Author Archives: mlwilkie

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About mlwilkie

Software Developer, Mother, Wife with keen interest in art, design and crafts of all kinds.

Market Bag {a project finish}

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For the longest time, I have wanted to make the market bag from Anna Graham’s book “Handmade Style“. I was at Sewtopia a couple of years ago and my room mate, Corrinna, made one for a gift (and not for me!!). It was so good, which made it a top of list item to make.

Then last year, I decide it was time to make one, as a friend’s birthday was upcoming in June. I had an idea of the outside being AGF denim with scraps for the bands that go round the bag.
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I got the scrappy bands sewn and everything cut out. The project then came to a grinding halt. I finally picked up some leather handles of Anna Graham’s shop, spurring me to getting the bag finished as a Christmas gift for the same friend.

I loved the quilted look with the scrappy bands. It was my first time using leather scraps. Another friend, gave me a lesson on attaching them. There were a couple of small issues in a couple of extra wholes in the lining that I fixed (oops).

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The inside of my bag has some precious and the last of my Anna Maria Horner Canvas butterflies with the amazing Carolyn Friedlander print. I did add lining or interfacing to the pocket (one of those was missing and I thought it needed it).

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I am so happy how this bag turned out!! I managed to meet the Christmas deadline this time and it was well received. Now, I need to make myself one and buy a rivet press.

This was an easy and quick project in the end. High recommend the pattern.

On the angle {a finish}

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Just before Christmas, I made a couple of mini quilts as gifts. I have not shared those makes with you yet. One of those quilts was a striking black and white minimal quilt.

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Idea

This quilt was inspired based on a drain cover discovered on our family walk around the neighborhood. I loved the diagonal pattern of lines.

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Design

During the design phase I used those 45 degree lines in the top part of the design. In the drain you have this bar 1/2 way across the lines, giving it a broken line feel. For me, that translated into this break a a random angle with the lines then being distorted back the opposite angle. fullsizeoutput_13c6

Create

The creation was relatively simple, using PBS White solid and black fabric at 1″ unfinished, I stitched 16 pieces together. Making sure the angles were at a 45 degrees I then cut an angle that closely matched the design above. The remaining fabric, I removed the excess lines and added a much larger white section to the stripes for the lower negative space.  I lined up and pined where the lines best connected. Once pinned, I cut the fabric at the appropriate angle and stitched the two pieces together. It was both liberating and a little scary as I did not measure or carefully planned these connections. Luckily, it turned out as expected.

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Quilting

As this was a small piece, I kept the quilting design simple. I stitched about 1/8″ from exhaustion of the stitched lines (both sides of the line). I did not bind the quilt to finish, as the final piece was framed and ready to be hung.

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I swapped this gift for 6 ginger pear galettes from a local baker, Meg. The family loved them. So amazing (including the extra banana pecan bundt cake that was added)!!

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Details

Name : On the Angle
Design: Original Design
Fabric: Black & White Painters Palette Solids, Paintbrush studios
Dimensions: 12 x 14 in.
Quilted: Straight line quilting using Aurifil #2021

Published!!

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I have been a little on the slow side sharing some of the great news over the last 4 months or so. The first is that I was lucky enough to be included in Uppercase new encyclopedia “Quilted“.  This volume includes two types of articles, Artist Profiles and Interview and Quilt Stories. My quilt, Sunday Best, was selected for one of the quilt stories. I am so happy in getting to celebrate Sunday Best in this beautiful book.

The celebrations continues though. At QuiltCon this year, I shared a room with a friend who woke me up with gleeful text messages and then a wake-up call, to explain that Sunday Best published in Quilted was highlighted by Mel Giedroyc (on her new instagram account @melgquilting). I was like who??? Since then, I now know that she was one of the presenters/judges from The Great British Bake Off, who has started a new and the funniest weekly podcast, Mel Giedroyc is Quilting. I listen every week, and am honored for the mention.

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In January, I received my copy of Curated Quilts issue 10: Black & White. Inside was my article on learning how to see the world around you to find inspiration for quilt design. This was the first time, my photographs were also published, which I was super excited about. The photos are my forever memories from a trip to New York, Morocco and a family beach vacation I took last year. When I saw Amy and Christine, they commented on how much they loved the photo’s. They also suggested I submit again. Yay!!

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Lastly, in Curated Quilts Issue 11: Appliqué, Manicured Gardens was curated into the issue as one of Gallery quilts. This issue is so special, as it also includes quilts from my close friends, Ginny Robinson and Melissa Herboth (our quilts share gallery pages).

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I am super excited to start my year off like this. Who knows what else will come for 2020?