Hello!

I’m writing you comfortably in my PJs from my home studio surrounded by a mess of projects. When my sister told me she was pregnant, I pictured myself sitting quietly, sewing things for my nephew-to-be, dreaming of all the wonderful things to look forward through. In reality, I’ve been stress buying fabric in bulk and have wracked up quite a to-be-sewn pile. I’ll have to sew my way out of it and of course leave enough time for drawing and painting! Did I mention I’m taking up the harmonica? We recently received a free set of harmonicas, if our neighbors don’t kill us, I think we found another fun thing to do in the evenings.

Fall is here in Michigan and I thought today would be a perfect day to share this new quilt I made for my cousin’s new babe! How about this for some fall color!?

To create this one I used “The Waterhole” collection by Riley Blake Designs. I paired it with a Kona solid on the back for a bold vintage looking color. I regret that I do not remember the name of this color.

I pieced this quilt in a spontaneous fashion building around the center block in the usual “log cabin quilt as you go way.” I maintained the upright position of all the fabric’s artwork as I went. I added some thinner strips for variety as well.

Working as I go gave me the opportunity to highlight some parts of the fabric with a little bit of a fussy cutting. But not too fussy!

My Juki continues to be a workhorse. I had some issues recently but I took her to the shop and a quick clean and rebalancing of the machine got her throwing good stitches again. That’s one of the reasons my piles got so out of control, my machine was out of commission for a while. I didn’t know what to do with myself in the evenings without my machine.

This baby quilt is a little oversized, I liked the idea of a more “portrait” style shape. This sweet new babe is Iowa so I doubled up 100% cotton batting and it gives this quilt big fluff.

I thought I’d wrap up and share this photo of my aunt finding SUMMER OF THE TREE ARMY at a Michigan book shop! Thanks for everyone’s support of my work - I do not share my appreciation nearly enough as my heart feels it.

I hope the fall breeze comes through your windows today and refreshes your soul as it is doing for me.

Kirbi

Hello from Stag Studios!

BIG news today, we have adopted a new backyard friend who likes to kick it on the spa. Yep, we are in love.

Today, I’d like to share more details about my puff quilt that I shared on my June 23rd studio update. I was really inspired to do this project, everywhere I looked I was seeing puff quilts and they all look like pillows of heaven! I know what it’s like to sew a large quilt but adding more weight to an already tough task was intimidating!

One of the reasons I wanted to create this quilt was for our salvaged/repurposed outdoor sofa needed more padding! I thought a big puff quilt will be perfect. If you didn’t see my post about our dumpster couch you can check it out here:

There are great tutuorials out there for puff quilts but I rarely like to follow directions. Instead, I read patterns and watched tutorials online, and dove into making some of my own prototypes. My great-grandmother’s quilts were “puff” quilts but used triangles, so for my prototype, I experimented with using triangles. See a picture of my grandma’s quilt here.

I loved the look but knowing I was going for more cush on the outdoor sofa, I went with a square for more puff and I made my squares much larger than any pattern I’ve seen out there. To keep a nice shape, I lined the top layer of the quilt in warm and white batting before forming the full square and stuffing!

Evan helping me with the stuffing (below.) There’s an art to not stuffing too much so you can sew the puffs together but not under stuffing them either!

This was the most exciting part for me, seeing all the puffs stack up! As I made more and more, yes I did take the opportunity to throw them in the air with glee. Why not. :)

This quilt laid on the floor for about a week as I moved around the color. I know, most quilters know how their quilt will lay out from the start but that’s just not how I work. I like to play with my colors and see what I can come up with.

I ended up arranging the poofs in an ombre of sorts. The next step was to sew them all together. Holding the poofs together was nearly impossible. Really, there were several nights I told Evan I was going to give up on the puff quilt!

After a lot of frustration I had an idea, I dug into some of my painting supplies to find these heavy duty clips I use to hold and stretch canvas. The “little clip that could” and “big daddy clamp” worked wonderfully. Along with some extra hands (thanks Evan) every puff got secured.

Next time, I will likely sew them in triangles as my great-grandmother did. I will also consider including more hand sewing. For this job, the big puffs help the comfort of our seating but I don’t see it as an easy blanket to wrap and use. Lining the top layer of the puff was a good idea but it does add extra weight, something to consider for my next one.

The puff quilt is a favorite of our dog Maisey and saved our backs on a recent vacation. Our AirBnB had bad mattress, we slept soundly on the puff quilt we brought with us “just in case.”

