic Fantasy. This one has lots of piecing techniques - matching marks, inset seams, supplementary seam allowance, inset circles and more. I tried a new fabric management system this time - instead of using ziplock bags, I put the 24 color wheel fabrics in hanging file folders in a portable file box. It worked really well for me.
Quilting on the Square in Holton was a great host and has a great classroom space. Of course, I added a few more patterns to my collection. I am hoping Jacqueline comes back to Holton next year. I highly recommend Jacqueline's patterns and workshops. You'll be challenged, but you'll learn a lot and enjoy getting to know Jacqueline. I'm looking forward to the next workshop.
Every designer brings something new and different to my toolbox. I've been highlighting my favorites in no particular order of wonderfulness, but rather, as I encounter them. Last month Karen K. Stone visited the Kaw Valley Quilters Guild. Wow, what a program!
My introduction to Karen came many (10?) years ago when I took a class at Quilter's Haven in Olathe. The class was Karen's Cinco de Mayo - a fantastic, somewhat chaotic New York Beauty. This class fueled my search and collection of wild, colorful fabrics. These fabrics are part of my daily round now, but back then they were way outside of my comfort zone.
Cinco de Mayo is made of a series of blocks using the New York Beauty block - all of them varied in terms of the number of points and bands. This is not mine - I only have the first two rows done (yeah, I know I started it 10 years ago). But isn't it beautiful! I love the variation in the size and number of points.
My next close encounter with the force of nature that is Karen, was a class at the first Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival. I am an EPP fan and she was teaching EPP by machine. It was a challenging technique for me because I balk at a lot of prep work - and this technique took a lot of prep. It's a good tool to have in my kit, but I haven't used it yet.
This brings us to the present - well, last month, when Karen came to our guild. She is a dynamo of a speaker - I've love to get a little of her energy. The story of her quilts was mostly about color and value. It made me think about not being so matchy-matchy with my color schemes.
For the workshop after the talk and trunk show, Karen choose "Wild Women Don't Get the Blues" as the pattern. I choose Tula Pink's Raccoons for my focus fabric. I thought those little guys would be so cute surrounded by the colorful star points. After I took this pic, I added a black and white striped flange between the raccoon and the star points. I really liked it but i was a lot of work. So now I'm looking for something similar but easier. Or maybe I'll just leave it as is. Hmmmm Dilemma!
Curious about Karen? Look for her workshops and programs. She is a bundle of positive, quilting energy.
Many of us quilters are serial crafters - myself included. Counted cross stitch was my "gateway" craft. I started stitching when I was pregnant with my first son who just had his 31st birthday.
After years of cross stitching (which I still do occasionally by the way), I thought I would try weaving. Back about 16 years ago I bought a used Baby Wolf floor loom (Schacht) and took beginning weaving classes at Yarn Barn here in Lawrence.
It's been a while since I've had anything on my loom, but I was intrigued by a class offered recently by Yarn Barn on making crimp cloth. The samples were really cool - a cloth with pleats. The pictures of Dianne's (the teacher) garments were fantastic. So I signed up for the class, chose my yarn, and then worried about all the skills I'd lost over the years.
Dianne Totten is a great weaver, artist, and instructor. Her garments are gorgeous. Every day she wore a new vest. I was so wowed that I didn't get pictures of most of them. I did get this one of a couple of her vests from her slide show.
The crimped fabric has a wonderful drape and the garments were very flattering on all kinds of body shapes. OK, so I hear you . . . what the heck is crimped fabric?
Crimped fabric is woven like most other fabrics, but the yarns in either the warp or the weft need to be a synthetic and then you put in an additional thread that will be used to scrunch the fabric up and pulled out later. I did a weft crimp - you can see my pull threads in this pic - they are the yellow ones. After pulling the yellow threads tight and tying them, the fabric sits in a steam bath for 30 minutes, and Voila! Pleated fabric!
So I tried several different patterns with the pull threads. 4 by 4 offset (in the pic above), 6 by 3, poofy rows, and large poofy circles. I tried using weft threads in various colors - turquoise, green, dark blue, pink and red. I have a binder full of samples and some ideas to make some crimped scarves.
