Posted on June 1, 2018May 15, 2018 by kustomkwilts

Making it Fun Quilt – Spring Quilt Market 2018

Spring Quilt Market Quilt for Michael Miller

Guys!!! I’m so excited to finally be able to share my project for the Michael Miller Spring Quilt Market booth. They sent me fat quarters of their new has dot blenders and their marbled fabrics, along with some coordinating Cotton Couture solids and told me to make something fun and rainbow-y! Is that a dream assignment, or what?? I narrowed it down to 48 unique fabrics that I wanted to use in the quilt, and lined them up:

I numbered them and then numbered the design I had mocked up in EQ8, but it was starting to get a little crazy. I ended up having to make a smaller swatch card because some of the fabrics were so similar in color and shade that I was starting to go cross-eyed flipping through that stack.

I very rarely make swatch cards, but I found it to be very necessary with this quilt. I designed a foundation paper piecing block in EQ8 and then rotated it slightly to complete the design. The piecing went really quickly and I just needed to double check that I had the correct fabric for each block before I started sewing. I’ll admit, there was a good amount of seam ripping to be had with this one!

FPP — Foundation Paper Pieced Blocks stacked and ready to go!

I used my new Daylight Company light box to help with the foundation paper piecing, and I really love how thin and lightweight the unit is. I had a very bulky, cumbersome light box in the past and recently upgraded to this one. It’s been such a nice treat to have one that doesn’t take up all of my cutting mat. I also used Adobe Illustrator to help design the applique text in the right size and fonts, then tiled the pages to make a huge pattern. I hand cut each letter and symbol out, then used the paper as a template to trace onto the white fabric for the applique. I used Misty Fuse on the backside of the white Cotton Couture and then cut out each letter. It was pretty time and labor intensive, but I love how it turned out.

My EQ layout compared to the quilt top, prior to adding applique

I did come up with a slight problem in getting the applique on straight, centered, and spaced equally. Usually, I would just use a big window and tape the quilt in place or trace where the letters needed to be, but I decided to buy a cheap portable projector and project the original applique design onto the quilt while it hung, and then I positioned the letters in place with a small amount of glue from an Elmer’s glue stick. Once they were in position, I lightly fused them into place and then took the quilt top to my Janome MC9400 to complete the applique blanket stitching around each individual letter (that took about a day and a half!).

Using the portable projector to project my applique design onto the quilt

Once I finished the applique, it was time to throw it on the longarm for quilting. I chose just a single layer of Quilter’s Dream Wool to maximize the quilting texture and also keep it fairly lightweight. Then I quilted some straight diagonal lines with rulers to finish it off. I opted to not bind the quilt traditionally, but I faced it to not take away from the overall punch of the quilt, and keep the focus on the applique. I really loved making this quilt and loved the new fabrics being released by Michael Miller Fabrics for Spring Quilt Market 2018. I can’t wait to get my hands on more of that fabric!

Posted on May 17, 2018May 15, 2018 by kustomkwilts

QuiltCon 2018

Well, months have passed since QuiltCon happened in California, and I’m just now getting around to writing a blog post about it. I wasn’t able to attend, but several of the quilts I quilted did! There’s a reason I didn’t write this post in a timely manner. I have this thing where I think that quilting someone else’s quilt doesn’t necessarily give me the right to share the quilting. I guess I don’t want people to think I’m trying to take credit for someone else’s work. I also don’t really know or understand the rules about when someone’s quilt wins something that I’ve quilted…does that mean I also share that victory? I’m sharing this one because I am super excited about how the quilting turned out, and it won a Judge’s Choice Award at QuiltCon. There are so many amazing quilts and creators in the winner’s circle, so be sure you check them all out here! A huge congratulations to Leslie and all the other amazing artists who were recognized for their work.

Leslie Tucker Jenison created and constructed this quilt titled “Nests and Vessels”, and it was awarded a Judge’s Choice Award by Beverly Fine. Leslie has studied with Nancy Crow and her style is truly unique and inspiring. L is a contemporary quilt artist and designer for RJR fabrics. Leslie’s use of color and shape never cease to amaze me, and I consider myself quite lucky that I get to quilt for her. Leslie had several quilts that were juried into the show, and they were all equally inspiring and thought provoking.

