A Post I Never Thought I'd Write

This post is about mug rugs.  Something I've made fun of for years.

I mean, really.  I would open quilting magazines or read quilting blogs and be snarky and think, "you need somewhere to put your cookie?  This is a real thing you're actually thinking about?"  And then I made one last year, which has a permanent place on our coffee table, for Nick's soup bowl or beer glass or whatever he's eating.  And now I'm actually planning a few...for someone else.

My sewing buddy and I (a penpal program run though Deborah at Whipstitch) are both avid tea drinkers.  We have several favorite teas in common, and when I had the chance to visit David's Tea in Chicago, we talked about it like  it was Disney.  Which is awesome!  We've decided to swap some mug rugs for each other for work, because we both drink tea at our offices, and I've spilled tea on me or my paperwork twice in the past week.  Obviously, I need some help.

I'm having a hard time planning her rugs, unless I want to stick to a basic log-cabin design, with a main fabric in the middle and coordinates blocking it out from there.  Here are some mug rugs I've seen and loved lately:

Hey Porkchop!

Two More Seconds

Pin. Sew. Press.

Saltwater Quilts

I found this on Tumblr...I'd love to know the original mug-rugger!  (Is that a word?)

The hardest part for me is knowing how to translate my ideas to a mug rug.  I'm not great at math or deciding dimensions, so I work well with tutorials.  The Hey Porkchop! example above comes with a great tutorial, which I may follow for one of my buddy's gifts.

Mug rugs: love 'em or hate 'em?  Are you judging me for suddenly loving them?  And if you aren't a hater, can you recommend any good tutorials or patterns?

Inspiration: Haptic Lab

I'm currently in-between projects, so I thought I'd share some inspiration today, courtesy of the groundbreaking company Haptic Lab.  I've seen their products on Pinterest and love the look.  Haptic Lab creates quilts, but instead of decorate quilting, the stitches lay out a city or country.  They're all hand-quilted and most are whole-cloth, meaning they aren't pieced patchwork, and in a one-color scheme, so the stitches really pop out.  There are many collections available, so I thought I'd show some of my favorites!

Chicago DIY kit--I love the hot pink and the outline!

Their DIY London kit shows off some Liberty of London, which we all know I love!

Haptic Lab just reminds me of Ariel so much--maps, quilts, hand-stitching.  They're your soulmate, lady!

Paris baby quilt

DC quilt--I spy the Pentagon!

USA Map kit

Now that I've scrolled through these and the many others on their site, I might have to buy a kit!  Which one though?  Haptic Lab doesn't yet make a Charlotte kit or even a Savannah kit, so I'll have to consider DC, I suppose!  Have you seen Haptic Lab before, or, better yet, bought one of their kits or quilts?  I'd love to hear more!

Everyone's Else's Awesome Projects!

I've been in a quilting funk lately.  Despite my do.Good blocks, I've really been focusing more on garment sewing lately, and I hate to say it--but I love it!  I really haven't felt the pull toward patchwork, perhaps because the beginning of the year (and last year, really) was so chock-full of quarter-inch seams and half-square triangles.

However, it hasn't been completely off my mind!  I signed up for a Sewing Buddy through Deborah's blog at the beginning of the year.  The purpose of the Sewing Buddy is to have someone to challenge you, motivate you, and commiserate with you...who also cares about sewing and doesn't have to listen (such as a spouse or parent).  I was paired with Elizabeth, who has been a great sewing buddy!  We've been exchanging emails for a couple months and have done one swap, but I see more in our future!  She's a really great gal, and, as you'll see, a talented sewist!

For our first swap, we sent each other pouches (inadvertently both using the Noodlehead Open Wide Pouch tutorial) and fun little things inside!

I needed a new pincushion, and this is a great example of patchwork outside of quilting.  It could be a mini-block if you just look at the top, but added rick-rack, a bottom piece and stuffing makes it very practical!

I also looked at this picture and realized my cat had stolen one of the giant "beehive" pins you see here, so I had to look for that before I could blog more!

The pouch itself has some awesome patchwork details, including the use of hexagons!  I've never made hexies but I think they're adorable, and the "beehive" pattern Elizabeth incorporated is so modern!  I recognized a lot of the fabrics she used, but I don't own any, so it was great to see them in a new way: instead of fat quarters, focusing on an inch or so at a time!