It felt good to be weaving again. I did have to ask basic questions to refresh my memory. But after a while, I was doing OK. I still have a bit of an issue keeping my edges (selvages) from drawing in. I've signed up for a beginning weaving class this summer so I'll be making some placemats and kitchen towels by summer's end! And maybe my loom won't feel neglected any more.
Curious about weaving? Check out Yarn Barn of Kansas!
My introduction to Julie Herman of JayBird Designs was at the Sisters Oregon Quilters Affair - the workshop week before the annual outdoor quilt show. I've had the pleasure of going there twice - once in 2013 and again in 2015.
One of my courses on the first trip was Chopsticks. I thought it would be the perfect pattern for a series of crazy purple, salmon and greeny/gold fat quarters I bought on a cross country road trip. They were wild and at that time, a little outside my color comfort zone. I added a sashing fabric that was even more outside my norm. I call this one Hazardous Material because the acid green evokes a feeling of toxic material. I love it!
Julie's class was awesome. As she says, her "superpower is geometry and design". And Boy is she a s-hero. She puts such thought into her designs. She designed a set of rulers - Hex N More and Sidekick - that are used in most of her patterns. With these rulers you can cut so many shapes. And they all play well together!
So this workshop got me hooked. The next quilt to come to my attention was a BOM called Toes in the Sand. I loved the colors. Loved the look of the repeating triangles. Kelly Cline quilted my Toes in the Sand. And of course it was perfect.
I don't know if this was Julie's first BOM with repeating shapes, but I was hooked. First Triangles, then . . .
Hexagons - Park Bench. I am hoping to teach this at Mea Bernina and I had so much fun making the shop sample. Turquoise, green, and orange fabrics on a dark blue background. Stunning if I do say so myself.
Ok, so now I was on the lookout for more. The next one I did was Gravity - in fact I just finished it last week and it is in the "to be quilted" pile. Following Julie's style of repeating shapes, Gravity is a series of 18 diamonds. This quilt was offered by several shops as a BOM in solids, but I chose to do it in batiks instead of solids and I really like how it turned out. It was quite a challenge to get enough batiks of the right colors and I argued with myself about whether to continue Julie's design for the dark to light background, or just do a dark background. In the end, I went with her original design. It still needs to be quilted, and it's huge! This is my 6'2" son standing on a chair holding up the quilt.
I have several other JayBird patterns and BOM waiting to be started. The one calling my name the loudest is Sweet Tooth.
So, I highly recommend Julie's classes and patterns. Julie is a fresh, young designer and great teacher. Her patterns are fun, interesting, geometric beauties. Oh, and I just saw her post on FB that she is expecting her first baby. Congratulations Julie and and hubby Lawrence.
Curious about Geometry? Check out Julie and JayBird!
Most of the quilts you’ve seen on my blog are finished or in process. What I haven’t done yet is to document a quilt from idea, through design, stitching, quilting to completed quilt. I am just getting ready to start a quilt at a workshop, so I thought I would take the opportunity to document the entire process.
A while back an intriguing email arrived from Judel Niemeyer Buls about Quiltworx University at Thimble Towne in Bakersfield California. One of the quilt options for this workshop was an exclusive design called Cattail Mixer, meaning the it was a mix of several different patterns based on the Judy Niemeyer Cattails in the Meadow pattern. I immediately forwarded the email to a few friends to see if anyone wanted to join me at the workshop. No takers, so I decided to go on my own.
So here we are six months later and I am sitting in a hotel room in Bakersfield California waiting for the workshop to start. The process so far has been unique. Instead of going to a fabric shop and auditioning fabrics, my normal modus operandi, I designed the quilt on Quiltster.
This process of quilt designing on a computer is great in theory, but was way outside of my comfort zone. Not only did I have to choose between different centers and borders, I had to choose fabrics. I am one of those people who likes to pull 15 bolts from the shelves, lay them out and then choose 2 or 3 fabrics that work well together. Then I fill in.
Designing Cattail Mixer Queen was different. I had a couple of main designs to choose from. I choose cattails because it reminded me of my childhood - as we drove around beautiful California on weekend trips, my mom would ask my dad to stop so she could collect dried flowers, among them are cattails. They had to be just right - too “ripe” and they would explode. I don’t remember if there was a down side to not ripe enough. Mom would spray them with hairspray to a keep them intake as much as possible. She had taken a flower arranging class and make beautiful arrangements for our table and home.
