Quilt Block Borders - Japanese Taupe Fabric

Around a hundred years ago Henry Ford said you could have one of his Model T cars in "Any color so long as it's black."

I may take his advise when it comes to putting borders on my modern house quilt blocks.  

They each have a lot of colors on them and I'm looking for a frame effect.

There will be an inventory process to look for black fabric pieces that are big enough to contribute to this project.  I love to collect lots of small cuts of different fabrics since most of my quilts have a scrap look to them.  I have too many interests in colors, shades, and patterns to make a quilt with only two fabrics.  I'm not sure I have the discipline to either. 

This strategy works well for applique, but is less than ideal when trying to find longer and or larger pieces for borders.

I'll keep you posted on how the hunt goes.I have a lot of black fabric somewhere.  

Either way it will likely be a slow process forward as life has been on the busy side these days.

My Old Flame

I dug out my modern house blocks and started to think about putting another border on them.

I was so in love with this project and these blocks before that it is practically a crime that they have not been made into a quilt top.

How about some advise on setting the blocks here...

I like the fabric on the right and think it is a good tone...it allows the quilt to come together.  I think something is still missing though.  

Maybe a very thin dark 'frame' of maybe 1/2" black or almost black fabric around all the blocks first?  They sort of need something to frame them up.  

Ideas?  Help!  I'm crowd sourcing this one!

Modern House Quilt: Block 12 - the big YEAH/BOO!

Does finishing an awesome project make you happy or sad?

For me, it's both:  Yeah!  and Boo !!! at the same moment.

I'm thrilled to final finish my final modern house quilt block, but at the same time I'm so that it's all over.  

Seeking out the houses, choosing them, finding them on the map, creating patterns based on the inspiration homes...it's hard to believe the design process is over.  

This house is on a hill in San Francisco, and has a tree growing out of the middle of the house for decoration.  I found that to be a unique design element that helped it make the cut for inclusion in the quilt.

I have some time now to work on the next modern objects block.  I'm already planning colors and fabrics in my mind.

Modern House Quilt Block: Heartwood Home

I don't usually show the 'full final' photo of my modern quilts blocks on my blog, but this time I could not restrain myself.

This is the 11th block in a series of 12 blocks that I designed and created for my applique class at A Verb for Keeping Warm.  We meet there on the 3rd Sunday of the month.

The great jazz pianist Dave Brubeck lived in this house in the 50's and it was designed by architect Bev Thorne.  I took inspiration from this home that is in the Oakland hills, and designed a block to honor the amazing way it just hangs over the property, suspended by steel beams supporting it.

The house doesn't look exactly the same as the quilt block, but I tried my best to capture it's spirit as best I could.

In other quilty news, if you're planning to apply for a slot to display your quilt in Pacific International Quilt Festival (PIQF), better do it quick.  I think the end of the application window will be coming up in a couple of weeks.  The quilt show itself is in October.

If my modern house quilt was complete, I would certainly enter it.  I'm on the fence about trying to put my niece's quilt in.  It isn't finished yet! 

Applique Party: this weekend - be there or be [ ]

Ok, so it isn't exactly an applique 'party', but I am teaching hand applique at A Verb for Keeping Warm on Sunday 7/22/12 at 2:30 pm in Oakland, California.

If you need an excuse to come and learn to be an expert at hand applique, or you just want to spend some relaxing time with inspiring people in a beautiful shop...come and join us.  Beginners, advanced folks, and all those in between are welcome.  Sign up's are a couple of mouse clicks away!  Do it...they will hardly notice you snuck out for a couple of hours.

The above photo is a teaser of our Modern Houses block this month (#11).  I love the way this one turned out, it's called the Heartwood Home.

I was initially not sure how easily it would translate from the real extreme 3D qualities of the house to a quilt block but I'm tickled pink (or tickled taupe?) with the final pattern and block. 

If you live on the other side of the globe or can't slip away to join us this month, I hope that somewhere this weekend there is a bit of hand work in store for you.  You deserve it, after all.

Modern Quilting

I am still here stitching away by hand with my needle and thread, and my Japanese Taupe Fabrics...creating modern house quilt blocks. 

