Tag: Jen Kingwell

Turkey Tracks: Coastal Quilters’ 2018 Mothers’ Day Retreat: My Retreat

Turkey Tracks:  May 21, 2018

My Retreat

I prepped these 2 by 8-inch strips before the retreat:  all low volume Cotton+Steel in the warmer colors.

Here are two rows of Victoria Findlay Wolfe’s herringbone braids, from her book MODERN QUILT MAGIC.

I am really liking what is happening here.

I figured out how long I wanted the quilt and decided I’d done enough work on this project.

Next I put together about ten blocks with my Wild and Goosey quilt block (Bonnie Hunter)

I took papers out of the quadrants I had completed one night while listening to a book on tape in my room.  I have rather a lot of these done now and brought home more to do.

I made two pineapple blocks to learn how–with Heidi August as a teacher.

I learned how to use the Creative Grids 60 degree ruler–a block I use a lot and one we will do for Jen Kingwell’s “Long Time Gone” quilt.  I’ve always used the Tri Rec ruler and like it.  The Creative Grids Ruler leaves more space between the end of the star points and the edge of the block.  It is fun, but you can see that it does not make a perfect star.  One could probably figure out how to make that happen, but for the Kingwell project, I’m going to use the Trip Rec ruler.  However, I do like the funky nature of the stars in the blocks below.  They’ll go into my “parts department” bin for an improv quilt maybe in the fall.

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What I really wanted to do this retreat was to play with my scraps.  I brought them ALL with me, so I got them all out.  Along the way I culled out scraps that were too small or that no longer attracted me.

Here I started playing around with Maria Shell methods from her book IMPROV PATCHWORK–where she makes her own plaids and stripes.

 

Next I sewed a lot of 4 1/2 inch squares–for a quilt in progress.

Here’s that quilt-which is at home on my design wall:

I had some black and white strip sets, so I cut them up and made a checkerboard.  Maybe it will go into “Long Time Gone.”  Or, maybe into the “parts department” bin.

I had a lot of dark charcoal pieces left over from my “Big Star” quilt.  Which block do you like best, big or little?  I am drawn to little every time.

So…

I saw on Bonnie Hunter’s blog that she was making some light/dark squares with strips.  Boy are they versatile.  These are 4 1/2 inches.  (I use newsprint as a backing, cut to size.)

 

These are 3 inches–made because I had some leftover 3-inch paper strips while cutting.

At night I worked on 6-inch hexes, all Cotton+Steel and a solid or two, from Katja Marek’s THE NEW HEXAGON book.  I’ve almost worn this book out.  I’m going to make these blocks like the cover, where they are linked together with triangles, which can make stars on the outside of the blocs too.

I came home with so much energy.  Inspired by Betsy Maislen, I got my “On Ringo Lake” on the long arm.

Turkey Tracks: April 2018 Quilty Update

Turkey Tracks:  May 2, 2018

April 2018 Quilty Update

“Winter:  Dawn Trees” is now sewn together and is being quilted–with a grid pattern on my domestic Janome 8900.  This quilt is my design, inspired by Amy Friend’s workshop and book, IMPROV PAPER PIECING.  I drew the three different blocks on EQ7 (now EQ8) and had that system print out the patterns.  I started with ALL tree blocks lined up in a traditional pattern of rows and rows–until after the workshop.  Then I put them into a more “modern” arrangement.  I really like the quilt and will post pics when it is totally finished, which won’t be long now.

Thanks Amy!!

Here is an EQ8 picture of what the quilt would have looked like if I had not added the fractured dawn light block and just lined up the trees.  Pretty, but not as interesting I think.

The main part of top of “Valse Brilliant” is done.  I’m now picking out the English Paper Piecing papers–at night while watching tv.  It’s a slow process, of course.  VB, as those of us doing it in Coastal Quilters Maine call it, comes from Willyene Hammerstein’s book MILLIFIORE QUILTS.  (I did not do WH’s border treatment.)  My “rules”–setting rules comes from workshops with Timna Tarr–were simple:  brights and text in every block.

