Tag Archives: Denyse Schmidt

Courthouse Steps

June 10, 2024UncategorizedBonny Fabric, Courthouse Steps, Denyse Schmidt, Ruby + Bee SolidsBrooklyn Quilting Co.

I have a list of classic quilt patterns I want to make one day, and Courthouse Steps has been on the list for a while. Today, it gets checked off as done!

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This quilt features Denyse Schmidt’s Bonny fabric and Ruby + Bee solids.

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You may recall I made Denyse’s version of Courthouse Steps, called Courting Steps, back in 2021 for the launch of her Darling collection. It was photographed for the look book and you can read about it HERE. Ever since then, I’ve known I wanted to make my own Courthouse Steps quilt and I thought Bonny would be perfect.

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I love this pattern, love this fabric, and I’m overall pleased with how it turned out. I was a little hesitant to include the solid really dark fabrics, which when you step back really stick out, but I think it’s okay. Thoughts?

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I tried to spread the dark fabric evenly throughout the quilt so it looks balanced. I also just really liked some of the Bonny fabrics paired with the dark colors. And if there’s anything I always say when quilting, do what you like. Who cares if someone else doesn’t like it!

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Going into this project I had a stack of Ruby + Bee fat quarters that has now shrunk. I’ve cut into it a bit for previous quilts but this one really used a lot of the fabric.

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The Ruby + Bee colors are so good and I know they’ve recently expanded with even more color options. I might have to invest in a new fat quarter bundle to keep in my stash. Isn’t it nice having the right solid color on-hand when you need it?

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That’s all for now. As always, thanks for being here and reading; I’ll be back later with more. In the meantime, you can keep up with all my recent happenings over on Instagram.

Five + Ten – Finished

March 27, 2024UncategorizedDenyse Schmidt, Five + Ten Fabric, Ruby + Bee SolidsBrooklyn Quilting Co.

I made this quilt top back in 2022, and in my original blog post I wrote about how hard it was to make. It was a really challenging pattern and I had some hiccups along the way. But now that it’s done and quilted, I really like how it turned out.

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This quilt features Denyse Schmidt’s Five + Ten collection along with a few Ruby + Bee solids that I needed to stretch out the fabric to complete all of the blocks.

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This pattern is not Irish Chain but similar. (I probably made it more difficult.)

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Even though it was difficult to make, it’s always good to try something new and push ourselves to make things that are hard. It’s how we get better!

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I also have to talk about the back of this quilt. The blue floral is a piece of fabric that was in my grandma’s sewing supplies. She passed a number of years ago and I inherited all of her fabric.

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The blue fabric goes perfectly with the front, but when I was measuring it out it barely fit; there were zero inches to give in the length. But was that going to stop me from trying to make it work? No. I knew it might be a bit short after it was quilted and cause me problems, but I decided to try and make it work.

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Well, readers, it did cause me problems. LOL. There were a couple spots where it came up short, less than a half an inch. It was a pretty easy fix though. I had a few thin strips of the blue fabric left after I trimmed the quilt and I was able to patch them in. You really don’t notice unless you examine the back closely.

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My quilts are rarely “perfect” and to me this is in the spirit of generations of quilters who ‘used what they have’ to create beautiful quilts. And I think my grandma, who was very thrifty, would approve.

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As I wrap this quilt post up, shout out to my quilt-holding friend who helped take these photos with me. It was a windy day and standing on a bridge trying to get pictures was not easy! But nothing with this quilt was so it’s quite fitting.

Midsummer

August 14, 2023UncategorizedDenyse Schmidt, Scrap QuiltBrooklyn Quilting Co.

I found myself wanting to make something easy(ish) this summer, but I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted it to look like. So I did what I often do, and I came up with a scrap quilt.

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I finished this quilt in the middle of July – about midsummer – hence the name.

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I should note I only had one quilt holder for these pics but I really needed two people. Next time when I show the finished version, I’ll be sure to recruit a second holder. But nonetheless, my friend made a valiant effort this time around. LOL

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Back to the quilt. If you’ve ever made or seen a Trip Around the World quilt, this quilt kind of has those vibes, a little.

