Welcome to My Obsession
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In this next trunk show video I talk about the creation of BK Snaps, which I created to hang in the 2020 Brooklyn Quilters Guild quilt show. Unfortunately, the quilt show had to be canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so this is your chance to see the quilt up close and personal!
BLACK LIVES MATTER — Please click on the link to find out what you can do to help end the oppression and killing of our fellow human beings.
This is another long episode because I’m talking about six quilts. These are mini quilts, all created based on prompts. I love making mini quilts because I can really experiment with ideas and techniques without committing to a full quilt. I highly recommend making them!! I’ve listed the names of the quilts and the time they appear in the video in the Description box on my YouTube channel, just in case you want to jump to one in particular.
BLACK LIVES MATTER — Please click on the link to find out what you can do to help end the oppression and killing of our fellow human beings.
This very special episode of my continuing virtual trunk show required a new location because my fifth quilt — Cabin Windows – Verona, PA ca. 1768 — was made as a housewarming gift for Shannon Reed and can normally be found draped on her bed. Similar to my previous quilt, Caged Cacophony, this quilt organically evolved from a very nebulous idea into what has become one of my favorite quilts I ever made. It was such a joy making this knowing that I would be giving it to my dear friend who would appreciate everything that went into it. Be sure to watch the video to hear about the process as well as to see some close-ups of the very dense free-motion quilting in all of the sashing.
BLACK LIVES MATTER — Please click on the link to find out what you can do to help end the oppression and killing of our fellow human beings.
This fourth video takes us on a little tour of the first bed-sized quilt I ever made — Caged Cacophony. It kind of all happened without any real plan at the beginning. In fact, I didn’t even plan on making a bed-sized quilt when I first started working on it. I’m a big fan of flying by the seat of my pants when it comes to designing and making quilts, and this quilt epitomizes that philosophy. Watch the video to learn more!
BLACK LIVES MATTER — Please click on the link to find out what you can do to help end the oppression and killing of our fellow human beings.
The Craftsy 2012 Block of the Month by Amy Gibson sampler quilt is the second quilt I ever made. I learned so many useful basic quilting skills and techniques, and I also used this as an opportunity to teach myself free-motion quilting thanks to Leah Day’s Free Motion Quilting a Sampler class, also on Craftsy.
Heads up! This is a very long video because I say a little bit about each block of the quilt. I’ve listed the blocks with their corresponding time stamp in the Description box below the YouTube video, so feel free to skip to whatever block you’re interested in.
In this episode of my YouTube series, I sit down once again with Shannon Reed and discuss creativity and her writing process. Be sure to check out Shannon’s new book that is being released very soon and is available for pre-order now! What are your thoughts about the creative process? Feel free to leave any comments or questions on my YouTube channel or contact me here on my website. And be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you don’t miss out on any of my upcoming interviews and videos!
P.S. This video was recorded almost a year before COVID-19 caused the worldwide lockdowns. Hence our non-social distancing.
This quilt design was inspired by all of the rooftop water towers you’ll see as you perambulate around New York City. You might think the rooftop water tower is just some rotting old, unused piece of infrastructure from a bygone era, but after reading this article from 6sqft you’ll realize they’re just as much in use today as they were decades ago. As a result, the rooftop water tower has become a well-recognized symbol of NYC, appearing in graphic designs on hipster tees, screenprinted tea towels sold at outer borough flea markets, and stenciled graffiti walls throughout the city.
When I was working on my BK Snaps quilt, I wanted the blocks to represent different “snapshots” you would find around Brooklyn. Of course, I had to include a rooftop water tower. I used scraps to make my prototype block, and it was so cute I decided right then and there that I would design a whole quilt around that block at a later date.
A few months ago I finally started working on a bunch of different water tower blocks. I was determined to only use scraps for the blocks themselves and improv piece them so they were each unique. Once I made a few, I started thinking about the overall layout I would want for the quilt top and decided I wanted it to look like a gallery wall of “framed photos” of rooftop water towers. So I framed each block with matching solid strips of fabric and kept making blocks in different shapes and sizes until I was satisfied with the layout.
As I was piecing the quilt top, I began thinking about the overall quilt design. Because the blocks are scrappy and cutesy, I wanted the quilting to contrast — maybe something a little more graphic and urban. I decided to fill the white background sashing with various triangular shapes and sharp-angled polygons filled in with very dense matchstick quilting. Then every once in a while, I would break that up with a more open grid-like quilting design. I find the overall effect to have a graffiti-like quality, which I think is appropriate for the subject matter.