I’m going to put some wide charcoal Essex Linen (blend) borders.  Right now, this quilt is not big enough, really, to be lap size.  The border fabric is washed, but NOT ironed yet.

Here are my monthly blocks for our Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild challenge to make Jen Kingwell’s “Long Time Gone” quilt.  It’s an improv type quilt.  I am using all Cotton+Steel.  Roxanne Wells gave me the idea of using the more formal quarter log cabin style to get stripes, and I like how that came out.  The courthouse step blocks started out being blue, green, and pink/red done in ombre, light to dark.  Then I decided I liked them mixed up better, so put all the darks together, all the mediums, and all the lights.

Here are my May blocks.  Yes!!  I am ahead now and have all of May to catch up with other projects.

Here’s what all my blocks look like now.  I’m really liking how they are going together.

And here is a reminder of what Long Time Gone looks like:

Turkey Tracks: Mt. Battie Modern March Show and Tell

Turkey Tracks:  April 3, 2018

Mt. Battie Modern March Show and Tell

New member Anne Bargetz shared some more of her work.

Here she used Tula Pink blocks to make this small wall hanging.

Becca is now working on a neutral and grey spider web using selvages.

I showed my finished Tula Pink 100 Modern Blocks quilt—which was a challenge out of both Mt. Battie Modern and Coastal Quilters.  I will show pictures when my granddaughter has it in hand.

Here are our February “Long Time Gone” challenge blocks—A Jen Kingwell design.

We had such a fun meeting—it was so filled with creativity and color!

Turkey Tracks: Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild February 2018

Turkey Tracks:  February 23, 2018

Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild February 2018

Last night w all brought our January blocks for the Jen Kingwell “Long Time Gone” quilt we have as a challenge.  What’s fun about this picture beside the color is the variety in our blocks.

Vicki Fletcher has finished her January blocks and is working on her February blocks.

Karen Martin has joined the group making the quilt.  Here are her January blocks:

Go Karen!  I especially like her Star in Star block.  So happy you’ve joined us in this madness.

Some of us can’t stop making the blocks.

Here is Tori Manzi’s February “trip” block, made with grunge fabrics:

Linda Satkowski (blue block) and Betsy Maislen have started their March blocks.  Both had some advice about how to assemble this challenging block–which is assembled in strips.

Karen Martin shared her Katja Marek “Millifiore” progress:

Linda Satkowski shared the quilt she got in a recent online swap.  This one makes all sorts of optical illusions.  What a cool project.

New member Anne Bargetz (welcome Anne) shared a quilt top she designed:

AND, Margaret Elaine Jinno asked if we could have a local 2-day retreat in the Lions Club.  We CAN and we ARE.  How fun is that?

Next month we see the traveling quilts again.

 

Turkey Tracks: Quilts By Friends: Betsy Maislen

Turkey Tracks:  February 23, 2018

Quilts By Friends:  Betsy Maislen

Betsy lives in Vermont and comes to MidCoast Maine to sail on the windjammer J&E Riggin, out of Rockland, Maine.  Last summer, after retiring in June, she volunteered to cook with Annie Mahle, co-owner of the Riggin with Jon Finger, for six weeks in September and October.  She stayed with me between trips, which was so much fun.  She also attended the May 2017 Coastal Quilters retreat at the Franciscan Guest House.

Annie and I roped her into making the Bonnie Hunter 2017 mystery quilt with us, and here is her finished top.  I really love the neutral borders she chose.

Next, I suggested she sew along with Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild’s challenge to make Jen Kingwell’s “Long Time Gone” quilt over the next year.

Here are her January and February blocks–and one of the March blocks.

I love her use of color in these blocks.

 

We all did different variations of this “star in star” block.

 

 

 

And, here is the March “crosses” block:

 

Yep!  Making these blocks is addictive.  Go Betsy!

