Author Archives: Stephanie Dodson

“Alice’s Cabin”

My great aunt, Emma, gave my mother some fabric on a recent visit. There was a particular pattern that we thought was a bit strange, to say the least. Rather than passing it along to someone else, I decided to make something I liked out of the fabric I did not like.

Center: focus fabric for "Alice's Cabin" mini-quilt

Center: focus fabric for “Alice’s Cabin” mini-quilt

What was wrong with the fabric, you might ask. Cobalt blue is my favorite color, and I’m often drawn to blue fabric. Toile in and of itself doesn’t bother me, and mushroom fabric can be fun. The fabric feels a bit like linen, or a linen blend. All that said, I don’t really dig the scale of the full color mushrooms alongside the scenes in blue and white. Furthermore, the up and down direction of the print is not appealing. The small bunnies upside down next to the large mushrooms are difficult for me to visually reconcile. Certainly, taken on their own, I like parts of the fabric. But, as a whole, it doesn’t excite me. I added additional blue and white fabric, and decided to pair it with orange.

Log cabin blocks are fun to make, and really lend themselves to improvisational piecing. I wanted to fussy cut parts of the fabric I like, such as the mushrooms and the bird and bunny. As I was piecing and quilting, the mushrooms drew my mind to “Alice in Wonderland,” so naturally I named this one “Alice’s Cabin.”

"Alice's Cabin"

“Alice’s Cabin”

Detail: Flower on "Alice's Cabin"

Detail: Flower on “Alice’s Cabin”

 

Early quilts

This post will serve as a place to document early quilts that were pieced and quilted before the blog was started. It will be updated as I find photos…not really sure if I can remember all the quilts I’ve given away over the years.


Ladybug quilt

2011: “Lady Analilia”
This quilt was made for our first great niece, Ana. I pieced it, and wanted to free motion quilt it on my domestic machine. I had problems quilting it and was very grateful that Julia Day was able to quilt it on her longarm in time for the shower.


“A New Day” – my first quilt show quilt

The first time I attended the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild they announced the national MQG Kauffman solids challenge. All of the color ways, except pastels, were taken by members. At the end of the meeting, Jacquie Gering from Tallgrass Prairie Studio (guild president at the time) was kind enough to allow me to have a charm pack when I promised to complete the challenge. Pastel wasn’t a popular choice, and it wouldn’t have been my first choice, but I was up for a challenge. It was a solids-only challenge, and I added some additional personal parameters. I decided I wasn’t going to purchase any new fabric, and also decided I was finally going to bind, rather than pillowcase a quilt. I left the meeting positively giddy with inspiration and couldn’t wait to get started.  It might be considered more of an art quilt than a modern quilt to some, but I’m a bit of a crossover. I used watercolor pencils to deepen the color of the pastel fabrics and appliquéd three coneflowers, using every bit of the charm pack. There is one flower to represent me, one for my husband and one for our daughter. I joined the KCMQG the next meeting and was happy to hang this mini-quilt in the Quilts on the Quad show on the UMKC campus. It was the first show for the KCMQG, the first quilt I’d hung in a show and the first quilt I ever kept for myself. This was pieced and quilted in 2011.

"A New Day" quilted in 2011

“A New Day” quilted in 2011

“16” for Alex

I am so happy to have made this quilt for Alex’s 16th birthday. Over the course of a year or more whenever we’d stop at a quilt shop Alex would pick out fabric she liked and we’d buy fat quarters. I pieced her quilt using a pattern called “Hokey Pokey,” modifying it slightly to include some large squares. Because of Alex’s interest in Japanese culture, I added the kanji for “16” in raw edge appliqué. My aunt Sherry was gracious enough to allow me to use her Tin Lizzie, so it was the first quilt I quilted on a longarm. Of course, I was instantly hooked. This was pieced and quilted in March 2012.

“16″ pieced and quilted in March 2011

“16″ pieced and quilted in 2012