Because the majority of the quilting is very dense, I decided to keep the quilting inside the blocks very simple. I stitched in the ditch around each water tower and then quilted easy wavy lines in the “air” around each tower. I ultimately decided to not quilt inside the actual frames at all because I wanted a noticeable break between the dense quilting of the sashing and the very low-volume quilting of the water towers. (A distinction you might notice more on the back of the quilt.)
My final design decision was using a striped binding to frame the entire “gallery wall.” I was fortunate enough to have this fabric on hand, and the colors of the stripes are varied enough that they seem to match whatever colors are near them. And the colors of the binding are light enough that they don’t take the eye away from the blocks, which should be the focus of the quilt.
Et voilà! That’s my Rooftop Water Towers quilt! It took me FOR-EV-AH to finish, but I’m so happy with how it turned out. I really love how it combines urban imagery with a traditional crafting style. Have you ever been inspired by your surroundings and created something as a result? I’d love to hear about it, so please post comments and questions below. Share your own crafting stories, please! Happy making, everyone!!
I just completed a new quilt, and this video takes you from the beginning to the end of the process. And what a process it was! Whew!! I’d love to hear about your own quilting and making process, so be sure to leave any questions or comments here or on my YouTube channel so we can keep the quilting conversation going. And please subscribe so you don’t miss out on any upcoming videos!
My latest YouTube video is just me talking about my quilting process for my latest project, which is this quick-and-easy chevron tablerunner using 2.5″ precut strips of Dit Dot Evolution fabrics. Enjoy the video and be sure to click on Subscribe so you don’t miss out on any future posts!
The journey for this quilt is nearing its end, and in case you didn’t get it from the above title, this is probably my favorite part of the whole creating-a-quilt process. While many quilters find their joy piecing a beautiful top together (which I agree is super fun and fulfilling), I personally feel that coming up with and actually creating the quilting design is what elevates a beautiful quilt to a spectacular quilt.
When I’m creating a quilt, I start thinking about how I’m going to actually quilt it from the very beginning of the process, but I don’t really know what I’m going to do until I’ve completed piecing the top. Then I just stare at the top and think about how I want to quilt it sometimes for days. I’m one of those people who have to let things marinate in my brain for a while before I figure out what to do.
For this quilt, I decided pretty early on that I didn’t want the quilting design to distract from the 20 “snapshot” blocks, and instead I wanted the quilting to make them pop even more. To me, that means the quilting in the sashing needed to be an overall consistent pattern that could somewhat fade into the background. Because my blocks are all based on urban visuals of Brooklyn, I thought a brick wall quilting design would be perfect. The more I thought about it, the more I really liked the idea of making my blocks look like they are displayed on an exposed brick wall, which is a pretty desirable feature in many Brooklyn apartments.
Then I had to decide how I was going to quilt each of the blocks. They definitely needed some quilting just from a practical standpoint because I didn’t want them to be completely puffy, and the quilting would flatten them down a bit.
When you’re coming up with your own quilting designs, be sure to think about how you’re actually going to use the quilt and whether or not you will be washing it regularly. If your quilt is going to be regularly washed, you will want to make sure that it is quilted all over so that the batting inside the quilt doesn’t start to distort in between the top and back of the quilt. However, if you are just hanging the quilt on a wall and don’t plan on washing it, you can basically do whatever you want with the quilting.
Back to this quilt, I had to decide if I wanted to quilt each block to help the viewer figure out some of the more abstract blocks or if I wanted to keep it as basic as possible so that they were still very abstract. I decided on the latter. So I only quilted in what I considered to be the background of each block, allowing the foreground to slightly pop out.
If you’ve read some of my other posts, you’ll know that I am obsessed with free-motion quilting (FMQ), and that’s how I generally quilt all of my quilts even if I have a design that’s all straight lines such as the brick wall motif I’m using in the sashing of this quilt. I’ve tried using rulers, and I don’t like them. I’ve tried using a walking foot, which I still use for some of my quilts, though quite rarely, but ultimately I really prefer the freedom that FMQ gives me. I also really dig how my quilting designs end up looking like a doodle or drawing, which you can really see on the back of this quilt. As much as I am truly in awe of all of the free-motion quilters out there who do phenomenal work with rulers to create geometrically perfect quilt designs, my personal style is a little more free hand.
Now that the quilting is all finished, it’s time to square it up, bind it, and attach the hanging sleeve and label. I’ll cover all of that in my final post for this “Creating a Quilt” series. I’d love to hear about your own preferences for quilting designs. Do you quilt your own quilts, or do you always send them out to a professional? Do you ever think about how quilting can enhance the overall design of your quilt top? Share your stories with all of us, and let’s all grow together as craftspeople and artists! Happy Crafting!!!
Boy Meets Quilt