Swoon Sewing Patterns

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Plaid Portico

Next up on the Pop Rox round-up is Swoon Sewing Patterns who made the gorgeous Coraline clutches. Swoon has super high quality patterns for mostly bags and lots of bags they have! The best part is that you can buy the patterns right off their site and have the option of a downloadable pdf OR a paper pattern. Yes, and there are also freebies and tutorials, particularly on the blog.

First we’ll show you the gorgeous Pop Rox clutches, then I have to show you more of their bag patterns. Their style is “simple and clean”. I like that. And if you don’t think you are up to sewing, but you like their bags, check out the Etsy store DiedelBug Handmade. You can also find they patterns on YouCanMakeThis.com, Swoon Patterns Etsy shop, Craftsy, and Go To patterns & Co.

And tune in for special fund-raising sale notices on their Facebook page they will be doing to help fund a new small specialty sewing shop. The commercial space has already been leased!

Coraline Clutch by Swoon Sewing Patterns

I also like that they show their patterns made up with lots of different kinds of fabrics. So many great bags–some I haven’t seen anything like it before. Love the Betty Bowler Bag! Take a look.

Betty Bowler bag by Swoon Sewing Patterns

Dorothy Day Tripper bag by Swoon Sewing Patterns

India Hobo Bag by Swoon Sewing Patterns

Levi Utility Bag by Swoon Sewing Patterns

Sew Can She

Posted on April 7, 2014 by Plaid Portico

The first project in the Pop Rox project round-up comes from Caroline of Sew Can She. Sew Can She has free tutorials DAILY! I don’t know how she does it but Sew Can She is a refreshing blog with tons of info and things to do and participate in. Highly recommend a follow on this one!

Caroline kicked off Patchwork Posse’s Around The Block 2014 Round Robin with a Pop Rox Quilt Block tutorial:

Pop Rox Quilt Block tutorial by Sew Can She

But you have to take a look at some of the other cool project tutorials at Sew Can She. Here are some of my favorites:

Bunny Treat Bags by Sew Can She

2 sided zip cases by Sew Can She

Pattern Weights tutorial by Sew Can She

Mittens for Little Elves by Sew Can She

AND Caroline has a book coming out in the fall, Just for You with C&T (more on that later this year) and in conjunction with that she is throwing a retreat in October…in Key West! So if you like sewing retreats, check out sew:beach.

That is today’s Pop Rox round-up!

Time for a Pop Rox project round-up

Posted on April 6, 2014 by Plaid Portico

Well, I am back again! I think its time for a Pop Rox project round-up to see who all the people are who have been making projects and see what all they have come up with – and hear a little bit more about their creative businesses.

I’ll be posting these all week and then I will be sharing photos of my favorite quilts at the Voices of Cloth 2014 exhibition of the East Bay Heritage Quilters. Big event around here!

First though, we did another photo shoot when I received my bolts. The previous one was just a yard wrapped around other bolts. (!!). So here’s another look at the line (indulge me if you will):

Pop Rox by Carol Van Zandt for Andover Fabrics Inc.

And, one thing that is not always evident is that the main pattern goes selvedge to selvage. Double trouble! Here, I’ll show you:

Pop Rox by Carol Van Zandt for Andover Fabrics Inc.

So before we go on our journey this week looking at all the cool projects people have sewn, let’s look at some of the quilt patterns that are available. First off is the free pdf pattern download you can get through Andover Fabrics HERE. Then after that take a look at the Latte Lattice and Candy Lattice quilt pattern and Modern Gem which you can get through Vanilla Latte Quilts HERE.

Pop Rox quilt by Carol Van Zandt

Modern Gem quilt by Vanilla Latte quilts using Pop Rox

Candy Lattice Quilt by Vanilla Latte Quilts using Pop Rox

Latte Lattice Quilt by Vanilla Latte Quilts using Pop Rox

That’s it for today!

Roderick Kiracofe and Ben Venom at Stitch Modern

Posted on March 20, 2014 by Plaid Portico

Well, a few weeks back we were treated to am amazing slide show presentation by artist Ben Venom, who “juxtaposes traditional handmade crafts with extreme elements found on the fringes of society” and whose “work can be described as opposing forces colliding at lightening speed”. I have to quote his website since I cannot describe it sufficiently myself. He is an amazing energetic presenter and we were all entranced and invigorated. Unfortunately I have no pictures! So you are going to have to click on the image below to get to his website. This is something else. Color me inspired.

Ben Venom, photo by Margo Moritz

After Ben, we changed courses and were treated to a viewing of a stream of quilts from Roderick Kiracofe’s collection while he discussed them. I got a photos of a few of them to share with you. Amazing. Most of them were from quilter unknown, from many a decade gone by. They were priceless and Roderick’s passion for his quilt finds was palpable, as was the audience’s response! Pretty exciting to meet him and pretty scary that I know now one could actually COLLECT quilts. Oh, no, hold me back!

