In Love With Every Aspect of This Glam Clam Quilt

This quilt is such a departure from what I usually do.  These colors and fabrics are a part of my new favorite palette.  And there are no straight lines.  These clams all had to be cut by hand, not by rotary cutter.  I did think about piecing by hand, but then I snapped to my senses and did the piecing by machine. However, the quilting?  Yeah, all done by hand, baby, with wool batting and my favorite fabric for backing.If you zoom in, you might be able to see the print of a train or ferry schedule.  It’s very subtle.  

I love cutting the clams.  I loved sewing the clams with its odd assembly of left to right, top to bottom.  And I loved quilting this.  Almost like reading a fabulous book, I really slowed my sewing down the last week just to make the quilting last longer.   What a great quilt t end the year with! 
 

2024: The Year of Seth Apter

 It doesn’t happen often - in fact, this is the third time - that I have fallen in love with a fabric designer.  The first was Marcia Derse back in 2014.  The second was with an Art Gallery fabric, Hello Bear, by Bonnie  Christine.  Last year for Christmas my stepdaughter Jen gave me a gift certificate to a Wisconsin fabric store Quilt-agious in Mukwonago. That’s where I found a collection of Seth Apter fabrics.  His Storyteller fabric line caught my eye for its texture, its color, its collage-like appeal. And thus my most recent and very serious fabric crush.  

            And here’s some of what this line has inspired, including a purse in the upper left that I use daily. 

   

My granddaughter was married last summer and had a very specific color palette.  So I cautiously began using some fabric for one of my favorite quilt designs, Trip Around The World, for Nikki.  

I know what you’re thinking: what a tame use of these fabrics.  So I went a step further by making a gift bag to go along with the quilt, and I liked the bag much better.

But at this point t I really wanted to play with these fabrics. I bought a jelly roll of Seth’s fabrics and used them in “Tightrope”, a pattern by Robin Pickens found at Quilt-afious.  It’s been hand quilted in an off-center spiral.  It almost looks like stained glass.  

Here is a Fika tote, pattern by Noodlehead.  That blue grunge along with the Storyteller fabric?  Love love love. But by this point I was accumulating some pretty tasty scraps and had to do something with them.  The quilt below is odd but pretty in its own way.  It too is hand-quilted. I added to those  Seth Apter scraps  some scraps from artisan shot cottons in an attic window approach. 

This bag pattern, Bohemian Carpet Bag, from Quilt-agious, leaped out at me from the store’s website.  I had to have it, along with some newer Seth Apter fabrics, all of which were on back order.  So I ordered the bag, the necessary hardware, and the fabric - and waited three months.  For someone who is into instant gratification, this was the longest wait ever!  But so worth waiting for.  I love this bag, I love the hardware, and this fabric is just so fun, 

But my favorite piece/quilt of all so far has been this Pacific quilt design from Art Gallery Fabrics featuring several but not all Seth Apter fabrics.  I love the braided and woven effect of this design. I’ve included two photos because the lighting is so different in each. 

I’m not done with these fabrics.  While I’m not sure what’s next, I must credit Seth for my shift in colors.  For so long I’ve been all about reds, greys, and blacks.  This last year has taught me to embrace blues and greens! And I will continue to haunt the Quilt-agious website!

The Winter Season - and John

 

Last year I prayed for one more winter, one more Christmas,  and my prayer has been answered.  My prayer will be the same this year.  And Christmas with John? There is nothing like it. This man loves Christmas and all the decorating and gifting that comes with it.   I am fully aware I am the luckiest person.  

