Category Archives: Life

Quilting Community All Around

October 14, 2015 kittywilkin 15 Comments

Thank you all for being my quilting community. I have so much gratitude in my heart today, after another fun Periscope #honestcraftroomies hop last night, and after receiving the sweetest mini mini from Allison from Campbell Soup Diaries as part of the mini mini quilt swap (Check out #miniminiquiltswap on Instagram to see all the creative fire this little project is sparking), and see Allison’s tutorial for this mini here.

I want to keep this short so that I surely will complete it and post it before baby Finn wakes up from his nap. For those of you with a smart phone, I definitely recommend downloading the Periscope app and watching the scopes that were created last night as part of our weekly #honestcraftroomies Periscope hop. They are viewable for 24 hours, which means you have until 9pm EST tonight to watch them! Here was our schedule last night:

The topic of conversation was “Quilting Community” and our conversation ranged from a real live scope from a booming guild meeting, to reflections on why some of us modern quilters love the local traditional guild like family, all the way to “I make my own guild because I live too far from one—and you’re it”! We spoke about quilting conferences vs retreats, person to person interactions, and online relationships.

As an experiment, and a little peek for those of you who may not have a smart phone, I’ve tried to save my video stream and post it here (embedded from youtube). Please note (and this is important!!), in the actual Periscope stream, little comments appear at the bottom of the screen, so when I suddenly look closely at the camera and seem to reply to someone, I’m actually replying to someone! I’m not crazy, I promise! The video I saved to my phone doesn’t save those comments or the stream of hearts indicating when something I say resonates with viewers especially deeply. So here we go: my real-time, un-edited, late night with a sick baby in the next room, take on quilting community and what it means to me. I hope this works.

(Video disclaimer: In watching this again, I’m pretty sure my nervous fried-brained self said I am a single mom. This couldn’t be further from the truth. I meant full time mom, but I’m a total video beginner and was nervous LOL! I have a loving and supportive husband who is not only a fantastic dad and husband, but also amazingly seems to enjoy talking quilting with me. Please pardon the twisted tongue! I have so much respect for anyone parenting solo, but I’m endlessly grateful to have my husband on my parenting team. I couldn’t do it without him.)

The human connection is so essential to most people, and I’m grateful for the relationships I’ve helped foster over the past couple of years. Allison is one of those with whom I’ve been conversing through blog comments and resulting emails for almost as long as I’ve been blogging, so of course I was game for swapping mini mini quilts with her. We agreed that we were both busy, so the timeline would be relaxed. A day or two later (or less?) she wrote back, “I was inspired. I made your mini.” Little did I know how sweet the two (2) minis would be!

The fabric choices alone make these immediately awesome in my book. Allison clearly knows my favorite designers–Carolyn Friedlander (with some of that much coveted Architextures that I never did get my hands on–swoon!) and Alison Glass.

I especially love the little house, which she calls “The House Where Kitty Lives”. I mean–it’s named after me!! So awesome. Here’s a bit of what she wrote on the card (after Schöne Gruße aus Deutschland!), and why it honestly made me tear up when I opened it:

The second mini is titled “Welcome to the House Where Kitty Lives,” and I designed with you in mind. One window for each child, a heart for the love you share as a family, flowers just starting to bud and a house filled with love and happiness!”

Is that the sweetest thing, or what?! I’m still stitching my love into the mini mini I’m making in return for Allison, and I’m not sure I can come close to a creation as personal and beautiful as this. It will still be a mini mini filled with love, and a little sign of how important my quilting community is–even across the world! Allison lives in Germany. Isn’t the internet an amazing thing!?

Thank you to all of you, enjoy the Periscope hop if you have the capability and time to watch, and happy stitching!

Design, Life, Quilting

Four for Four: 4 Months

October 5, 2015 kittywilkin 18 Comments

Four months old! Which means I’m now four blocks into my milestone quilt for Finn. For those of you new to this project, my husband had the brilliant idea (through jest) to make a quilt block every month with which to photograph my baby Finn as he grows, and sewing them into a quilt for him as a birthday present in celebration of his first year. I took the idea and ran, and haven’t looked back yet.

