December 18, 2012

Join me?

My friend Monique Dillard at Open Gates Quilts is kicking off a new - FREE - block of the month to start the new year!  The Blogger Girls BOM will start January 1 and will feature a 6 block quilt.  You can make a small quilt with 6 blocks or make 2 of each block for a larger quilt.  Here's Monique's version of the quilt.

The following bloggers will be sewing along and posting their versions of the quilt.
Monique from Open Gate Quilts
Sherri from A Quilting Life
Thelma from Cupcakes 'n' Daisies
Lissa from Moda  Lissa
Denise from Quilter’s  Window
Nicole from Sister’s Choice Quilts
and me - Stashmaster


At the end of the 6 months, you will be able to download the finishing instructions.   And did I mention?   It's FREE!


Here are the fabulous fabrics that I'm going to be using - Field Notes designed by Blackbird Designs for Moda.

I can't wait to get started and see all the different quilts!

December 2, 2012

Supernova, finished!


I had fun creating this Supernova quilt for my daughter's bed.  She picked out most of the fabrics and did a great job with her selections.   It was a fun quilt to create - very freeform.   I don't think my sewing room has ever been as messy while making a quilt, but everything is cleaned up, scraps stored away and I'm ready to start something new.


The pattern is from the book Quilting Modern by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pedersen. I will definitely be making more quilts from this book.But the best part is, when I showed my girl the finished quilt top yesterday, she said "I LOVE IT!"   I couldn't ask for better than that!


November 8, 2012

A little improv

When my daughter asked me if we could go to the quilt store to shop for fabric for a new quilt for her bedroom, there was only one answer - a resounding YES!

She chose every fabric for this quilt to match her comforter.  Everything she picked is what I would have chosen myself.   She has a good eye for color... she might just be a quilter someday!

Making a quilt for a preteen, I really wanted to make something from the book Quilting Modern by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pedersen.  My choice was Blind Co-Pilot, but dear daughter would have none of that.  She liked the quilts that had a more traditional look.  We compromised on Supernova.  Here is the progress I've made so far.  It will have a white background to match the background of her comforter.   Oh and white Minky on the back - that was one of her requirements, too.

I'm having fun doing something that's a little outside the box for me.

October 21, 2012

Ready for Santa!

It feels wonderful to have these done in plenty of time for Christmas.   I used Camille Roskelley's cute Merry pattern and Basic Grey's Blitzen fabrics from Moda.  I had a local company do the embroidery for the names.   I'm really happy with how they turned out!

September 25, 2012

Kinda finished...

I got the blocks put together with sashing for the Fat Quarter Shop's 2010 Designer Mystery Block of the Month featuring the cute Kate Spain 12 Days of Christmas fabrics from Moda.  I'm undecided about a border - whether to do one or call it done.   I liked the finishing kit designed by Brenda Riddle, but I'm thinking it's more blue than I want in a Christmas quilt.   Plus, I'd really like to take the lazy route and call it done.  Opinions?

September 23, 2012

Ziggy Baby

It's been awhile since I've made a sample for the shop.  Yesterday I made this adorable chevron baby quilt using a pattern called Ziggy Baby from Cluck Cluck Sew.  It went together super fast and I love the way it turned out!

August 12, 2012

Last Week in Rehab

Thanks to Sinta for encouraging me (and many others) to work on some block of the month projects.  I really wanted to finish my 2010 FQS Designer Mystery BOM, especially after seeing Sinta's pictures of her quilt.

I only had 4 blocks to finish and they were already cut out!  No more excuses!

But there was one block I wasn't fond of and I tried to figure out something seasonal that I could add that wasn't already represented in the designer's blocks.  How about a cardinal?  On top of a tree?   I think he turned out pretty cute.   I know he needs a beak, but maybe I will applique some wool or do some embroidery.

I'm happy to say that all 12 blocks are finished!   Next up, putting the quilt together and start working on the 2011 FQS Designer Mystery BOM!

August 5, 2012

Spools Finished!

I had a productive weekend.   Finished my Spools quilt!   I made mine one row shorter than the pattern.  "Someone" in my house told me my spools looked like they were going to fall over!

I also got back to a long-neglected Block of the Month project.   Come back tomorrow and see what I finished in BOM Rehab.

July 27, 2012

Spools progress

It looks like Nicole and I are taking a similar approach to our spool blocks.   I'm using an assembly line, too!   I've got all the spool bodies assembled and I'm working on the tops and bottoms now.  This is such a fun and easy block, and the Marmalade fabrics make a really pretty summer quilt.

Thelma has posted a couple of her blog readers' finished spool quilts.  Take a look - they are all beautiful, ladies, keep 'em coming!

