Author: Laura Kate

One of six children, I was raised by a busy mom, who instilled in me a love of fabric. Though I learned to sew and knit at a young age, it was the arrival of my first grandchild that pushed me into action. A long-time knitter, I am now ready to explore all things fiber.
Posted in quilting

SAHRR 2025 Round 2: Japanese style quilt

Posted on by Laura Kate

Before I show my work for this round, I want to share a source for Japanese quilting and sewing supplies.

A few years ago, I was interested in learning about sashiko stitching. When it became clear that the necessary supplies and materials for this craft were not available anywhere in my quad-state area, I turn to Etsy and found kimonomomo. Returning to the site this year, I discovered that she carried hundreds of Japanese fabrics which are available in small amounts – fat eights, fat quarters, etc. I chose eight different fabrics which are presently winging their way to me – should arrive on February 3rd. I can’t wait to get my hands on them.

During my preparation of round two, it became very clear that I didn’t have enough fabric to complete the quilt. So in addition to the Japanese fabrics I ordered from Etsy, I bought three cotton solid colors from Hobby Lobby.

Since the color gold is quite prominent in my center paneI, I chose it as a unifying color that would help marry together the different block patterns.

Now on to Round Two: Turning to the Susan Briscoe’s quilt block directory, I discovered two layouts that feature half-square triangles (aka HST.)

Uroko (scales) is an all-over pattern of the HSTs. Yosegi (check frame) features it as a center square. I decide to make two blocks of each.

Starting with Uroko, I quickly sewed, pressed and trimmed all the little HSTs and then cut out the gold fabric for the setting triangles. Sewing together the first block, it was clearly too small. I removed the gold setting triangles, re-cut each piece 1/4 of an inch larger, and tried again. It measured out perfectly.

Turning to Yosegi, I had much less difficulty. The center HST was edged by four strip pieced squares and cornered by four nine-patch blocks. Easy peasy.

And here is my project at the end of Round Two.

I’m so glad I didn’t start sewing the rows together yet. When I added my newest blocks, it was obvious that I needed to change the layout. Alternating the blocks of Round One with Round Two blocks makes for a more pleasing design, IMHO.

To see the other participants’ round 2 blocks, visit Anja @  Anja Quilts

And here is the line-up for the rest of Stay at Home Round Robin 2025

Posted in knitting

Wednesday WIP and 2025 Knitting projects in the Queue

Posted on by Laura Kate

For all my blogging knitters, this is an update. While I haven’t posted about knitting in some time, my needles have been clicking away, and my project queue is longer than ever. Let’s start with this pull-over/jumper.

I am knitting it for dear daughter, and this week I finished the body. Since she and I are roughly the same size, I knew that if it fit my body, it would fit hers. Ta da! It fits. Those interested, the gold yarn is Malabrigo Rios in colorway Frank Ochre The contrasting yarn in the yoke is from KnitPicks – Hawthorne dk in Foster Powell multi and Swish in Moss. She chose the pattern from a selection of patterns in Ravelry. It’s called Autumn Bloom , designed by Olga Putana.

So last week, I went through my project bags and my yarn closet and discovered that I have Four WIP’s and Five New Projects lined up with pattern and yarn secured. That’s way more than I thought. And yes, I am guilty of buying yarn lately. In my defense, it was All On Sale.

I won’t bore you with the WIPs today (pretty sure that I’ve written about each of them in 2024.) But here is what I am planning to knit this year, once I get WIPs done:

I know this post is light on photographs, sorry friends. It’s late and I am tired. I promise to do a charming photo shoot of all the new yarns in my stash, once the weather improves. In the meantime, remember to stay calm and keep knitting.

Posted in quilting

SAHRR 2025 Border 1 Japanese style

Posted on by Laura Kate

I wanted to write a bit about the traits of Japanese style quilting compared to Western style quilting, but today’s schedule is a bit tight and the posting deadline is here. I’ll just show a few pictures. Or maybe I’ll use bullet points:

Types of fabric: plain cotton, woven patterns, large and small scale dyed patterns, stencil dyed cottons, silks and wool.

I tried to choose colors that were present in the center block.

From my mother’s stash
From my own stash
A few fabrics purchased from Hobby Lobby

Block categories: patchwork, Sashiko, Kamon (traditional family crests worked as applique or sashiko) and Takarazukushi (good fortune symbols worked in applique.)

Now to the clue: Kathleen suggested King’s Crown pattern for this round, or choose a block that begins with a K, or that begins with the first letter of my name, L. I immediately thought of Log Cabin. But turning to my Japanese block design book, I saw no examples that looked like a log cabin. In studying the block names, I realized that the “L” sound is absent from the Japanese language! Lots of blocks start with a K. I settled on this pattern – Kumiko – which translates to Lattice.

And its construction begins with making four strip-pieced squares built around a center square. Hm, that resembles the beginning of a log cabin.

And here is my first block for Border One.

I ended up making three blocks, which I plan to place just below the center block row.

And so the first round is done, and my post written before the Linky party closes.

I see that my chosen path will hold much challenge if I stick to the plan.

If you want to follow along with Stay at Home Round Robin, here are the hosts and the weekly schedule. Check out their posts!

Posted in hand embroidery, painting, quilting

Friday Finish: Here Be Dragons

Posted on by Laura Kate

After eighteen months in process, my multi-panel quilt that explores the dragonfly is finally finished. The painting and the assembly of the quilt took place in 2023. Then it languished while I fiddled around with hand embroidery. Finally, I made the commitment in December 2024 to get this WIP done. It took an opportunity to display it at an exhibition to set me in motion.

I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the role Bill’s photographs had in inspiring me. Here is a gallery of some of his dragonfly images.

I also did research into the creature, to better understand what I was seeing. I was always puzzled about the legs. In flight, they are not visible. When the insect is perched, one can see either one, two or all three pair of legs. Why is that? I learned that the legs are swiveled back and held flat against the body, just like an airplane’s landing gear. The dragonfly catches its prey in flight, grabbing hold with its legs. When resting, the legs have no function. Dragonflies cannot use their legs to walk. That’s why they seem so motionless when perched.

Anyway, the quilt is finished, except for the label and the hanging wire. It will go on display February 6, along with my Badlands quilt, at Prairie Moon Exhibition, The Center, Bartlesville, OK.

Posted in hand embroidery

WIP Wednesday – The Final Panel

Posted on by Laura Kate

Today I stitched the last stitch in the final panel of “Here Be Dragons” art quilt. In looking back through my photography files, I discovered that I had painted the panel way back in June of 2023. Here is how it looked at that point.

Reference photography for the two dragonflies came from Bill. They were part of the 100 day project, along with all the other dragonflies that made their way to this quilt. The background was painted with Dye-Na-Flo fabric paint first, with masking used to reserve white where the insect’s bodies would be.

I then used the thicker Jacquard Textile acrylici paint to render the dragonflies, finishing up the fine details with Micron pens.

Here is the panel today.

A combination of stem stitch and rice stitch outlined the subjects and enhanced the shapes in the background.

Close-up of the two dragonflies.

I believe that I will meet my deadline for getting this work ready to show in February. Some straight line sashiko sewing in the sashing, then mounting the quilt to stretchers is all that is left to do.