This project is still feeling very doable and I’m considering adding an additional four blocks to make it a big larger of a quilt at the end of the year. For now, though, I’m sticking with the one quilt block per month idea, and so far I’m four for four (great record!). You can see my planned layout in my 3 Month post here.

Finn is growing as only babies can. He’s a very stretched out baby, who loves to flex his legs and stand whenever he can, but he also has found the potential in rolling to the side, and has made it halfway over before getting stuck. He sucks and chews on his fingers, either for soothing or maybe he’s teething already (I sure hope not!). He is still so aware of everything around him and loves to “talk” with his baby babble and big bright eyes.

His newfound love of movement makes it quite difficult to get a good photo, but I managed to get a few. Even today, when he’s in the thick of a slimy, drippy, coughy cold, he is so full of bright eyed smiles and giggles. I caught myself almost defiantly asking him the other day, “How are you so happy ALL the time!?”, feeling like I was missing out on something. But then I realized since smiles are contagious, seeing him smile makes me happy no matter how stressed, tired, or otherwise cranky I might be. He’s a gift for sure.

finn milestone quilt 4 months — Always on the move, with a smile in his heart.

I am really enjoying creating this quilt along with Finn’s growth. Setting small, attainable goals makes the entire quilt-making process not only doable, but it makes it part of my journey through his first year.

Now up I go to relieve my husband and take my shift holding our poor slimy guy upright so that he can get some sleep without coughing and spitting up slimy gunk. It may be a long night ahead, but hey… it’s all part of the journey and it’s a blessed one indeed.

Color Inspiration, Life

Color Inspiration Thursday {60}

October 1, 2015 kittywilkin 7 Comments

As long as it’s before midnight, it still counts as Thursday, right? I don’t want this week to slide, so I’m squeaking this beauty in before the buzzer. We’ve been getting doused in rain (I hear we got 9″ yesterday!), so these poor gorgeous flowers have been beaten down into a horizontal position since these photos were taken, but that doesn’t mean we can’t bask in their beauty!!

Today’s color inspiration features Cosmos from my garden, a perfect magenta-pink against a bright blue sky. The color palette was created using Play Crafts’ Palette Builder 2.1 and the matching solids and Aurifil thread are an awesome perk!

Corresponding solids from left to right:
Bella Cobalt, Bella Amelia Blue, Kona Candy Pink, Bella Fuchsia, Bella Boysenberry, Kona Eggplant

Corresponding Aurifil thread from left to right:
1248 – Grey Blue
4140 – Wedgewood
2515 – Light Orchid
2479 – Med Orchid
4030 – Plum
1240 – V Dk Eggplant

Take a deep breath. Soak in the glorious sun (c’mon, play along with me, even if it’s nighttime). Imagine these dainty flowers peacefully bobbing together in the gentle breeze, warm sun shining down upon them. Just looking at this photo makes me feel lighter. It surely helps that I LOVE these colors together. In fact, I very well might take this palette to create my first official color inspiration quilt. I’ll need to include a pop of golden yellow, of course. Maybe?…

I’m sharing a few more photos of these flowers, sans color palette, since the palette above embodies the colors and brightness so well, but I can’t resist sharing these other angles with you. Enjoy!

Color Inspiration, Life

Color Inspiration Thursday {59}

September 24, 2015 kittywilkin 5 Comments

Every year, friends of ours host a pot luck pig roast on their 360+ acre organic farm right up the road. It is truly one of the (if not THE) highlights of our year. With contributing family members who are musicians, a midwife, farmers, cheese makers, contractor, parents, kids, the invite list always includes a wonderful group of local folks with many smiles, more babies than you would think possible, and dear friends. The food is always amazing, the farm is gorgeous as always, the day is filled with kids running around and playing, hay rides behind their team of work horses, amazing seasonal local food, and usually a bonfire with accompanying impromptu music. North Branch Farm is such an amazing place, made so entirely by the vision, ability, hardwork, and unending determination of a wonderful family. I am truly in awe of all that they do, and so grateful to call them dear friends.

