Announcements

Just a few announcements on the blog today.  First, and most exciting, I'm so pleased to share that I am one of Empty Bobbin's new licenced designers.  My first pattern will be coming out very soon, and I can't wait to show it to you and hold it in my hands.  Shea's patterns are all meticulously written, tested, edited, photographed, and printed, so this will be top of the line in every way!  My pattern will have a special feature, new to Empty Bobbin, that you're going to love.  And did you see the other names on the list?  Sheesh.  I'm honored to be named one of such a talented group.

The other piece of news is my new blog header, etc by my favorite illustrator Lauren Hunt.  Thanks Aunt June!  Keep your eyes on her blog; tons of cool stuff coming out soon.

And here is a sneak peek of the quilt I made with Oakshott Impressions.  I am just working on a local source for the fabric, and I'll have the free pattern for you.

 

And speaking of my patterns, I created a teaginny designs Flickr group.  It is a place to share photos of things you have made from my patterns and tutorials.  Items inspired by things I've made are also more than welcome.  It definitely makes my day to see what you make!

Impressions

So this lovely bundle came in the mail all the way from England.  Oakshott fabrics makes this bundle, called Impressions.

The fabrics are shot cotton, meaning two different colored threads are woven together which gives the fabric a shimmer and depth of color that changes slightly depending on the angle you're look at it.

I particularly like that Oakshott bundles fabrics that have a single thread color in common.  This bundle is a lovely progression of rainbow colors,  each color woven with a white thread.  They have other bundles done with black and red.  These are just so perfect for spring!

I'm working on a project for Oakshott.  The pattern will be ready soon.  Can't wait to show you more.

Fractions

If you've been reading my blog for a while now, you've read about my friend Angela Walters several times. She is quite the superwoman: amazing machine quilter, author, teacher, and now fabric designer!  Her first line with Art Gallery is called Textures.  The line has some great basics, like this crosshatch.  It also includes a very cool panel called the Right Angles Panel.
Angela gave me the challenge to make something with just the panel and one other fabric from Art Gallery.  I knew immediately what I wanted to make.  The panel is perfect for a particular technique I have been wanting to try by Yoshiko Jinzenji from her book Quilting Line and Color.  Doesn't Angela look like she approves of my choice?  That's her ad for Handi Quilter in a quilting magazine I picked up this weekend.

This mini quilt looks complex, but it is actually just a 16 patch with one piece added to an asymmetrical border.  By fussy cutting the panel, using Jinzenji's technique, I was able to play with the way the negative space flows into and around the blocks.

I quilted the mini with straight lines about 1/4 inch apart.  I bound it in the same Art Gallery solid as the background to keep the focus on the pops of color in center.

This was such a fun challenge.  I'm really looking forward to seeing what other quilters create with the panel.  Check out Angela's blog to see the results.

Horizon

This quilt was inspired by a 1957 photolithograph of a music program designed by Josef Muller-Brockmann, a Swiss graphic designer, teacher, and author (you can spend hours browsing through MOMA's online archive of images, so be forewarned).  I was struck by the effect of distance he achieved with such a limited use of shapes and colors. 

This is a quilt I didn't have time to make, but it just sort of flowed out of me, which I think is always a good sign.  It's certainly a great experience, when it happens that way.  I decided to make the quilt quite small (30 x 42), as an experiment for a larger quilt in the future.  If I get to come back to this design, I will change the proportions and quilting somewhat, but overall I am happy with what I was able to create improvisationally.

The binding, a text print from Mama Said Sew, is a nod to Muller-Brockmann's frequent use of typography. I used half inch straight line quilting across the whole quilt, changing direction to emphasize the illusion of a horizon line.

The back is a kind of psychedelic ombre dot. I think it echoes the feeling of depth from the front.

I hope to carve out some time to experiment with a few more ideas inspired by mid century modern art.



Blog Readers

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I assume most of you already use a reader of some sort to follow blogs you enjoy.  You will also likely know that Google Reader, which I had been using, is going to disappear soon (oh the dependency we have on free online tools!).  I'm trying out Bloglovin as my new reader.  So far, so good.

If you don't use a reader and manually check blogs for updates, you should definitely try out one of the readers available.  It will show you when blogs you like have been updated, so you won't have to check daily.  It's a big time saver!

I am working with these fabrics today.  I'm thinking something angular and masculine.

Low Volume Quilted Pillow

I finished my quilted, lumbar pillow, which is based on a pattern in Malka Dubrawski's Fresh Quilting.  There's an affiliate link, if you click the photo below.

I used strips from my scrap bin, slightly larger than the pattern indicates, so the pillow ended up being 16 x 35.5 inches.

I quilted the top with simple straight lines to emphasize the zigzag pattern created by alternating the direction of the print and solid rectangles.

I backed it in cream linen with a lapped zipper, using this favorite tutorial again. The edges are bound in Kona Glacier for a pop of color to help the pillow stand out on my friend's cream couch. I stuffed the homemade pillow form firmly, so this lumbar pillow should be very functional. I hope it fits into the elegant, understated decor of its new home.

And Now For Something Completely Different

Low volume scraps, precise cutting, and following a pattern.  It's good to change things up sometimes.  I pulled some light prints from my 2 1/2" strips bin to make a project from Fresh Quilting by Malka Dubrawsky that I earmarked "long ago" as my boys would say.  This project may have started the current low volume trend, or maybe she was ahead of her time.  Either way, there is something very restful about working with these fabrics.

The project pairs solids with low volume prints to create a simple zigzag, but the slight variations in values of the fabrics give it a subtle interest I love.

I'm doing some straight line quilting, and then I'll need to buy a bunch of filler for a home made pillow form.  My strips are bigger than those in the pattern, so this is going to be giant.