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My goal was to use up scraps, even small ones, and also incorporate solids. If you begin in the center, it starts pattern/solid/pattern/solid etc. etc. as you work your way out. I end with a solid navy blue fabric around the edge.

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The patterned fabric is Denyse Schmidt and the solids are a little bit of everything, with mostly Ruby + Bee and Kona Cotton.

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One thing I didn’t really take into consideration when I started was how much of the same fabric I would need as I worked my way out. I had to use up some of my bigger scrap pieces so that I had enough, which was great, but I hadn’t really thought it through in the beginning. It worked out because I’m always trying to shrink my scrap pile!

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I took photos of one other quilt while I was out with my friend so I will be sharing that one soon. Talk to you then.

You’re A Star

June 26, 2023UncategorizedDarling Fabric, Denyse Schmidt, Star QuiltBrooklyn Quilting Co.

Aren’t star quilts the best? I love the many different star blocks available and how they can look classic yet modern at the same time. That’s why I knew I had to use Denyse Schmidt’s Darling collection to make a star quilt.

I love the colors in Darling and I think they look so good with the white background, which is from Windham fabrics.

One of my favorite parts of making this quilt was pairing two fabrics together for each block. None of the blocks repeat, unless I made a mistake and accidently did one block twice, but I think I’m good!

When I started placing the blocks, I was trying to move them around so the colors were somewhat evenly distributed throughout the quilt. It was especially important to me with the yellow – because it’s the only yellow fabric and it really pops – but I also didn’t want it to look too perfect, if that makes sense.

Speaking of perfect, I wasn’t a stickler for the stripes in my fabric going the same way. If you look closely, you can see the striped fabric in the stars goes different directions. I know this kind of thing would bug a lot of quilters, but I have a different take.

If you go to quilt museums or quilt shows that have antique quilts, they are often meticulous and perfect. I love that! But I also love when I find old quilts at an antique store or a quilt someone’s grandma passed down to them and they aren’t as perfect looking. Those quilts are equally as beautiful to me and that’s how I like to quilt.

One last note on this quilt. It used to be smaller! I ran out of white fabric and was going to let it go and just let it be a smaller quilt, but I sat on it for a while and I really felt like it needed to be bigger, so I got more white fabric.

It was the right call.

Darling – Finished

October 17, 2022UncategorizedDarling Fabric, Denyse SchmidtBrooklyn Quilting Co.

I’m so happy to finally reveal this project. Say hello to my Darling quilt.

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Last year, Denyse Schmidt asked me to make a quilt for her next fabric collection, Darling. If you are a longtime reader of this blog you know that Denyse is one of my favorite fabric designers, so I was thrilled to get my hands on the collection early and make a quilt for the fabric launch.

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I happily used my Thanksgiving break last year to make this quilt top. That is how far in advance these things take to come to fruition. And I’ve had to keep my lips sealed about it since then!

Denyse and I decided I would make her Courting Steps pattern, which is Denyse’s version of Courthouse Steps. The pattern is available for free on Windham’s website. You can find it HERE.

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It’s an easy pattern and ends up being about a lap sized quilt, but you can adjust that and add blocks if you want something larger.

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One thing I did that is not reflected in the pattern and is hard to see in the images is to add (sparingly) some of the patterned white fabric to the white sections. It’s just a little something to add more interest. You can see it better in this image.

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I hope some of you take advantage of the free pattern and make your own version. I would love to see quilts that use different fabric combinations and how you make it your own.

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Be sure to tag me @brooklynquiltingco on social media if you make this quilt. Thanks for reading!

Five + Ten

April 11, 2022UncategorizedDenyse Schmidt, Denyse Schmidt Fabric, Five + Ten FabricBrooklyn Quilting Co.

Let me introduce you to the quilt that made my head spin and almost broke me. Between the quilt math, the pattern, and the layout, this one had me mentally exhausted. That said, I think it turned out great. LOL

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There are many parts of this quilt making process that could have been easier, but I had a limited amount of fabric and was trying to stretch it as far as I could. Had I had more wiggle room with the fabric it wouldn’t have been so difficult, but I needed every last inch of my fat quarters so I had to get every measurement and every cut right. Pressure!

