I Designed a Quilt!

Today's the big day.  I've written my first quilt tutorial and it's over at Sew, Mama, Sew!  It's called Ladder Lattice.  (Here's the link.)

The blocks are 12.5" and you can easily make three from a fat quarter so it's really up to you how big of a project you want to make.  Although I agonized over my photography skills -- I usually do -- I am totally pleased with the quilt and design itself.  I think it would look gorgeous in solids or just two colors too so I'll probably be making another one soon.

A couple of firsts on this project.  I didn't use any pins, just Elmer's washable school glue with a fine tip.  You squeeze a thin line inside the 1/4-inch seam allowance and touch press with the iron.  It holds everything perfectly through stitching so I hardly had any trimming to do which saved fabric loss.

The second new thing is my walking foot.  I finally ordered an easy-feed sewing foot for my freebie machine.  Now I'm invested!  Although my stitching actually suffered a little,  especially in-the-ditch; my speed really increased.  I know I'll be practicing more with it and making bigger quilts in the future.

It's really satisfying to see a project from my sketchbook come to life.  This one is so much like my pitch drawing that it's uncanny.  I designed it specifically to use fat quarters (7 prints) from Erin McMorris' Forest Hill by Free Spirit.

I'm still learning and growing as a quilter but the design part of it is a key element for me.  When I brainstormed ideas, this was one of five I pitched and then, as I constructed the quilt, I jotted down notes for two new projects.  I so hope that someone finds the tutorial useful as it would totally please me to see more quilts made from it.  Since I've really learned to sew through online tutorials, it means so much to me to give back to that process.

It's also the Blogger's Quilt Festival this week so I'm entering Ladder Lattice in the Original Design Quilts Category.  Just because I can and it feels so good.


This quilt leaves 10 inch squares (actually, a little more) for scraps so I'm working on a pattern that will use those next.  Please come back to check it out.

That's it for now.   Thanks for stopping by!

Keep stitchin'

-Kristin

Coaster Swap

Turns out Mother's Day came early.  Mom and I both made a set of quilted coasters for last night's Minneapolis Modern Quilt Guild swap.  Then we reached into the pillowcase and pulled out eachothers' sets.  So she got these:

And I got these:

(Mom loves Tula Pink.)

Last month, I had to miss our guild meeting because I had concert tickets.  Alyssa Thomas had a trunk show and I missed it but mom -that sweetie!- got an autographed copy of Sew & Stitch Embroidery for me.

So that's how I was inspired to use a free Penguin and Fish embroidery pattern (the one you get for subscribing to the  email newsletter) for the little animals on my coasters.  Stitched on Essex linen, backed with Indian Summer, and pepped-up with some scraps -- including Carolyn Friedlander's Ledger, my very favorite print in the world.

These were so easy to make and reminded me how much I love hand embroidery.


So guess what I'll be doing this weekend.

Word to your mothers!

-Kristin