Turkey Tracks: “Long Time Gone” Quilt Blocks

Turkey Tracks:  February 7, 2018

“Long Time Gone” Quilt Blocks

Some members in the Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild and the Coastal Quilters (Maine) are making Jen Kingwell’s “Long Time Gone” quilt this year–a few blocks each month with three months to put the finished blocks into the finished quilt.  The design of this quilt is “improv.”  Kingwell’s blocks are scrappy.  You can google it to see.  This quilt is lap size, so it isn’t a daunting project, but a fun one.  Most of us are finishing up Tula Pink’s 100 Modern quilt blocks now, which was our challenge last year.

Here is a pic of “Long Time Gone,” so you can see where our blocks fit into the whole:

 

Our blocks are as different as we are as quilters—and all of them are gorgeous!

Tori Manzi got us going with her beautiful blocks, made with “grunge” fabrics. As near as I can tell, grunge is a solid with a marbled pattern.  The polka dots are new grunge that just came on the market.  We decided to do these three block forms for January to get a kick start on the project.

Tori manipulated color to get that center star, which also got us to thinking.

Love her all-white centers.  These little 4-inch blocks are so fun to make.

Here are Linda Satkowski’s blocks so far.  Note that Linda chose Kingwell’s pattern version for the star in star block AND that makes the white stars shine out.  But she kept to consistent color arrangements.

Here are Lynn Vermeulen’s blocks==also in solids.

Here are Becca Babb’Brott’s scrappy versions:

Here are mine.  I am using all Cotton+Steel because that bin is overflowing.

These are the February blocks.  I manipulated these Jacob’s Ladder blocks for color.  Kingwell did not.

 

Here is Linda Satkowski’s Jacob’s Ladder block:

 

And here is my Trip Around the World block:

 

Both Linda and Becca are working on their “Trips” now, so I’ll post them as they come in to me.

 

Turkey Tracks: Mt. Battie Modern Monthly Challenge–December 2017

Turkey Tracks:  January 5, 2018

Mt. Battie Modern Monthly Challenge–December 2017

We are showing our traveling quilts every other month, which gives us two months to work on them.  In the off months we are doing one of the Lucky Spool exercises from the MIGHTY LUCKY QUILTING CLUB 2016 workbook.  As always, members can participate or choose not to participate.  We are working our way though the workbook.

This challenge asks one to design a quilt from a photograph–but a modern quilt, not a literal landscape quilt.  One is to look for shapes and, perhaps, greyscale impact.

I took this picture of my Tula Pink blocks (100 MODERN QUILT BLOCKS) at the last Coastal Quilters retreat in October 2017.  And I could not get the idea that formed in my head out of it with regard to this mini challenge/exercise.  It kept just hovering and hovering there.  (The Tula Pink challenge ends in December, and next year the challenge is Jen Kingwell’s “Long Time Gone” quilt.)  These blocks are on my design wall now, and have been moved around a lot.  I think I’m ready to sew now though, and I have sashing and backing organized.  I am using TP’s suggested “city scape” format.

So, I had a lot of fun the other day cutting tiny pieces and making a kind of greyscale version of the city scape idea.  It is a bit literal, yes.  But I loved playing with the greyscale.  I quilted just using the walking foot.  Here’s “Greyscale,” which will go into my collection of small quilts hanging in my quilt room.  I seem to be in a grey/neutral/black moment in my quilting.  It’s about 17 by 18–roughly.

I like it.  The squares are “shedding” a bit though.  I probably should have glued them more thoroughly before sewing???  On the other hand, they have texture…

It is what it is.

 

 

Turkey Tracks: Coastal Quilters’ 2017 October Retreat, Part 4

Turkey Tracks:  October 24, 2017

The Coastal Quilters’ 2017 October Retreat, Part 4

Coming Home

This girl was waiting for me when I got home–reminding me that it’s nice to go away but even nicer to come home.

