That’s how Cathy felt when she saw the cover quilt pictured on Kaffe Fassett’s original patchwork design book “Glorious Patchwork.”  I know the feeling.  I remember buying the book back in 1997 when it was first released.  I thought—someday I’m going to make that quilt.  Of course, I didn’t—but Cathy did!

What goes into a project like this?  Well, lots and lots of fabric—time—patience and the desire to make something crazy special.  Cathy’s been working on her piece for nearly five years.  At first she hand pieced each of the teeny tiny blocks—a slow and laborious process if there ever was one.  Then she got a machine—and the project picked up some speed.  

This is improvisational quilting as it’s finest.  Cathy’s use of thoughtful color play, coupled with whacky piecing that’s squared up just right gives this quilt a strong graphic design that’s well balanced and visually interesting.  Amazing eye candy!

Raelene made this quilt for friends relocating to Hong Kong. She played up the drama by contrasting the rich red batik square geometry against a solid black background. The quilt is enhanced with red thread in a the water meandering quilting pattern. 

Mario reached for the batiks too when he designed his grown up version of the Posh for his partner.

Although this piece lives on the wall and we don't see the back, trust me, it's all pieced in Mario's signature style.  Why use one fabric when you can create another fabulous look on the reverse side? 

Posh Tot patterns are available in the shop or online for $9.50 and include yardage and directions for baby and throw sizes.

Create some wonderful on the fly!

There’s nothing like a rainy afternoon to make some progress on my new Lincoln Park Patchwork quilt.

My plan was to play with rows of color so I used Anna Maria Horner’s new fabrics in two palettes—a lighter golden pinky red grouping and the chocolate and plum color way. The construction is easy schmeasy--sort of a variation on Urban Amish.

I’m playing with the sizing right now. I’m not sure I like the width of my strip set rows. I’ve already trimmed them back once, but I’m not sure it was enough. Of course the idea of borders has crossed my mind too. It always does when I get to the point where I’m piecing the top together. But in the end I know the patchwork top will speak to me. And it will either say, “I’m not done yet, don’t let me out of the house without my make-up on,” or it will scream “you can’t box me in!” Time will tell.

Just a reminder—Quiltology will be closed on Sunday June 28th. The Gay Pride Parade kicks off in front of the shop so the block is closed. 

This coming week we'll be open on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday as usual--but closed on Saturday July 4th.

Personally I’m looking forward to a little personal sewing time. In fact I'm working on a new prototype for our newest shop pattern. I've been inspired by some fun new fabrics from Anna Maria Horner's Good Folks collection. 

Here's a sneak peak at what I plan to call--Lincoln Park Patchwork!

see you soon...

Colette

Say hello to Sally!

I know some of you have met her—but many of you only know her by name. Sally (in the middle) is the lady who does the long arm quilting for the shop. Here she’s pictured with her daughter Jen and new son-in-law.

And just what is it that they’re all holding up? What to you think? If you guessed quilt, you’re right. This is Jen’s wedding quilt—a California king—stitched with love by mom—and delivered on time. Now, that’s what I call impressive. I usually have to exercise my one year grace period on these projects.

Sally calls this the traveling quilt because it’s had quite a journey. She started it here in Chicago—conceptualizing, shopping for fabrics and cutting the strips. Then she escaped to a friend’s cabin in Wisconsin for a week of uninterrupted block piecing time. Back home she long arm quilted this beauty herself, and then finished the binding during the family’s annual ski trip to Michigan in February.

And now this quilt is living with the happy new couple in Maui! And yes, they do use quilts in Hawaii. The days may be glorious, but chill does creep in at night.

Aloha!

I was at the shop until the wee hours this morning shelving a new shipment of fabric that arrived--so there's lots of good stuff for the weekend.  

I'll get back into a posting mode again next week--but in the meantime--here's some nice eye candy to enjoy compliments of master quilter Ron Benard. Another WOW of a quilt.  FYI--your eyes do not decieve you--yes, that's both applique AND paper-piecing!) 

cu soon,

Meet this week’s guest blogger Corinne Niessner—a knitter and quilter who has been quite busy this year whipping up lots of warm and fuzzy for the canine fur persons in her life. Corrine’s new book Doggie Knits, Sweaters and Accessories for Your Best Friend was published this past summer and we’ve got some signed copies in the shop for all of you cross-over fiber/pet lovers.

Over to you Corinne….