This is the 10th block, and is inspired by what is called the Sax House in Oakland, California.  The home itself is designed to look just like a saxophone.  Can you see the instrument in the design?  I'm not done with the embroidery yet.  I think that will put the finishing touches on the block.

I never though that a popular blog like Quilt Inspiration would notice my work, but it turns out they did this week.

They just posted a little piece on my modern house quilt blocks which was very generous and kind of them.  You can see the article at this link.  The cool part is you can really see how the blocks were inspired from the photos I took of the real house.

I'm so honored!

Now, to come down from cloud 9 and get back to my stitching.

Japanese Taupe Fabrics: perfect for applique

When you enjoy hand applique, quality of the fabric itself becomes important.  The tricky areas, like points, curves, concave shapes...lend themselves to little bits of frayed edges.  If the fabric you are using is a high quality one with high thread count and tight weave, it minimizes these little threads that can lead to making your applique look sloppy.

Quite a few of the fabrics I used above are from D's Selection fabric brand.  I bought them ages ago in Carolea's Knitche Quilt Shop, which has not existed in many years unfortunately.  Anybody who has ever visited there would tell you it was an incredible place.

Anyhow, the block above is the next in my applique modern house quilt series.  It's been fantastic to design and create.  I'm so excited that it is done and ready for my next class.

In other wanderings:

Purse addiction:  Clare Vivier's fold over clutch.  Be mine.

Finnish Design shop:  Perhaps I should be kept away from here.

Weak for earrings:  Julie Burton at Verre -must resist temptation.

Voices in Cloth 2012 - more peaks, and Bricks By the Bay 2012

Yes, that was Roberta Horton in my last post, good eye smartie pants Kathie and Quilt Inspiration.

I enjoyed the Voices in Cloth 2012 Quilt show so very much.  I ran around with my trusty friend Marianne and my camera shooting grab shots here and there.  Here we are above (I'm on the right) in the Verb booth.  

Those quilts behind us are mine.  Left one may surprise you - yes, finally I assembled all the modern house applique blocks I had into the start of a quilt top.  Right one is hand applique using Oakshott fabrics.  They shimmer.

I put photos I took of the quilts in a flickr set for you here, so enjoy.  Click here for slide show of all photos.

We also attended the first ever Lego convention to hit the California Bay Area over last weekend.  Some of the creations were awesome.  I cannot help myself from uploading another flickr set of that - check it out here - Bricks by the Bay.

In other quilty news:

I love this print from the To Market To Market by Robert Kaufman - Apple fabric: sometimes I find their fabric lines very mainstream and not unique enough for my taste, but not this time.  I'm a sucker for apples.

Have see seen reviews yet out there on Denyse Schmidt's new book Modern Quilts: Traditional Inspiration? I'm sure folks are in love.  I don't have a copy but her work is stunning and unique.

If you're thinking of a re-org of your fabric stash, check out the inspirational stash of Sarah Fielke over at The Last Piece blog - very pretty.

I also ran into photos of Nani Iro's fabric collection for 2012: oooh-la-la, pretty.

Lastly, not quilt related, but due to my obsession with Polaroids, I just adore this candle in the shape of a retro Polaroid.  I can almost hear the noise that the camera makes when a photo comes out.

Japanese quilting fabrics: more is more

This block above is the 8th block in the series of California Bay Area modern homes that I'm working on.  

The house itself is located in Berkeley, CA and is known as the Fish House by locals but is actually the Tsui House.  It looks like it would be more at home under the sea than on a relatively normal street.  I used taupe fabrics that sort of looked like the ocean to me.

In other news, I was looking at Deborah Kemball's applique recently.  Have you seet it yet?  It's so detailed and beautiful.

Sometimes I really look forward to the weekend because I have something special going on.  This Sunday, my friend Sharon and I are taking a sweater making class by this famous designer named Ysolda Teague.

It's up at Verb of course, and although I don't really knit sweaters, it will be fun to meet her and to learn something that is really new to me.  And to relax for a bit of course.