I’ll share a few progress pictures from the quilting. Leslie requested some straight line quilting on this one, and I varied the proximity of the lines to be distanced 1/16″ apart to 1/4″ apart. This picture probably demonstrates that the best:

And here are a few more:

This quilt was quilted with MicroQuilter thread by Superior Threads and the batting was Quilter’s Dream Orient and Quilter’s Dream Wool. I really love the subtle finish the Microquilter thread gives a project. You can definitely see the quilting, but it doesn’t overpower the project and leaves more of a hint of design rather than barging into a room and demanding attention.

Posted on May 3, 2018May 3, 2018 by kustomkwilts

Ice Cream, You Scream Quilt FREE PATTERN

Who wants a free Ice Cream, You Scream Quilt Pattern? Well today is your lucky day!!!

You have to check out this adorable fabric line Michael Miller Fabrics just released. The line is called Ice Cream, You Scream and the colors are everything! Also, there’s this border print that is just dying to be put in a quilt (or made into a little girl’s skirt!!), and nearly makes me swoon! I got a chance to get my hands on this fabric to design a quilt for the release, and I’m not gonna lie…I spent a few hours just playing with the fabric and coordinating Cotton Couture. It features sweet ice cream cones, sundaes, and the best stripes. It reminded me of the 4th of July and ice cream socials and everything pure in the world. The best part is, Michael Miller Fabrics is offering this pattern as a freebie–you can get your own PDF pattern download from their website.

The pattern is for “confident beginners”, which just means you need a general knowledge of foundation paper piecing and fussy cutting. I fussy cut the border pieces so the ice cream sundaes were centered along the center of the borders, and the cornerstones in the border were fussy cut to showcase the cute little ice cream phrases on the fabric.

I had a blast designing and piecing the quilt. I had even more fun quilting it! I used Glide thread (from Hab+Dash) and Quilter’s Dream batting in the quilt. I used a few different colors of thread and matched them to the different fabrics. Most of the quilting was handguided free motion quilting, with the assistance of straight rulers for the grids.

Ice cream cone — Ice Cream Cone Quilting

I’d love to see what you do with the pattern–the foundation paper piecing blocks are pretty quick to sew up. Just remember to shorten your stitch length (I like to use 1.5) so the paper is perforated enough to tear away easily and print your paper piecing templates at 100%. Then add your sashing and borders and voila! Don’t forget to grab your free copy, and check out the pattern (pictured below). Happy sewing!!!

Posted on April 27, 2018April 19, 2018 by kustomkwilts

Quilting Leslie’s Kaffe Fassett Quilt

Man, oh man! I had the honor of quilting this awesome Kaffe Fassett quilt by Leslie Tucker Jenison. Leslie pieced her quilt based on Kaffe Fassett’s quilt pattern from the book Quilts in Sweden (pictured below-photo from amazon.com), using his fabric. Leslie also pieced the backing using some awesome linen and polka dots.

Leslie had requested some straight line quilting to follow the lines of the fabric pattern–I loved that idea. Quilting a quilt like this using a concentric design can be a challenge on the longarm, and you sometimes end up advancing and rolling back the quilt on the frame back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, (did I say back and forth already?) etc. To avoid doing that ONE MILLION times, I connected some of the lines, and I really liked the outcome of the quilting look.

The lines of this fabric are so amazingly deceptive and provide the illusion that this was painstakingly pieced. I love the wonky look of the finished quilt and really found the design brilliant! I have been wanting to do a stripe study (kind of like how some people do color or quilt block studies) for so long, and this made me move that up my priority list. Someday soon I’ll start that project.

The thread used was Magnifico in black and batting was Quilter’s Dream Orient with Quilter’s Dream Wool layered beneath the quilt top. This was quilted using electric channel locks on my Innova longarm (hand guided), and those electric channel locks make all the difference. I recently upgraded and had those installed from the basic manual channel locks that come on the machine.

