Improv Block for Jacquie

Many of you know our Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild President, Jacquie, and I could go on all night about what a fun, gracious, kind, inspiring, organized, giving person she is. Well, we got the news that she was moving to Chicago and leaving the Kansas prairie behind. I was shocked and sad yet so excited for her and all the possibilities waiting for her. Within moments of the news, Shea was organizing us all to quickly create blocks for a special quilt.

Jacquie loves orange and Shea asked the guild members to make blocks that had orange, grey, white and black and be made in an improv style. Lucky for me that Jacquie had made me sit up and notice that orange wasn't really so bad and I'd actually been on the look out for orange fabric that I could love for about the last six months. I was surprised that I had accumulated a nice little orange stack in my stash.

I had to laugh taking these tiny little cuts from quarter and half yards of fabric. I'd made an improv block before but I used a tutorial so the training wheels were off for this one. I loved creating it! It was so much fun to just sit down at the sewing machine and play. Shea, her mom Mary, and Angela worked together to get pull it all together beautifully.

This is Mary unveiling Windy City for the first time at our guild meeting.

And here's Jacquie all wrapped up.

We'll all miss her but we're in wonderful hands with Shea leading us and I can't wait to hear about Jacquie's adventures in Chicago.

Read more about the creation of Windy City and see some great close up photos over on Shea's blog. Thanks for the photo's Shea!

If you want to see some more awesome quilts, make sure you check out Quilts on the Quad this Saturday on the UMKC campus. It's the KCMQG's first quilt show!! Get all the details here.

Bloom Strong

I did finish binding this quilt as promised! The next weekend, Roy and I actually had a babysitter and went out to dinner together. He was nice enough go up to the University of Kansas campus with me to get photos. It's always funny watching people watch you while taking quilt photos!

This is Strong Hall at KU. KU has some beautiful architecture but this building was never one that interested me much. Perhaps memories of the hot, frustrating math classes on the top floor? I happened to catch a show on the local tv station this fall that highlighted the architecture of several buildings in Lawrence and for some reason I grabbed my sketchbook and got busy making quilting designs.

When I was in college, I loved spring on campus. The flowers and trees were in bloom everywhere and I was so happy to be outside more. Tulips were always some of the first flowers at the base of the Jayhawk statue in front of Strong Hall. I thought the tulips and other prints in Kate Spain's Verna fabric would add the perfect softness to a quilt with such strong lines.

I used 10 fat quarters and added some solid white. It measures about 47"x45". It's actually a bit wider than it is long. I quilted it simply with straight lines to give it a soft drape. I'm glad I experimented with wider spacing but in the end I think I do prefer a little heavier quilting.

I intentionally kept the back very busy in case my friend wanted to take the quilt into the yard for her baby while she watched her older children play.

I used a print with a soft, blue background for the hand stitched binding.

I started the quilt in the fall last year and had it all pieced before the New Year. I'm not sure how all this time passed so quickly before I finished it. I suppose other projects jumped ahead in line. It was the first quilt that I designed myself and completed on my own.

I'm excited to take it to my friend's little girl tomorrow. I hope she will get a lot of enjoyment from it over the next few years.

Do you have any gifts in progress?

Friday Night Sewing

There was a time when Friday night meant dinner out with friends, maybe a movie or a gallery exhibit afterwards. I still get that sense of anticipation on Friday afternoons and we considered taking Jenna to a photography exhibit this evening but the reality is that Jenna's exhausted from her first full wonderful week of school so were taking it easy with a family movie night.

Which means I am determined to finish the binding on this quilt tonight while Rio entertains us all. I'm declaring it to the world so I can deliver this gift before the my friend's sweet girl graduates from college! Well, she's only seven months old, but good grief, this quilt isn't that difficult.

I'm in love with Basic Grey's Christmas fabrics. I've been collecting pieces for quite awhile now to make a particular quilt. I think I have enough fabric now for three quilts and just added these Grunge solids to the collection. So I'd better get cutting if I want to enjoy them this Christmas.

So that's what this mom is doing on a wild and crazy Friday night. The good new is, I actually have a REAL date with my husband lined up for this weekend and next weekend too. I can't wait! We might be making this a habit ;)

I'd love to hear what you're all up to this weekend!

Rogue Crocheters

We were in Colorado twice this summer and we usually drive right on through Denver to get to the mountains. Then we stay in the mountains until the last possible minute and then zoom right on through again. This time, however, we planned a day in Denver. I'd been wanting to go to the Tattered Cover and my husband is a big REI fan. We explored a good part of downtown on foot. As we were walking around I came upon this fence. It stopped me in my tracks! Such a wonderful surprise!

It goes on forever! I'm usually on the hunt to snap photos of architectural features so it was quite a shock to see such lovely softness in contrast to a noisy construction site.

Here's a Denver Post article about the "rouge crocheters" that I'll read later today (I'm off to pick up Jenna from school). I can't wait to find out how many crocheters were involved and how they got started with this project.

Makes me wonder what rogue quilting would look like :)


ETA: Here's a video of the the women installing the flowers.

Wrapping Up the Summer

Hello! I'm finally getting a chance to sit down at the computer and look through some pictures from the summer. It was a a whirlwind and now I'm trying to get caught up at home. The list seems endless but I'm making some headway. My sewing room is next. I don't even know where to start in there. I've been sewing in the bedroom to escape the chaos!

I have a few things to show you from this summer and thought I'd start with this Dresden Plate. After teaching the hexagon class at Mountain Stitches, my mom taught me how to use the ruler and stitch these up. She got me started and I finished it up while I was there. I'm such a visual learner and she made it look so easy. And it was!

I used invisible thread for the first time to applique it onto the background. I definitely see more of these in my future.