Hope you have a chill weekend planned too.  Or unplanned for that matter.

New classes, modern house quilt blocks, and A Yoko A Day: Yoko Saito Quilt books - day 9 - final (陽子斉藤)

Well, for those of you who guessed that I couldn't last that long doing a post every single day...you were right. I am WAY too busy for that sort of thing. What was I ever thinking?!

Ok so enough with the Yoko A Day, I'm done, I'm throwing in the towel. It was fun while it lasted, but jeez I just cannot do a post every day.

At the end of this post I'm including info on all the other books Yoko Saito has ever written, that I know of, that I own. There is one more out there that I don't own yet, but...I have the feeling that ugly little situation may not continue for long. If you know of the existance a book by Yoko Saito that I haven't listed in a recent post, pls do let me know so I can look into that.

In other news, I am teaching a few new classes up at A Verb For Keeping Warm. (yeah!) The first one is a machine quilt-along this coming Sunday, where folks can join and work on their in-progress projects. I am also booked for teaching some introduction to quilting classes in October. Join us if you live locally, it will be good fun.

We will be working on more applique this Sunday at Verb in the modern house applique class too. I'm using Japanese Taupe fabrics in the block this month again, as you can tell in the block above.

On to the final info about Yoko Saito Books: (if you seriously read the rest of this, I give you a gold star)
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Yoko Saito: 9th book review

Title: (unfortunately, your guess is better than mine on this one, could not figure it out although there is some more info here...I'll bet that Julie knows!!)

ISBN: 978-4-14-031126-4

Summary: Items are made out of triangle and square pieces. Projects in this book are not super complex, and there is not a lot of applique. That said, this is probably the best of all her books in terms of showing you methods used for hand piecing, and tools used. Photos are great so you can really understand what is going on (even w/ zero understanding of Japanese - trust me on this, I should know).

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Yoko Saito: 10th book review


Title: From American Patchwork Bed Quilts to Bags
ISBN: 4-14-031079-0

Summary: Small bags, and bed quilts, as the title says, but also backpacks. My favorite project is the bed quilt on p.43 called Farmer's Bowknot which is a signature quilt. Nice photos of how to make applique grapes on p.59.

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Yoko Saito: 11th book review



Title: Free Patterns (I think?)
ISBN: 4-579-11080-3

Summary: You know I love applique, and this book is really full of it. If applique is not your cup of tea, feel free to skip this one. For me, the photos are amazing, the projects are stunning, and I could see myself easily making each and every last one of them. Bags, small quilts, sewing box on p.22 is amazing, this is probably the most beautiful of all her books. Usage of french knots, just amazing.
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Yoko Saito: 12th book review


Title: 138 Original Applique Designs by Yoko Saito
ISBN: 978-4-529-04331-1

Summary: This is the other book that she has written that I would give 'MUST HAVE' status to, and it is in my top 5 list of favorite quilt books. These tiny block patters include botanicals, halloween, more robots, a portrait of Mozart (wow), another alphabet (yeah!), and a myriad of other adorable blocks. This one is worth the bookshelf space.
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Yoko Saito: 13th book review



Title:Study Book for Taupe Color
ISBN:978-4-86322-130-7

Summary: This book is limited to bags with a mix of applique and pieced quilting in different projects. I believe there is some extensive discussion around which taupe colors go well with other ones, but since my Japanese reading skills are lacking, this is a slightly less valuable book to somebody like me. It's still beautiful though and some of the bag patterns could easily be turned into wall hangings or quilts.
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Yoko Saito: 14th book review



Title: Walking the Green Quilt (??Seriously? don't trust me on this title please!)
ISBN: 978-4-14-031160-8

Summary: This book is a compilation of blocks that were released monthly in a Japanese Woman's magazine put out by NHK. It is really a handy place to have them all together in this book. These patterns are all botinicals, applique, and pretty detailed. Not for the faint of heart!
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Yoko Saito: 15th book review