April, as I mentioned, was my do.Good Stitches design month, and the blocks are starting to roll in!  These two are from Jenny at DowntoSew--they're the first to arrive!  I asked everyone to use a white background regardless, but black and white for one block and gender-neutral colors for the other block.  Here's what she sent:

I hadn't originally thought of using white coordinates as the background, but I think it's really neat to see!  I still need to make my blocks.  I should get on that!

What do you do to regain your quilting mojo?  I think this breather is much-needed, but I miss having projects to show you!  In the meantime, I'll make another shirt!

As a reminder, Ariel will be on maternity leave soon!  Yay!!  If you're interested in writing a guest post for us, contact us at the links in the sidebar, or on Twitter at @squaringup.  We'd love to have you!

Future memories

Hello, Thursday.

Sadly, I didn't get much done this week in terms of physical quilting.  I did however make major in-roads in the collecting of stuff for the little person on the way.

While I wasn't sewing this week, I was thinking a lot about this space and where I want to go with my quilting adventure.  When we started it was all about one particular quilt for me.  A personal journey through my past facilitated by my old t-shirts.  It was revealing and exciting and at times even intoxicating.  I couldn't stop.  I went on 12 hour binges of piecing.

It was new and it took time. It unearthed memories forgotten and revealed serendipitous moments and connections between personal history and the current life of the material.

This new quilt isn't as exciting right now.  I'm not feeling the same connection to the material.  Maybe because the material is filled with Pete's memories and not mine.  Or maybe because I used the pieces as regular fabric, cutting out patterned pieces and not listening to the fabric itself.  These materials have no meaning for me and it's making the work harder.  Even the upholstery remnants spoke to me more.

I'm also putting off working on this particular quilt because I feel it will be done really quickly.  It needs to be done quickly. I only have two months before the little *bundle of joy* arrives and sitting at the machine is getting more and more difficult the bigger I become.  But something about the time and stages attached to the first quilt made it seem more real.


I took some time to procrastinate and started reading a new book about a quilt exhibition at the V&A a few years ago.  I missed the exhibition at the time.  It was right smack dab in the middle of me finishing my PhD, getting married and then having an early-life crisis (I kid, a little).  As I read the book, I'm kind of glad I missed the exhibition as now I get to read all the research that went into putting the collection together.  The theories about the role of myth in the preservation of quilts and the practicality and luxury of pieced material.  Many of the quilts in the book had no deep significance to the maker at the time of creation.  The significance and myth came after the fact with its use.

Of course.

How could I be so narrow-sighted?  Yes, the first quilt I made was for me.  The materials were meaningful and the journey to a new life was also meaningful, but it was an exercise in recovering the past.  This next one is for a person who only half-exists at the moment.  It's meant to be a starting point, a first.  It's meant to collect meaning along the way (and by 'meaning' I'm thinking commemorative stains of baby's first diaper explosion or first picnic outside, whatever).

And of course, it's not devoid of meaning.  It has traces of both Pete and I, just as the little person it will comfort has traces of us both.  Where is goes with that mix is still a mystery.  For the quilt and the little person.

I've been obsessed with tracking down memories about quilting and stories of the craft and was always thinking of these memories and stories being past tense.  Ignoring all the evidence (wedding quilts, baby quilts, housewarming quilts, guest quilts, etc.) that points to the memory making power of quilts and quilt-making being about the future and all the memories that have yet to be made in conjunction with this bit of blanket.

So I think I have found my mojo with this quilt.   I'm on-board with the materials and the possibility.

Let the piecing begin!

Wordless Wednesday

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photo credits: Arielle Alasko, Buff Strickland 

A little housekeeping

Chinese New Year has come and gone, for some of us it is the season of Lent and for others of us spring and its feeling and promise of renewal can't come soon enough. (Although the screaming, pooping, squirmer that will come with my spring this year is anticipated and feared in equal measure.)

This little space on the internet isn't immune from these feelings of renewal and cleansing.  A few weeks ago Emily mentioned in passing a Skype session in which we made some plans for this little quilting adventure.  We are still working on some of the ideas and slowly coming up with a timeline for rolling out the changes and doing some behind-the-scenes work to make these new additions and edits gel with our current tack.