Betsy Maislen’s flowers were still beautiful.  Betsy stayed with me between voyages on the J&E Riggin, a windjammer out of Rockland, Maine.  Betsy volunteered for six weeks in September and October this fall.  She LOVES to cook with Annie Mahle and to be on the Riggin.  She also loves to get her clothes washed, to sleep in a real bed, and to be recharged and ready to go out again.

And she made and sent me one of the cards I was kitting up for our retreat group to make–as a little gift for those who came.  Amanda Jean Nyberg (Crazy Mom Quilts) designed this card project.  You can find directions in her WONDERFUL book NO SCRAP LEFT BEHIND.  I did a recent blog entry on these cards.  Didn’t Betsy do a great job?  Don’t miss the little owl on the right.  I loved getting this card from Betsy.

Betsy was at our May 2017 retreat and is planning to be at the May 2018 retreat.  She retired this past June and is discovering that she loves to quilt.  Rhea Butler introduced her to the Lucy Boston paper piecing blocks on the Riggin this summer–during the Slow Sewing cruise–and Betsy fell in love with them.  She’s just finished her second one now.  Pretty, huh?

***

NOW, here’s a challenge for those of you who choose to accept it.  Some of us are challenging the Coastal Quilters to make Jen Kingwell’s pattern “Long Time Gone,” starting in January.  This quilt is an improv form and uses a lot of different blocks, so it is a terrific learning project.  Besides it’s just fun.  Betsy is going to do it with us from Vermont!

I’ll post pics of your finished quilts here on the blog.

Let’s have some fun!

Here’s a version.  To see others, google “images” for the pattern.

 

Turkey Tracks: A Completed Quilt Project

Turkey Tracks:  June 20, 2017

A Completed Quilt Project

Becca Babb Brott has worked for about two years on this HUGE Jen Kingwell quilt.  Becca combined THREE of Kingwell’s patterns into this king-size quilt–which she then quilted on my long arm.  One pattern is “Gypsy Wife,” but I don’t know the other two patterns.

There was drama with the long arm, of course.  I was using needles that were too light, and one broke, throwing off the machine’s timing.  It was way, way overdue for a check-up, so off it went to Sanborn Sewing Machine.  Those folks are beyond terrific.  The break occurred just before our Coastal Quilters’ retreat in Kennebunkport, so I was able to drop off the machine where the staff fixed it for me in a narrow window they had on Friday.

When you have to move a long-arm head, poles have to come down, which means a quilt has to be taken off said poles, etc.  When we got everything back, we were able to painlessly put everything back together, and off Becca went, sewing away.  Hmmm.  After a few tension adjustments however…

 

 

Here are some other pics, made when she showed it to Coastal Quilters’ members.

Turkey Tracks: Sewing Auto Pilot Fail

Turkey Tracks:  June 5, 2017

Sewing Auto Pilot Fail

Somebody’s Sewing Auto Pilot failed yesterday.

Oh well.  This bag is meant for the kitchen to collect recyclables for the dump.

At least the “Made in America” is right-side up!

These “glitter” blocks designed by Jen Kingwell (Quilt Lovely) are really, really, really hard.  I can’t believe Kingwell made a whole quilt from them.

Maybe they get easier as one goes along…

Today is overcast and misty.  Outside, there is a wall of intense green, all mixed up with tendrils of fog.  It is so beautiful.

I planted five tomato plants yesterday, so they are loving this gentle welcoming to the garden.

The lettuce I seeded into the cold frame–into the top dressing of worm castings–is bearing now.  I picked these leaves for lunch.

I’m enjoying using the three selvage edge placemats I’ve knitted–I paired them with bright napkins that really pick out color in the placemats.  Funky and fun–and a boon to my sometimes thrifty soul.

I have a fourth one about half made.  I knit, using a garter stitch, on big needles.  14s I think.  About 32-34 stitches cast on.  It’s a soothing exercise for when I don’t want to concentrate much on anything.