"Go Crazy"....progress

It's been a year since I started this quilt, engulfed in a fabulous frenzy making the blocks using my Go! AccuQuilt cutter.

Since then I've embroidered all 144 blocks with the herringbone stitch in different threads/ribbons and shades of blue.  On airplanes, while on the phone, in the car....because the stitching was easy, I could do  it anywhere.  But there sure were a lot of them!

Now I've got the blocks assembled into groups of four...

What is it about plaid that is just so delicious?  Wool, silk, cotton flannel, it is all so yummy...even more so when they are all together.

Here is an overall shot...

I love the sane quilting aspect of this work, trimming the blocks, getting their corners to meet exactly.  It is like focusing an image with a camera, tightening things up.

Now look in the lower left corner...

That's #12 Aurofil thread in a feather stitch over the center seams...I have one block down, 35 to go....then I'll assemble them and cover the seams between the four block sections with more of the feather stitching.  My goal is to have it done by Monday.  Wish me luck!!!

"Rainy Spring"...Assembling the Center

As I was trimming my blocks and re-pinning them up on the design wall, I happened to pin one of the center blocks upside down.

It was one of those accidents that changed the direction of the quilt in a fairly big way!  I decided to make the center into a circle, truly representing our seemingly absent sun.

I knew that I had to complete the circle shape though, and that required some fairly technical surgery this morning.

I began by sewing the blocks together, but leaving the seams open where the appliqued little quarter circle shapes would go in.  I knew I had to line them up perfectly, and wanted to have as much control as I could.

 First I had to make the four little corner lace collages.

 Then I pinned them in place and appliqued them along both sides of the corner of the block.

 The ribbon was carefully pinned into place and sewn down, so that when the center blocks were completely sewn, the circle would look round and continuous.  Dicey!!!

Not too bad.

Here is the center sewn together, fairly well pressed, fairly round too.  *Whew!*

But I still needed some sun.  We all know it's there, behind the clouds....

 The Accuquilt Go! cutter is absolutely invaluable when perfect circles are needed, in this case out of holographic and bonded lame.

And then I dove right off the deep end.
A long time ago, I saw a quilt by Terrie Hancock Mangat where she painted all over it after the whole quilt was done.  I thought that was so gutsy of her to do that.  So what the heck, I decided to fuse some Angelina fiber over my finished and assembled center blocks.

No going back! Especially after I fused down my Angelina layer with this great new product from Shades Textiles, a very very fine fusible web called SoftFuse.  I got it at Quilt Market.

Oh my.
Could this have actually worked?

I think so.  When the real sun shines on it this glows.  ;-)  Wish I could capture that here in a photo...the quilt actually looks much more yellow-ey golden green than this...

...like the trees do at the end of the day when the sun slips in under the clouds, sideways, and lights everything up.

I took quite a flyer at this stage of my quilt, and could have crashed in disaster.  But it was very fun to take the risk! Now maybe I can finally sew the rest of those blocks together...

New Project: "Rainy Spring"

Really, what else could I be stitching about right now?

All is quite green and the intrepid flowers are trying to grow, but we have had precious little sun in April or May, and it has been quite cold.
A nice day, a really good day, looks like this:

At least there is some blue in that sky!

It seems like most years I make a spring quilt; this year's will be informed by the weather, and the mixed blessing of luscious greens and too-cool days we are having here in the Northwest.

I started out with my trusty AccuQuilt to cut out my foundation blocks.

These are 6 1/2" square, made out of some old white curtains!
I also needed some fan shapes, and the Drunkard's Path die is perfect for them.

Truly, this machine saves me so much grief. Not to mention time.

First I pieced my windy cloudy sky. For those of you who know my book, I used the Curved Edge Foundation Piecing method on page 30.

These pieces are all pretty tiny. This center section will measure 18" X 18".
Those curved white shapes represent the clouds. What a great time to use my lace stash!

This is but a tiny corner of it... ;-)
I've started with the four corners.

Of course some of M & S Schmalberg's flowers found their way there. Did you know you can order the petal componets from them now? Look here.

These lace collages were very fun to make.