Have a great rest of your week! I’m busy working on some sketches this week and doing a bit of knitting. Will share more soon.

xx

Kirbi

To me, free motion quilting is to me, one of the most artful and challenging quilting skills! When I first start practicing it was so discouraging. My thread was breaking! Nests of threads all over my work! To practice, I created a quilt sandwich. This image is from my organic quilt tutorial you can find at this LINK.

SIGH* This below was one of my more successful practice pieces, but still struggling so much to make stitches even. At this point I wasn’t worried about a pattern, I just wanted to create a line without any problems!!

I just hate wasting fabric but I knew I needed to try it on something bigger so I could really work on my stitch length and groove. A small quilt sandwich I’d finish in a few minutes. This quilt yellow, red and white quilt top was something I had laying around that I didn’t really have much of a plan for.

Working on smaller areas, like focussing on each triangle at a time drastically improved my work. I found that when you are ready to lay down your foot, take a PAUSE and know what direction you are going to go!! Heh, isn’t that a thought for life?

I worked each half triangle with loop de loops at first. I decided NO rip-outs, this is for practice!!

I have big illustration projects going on in the studio so I’m sewing in the kitchen. My kitchen table is the biggest surface in the house and I found it very helpful to have everything laid nice and flat. My Juki has a large, adaquet throat space but is not a long arm so more surface space is helpful.

Durring this time I focused on making sure the begining of the stitch was clean - no birds nests. This means bringing up my bobbin thread and holding any thread tails out of the way. Some triangles were a disaster and some I was seeing progress. Towards the end when I felt ready, I went for the meander, and I saw it start to happen! People, I squealed out loud with joy!

All my practice began to pay off and the meander was just HAPPENING! Flying high was an understatement and I was feeling confident enough to do a meander for a special quilt I was planning for my sweet cousin’s baby boy on the way.

This quilt is simple squares but by using a lot of different patterned fabrics it makes a “simple” quilt more elevated. The meandering will become more of the start of the show. Here, I’m using moda fabric. It isn’t cheap to make a quilt with a lot of variations but for this special gift, I had help funding this big project. Get this, the title of this fabric collection was called MEANDER! I believe in signs!

I should mention, I drive a JUKI. I love my Juki so much, my favorite aspect is the self-threading needle. It always works and is so quick, with a click of a button I’m off to the races. It has a lot of the fancier features of the very high-end and expensive machines but more affordable. I have an affiliate link to a very similar machine in my store if you are interested in learning more.

You can see the piecing coming together below. Trying to get each corner pointy and crisp. Most quilters work in strips but I find working into large blocks works best for me. When I sew long strips, I’m more likely to get an “off” corner.

One the quilt top is done, I sandwiched it up! I used two layers of batting for extra snuggliness. The top layer I used a lofty batting for extra poof. I’ve been into spray basting lately, (check out my store for what I use.)

Now, one thing I’ve learned about spray basting is that you need to let that stuff DRY for a day. Eager is an understandment for me, but that stuff will gunk up your needle and you’ll end up breaking thread, having wonky stitches - all the frustrating problems. It’s just pure torcher to let this thing lay here and not sew it. up!

I went for the meader, one square at a time. Once big sections started to finish up I couldn’t stop squealing! Ek! I’m really doing it! I left tails long so I could bury them later in the traditional way.

Even though I spray basted this quilt, I found the edges of the blanket were tough to meander as the fabric was wanting to flip on me so I ended up pining them down and that fixed the problem beautifully. I treated myself to these unicorns pins by Tula, because, well, unicorns + pink obviously.

The meandering turns this gingham back into something extra special. A pattern on the back also helps hide any oopsies - they happen!

The final touch…. a heart on the corner. To create this heart I used water-soluble paper and used ALL the tiny scraps from the project. If you’d like to create a signature detail like mine check out my tutorial how to make a heart like this! You can find the tutorial on youtube here.

May you find your own canvas to create on in the everyday things you do today. Have a great week.

xx

Kirbi

LINKS TO YOUTUBE VIDEOS:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Bonus Variations

In Part 5, we pull this quilt together with a binding and FINISH!

Sewing on the binding…. It’s my favorite part of the quilting process. It may seem like a big task (and it is) but it does go quickly. I like to sit on the couch using the quilt as a blanket.

To begin, you're going to have to square off your quilt again.