Roderick Kiracofe is an art and quilt collector, accomplished author, curator, and consultant. A good summary of his books and accomplishments can be found HERE (why reinvent the wheel!) Truly a joy to see some of his collection and hear the stories behind them. Several are going to be in his new book Unconventional and Unexpected: American Quilts Below the Radar, 1950-2000, Abrams, Autumn 2014. Currently available by Roderick on Blurb are Quilts and Quilts 2, and on his Amazon page one can find a number his books including the amazing and well-known The American Quilt: A History of Cloth and Comfort 1750-1950 and Cloth & Comfort: Pieces of Women’s Lives from Their Quilts and Diaries.

Without further ado, take a gander at some of these finds of Rodney Kiracofe. Apologies for my less than stellar photography due to viewing circumstances, but still well worth a look I think.

From the collection of Roderick Kiracofe

quilt top back From the collection of Roderick Kiracofe

From the collection of Roderick Kiracofe

Next up at The Plaid Portico will be curated coverage of the big show of the East bay Heritage Quilt Guild, and a project round-up for Pop Rox which is just starting to hit stores now.

Sherri Lynn Wood Improv Round Robin

Posted on March 6, 2014 by Plaid Portico

What a fun day we had the last day of the Stitch Modern 0214 show, having an improv quilting workshop with Sherri Lynn Wood in the middle of the exhibition space. Techniques were taught, but mostly this was about taking ourselves to places we would never go, working on each other’s quilts, collaborative quilting. We worked fast, and mostly silently, without rulers even. Fears melted away, instinct took over. One could not have replicated this experience alone in one’s own studio. Don’t want to give it all away in case one of these comes to an area near you, so I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

Sherri Lynn Wood kicking off the workshop

We took over the whole main room of the Stitch Modern Exhibition!

As the day came to an end our improv quilts started getting a bit bigger, and one could find many a quilter laying the quilt they just got passed out on the floor and contemplating how to continue the quilting conversation.

And in the end, we went outside on a beautiful day and all looked at our work product. We could each see our hand in several quilts! It was amazing how they all turned out. With all that spontaneity and miss-mash of fabrics, some interesting compositions emerged. But no mistake about it, this was about process, and the experience of it all, though we all still did get a mini quilt top to take home with us…:)

And even more quilts from Stitch Modern

Posted on February 22, 2014 by Plaid Portico

Ahh, so sad to say Stitch Modern ends tomorrow, and I feel like I should finish the coverage of the quilts at the show before we take it down. I was gallery sitting yesterday and there were many comments about how this show even surpassed the last. Good news about that is that people are coming back. It is the third annual show. One last workshop tomorrow before we take it down–a Round Robin Improv with Sherri Lynn Wood. Yes, I am going. Yes, I am excited. Yes, I will attempt to cover it here later this week. Ta ta for now!

Go Figure by Kristen Hosemann

back of Go Figure by Kristen Hosemann

Color Study by Pati Fried

Nanay’s Stars by Joel Ignacio of Joey’s Planting

Hanging Jewels by Pati Fried

Simple Math by Terri Carpenter of The Quilted Fox

Dia de los Muertos by Lauren Hungler of I Want To Cut You

Cartography Quilt: Sacramento and Surrounds by Adrienne St. John

Basket Weave by Pam Rocco

Brick 36 by Lynda Pires

Sugar Pop quilt by Carol Van Zandt

Good Bye Stitch Modern…til next year!!!

Stitch Modern 2014

More Quilts from Stitch Modern 2014

Posted on February 21, 2014 by Plaid Portico

And here we go for more of the quilts of Stitch Modern 2014 quilt show put on by the East Bay Modern Quilt Guild. There will be one more post after this one with the rest of the quilts and definitely last but not least!

Exploding Diamonds by Margaret Glendening

Rainbow Cloud Quilt by Sherri Lynn Wood

Double Disappearing Nine Patch by Kim Andersson of i adore pattern

Midnight in the City by Ann Haley

Finding the Music by Claire Sherman

A Little Sunshine by Dan Rouse of Piece and Press

Rhett’s Baby Quilt by Tara Faughnan

Spare Change by Tina Machalik

Where the West Wind Blows by Anna Carloni

Undertow by Anna Carloni

The Quilts of Stitch Modern

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Plaid Portico

Stitch Modern 2014, the 3rd annual quilt show of the East Bay Modern Quilt Guild is on again at the Piedmont Center for the Arts, with a packed agenda of events (til Feb 23rd!) and of course all new quilts to gawk at! Here are the first batch I’ll share with you now. More to come…

Mistakes Were Made by Stacey Sharman of Peppermint Pinwheels

Red Cross by Christine McCargar

Alexandra’s Quilt by Tara Faughnan

Untitled by Amelia Terry

Pictures in My Head by Birgit Hottenrott

Flirty Pieces by Valerie Gibbons

Opposing Forces by Terri Carpenter of The Quilted Fox

Grammie’s Garden by Kristen Takakuwa

Interweave by Sue Fox

Field of Poppies by Cathy Roha

Poppy Patch for Two by Cathy Roha

Untitled, Improv Blocks by Shannon Storms

Sugar Pop Quilt

Posted on January 2, 2014 by Plaid Portico

Well, the Sugar Pop Quilt is finally finished. I had time to sew the binding on over the holidays and good timing too! This quilt is a homage to the original inspiration for my new fabric collection Pop Rox, with Andover Fabrics. And I JUST received the first yard of Pop Rox production! Sneak preview of that with the next posting!

