2014 Goal Visualization Quilt

July 25, 2018 by Laura Hartrich in quilts

This quilt is a document of my list of measureable goals for 2014.

The wheels started turning for this quilt when my husband Nate asked me one day, "Has anyone ever used quilts as data visualization tools? Like infographic quilts?" I said I didn't know, but it sounded like an interesting idea. I thought about what data I'd like to document in a quilt, and settled on something very personal, my New Year's goals. I have always been a person who makes New Year's Resolutions, despite repeatedly reading that they don't work, no one every keeps them, etc. I didn't care, I made them anyway, always hopeful for the self improvement they might bring.

A few years ago I noticed an Instagram friend talking about her measurable goals for the year. More specific than the hazy concept of New Year's Resolutions, measurable goals have a number attached to them. I decided to adapt her approach. For 2014, I had 14 measurable goals. I assigned a traditional quilt block to each goal. (I picked 14 different blocks that were made from half-square triangles, just blocks that I visually liked). The idea was to make a block for each of the times I was supposed to do each task. So if my goal was to host friends for dinner 4 times in the course of the year, I'd make 4 blocks. If I met my goal, those 4 blocks would go on the front of the quilt. For goals that I didn't meet, I'd break it down into a ratio. For instance, I only listened to 6 audiobooks, when my goal was 20 (too much tv). So 6 of those blocks went on the front of the quilt. The remaining 14 blocks were pieced into the back of the quilt. And if I exceeded my goal, I made the extra blocks in a different colorway (red/orange/yellow). There is a key on the label of the quilt, so viewers can understand it, and also so I can remember everything.

This quilt has a lot of tiny piecing and a lot of piecing in general. While I started it in 2014 when I was actively trying to accomplish all these measurable goals, it took until 2017 to finally finish it. Nikki Maroon quilted it for me, and Mitch Hopper helped me design the label, which I then printed on Spoonflower. Mitch Hopper also helped me take pictures of the final product. This quilt measures 53"x78". I was happy to have it accepted into the juried show at QuiltCon 2018.

A quilt for the Taylors

December 05, 2016 by Laura Hartrich in quilts

I needed to make a gift for our good friends. They were expecting their second baby. But I hadn't made a quilt for their first baby, so the second baby couldn't get his own, right? That's my logic, anyway. So I thought a family quilt would be more appropriate. I made a large throw size quilt (75"x65"), big enough for Kristin and her little boys to snuggle with right now, but sorry, Colin and Taylor boys in the future, it's definitely going to be too short for you. Without really planning it, this quilt became a sampler for the classes I took at QuiltCon 2015. I learned to make the circles and pebbles in a class with Rossie Hutchinson. I also chopped up the doodle I made in Sherri Lynn Wood 's class and incorporated that into the patchwork. The construction of the top was improvisational and ruler-free. I thought much too long and hard about what to do with these blocks from my QuiltCon classes. In the end I threw them haphazardly on my design wall and loved this simple layout. I quilted this on my Juki 2010Q and it's far from perfect but I love it. I did echoes in a few spots and then straight lines or grids on the rest. I'm proud of this one. Everything came together beautifully.

My "doodle" from Sherri Lynn Wood's class

{This actually turned out to be a trade, since Kristin Taylor is a talented artist. A quilt for an awesome portrait of my family. Thing is, I totally would have given this to them anyway. Suckers! JK, I love those guys.}

I did a huge log cabin block for the back of the quilt.

Quilt for Our Bed

January 21, 2015 by Laura Hartrich in quilts

We needed a new quilt for our bed.

When we moved to our new apartment I splurged on a beautiful comforter from Anthropologie. I loved this comforter so much. Unfortunately, the fabric was tissue-paper thin, and then we got two cats. Within a few months, my poor, gorgeous bedspread was torn beyond repair. Very sadly I said goodbye to it. I kept a swatch of the fabric, though, so that I could match colors and use them as a starting point for a new quilt.

(the following are progress shots, taken as I put this huge quilt up on the design wall.)

Since I had some practice cutting curves on my Sunset Waves quilt, I felt brave enough to tackle a drunkard's path design. I admired so many variations: random, serpentine, minimal, Star-Wars inspired (apparently), deconstructed, and many more. In the end I honed in on the phenomenal 5:HTP Squared quilt by Jen Carlton-Bailly. I liked how the blocks in her quilt formed shapes that looked almost like letters, but weren't. (I later had the chance to ask her in a facebook conversation about the inspiration for her quilt. She said it was inspired by a mid-century modern wall decoration in her grandfather's house, if I recall correctly). This got me thinking about making actual letters from the blocks.

Since this was for our bed I wanted it to be sweet and loving. I settled on the words Nate and I say to each other every night before going to sleep. This is a big one! Measures approximately 108" square. Gorgeously quilted by Nikki Maroon. I also extensively pieced the back, as you can see in the picture above. If I had it to do over, I would change a few things, but overall I'm very happy with this design and proud of how it turned out.

I'm pleased to say that this quilt appears in the pages of Quilt Now, issue 7. And that it will also be hanging in the show at QuiltCon, if it doesn't get lost in the mail. Things are looking a little dicey at the moment so cross your finger for me, would you?

Edit: I'm thrilled to report that this quilt made it safely to QuiltCon and went on to win the People's Choice award. It was such an exciting day.

There is a pattern available for this quilt. Click here to purchase. Thank you!

Sunset Waves

December 25, 2014 by Laura Hartrich

In early 2014 Sherri Lynn Wood, an artist whose work I greatly admire, put out a call for pattern testers for her book. Except we weren't really given patterns, we were given Sherri Lynn's loose instructions for improv quilt construction, which she called "scores."

The score I was assigned was called Layered Curves. I won't go into the whole process of creating the blocks. You can check out Sherri's book for that! I will say it was my first time to sew any curve of any kind. And it was my first time attempting to work without a ruler. For those keeping track, I didn't use any rulers or templates when cutting my curves. I wasn't supposed to use a ruler at all, but I struggled to cut my blocks freehand so I did use a ruler to trim them up. From my instruction from Sherri Lynn, which was all done online, I didn't realize the significance of this choice. But later I would understand the importance of going ruler-free in this process, and wish that I had stuck with it.

This quilt was finished in March, but I had to wait to share it until we got closer to the book's publication date. Sherri Lynn's book The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters is coming out in the spring 2015. I can't wait to get my hands on it, even though my quilt was not chosen for publication in the book.

I had a tumultuous relationship with this one. While in progress, I mostly hated it. When it was done, I loved it. After I took a workshop with Sherri Lynn Wood last month, I realized it is missing the expression of line that could have happened if I had put away my ruler as instructed. Like I said, I put it away for the curves, but couldn't make myself make blocks without it! I regret that now. But I still like this quilt. My favorite thing might be all the hand-quilting I did.

This was absolutely a learning process that made me push myself into uncharted territory as a quilter. I'm looking forward to working with Sherri Lynn again at QuiltCon, and trying more scores from the book when it drops! I'm also happy to say that this quilt will be hanging in the QuiltCon show.