Tag Archives: Denyse Schmidt Fabric

Jacob’s Ladder – Finished

July 10, 2023UncategorizedDenyse Schmidt Fabric, Scrap QuiltBrooklyn Quilting Co.

Sometimes you just want to make a classic quilt pattern, and Jacob’s Ladder fits the bill.

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I have a list of classic, traditional quilt patterns I want to make one day, and I’m glad I’ve checked this one off the list. It’s a simple block to make and I like that it’s easy to adjust for whatever block size you want. I went for a larger block than I typically make and made mine at 12” square.

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Like so many of my quilts, this is a scrap quilt. It is made with all Denyse Schmidt fabric, because that’s what I have a lot of and I’m trying to use the fabric that I have.

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The back of this quilt is a vintage bed sheet my aunt gave me. This quilt is pretty large and luckily so was the bed sheet, but it juuuuuust fit. I had maybe an inch to spare. Maybe. I don’t recommend this! LOL

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I have one more vintage bed sheet identical to this one from my aunt, so the other one will make an appearance at some point on another quilt. As you’ve seen from other quilts I’ve finished, I really like using vintage bed sheets as backs. It’s a good way to repurpose them, and it’s an affordable option that’s also really beautiful.

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I’m calling this quilt done and putting it away in my quilt closet. Yes, I have a quilt closet and it’s glorious!

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!

Winter Walk – Finished

September 20, 2021UncategorizedDenyse Schmidt Fabric, Winter Walk FabricBrooklyn Quilting Co.

This Winter Walk quilt – named for the Winter Walk fabric by Denyse Schmidt – has quickly become one of my favorites.

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I love the fabric (obviously) and love the block design, which was inspired by a vintage quilt I saw a few years ago.

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The blocks in this quilt were easy to put together, but the sashing was triiicky. I love the look, but there may have been some choice words muttered while I was putting it together.

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The angles and the position of the blocks with the sashing was challenging, to say the least. (Please don’t ask me how I did it because I don’t know, LOL. I was basically winging it and figuring it out as I went.)

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The back of this quilt is a scrappy collection of Denyse Schmidt fabric and a piece of fabric from a vintage bedsheet. I thought it went well with the Denyse fabric and has the same vibe.

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When I was cutting the fabric for the back, I wasn’t concerned about it being perfect straight. Same thing when I was sewing the back; I made the seams slightly wavy or at an angle. I liked the perfectly imperfect look it gives and I think it complements the scrappy, pieced back.

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This quilt has now been moved to the “finished” pile and I think it might find a spot on my couch for this winter. It’s a lap quilt size and will be perfect.

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Thanks for reading!

Jewel Box

March 22, 2021UncategorizedDenyse Schmidt Fabric, Scrap QuiltBrooklyn Quilting Co.

I think most of my life as a quilt maker has been spent making scrap quilts. I’m fine with this. In fact, I think I excel at scrap quilts, if I do say so myself. I love making them and the satisfaction I get from seeing my scrap bags whittled down is high.

My latest quilt is, you guessed it, a scrap quilt. This one is quickly rising to the top of my favorite quilts.

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It is made with all Denyse Schmidt fabric, which I think really stands out with the black background – like little jewel boxes.

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These blocks were possible because I save ALL the small pieces of scrap fabric – pieces that most people would probably throw away. Those little corners are only 1”x1” finished squares.

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I know some quilters don’t like saving small scraps, or some trim all their scraps to 5” squares, but not I. Maybe it’s the frugal person in me or just that feeling knowing there is something I will be able to use a little scrap of fabric for, that I can’t toss them. And saving small scraps pays off big time when you can make something like this out of them.

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When I started this quilt I hadn’t planned for it to become this big, but I realized I already had a quilt back I could use – a vintage bedsheet that pairs perfectly – so like the crazy person I am I made 21 more blocks. I wanted to use most of the sheet so there wouldn’t be much waste (hello frugal me again) so I made more blocks and will only have to trim the back once I’m done quilting it. Plus, I had more than enough scraps to make more blocks so it all worked out.

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I have already started quilting this one and I can’t wait to show you the finished quilt with the very cool vintage bedsheet as the back.

Ludlow – Finished

March 8, 2021UncategorizedAnna Maria Horner Fabric, Denyse Schmidt Fabric, Little Folks Fabric, Ludlow FabricBrooklyn Quilting Co.

