CMYK - Another New Start

Another new quilt start. Smitten from the beginning.

The Mighty Lucky Quilting Club is running again this year. I am signed up for a turn hosting in a couple of months. This year, however, the Club will work together to make an entire quilt. That is, each month plays well with each other and the whole thing is designed to give you a quilt top at the end. Still regular challenges, but with a different end goal in site.

The other difference this year is that the entire thing is about colour. So by the end of it you will have a quilt top and a deeper understanding of colour for all your other work. All without making a colour wheel.

Carolyn Friedlander kicked things off in January with a discussion about creating a palette and translating colour inspiration to picking fabric. I love her piece. I will admit, however, to be to being stuck on what I wanted to do. I've never been stuck for picking a palette before! New territory for me. But I didn't stress. Instead I pet some fabric and lived my life, confident that something would tickle my fancy eventually.

Enter the latest issue of Uppercase Mag. Devoted to CMYK - Cyan, magenta, and yellow. The base colours for printing. As with all issues of the magazines I had to wipe up my drool as I read it. Then I knew exactly what I was going to do for this Mighty Lucky Quilting Club challenge.

So I picked a stack of fabric in these intense, pure colours. Not stressing too much about whether this pink perfectly matched that one. If I went that detailed then there would be no point to piecing! You need a bit of contrast in value, texture, and hue to have some depth to your piecing.

Then I printed off the templates for Carolyn's rows. She is a paper piecing master and it was good to work with her pattern. Pretty straightforward as paper piecing goes. Do not be intimidated at all! It takes me about 45 minutes to make 1 block. A beginner would probably take about an hour or more. Don't stress, just do it one seam, one block at a time.

While I usually like to use freezer paper when I paper piece, this time I used Carol Doak's Foundation Paper for my templates. They print right on my home printer, are thin, and are easy to remove. The print at home factor was big as I didn't want to draw out the templates for 12 blocks. (No affiliation, I just like it.) 

In a week I have 6 blocks done. I will plug away on these then start the next round - it's improv!

To sign up to receive the bimonthly challenges, and the templates for this particular block, check out Mighty Lucky Quilting Club. It is $50 for the annual subscription. 

Ripples - A New Start

I literally woke up with this idea.

We all know I am a morning person, rising to practice Morning Make. I've never confessed that it is still tough to actually get out of bed. So I take a few minutes to breathe and think about what I want to do as soon as my feet hit the ground. If I haven't prepped my Morning Make the night before I decide what mood I am in that day in those few minutes. Sewing? Sketching? Writing?

A few weekends ago I had the pleasure of participating in The Creative Jam in Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Wonderful people, the ocean, and a phenomenal creative spirit. It was an incredible weekend. Total bonus for me was my morning walks. The rain and fog held off each morning and the ocean was still. I could watch herons, seals, boats, and the fog roll in like a quilt being pulled over a sleeping baby. 

The morning after I got home I woke up with this idea. Ripples. 

Two rough 4'' squares layered right sides up. One light blue, one dark blue, value being relative. A wavy cut with my good scissors. Sewing opposites together. Square up to 3.5'' x 4''. Repeat and repeat, a meditation. 

How could I not, with this as inspiration?

Pattern Drop and My Sewing Machine Quilt

Today is the day my pattern drops on Pattern Drop. 

Like that? It's as if Katie planned it that way. I'm sure she did. She is a lot of fun like that. (Katie from Swim, Bike, Quilt is behind Pattern Drop.)

Pattern Drop is a monthly subscription service where you get one new pattern and loads of inspiration delivered to your inbox. There is no way you could buy all these patterns for the cost of a subscription. And it is so easy for you! 12 amazing designers with 12 unique, bold patterns. Each pattern is tested, too, so no errors to worry about. I am pretty excited to see what else comes as the previous months produced some delicious quilts.

The Sewing Machine Quilt pattern is a perfect escape for us quilters, or the quilters in your life. I, myself, made this and it pulled me out of a huge creative slump. With options for precision piecing and improv blocks there is something for every quilter in this pattern. Not to mention two block sizes (small above, large below) and a wide number of layout options.

I'm thrilled to be working with Katie this month and share my Sewing Machine Quilt with a wider audience. Just look at what she has done in advance of this month!

To sign up for Pattern Drop visit the site and choose either a monthly or annual subscription (which, of course, gives you a better rate). You can get colouring pages, access to tutorials and forums, and meet a community of quilters working on similar projects. Each new pattern drops on the first Wednesday of the month.

Annual Subscriptions are US$6.99/month. (US$83.88) A monthly subscription is US$8.99/month. If you use this special code I am providing you essentially get 2 months free! (US$69.90)

Pattern Drop Coupon Code: CHERYL2FREE

For those of you joining me via Pattern Drop, Welcome! I am so glad to have you here. Grab a cup of tea and look around. 

Full confession: As a Pattern Drop designer I do have an affiliate link if you sign up through me. 

Names For Snow Quilt Top

Yup, still winter.

At least that means that when I finished this winter inspired quilt the other day I had ample opportunity to take a shot of it in the snow.

It started with a stack of neutral solids fabrics and a beloved pair of Japanese tailor's scissors. I became so enamoured with the process of improv half square triangles and only using my scissors that I kept going and going. I actually have more blocks, but this was the size of quilt I wanted in the end. 

I think the bunnies might like it too...

It would be lovely to get it quilted before the snow totally disappears. Knowing Calgary and the winter we've had, that is about a month away! But I need the quilting pattern to percolate a bit. I've got a couple of ideas but nothing is settled yet. I'd like to move beyond cliche snowflakes.

This is technically the second in a series of quilts inspired by my Alberta landscapes. Actually, more like third, although I only consider this one to be a study and not the full quilt planned. Mountain Meadows would be the first. That one dictated the size of this quilt and the subsequent ones. They are improvised so I can't be exact, but close is good enough.

PS As of last week I am sold out of my Japanese scissors but Knifewear still had a few pairs.