Today’s color inspiration comes from some photos I took during this year’s Pig Roast. I spent more time socializing, playing with kiddos, and eating than photographing, but this is just a little glimpse into one of our favorite events. Color palettes are made using Play Craft’s Palette Builder 2.1 and my photographs. Enjoy, and I do encourage you to visit North Branch Farm’s website to read a bit more about their awesome farm, and of course be inspired!

Corresponding solids from left to right:
Bella Christmas Green, Kona Pepper, Kona Laurel, Bella Betty’s Teal, Bella French Blue, Kona Raffia

Corresponding Aurifil thread from left to right:
1158 – Med Grey
2785 – V Dk Navy
2890 – Dk Grass Green
2850 – Med Juniper
4140 – Wedgewood
2314 – Beige

This post wouldn’t be complete without a photo of their gorgeous work horses, named April and May. The resulting palette is super soothing and earthy, too. You can catch a glimpse of one of their gorgeous fields and the happy rows of giant organic veggies to the left of the horses. You can also catch a little glimpse of the haywagon filled with happy rows of friends and family. I’m pretty sure that little head hanging way over the edge on the right is my daughter. I think she rode this wagon with her friend Noah at least 20 times.

Corresponding solids from left to right:
Kona Ash, Kona Shadow, Kona Black, Bella Brick Red, Kona Garnet, Kona Plum

Corresponding Aurifil thread from left to right:
5011 – Rope Beige
2600 – Dove
2692 – Black
2245 – Red Orange
1240 – V Dk Eggplant
4030 – Plum

The tiny details are never forgotten, from these jars of garden and wild flowers on the tables, the string lights hung from the tent, or the cross-section of a tree with leaves and grapes used to plate their own aged gouda that graced the pot luck table (I wish I had gotten a photo of this display, but sadly I did not.)

Here are just a few more peeks into our fun day.

I hope the early days of autumn bring you much joy, family, friends, and fulfilling preparation for the winter to come.

Crafting, Life

A Peek Through the Periscope

September 11, 2015 kittywilkin 13 Comments

Have you heard of Periscope? It’s an app for smart phones that allows you to live-stream videos straight from wherever you are. The idea is that you can discover the world through someone else’s eyes. This past week, a few quilt-blogger friends and I used it to lead tours of our honest craft spaces, and I got to peek into the homes of some of my quilty friends for the first time (and finally shared a peek at my honest–read: messy–craft loft). In the span of just over an hour, I was able to have a guided tour of seven diverse craft spaces across the country.

This started as just another crazy idea I was tossing around with my friends Stephanie from Late Night Quilter, Terri Ann from Childlike Fascination, and Daisy from Ants to Sugar. We decided to publicly (on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter) post an invitation to join us on an Honest Craft Room Tour in Periscope, and then just jumped in and gave mini, 10 minute tours of our craft spaces, mentioning the next person in the tour at the end of our scopes so that viewers could “hop” to the next video. Early in the tour, Mandy from Mandalei Quilts joined the line-up, and then through the course of the night, Silvia from A Stranger View and Kelley decided to spontaneously join us. It was so much fun to take a peek into the spaces in which these quilter friends create. Our spaces varied from small to large, slanty-roofed loft to basement, messy to neat, yet they all housed so much creativity. It was a night of inspiration and strengthening connections. And it was loads of fun.

While a firm plan is not yet in place, we plan to do these Periscope tours weekly, most likely on Tuesday nights beginning at around 9pm eastern time. Each week will have a focus; maybe one week we will share our top five favorite quilting tools, another week share our latest works in progress, yet another week talk about how we go about choosing fabrics for a project. The sky’s the limit! What kind of videos would you like to see?