This quilt has been a journey. Not in a bad way, just that it took more time and effort than I had planned on. In the end, though, it’s been worth it.

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This fabric is the Ludlow collection from Denyse Schmidt. I only bought a fat eighth bundle when I got it, and I had to cut into it for something else, so I didn’t have a lot of fabric to work with from the beginning. Then at the start, I misjudged how many blocks I would be able to make but soon realized I would need sashing if I wanted it to be at least a lap sized quilt, which I did.

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I don’t mind the sashing because it’s different than what I normally do, and in this case, I think it really makes the blocks pop. But usually, in my opinion, using sashing often makes quilts look a bit more traditional than my personal taste.

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In the end it all worked because I had the perfect backing fabric that I have been saving for something special.

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This is Little Folks voile fabric from Anna Maria Horner. It feels so silky soft and I absolutely love the pattern. Plus it pairs perfectly with Ludlow. There was only one problem: my quilt was just a few inches too wide. (I had not thought ahead to backing fabric when I made the top.)

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So…I took the entire quilt apart and trimmed the sashing. I took off a little bit more than I needed to and could have left the sashing a bit wider – I wish I wouldn’t have done that but oh well.

Then, after I put it all back together and had started quilting it, I realized I had an error in one of my blocks and had a piece turned the wrong way. Ugh! I would have left it but I hadn’t quilted that part yet and could still fix it. The perfectionist in me couldn’t let it go, so once again I took a section of this quilt apart and fixed the block. It would have bugged me forever if I had left it. It was a major pain but I’m glad I did it.

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After all my fixes and reworking of this quilt, I love the finished product. It’s a perfect little lap quilt.

Jacob’s Ladder

March 30, 2020UncategorizedDenyse Schmidt Fabric, Jacob's Ladder QuiltBrooklyn Quilting Co.

This blog post is coming to you live from quarantine life in my apartment. The last time I hopped on here to share a blog post was in January before all of our lives took a dramatic turn and we suddenly became familiar with the term “social distancing.” How quickly things change.

While this is a scary time, I’m trying to focus on the positive and the productive, which for me has always been quilting. Not only is quilting such a happy activity for me, but I also feel very accomplished when I finish a project. So cheers to quarantine quilting!

Moving on to an actual quilt, today I’m sharing the last quilt photos I took back in December before most of the world went on lockdown. Say hello to my Jacob’s Ladder quilt.

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A Jacob’s Ladder quilt is one of those patterns I always had my eye on but had never gotten around to making…until now.

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These blocks are very easy and come together pretty quickly.

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All of the fabric used in this quilt is from different Denyse Schmidt collections. It’s kind of a mishmash of colors but I did repeat colors so there is some consistency. You’ll notice yellows, reds, navy blue and aqua blue, green, black and pinks and purples. (I think that’s all of them.)

I know I make a lot of quilts with Denyse Schmidt fabric, and I wish I could say I’ve made a dent in my collection, but it’s still going strong. For the rest of my quilting life I will be making quilts with her fabric, and I’m not mad about it.

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You’ll also noticed that I did a light/dark pairing for each block, and then alternated blocks from light to dark. Does that make sense? There’s so many different versions of Jacob’s Ladder and I liked the light/dark look. Find a version that works for you!

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That wraps up this quilt – for now. I may just get this backed and quilted while in quarantine. Who knows! I have so many quilts to finish and hopefully I can get through some of them during this time. I’m not working in any particular order, just whatever strikes me in the moment.

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I also have a stack of quilts that need to be photographed, but now I’m not sure when that’s going to happen. No promises when I’ll be back with a new blog post, but you can always find me on Instagram sharing works-in-progress and other fun things.

Until then, stay safe, and do whatever self-care you need to in order to get through this surreal moment we’re all going through together. XOXO.

Winter Walk

January 28, 2019UncategorizedDenyse Schmidt Fabric, Marcia Derse Palette, Winter Walk FabricBrooklyn Quilting Co.

Since much of the country will be dealing with frigid temperatures this week and we’re in the middle of winter, it seems appropriate that we talk about my Winter Walk quilt. Don’t you think?

I took these pictures while I was in the Midwest over Christmas and it took FOUR tries and two different states to get useable pictures. The wind would not cooperate at all. That’s why you are going to see pictures in different locations. But after some frozen fingers and a few choice words, I finally prevailed.