We started the blog with the idea of documenting the life of a particular quilt for each of us.  I was starting with a memory laden pile of t-shirts and Emily had a stash of fabric aching to be turned into something.  We weren't interested in creating tutorials or step by step, blow by blow descriptions of the process or portfolios of photos.  However, as each of the original pieces came to an end that is exactly where we found ourselves; diligently showing our work with little meaning or storytelling.

We started to think about what we love about quilting and what we want to share with our readers.  And while we will still share what we are currently working on, we want to expand our quilting discussions to what we are thinking about, what sparks our interest in the craft and what moves our readers to quilt.

To that end, we have made a few changes and will be looking for a bit of help from you, our lovely readers and quilting community.

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Monday will remain devoted to Emily and her quilting adventures and forays into her local quilting community.

Tuesdays and Wednesday will be spaces for historical/traditional discussions/stories and wordless posts highlighting the visual and artistic aspects of quilting.  We want to dig into the stories behind popular/traditional block designs, or terms or photos or superstitions, etc.  We will leave it open to interpretation.

Thursday will become Ariel's day to babble about material re-use mis-adventures and ruminations.

Friday Round-Up will transition to a monthly recap of links shared throughout the preceding days with a few special extras we found around the internet.  Taking its place will be a kind of occasional Scrap Bag of quilting stories, memories, interviews, or book reviews, etc. we (or you) collect over time.

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Obviously, most of this will be our own work and discoveries, but we want to create a space for community discoveries and stories as well.  Maybe you are interested in a particular aspect of quilting, or maybe you have a story or memory of a quilt you can't shake.  Why not share it with us?  It could be a single image with a caption or a complete history of a family heirloom.  Whatever it is, we want it.

So have a think and drop us a comment or email and let's stitch together a little virtual quilting bee complete with craft, storytelling and cake.

The Pattern Continues...

Remember way back in July when I kept putting off the start of the t-shirt quilt?

I'm doing it again.

I think we can all agree that quilt was a success.  Now it comes to my next project and again I am stalling.  My excuse this time around is about pattern.  I'm completely lost as to how I want this next project to go.

Despite Emily's generous gift of a super-secret-quilted-baby-something (which she is crazy generous for making) I have been planning a cot quilt for awhile now.  I mean you can't have too many, right?  From what I hear everything baby related gets covered in puke and poo on the regular so having a couple quilts isn't a bad thing.

I have the materials picked out, again stuff laying around the house, but I am still in the process of tracking them down.  The last quilt was all about me.  It was made of my t-shirts and reflected my personal history up to a particular point.  That point being getting married.  Pete is only tangentially present in that quilt.  He is a much bigger part of this picture.

This quilt will be made from his clothes.  Unlike me, Pete keeps all his old clothes.  (I know I kept all those t-shirts, but i am horrible for donated buckets of stuff hastily and then mourning the loss of a particular item the next time the season comes around.) There are items in that wardrobe that have not seen the light of day since before we moved in together over six years ago. Items that were sent from his closet in New Zealand but speak of a much different boy than the man I know.

I'm not touching those items.  They are his to do with as he pleases.  I am going for his old work shirts and boxers.  A kinky combination on the surface but one that has precedent.  Back in my Kentucky days, before I met Pete, I had a colleague doing her PhD on a group of quilters in the Appalachian mountains.  Their stories were fantastic, as most old mountain ladies'stories are, but there was one that caught my attention then that I have held with me since.  It goes without saying that they reused fabric.  Rarely was any new material bought to complete their projects but some of their materials were not only reused, but hot.

It seems that many of the ladies worked in the Jockey factory sewing together briefs and boxers.  Occasionally a few of the larger scraps would accidentally appear in their handbags when they got home at the end of the day.  Beautiful deep blues and rich reds so rare in their usual threadbare offerings of old clothes and husbands' work shirts.  These pieces would then find their way into the quilts of the quilting bee and they would giggle about the story as they related it to my colleague years later.

Maybe it gave them a little thrill to steal these scraps, like children taking candy out of the pick n mix boxes, and 'hide' them in their traditional, and acceptable, hobby.  Maybe they just saw fabric as fabric and couldn't abide the waste of throwing away perfectly good scraps.  Maybe both.  Maybe neither.

Fabric is fabric.  Waste not, want not.