Followers of your periscope account get a notification when you are streaming live and can join in, watching and listening, and communicating by typing messages and tapping the screen to create a cloud of rising hearts to show the “scoper” that you like what he/she is saying. If you’re interested in giving it a try, here’s a helpful post with technical tips for getting started with Periscope. Be sure to follow me @nightquilter so that we can communicate in yet another way! Perhaps I’ll see you (literally) through the Periscope!

Color Inspiration, Life

Color Inspiration Thursday {58}

September 10, 2015 kittywilkin 2 Comments

Heat and humidity still run deep here in Maine, although nights are beginning to cool off. Even still, with school starting and the garden passing its peak, we are clearly headed into autumn, like it or not. Today’s color inspiration includes a couple of photographs I took while my family was visiting in early August. I’ve saved them until now, though, since they have a decidedly autumnal feel to me. Color palettes are created using Play Crafts Palette Builder 2.1 and my photographs. The matching solids and Aurifil thread are an awesome perk of using the Palette Builder; they are automatically generated for you!

Corresponding solids from left to right:
Kona Coal, Bella Green, Kona Spring, Bella Baby Blue, Bella Plum, Bella Eggplant

Corresponding Aurifil thread from left to right:
1158 – Med Grey
5014 – Marine Water
2850 – Med Juniper
2606 – Mist
2566 – Wisteria
2568 – Mulberry

This awesome spiral ornamental plant was spotted outside one of the businesses in downtown Camden, Maine. It’s variegated, but beyond that I have no idea what species of plant it might be. I thought the combination of the unique spiral of the soft green leaf, the brick tinged veins and leaf border, and the brick step background would make a gorgeous palette. It feels like fall to me.

Corresponding solids from left to right:
Kona Pepper, Kona Chocolate, Bella Acid Green, Kona Amber, Kona Cedar, Kona Spice

Corresponding Aurifil thread from left to right:
2785 – V Dk Navy
1285 – Med Bark
2120 – Canary
2145 – Yellow Orange
2390 – Cinnamon Toast
2385 – Terracotta

Wine and a bonfire. What’s not to like? While this scene was enjoyed during a hot midsummer’s night, the resulting color palette screams fall. Maybe it’s the fiery orange and yellow with the dark black/brown background that seems reminiscent of jack-o-lanterns and autumn leaves. I’d certainly love to enjoy a nice glass of wine by a bonfire, but I’ll have to wait until my month-long antibiotic Lyme-kicking regiment is finished before I imbibe. This photo will just have to suffice for now.

Taking this photo reminded me that I haven’t paired wine and fabric in a while. I think it’s high time I got back to that, since it makes for some fun creative fabric play. If you’re a wine drinker, what are some of your favorites? Perhaps I’ll try to find one and pair it up with the perfect fabric match!

Enjoy these last days of summer! Happy sewing.

Design, Life, Quilting

First Quarter: 3 Months

September 5, 2015 kittywilkin 30 Comments

Time flies. Really, it does. It’s so cliche, but when it hits me how quickly hours become days, days become weeks, weeks become months, and then, surely, the months become years, it makes me slow down and remember how important it is to make the most of each moment. Three months have already passed since little Finn joined us on the outside. The first quarter of his first year is complete. I actually planned ahead this month, too, so that means a quarter of his monthly milestones baby quilt is complete.

monthly milestone quilt 3 months — “Wow, that’s growing!”

As promised, I finally settled on an overall layout and design for this quilt, and now I’m even more excited for the outcome.

I settled on a color scheme of dark and light teal and blacks/greys, both because they are fabulous colors, but also because I have plenty of teal and black/grey fabric in my scraps pile and stash. I also added a slightly skewed log cabin block to help provide the appearance of some curves and to add some interest to the overall quilt.

Finn's Monthly quilt block 2 — Monthly Milestones quilt Block 2

This month I made a Block 2, with wide light teal and narrow black/grey pieces. Creating the illusion of a curve is really quite simple with log cabin blocks. I drafted this block from the outside in, with 1″ strips on two edges and 2″ strips on the opposite two edges, ending with a 2″ square in the off-set center.

