Hopeful Homemaker

I shared the Stand Quilt , my newest quilt pattern , as well as my thoughts behind it, last week.  Today’s quilt is the Stand Quilt option two, which is the Stand Quilt pattern made without the small blocks as side borders.

It’s smaller (48″x64″), but equally dynamic.  This quilt is a lot like my Hunter’s Star patterns ( here and here ) that you can make with just two fabrics.  Color placement and other steps are simple with only two!  The design is also great for any gender.  A great choice for social sewing, you can get everything cut, and then sew the same blocks without too much thought.  I like taking projects like this to retreats or sew nights with friends.

I made this version with a lovely, deep green, called Everglade by Kona.  It’s paired with a print from Carolyn Friedlander. Her fabrics and patterns appear often in my studio!

In fact, you see a peek of another print of hers on the back.  I sent this one to Melissa at Sew Shabby Quilting , and she chose a fun swirl pattern.  The same green binding finishes it off nicely.

The Stand Quilt option two is a nice thing to have, since it makes the quilt such a fast finish.  I’ll probably make one or two more as gifts before Christmas.  This smaller version requires just 2.5 yards of each fabric, plus 1/2 yard more for binding.  So fabric selection is a breeze.  While I’m a huge advocate of auditioning ALL the fabrics to find the perfect one when designing my quilts, I do love making them when it’s simple, too.  A quick decision and you’re off!  I’d like to make one with a juicy floral as one of the fabrics.

So that wraps up my introductions for the Stand Quilt pattern .  The Resolute pattern collection is coming along.  You’ve seen Awake (with a second version here ), and Arise ( another one here ), Stand (with side borders) and this Stand quilt option two.  Listen and Serve patterns are underway.  Look for them soon!

Happy Sewing!

Awake , Arise , and… what’s next?  Stand.  I’m here tonight to show you my newest pattern design, the Stand Quilt .  It’s the 3rd pattern in my Resolute Collection, which is a small collection of quilt patterns inspired by simple but powerful words.  A few favorite definitions of “stand” are “to remain upright in a moral sense, to be fixed or steady, to endure, or to maintain one’s ground”. Life offers us countless opportunities to stand, therefore, we must choose where and how we do it.

Stand is a simple design, made complex as block sizes grow and shrink.  Standing for something that matters is a lot like that.  A simple act, but we have to grow and shrink the ways we do it if we want to make a difference.  It’s simple but complex.  Easy and hard.  Consistent yet changing.   It’s a two color quilt, making fabric selection simple  (3.25 yards per color).  It also has an option to remove the borders on the left and right sides.  If it gets tedious, you can skip them.  I’ll share photos of a quilt like that soon.  With the side borders, it measures 56″ x 64″.

This pattern collection has been fun for me to work on.  In many ways, it’s me, being more “me” than ever before in my quilting.  Bringing together things I love deeply:  quilts, and words, feels very authentic.  I’ve loved words all my life.  Choosing a word, or a sequence of them, based on where I am and where I wish to go, bridging multiple facets of life, was fun.  And totally ME.  It’s probably a series I could continue forever, but I won’t.

Picking a word and then designing a quilt for what that word means to me, was challenging.  A challenge I enjoyed thoroughly.  I’m sure all of us would design something totally different if this was a group exercise.  But I’ve enjoyed the process, learned good things, and each design has surprised me in its own way.  I used my scraps to design the quilt back.

I’m learning to be  intentional and careful about what I stand for and how I do it – big and small ways, obvious and subtle, private and public.  The Stand Quilt pattern is now available here in my Etsy shop .  I hope you’ll make one with me!

Happy Sewing!

After sharing my Heather Ross Awake Quilt last week, it’s time for my Arise Quilt , take two.  This version was actually the first one I made, using fabrics from several different designers.  I really love this quilt and have been snuggling with it all week.

This version uses color differently than my Tula Pink Curiouser and Curiouser Arise Quilt , such as lighter, less dramatic fabrics at the edge and a fussy cut sashing strip.  It was a joy to make.  This pattern is a fussy-cutting dream and I took every opportunity to do it.  First up was the birds, designed by Kathy Doughty, which I bought just because I love them.  And the colors.  In fact, several fabrics in this quilt were designed by Kathy, including the fun plaid.

I also fussy cut some hymns, artwork I have long admired from Fancy That Design House. And that tiny checkered fabric was begging to be used in some clever way.  It creates subtle movement around the perimeter of the quilt and is one of those things that looks better as you get closer.  I like having that in a quilt.

The gorgeous floral design in the sashing was is also a Kathy Doughty fabric.  When I first bought it, I pictured something like this with it.  Arise gave me the perfect opportunity.

Of course there is some Kaffe, both florals and dots.  And more birds in different colors.

There are fabrics in this quilt from at least 10 different designers, and they all work together beautifully.   It’s my favorite kind of sewing.  It hit me today that when I sew from a collection, it feels like putting a puzzle together.  Where does each fabric fit?  But when I sew using any fabric in my studio, just because it feels like the right one?  That’s like painting.  It’s more exhilarating to me.  More risky, too, perhaps.  But infinitely more fun.

I keep working at my longarm quilting skills, always worried I’m about to ruin a quilt.  Somehow they all end up being quilts that are at least useful.  For this Awake Quilt take two, I quilted a wonky rainbow pattern all over it.  It was fun.

I like how it looks in the evening light.  And the backing was really fun to make.  It features three favorite prints.

That blue floral has been waiting for it’s moment to shine, and this is it.  I paired it with Heather Bailey’s gorgeous birds from True Kisses.  Wish I had a lot more of that one!  A skinny strip of a precious red floral adds just the right touch.  Oh yes, this backing makes me smile.

A blue binding finishes things off nicely, don’t you think?

So there you have it, Arise Quilt take two.  Or original.  Whatever.  It’s a fun one to make.  My next Arise quilt will feature vintage embroidery.  It’s been bumped by other deadlines, but I’m excited to get back to it.

On Thursday I’ll be back with the third quilt in my Resolute pattern collection:  Stand .  Can’t wait to show you!