I already had a subscription to Quiltster so I hopped on and got to work. For section A, the center section, I had the choice of 9 star points. Look at all those options, how was I ever going to choose? I wanted some action, but not too much. One iteration of the design looks much different from 8! So after trying out several of them, I finally decided on 84270. It gives the center a bit of interest.
Section B next. I knew I wanted cattails because, well, that was the name of the quilt and it had sparked fond memories. But there were 6 options so I could make another one later that looks totally different.
Section C was the on point inner border. Again, lots of cool choices! I tired several and finally settled on 10713. A series of framed pointed triangles.
Outer borders, section D, came with 4 options. After auditioning, 96405 won the day.
So now I have a design and it’s time to work with color and fabric. That comes next.
Curious about designing with Quiltster?These small screen shots don't do it justice, so check out their intro video here!
Tula Pink rocks her name! She rocks fabric, quilts and color too!
I have lots of favorite designers, but I decided to start with Tula since she was just here visiting the Kaw Valley Quilters Guild. We were lucky to have her here, but unlucky in that the Tuesday morning group missed out due to an ice storm.
Tula described her process of designing fabric. I am in awe of her creative talent. She draws all her precious creatures by hand on paper and then translates them into fabric with colors. I loved her statement that God used an aweful lot of brown in His designs, so she decided not to use brown, but rather to color the precious creatures of her fabrics in pinks, oranges, teals, purples, and greens.
I also appreciate her design thoughtfulness and purposefulness in that she ensures her previous designs work well with current designs, which will play well with future designs. I am really looking forward to getting my hands on her 25th collection which should be in shops any day now. Tula's All Star line includes the special creatures from previous lines (recolored), dots, and stripes.
I imagine Tula must not sleep much. In addition to working on 5 lines simultaneously (in-head, drawing, production, selling to shops, selling in shops), she makes 40 or so quilts a year, designs books and patterns, speaks and teaches internationally, designs hardware (scissors, rotary cutters, and seam rippers), and quilting software. I was exhausted just thinking about everything she does and does expertly!
OK, so Tula is a gifted and prolific fabric and quilt designer, but what is she like? Funny, imaginative, colorful, and personable. I had the good fortune of taking a class with Tula a few years ago at the Sisters Oregon Quilters' Affair. The class project was Moxie. I used Tula's fabric line Elizabeth. It was fun laying the fabrics out and working on curved piecing. I just need to add some borders and get her quilted.
At about the same time, I facilitated a group within the KVQG of members wanting to work on Tula's City Sampler - 100 Modern Quilt Blocks. Several members got theirs done and as a group we made one in black and white with turquoise sashing for the guild's opportunity quilt. I thought it was absolutely stunning. I'm sorry to say that I am still working on my 100 blocks. I'm using PB&J line in a blue/red/mustard color palate, with some other fabrics thrown in.
My next Tula adventure is going to be some fussy cutting for English Paper Piecing. I'm either going to make Tula Nova or Lucy Kingwell's (Jen Kingwell's daughter) Smitten using Tula's new All Stars. So look for an update!
You just have to be curious about Tula Pink! Check her out, you'll love her.
My first trip to Iowa included a visit to Winterset to see the bridges, as well as the birthplace museum of John Wayne. My second trip included a trip to the Iowa Quilt Museum to see an exhibit by MaryAnn Fons.
The Bridges - Cedar, Cutler-Donahoe, Hogback, Holliwell, Imes, and Roseman are the remaining bridges in Madison County. But how to incorporate them? I took several pictures on my trip, but they really didn't sing to me.
The Quilt
I have to admit, even though I starched the heck out of the strips, it was still somewhat wavy due to the bias edges. I forewarned Lori Kukuk, one of the fantastic long arm quilters with whom I love to work, that it might take some special TLC to help it lay flat. Poor or inaccurate piecing won't always quilt out, but Lori is pretty talented and if anyone can tame those wavy edges, she can. She did not disappoint. I especially love the simple waves in the sky and the continuous curves in the hexies.