The difference is this:

Manual channel locks:

walk to the back of the machine and engage the channel lock
quilt a straight line
stop the machine
walk to the back of the machine and disengage the channel lock
walk to the front of the machine and move to new point
repeat 1-5 over and again

Electric channel locks:

Push remote button from front of machine to engage channel lock
Quilt a straight line
stop the machine
push remote button from front of machine to disengage channel lock
move needle to new point
repeat 1-5 as needed (and your legs are breathing a huge sigh of relief from all that walking you just saved yourself)

I digress. Here’s some more amazing eye candy from Leslie’s quilt.

If you’re interested in purchasing the book, you can check it out here on Amazon.

Posted on February 13, 2018February 13, 2018 by kustomkwilts

RJR What Shade Are You? Blog Hop

What Shade Are You? Blog hop

Hi! I’m Joanna Marsh from Kustom Kwilts. I live in the Texas Hill Country with my husband and baby girl. I have been so captivated by all of the #whatshadeareyou projects and the RJR Cotton Supreme Solids, and I’m so excited to share mine with you on the RJR blog today–The Dreamer’s Star Quilt! You can check out my instagram @kustomkwilts to see what I’m up to. I’m so excited to be featured on the RJR blog today with their amazing cotton supreme solids! Check out the What Shade Are You? posts for some amazing inspiration here.

A little background on what brought me to quilting: In my previous career, I was a high school agriculture science teacher. My principal’s secretary was a quilter, and I mentioned to her that I was interested in starting to sew. I remember her telling me the secret to quilting was a consistent quarter inch seam allowance–and that as long as I remembered that, I’d be okay! I found a beginner’s quilting book in my teacher mailbox one morning with a sweet note of encouragement from Donna Jo (principal’s secretary), and that was how my sewing journey began. Both of my grandmothers were amazing seamstresses, but I had never learned to sew from them. One thing I’ve learned about the sewing community is that it’s full of people who want to share their love of the craft with others, and I love being part of such a giving community!

In 2016, I left my teaching job and committed to sewing and quilting full time. At my 9-5 job (really more like 5-9), I would find myself thinking about sewing in spare moments. The Dreamer’s Star Quilt is a quilt I drew while dreaming of doing the thing I love as a career, and I knew I wanted to use my favorite pattern for the What shade are you project. The design reminds me of the toy kaleidoscopes that produce different images just by turning the end, and how the images can be so bold and impactful. I love quilts that have a large central design and aren’t necessarily block based. I also remembered that when I started quilting, I struggled with selecting lots of fabrics to coordinate within a quilt, and I wanted a design that would look great with a two-color scheme, but could also make a big impact with lots of colors. This is the original quilt that I used Michael Miller’s painter’s canvas with.

Dreamer's Star Mini Quilt — Dreamer’s Star Mini Quilt

I knew that the Dreamer’s Star Quilt would just glow with RJR Cotton Supreme Solids, and wanted to use colors that would reflect the gorgeous sunsets that we sometimes see out in the Texas Hill Country.

There are so many amazing colors to choose from and I went with 11 of my absolute favorites:

292-Turks and Caicos

279-Purple Haze

274-Riviera

317-Jacaranda

391-Robin’s Egg

328-Bora Bora

422-Plum

371-Melody

333-Bougainvillea

287-Raging Ruby

378-Lilac Festival.

While I was browsing through the color card, I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself about the clever names of the colors. Some of my color selections might tell you that I’m ready to take a vacation 😉

Piecing the quilt together was a breeze with lots of simple half-square triangles and chain piecing.

I love to use several shades of similar colors to create a little depth and dimensions to a quilt. For the backing I used Bougainvillea with a strip of Bora Bora down the middle, and Turks and Caicos for the binding. I loved seeing all the colors melt together, but still be distinctly different, just as in a sunset.

Back of the quilt — Bougainvillea with a strip of Bora Bora really make the quilt back glow.

Once the top was completed, I loaded it on my longarm and quilted some simple straight lines with rulers and added some free motion accents in coordinating Glide threads.

