Karin Jordan Studio

Leigh Laurel Studios Now Has a Shop Online!

 

I've been working on turning my favorite patterns into PDFs, and today I launched the Leigh Laurel Studios store! There will be an opening sale – 20% off patterns through Cyber Monday (November 28). Please use the code OPENINGSALE20 at checkout. I will be continuing to add patterns to the shop. 

In addition to the pattern section I'm offering some of my favorite quilting, hand stitching and appliqué supplies. I've written little review blurbs to accompany all the photos; please let me know if you have any questions. I'm concentrating on things that I've discovered after much trial and error with products. They're my go-to items and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Please bookmark shop.leighlaurelstudios.com and share with your friends! 

 

P.S. I'm shipping from New Hampshire where there is no sales tax!!

       

 

 

Cantilever: An Improv Appliqué Table Runner

I've been experimenting. There is a sofa table in our living room that needed something on top of it and I didn't want my typical bright colors. I selected a piece of linen and hit up a local thrift shop for a variety of pants and shirts in black, white, stripes, navy and brown. 

Instead of traditional piecing, I opted for overlapping squares and rectangles made possible with needle-turn appliqué. 

Lulu (somewhat patiently) sat by my side on the sun-filled kitchen window seat while I worked on it. She doesn't like scissors.

The hand stitching / quilting is also improvised. This was an amazing piece to work on from start to finish. To me it has a sort of Asian feel, and I called it Cantilever as it also reminds me a bit of the style of Frank Lloyd Wright. 

No deadline involved, new ideas came to fruition and it was awesome to share my progress on Instagram! I finished it up with a faced binding, which I seem to be utilizing frequently lately. :)

 

       

Flying Geese Pillow: Reverse Appliqué With Jersey

I'm about to ship this quilt off to my father-in-law, and I made a throw pillow to go with it. It's a reverse appliqué design with white jersey knit over one of the Indigo prints by Alison Glass for Andover Fabrics. 

I pulled the triple geese design out of one of the Indigo prints. Typically I tend to not be all matchy matchy, but in this case I couldn't help myself. 

The bright orange thread is Fince Perle cotton No. 8 in a bright orangey-red color that coordinates with the pop of orange of the quilt's binding. 

 It's so awesome that the raw edge of jersey won't fray!

I finished it with a simple envelope-style closure on the back. A zigzag stitch on the machine allows the seams to pull as the jersey stretches. 

 So simple it can be completed in a few short hours.

I hope he likes it; I'll be sticking these in the mail along with a copy of Love Patchwork & Quilting that features the quilt. 

 

       

15 Minutes of Fame

I completely forgot to blog about this quilt. I designed it in EQ7 the night I got home from QuiltCon 2015 and started working on it right away. It's a drunkard's path design with giant blocks and vibrant Kona solids. I based the design on a quote attributed to Andy Warhol from 1968: "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes."

The pattern—including identification of all the Kona solids—is in Quilt Now magazine issue 15.

Melissa Kelley of Sew Shabby Quilting knocked it out of the park with the quilting. I said, "Do your thing." And she did! 

I mean. . . come on! 

All the heart eyes.

The swirls. . the bubbles. . the lines. . the waves.

 

The magazine styling was lovely as always.  

These three projects came home from the UK in the same box. 

Is this one for me, Mom? 

 

       

Reverse Appliqué Jersey Knit Scarf

This morning I finished the edges on the scarf I started in Maine at the Slow Stitching Retreat in the appliqué class with Alison Glass. It was a nice, bite-size project to start at 'quilt camp' as we affectionally started calling it. It's also been a fun and easy thing to work on while giving my almost-seven-year-old daughter quilting lessons. She has taken an interest and has started her first patchwork quilt(!). More on that in another post. . . 