This quilt was inspired by a vintage quilt I saw. The blocks are not a true Granny Square but they are Granny Square(ish).

If anyone knows if these blocks have a specific name let me know. Again, I saw them in a vintage quilt and recreated them.

The fabric is Winter Walk by Denyse Schmidt and the gray sashing is from the Palette collection by Marcia Derse.

If you haven’t used the solids from Palette I highly recommend them. The colors are so beautiful and have kind of a hand-dyed look. In the description on Windham’s website they describe the colors as having “subtle movement” and I wholeheartedly agree.

The creamy white color in the blocks is also one of the Palette solids. It’s not quite a true white; it doesn’t have that stark whiteness that true white has. I think it’s just right and goes so well with Winter Walk.

I made this quilt towards the end of last year after looking at a bunch of vintage quilts. I came away 100 percent inspired by all the old quilts I saw and I think I’m making 2019 the year of vintage quilts. I saw some that I want to recreate and some that I want to do my own version of.

Now, don’t hold me to ‘the year of vintage quilts’ thing because I may not stick to it completely. But right now, all I have on my brain are a bunch of old quilts. This could be fun.

MSP Factory – Finished

January 9, 2019UncategorizedDenyse Schmidt Fabric, Scrap QuiltBrooklyn Quilting Co.

Happy 2019! We made it to the new year. Always have to be thankful for that.

First up for 2019 is a quilt I finished last year and photographed in November, hence the beautiful fall foliage in the pictures. I was planning to get this posted last year, but sometimes time just gets away from you.

I made this quilt top back in 2017 when it was my year of ‘using what I had,’ which basically meant I was trying to sew my stash and buy as little fabric as possible.

This quilt uses all Denyse Schmidt fabric. I have a huge DS Quilts fabric collection, including lots of smaller scraps, so this quilt was designed specifically for the purpose of trying to use some of the smaller scraps up.

I chose a few different fabric color families to include in the quilt and then picked equal amounts of fabrics for each of the color to use.

For example, I used a pink/purple(ish) color, a lighter pink, orange, yellow, blue, etc.

When paired with the Kona Cotton white it definitely makes the colors pop.

The back of the quilt also uses Denyse Schmidt fabric. I had a couple larger pieces of DS Quilts fabric from her Joann Fabrics collections that I pieced together along with a piece of Kona Cotton Windsor.

The binding is DS Quilts fabric as well. In this image you only see one of the binding fabrics but it actually is a scrappy binding.

I haven’t don’t a scrappy binding in a while and I forgot how much I like it!

That’s a wrap on this quilt. I have some other projects filed away and will be ready to share them here soon. Can’t wait to show you what I’m working on in 2019!

Friends On The Way – Finished

December 12, 2018UncategorizedDenyse Schmidt Fabric, Quilt Pattern, Rainbow QuiltBrooklyn Quilting Co.

Is there anything happier than a rainbow? I think not! That’s why I love making rainbow quilts; they’re just so fun and easy to make.

I say easy to make because you don’t have to spend a lot of time picking your fabric, planning the layout or worrying about the order of blocks. Just follow the rainbow!

This quilt is all about them scraps. In fact, I put it together with the sole purpose of using up a bunch of leftover triangles I had cut for a different project. The patterned fabric triangles are all Denyse Schmidt prints. These are combined with solids.

In this quilt, none of the Denyse Schmidt triangles repeat but some of the solid colors do and some don’t. Like the patterned triangles, I wanted to use up as many solid scraps as I could. In some cases, I had enough solid fabric in one color but a lot of them I didn’t. This really was about using and using up what I had. I kind of like the mix of the different shades of one color family.

For the back, like the front, I pieced together a print and solids.

The floral print was the starting point and came from a large piece of fabric I had in my stash. I have no idea what it is except that it’s a cotton lawn. I randomly picked it up at a hole-in-the-wall fabric place here in Brooklyn and it ended up matching perfectly with the scrap pieces of Artisan Cottons in green and purple.

In keeping with the Denyse Schmidt fabric theme, the binding on this quilt is also DS Fabric. It’s an old print of hers from Joann’s.

This quilt pattern is now available for purchase. I have listed it in my Etsy shop and you can DOWNLOAD THE PATTERN HERE.