While I track down these old clothes of my dear husband I am also thinking about the pattern.  I don't want to do the free-form improvisation of the t-shirt quilt and in reference to this tradition of using the 'menfolks' clothes as material I'm leaning toward a more traditional pattern but I'm not sold on stars or rings or any of the traditional blocks.

A quilt with a traditional technique but a more modern look.  That would fit my husband to a tee.

Progress and Planning

Hi!  Can you believe it--the second week in a row I don't have a finished quilt top to show!  I've been kind of slacking on my personal projects because I've had other projects in my queue, and they've been top priority.  If that sounds super vague, it's because it is, and I can't really show off anything until next week.

After running errands today, I finished sewing the strips for my picnic quilt, which, by the way, is going to be way bigger than I expected!  I should have a new rule that, if it doesn't fit on the dining room floor, I can't make it.  (That would never stop me.)

Once all the strips were sewn and pressed (which is boring but necessary) I laid them out to get a feel for how the quilt should be pieced.  I didn't want too much repetition and I wanted a good representation of all prints and colors in each corner of the quilt--no clumping!  Even if this quilt won't be top banana I don't want it looking like I didn't care.

Here are some progress shots:

I left spaces between strips where I thought I needed more variety.

Oy--this is everything once it was said and done!  Also once the cats had run through it a few times.  Because there wasn't enough room, I stacked the strips when I had decided where they should be placed.  When everything was finalized, I made one large stack and rolled everything up together.

It's almost the end of the year, and I'm starting to contemplate how I'd like my final projects to go.  Of course everything could change--we're really hoping to move, but even if we don't, traveling for the holidays could take huge chunks out of my sewing time--but at this time, here's a quick list of my goals:

• Quilt Modern Maples quilt and this picnic quilt
• Make a gingham quilt based on all the ones floating around the internet
• Design/complete a triangle quilt (using solids?)
• Hand quilt something small

Did you see that last one?  Yeah.  Scary.  I've been intrigued with hand quilting lately and would love to do it on my Modern Maples, outlining the leaves in pearl cotton.  But I don't want to commit to something that large when I really don't know how to do it.  Of course, that hasn't stopped me in the past, but hand quilting seems so big and scary, much more so than piecing a quilt or machine quilting it.  I've thought about making a Modern Maples mini quilt (maybe for my mom as a gift) and practicing my hand quilting on that.  What do you think?

Here are some hand-quilting examples that kill me:

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Aaaand there are about a million others but the one picture I want to show is unattainable.  Seriously, how did this disappear?  If I can find it, I'll update!

What'd you make over the weekend?

Why Do You Quilt?

Why, hello again!  As I said on Monday, Ariel is in Greece, so I have Wednesday duty as well this week.  I sat at my desk (at work...whoops) thinking about what to post today.  Should I gush over new fabrics?  Nah.  Should I follow the lead of my personal blog and talk about quilt plans?  I could, but readers may think I've lost my day planner and had to settle for a blog to keep track of my to-dos.  What to write, what to write...

And then I started thinking, man, I'm chilly.  It was in the 40s when I walked to work today, but because the high is 72, I didn't wear tights.  Even after some coffee, that chill hasn't left my legs!  I could use a small quilt for my cubicle, but I guess for now I'll use my scarf as a makeshift blanket.  I remembered saying bye this morning to our new kitten, who had dragged my heirloom quilt off of the coffee table shelf and onto the floor with his toys.  Was he cold too, or is he just bad?  (Yes.)  I ordered backing and binding for my Modern Maples quilt yesterday, but am waiting on a walking foot to quilt it, because I don't want to rely on sending them off anymore.

Why do I quilt?

The simplest answer is necessity: I live in the mid-Atlantic region, where we have seasons, and it gets cold in the winter.  Even in late September, I reach for a throw while watching TV, just to cut the chill.  While I won't necessarily need quilts on my bed, I'll need some for the couch, for the car when we drive south this winter for the holidays, for my cubicle, for whatever.  To stay warm, I need a blanket.

But, honestly, I could've gone to Target and bought a cotton throw instead of investing time, money and patience into a new hobby--if all I was looking for was something to keep me warm.  It must go deeper than that.  I don't have children, and I'm not getting married for a year, so the idea of heirlooms that I create are a bit outside of my realm: while it's nice to think of handing these down, I'd rather focus on using them here and now and worry about inheritance later.