I love using Quilter’s Dream Wool to keep the quilt lightweight–remember, I live in Texas–but still let the quilting pop. I had a lot of fun getting some pictures at the Cibolo Wilderness Trail in Boerne, Texas. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and my husband and mom were my professional quilt holders.

Check out other versions of the Dreamer’s Star on Instagram with #dreamersstarquilt and you can pick up your copy of the pattern here. The pattern comes with three different size options, and the color combinations you could choose are limitless! I had so much fun making this quilt and drooling over the Cotton Supreme Solids. Thanks for joining me in this quilting adventure, and a huge thank you to RJR for allowing me to participate and for the inspiration they bring with the #whatshadeareyou blog hop!

Quilt Details:

Pattern: ‘Dreamer’s Star’ by Kustom Kwilts

Fabrics: RJR Cotton Supreme Solids (full list above)

Backing: Bougainvillea and Bora Bora RJR Cotton Supreme Solids

Binding: Turks and Caicos RJR Cotton Supreme Solids

Quilting: Long arm quilted by Joanna Marsh of Kustom Kwilts

Finished Size: Approx. 80″ x 80″

Posted on January 31, 2018February 4, 2018 by kustomkwilts

Churn Dash Quilt – Love Patchwork and Quilting Issue 54

Love Patchwork and Quilting Issue 54

Who doesn’t love a little churn dash quilt? I know I can’t seem to get enough of the traditional block that basically represents butter being churned! Have you peeked in issue 54 to check it out? I’ll tell you a little bit about the design…

I’m so excited to share my most recent quilt with you from the Love Patchwork and Quilting Issue 54. I’m inspired by bright, saturated colors–and that’s typically the palette I use. But for this quilt, I opt for a more subtle palette. The cheery sherbet colors and hints of greys that are sure to make you swoon! This quilt- “Sorbet Shades” in the mag, is inspired by one of my favorite traditional quilt blocks–the churn dash. This block is so rich in history and I love that it can be interpreted in a modern way. I have a great appreciation for the traditional quilt blocks and the colors they typically have. I also love seeing them updated in a more modern way.

One of the first quilts I made when I was learning to sew was a traditional churn dash quilt. My mother and I gave this special quilt to my grandmother prior to her passing. The churn dash block represents so much more to me than just a traditional quilting block. The simplicity of the block lends itself to being altered in construction in so many ways. The possibilities for this block are limitless! I quilted this quilt with swirls on the white background and simple straight lines on the colored blocks.

Sorbet Shades Quilt as pictured in Love Patchwork and Quilting, Issue 54 — Photo provided by Love Patchwork and Quilting

For this project, I use some delightful Kona Cotton Solids and create a coordinating pillow to go with the quilt. The colors in these projects really make me want some ice cream and macaroons–or really any other cute little pastel dessert! I hope you’ll checkout the issue (digital issues are available here). Don’t be afraid to try your hand at breaking out of the traditional box to create a modern spin on traditional. (photos above provided by Love Patchwork and Quilting).

Posted on July 18, 2017February 4, 2018 by kustomkwilts

Summer Picnic Quilt

Summer Picnic Quilt tutorial

When summer arrives, I always get the itch to make a quilt. Nevermind the fact that I live in Texas and it is sweltering, to say the least. Also, disregard the fact that I have quilts coming out of my ears…what is that saying…you can’t swing a cat without hitting a quilt? (Surely that isn’t the saying, but I think you catch my drift!) So when I am thinking about making a new quilt…I need to have a reason for it, aside from just being functional to keep you warm. I also love to sew with materials that are a little unexpected. So I teamed up with Janome and American Quilter’s Society to bring you a free tutorial for a great summer picnic quilt.

This pattern is great for many reasons. It’s layer cake friendly, which makes it a super quick sew. The blocks are large enough to feature those great prints you’ve been holding on to for a special quilt. The quilt is large enough to accommodate a family picnic at the park. The backing can be made from laminated cotton (or regular quilting cotton, if you choose), so it won’t pick up dirt as easily as standard quilting cotton. You can just as easily throw it in the wash as you can a regular quilt (line dry to be on the safe side). So grab two layer cake packs and your favorite sewing and quilting notions and get ready to sew your socks off! Follow the link to the American Quilter’s Society blog to get started on your picnic quilt.