Of course I grabbed the wrong fabric to take to the class, so my friend Michelle let me borrow some of of this beautiful jersey — Solid Knit in Indigo by Alison Glass for Andover. I replaced it when we took a trip to Fiddlehead Artisan Supply in Belfast. Then I realized I didn't have a perle cotton that worked with the Denise Schmidt Modern Solid (it's close to Kaufman Wasabi). . . so Alison whipped out perle in Curry from her collection for Weeks Dye Works. Whew! Quilters are a generous bunch. :)

This jersey is 66" wide, so I was able to leave the selvedge edges raw on each end of the scarf. Instead of finishing the sides with a double fold, I folded them only once, letting the jersey curl a bit both for fun and also to help avoid bulk. Now my only dilemma is whether to cut out the enso shapes on the back of the scarf which would make it reversible. I'm not quite ready to wear this just yet but cool temps are just around the corner.

  

       

Indigo Stripe Quilt in Love Patchwork & Quilting

Included in Love Patchwork & Quilting issue 38 is my Indigo Stripe quilt, originally called Starlight as both the patchwork design and the quilting are based on a night sky. The moment I first saw images of Handcrafted Indigo by Alison Glass I decided to use it for a quilt to gift my color-blind father-in-law who loves blue. 

My basting helper. . . her job is to keep things flat and make sure I have a lint roller handy at all times. 

I opted for simple in-the-ditch quilting, and then added a few straight lines that criss cross the white spaces. It's hard to see in the top photo so I will share additional images when I receive the quilt back!

I was happy to see it made the cover. It's always an odd, "hey I made that" feeling. Issue 38 just came out in the UK. Print copies will be available in the US in the next few weeks!

 

       

Slow Stitching Retreat in Maine

Whew! Where to begin? I spent Monday through Friday last week in Washington, Maine at the Slow Stitching Retreat hosted by Samantha at A Gathering of Stitches. I packed way too many WIPs, my sewing and quilting stuff, a swimsuit and several bottles of wine to share. This block too me hours, partially because I was busily chatting. . . and my sewing machine was directly in front of my teacher. No pressure! :)

Maine. The location was beautiful, the weather fickle and the nights dark and relaxingly quiet. 

On Tuesday I was in Alison's reverse appliqué class. I'd taken it at Quiltcon in Austin and it was fun to see how she had made changes, adding and subtracting things over the past year and a half. 

I started this scarf, based on a design I sketched at the beginning of class. 

I shared a cabin with Kitty Wilkin of Night Quilter. Her adorably sweet 14-month-old son stayed in our cabin at night so he could co-sleep with his Mom. Every morning I woke up to huge smiles and waves, playing peek-a-boo under quilts. 

Michelle slow stitching on the porch at Camp Medomak. 

Alison and Julie at cocktail hour before dinner was served. 

On Wednesday I was in Chawne's class. I'd met her at Quiltcon in Pasadena; we discovered that she had been my cousin's college advisor. It was great to see her again, and her work.... well.... just look.  

This was my favorite piece of all those she had up on display. Turns out it is hers, too. 

 So little. 

 Seriously, this is not an optical illusion. My finger is millimeters way from the fabric. 

The colors!

A wall of wonder.

Chawne is a great teacher, continually motivating and encouraging everyone to "sew smaller". :) 

The reverse side of her work is a thing in itself to behold.  

Katherine and the results of her small stitching class. 

The main building at Camp Medomak.

The garden and the back of the main building. 

Paths and roads to the cabins. 

The porch. Coffee happened here, as well as many amazing conversations and star gazing until the wee hours. 

Hydrangeas with the barn in the background. Chawne's class happened in the barn. 

Kitty and I stayed in the cabin called 'Chestnut'. 

Three adirondack chairs were just outside Chestnut, which was another nice spot to sit, sip and watch for shooting stars. 

Alison brought out her new line of temporary tattoos. . .

The screen door to the main building. The tree resonated with me as the school I attended in Oregon has a fir tree as a logo. 

Lobstah night. Look for #slowstitchingretreat on Instagram and there is a picture of Chawne feeding me cole slaw from a giant serving spoon. I was happy to help a few lobster newbies crack their dinner. 

We caravanned to Fiddlehead Artisan Supply in Belfast, Maine. If you have a chance to pop in, please do so. Amazing.

This is the dock on the lake at Camp Medomak. Many swam, some cooled their feet in the water. Photo by Kitty Wilkin of Night Quilter, used by permission (that's me in the grey and purple!). This is her appliqué project. 

When I got home I showed all the photos to my family. Annabel (age 6) went into her art space and made this. It was nice to be able to bring the inspiration home with me. 

