through ellyn's eyes

A trip to Arkansas from Ellyn's Place

Well, that was an unplanned and unexpected blog break! I wish I had a fabulous, exciting excuse but I don't. I do have a lot of things to share with you. I'll begin with the most recent fun I had and work backwards!

This week I had the honor of speaking for the Modern Quilt Guild of North West Arkansas. I shared the story of my Through Ellyn's Eyes project with them and the members were very engaged and asked lots of questions. I hope they were also inspired to perhaps begin projects of their own!

My ...

added by Ellyn 2 years ago. under friend , lecture , through ellyn's eyes

2021 year in review from Ellyn's Place

Whew! What a year! While it would be easy to focus on all of the crazy negative things going on in the world right now (no, I'm not going to list them. you already know!) I'm choosing to focus on the positive. And there sure was a lot of it in my world this year. Here are the highlights.... so I never forget how blessed I was in 2021.

Urban Emergence

In February, my group quilt, Urban Emergence was part of Quiltcon Together, the virtual MQG show that replaced in person Quiltcon this year. It was my very ...

added by Ellyn 2 years, 3 months ago. under bee blocks , collaboration , exploring collaboration , in tandem art , quiltcon , quilts , quilts unscripted , through ellyn's eyes

itty bitty improv from Ellyn's Place

Well, despite all my fussing, I did finish 20 quilts for my Through Ellyn's Eyes project before the end of the year! As I had speculated, it's TINY! Finishing at just 7"x9", thus the name itty bitty improv, it would make a good mug rug.

I played with some spiky triangles, one of the very first techniques I learned when Debbie (A Quilter's Table) came to teach our guild years ago. It's one I return to often and was fun to revisit in just two colors, Kona Corn Yellow and Glacier. Quilted very quickly on ...

added by Ellyn 2 years, 4 months ago. under improv , quilt , through ellyn's eyes

Scalloped Rainbow from Ellyn's Place

Even with the business of the holiday season, I managed to complete quilt #3 in my Through Ellyn's Eyes series! I give you Scalloped Rainbow.

What began as a stack of improv quarter circle blocks made on a whim at the day retreat center became this fun mini that measures 14"x24". Grid quilted and faced all on my domestic machine. I used the full rainbow of colors from my series for this one: Kona Red, Orange, Tangerine, Corn Yellow, Chartreuse, Glacier and Capri.

I might be finishing up one more (tiny!) quilt to bring the number to a ...

added by Ellyn 2 years, 4 months ago. under improv , quilt , through ellyn's eyes

Magic Machine from Ellyn's Place

How did it take me until the 18th quilt in my Through Ellyn's Eyes series to make a quilt representing my favorite machine of all time, my magic sewing machine? I turns pieces of fabric into art, something I could never do on my own. For those who might wonder, I sew/quilt on a Janome 6600 that I love.

This little quilt is 18"x18" quilted with my walking foot. Colors used are Kona Chartreuse and Black. Simple simple!

Quilt #19 is also finished and 20 is underway. Looks like I will reach my self imposed goal of ...

added by Ellyn 2 years, 4 months ago. under quilt , through ellyn's eyes

scrap soup from Ellyn's Place

I'm quickly approaching my (self imposed) end of the Through Ellyn's Eyes series. I've kept all of the scraps from my quilts along the way and one day I just started to play around sewing them together. I would call this a big crumb block, but honestly, many of the scraps were bigger than crumb sized so.... whatever.

I decided to only use some of the colors to keep the scrappiness somewhat under control. The colors I used in this one are Kona Corn Yellow, Chartreuse, Glacier and Capri with borders in Kona Black. This one finished ...

added by Ellyn 2 years, 4 months ago. under quilt , through ellyn's eyes

Just Me from Ellyn's Place

Quilt #16 in my Through Ellyn's Eyes series is pretty simple to explain.... It's simply my initials, EHZ, in a bold, graphic design. I drew it up on graph paper first, then set to piecing. It came together pretty quickly. The only tricky part was getting the half square triangles in the angle of the Z to line up properly. Yes, there was a seam ripper involved. But the end result was worth it.

