do. good stitches: birds in the air quilt

Right around the time of our move to NH, it was my turn to act as the quilter for the Wish Circle of do. Good Stitches.

I requested all of my circle members to create two Birds in the Air quilt blocks, albeit with a slightly different color placement than the tutorial. I asked for a mix of solid whites and grays, with an orange print in only one of the two blocks.

Once I received all of the blocks, I played around with the layout, winding up with something quite different than I had originally envisioned---which I love! I also love the variations in the shades of solid gray, and the random pops of orange scattered throughout the quilt top.

I used an orange Marimekko circle print for the background, quilted it with intersecting lines in orange thread, and bound it with a scrappy orange binding.

This quilt will be donated to my local chapter of Project Linus.

P.S. I'm super close to 2,000 followers on Instagram, and once I hit that magic number, I'll be doing a sale! Be sure to follow me there to be among the first to hear about it.

exploring whole-cloth quilts

Each time I make a quilt, I spend a significant amount of time piecing the top. Depending on the size of the quilt, I spend anywhere from 2 to 13 hours rummaging through scrap bins looking for the right fabric, trimming blocks, ironing rows, and auditioning layouts on my design wall. While it takes quite a bit of time, I do love the process of creating a top. Piecing little bits of fabric together to create a larger design is so fulfilling.

I do realize, however, that not everyone is in a position to be able to afford the higher price tag that a time-intensive quilt requires. So I've been working on alternate ways to create quilts which cut down on production time, but still result in the high-quality product that my customers have come to expect from me. My gradual transition to machine-stitched bindings is part of this---hand-stitched bindings take anywhere from 3 to 4 hours, while machine-stitched ones can be done in 30 minutes to an hour and create a durable finish.

I've also started to experiment with creating modern whole-cloth quilts (sometimes also known as cheater quilts)---those with a quilt design already printed onto the fabric. By cutting out the need to piece blocks, the amount of time needed to make a quilt is significantly less, thereby reducing the price of the finished quilt. I find this idea so exciting, with limitless possibilities! So today, I'm excited to share with you the first quilt I've made using this process.

Of the whole-cloth quilt fabrics that I've come across (and there aren't many), most are rather dated in color and design, so I decided to design my own. I designed a simple yellow and white half-square triangle in Photoshop (Googling each step as I went!), which I ordered and had printed through Spoonflower on Kona cotton. I basted the quilt as usual, using an organic modern feather print for the back, and then quilted along each of the design's lines. Because of that quilting, the top actually appears as if it were pieced.

As I continue to explore the possibilities of whole-cloth quilts, I've asked a few other fabric designers and illustrators to design exclusive quilt tops for the shop. The initial sketches I've seen for the quilts so far are amazing, and I can't wait to share more with you in the coming months as we put the finishing touches on the designs.

In the meantime, this quilt is now in the shop. If you like it, but would prefer a different backing or binding, let me know! The beauty of digital fabric printing is that I can print the same quilt top an infinite number of times, and then add unique finishes to make it different each time. I'm very excited to see where this project takes me, and hope you are too!

Quilt Stats
Finished dimensions: 33" x 39"
Fabrics used include: Of a Feather (Ivory) by Rashida Coleman-Hale; digitally printed Kona cotton; Hearts in Cherry Blossom by Umbrella Prints.
Quilt design: Salty Oat

a custom half-square triangle quilt

Prior to our departure from North Carolina, a dear Spoonflower coworker commissioned me to make a quilt for her and her husband. She provided me with a few fabrics from her travels to Japan and San Francisco---a navy floral, a mustard polka dot twill, and a blue-and-white ditsy floral---and expressed a love of triangles. My friend is a computer engineer, so when it came to the quilt's design, it was no surprise that she included the code-generated quilts of Libs Elliott (such amazing work!) in her list of inspiration quilts.

Inspired by Libs' designs, I created half-square triangles in two different finished sizes---5" and 10"---and stuck them up on my design wall, constantly rearranging as I went along, until I had a composition I was happy with. In addition to the fabrics my friend provided, I added in a few pink prints, a Leah Duncan print that happened to coordinate beautifully with the palette, and a large navy cross-hatch which I used for the binding.