Title: 120 Original Embroidery Designs by Yoko Saito
ISBN: 978-4-529-04653-4

Summary: Ok ok, I know I said that there were only 2 'must have' books, but if I could squeeze a 3rd one it, this would be it. I am not a huge fan of embroidery but there is a god mix of applique in here too (and thank goodness, also another alphabet). If you love embroidery, this book is for you. If you don't, it might not be your favorite book, but where else can you find an embroidery pattern for an ant farm?!
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Yoko Saito: 16th book review


Title: Yoko Saito's Scandinavian Quilts
ISBN:978-4-14-031153-0

Summary: Quilt designs inspired by Scandinavia - need I say more? Bags and small household items mostly. Lots of applique.
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Yoko Saito: 17th book review


Title: Patchwork Lessons
ISBN: 4-579-10697-0

Summary: Small projects, bags, and even a larger sawtooth star quilt on p.73 that looks like it would be fun to make. lots of great photos of 'how to' quilting techniques.
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Yoko Saito: 18th book review


Title: Patchwork Lessons 2
ISBN: 4-579-10759-4

Summary: Of her Lesson(s) books, this is my favorite one. The photos are beautiful, and there are some very detailed projects. My favorites are the acorn pillow on p.55, and the insane pine burr feathered star on p.77.
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Yoko Saito: 19th book review


Title: Patchwork Lessons 3
ISBN: 978-4-579-10892-3

Summary: small projects, bags, some applique, lots of embroidery. Best project here is probably p.53 - applique whale bag.
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Yoko Saito: 20th book review


Title: Patchwork Lesson
ISBN: 978-579-11174-9

Summary: Mostly hand piecing with a small amount of applique. Good technique photos including working with zippers, cute laundry line applique on p.35.
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Ok, DONE!

Whump! Marisa thuds on the floor from exhaustion after finishing 20 book reports and breaking all records of her longest blog post ever (after 580 posts, you would think I might have learned some self control, apparently not).

The crowd cheers with a standing ovation for the most complete list of Yoko Saito books ever mentioned on the entire internet! I wonder if Yoko Saito herself remembers writing all these books.

More House Blocks, and increasing the family headcount

Another teaser photo of the latest taupe modern house block. Next class is the 26th of June at Verb - join us if you can!

I am thinking of putting the patterns up for sale on my blog, but it's been on the busy side lately. That will be my project for early July.

Meanwhile...My sister's new baby has arrived. She is healthy and beautiful and my amazing sister got through it all in her usual supermodel style complete with poise and grace.

Giving birth is a magical event, and even my boys (including the 2 yr old) were stunned that this tiny new cousin has arrived and is now open for having her toes tickled. I could go on for pages here, but let me just state for the record that she is awesome and we are all so lucky to know her.

I started the worlds smallest baby hat for her today. I think I can finish it pretty quickly. I wish I had completed a new quilt for her, but that is also on my to-do list.

In other wanderings, if you have the chance, pls do check out Lori's blog - Humble Quilts - her recent cherry block is really adorable, and her blog in general is beautiful.

Japanese Taupe Fabrics - never too much of a good thing

I was looking through my stash of taupe fabrics in preparation for my next house quilt class later this month.

There were so many beautiful ones, it is hard to choose at times. Especially when working with the subtle shades of taupes I have found that seeing them in daylight is an important part of the process.

It isn't always easy for me to pick out the fabrics during the day since my creative work is mostly limited to after hours, but I was able to look while the sun was up today so that was nice.

In the afternoon I visited with my monthly quilt group, which was fun. It's always awesome to see my old friends and get inspiration from the projects they are working on.

The hostess let me see her fabric collection as she had newly organized it, and she stores her fabrics as flat as possible with really not that many folds in it.

Since I have a BUNCH of fat quarters, I end up folding them a lot and putting them into bins. Seeing how she organizes makes me wonder if I could find a way to store my fabrics with less folds in them so that they have less chance to have permanent damage due to the folds.

How are you storing your fabric these days? Am I the only one obsessed with stuff like 'no light' getting in, and 'no folds' causing permanent creases?

Have a cool tip for me to avoid crease lines? I'm all ears.

Oh, and for fun, I posted a "Do you like to hand quilt?" poll - cast your vote!