Category: Quilting and Sewing

A few years ago my daughter Marian and I took a trip to the Outer Banks, North Carolina.  Neither of us had been there before, and my brother invited us to join him and his family for spring break.  I loved it.  Sunrise at the edge of the Atlantic ocean, long walks on the sand, sea birds, and lighthouses.  When we got home I decided to make a quilt to preserve the memories as a thank you gift for my brother’s family.  This is it.  My Signal quilt.

I chose lighthouses as my focus for several reasons.  One reason was the memories our kids made together at the Bodie Island lighthouse.  To this day, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen my daughter laugh harder.   Additionally, I wanted to explore the shape in a quilt.  Two of the three lighthouses, Cape Hatteras and Bodie Island, are reflected in the stripes.  The other I used to create symmetry in the design.

The colors are all from Art Gallery Pure Solids, (my favorite solids since making this quilt) and they represent my sister-in-law’s favorite beachy colors.  I used them to compose a quilt that feels a little bit like a vintage postcard.  The checkers remind me of the Cape Hatteras lighthouse. I used them as a center line across the middle of the quilt, and then created a “reflection” in the bottom half, a nod to our time on the beach and my love of the ocean.

That cute little diamond strip makes me smile.  Also, it pulled the whole quilt together.

As for the quilting, I thought of a windy evening when I was out alone on the bridge, watching the flash of the Hatteras lighthouse from our rental.  It was SO DARK, and that signal was beautiful.  I stood there in the wind, watching it go off and on in it’s own unique pattern.  Appreciation settled deep in me, and I dearly wanted to remember the moment.

Therefore, I decided to quilt my Signal quilt using the light patterns of the two lighthouses.  For the top row, and then every “odd” row after that, I quilted the pattern of the Cape Hatteras lighthouse.  Tall loops represent one second on, short loops one second off, straight lines for 1/2 seconds.  Beginning with the second row, and through all even rows after that, is the signal for Bodie Island.

I paused many times to double check my loops, but gratefully I got the signals correct.  I suppose it could be an odd quilting pattern.  But at least it’s meaningful!  I like the way it pulls my eye to figure out what the pattern is.

I completed the quilt with an ombre binding, going from the warm orange to a burnt red.  It’s the same red in the middle of the quilt.

Do you label your quilts?  I want to get better at it.  I couldn’t mail the Signal quilt away without one.

When I finished this quilt, I felt so much gratitude and pride.  I’m grateful I could design and make something like this to preserve a memory.  THIS is why I quilt.  And oh, how I love it!

We’re officially mid-way through January, and according to research, most New Year’s resolutions have been abandoned by now.  In fact, I learned recently that some call the second Friday in January “quitter’s day” because so many resolutions are broken by then.  Kind of sad.  But I’ve always maintained that there’s nothing special about January 1st. Every day is a good day to start living better.  And every day is a good day to show up for our commitments.  So it seems like a good day to share my Dainty Show Up Quilt, all finished.

This Dainty Show Up quilt is a small, 48″ star made with half rectangle triangles.  It’s a block I once feared, but now favor.  I learned a way to make half rectangle triangles without a special ruler, and never looked back!  The Show Up star is a smaller version of my Serve Quilt, and the pattern includes instructions for both sizes.

I quilted this little quilt far more densely than I typically would for a child.  The background is filled with “pebble quilting” – thousands of tiny circles.  My reason is simple.  I wanted the smaller stars to stand out.  With so little contrast in color or value, I turned to texture for help.  You can see how they puff up against the pebbles.

To help with all the dense quilting, I chose a floral flannel for the back, and needed a strip of cotton to make it large enough.  I like the soft colors AND the soft feel of flannel.

And sometimes it’s more fun to see the quilting on the back than on the front.

I opted for an orange peel design in the pink and green squares and rectangles.  They were fun to sew.  Plus, I needed an excuse to admire that darling green floral a little more.  So cute!

I bound this Dainty Show Up quilt with the same pink print found in the star.  Rather than hand sew through all that quilting, I attached the binding by machine.  Pink looks great with both front and back!

Soft, crinkly, and complete.  I love this little quilt.  I hope it will be much used!

After all, quilts are art we wrap around people we love.  It’s the best kind of art, if you ask me!

The lovely sunshine of last week has surrendered to scattered snow flurries.  While I love watching individual flakes float haphazardly to the ground, I do not care for the accumulation.  Gratefully, it has largely been limited to the mountains.  (I hate having my teenagers out driving in snow!)  While the snowflakes swirl outdoors, I have been playing with hearts.

Not the hearts of people, mind you, but fabric hearts.  I am decidedly a “star” girl.  It’s my favorite shape/motif by far, with hearts falling low on my list.  Over the years I’ve wondered why it is, with no good answer.  I simply prefer stars.  But this year I decided to dabble in hearts.  Years ago I made my Scrappy Heart Quilt (free tutorial here), followed later by an all-solids Sherbet Heart quilt using the same pattern.  But I’m not in a patchwork mood this time.  So I started sketching.

These diamond hearts are making me smile.  Still in the testing stage, I don’t now if I’ll adjust or leave the block as is.  Each block is better as I play with technique while sewing.  I see potential!  This is actually my third attempt in recent months at a heart quilt I like.  Perhaps I can stop sketching?  Whatever pattern I commit to, I need to make a LOT of hearts.  As in, more than 550 of them.

This week marks the anniversary of an event that sparked a life-changing journey.  Unwelcome as it was, it also sparked a creative journey I’m grateful to be on.  My Heart, Today is among the first creative evidence of that journey, and these blocks remind me a bit of that quilt.  It is good to be alive and learning!

I’m off to refill my bobbin so I can continue playing with hearts.  I hope you’re doing something colorful and happy today!