It’s called the Organic Quilt so rounded corners are a must! Plus, I love rounded corners, I find them easier to work with and look more modern. Everybody in the year 2022 has a tube of Clorox wipes and it makes a great template for a rounded corner using a water-soluble pen or disappearing ink. I draw around the curve and cut along the line. Don’t overthink this!

To create a binding we need to create strips of fabric that we can sew together that will fit all the way around the circumference of the quilt with some extra (I do about 2 feet extra but I’m an anxious sewer.) The strips need to be cut at two and a half inches.

You may want to cut your strips to the longest part of the fabric that you have. Now if you have a short ruler you might find it easier to do the other way and certainly, I've made quilts and seen quilts that have strips of all different sizes that come together to make the binding and it's very unnoticeable - no stress!

Once you’ve cut your strips. Sew all your strips together to create one long strip. Then, using your iron fold your strips in half and press. Not so bad right?

Now, to attach the binding in the middle of our quilt so pick any side and go in the middle (It doesn't have to be exact!) You won’t be putting attaching your binding at the top of your strip, give yourself some room to attach it later. This is where that extra two feet come in handy.

You’ll line the strip up from raw edge to raw edge. In the illustration below you can see how I left about a foot of overhang and I will begin sewing at the arrow on the dotted line. Use clips to help you secure the fabric while you sew. (Recommendations in my store)

Don’t be intimidated by going around a corner. Use clips and go slow. If you need to turn your wheel by hand that works!

Attaching your two ends of binding can be a little tricky. I have a loose approach to it that has always worked for me and it’s easier to show via my video.

The last step to finishing the quilt is to fold the binding around to the other side and sew by hand. Yes, by hand! This is my favorite part of the quilting process! While you're working on this you can sit on your couch using your quilt as a blanket sewing one stitch at a time. To start the stitch I cut a length of thread, thread my needle, and tie a knot at the end.

I put the needle right into the stitch line and through the edge of the binding. Next, I insert the needle directly below where the thread just came out at the stitch line. Sit back and repeat! If this feels weird to you try changing the direction you are stitching. I stitch right to left.

Treat the rounded corners just as you have on the straight edges. Use your clips to secure and take it a little bit at a time. You'll do this around your quilt until your unique organic quilt is finished!

If you've made the organic quilt or are having any troubles reach out to me on Twitter Instagram or Facebook! I’d love to see your creation! Tag me! @kirbifagan

If you enjoyed making the Organic Quilt and want to try more improv quilting watch my BONUS video with ideas for variations on the Organic Quilt!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Bonus Variations

Supplies

In Part 4, we will create a quilt sandwich and begin sewing the layers together.

Step One: Now the quilt top is done. You likely have some rough edges, we will need to trim this off. Do you get nervous cutting your quilt? Cutting fabric is a skill and does take practice so be patient and be brave! As a rule of thumb, I always let the bulk of my fabric hang to my right and the scrap side (the stuff we don’t need at my left.) My ruler ALWAYS goes in my left hand and my rotary cutter in my right. This helps me keep my flow. If you are left-handed you can switch sides. If you stick to this rule cutting will feel more intuitive.

Use the longest ruler you have, a heat pen, or a water-soluble pen to help you if you’d like to draw a line on your quilt to guide you.

Step Two: Now it’s time to make that quilt sandwich.

Place your backing fabric face down and your batting on top of that. The backing and the batting should be the same size and several inches larger than your quilt. You may have to sew fabrics together to make your backing big enough. Spoiler alert - it won’t be noticeable While it can feel like a waste of fabric at the moment, this is a shortcut you don’t want to take, believe me. Your quilt will likely shift some when you quilt. On top of the batting place and center your quilt.

Pin you sandwich together. Curved pins work especially great. I place my pins about a hand print apart. This will help your quilt from shifting while you sew. Also, basting spray is an awesome alternative. If your quilt is really big or this is your first quilt, you may want to do both!

Quilt basting spray link amazon

Quilt your sandwich using a walking foot. Follow the curves of your fabric. I quilted along either side of the seams of my waves as a guide. In places where I had a larger stripe, I sewed extra lines as needed.

Psssst! I had a few stripes that really shifted, it was pretty visable as the fabric was pulling. So I sewed a few more lines through it and after it was washed it wrinkles of course and it covers up these mistakes. Woopsie! In Part five, we will put on the binding and finish this project!

Sewing on the binding. It’s my favorite part of the qiulting process. It may seem like a big task (and it is) but it does go quickly. I like to sit on the couch using the quilt as a blanket.