I came back to quilting this year after setting it aside for nearly twenty years. I was self-taught, all from books, and my technique was not that good. So after seeing some of my friends’ masterpieces that they created in classes at Quiltology, I decided to treat myself to a class for my birthday last year.

What I like the most about knitting is the play of color and texture. I love high quality fibers and I believe that when you use the good stuff, it truly elevates the quality of your knitting. When I adopted my first dog, I knew that I had to start knitting for her. I loved to combine colors for the sweaters, and kept on working on the design itself until I achieved a fitted, functional, beautiful product. I launched my web site Lucky Penny Hand Made in 2002 and started selling my one-of-a-kind dog sweaters. Check it out online at www.luckypennyhandmade.com.

What I love about the process of putting together a quilt is that I get to play with color and print in a way that’s different from knitting. The advantage of working on a piece in the Quiltology workshop situation is that I get to be in a room with other quilters and see their works in progress. I appreciate the feedback from these other students as well as the insight and direction from Colette and Susan.

The inspiration for making a quilt for my dog came as I was looking through Sally’s catalog of long arm quilting designs. There I discovered a fun novelty design called “Dogs and Bones.” Perfect! The pattern is happy dogs in profile with their doggie bones. And at that moment, a little more inspiration came my way. I looked up and saw a baby quilt hanging behind the register at the shop—In and Out—a modern block in just the right size.

Next I found some lovely vintage inspired printed fabrics of little dogs in sweaters at the Quilt Expo in Rosemont. Typically I find one fabric that I fall in love with and then build the top up around it. So I added in some other fun fabrics and the quilt top came together quickly. I was so happy with the result—and the best part—my dog Piccolo really does use the quilt.

One of the happy situations that came from writing my book is that I had an opportunity to work with David Christensen, a dear friend, who just happens to be a super photographer. I could tell during the photo shoot that he was just aching to have a little dog of his own. So after he moved into a new house this past spring, he adopted Gracie, a little Norwich terrier. While I do want to make a sweater for her, I was just itching to do another quilt! I had some left over dog fabrics from the first quilt, added in some Denyse Schmidt fabrics and patched together another In and Out design in no time. I wanted something that was cute, but not overly feminine, so both David and Gracie could enjoy the quilt. Since they live in California, and I haven’t seen the new house, I decided that browns, blues and greens were the way to go.

I do believe that pets contribute so much to our lives. I know my little Piccolo makes every day special so I want to give her something equally as special. I’m happy that I can share my knitting and quilting with her. After all, who deserves it more than she does?

For more project photos and notes visit Corinne’s blog at www.luckypennyknits.blogspot.com.

Thanks for sharing!

According to the color people at PANTONE, the global authority on color and provider of professional color standards for the design industries, Mimosa, a warm, engaging yellow, is the color of the year for 2009. In a time of economic uncertainty and political change, optimism is paramount and no other color expresses hope and reassurance more than yellow.

"The color yellow exemplifies the warmth and nurturing quality of the sun, properties we as humans are naturally drawn to for reassurance," explains Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. "Mimosa also speaks to enlightenment, as it is a hue that sparks imagination and innovation."

Beth used yellow to pop her black and white patchwork last year when she made her "Traveling Theta Quilt" to share with her sorority sisters from Kappa Alpah Theta. 

Each year this quilt will pass from one member to the next so that they all have a chance to live with it and enjoy it personally.  Beth said, "putting the pieces of fabric together to create one quilt symbolizes the sacred chain that binds this group of woman together."   

And it looks like Theresa is the lucky lady who gets to live with the quilt first--perfect in this year of yellow!

It's no easy task to work with yellow in patchwork.  This is a strong color that goes a long way.  But if you use other strong colors to balance it out, like Beth did here, you'll have a wonderful quilt that just screams sunshine! 

And who among us doesn't need a little bit of that now and again?

Happy new year everybody...! 

Do you have big bold wonderful prints that you just can't bring yourself to cut up? 

If the answer is yes, well, my friends, you"re not alone.  I've been there and I've got a stash of fabric to prove it.  So this week I thought I'd show you a quilt my friend Bernadette made from some of her favorite Kaffe Fassett prints.  She used a 12" block to showcase these wonderful fabrics and then set them on point to add some visual interest.  And if that wasn't enough, Bernadette added yo-yos to the corner sashing!  Fun, fast and fabulous! 

Way to go Bernadette.  And many thanks for loaning us this beauty.  We just put it up on the back wall, so everybody can see it up close and in person.  Stop by the shop and check it out.

cu soon,