I used a fine white thread in the bobbin and clear monofilament thread in the top.

The sewing was very easy. Appliqueing these shapes onto the blue pieced blocks should be fairly simple too. Then I can add some white embroidery to them.

So far, the whole thing pinned up on the design wall looks like this:

Those smaller white shapes will have lace collages on them as well.
Then I have a very large pile of brilliant green fabrics to piece...

I can't tell you how good it feels to be diving into a new, longer-term project!

"Pretty Crazy", My First Commercial Pattern!

What you see here is the result of 13 years of a beautiful friendship. Do click on the picture!

My friend, Tracey Brookshier, has a wonderful quilt pattern business called Brookshier Design Studio. Her forte is making bold, graphic quilts that look complicated but are in fact quite easy to construct. You all no doubt know her Bento Box pattern.


Tracey sometimes has designers contribute patterns to her line, and that is what "Pretty Crazy" is all about.
A little background...Tracey has been a "key player" in my quilting life, giving me good advice along the way and also prodding me to go in directions she thinks will benefit me.

We met at a Quilting by the Sound conference in Port Townsend, WA. Susan Else was there too, and the three of us hit it off like a house afire. (One of us had a spectacular melt-down during a Nancy Crow workshop that was a true bonding experience...but I am not divulging who....)

Here are me and Tracey after a really fun week together, back in the fall of 1998.

It was Tracey who suggested I attend the Point Bonita quilt conference, which you readers know has been a huge and valued part of my quilt life. I sit with Tracey and Sue there every year and though our work is wildly divergent, our friendship just keeps gets stronger through the years.

This was taken in February of 2010 at Point Bonita...it was our turn to host Happy Hour that evening!

It was Tracey who invited me to be the Featured Artist at her guild show last year in Santa Cruz, Tracey who made me overcome my reluctant shyness and meet one of the heads of the Empty Spools Conference at Asilimar....where I will be an Artist in Residence in May of 2012. When Tracey speaks now, I listen!
So when she invited me to make a crazy quilt pattern for her business, aimed at sane quilters, I took her up on the challenge. The result is what you see at the top of this post.

Tracey and I will be debuting this pattern at Quilt Market in Salt Lake City, Utah in May. I'll be demo-ing in her booth, Number 2131. After Market, I'll have it for sale here on the blog, but you will also hopefully be able to find it at your local quilt shop, as well as being able to order it off Tracey's website.

The pattern is easy, sews up fast, and yet filled with countless possibilities. The Accuquilt Go Cutter speeds things up alot when it comes to cutting the strips, too. My hope is that it will offer sane quilters a gentle introduction into the world of crazy quilting...and bring them in!

It would be so fun to see you at Quilt Market...do come visit us at Booth #2131.

Jill's Quilt...Progress!

My quilt for Simplicity's Pink Bandana Challenge has been my focus since returning home from the Adventure in Crazy Quilting in CT. I am loving this project not only for the joy of making it, but also because it promotes breast cancer awareness and will be contributing money to research for a cure.

I put some of the motifs I received in Connecticut to work right away!
The crocheted yellow rudbeckia is from the Maryland ladies who attended.

And the Black Eyed Susan is from our Mistress of Ceremonies, Susan Elliott.

I love that my friends' work is joining me on this quilt.

I used my Accuquilt Go! Cutter to cut out some hearts for some of the blocks...

I don't know how I lived without this tool....!

I machine appliqued the hearts onto their backgrounds and then buttonhole stitched them down, also with the machine, using #12 silk perle thread and a #110 jeans needle.

Sue Weeks's beaded motif was just perfect for the center here.

I trimmed and assembled all the blocks together, and now will have the grand fun of creating embellishments and sashing for the center block.

I'm enjoying pushing this crazy quilt into a contemporary, graphic direction. I've mixed handwork and machine work together, too, in a way I haven't tried before.

For the center I have a feeling some of these are going to show up....

While these were not made by M & S Schmalberg, the owner, Warren, gave them to me while I was there in NYC last week. (See Cathy K's fabulous post about our visit there.)

So some people who are dear to me are coming together here on this quilt...seems symbolic of the way to defeat breast cancer too.