The finished quilt will require five (5) block 1s and seven (7) block 2s. Block 1 is a more improv, scrappy log cabin with strips varying in widths, but generally around 2″ or 2.5″ in width. Both blocks are quick and easy to make.

Enough about the quilt, though; I know you really want to hear about Finn! He is truly a blessing. He still loves to “talk” back and lights up whenever anyone looks him in the eye. His favorite thing as far as I can tell is having conversations with anyone who will sit and look at him, replying to his baby babble and grunts. He is generous and unbiased with his smiles, but the looks of true adoration are directed toward his siblings.

Finn just recently started finding his hands, which is really fun to watch. I love seeing him deep in thought, examining his hands and clearly working hard at figuring out how to get them to do his bidding. He grabs my arm or hand when it’s within his reach, but he’s not quite reaching out to grab things yet.

Now that I have a clear plan for the quilt, I’m even more excited to see it come together as Finn grows. While I’m tempted to up the ante to two blocks per month (one every 2 weeks feels doable), I am going to be easy on myself and stick with the one block per month plan. A finished 36″x48″ will be a great drag-around size as he grows into toddlerhood.

I’m linking up with Show off Saturday with Sew Can She.

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Life, Quilting

Flashback Friday: My First Quilt

September 4, 2015 kittywilkin 14 Comments

My friend Jenn at A Quarter Inch from the Edge recently began a Throwback Thursday link-up where she encourages quilt-bloggers to share oldies but goodies–quilts from before their blogging days. Since I usually post my Color Inspiration posts on Thursdays, I have yet to participate. Plus, I think I only made two quilts, one wall hanging, and one table runner before beginning to blog, so you haven’t missed all that much! Since I’ve been sick (unfortunately Lyme tests came back positive, so I’m now on antibiotic treatment for that, hoping that my joint swelling and pain and extreme energy-level fluctuations will taper off and that we caught it early enough to avoid any long term Lyme crazies), I’ve been laying low without much sewing or inspiration to share. Since I missed Thursday anyway, I figure today is as good a day as any to dig through my photo archives for some pictures of the first quilt I ever made: my Rainy Days Picnic Quilt.

At the end of July, 2010, I purchased my first fabric bundle, Rainy Days and Mondays by Melimba and Beccabury for Riley Blake Designs, from FabricFly Shop on Etsy. With 15 fat quarters, and zero knowledge about quilting, I planned on making a quilt the only way I knew how: cut squares and sew them together. In my mind, this fabric was perfectly ironic for a picnic quilt: if there were rain and umbrellas all over our picnic quilt, then it would never rain on our picnics. Perfectly logical, right?

A picnic quilt was the perfect starting point, since it helped the stress level go WAY down. It was my first time ever making a quilt, but because it was slated to be a picnic quilt, with the knowledge that we would flop it down on the ground and spill food all over it, surely change diapers on it, drip lake water and watermelon juice all over it, smear avocado into it, and all of the other love-filled-things that happen on picnics, I was much less worried about imperfections. And boy, has it seen its share of babies and picnics!

Clockwise from top left: Picnic quilt in use at a playground, the beach, our front porch, and our back yard.

canoe island picnic — Lunch on an island in the Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust. We had a family canoeing day trip here in 2014, and of course the picnic quilt came, too!

At around 60″x60″, I remember thinking how HUGE it would be–perfect for picnics! Now that I really quilt, and now that I see the quilt laid out and finished, I realize that a picnic quilt for a family of 5 really should be at least 84″x84″ or even larger. For now, it is wonderful.

I don’t remember exactly when I finished this quilt, but it was definitely well into 2011 or even 2012. I remember quilting it on our kitchen table while my husband took Maddie out for a daddy day. Boy, I thought it was huge!

This quilt makes me laugh now because of how little quilting knowledge I had at the time. I actually bought double-fold bias tape, folded it over the edge and top-stitched it on. What method did I use to join the ends? Overlap and top stitch! I laugh because if I had even googled “how to bind a quilt” I could have learned how to actually bind a quilt. But honestly, I probably didn’t even know that the edging could be made with actual fabric and that it was called binding. Oh how far I’ve come in the past 3-4 years!