This is a great quilt to fold up and keep in the back of the car for unexpected outings (and if you have a little one in diapers, you can always use the laminated cotton side as a quick changing station on the go!).

I quilted this with some large meandering loops on my Janome MC9400, and was done with the quilting in under two hours.

Since the back of my quilt uses laminated cotton, I slipped a Supreme Slider onto the bed of the sewing machine and it really helped glide the fabric easily under the needle. This isn’t something you have to do, but it certainly makes the task a little easier. I tend to use one anytime I’m quilting something larger than a mini quilt. Put on your favorite podcast/Netflix and get ready to sew up a storm! Happy sewing 🙂

Posted on June 6, 2017February 4, 2018 by kustomkwilts

San Antonio Modern Quilt Guild Mini Quilt Show

The guild I belong to recently held a mini quilt show/silent auction, where the members were challenged to make modern mini quilts measuring 16″ square to show and raise awareness for modern quilting and invite people to ask questions about what our guild does. The event was graciously hosted by Sew Special Quilts in San Antonio, where they provided space for us to show the quilts and have our meeting after hours. They were so awesome and have a great selection of quilting and sewing supplies, so if you’re in need and in the area, please show them some love!

I already posted about the mini quilt I made two weeks ago (the double wedding ring mini quilt), but I wanted to share the other two quilts I worked on, in collaboration with Debra–a fellow member of the guild.

The first quilt I quilted was pieced by Debra from yet another guild member’s inaugural fabric line (Leslie Tucker Jenison-Urban Artifacts by RJR Fabrics). It’s a great design and awesome way to showcase a variety of great fabrics. For this quilt, I just quilted some simple contrasting straight lines. I think the fabrics and design of the mini are more prone to show better when the quilting design is simple.

Pieced by Debra B, fabric-Urban Artifacts by Leslie Tucker Jenison
pardon the not-square appearing mini. It really was square, but I forgot to smooth that wrinkle before I snapped this picture. This was right after quilting and mini was not yet bound.

The second quilt I quilted was also in collaboration with Debra. Debra hand cut each charm square from a Grunge charm pack and fused the fabrics to the background. I thought this was a super cool quilt pattern to use and has the illusion that all the circles are connected. For this one I wanted to do something to make the circles stand out from the background, so I quilted a smaller grid on the fused circles and then did some straight line quilting on the background fabric.

Mini Quilt “pieced” by Debra B. using Grunge fabrics

We had a really great night and the event was so much fun. It isn’t often that everyone in our guild participates in “Sew and Tell”, and we had a lot of members participate in this. Seeing the range of everyone’s quilting interests and what their personal specialty is was a treat.

Posted on May 30, 2017February 4, 2018 by kustomkwilts

Love Patchwork and Quilting Issue 48!

photo provided by Love Patchwork and Quilting
fabric for quilt provided by Robert Kaufman Fabrics

Have any of you ever made a goal so outrageous that you don’t ever really even consider it to be a possibility? You might still work towards that goal, but the hopes that it will come to fruition aren’t there. That’s exactly how I feel about this post. I always looked at the quilts and projects in this magazine and was blown away by the talent and variety. I’m BEYOND excited (so excited I’m yelling in all caps!) to say that this quilt I submitted to Love Patchwork and Quilting Magazine made the cover! When I started sewing a few years ago, I joined the San Antonio Modern Quilt Guild, and someone mentioned that LP& Q was the only magazine they bought. So I jumped on that train. I had never heard of it, because I was very new to quilting, let alone sewing. I was tired of the traditional color palettes that are represented in other quilting magazines. It was definitely love at first sight, and I subscribed to it immediately. (And ask for it for Christmas every year!)

photo provided by Love Patchwork and Quilting
fabric for quilt provided by Robert Kaufman Fabrics

I’m super excited about the photography of this quilt! I’ve never had a quilt professionally “shot” before, so it is thrilling to see the results (and know that I have a lot to learn when it comes to my own quilt photography 😉

This quilt is something I worked really hard on, and for a long time. I am so thankful to the amazing people at Robert Kaufman Fabrics for providing the Kona Cotton Solids that were used to make the cover quilt, and for the opportunity from LP&Q to share my quilt!

