Author Archives: mlwilkie

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About mlwilkie

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

Treehouse Ladders {a finish}

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I recently attended Sewtopia in Atlanta. You could choose to participate in a fabric challenge – in this case it was using Michael Miller fabrics. I decided I would use the 3 solids and 1 of the prints ( the four most right) in my quilt. I also added 3 additional Cotton Couture; the blue, green, orange for a pop-art feeling.
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I decided that my Treehouse  Ladder Design would be great to play with the these bright fabrics. This was one of my designs from Quilt Design a Day.
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I loved how it turned out, especially the balance of color. I made a couple of design changes:

  • Worked on color placement and decided to add white.
  • Decided that the print was too overpowering for the solids and decided to just use partial pops of the print.
  • Added additional ladders in column 4 and flipped column 5.
  • Deciding on black striped binding, in line with the pop art feel

Treehouse Ladders Finish

I had an interesting time with the back as I made two of them. My first make will now be a quilt as it didn’t seem quite right for this one and could easily hold its own as a front. It’s a large improvisation Log Cabin block
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I simplified the back using a simple improve strip with left over Grey Cotton Couture I had from a previous quilt. Back Treehouse Ladders

The quilting was to echo the ladders both vertically and horizontally. I used invisible thread (premium sulky invisible thread), as there was no good color that matched the bright color palette of this quilt.  Additionally, I added 5 quilted detail areas in light grey Aurifil  thread, to add interest (example: top left).

Treehouse Ladders Close-up

This quilt will be donated to our Guild’s (Triangle MQG) Charity.

Details

Name: Treehouse Ladders
Design: Designed by me
Fabric: Michael Miller Cotton Couture and Valencia, Color Play Blue, Laura Gunn
Binding: Michael Miller, Stripes, Clown Stripe in White
Dimensions: 42″ x 42″
Quilted: Straight Line quilting, Premium Sulky Invisible thread, FMQ, Aurifil light Grey 50 wt

Linking up for Finish it up Friday with Amanda Jean over at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Green: Guest Post {Anne Sullivan}

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Last week, the monthly post for Green: A Colour Blog Series went live, check it out as there is a great give-away open to everyone.

Introducing Anne Sullivan

I am so delighted to have Anne Sullivan from Play Crafts as a guest this month. Anne has been an inspiration to me and really helped me, find who I am as a quilter, by starting Quilt Design a Day. She is super talented, and if you are part of The Modern Quilt Guild you would recognize her Quilt of the Month entries: City Lights (Mar 2016), Phoenix Quilt (Sep 2015).  Her post is an interesting one, as she talks about her journey of discovery with green and how she now finds it a great supportive color.

Fabric Pulls for Green

Also in this post, I want to provide some fabric pulls of current choices people could have with the various greens, which I did not do in the last post. Let’s start by highlighting my two favorite fabric lines/collections that are my go to for green.

  1. Carolyn Friedlander: Not only does her lines usually include green but you can use her lines as a great color palette choice when trying to find other colors to go with green.

    Green Palette (all currently available)

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    [All available at Hawthorne Threads, except 7: Botanics Leaf print and 8: Botanics Lines print]

    Co-ordinated Palette from Carkai (all available at Hawthorne threads)

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  2. Cotton and Steel: Produce great basics for so many colors. They have varying depth and range (forest green, bright green, mint, citron etc.), so I definitely like adding them to my green stash. (Prints available at Hawthorne Threads)
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Other Green Color palette choices

Mint:
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1. Bonnie Christine; 2. Katarina Roccella; 3. Cotton + Steel; 4. Leah Duncan; 5. Amy Sinibaldi; 6. Sarah Jane; 7. AGF Studios; 8. AGF Studios; 9. Alison Glass

Greens:
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1. Tamara Kate; 2. Cori Dantini; 3. Heather Ross; 4. Tula Pink; 5. Jessica Jones; 6. Lizzie House; 7. Ann Kelle; 8. Ink and Spindle; 9. Frances Newcombe

If you are looking for previous posts, check out the home page here. Otherwise, I’ll see you the same place here next month!! Enjoy!

 

First timer to Sewtopia

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Last week, was Sewtopia Atlanta and I attended. What can I say, it was so awesome. My best retreat ever!! Will I attend again? Absolutely, if my commitments allow I would like to attend everyone from now on!!

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[Personal Project: WiP: Maze & Vale + AGF Denim]

For those that don’t know, Sewtopia is a sewing retreat which happens twice a year. The first event of the year tends to be structured as  partly class, partly open sew. The second event tends to be only open sew.

It was the first time I have every roomed with a stranger. Corrinna was the best room-mate ever, and totally alleviated my concerns of maybe not knowing anyone. She was not the only new friend I made, it was such a great event for making new or building on existing connections.

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The weekend kicked-off with me scrambling to finish hand sewing my binding on my Michael Miller Challenge item, before the 3pm Cotton + Studio Tour. I did finish it just in time. The studio tour was amazing. All the ladies from C+S were there and answered our questions, we saw their new line and their studio/work space is just amazing!!

IMG_6065[Denyse Schmidt: My Single Girl Block: Blue Scraps+Lizzie House Print]

The classes were Denyse Schmidt’s Free Wheeling Single Girl and Elizabeth Hartman’s Frances Firefly. Both instructors were amazing and so friendly. I managed to contain my fan-girl moments :-), as they spend a lot of time with each student.  The classes were well structured, and since both were block based you could decide what kind of project you would make. Look, I got to practice curves which I just recently learned in Melanie Tuazon’s curve class.

IMG_6067[Elizabeth Hartman: Frances Firefly: Cotton and Steel + Carolyn Friedlander Carkai + Katarina Roccella Avant Garde + Essex Linen]

Other than the special events, the other things that made this the best retreat I have ever gone to:

  • The wonderful and friendly staff
  • The great balance between activities and open sew
  • The stress-free, friendly environment
  • The optional challenge and swap activities is greatly appreciated
  • I enjoyed the catered lunches

I can’t wait to my next Sewtopia retreat (here’s hoping for a spot at Austin, if not I will see you all at Denver)!!

Have a great weekend, all. I am hoping to get some quilting time in.