Have Quilt, Will Travel
I typically travel with a quilt.* Hotel blankets tend to be too lightweight for my taste. Snuggling up under the weight & comfort of my handmade quilt makes sleeping away from home easier, even in warm weather.
Usually I take this log cabin quilt I started in 2006 and finished ...later. (Remember, quilts have no statute of limitations.)
It’s rumpled because it normally lives folded up in my car. You know, in case of snowdrifts.
When I made this queen-size quilt, I didn’t yet have access to a longarm quilting machine, so I tied it.
Also, I didn’t know a lot about seam allowances. We live and learn.
What If...
What if I didn't have to bring my own quilt?
What if I booked a stay at a gorgeous getaway, and arrived to find beautiful, one-of-a-kind quilts already there?
On the bed.
Draped over the couch.
Placemats on the table.
Potholders in the kitchen.
I can make this happen for you.
Whether you operate a vacation property or just want to feel that level of luxury in your home sweet home, I'm here to help.
Start your custom quilt project by visiting the Commissions page and booking your Customization Session with me today!
* I know I'm not alone. Luke Haynes does this too. Do you travel with a quilt? Tell us about it! #HaveQuiltWillTravel
Repetition: E
Repetition: E
Reclaimed garments, vintage sheet, and other cotton and wool fabrics, machine pieced and quilted. 44" H x 39" W, 2022. $850 Click here to purchase.
Quilt Blocks Are Small Problems.
A small problem, created and solved, over and over. That's how I think about making a quilt. Build the blocks, then build with the blocks.
But wait - Sarah, aren't you an improv quilter? I thought you didn't make quilt blocks.
I actually make a ton of quilt blocks. I just don't make them all the same size or shape or color. That's where the improvisation comes in.
In Repetition: E, the building blocks are easier to see.
This is one of the quilts I started in early 2022 during the Abstract Piecing workshop series with Sherri Lynn Wood. It had snowed that week, and I was noticing the shapes made by different tire treads in the show.
The blocks are composed from very simple elements. All rectangles, one horizontal, the rest perpendicular to that one. Most of them are only two colors, to make the brain read the shapes as letter E's. Kinda like those charts at the opthamologist's office.
As with Don't Stop Me Now, I challenged myself to use mostly striped fabrics, which enforced the rectangular motif.
More Rule-Breaking
I could have made all of the E blocks the same size and shape. But my curious mind says, "Never make a rule unless you intent to break it." And rubs its little brainy hands together a-la-Mr.-Burns.
What if this block had 3 colors instead of 2? What if this one had 4 stripes, or 5, or 6? What if this one didn't make the E shape? What if this one was longer, or shorter, or wider? And so on. I can't help myself. I gotta try everything.
Basic Split is another example of this approach: Start with a very simple block construction, and make multiple variations on that theme.
Repetition: E is now available in my web store!
Click here to bring this bit of coziness into your own home.
Not Quite Right? Commission Your Own!
Like what you see, but want it in a different size? Different colors? Another variation? Let's talk about your custom quilt! Check out my Commissions page and book your Quilt Customization Session today.
Quarter Inch Seam Allowances (Bwa Ha Ha)
This one goes out to all my fellow quilters who get frustrated when their piecing isn't perfect. Which, for me, is always.
Okay hear me out. When I first learned to make quilts, I was taught to use quarter-inch seam allowances.
What's a seam allowance? That's the amount of fabric left on the inside of a seam.
By PKM - Own original work, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
In quilting, seam allowances are usually about a quarter inch wide. That's enough fabric to anchor the stitches and prevent them from easily pulling apart.
It's also a convenient measurement for those of us still stuck with the antiquated Imperial measurement system.
Sewing quarter inch seams is good practice. You want those seams to hold together. It's an especially good practice if you are making a quilt from a fixed pattern - that is, a plan that depends on precise measurements, and blocks that all come out the same size.
I don't do that.
I'm an improvisational quilter.
So I don't worry so much about quarter inch seam allowances.
See this quilt top in progress:
Looks fairly nice and neat, doesn't it? What do you see when I turn it over?
WHOA NELLY THE CHAOS.
I MEAN WHAT EVEN IS THAT.
Here's another example:
NERP.
I'm working with a whole lot of fabric pieces that are leftovers, cut off from other bits, scraps, or otherwise irregular. None of these were measured or previously cut to a specific size. That's how I work.
Working with what I have, whether created with or without intention, is where the magic lives. It's in the pleasure of the present moment. It's play.
So, if you are just starting down the quilted path, learning to use quarter inch seams is a good skill to have. Karen Brown of Just Get It Done Quilts can help you.
But, once you know the rules...
You can break them :)
Happy stitching!
Purple Patch, Forth Smith
Purple Patch, Fort Smith
Reclaimed garments and other fabrics, machine pieced, hand quilted. 62 x 40 inches, 2020. $1090
Click here to purchase.
Thrify Is Nifty
I love making quilts out of used clothing, and I love thrift shopping. This can be a dangerous combination. I have to restrict myself to 2-3 outings per year, lest the fabric bins overflow even further.
Sometimes I shop for specific colors, like I did for Fences I, which was inspired by the rolling hills and winter-dormant grasses of Colorado & Wyoming.
