FITF: Film in the Fridge | modern quilts, clothing, fabric, and photos

jumbled

Posted on October 29, 2015

Right after Spring Quilt Market I managed to snag a couple bundles of the then-upcoming new Cotton + Steel collections. Clearly working to get them early wasn’t really necessary, as I’m only just now (while attempting to snag a couple of the new C+S bundles just shown at Fall Quilt Market – ha!) finally getting around to finishing a quilt out of one of the bundles.

These prints are from Kim Kight’s Lucky Strikes line, along with a few matching solids and a print or two that paired well with this grouping. I originally thought I’d do something with stripes, so cut up all the fat quarters into strips and sewed them together. After sewing them all together, I decided it wasn’t working for me so I set it aside. Strangely enough, while I have no problem leaving quilt tops for years, unfinished blocks really bug me. For some reason I just can’t let them go. These strips kept hounding me, so finally I decided to pull them back out and make something, anything, out of them.

I ultimately cut them into triangles, thinking I’d maybe do some flying geese, but then didn’t like it once cut. Luckily while messing around with them on the design wall I decided I liked them rearranged into these squares. If I had planned to sew them together like this from the start I could have made sure the fabrics all lined up, but luckily I kind of like that there are a few non-matching squares.

I love this Espresso yarn dyed Essex from Robert Kaufman, and felt it made a nice background for these printed squares. I mixed them up with the pieced squares and threw them up on the design wall. Even though it’s in no way what I originally imagined, I’m still pleased with how it turned out. And guess what? Now I can put it away in a closet and no longer obsess over the unfinished blocks!

Posted in Fabric, Posts about Quilts | Tagged cotton + steel, essex yarn dyed, handmade, kim kight, lucky strike, quilt, quilt top, robert kaufman | 6 Comments

Quilt Local blog tour (+giveaway!)

Posted on October 26, 2015

I’m really pleased to be part of this blog tour for this exceptional book, Quilt Local by Heather Jones. When I first read that Heather was writing a book, I knew immediately it would be a good one, and now that it’s been published, I can tell you that I was right!

(Central Parkway quilt)

Quilt Local starts with Heather describing how she finds inspiration in her everyday life and includes 4 habits on how to find inspiration around you (and how to remember what you’ve been inspired by!). I loved reading this chapter since much of what she writes reminded me of how I used to find so much inspiration around me when I took the time to really look around. These days I find myself busy with the kids and it seems I’ve been forgetting to look around and record my inspiration. This chapter is a great reminder to slow down and really look around.

I then jumped ahead to see her quilts, and they did not disappoint! I love how Heather shows a photo of her inspiration for each quilt along with a sketch of the quilt. I think it’s so interesting to see how her inspiration is translated into a quilt. Even better, she shows each quilt sewn up in two different colorways.

I’ve always admired Heather’s modern designs and her ability to keep her designs simple and clean. While it may appear easy, I think it’s actually deceptively simple. I find it to be extremely difficult to limit oneself to a certain (small) number of fabrics/colors or a design with a lot of negative space. I look at these quilts and am so inspired by the beauty in the minimalistic design. The quilt shown above, Third Street, is a favorite of mine and is inspired by a grid on the side of an abandoned building. I admire the fact that it’s limited to just two colors and makes the grid such a strong statement, without distracting you with other colors or patterns.

I decided to give this a try myself. The next time I took the kids to Shelburne Farms, I made sure to slow down and admire the details at the beautiful Farm Barn. I snapped this photo of one of the sections of the barn on our way out.

As you can see, I didn’t really do so well on limiting my fabric choices. I’m still calling it a win because the colors themselves are limited, but while I attempted to select 2-3 fabrics for this piece, in the end I actually used 8! (see, harder than it looks!)

(I just couldn’t resist adding in those little bits of Carolyn Friendlander’s upcoming new line, Carkai, which I snagged from a friend)

I’m really excited to get back to finding inspiration in things around me and I thank Heather for reminding me of this in her wonderful book.

[I also just heard that Heather Jones may be visiting and teaching a class at Nido early in 2016, so hopefully I’ll get a chance to tell her in person about how her book has inspired and challenged me]

_ _ _

Want to win a copy? (Yes, yes you do!). Simply leave one comment on this post letting me know where you find inspiration. I always think it makes me sound like a couch potato, but I do happen to find inspiration often while watching tv! So how about you? The publisher will send a copy of the book to one winner who will be selected on Thursday morning.

Edited to add: A winner! Random.org selected #97, Ramona, who said

Ramona Putnam says:

October 27, 2015 at 9:39 am (Edit)

The most obvious inspiration for me is often tile work or grid work in floors. I love how you interpreted the barn. I would love to create a quilt in the colors in that barn photo with the gray/green panel and striped section. So now I can say you’ve inspired me!

~~Look for an email from me!~~ Ramona, my message came back undeliverable. Please contact me at ashley @ filminthefridge.com so I can get this book to you!

_ _ _

Be sure to follow along with the rest of the Quilt Local blog tour!

10/6: STC Craft Blog

10/8: Robert Kaufman

10/9: Melanie Falick

10/10: Sew Mama Sew

10/11: Creative Bug

10/12: Plaid Portico

10/14: Modern Sewciety

10/16: Pellon

10/19: The Tattooed Quilter

10/21: Amy’s Creative Side

10/23: Diary of a Quilter

10/26: Film in the Fridge

10/28: Tall Grass Prairie Studio

10/29: Okan Arts

10/30: Kara Sews

11/2: Crimson Tate

11/4: Dainty Time

11/6: Nap Time Quilter

11/9: Spoonflower

11/11: Aurifil

11/13: A Gathering of Stitches

Posted in Giveaway!, Posts about Quilts | Tagged book review, finding inspiration, Giveaway!, Heather Jones, Quilt Local, quilt top | 150 Comments

concord grapes baby quilt

Posted on October 20, 2015

Another quilt little baby patchwork quilt for you today – once again made with my favorite pairing of Liberty of London and some great solids (along with a few extra printed fabrics).

I never tire of pulling out my Liberty stash and putting together prints in various colors, and I always find it a fun challenge to find other printed fabrics which complement the Liberty prints (I think I’ve said it before, but sometimes I do find it hard to find fabrics that work well with Liberty, aside from other Liberty or solids, of course, so it’s always a fun challenge to find a few to add to the mix).

I didn’t set out to make a pink and purple quilt, but I seemed to find many prints in those colors which looked good together, so there you have it. And it’s named for my love of concord grapes, which were recently ready around here (I wait all year for the concord grapes and seem to have passed my love of them on to Max as well – now I actually have to share!)

The majority of solids in this one are Cloud 9 Cirrus solids, which are really beautiful – to look at and to sew with!

I backed it with an older navy Lotta Jansdotter print from her first collection, and used a fun crosshatch print for the binding.

If our third had been a girl, I’d definitely be hanging on to this one, but since he’s not, I’ve decided to list it for sale here. (Feel free to email me instead if you have questions and are not an Instagram user)

(and of course, my trusty helpers! Despite my repeated suggestion to stay behind the quilt, they can’t seem to resist a chance to have their photo taken with each and every quilt!)