This quilt was made with Kona black, red, chartreuse and capri. It was quilted on my domestic machine with a walking foot and big ...

added by Ellyn 2 years, 5 months ago. under quilt , through ellyn's eyes

Funky Dresden Revisited from Ellyn's Place

For the fifteenth quilt in my Through Ellyn's Eyes series, I decided to revisit and old favorite technique of mine, the funky dresden. I've made many variations of this wonky dresden over the years but never combined lots of them into one quilt like this! I must say it was great fun and I rather love the ending result.

For this quilt I used Kona Black, Corn Yellow, Chartreuse and Capri. The finished quilt is 33x44, the biggest quilt in my series so far and, for that matter, the biggest quilt I have quilted with my walking foot ...

added by Ellyn 2 years, 5 months ago. under funky dresden , quilt , through ellyn's eyes

Welcome to my Neighborhood from Ellyn's Place

The more I play with buildings in quilts the more fun I have! This one is the 14th quilt in my Through Ellyn's Eyes series and I had so much fun creating this little rainbow neighborhood...

I especially love the way the slant black roofs look on this one. I think I'll probably be moving into the yellow house.... I like the big window! You?

This one measures 16"x18" and I walking foot quilted it on my domestic machine. The colors I used are Kona black, red, tangerine, corn yellow, chartreuse, glacier and capri.

added by Ellyn 2 years, 5 months ago. under improv , quilt , through ellyn's eyes

Triangle Trees from Ellyn's Place

Who else loves a good sew-along? I was excited when Nicholas Ball announced another Improv Triangle Sew-along this month. His improv book is one of my very favorites and his triangle method is the best. First I thought, can I do this? I don't want to neglect my Through Ellyn's Eyes project. boo. Then I thought, wait! What if I make it part of my project?! Jackpot.

This time around, Nicholas encouraged us to make our triangles holiday trees. I pulled the colors from my project that speak Christmas to me, Kona Red, Chartreuse, Glacier and Capri with ...

added by Ellyn 2 years, 6 months ago. under improv , quilt , sew along , through ellyn's eyes

Down the Rabbit Hole from Ellyn's Place

I've finished the 12th quilt in my Through Ellyn's Eyes series and it is a bright and happy one. I'm calling it Down the Rabbit Hole because several people mentioned that it had an Alice in Wonderland vibe to it.

Basically, this is a very improv log cabin, if you look closely, with a very loose courthouse steps layout (warm colors on the sides, cool colors top and bottom). I'm prepping to teach an improv log cabin class and thought it would be awesome to add some more samples to my class prep. The finished mini ...

added by Ellyn 2 years, 6 months ago. under improv , quilt , through ellyn's eyes

Harlequin Maze from Ellyn's Place

Where does your quilty inspiration come from? I just never know when it's going to hit me. A couple weeks ago I found myself really studying the stained glass windows in the chapel at church (I know, I know, pay attention Ellyn. And I was, I promise.)

These windows are so incredibly beautiful. This particular day, it was those diamond shapes that spoke to me.

By the time I turned them into a quilt, they had changed a lot. First off, the color. And then, I started removing some of the dividing lines. Soon this maze evolved.

I had ...

added by Ellyn 2 years, 6 months ago. under inspiration , quilt , through ellyn's eyes

Fall Leaves from Ellyn's Place

I love when challenges collide and I am able to use one project to fill multiple challenge spots! That was the case with Fall Leaves. As you can see, I used my Through Ellyn's Eyes colors, Kona black, red, orange, tangerine and glacier. I used the maple leaf tutorial here, which was a challenge put forth by my guild, McKinney Modern Quilt Guild. The finished quilt is 18" square.

I quilted a diagonal grid on my domestic machine and big stitch hand stitched the binding down. Quilt #10 in my series is done and #11 and #12 are both ...

added by Ellyn 2 years, 6 months ago. under mckmqg , quilt , through ellyn's eyes

Country Church Quilt from Ellyn's Place

Quilt #9 in my Through Ellyn's Eyes series is finished and it makes me really happy. It's a simple little country church and it has a lot of meaning for me.

