… blog hopping

my dear, lovely, and ever-talented friend jessica tagged me in this around the world blog hop. i'm going to be honest, this is so not my thing. however, i adore jessica, so agreed to be tagged. but i do think these are great questions and i'm happy to have the chance to catch up a little on what i've been up to.

so on with the questions!

1. what quilting/sewing thing am i working on?

well, quite a bit, which is unlike me. just last week we had a secret sewing swap within the seattle modern quilt guild. i elected to make a mini quilt for my partner, who said they would welcome anything i wanted to sew. she said she liked complementary and split complementary color schemes, among other things, so i latched onto that and pulled some orange/peach and blue/teal lovelies, focusing especially on those cotton and steel basics that i love so much (and hoped she would, too). i've also been a bit obsessed with pineapple blocks lately and i figured working with them in miniature would be fun.

and it was! i love this little quilt. it's about 17" square. i sashed and bound it with that great xoxo print and then used rashida's terrific tangram print for the back. i quilted it with a grid based on the lines within the piecing.

i also have a bunch of other projects on the design wall, including the blocks from the love circle for my july do. good stitches quilt. i was starting to feel unsure about my choice, but when the blocks started rolling in i got super excited again. as soon as i get the chance i'll actually put this quilt together.

but the thing i'm most excited about are these blocks that i started making a few months ago. i was inspired by an artist named leslie wilkes whose paintings feature these fascinating interlocking, kaleidoscopic shapes. i wanted to see if i could puzzle something like this out while piecing a quilt. it's a major headache putting these together, but i love them so much i don't want to stop.

2. how does my work differ from others of its genre?

oh my. now that's a question. for one, i'm not big on sewing from patterns. not because i don't love other people's patterns (i do! holy moly there's some great stuff out there!) but because there are, for now, so many things in my head that want to sew. i suppose i enjoy the process of turning ideas into quilts. but i suppose the real answer is that, even if we all sewed from the same pattern, i think we'd all make unique and beautiful quilts that reflect who we are.

here are some quilts that were my own patterns or improv pieced:

here are two i made from patterns (denyse schmidt's flock of triangles and the sometimes crafter's retro flowers [a do. good stitches quilt with blocks contributed by my bee-mates]):

3. why do i write/create what i do?

i started quilting five years ago. i decided, out of the blue, that i wanted to take a class, so i signed up for a beginning quilting series at my lqs. i am going to be brave and show you my first quilt, made in that class, which is really still just a quilt top as i have no interest in making it into an actual quilt.

i'm sure you can't imagine why i wouldn't want to spend more time on this thing.

anyhow, the point of this is that at that point in my life i needed a creative outlet and quilting felt like it might be the thing. and i'm super happy that so far it has worked out. i love the process of coming up with a quilt design, pulling fabrics, ironing and cutting, piecing and playing with layout, quilting, everything having to do with binding, and then marveling at the magic that is a finished quilt. (you'll notice basting is conspicuously absent from that list. oh my word, do i dislike basting.) i'm an introvert by nature (and a mother of two small girls with very little free time), so i love the time spent alone, in my tiny pink sewing room, with a cup of tea and a good podcast and a compelling sewing project.

4. how does my writing/creating process work?

honestly, i just wait for inspiration to strike. and then i make a mess trying to make it happen. i'm terrible at planning. i draw a rough sketch and then i cut and piece and piece and cut. and then go back to cut some more because i didn't cut enough the first time. and then rip some seams. and then cross my fingers and hope for the best.

i am supposed to tag three people but i am a rule breaker and am tagging two.

one is one of my most favorite quilters from the seattle mqg, anna, who makes the most gorgeous quilts and clothing that feature her insanely amazing english paper pieced designs and hand quilting. i am tagging anna because not only is she one of the nicest people you'll ever meet, but because i am also curious to hear about her creative process and know she'll have a lot to say.

next is laura, who i feel like i've known forever on the interweb, though we've never met in person. i am looking forward to quiltcon 2015 because we will both be there and can remedy that! laura has always been so encouraging of my work and i've always loved seeing hers and being inspired by her amazing sense of color and terrific improv skills (her polar bear quilt is one of my favorites). laura just opened up a sewing studio and i'm all kinds of jealous that i don't live in ottawa because i would kill to take classes in that sweet space.