Incoming: a new baby and a dancer with too many shoes

My former neighbor and valued dear friend Cristina is having her second baby boy.  At her request I used the same palette for this quilt as I did for her son Enzo.  See it here.   But I made too many bits for the quilt.  These bits became the best diaper bag.  What a joy to give these to here.  Even Enzo noticed that this new quilt bears a resemblance to his!  A remarkable boy…

And the other big finish this month is for my great niece Eloise.  Like her mom, Elo dances. And she has several shoes she carries.  So this bag was made to carry multiple sets of shoes and a water bottle.  This is the Aragon bag by Sew Sweetness.  One side ahas a curvy pocket.  The other side has a zip compartment.  The whole bag ones wide with a purse zipper.  And the inside feature two elastic pockets and another zip compartment. I could market this as a senior citizen special because it has so many different little places to put things.  Elo chose this fabric, and this bag will be for her first double digit birthday in January.

And last but certainly not least is my evening hand quilting project. I love this quilt.  I love my stitching.  

I’m almost at the end and sad to have this completed.  This might be my new dining room wall hanging! 

And of course little zip purses using leftover bits.  Most of them have been gifted.  After all, it is the season! 
 

                         

                         Finally, a new special project has begun.  More about this later! 

Changing gears again - a finish, a start, and the germ of an idea

At the risk of sounding dorkier than I usually do, this quilt has been a joy to work on.  AGF has free patterns, and this one is Pacific.  And look - I still have some Seth Apter fabrics!  I love these colors, and I loved hand quilting it.  But it’s time to move on.  There has been a huge pile of gorgeous greens and blues fabrics just begging for some interesting design.  And I’ve decided to repeat the Glam Clam pattern.  It’s been pin basted, and it has now been my new evening companion for the past few days.  The temperatures have recently dropped - we’re in winter for sure.  Sitting with this quilt on my lap as I stitch is a perfect way to spending chilly evening.

   

After mailing off 21 purses (see below) I let myself play with scraps and a little zip pouch pattern from The Pink Door.  These are little curvy clutches.  One will be for the December good swap.  The rest - well, it is December!

The next quilt project is a joyful one.  My little friend (jeez, Cristina is 34 - I should find a better descriptor for her…) is pregnant with her second child, another boy.  I made Enzo a pretty sweet baby quilt and am using the same color palette of blues and greens (how perfect - I have just the fabrics) for the new baby.  Cristina likes when I go off script with my quilting choices.  She likes wonk and random, but both those words make me twitch a bit.  I found this pattern and am adapting it.  Today is the day I  will play around with the “blocks” I’ve made from the strips below.  

And of course Sew Powerful purses.  I was delighted to get these three made and mailed off with these other 18.  Time to start a new batch.  This Zambian ministry is now over 10 years old and has spread to Livingston in addition to the capital city of Lusaka. My political distress over the November election results grows with each day’s news as Trump begins his second presidency on a revenge tour.  Look at the appointments he’s making.  The system of checks and balances is out of whack and getting whackier by the hour.  I sincerely hope in 4 years my conservative brother can say to me, “See? He was good for our country and values.”  But we have been on the road before.  It’s impossible for me to give this convicted buffoon a second chance.  And I am appalled at those who voted this narcissist into office.  So, I will sew.  And sew.  And sew.  And then I’ll sew some more. 

Projects in Process

 

Why do I think I need an even number of purses to mail to Sew Powerful?  I have 18 completed and think I need two more before mailing.  But I’ve been distracted by the lure of other projects.  Evenings I’ve been hand quilting a project that I am still so in love with.  I’m may be  half way done and am enjoying every stitch.

My never-ending supply of scraps and UFO’s call to me loudly.  At the beginning of the pandemic I took an on-line workshop with the revered and lovely Carol Lyles Shaw(who sad.y is no more ). And it was terrific.  She had one camera above her work surface and one on her, and she toggled back and forth seamlessly.  The topic of this workshop was scraps and a creative way to use them.  Here’s what I created: 

My plan was to make more of these large blocks (15” x 24” ish).   But after 4 years it’s clear that that’s not happening.  So, what to do with these?  Then I remembered the scrap community project guild mate Jane Shapiro led us in.  I liked it so much that I made a quilt using her technique.  This quilt was gifted to my cataract doctor (John had a horrible complication with one of his surgeries, and I was thrilled all worked out for me.)  and I wondered whether this pattern might lend itself to these big squares - and some random black and white blocks.