Two of my late great uncles were Presbyterian ministers. This has carried on through the generations. I am still a Presbyterian today and my faith is an important piece of who I am.The uncle I knew best was Uncle Les. His church was a sweet little country church in upstate New York. In addition to pastoring, Uncle Les and Aunt Delia had a farm. Mostly they ...

added by Ellyn 2 years, 7 months ago. under family , improv , quilt , through ellyn's eyes

Going Up! from Ellyn's Place

Eight weeks into my Through Ellyn's Eyes project and I'm still having so much fun. Beginning to see some patterns and learn some things about myself so that's awesome. This week I dipped back into buildings. I love buildings and architecture and find so much inspiration in cities.

While I have a bunch of things sketched out in my sketchbook, when this week rolled around I really didn't know what I wanted to make. It kind of freaked me out a bit! I am always itching to get started on my next mini in the project ...

added by Ellyn 2 years, 7 months ago. under quilt , through ellyn's eyes

Barn Quilt from Ellyn's Place

Quilt number 7 is complete for the Through Ellyn's Eyes project. In keeping with my buildings theme, this one is a barn. A tiny barn! With a teeny tiny barn quilt....

that teeny tiny barn quilt measures 3/4" square. Yup. It's so tiny.

I used Kona Red, Capri and Chartreuse, and Kona Corn Yellow and Glacier for the itty bitty quilt part. The finished quilt is 18"x20" and was quilted on my domestic machine with a walking foot. I added a little bit of hand stitching on the barn.

So, seven weeks and seven mini quilts ...

added by Ellyn 2 years, 8 months ago. under quilt , through ellyn's eyes

More Triangle Play from Ellyn's Place

More than two years ago, I was inspired by this triangle pattern, created in stone on a highway bridge near my home.

I managed to create a foundation paper piece pattern to represent each section and, after some playtime with the pattern, made this mini (still unfinished) to replicate the bridge.

Then, I put it all in a box and promptly forgot about it, as we do. Sigh...

Fast forward to this week, when I pulled it out again and decided to use those triangles in a playtime mini for my Through Ellyn's Eyes project. I decided to use ...

added by Ellyn 2 years, 8 months ago. under africa , inspiration , quilt , through ellyn's eyes

Sit a While from Ellyn's Place

Quilt #5 in my Through Ellyn's Eyes series is complete! I somehow became fascinated with the graphic image of a chair. I love the meaning behind it too, a place for a friend to take a seat and spend some time with me. Community is so important to me and having a cozy place where my friends feel comfortable hanging out has become so valuable especially during the isolation of the last year and a half. Often during that time friends would drop in on my front porch to chat, swap bee blocks, pick up guild door prizes and ...

added by Ellyn 2 years, 8 months ago. under quilt , through ellyn's eyes

Triangle Play from Ellyn's Place

Do you have a favorite shape? I love triangles. More than all of the other shapes! I'm not sure why, although I do love things in odd numbers (three sides anyone?). I love to play with triangles in improv quilting so it seemed like a natural place to go next with my Through Ellyn's Eyes series.

I originally intended to make more triangles in several colors, but, I'll be honest, I got bored with it. So, Kona Orange and Kona Tangerine it is, with tiny pieced lines in Kona White. This finishes at just 12" square.

I ...

added by Ellyn 2 years, 8 months ago. under improv , through ellyn's eyes

City Windows from Ellyn's Place

Quilt #3 in my Through Ellyn's Eyes series came together in the same fast and furious method as quilt #2! Once an idea pops into my head, it just cries out to be made. I began piecing this one on Saturday and put the final stitches in the faced binding this afternoon. whew!

Though remotely inspired by photos of buildings I have perused on Pinterest, it doesn't really resemble any of them. I knew I wanted to do the windows with tiny borders, a technique I have played with several times in the past. I drew a simple ...

added by Ellyn 2 years, 9 months ago. under improv , quilt , through ellyn's eyes

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