 

       

Quilt-It Modern Blog Tour: Confetti

Welcome to the last day of the Quilt-It Modern Blog Tour hosted by Riley Blake Fabrics! They have two new lines of solids: Confetti Cottons (132 colors) and Crayola Colors (11 basics - you can even buy a crayon-style box of fat quarters!). 

When Riley Blake asked me if I would be interested in participating in this tour, I immediately thought of a design I'd had in my sketchbook for quite some time. With the theme being confetti, I asked for a range of colors of the Confetti Cottons. 

This is a paper-pieced design that would be a fairly quick quilt to produce had I machine quilted it. As you may know from my last post, I have a collection of Finca No. 8 Perle Cotton so I decided to hand quilt. I matched each solid fabric up with a spool of Perle, set up my new hand quilting frame (my present to myself when Jason finished his eMBA last month) and got quilting. 

The wooden EZ3 frame is by The Grace Company, and wow do I wish I'd had it when I was working on the double gauze quilt! My friend Kitty took a video of me hand quilting with my right hand above and left hand below the quilt, adding these scattered rice or confetti-style stitches. It can be viewed on the Hand Stitching CLUB Facebook group that I recently started. If you'd like to join, simply request to be added to the group and I will happily add you!

I've been careful to make sure the back stitches are as consistent and equally spaced as the ones on the front. The background white will also be hand quilted and I will do a faced binding. This pattern will be available once the quilt is completed. 

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the slow stitching process. I will be going on the Slow Stitching Retreat hosted by A Gathering of Stitches in Maine; I believe there are still spots available if you'd like to check it out.

I've also registered for several hand stitching classes at QuiltCon in Savannah. I'm taking Handwork Revisited and Embroidery for Quilts with Heidi Parkes and Improvisational Hand Quilting with Chawne Kimber. So. Excited. Will you be there?

Meanwhile, I'm just taking it one stitch at a time while the kids are at summer camp, we are getting used to Jason's new and improved schedule and we're all enjoying time with family and friends. 

June 27: A Bright Corner / Salty Oat
June 28: Trillium Design / Allison Sews
June 29: A Quilter’s Table / Bonjour Quilts
June 30: Euphoria Jessica / Material Girl Quilts
July 1: Samelia’s Mum / Sassafras Lane
July 5: Quilt Matters / During Quiet Time
July 6: Sometimes Crafter / Modern Handcraft
July 7: Orchid Owl Quilts / Piece and Quilt
July 8: Sew Katie Did / Tumbling Blocks / Leigh Laurel Studios

There are some truly fabulous projects on this tour — be sure to hop around and check them out if you haven't already!  

 

       

Hand Stitched Whole Cloth Double Gauze Quilt

Two layers of Embrace Double Gauze from Shannon Fabrics with Pellon Wool Batting in the middle makes for a super soft and cuddly quilt. The wool is lighter and fluffier than cotton batting — the only difference in care is that it can't go in the dryer. It's just returned home from Spring Quilt Market and I'm looking forward to using it!

I used all the colors of Finca #8 Perle Cotton to hand quilt it, which I believe is about 123 different spools. I love the texture of the hand quilting. 

When I received the double gauze from Shannon Fabrics, I was thrilled to discover a subtle 1" grid in the weave of the fabric. This enabled me to stitch straight lines without having to mark the fabric first! I quilted two rows per linear inch of the quilt, so I alternated stitching on a grid line with between lines. 

I stuck numbered tags inside all the spools of Finca so that I would be able to keep track of the color order, partially because I wanted a record of it and also because I thought it could come in handy if I needed to start repeating colors. I started with reds, deep oranges and yellows, then some orangey browns and olive greens.

 Then all the greens!

It took me ten rows or so to be comfortable with slightly wonky stitches and I actually redid a few here and there. After that, I was okay to 'embrace the wonk'. :)

It was fun to watch the ombré effect grow. I started this as a slow stitching project and then it got bumped up on the priority ladder when Shannon asked to display it in their booth at Market. With a deadline, I was able to get it done!

After blues and purples came pinks. 