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In the end, I did have to add in some Ruby + Bee solids to get enough blocks, but I kind of like the unexpected solids here and there. It makes it not so perfect and I sometimes like my quilts that way.

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The main fabric in this quilt is Denyse Schmidt’s Five + Ten collection. I love the bright colors and how they pop against the white background. The colors also look great against this mural I found in Castle Rock, Colorado. I took this picture when I was there visiting my brother over Christmas.

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The pattern is Irish Chain-like, but not quite. The blocks were very labor intensive, which also made it a hard quilt to finish. I will say this quilt was reminder to push myself to make something hard. I can do hard things! Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I want a quick and easy quilt to make, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but there’s also value in challenging yourself to try something new or get through something hard.

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Now that this quilt top is done, I’m setting it aside for a while before I finish it. While the challenge of it was a good exercise in patience, my brain needs a break from it. Let’s check back on this quilt top in a few months.

Jewel Box – Finished

October 18, 2021UncategorizedDenyse Schmidt, Denyse Schmidt Fabric, Scrap Quilt, Vintage SheetBrooklyn Quilting Co.

Today’s post is a short one, but I wanted to document that I did finish this quilt!

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I talk in more detail about it in my original blog post that you can read about here. To recap, the blocks in this quilt are all made from scraps. They come from my large stash of Denyse Schmidt fabric that I’ve hardly made a dent in.

This quilt is very large, which wasn’t my original intent, but I realized I had a great quilt back already – a vintage bed sheet – so I made the top larger to utilize the majority of the vintage sheet.

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I love this sheet. It has orange and yellow flowers that, with the white background, is a nice contrast to the black front of the quilt.

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You can’t see the quilting in these pictures, but I hand quilted flowers in all of the black squares. I really like how it turned out and it’s kind of a nod to the flowers in the quilt backing. I’ll have to take a close up picture of the quilting and post it to my Instagram later, so watch for it there.

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That’s a wrap on this quilt. Have a great week, and follow me on Insta for a look at everything I’m working on!

Washington Depot – Finished

August 30, 2021UncategorizedDenyse Schmidt, Washington Depot Fabric; Denyse Schmidt FabricBrooklyn Quilting Co.

I’m squeezing in one last blog post before the end of the month with this finished Washington Depot quilt – made with Denyse Schmidt’s Washington Depot fabric. I love the quilt, I love the fabric, and I’m pretty fond of the location I took this picture.

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These pictures were actually taken last summer (sometimes I’m slow to post finish projects) at Lake Okoboji when I was visiting my parents. Lake Okoboji is in Northwest Iowa and is lots of fun in the summer. I’ve spent many summers on the lake, and I’m hoping to make one last visit to my parents and take an end-of-season boat ride. We’ll see if that happens.

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But back to the quilt.

In my original blog post about this quilt, I wrote how this block was inspired by a vintage quilt I ran across. I’m not sure if the block has a name, but it’s pretty easy and a good one to work on slowly, like if you want to do a block a night.

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It’s also a good block for a scrappy quilt. I obviously didn’t make a scrappy quilt with this one, but I did have to mix in some solids to be able to finish my blocks. I ran out of Washington Depot fabric but I think it was a happy accident. I like the addition of the solids and think it helps break up the monotony a bit.

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The backing for this quilt is some of my favorite. At the end of 2020 Joann Fabrics introduced a Friends collection, and as a huge Friends fan of course I had to get some. It worked perfectly as a quilt back and complemented the Washington Depot Fabric.

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And with that, that’s a wrap for this quilt and for August.

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Fall is my favorite time of year so I’m looking forward to the next few months. Here’s to crisp air, pumpkin flavored everything, and Fall quilt pics.

Sleeping Porch Project for Heather Ross

March 13, 2017UncategorizedDenyse Schmidt, Heather Ross Fabric, Ocean Waves Quilt, Sleeping Porch FabricBrooklyn Quilting Co.

This blog post is a little late. But as they say, better late than never!

