Violet’s Blankie

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Jessie

So it’s time for the Bloggers’ Quilt Festival, eye candy for all the poor folks who couldn’t make it to Quilt Market this past weekend. Click here for many, many more quilts to ogle:

I’m showing off a little cuddle quilt I made for Violet . I made it a couple of years ago when she was tiny, but this being the year of Tangerine Tango I thought it would be a perfect time to show this one off.

This kind of quilt is pure fun to make: pulling fabrics from the stash, auditioning them, whacking off pieces on a whim, then making it all fit together in the end. I chose all the fabrics to go with the Anna Griffin animal print in the center of the blocks- which we bought a couple years before we had Violet, just in case we should ever have a little girl who might need a quilt

I love how the fabrics seem to fade into one another without too much contrast, but my favorite part of the quilt is the padded silk border. I made it with a double layer of batting encased in muslin before wrapping the silk binding around both sides. It’s something I’ve seen on fine Japanese quilts and wanted to emulate, and I thought it would make the quilt extra nice for a little one to hold. It’s backed with plush Minkee, so I didn’t quilt it. (so, it’s technically not a quilt, I know, but it still looks like one to me!)

Oh- and my other favorite thing is the big chunk of red-orange fabric with the white blossoms on it- this was a souvenir that my mom brought back from Japan, so I love that it sort of stands out from the rest of the fabrics.

I made the quilt before we knew that Violet would turn out to be an all pink and purple kind of girl- but now Evelyn is using it in her car seat, so maybe the colors will be more to her taste. Certainly the fiery colors suit her temperament thus far!

Oh and thanks to my in-laws for having such a photogenic front porch!

561, or Photo Fail

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Jessie

561: the number of pictures that had to be taken of my family in order to get one, reasonably decent Family Photo.

Background: A couple of weeks ago I wrote down the sweet little story of my new fabric collection, Jasmine Tea, and sent it off to Jason at In The Beginning. I wrote about how I designed it while taking care of my newborn and how I was thinking about how long Garrett and I have been together and how sweet my family is and all that flowery stuff. Which was all true. In response, Jason asked me for a family photo to put with the collection for Quilt Market. Which caused me to realize; we haven’t had a family portrait done since our middle child was a newborn, 3 1/2 years ago. Hmmm. Wonder why.

So I had this idea that we would drag our loveseat out somewhere in the yard and sit on that for the picture. In my mind we would look like a band on an album cover, some of us casually looking the way of the camera and some decidedly not looking at the camera, but we’d all look cool as cucumbers and hip in our individual ways. Well. After my darling husband and sisters dragged the couch into four or five different spots, (I was baby-wrangling, I think) it became clear that there is more than one reason why we are not in a band. Although I have to say, these pics are pretty priceless. I have half a mind to frame a series of these to hang on the wall.

That was about the point where we gave up for that night.

The next day, I shoved the camera in my sister’s hand just one more time as she was trying desperately to get back into her car and leave and we plopped ourselves on a bench next to the driveway and asked her to try a few more shots. Like, 300 more.

I had asked her to just keep shooting in case one of the kids should happen to make a decent face that I could Photoshop onto a decent body and maybe from 10 different shots I could cobble together a Frankenstein family where everyone is looking at the camera and no one is picking their nose or trying to slide off the bench unnoticed… anyway, so she did. Keep on shooting. and right at about shot #543, there was one, just one, where everyone looked reasonable happy, (no Photoshopping of heads), the lighting was good, and so, here it is. The only family photo you’ll probably see for another 3 1/2 years.

I do love my family so.

Spring Palettes

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Jessie

Just a couple of pretty palettes today.

Which do you like better? With green or without?

I’ve always liked earthier palettes, always favored espresso over black, until this year. Lately, I’ve been going crazy for cool bright colors + grey and black. Think pinky-purple thistle, grape Popsicle, bright navy, plus white, cool grey fog, and black. Maybe a touch of fuchsia. Swoon. Black makes the other colors pop, of course, but so would the white. What I am crazy for is the edginess the black gives to the otherwise girly sweetness of it all. I have bits of black working into all of my upcoming projects (and I will share them if and when I ever get two hands free at the same time and start sewing again! Blogging can be done, and is being done, one-handed with baby on lap. Sewing, not so much.)

I’m not the only one in the house going gaga for black right now.

We were at Target picking out nail polish and my sweet little 3 year old Vi, given the choice of any number of pinks and purples and all sorts of colors suitable for little girls, opted for black. What can I expect, I suppose, from a girl who was reciting large portions of Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas at age 2. Lots of excitement in store, I believe, as this one gets older!

Look, Ma!

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Jessie

I have a quilt in a magazine! It feels… weird. I made the quilt and shipped it off so fast that when the magazine came, I could barely even remember that that was my quilt. But then the next day the quilt came back in the mail, and we’ve had it hanging around now for a couple of days, so I’m starting to feel like maybe I did make that.

I like that rainbow journal cover on the other page, too. Pretty little calicoes.

Of course, I had to have a photo shoot with my own little model…

It’s hand quilted with perle cotton,using a traditional Japanese cloud/water motif for the background. I drew the motif by hand rather than using a stencil to give it a more natural look, and hopefully make all that open space a little more interesting. I want to do more of the hand-drawing thing, it makes the quilt so personal.

Anna Maria Horner
Innocent Crush Voile

I am dying to make this again, using Anna Maria Horner’s Innocent Crush and Little Folks Voiles. Can a quilt be fresh and moody at the same time? I think you could pull it off, with the stormy purples of IC mixed with the perky pinks of LF.