Just how is it inspiration? Don’t laugh. Every year I do extensive color trend research for one to two years out and build palettes to work from, at least as a starting point. When I actually build the palettes in Adobe Illustrator, they look like little horizontal lines with squares of colors. After I group colors together, I always arrange them in an order that makes sense to me. And lo and behold, after a day of making palettes, I woke up with this image of a palette repeated vertically in the colors of this quilt, against a light milk chocolate background. I have no idea why!

Then I sort of said to myself, hmmm, what else can be done with these “wands” and I pictured them in all sorts of different sequences and added circles. With a big magic marker over then next week I sketched out about forty different concepts. Then eventually I started to build the ones I liked best into designs in Illustrator, and then created several colorways. There are about thirteen designs in the collection and six of them we put into the fabric collection with 2 colorways. One is in this colorway but against a white background, and another is in handsome neutrals, brown and blacks. Can’t wait to show them to you!

In the meantime, here is the “Sugar Pop Quilt”. It is my third quilt, and the second quilt that I quilted myself. It was a mixture of a quilt design from a sketch and improvisational quilting for the top and bottom bits. I was going to try to free motion quilt it, but two things: I didn’t want to ruin it since I am such a beginner, and when I decided to do the vertical curvy lines, a walking foot seemed to fit the process best. I know when I get to be a better quilter and sewer I will cringe that I posted my beginning quilts, but I live to laugh and someone has to share what it is like to start to quilt–with all the imperfections!

Front of the Sugar Pop Quilt

Sugar Pop Quilt

detail of Sugar Pop Quilt

Sugar Pop Quilt in Action

Here is the quilt back. I did originally make a different one, but several people suggested it should be its own quilt, and when I realized that the quilting pattern I wanted to do for the front design wouldn’t look very good on that back, I decided to make a new one. Indeed, I have saved the original one to be its own quilt top. I put this together one Sunday afternoon and thought it fun to really capitalize on the pink/brown color combos. It’s simple but sweet. The old back is more greys, greens and blues.

Back of Sugar Pop Quilt

And may I add, Best wishes for a Fantastic 2014 to you all!

More Quilts from the 3rd edition of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!!

Posted on December 12, 2013 by Plaid Portico

I told you I would be back with more quilts from the new edition of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes. And autographed copies are now available here. I was lucky enough to get a preview of all the physical quilts plus see some of the photography sets. I have learned so much from my visits with Diana McClun, and it is also such an honor when they use my fabric. Diana was supposedly retiring, but everyone laughs at that as she’s been pretty busy, especially producing this new book with Laura. Laura continues their business now on her own with patterns, teaching and lecturing and the popular blog See How We Sew. She is so kind.

If you’ve been following this blog you know that I am primarily an artist and now a fabric and surface designer who licenses her art, but I have also finally been bitten by the quilting bug. To get myself started I have been doing improv quilting where I just cut up fabric and sew. Well, not totally- I usually sketch out an abstract design. I don’t think I would even have attempted this if it wasn’t for what I have learned from Diana talking about her design considerations, color placement and the world of quilting etc. Most importantly were the comments about quilting being about love and community. Then I crack open one of Diana and Laura’s books, or watch one of their video’s to get a few quilting basics. And I have another design friend, Tara Faughnan, who does amazing quilts, who just looks at me straight on when I am stewing about maybe doing this or maybe doing that and says “Just sew. Just do it.” It takes a village to get me sewing again.

Without further ado, more of the quilts from the quiltmaking “bible” Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! taken at the book signing party and here with permission of the authors. I have my eye on a couple to make sometime in the future….

Square in a Square, by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes, quilted by Kathy August, p. 28 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Snowball, by Diana McCLun and Laura Nownes, quilted by Victoria McEnerney p. 48 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Flying Geese by Dale Fleming, quilted by Victoria McEnerney, p. 45 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Log Cabin by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes, quilted by Marla Monson, p.34 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Nine-Patch Leftovers by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes, quilted by Kathy August, p. 33 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Nine-Patch with Alternate Blocks by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes, quilted by kathy August, p. 31 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Somersault by Denise Killingsworth, p. 24 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Times Square by Jill Schlageter, quilted by Melanie Meadows, p. 50 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

1000 Pyramids by Pauline Stone Pearsall, p. 52 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Beginning Sampler by Laura Nownes, quilted by Marla Monson, p. 178 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

By The Sea by Gail Abeloe, quilted by Sharon Winter, p. 37 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Half-Square Triangles by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes, p. 40 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Beginning Sampler by Kathy August and Joni Tremreull, p. 180 of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition

Lilac Rose by Diana McClun, for Kerby Smith, photographer of Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! 3rd edition. The lilac rose image is a photograph by Kerby Smith that he printed onto fabric.