July 15, 2012

Spoolin'

I'm working on this awesome quilt project with Nicole and Thelma. It's the Spools pattern by Thimbleblossoms' Camille Roskelley - cute, isn't it? I was lucky enough to find some of her upcoming Moda line, Marmalade, and am using some greys from Ruby and Vintage Modern for the spool tops.

July 4, 2012

Happy Independence Day!


I hope you are enjoying the day off with family and friends. I'm off work until July 16! Going to spend time with family (hi Mom!) and get some things done around the house.

Buying a new ironing board today spurred a sewing room cleaning spree. I had a couple of neat second hand store finds that weren't getting seen, so I tidied up a couple of areas in order to display them. I got this cute green wooden wagon and staged it with some fat quarter bundles and some of my pincushion collection.



I also found "Grandpa's Tool Chest" that turns out to be the perfect storage space for some quilt books and a little fabric.

I hope you are having a great day, however it is being spent!

June 25, 2012

Quilt in a Day



This is the fastest quilt I've ever finished. Big, chunky pieces = done in a snap! I got my inspiration for this post on I'm a Ginger Monkey's blog. The original creator features a tutorial here.

I used some Anna Maria Horner Velveteen and some coffee colored Timeless Treasures Sketch for the background. The squares are 13-1/2" and the quilt is 55" x 55".

The velveteen was not the easiest fabric to work with, but I got some tips on the internet and the secret is to pin the heck out of it. Easy, peasy.

June 19, 2012

Ho Ho Ho!


Every year when I get out the Christmas decorations, the family stockings have looked more and more dated. I made the kids' stockings from an old Debbie Mumm pattern using fusible applique. They've held up pretty well, but my daughter's stocking has been losing a letter every year. In 2010, there was one "L" remaining. Last Christmas, there was nothing left.

I've wanted to make this stocking ever since Camille Roskelley introduced her Merry pattern. After Christmas last year, I anxiously waited for Moda's Blitzen by Basic Grey to hit the stores and now that the fabric is available, I'm in full production mode!

Here are the first 4 of 5 mini quilts that will be become the Stashmaster family stockings for 2012. No fusible applique for the names this year, though. I want these to last!!!

May 18, 2012

Now for something completely different


This is the last of the small quilts for a while. I took a class from Jo Morton in 2007. This is her Peppermint Twist quilt from the book, Remembrances. I made all the churn dash blocks right away, but the applique has languished.

Let me confess - I am not skilled at applique. I've taken a class, I work with several ladies who are experts at applique but it hasn't rubbed off on me. My sister-in-law Jan, who also works at the quilt store, does the most beautiful applique work. A while back, I asked her if she would make the center of this block for me and she said she would be happy to do it.

When I got the center back from her recently, the beauty of her work took my breath away, and I couldn't wait to finish this quilt top. First, I had to trim that beautiful center. It took me several attempts before I had the courage to cut, afraid I might ruin it! But I did, and then made 32 teeny flying geese for the border. To my surprise and delight, the border fit perfectly around the center!

Next, I pieced the 4 corner units and, again, everything fit together perfectly with no problems. Until it came to assembling the quilt. That's when I discovered the center unit was too big to fit the corner units.

I took it to the quilt store, exasperated. My coworkers pointed out that the center setting triangles left too much of a seam allowance and that trimming it to a perfect quarter inch would help.

I took the quilt home and did just that. It made sense. However, the center was still too big. I did some creative seaming and made it fit. It's not perfect, will never win any ribbons, but I still think it's a beautiful quilt. Just don't scrutinze very closely. Maybe that will quilt out?

May 16, 2012

By George

And next up is my finished top of George - another of Carrie Nelson's Schnibbles patterns. This one is made from Moda's Charlevoix fabric designed by Minick and Simpson. I love how bright and cheerful these fabrics are and again, I had no trouble at all with the pattern. Easy peasy!

May 14, 2012

My Good Fortune

The second Schnibble I finished for my office is this one, Good Fortune. It's made with Moda's Howard Marcus Traditions fabrics, the same as Carrie's example. I love the colors and this quilt could not have gone together any more perfectly.

Another one of the small quilts I've been working on has a diagonal set like this quilt, but the designer does not explain that you need to trim the 4 corner units before putting the quilt together. I was pulling my hair out wondering why things weren't fitting. I'm once again reminded how thorough and accurate Carrie's directions are.

May 7, 2012

Schnibbling

Ok, yes, I know I haven't blogged in ages! I moved into a new office space in March. Love the fact that I have windows and a great view! But saddened that I no longer have room to hang a full sized quilt.

