Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Millard Quilt Top - A Design Process

As a kid, my Mom and I took a bunch of road trips (just the girls), to visit different cities and buildings of historical / architectural significance in those cities.  I grew up in Buffalo, NY - and before you say it, I know, I know, armpit of America yadda yadda yadda. Anyway, all jokes aside it was a really good place to grow up - great schools, lots of good people (and my huge extended family), and a ton of history, affordability, diversity. There's a lot more I could get into, but I won't - because this is a quilt blog, right?

OK, where is this going... oh, Frank Lloyd Wright, right. So I visited a LOT of his buildings as a kid / teenager and really grew to love and appreciate his style, and what it means to be in a "designed" space. It's something you feel, and you'll never get that feeling from a typical suburban (or even most urban) home(s).

I still thumb though my architecture books from time to time. (I spent 6 years in Architecture school, so I've acquired quite a collection.) Frank Lloyd Wright's work is still very meaningful for me. I came across this house recently, the Alice Millard house, it is one in a series of his "textile houses" made from concrete blocks designed by him.



This is the "block", concrete by design but I thought it would lend itself well to a quilt block. I did a quick sketch in AutoCAD, and came up with this:




It's made from 9 large (24"x24") blocks. Yes, there are many ways this could have been interpreted and constructed, but I chose the way that interested me the most. Here you can see the simple block construction:



Here is the whole top put together:
(I know I need some serious help in the photography department!)


I really like the way this top came together, it's so simple yet has a real visual impact - for me at least :)

Now comes the hard part...  There's no way I can quilt this baby on my teeny tiny Janome, so I'm going to have to bite the bullet and head into Modern Domestic to make use of that quilt frame class I took. Why I'm so terrified of it, I have no idea. It was a great class, fantastic instruction - and I used it in the class with a certain degree of success for a first timer. Just do it Jill!!

OK, enough words for now, Cheers all!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Ahhh... Lazy Summer

So I haven't been sewing much, or on social media much, but it is summer.
What I have been doing is a slow purge and re-org of my office/ sewing studio/ guest room/
whatever you want to call it...

it all started with a sorting of the scraps

which led to a complete re-vamp of the fabric storage 
(this is going to be a long term project!)

then I decided that I needed to organize all of my office storage
I'll do an update when the room is in good order and "finalized".
I'm working on this in bits and pieces in between all of our other busy summer activities.

I was lucky enough to be able drive up to the Seattle area to meet up with

Here's some pics from the ferry to Vashon Island.
What a beautiful day it was!

What a wonderful setting too! Vashon Island is gorgeous, and
Island Quilter is a dream of a shop.


My garden is ridiculous,  and I love every bit of it.
The chard won't quit producing. It makes a wonderful pesto,
I'm planning on freezing a bunch for the long winter ahead.


People keep giving me cucumbers, so I tried a recipe for refrigerator pickles
for the first time. Holy yum! Cheap, quick, and EASY.


We've been eating zucchini by the bucket-full (it's great sauted with pesto on it!), and my
3 yr old is loving helping me cut things - terrifying.

Did you know that zucchini's can also be used as 'portal guns'?
I'm sure most 5 yr old boys already know this, but it was news to me. 

Otherwise we've been spending alot of time hanging out outside

100 degrees + Pool = Happy kids....
Happy kids = Happy Parents

Hope you're all having a wonderful wrap-up to your summer. I'm sure I'll be around
alot more once school gets back into full swing (which isn't until mid-September!).

Cheers all