I will admit, I like knowing something.  Please don't confuse this with learning; I'm very much like my mother in that I don't want to learn--I want to know.  The only way to know something--sewing, quilting, knitting for a month--is to do it instead of just read about it.  After I won those six cuts of Chicopee--too little for garments, too much for accessories--I had no choice but to pick up a rotary cutter and get going.  And down into the rabbit hole I went, researching projects, finding new blogs, and buying patterns.  A woman obsessed, a woman possessed, whatever you want to call it--I'm now her.

At Quilters Take Manhattan, Denyse Schmidt mentioned that she started quilting because she was looking for a community and somewhere to fit in during her tumultuous twenties.  I certainly relate, and indeed, it's why I started sewing.  I think quilting, because it came later to me, was just the natural progression, and allowed me to expand my circle of friends and peers (even if they're online and not in-person).  And one has definitely influenced the other: I recently sewed a top-secret quilt top for someone made completely out of curves, but thanks to my experience with garment sewing, I had zero problems with it.

Finally, I think I quilt because it's another way to create.  That seems to simplify it too much, and honestly, do I need to create more in my life?  Apparently, I do, because I feel that pull toward my stash, toward my mat, toward my ruler every day while I'm at my desk, while I'm on the train, while I'm making dinner.  Sometimes I feel like cutting pieces for a new quilt top, and other times I feel like cutting a blouse.  But quilting, and modern quilting, have expanded my to-do list as well as my done list, and I can surround myself with more homemade items.  My goal is to look around my apartment and be able to say "I made this!" whether it's a blanket, a skirt, or even the coasters.  I prefer a handmade life, from what I wear to what I eat, and quilting fits in perfectly.

So, your turn: why do you quilt?  Is it a simple reason?  Is it much more complicated?  Do you do it just because you have to--there's no other way!--or do you do it because it's a fun hobby?  Spill it!

Quilters Take Manhattan 2012

Happy Monday!  I hope everyone had a good weekend.  I had a wonderful weekend--I went to New York!  My friend Melissa and I attended Quilters Take Manhattan (I won tickets last month) and drove up I-95 to hear Denyse Schmidt speak about her inspiration and background.

The event was held at FIT, which I've never visited, but now I need to go back and see the museum--the posters in the building's windows showed some gorgeous clothes!  After we checked in and put our things down--and checked out the goodie bag, which was full of Chicopee and charm packs--we took a look at the display in the hall.  Denyse's quilts from Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration were hanging along the sidelines, and we were free to photograph and touch them.  What could be better?

My Compass

Crazy Star

Shoeman's Puzzle

One thing Melissa and I both noted is that the stitches aren't perfect.  While many quilters would be appalled at this--myself included, at least in my work, but especially if it were on display--it made me feel so much better about my work.  I don't want you to get the wrong idea: I'm not anywhere near Denyse Schmidt's level of quilting/patchworking (if she worked in the penthouse, I'd be the dumdum toiling away in the boiler room), but knowing that her stitches and her stitchers are able to just be themselves is incredible freeing.

Two things I learned from this is a) these quilts are quilted by someone else and b) these quilts are hand-quilted.  I believe the figure-eights above are machine-stitched, but the Mariner's Compass, the Tobacco Leaf (below)--most, if not all, others are done by hand.  Good god!

In front of Shoeman's Puzzle

Tobacco Leaf--hand-quilted! 

For the Quilter's S.O.S. interview, Denyse was asked to bring in a touchstone piece that exemplified her work.  She created this quilt for an exhibit in New Mexico about ten years ago, and yep, I'd agree that this is clearly Densye!  I'm not an improviser because I like a little more structure, or at least guidance.  However, I was mesmerized by this.  I kept staring, mentally ripping the seams to figure out how the pieces came together, how they were determined.  

Denyse also talked a bit about her background.  She started as a graphic designer, but found herself looking for a creative outlet (that wouldn't just be thrown away) and a community, because she was far away from family and friends.  Wow, do I know that feeling!  Those are both reasons I started sewing in early 2011.  She didn't begin quilting until her 20s--again, it was so good to know she wasn't a child prodigy, releasing Flea Market Fancy when she was fresh from grade school.  The whole interview was incredibly inspiring.  

