2024: The Year of Seth Apter

 It doesn’t happen often - in fact, this is the third time - that I have fallen in love with a fabric designer.  The first was Marcia Derse back in 2014.  The second was with an Art Gallery fabric, Hello Bear, by Bonnie  Christine.  Last year for Christmas my stepdaughter Jen gave me a gift certificate to a Wisconsin fabric store Quilt-agious in Mukwonago. That’s where I found a collection of Seth Apter fabrics.  His Storyteller fabric line caught my eye for its texture, its color, its collage-like appeal. And thus my most recent and very serious fabric crush.  

            And here’s some of what this line has inspired, including a purse in the upper left that I use daily. 

   

My granddaughter was married last summer and had a very specific color palette.  So I cautiously began using some fabric for one of my favorite quilt designs, Trip Around The World, for Nikki.  

I know what you’re thinking: what a tame use of these fabrics.  So I went a step further by making a gift bag to go along with the quilt, and I liked the bag much better.

But at this point t I really wanted to play with these fabrics. I bought a jelly roll of Seth’s fabrics and used them in “Tightrope”, a pattern by Robin Pickens found at Quilt-afious.  It’s been hand quilted in an off-center spiral.  It almost looks like stained glass.  

Here is a Fika tote, pattern by Noodlehead.  That blue grunge along with the Storyteller fabric?  Love love love. But by this point I was accumulating some pretty tasty scraps and had to do something with them.  The quilt below is odd but pretty in its own way.  It too is hand-quilted. I added to those  Seth Apter scraps  some scraps from artisan shot cottons in an attic window approach. 

This bag pattern, Bohemian Carpet Bag, from Quilt-agious, leaped out at me from the store’s website.  I had to have it, along with some newer Seth Apter fabrics, all of which were on back order.  So I ordered the bag, the necessary hardware, and the fabric - and waited three months.  For someone who is into instant gratification, this was the longest wait ever!  But so worth waiting for.  I love this bag, I love the hardware, and this fabric is just so fun, 

But my favorite piece/quilt of all so far has been this Pacific quilt design from Art Gallery Fabrics featuring several but not all Seth Apter fabrics.  I love the braided and woven effect of this design. I’ve included two photos because the lighting is so different in each. 

I’m not done with these fabrics.  While I’m not sure what’s next, I must credit Seth for my shift in colors.  For so long I’ve been all about reds, greys, and blacks.  This last year has taught me to embrace blues and greens! And I will continue to haunt the Quilt-agious website!

75th Birthday Gratitude and What Makes Me Happy

Today I am 75.  This morning’s 4 mile walk was great. The weather is gorgeous - we’re heading into my favorite time of the year.  Next week we’re taking a river cruise out of NYC up the Hudson River.  And I live in a neighborhood where people have money to decorate in style!  Note:  These things that make me happy are listed below but not necessarily in order of importance.  

Newish guild member Janette wound up with a lot of cork fabric and has shared it. Cork is expensive.  I like it but don't often buy it.  When we were in Portugal (home of cork) I asked our tour operator and also our driver if we could stop at a cork factory.  They both said no.  But here comes Janette with these lovely bolts!  She came over and we played cork one day.  But there is so much left. We have a guild retreat in early November - I'm planning on taking cork, perhaps even already cut out for pencil cases, like the one in navy to the left.

Below is a picture of my beloved working away at the dining room table.  Not only does John make me happy, this whole room does too!  

Making purses for Sew Powerful and their menstrual hygiene education program makes me incredibly happy.  I love using quilt leftovers for these purses as well as some terrific feature fabrics.  I have 19 here that I'm about to ship.  I have three more started on my design wall and hope to add those to this shipment.

Sometimes I am happiest when I am planning quilts.  Look at this pile below.  Lots of greens and teals and perhaps some blues.  The current plan is to cut out shells for a glam clam design.  I say current plan because it is a lot of fiddly work.  I find it hard to use a rotary cutter for these pieces, and also hand piecing works best for me for these kinds of curves.  I made one once before and loved it.  One of my Quilty friends has it in her house.  

Of course I love my studio - that's a given.  But what I really love are my work tables.  They are on casters so I can reconfigure the room at whim.  And the storage under the tables helps me keep things organized and within reach.  Each table is 35" x 60".  I paid a small fortune to have them deconstructed from the LaGrange studio where they were built and then rebuilt here - worth every penny.  

I am fully aware of how geeky what I'm about to say next is:  new purse/bag patterns make me very happy.  VERY HAPPY.  This pattern is Bohemian Carpet Bag by Sew Liberated.  There is a metal frame that allows the bag to open completely.  See the second picture.  While I love the grey one, I especially love the other two, both made with fabrics by Seth Apter.  With the grey and the greenish one, I used cork for the corner parts.  With the grey one, I used a suede-ish sort of fabric for the straps.  The beauty of the pattern is that it's simple.  The hardest part of all these of these projects was taking apart the metal frame and then reinserting the pins that hold the frame together.  A pair of pliers and a hammer were needed.  And I love the results!

I could go on and on about what's making me happy.  What I have here is not the entirety.  But its a start.  This quilt below has made me very happy and it still does every night as I hand-quilt it.  I've been at this one for about a month and will happily spend another month of 6 weeks to finish it.  Who is it for? I don't know.  Someone at some point will claim it.

Life is a mystery.  My brother Doug didn't make his 60th birthday.  And here I am 75, and John 85.  Today, right now, I am happy and healthy and productive.  And so thankful.