For the backing, I used large, leftover pieces of the original fabric, along with a few extra half-square triangles. You can spot a few in-progress shots of the quilt over on Instagram, as I worked on the cross-hatch quilting and then added a leather Salty Oat label.

The quilt is now back in North Carolina, at home with its new owners, to whom I am so grateful for the commission and the fun design challenge!

Quilt Stats
Finished dimensions: 60" x 60"
Fabrics used include: Mojave Illuminated by Leah Duncan; Glimma Crosshatch by Lotta Jansdotter; Pink Paint and Pink Dot from Picnic Pals by Penguin and Fish
Quilt pattern: original by Salty Oat (me!)

flying geese + feathers

This quilt has been a long time coming. Back when my husband and I got married, my dearest friend from my high school days gifted us with a beautiful, bed-size quilt. So when she got married in New York City last summer, I knew it was my chance to return the favor and make her and her new husband a quilt.

My friend loves purple (this wall quilt was for her), so I looked around on Design Seeds for purple inspiration. I wound up using this color palette to inspire my fabric pull. My friend had mentioned her love of Anna Maria Horner's feathers, so I knew I wanted to use those in the quilt. When I discovered how long it took to make each feather, and knew that I needed to wind up with a queen-size quilt, I decided to revise my plan a bit. I made stacks of feathers, flying geese, and half-square triangles, and then began piecing improvisationally, adding blocks of fabric as I went along to fill space.

The results were admittedly chaotic---so much randomness!---but completely different than anything I've done before.

Since it was so large, and I'd already done so much piecing, I decided to use a purple sheet for a seamless backing. I was pleasantly surprised with how soft it was! Lindsay of Eileen Quilts quilted it for me and I bound it with one of Carolyn Friedlander's cross-hatch prints. I added a hand-embroidered label with the couple's wedding date, along with a new leather Salty Oat tag.

I gifted it to my friend the weekend before last (over a year after her wedding---oops!), while visiting my parents in New Hampshire. The timing worked out well, since the changing fall foliage provided the perfect backdrop for photos.

scrap challenge: chevron napkins

When Rachel at Stitched in Color announced that she was going to be doing another scrap challenge (I loved the results of the first!), I immediately volunteered to participate and was so excited when I was one of the four people selected to create something using all of the scraps pictured above.

My husband and I are heading to a wedding soon, so I figured this would be a great opportunity to make something for the newly married couple. After a bit of brainstorming and sketching, I decided to make a set of napkins using mini half-square triangles.

I wanted the napkins to be modern and simple, so I decided to incorporate the ubiquitous chevron, along with a lot of negative space. I created the chevrons from half-square triangles, and then pieced them into columns that ran the width of the napkin. Each napkin features all of the fabrics from the bundle, arranged in a random order.

I improvised the placement of the column in each napkin, to mix things up a bit and create some interest, but once I finished, I worried that it looked more like I hadn't measured properly! Hopefully the couple won't mind.

I really loved the color palette of the bundle, and particularly loved having the chance to work with new fabrics with different textures, including two Kaufman linens and a Moda Cross Weave. I paired everything with a white organic Kona, which I also used on the back. The napkins wound up being slightly more than 18 x 18 inches.

Thank you to Rachel for organizing this fun challenge, and a big thanks to Pink Chalk Fabrics for the gorgeous bundle of fabrics! You can pick up your own bundle here.

prismatic quilt

Not long after sharing a sneak peek of this quilt, I finished it! Consisting of oversized half-square triangles, the simple quilt pattern is called Prismatic, and can be found in Kathreen Ricketson's Little Bits Quilting Bee, one of my favorite quilt books.

To make it, I paired almost all of the light blue prints in my stash (ranging from vintage to new) with solid white---I love how well the various prints work with one another, despite differences in scale and value.

For the back, I pieced together a number of larger scraps, including a few treasured prints I'd been hoarding.

I quilted it on my own machine (!) using an all-over stipple. This is by far the largest quilt I've ever quilted (it's approximately 81" x 90"), and while the stitching is far from perfect and took forever to complete, I love the final, crinkly results.

I bound it with a beloved Kei Honeycomb Dot I snatched up in a sale a few years ago, and added a new label.

P.S. The DC Walk to End Alzheimer's is this Saturday, and we'd love your support! Details about the walk can be found here.