Purple Patch came about after my Mom and I took a trip to see a quilt show at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
We stopped in at a little thrift shop called The Purple Patch. I zoomed through the women's tops and found 3 items that were mostly cotton. I also picked up a pair of napkins. Mom snagged two coffee mugs that were perfect for our picnic bag. Total? About 5 bucks.
Not only are we thrifty, but we love to color coordinate.
I took the clothes apart and made the quilt while I was an artist in residence at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts.
I decided to hand quilt this one. I was inspired by the way Sherri Lynn Wood quilts her pieces. I knew it would take ...longer... than machine quilting, so I gave myself a year to finish it. I just made it.
(If you're looking for a patch that's purple, there isn’t one on the front.)
I loved the process of hand quilting. I appreciate the necessity to slow down. Being used to the grind culture and the urge for constant productivity, I don't dwell in "slow time" very often.
Here’s how my stitches look on the back:
The texture is also unbeatable, especially after laundering.
Purple Patch is available for sale! Like all my quilts, this one has passed the Snuggle Test. I can personally tell you that Purple Patch will keep you cozy on your bed, couch, or wherever you do your best napping. Click here to purchase.
Use This Quilt
Did you know? Most of my quilts are safe for your washer and dryer, and I always include care instructions on the label. Would you like to commission a quilt that can take the stress of daily use? Let's make it happen! Visit my Commissions page to get started.
Series I watched while quilting Purple Patch (a lot of PBS, for some reason):
Craft in America (quilting while watching shows about quilting. meta!)
Don't Stop Me Now
Don't Stop Me Now
Reclaimed garments, vintage sheets, and other fabrics, machine pieced and quilted.
48"h x 38"w, 2022.
$800 Click here to purchase.
I've learned so much from Sherri Lynn Wood. She's a remarkable artist and educator. I took my first workshop with her at QuiltCon 2015, which was also my first QuiltCon. I signed up kind of late, but there were slots left in her "Quilting From a Score" workshop. Her book, The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters, was so new that I don't think they were even for sale at the show.
If you're familiar with her book, the workshop she taught that year was the Floating Squares score.
I came away changed. I figured out that I was an improv quilter, but I didn't know that quilting could be so... effortless.
Long story short, when Wood announced her spring 2022 lineup of workshops, I decided...
This was a beautiful, fertile creative period for me. A highlight of the workshop series was the guest appearance by Gees Bend quilter Mary Margaret Pettway.
Like, I can't even.
Here's a little tip: If you are a quilter in the twenty first century, you owe a debt to the quilters of Gees Bend. You can pay something toward that debt right here. Learn more about the quilters of Gee's Bend at the Souls Grown Deep Foundation website.
Ms. Pettway inspired this quilt.
With Don't Stop Me Now, I challenged myself to work in an improvisational style, with mostly striped fabric. Here's my maximalist tendency coming through: All Stripes All The Time.
What's In a Name?
I title all my work. Usually, the title comes to me mid-construction. I was so filled with energy at learning from Ms. Pettway, plus the infusion of color and pattern in the dead of winter, that my exuberance could only be expressed in the immortal words of Freddie Mercury.*
Tonight I'm gonna have myself a real good time
I feel alive
And the world, I'll turn it inside out, yeah
I'm floating around in ecstasy
So (Don't stop me now)
(Don't stop me)
'Cause I'm having a good time
Having a good time
I'm a shooting star, leaping through the sky like a tiger
Defying the laws of gravity
I'm a racing car, passing by like Lady Godiva
I'm gonna go, go, go, there's no stopping me
I'm burning through the sky, yeah
Two hundred degrees, that's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit
I'm travelling at the speed of light
I wanna make a supersonic man outta you
(Don't stop me now)
I'm having such a good time, I'm having a ball
(Don't stop me now)
If you wanna have a good time, just give me a call
(Don't stop me now)
'Cause I'm having a good time
(Don't stop me now)
Yes, I'm having a good time
I don't wanna stop at all, yeah
I'm a rocket ship on my way to Mars on a collision course
I am a satellite, I'm out of control
I'm a sex machine, ready to reload like an atom bomb
About to oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, explode
I'm burning through the sky, yeah
Two hundred degrees, that's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit
I'm travelling at the speed of light
I wanna make a supersonic woman of you
(Don't stop me, don't stop me, don't stop me)
Hey, hey, hey
(Don't stop me, don't stop me, ooh, ooh, ooh)
I like it
(Don't stop me, don't stop me)
Have a good time, good time
(Don't stop me, don't stop me) Woah
Let loose, honey, all right
Oh, I'm burning through the sky, yeah
Two hundred degrees, that's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit (Hey)
Travelling at the speed of light
I wanna make a supersonic man outta you (Hey, hey)
(Don't stop me now)
I'm having such a good time, I'm having a ball
(Don't stop me now)
If you wanna have a good time, just give me a call (Ooh, alright)
(Don't stop me now)
'Cause I'm having a good time (Hey, hey)
(Don't stop me now)
Yes, I'm having a good time
I don't wanna stop at all
Lyrics from Don't Stop Me Now, 1978, written by Freddie Mercury and performed by Queen.
* To experience this song in its finest postmodern format, I recommend this Google Doodle.
Don’t Stop Me Now Could Be Yours!
Visit the store page to purchase this quilt.
Interested in ordering a custom quilt to your specifications? Let’s do it! Visit the Commissions page to see sizes and prices, and book your Quilt Customization Session today!