What's Up, You Cool Baby?

March 28, 2022 by Laura Hartrich in quilts

In September of 2020 I had the opportunity to film a few segments for Fresh Quilting. I was so nervous! I planned my segments. I practiced a lot, over zoom with some good friends. I drove to Ohio and fretted about COVID. It all ended up fine. I was a bit doe-eyed and tongue-tied during my segments but I gave it my best shot! It definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone and I’m glad I did it.

One of my segments focused on making simple patchwork letters using curves, triangles, and squares. This quilt was used to demonstrate the technique on the show. When we filmed, it was in progress so I could show how I put the blocks together. Later, I finished piecing it and decided to quilt it by tying. I had tied one quilt before, using embroidery floss. This time I wanted to try yarn that would felt up and make a little poof. I ended up tying it on both sides. I also added x’s across the quilt and handquilting around the stars. I love how all the handwork looks together.

The color palette came from a print I love: Clementine by Melody Miller. The stars are made in a style I learned from Gwen Marston in her book Liberated Quiltmaking II (one of my favorite quilt books ever). I have zines for sale that show you how to make these curvy patchwork letters. The phrase, “What’s up, you cool baby?” comes from a favorite podcast, My Brother My Brother and Me. I got a kick out of putting it on a baby quilt. Measures 43”x48”, final photos by Mitch Hopper.

sketchbook showing sketch and color palette

Tie technique! I used the grid method from Sherri Lynn Wood’s excellent book. It’s cool. Basically you make lines across the quilt, taking small stitches every so often, one direction, then another, making a grid across the quilt. You can cut the yarn where it intersects, and then you’re ready to tie knots. I did two grids on the back of this quilt because I wanted lots of ties and I wanted to stagger them. I did one grid on the front, much less densely tied on that side. The last two pictures show ties before and after washing. These fuzzy wool ties remind me of wild tufts of troll hair. I thought they’d make tidy little balls but they had their own plans.

Leftovers Ala Gwen

January 08, 2016 by Laura Hartrich in quilts

Last year I made a baby quilt for a friend consisting of half-square triangles in shades of grey, blue, and green. I made a lot of HST's and then just used a portion of them to make the baby quilt. I had quilt a few left over and decided to make a twin-size quilt with them.

My favorite design element of this quilt is one that was inspired by a quilt Gwen Marston showed us when she visited our guild in February 2014. Her quilt had an inner border that used the same type of blocks as the rest of the quilt, just in soft neutral shades instead of the brights in the rest of the quilt. I decided to do the same with white and off-white HST's. I love how it turned out.

I named this quilt Leftovers Ala Gwen because most of the blocks were leftovers from another quilt, and the layout was inspired by a favorite Gwen Marston quilt. I hesitated to use the word leftovers next to my quilt heroine's name, but I decided leftovers don't have to be just lukewarm meatloaf or some other blob. Sometimes leftovers can be surprisingly delicious if they are well prepared and maybe paired with something fresh. So that's how I'm choosing to think of leftovers in this instance. The quilt measures about 81"x65", a generous twin.

On the back of this quilt I did some piecing of letters. Once again I wanted to show what could be done with the Simple Shapes Alphabet (pattern coming soon). Can't Stop Won't Stop came to mind as a fun phrase, a rap reference that has made its way into the lexicon. I don't know why it needed to be on a quilt, except that I can't stop putting words on quilts. Or quilting in general. Can't stop, won't stop until I'm too old to physically cut and sew fabric. Quilting is my life-long obsession, I feel certain. If it turns out that I stop quilting for some reason other than just physical incapability (ie I lose interest) I will be truly shocked. As things stand now, I always have ideas, I always want to make more. I can't imagine life being any different.

Autumn mini quilt

October 08, 2014 by Laura Hartrich in quilts

I will be honest... I'm in love with this little quilt. It's my autumn mini quilt for the entryway.

I knew I wanted to try Kathy's block from Gwen Marston's Liberated Quiltmaking II. I love the quilts she has made using this block, and I love the story behind it. One of her students was trying to make a wonky star block but put the points on the wrong corners of the square. Instead of shrugging her shoulders and telling her to start over, Gwen helped her student see how the block could be used in its own way and create a completely different look. I just love that. Liberated quiltmaking at its best.

Picking out colors for a fall quilt was tricky for me at first. I tried using what I thought of as traditional fall colors, carefully picking out all my favorites from my Kona card. But when all those reds, yellows, browns, and oranges were together I hated it. It was too on-the-nose and too turkey-looking. It was awful. I couldn't handle it.

I started over and tried a different approach with my colors. I took out some fabrics and added others, namely some greys and violets and teals. Angels sang. I was much happier and ready to proceed with my blocks.

So, Kathy's block in a mix of fall colors. Then I built it out with some solid squares in the same colors. I added some light blue borders, and then used a scrappy binding. The quilting was supposed to look like a leaf, not a teardrop. I'm thinking of adding some handquilting to help clear that up.

The quilt is up in the hallway, making me smile every time I come home. I think it is my favorite so far.