I did some custom quilting and a little bit of ruler work on the longarm to finish off the quilt. I hope you’ll check out the quilt in issue 48 of Love Patchwork and Quilting! Thanks for letting me share my happy news with you 🙂

Posted on May 23, 2017February 4, 2018 by kustomkwilts

English Paper Piecing – Double wedding ring style!

Good morning! So many milestones going on in our household this week–our little girl turned 6 months last week (How has it already been half a year???) I celebrated my first mother’s day, started the baby on her first solid foods, and it’s my husband’s birthday this week. Needless to say, it’s been super busy, and I feel like I’ve been to the grocery store almost every day this week. Do they give frequent flier miles for multiple grocery store trips in one day? I should also mention we live 12 miles from the nearest grocery store… I’m sure you can relate to the feeling that you’re flying by the seat of your pants on household chores and checklists. Laundry, dishes, etc., etc., but I wouldn’t trade it for the world!

One of the many reasons I love English Paper Piecing is the opportunity to slow down and enjoy the process of hand sewing. I also love combining multiple parts of the sewing and design process and planning out a project from start to finish. There is something so satisfying in making something completely from start to finish…even if it sometimes feels like you’re recreating the wheel.

I started by sitting down with my EQ7 software and designing a mini quilt for our local Modern Quilt Guild. We recently had our first silent auction event and mini quilt show (SO FUN!). Then I printed templates onto cardstock for the EPP pieces and started thinking about my fabrics. I had a great charm pack of Kaufman Kona Cotton Solids that I had been holding onto for over a year, and thought this would be a great opportunity to use it. I traced and cut out my fabrics, and then had to pause when I selected my background fabric.

I knew I didn’t want white, and I really like the effect black and white patterned fabrics have with solids. So I auditioned a few different fabric choices–I really thought I wanted to go with a black and white stripe, but I opted for a more solid-reading print instead. I pieced together a few of the DWR pieces and then placed them on top of my background fabric choices. Pictured below is what I thought I was going to go with, but I instead selected a Tula Pink True Colors black and white print. Because…Tula!!!

From the basic design in EQ7 (They already have the blocks drawn up…I just sized them to fit my needs), printing the cardstock, then cutting the fabrics, I got to take a breath and piece in my leisure time. HA. Leisure time…You know what I mean. The semi-quiet moments in the house when my hair wasn’t on fire 😉

Then I loaded the mini on my longarm and did some simple stitch in the ditch around the wedding rings and some loopy swirl combos on the black and white background that blend nicely. It may seem kind of dumb to longarm a mini quilt, since you need a little bit more backing fabric than you would if you were to quilt it on a domestic, but I figured I paid for that huge machine and I’m going to get my money’s worth! Plus, I had just taken a fresh quilt off of the frame, and I had to take advantage of it before I loaded my next quilt. It made for a slightly quicker finish than if I’d done it on the domestic sewing machine.

I was thrilled with the results, and playing with the color gradation and high-contrast background was really a lot of fun. But mostly, I was able to really enjoy the process and each step along the way. I don’t know about you, but from the day I started sewing, I’ve always eyed the double wedding ring quilts. I’m not sure I have the patience at this point in my life to see a full-sized quilt through, so this mini quilt was the perfect opportunity for me to cross a DWR quilt off my quilting bucket list. I had also never taken the time to hand piece curves before, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. Really, I had built it up to be this super scary moment, when all you really need to do is take a little extra time and carefully mark the centers of each EPP piece prior to piecing it, and make sure you line the centers up while adjusting the curves.

I hope your sewing adventures take you somewhere awesome this week, and try to slow down and enjoy the process behind what you’re doing. I know I really enjoy the projects where I can slow down a bit and take a break from the hustle and bustle of life. Happy sewing friends!