And then back to reds and oranges, although I never had to repeat any of the colors. I decided to bind it in jersey knit, which wound up being an interesting choice. If you've ever worked with jersey, you know the edges like to curl after being cut. What I wound up doing was cutting three-inch-wide grey jersey (54" fabric width) and then creating a crease down the center of the strip. Then I covered the edges of the quilt with the jersey, lining up the crease with the quilt edge. I pinned like crazy, making sure to catch both front and back of the jersey with the pins, and then I sewed two rows of zigzag stitch on the machine around the whole thing. Zigzag stitches stretch with the jersey and the double gauze. Straight stitches have less give and would tear far more easily. Then I trimmed the exposed raw edges of the jersey close to the top row of zig zag stitches and let it curl under! I know it sounds crazy, but it worked. 

There is no front or back, although as I did all the stitching with the white facing up that side has more regular stitches. I like the contrast of the teal on the other side. Finished size is 36 x 55".

Texture!

I will be doing a lot more hand stitching and quilting. In fact, I've recently started a Facebook group for hand stitching enthusiasts. If you hand sew, quilt, embroider, appliqué, use Boro or Sashiko in your work, etc. search for "Hand Stitching CLUB" on Facebook and request to join (or click this link!). Hope to meet you there!

 

       

Crossword Quilt Tutorial: Oakshott Lipari Blog Hop

My father does both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal crossword puzzles on a daily basis. When Lynne offered me a spot on the Oakshott Lipari Blog Hop and I saw the brilliant, rich colors of the shot cottons I thought it'd be fun to use it to make a quilt for my father for Father's Day. Happy Father's Day, Dad (he reads my blog)!

I added four neutral Oakshott fabrics to help the colors pop, and chose Jay McCarroll's Center City fabric by Free Spirit as the backing — a sort of silly nod to the years my spent as an architect.

The Lipari fabrics glow from within due to the shot cotton weave. The base color warp is black and the weft is the vibrant color. It can be tricky to photograph as the light plays on it. Don't you want to just dive into this pile?

This is the Fat Eighth bundle I received, and the neutrals (these fabrics are 54" wide, so the fat eights are 10 x 27" instead of the typical 9 x 21"!). I saved the Stromboli (deep red) for the binding.

 All 18 colors in the Lipari line ironed and ready to go!

It's a simple quilt of 5" squares, so it's a great project for beginning quilters. Finished size is 54 x 63".

Cut 114 5" neutral background squares from at least four different fabrics —you will need roughly 3/4 yard of each (pictured are Oakshott Fabrics White Sand, Amalfi, White Marble and Carmargue).

Cut 54 5" colored squares. I used the entire Lipari line except for the black. 

Follow the layout pattern above, and have fun! I spent a few days moving the squares around until I found what felt like the right balance. 

I wanted a super soft end product, so I opted for minimal quilting. 

I used my new Janome Accufeed Stitch in the Ditch Foot. Game changer! I was able to achieve very straight lines along all the seams. 

Not the best photo but this is an important part of my process when I'm doing straight-line quilting. I have a bunch of string in my studio and I lay it down on top of the quilt when I want to add extra lines. That way I can play with the design process without actually sewing anything permanent. Instead, I can just pick up and move the string around until I'm satisfied. Then I either use painter's tape or the extension bar on my machine. 

Here's another shot of the ditch stitching foot and the resulting straight lines. You can really see the color 'shot' through the black in these two greens.

It was hard to stop quilting, but I'm glad I quit when I did. It's truly soft and the fabric is the star. 

You'll want to check out the other stops on the blog tour. There are some amazing projects! 

5 May     Allison Dutton     allison-sews.blogspot.com
10 May   Nicholas Ball      quiltsfromtheattic.wordpress.com 
12 May   Helen Purvis      archiethewonderdog.blogspot.com
17 May   Lynn Harris       thelittleredhen.typepad.com
19 May   Kitty Wilkin       nightquilter.com (now moved to 2 June)
24 May   Jessica Skultety     www.quiltyhabit.com 
26 May   Karin Jordan   www.leighlaurelstudios.com (you are here!)
31 May   Elisabeth Vaughan  sharksdinner.com 

 Thanks so much to Lynne and Oakshott for including me in this fun hop!