Anna Maria Horner
Little Folks Voile

I would also love to see the pattern done up in some of the re-issued Flea Market Fancy. Those kinds of retro florals are actually just what I had in mind when I was drafting up this quilt! With a dove grey background it would be just the right combination of retro + modern. I must get myself a staff to start knocking these things out!

I love freezer-paper-English-paper-piecing

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Jessie

I am working on an exciting new project with these little guys! I keep the stack on the kitchen table and work on them a few at a time whenever I can steal a minute away from Little Miss Teething Troubles.

The stack is coming along rather quickly- I love English Paper Piecing! It’s the best way to get something done in little bits of time.

And, it’s spring. Hooray spring! No more filling the heating oil tank every month! And pretty flowers ‘n’ stuff. We didn’t have much of a winter this year so the warm weather isn’t as exciting as it might otherwise be. We were kind of hoping winter would go out with a bang and give us just one big snowstorm before all the flowers came out, but they’re here, so might as well take pictures of ‘em.

So, Happy Spring!

River Quilt

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Jessie

I couldn’t stop thinking about a winter palette last night, so I pulled some colors from a photo of my favorite trees.

And designed a quilt with them.

All fabrics available at Pink Chalk Fabrics

I wanted a quick and fun quilt to put together. This is sort of an expansion of the book stack quilts that have been popping up everywhere.

Stacked Books Quilt by s.o.t.a.k handmade

Bend the stack into a graceful curve and suddenly it’s a river.

Every day, all day, I look out the play room window at the water, just to see what’s going on out there. These colors, the dove and taupe of the Sycamore bark, the rusty orange of the oak leaves, the slate blue-green of the water… have been in my thoughts for months. I really should make this quilt.

Winter Pretty

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Jessie

When the fall foliage was in its full glory, I was sure I’d be depressed to see it all fall to the ground. If I was lucky enough to get the baby to sleep while Garrett was home and it was still light out, I’d race outside and prowl around the yard, up and down the creek, photographing every tree from every angle. I loved fall.

But winter is so pretty. Maybe it’s just because it’s all we have right now, so we might as well find something to enjoy about it. I’ve been taking just as many photos this winter as I did in summer and fall. It becomes a game, an exercise, trying to find something that still looks pretty when so much of the plant life out there is hibernating, matted and dull.

The azaleas look like spring all year long.

Shocking lavender and magenta brambles against the deep earthy neutrals of old tree trunks. Makes me want to run to my stash and begin pulling fabrics for something new.

No shortage of decaying wood around here, it supports all sorts of pretty fungi.

New Works-in-Progress!

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Jessie

The past couple of weeks have been full of late nights in front of the computer, finishing up a new collection of designs to submit to In The Beginning Fabrics. It’s very satisfying work but still, I was desperate to create some actual things instead of just computer-file things. So I allowed myself to start a new little quilt

and I sketched out some embroidery ideas

and tomorrow I will attempt to knit a praying mantis for my dear niece’s birthday.

I will let you know how that goes, I may be biting off a bit more than I can chew with that one.

Oh and it snowed today. Only our second snow since we moved to this house. So pretty, like glitter falling from the sky.

6 Months

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Jessie

Really? Really? Evelyn Bea is 6 months old today! Happy 1/2 birthday, Bea! I would say where has the time gone, but when I look at her I know. She is just days away from sitting up on her own and she can roll over like no one’s business. She got her first tooth two days ago. She has probably put on ten pounds since her birthday- all those all-night-long nursing sessions have to be going somewhere!

The biggest change is in her personality these past couple of weeks- she knows exactly what she wants out of life and that is exactly whatever mom happens to be holding in her hands at any given moment. I used to scoff at the warnings on plastic bags- who out there would actually let their baby play with a plastic bag? Um, turns out I would, if she protests loud enough when I try to take it away. Don’t worry, I kept my eye on her. Plastic bags make awesome crinkly sounds.

Unrelated, but totally fabulous, is this moose sweater-vest knitting pattern that showed up in my inbox yesterday.

Don’t be shocked when I show up at your door sporting this piece of awesomeness.

All About Orange

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Jessie

Woo-Hoo! Pantone has announced their color of the year for 2012 and it is… orange! Tangerine Tango, they are calling it, a luscious vermillion reddish-orange, the color of my dreams.

Pretty much every year my mom or a sister will give me a few pieces of this gorgeous Fiestaware for Christmas and birthdays. Really, I love it!

2011′s color, Honeysuckle, left me pretty cold; partly because if you call it honeysuckle I expect it to be pale yellow and instead we got watered-down magenta, and partly because its the already the color of various sippy cups, plastic bangles, and other cheap plastic crap that tends to accumulate in my house despite my preference for more elegant wooden playthings.

(boo honeysuckle)

But back to Tangerine Tango.

I went to my stash to see what I already have in this color and it’s really a pathetic showing, considering that it’s one of my favorite colors.

A Kaffe print that’s a few years old:

A souvenir wrapping cloth my mom brought back from Japan:

An antique kimono silk intended to line an inky blue woolen coat (and which I have worn as-is for a scarf)

Luscious, painterly, Laura Gunn Dogwood print-

Laura’s fabrics are simply perfection: rich layered color, depth and texture, and yet strikingly modern design. Love:

And two solids; on the left is Kaffe Fassett’s shot cotton in vermillion (shot cotton is one of my favorite fabrics! Almost too precious to use…) and on the right is a Kona cotton, Chinese Red I think.

All precious, well loved members of my stash, but lonely. In the past it’s been really hard to find prints I love in this particular color. So, I’m hoping at least a few designers will be able to take this color and run with it this year, so I can beef up my stash and maybe even use some of it!

Jessie Aller