This project started last May, when fabric designer Heather Ross asked me to make a quilt for her new fabric collection, Sleeping Porch. I’ve mentioned this on Instagram but I’ve never officially shared it on the blog. And now that Sleeping Porch is shipping to retailers, I thought it was about time to write about it!

Heather had a group of us create quilts from Denyse Schmidt’s book Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration for her new line. She asked me to make the Ocean Waves pattern and use three different prints from the collection along with the solid orange color for the front and the solid yellow color for the back.

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The result is a very bold, striking quilt, which I love.

Please excuse this bad, not color corrected photo, but you can see how I used mostly the purple snail and floral prints and sprinkled in the green Peonies.

All the quilts are featured in the look book that Windham put out for the release of the fabric, and the photos were taken at Heather’s house upstate New York (insert all the heart eye emoji’s).

You can see the entire look book HERE.

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I love the photo spread of my Ocean Waves quilt.

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I’m so happy I had the opportunity to work on this project. The fabric is beautiful and Denyse’s Ocean Waves pattern is such a classic. I think I have to make an Ocean Waves quilt for myself one day.

I recently finished another quilt project for a fabric designer with a new line coming out that I can’t wait to tell you about, just as soon as I can!

Before I go, as a reminder, I had Sleeping Porch fabric left from this project and I made a Churn Dash quilt that you can see HERE.

Improv Workshop with Denyse Schmidt

March 29, 2015UncategorizedDenyse Schmidt, Improv QuiltingBrooklyn Quilting Co.

Last weekend I checked an item off my quilting to-do list and attended a Denyse Schmidt Improvisational Patchwork workshop at her studio. Attending one of her workshops is something that I’ve wanted to do for years and I was so excited about going. So last Saturday I jumped on a train out of Grand Central and headed to Bridgeport, CT for the day.

Denyse’s studio is in an historic factory building (you can read more about it on her website) and is beautiful. I was having major quilting studio envy.

After everyone arrived, we made some quick introductions and got started. As the name suggests, this is an improv class. So no patterns, planning, measuring, etc. It’s actually a pretty easy and fun way to approach quilting. It certainly takes the pressure off making the perfect quilt block and instead just lets the process happen naturally.

Denyse does have a process for her improv approach. You use small, medium and large scraps and piece them together as you blindly pull them out of a bag. That means no digging for the perfect scrap color, size or pattern. You get what you pull, people, and in the words of Tim Gunn, “make it work.”

Throughout the day we spent time pulling fabrics and piecing them together into blocks. As we finished each block, we would put the blocks up on the design wall to talk about what we liked, what we thought worked really well, and what surprised us.

At one point during the day, we incorporated fabric we brought with us into our blocks. Some of us used a lot of our own fabric and some of us didn’t. I wasn’t consciously choosing one way or the other, but once I had my blocks done, I could see that I used mine sparingly.

When you look at all of my finished blocks, it’s hard to tell which fabric is mine that I brought. (It’s the mustard yellow polka dot fabric.) I kind of like how it turned out, though, and I do plan on finishing the process and making a quilt out of my blocks. I’ll be digging through my own scraps at some point to make more blocks so I have enough for a quilt.

The best part of the experience was spending time with Denyse and the other quilters. I loved hearing about their design process, inspiration, experience, etc. It was also an opportunity to get me thinking about my own quilt designs differently. After going through this experience, I’m inspired to use some bigger fabric cuts and make bigger pieces. I love the intricacies and look of small pieces sewn together, but bigger blocks have their own charm and beauty.

And finally, before I left to go back to New York, I couldn’t help but pick up some new fabric. I really didn’t plan on doing this (do I ever really plan on it???) but I couldn’t help myself.

My DS fabric collection is always growing and it was the perfect opportunity to make it a little bit bigger. This new fabric is already being put to use as I’m currently working on an all DS fabric quilt that I’m super excited about.

Now that I’ve completed one Denyse Schmidt workshop, I’m thinking about taking another. It was so much fun and so great to spend time with other quilty people. She offers an Advanced Improv workshop and a Pure Improv Weekend workshop that I’ve got my eye on. Maybe in 2016?!?!