Despite all of these novice bits (or maybe because of them) it’s hands down our most used and loved quilt. (Although Maddie’s Rainbow Jellyroll quilt and my Doe Layers of Charm quilt are quickly becoming contenders with their permanent snuggle status on the couch).

This Rainy Days Picnic quilt is special because it embodies my motto: just try it. I didn’t know how to quilt, so I did what I knew: I bought fabric, cut it into squares, moved it around until I thought it looked good, sewed it together, layered it with batting and backing, sewed straight lines corner to corner to hold the layers together (I used whatever thread was laying around and the same regular sewing machine foot I used to piece it), sewed a “binding” edge on and started using it. Everyone has to begin somewhere!

Do you remember the first quilt you ever made? I’d love to hear about it!

I’m linking up with Throwback Thursday with Jenn at A Quarter Inch from the Edge.

Life

Tea, Tissue, Sleep, Repeat.

August 26, 2015 kittywilkin 23 Comments

It’s been quiet here, and sadly I can’t even say it’s because I’ve been sewing up a storm. I’ve somehow caught a mean summer sickness that has knocked me down for the count. I’m going on 5 days of this crud and it’s slowly tapering off (I think… I hope), but my energy is still drained. My days have consisted of tea, tissues, sleep when possible (being a mom with 3 kiddos means no sick days for me), getting to necessary appointments with brief playground visits as a reward for my kids’ help, and a *tiny* bit of EPP.

I just wanted to pop in here to let you all know that I haven’t run off into the sunset, nor will have have a bevy of beautiful quilts to show you when I return. But I’m here. And I’ll return. One day, hopefully sooner than later.

Back to my tissues and tea, and another movie day for the kids. At least they don’t seem to mind my sickness, and the weather has been as cruddy as I feel. And so it goes. Happy stitching to you!

Color Inspiration, Life

Color Inspiration Thursday {57}

August 20, 2015 kittywilkin 9 Comments

My Color Inspiration posts have been less consistent this summer, but not for a lack of color. I’ve been focusing on sewing and having quality family time outside, and with an infant, it’s a lot trickier to carry a camera around with me to capture the color all around us. But it’s still there, oh–it’s there! Last week we had a full, full house with my entire family visiting (minus one brother-in-law)–my parents, two brothers, sister, sister-in-law, aunt, and two cousins; it was a full house! This week I’ll be sharing some colorful flowers seen during forays into town, turned into color palettes with Play Crafts’ Palette Builder 2.1.

Corresponding solids from left to right:
Kona Titanium, Bella Nautical Blue, Bella Magenta, Bella Peony, Bella Petal Pink, Bella Leaf

Corresponding Aurifil thread from left to right:
2606 – Mist
1310 – Med Blue Grey
2455 – Med Carmine Red
2479 – Med Orchid
2566 – Wisteria
2887 – Olive

Purple cone flower, or echinacea, is one of my favorite summer flowers. The color, the shape, the wild nature–I love it all. These were spotted along the Belfast waterfront, beautifying the view of the harbor.

Corresponding solids from left to right:
Kona Grapemist, Kona Amethyst, Kona Lavender, Kona Blueberry, Bella Sapphire, Kona Blue Jay

Corresponding Aurifil thread from left to right:
2770 – V Lt Delft
2720 – Light Delft
2725 – Lt Wedgewood
2560 – Iris
2775 – Steel Blue
4140 – Wedgewood

Hydrangea. Honestly, it took me a while to fully appreciate this flower. The color of course is hard to be topped, but the giant fluffball style just isn’t my thing. When seen close up, however, the beauty of the color and the detail of each individual petal wins over the goofy fluff. My daughter, on the other hand, LOVES these flowers. The bigger the better, in her opinion. Me, I’d opt for the delicate forget-me-not over the voluptuous (yes, I just called a flower voluptuous) hydrangea any day. But I’ll take the color anywhere I can!