Improvised piece from 2003

Denyse Schmidt's interview

After Denyse's interview concluded--and I suggest you all listen to it once it's posted!--Jennifer Chiaverini spoke about her Elm Creek Quilts books.  These are fictional books about a group of quilters.  I've never read them, but when I spoke to my mom and aunt about them, they were familiar.

Courthouse Steps

The Quilt Alliance gave away some wonderful prizes--none of which I won.  Who do I speak to about that?  (Just kidding.  Kind of.)  Melissa and I saw the new Brother quilting and embroidery machines in action.  We also saw Liesl Gibson of Oliver + S sitting behind us!  As much as I wanted to say hi, I was too nervous.  Besides, I had introduced myself to Denyse Schmidt merely hours earlier.  How much excitement could my heart handle for one day?!

After quick trips to the City Quilter and M&J Trimming, we headed back to D.C., completely inspired and wondering why we don't have these resources closer?  We have so many ideas for our Modern Quilt Guild, but it's too early in the game to see where it will go.  If you live in D.C., Maryland or Virginia and want to hang out with some cool quilters, please let us know!  We're dying for some more interaction.

Anyway, see you next time, New York!

This morning I got up early and started working on this week's projects.  Yes, that was an "s" you saw--I have three quilts of various sizes in the pipeline.  It's going to be a busy week but I feel good, like I said before!

How was your weekend?  What has inspired you lately?

Book Review: Denyse Schmidt, Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration

I don't have a whole lot of progress to update on, so I thought, for a change of pace, I'd post a book review!

I love Denyse Schmidt and have for many years.  I'm attending her lecture next month in Manhattan and buy her lines as soon as they're released.  Recently, I also picked up her newest book, Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration.  This book contains patterns and instructions as well as background on these pieces.  While they're technically traditional styles, Denyse (we're on a first-name basis) has used modern colors and techniques to make them wholly new.

Let's take a look!  But first: I apologize for the photo quality.  Rainy days kill any sort of natural lighting.

The orange peel quilt is featured early in her book.  Using crimson and tangerine, two colors not normally seen together, this quilt has a lot of movement and warmth, seen on the pattern page:

I don't think I'm anywhere near being ready to make an orange peel quilt, but maybe by this time next year I'll be able to.

I love, love, love star quilts.  A red-and-white star quilt is my absolute favorite.  So this Crazy Star, with a mish-mash of coordinating fabrics on a solid background, really speaks to me.  

There are so many possibilities!  I'd love various reds on a light blue background.

Flying Geese, which are another favorite of mine, have a different layout in Ocean Waves.  I bought Denyse's pattern "Point Me," which also features geese, in the spring, and love the new ways she arranges them.

Imagine the possibilities with Courthouse Steps!  Denyse uses three colors here, but two colors, a color and a pattern, or scraps would all create different effects.

Wagon Wheel is, hands down, my favorite quilt in this book.  I love the chartreuse!  Again, curves are probably beyond my capabilities right now, but soon enough...

This Snake quilt reminds me of Denyse's "Single Girl," deconstructed.  The colors are similar, the curves are present, but instead of single rings, there's a steady movement from corner to corner.

There's a Mariner's Compass quilt hanging in the store where my Modern Quilt Guild meetings are held, and it's always used as the prime example of what modern quilts aren't: the precision, the batiks, the size are all too rigid and old-fashioned for most modern quilters.  But My Compass, Denyse's version of a Mariner's Compass, is breathtaking and modern in a primitive way.  

A lot of these quilts remind me of Civil War-era or Amish quilts: the roots of quilting are present, but solids and scraps are used to create a unique version.  Simply put, I believe Denyse Schmidt is a genius and her interpretations of these traditional values add depth to the modern quilt world, especially when many quilters believe we just do improv blocks and only use white.  This book is chock full of inspiration and gorgeous photos.  Take a look through it yourself!

For 2012, on my blog Lemony Fresh, I made a resolution to create over thirty apparel items throughout the year.  Next year I might shift my focus to quilting, and quilt my way through this book, not necessarily in order.  Kind of a Julie & Julia (looking at you, Ariel!), but I imagine my version of Julie's eggs will be applique.  What do you think?

What have you used as inspiration lately?  Are there any books you'd recommend?