After a bit of sewing and finagling and looking for a background fabric, here’s what I’ve come up with. I have  a total of 48 blocks, 5 pairs of orange, 5 pairs of teal, 5 pairs of purple, five pairs of browns, and 4 pairs of blacks. Each block is 12.5” square.  This means the quilt of 48 blocks would be 72” x 96”.  

And here’s how I’ve packed it away until I’m ready to join the blocks together.

Look at my note to myself.  I can make more blacks.  Do I want a quilt that is 84” x 84”?  I need one more block.  What if I want the quilt 84” x 96”?  Then I need to make 8 more.  Next decision is layout.  Here is something different: 

But while I’m deciding how to lay out these blocks and finish this quilt top, I’m itching to start a Glam Clam using a pile of blues and greens I’ve been accumulating. I spent one day with my quilt guild at last weekend’s retreat.  All I accomplished there was cutting the clams.  Today I started to lay the quilt out.  Here’s what I have so far. 

Construction of this quilt is odd.  One must work row by row, starting with the top row.  Each new clam is inserted and sewn to the body.  Starting this quilt is easy, but it gets cumbersome as you work your way towards the bottom of the quilt.  But my hands are happy piecing curves.  We’re heading to Atlanta to visit Julie for a long weekend and to see foliage in Kentucky and Tennessee.  I can’t take the quilt I’m in love with because it’s too heavy and Atlanta is still pretty hot.  So this hand-piecing will go with me.  Perhaps when we return I can finish those two remaining Sew Powerful purses and get them all mailed! 

Hudson River Cruise - a Quilting Diversion

Our Fall Foliage Hudson River cruise was pretty terrific.  We did indeed hit peak color on a lovely small ship with mostly nice people.  John’s smile pretty much says it all.

                                This is an example of what we saw daily.

                   An early morning fog gave this, the Rip Van Winkle Bridge, an eerie look. 

                        The early morning mist also gave this grove of trees an eerie 3-d look.  

Here’s John on the Rip Van Winkle Bridge.  This part of the country takes Washington Irving quite seriously - weather vanes, signage, and even renaming a NY hamlet Sleepy Hollow.  The next few pictures demonstrate this!  Look at the bridge picture below.  That’s the same bridge in the fog.  Notice that in the middle of the bridge, tresses go down instead of up.  That severe change is akin to what Rip Van Winkel experienced after his 20-year sleep - the world seemed upside down to him! 

Two highlights of this trip were our visit to West Point and to the Franklin D Roosevelt Museum and Library.  I took no pictures at West Point, but what a place!  During our tour a grandson in uniform came out to greet his grandparents!  Our tour ended with the museum exhibit "A Day in the Life of a Cadet."  Very impressive.  I would have lasted perhaps 20 minutes at this institution.  So much talk about honor and commitment made me wonder how this institution views our current presidential candidates. Our best view of West Point came days later as we sailed back into Manhattan.  

The whole FDR experience was pretty special too.  Here I am with my new friend.  We didn't have enough time to go through the entire museum - we got as far as 1942.  But as with all other presidential museums we've been to, the exhibits are excellent.  So much food for thought.  Below are busts of FDR and Churchill .  What I thought was graffiti are actually sculptures from remnants of the Berlin Wall.  Read the photo below.

Below is a glorious path leading from the main road to the house where FDR was born in - it was his favorite place in the world and so close to the Hudson.  Our guide told us that he would regularly "walk" this path, testing his physical capabilities. 

The lobby of the museum and library has this mosaic that is probably the size of a king-size quilt and provides a map of all we would see. 

 Our goal with this river cruise was seeing fall foliage.  And we so happily met this goal in style.  We were gone just long enough for the callous I keep on the middle finger of my right hand (the one I keep under the quilt) to soften.  

Next up?  A drive to Atlanta right after the election.  And a river cruise on the Ohio from Pittsburgh to Louisville.  We leave July 4! 

Finally a word about the election.  Oh, never mind...