And here's my sweet girl on her first day of kindergarten! How did five years go by so quickly? She loves school so far but is incredibly tired every night. We are still transitioning with half days but she has already asked why she has to go every day. Preschool had us spoiled. Play time and exploring time is limited now but she's excited to see her friends at school and is enjoying the new experiences there. Full days are coming soon and I'll miss her so much!

I remember when she wasn't quite a year old and we were attending our first year of MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers), she had terrible separation anxiety. It was so difficult but we worked through it and the whole time I kept thinking the reward and goal would be for her not to be screaming down the hall trying to escape kindergarten like some of the new children at the school where I taught. Well she LOVED MOPS the second year (and beyond) and she was confident enough to tell my husband and I that we didn't need to walk her into school her first day. (We did anyway :) ) YAY!

Pouch Project

As soon as I returned from TN, I was anxious to sew something. The summer has slipped by quickly I feel like I haven't accomplished much with all we've had going on. I was eager to start and finish something.

I helped some friends from the KC Modern Quilt Guild cut and package some kits at Jacquie's studio a few months ago and I finally felt like my heart could take opening them up and begin sewing.

These kits contained everything I needed to make a little pouch that will hold a tiny baby born too early to survive. They are called fetal demise pouches. Such a cold clinical term. But our guild is hoping to provide something soft and delicate so that parents can hold their little one and say goodbye.

Making the kits with friends was a little easier than sewing them on my own. There was camaraderie through the difficulty in what we were doing. We shared some stories and eventually found some rhythm to cutting fabric and ribbon. It's amazing how being with friends and touching fabric can soothe the soul.

Sewing at home, alone while my family was out of the house, made it so very hard to think about the babies that might be growing right now. How their parents are filled with joy at the anticipation of their arrival. It made me think of the two babies I lost so very early. And it made me think of friends who have lost babies and how I wish there was something I could do to comfort them. I'm so glad to be able to do this project to offer some small comfort for someone grieving.

I started with one pouch and followed Alex's very detailed tutorial for her pouch design. It went together smoothly and for the next three I was able sew in assembly line fashion. I'll admit that I had to turn on the television for some distraction.

If you'd like to read more about this project, the KC Modern Quilt Guild blog has a post here and Quilter's Home magazine just published an article about several projects for lost babies, including ours.

Finally a Finish!

I think this may have been the first quilt I cut out on my own. I used a Turning Twenty pattern. It spent a lot of time on a shelf in between stages of cutting, piecing, quilting, and binding and spanned a bunch of different life stages when I just didn't make a lot of time for sewing. I'm so excited that it's finished because I think it will get lots of use during the summer time. I picture using it on the table for celebrations, for a picnic with friends or an evening concert in the park. The fabric on the back seems particularly sturdy. It has a finish on it that is a bit stiffer than your typical quilting cotton. I'm curious to see what it feels like after I wash it.

A little bit of a blue rectangle faded a bit before I knew to be careful about closing the blinds in my sewing room so I gave it the name Faded Glory. It's not very easy to see and will get lot's of love in spite of it's imperfections.

My mom quilted it with red thread on her long arm. It's nice to have connections! Thanks Mom!

We are home now from Tennessee, and I'm missing everybody so much. If only I could be in two places at one time. My sister Viv, her friend Samantha, Jenna and I went to Knoxville to the AQS Quilt Show and had lunch at a Creperie near the big Farmer's Market.

I've dreamed of these gigantic blackberries since last year. Viv is an amazing cook and made an incredible blackberry crisp that night.

{If you are curious about those tobacco baskets in my last post, I've updated it with some more information.}

Basket Hunting

{I'm back to add some text to this photo as I haven't completely figured out how to blog from my phone. Nikki asked a question in the comments about this tobacco basket so I thought I'd share what I know.}

My sister has a tobacco basket hanging on her back porch that I just love and I also saw one hanging outside of an antique store. I love the structure and thought one would look beautiful (or at least interesting) over my mantel. When I asked Viv about it, she said they've been all over blogland for awhile. Kansas wasn't a tobacco growing state so I just haven't seen them here at all.

My mom, sister, Jenna and I had a girls day out and went on the hunt. My sister knew just where to go. Later my dad told me that when his family grew tobacco, he remembers these baskets being part of the process.

You can read this article for some history of tobacco baskets.

This is just one link I found that shows how people are using them in their homes.

Checking in from Tennessee

Hi everyone! I'm still here in Tennessee having a great time with my family. We just can't seem to squeeze in all we want to do together and my sister talked me into staying a while longer.

She took me to the Tin Roof in Pigeon Forge for lunch with our girls yesterday. It was such a darling cafe in an old house. I wanted to move in the moment I stepped on the front porch and opened the door! And of course, the food was terrific. My sister Viv knows all the wonderfully unique places to eat and shop.

Here's our girls at one of the parks in Gatlinburg. It's so hot and humid we have to hit the playgrounds pretty early. They are having such a good time playing together and I'm loving every moment I get to spend with my niece.

My brother got engaged right before I came to visit and the night I arrived the whole family had dinner with him and his fiance. Ashley is very sweet and funny and I think she'll be a wonderful wife for Daniel. I'm so happy for them!


My hexagon class went well. It was fun to share some techniques and have a chance to laugh and visit. In the afternoon I tried my hand at a Dresden Plate and I love how it turned out. Maybe I'll get it turned into a table topper before I leave and I can share it.


I did finish binding a quilt this afternoon. So I'll have to share it too.

I'll leave you with a couple pictures of a barn I just love. It's so different from a Kansas barn. The sides are cantilevered (at least that's what I think it's called). My guess is that different crops call for different types of barns.

Hope you're all doing well and keeping cool (or warm if it's winter where you are). I'll try to post again while I'm here, and maybe even something sewing related!

Late night reading here in Tennessee.