Since the only finished small quilts I have are Halloween and Christmas, I set to work making some smaller quilts for my cubicle walls.

Here is my first top. I made Novantique using an older Minnick and Simpson collection called Vintage Reserve. I left the border off to make a small quilt, 20 x 27. So that's what kept me away. That and an unfortunate cross country skiing accident. Ever pulled a hamstring? OMG, pain like none other. Took almost a month, but I'm finally getting back to normal. Stay tuned - I have 3 other small quilts to share!

March 28, 2012

Blog Hop, Day 3

Wow - thanks to the many blog hoppers who left comments for me yesterday. It's always interesting to hear how you like to buy and use (or in some cases, don't use!) fabric. I'm knee deep in charm squares right now - I pulled out my stash of charms to get some smaller quilts made for my new office work space. So even though I'm not participating in Another Year of Schnibbles, I've been Schnibbling. Yes I have.

I hope you will stop in and visit Denise at Quilters Window and the talented Monique Dillard at Open Gate Quilts to see what they have to share with you from the book Traditional Fat Quarter Quilts.

March 27, 2012

Eeek! Spider!


Sorry - I'm just being silly. No, I don't like spiders. AT ALL. Still, I picked this project from Monique's book because the block really intrigued me. I've never seen one quite like it!

I struggled a bit with getting the first block done. Totally operator error, not the fault of the instructions. On page 34 when it tells you to "Make sure it looks exactly like the diagram, with the main light on the left and the
dark on the right" - I suggest following that recommendation or your block will not turn out. Nope, not at all....

Thelma talked about 'bending the rules' last year. Well, I'm the defiant one this year. First, although this is called Fat Quarter Traditional Quilts, I wanted to use a fat eighth bundle of Fig Tree's California Girl. I was able to get one block from each fat eighth (with some left over), so if you want a scrappier look, you can use fat eighths for the Spider blocks, too.

I made 3 test blocks and then decided to go into assembly line mode for the rest of the blocks. I had all the centers done and started to put them together side by side. I really liked the blocks, so I made a little baby quilt from just the centers of the Spider block. If you cut carefully, you can make 2 "center" blocks from one layer cake square and some background - how's that for frugal?

Be sure and leave a comment on this post for a chance to win a copy of Monique's book, Fat Quarter Traditional Quilts and one of her fabulous rulers. Tell me what your favorite precut is and why. I'm a huge fan of fat eighth bundles - not as expensive as fat quarters and you can get a decent sized quilt just by adding a little background fabric!

Be sure and stop by to see what the other participants have to show you. The line up of participating blogs includes:
Monday - Thelma from Cupcakes 'n Daisies
Tuesday - My Turn!
Wednesday - Denise from Quilters Window and Monique from Open Gate Quilts
Thursday - Sherri from A Quilting Life
Friday - Carrie from La Vie en Rosie and Nicole from Sister's Choice Quilts

Thanks for visiting!

March 26, 2012

Welcome to the Blog Hop!


I'm glad you have joined me for a week dedicated to showcasing some great quilts from Monique Dillard's new book, Traditional Fat Quarter Quilts. Get it at your local quilt shop or preview and order the book from C&T Publishing.

The line up of participating blogs includes:
Monday - Thelma from Cupcakes 'n Daisies
Tuesday - My Turn!
Wednesday - Denise from Quilters Window and Monique from Open Gate Quilts
Thursday - Sherri from A Quilting Life
Friday - Carrie from La Vie en Rosie and Nicole from Sister's Choice Quilts

Be sure to stop by and comment on each blog on their featured day for a chance to win prizes!

Please come back tomorrow to see the project I've been working on - here's a preview from the book of my project, Spider.

March 21, 2012

What are you doing next week?

A new release from C&T Publishing is this beautiful book written by my friend, Monique Dillard.  Next week we're having a Blog Hop to showcase some of the projects from this book.

Please stop by the following blogs next week and see what we have to show you.   There will be inspiration, fun and prizes!

Monday - Thelma http://www.cupcakesndaisies.blogspot.com/
Tuesday - me http://the-stashmaster.blogspot.com/
Wednesday - Denise http://www.quilterswindow.com/blog/ and Monique http://opengatequilts.blogspot.com/
Thursday - Sherri http://www.aquiltinglife.com/
Friday - Carrie http://lavieenrosie.typepad.com/lavieenrosie/ and Nicole http://sisterschoice.typepad.com/sisters_choice_quilts/

March 1, 2012

A welcome visitor


Our school district has a series of concerts every winter that coincide with my daughter's birthday. A perfect time for a visit from Grandma and some accompanying silliness.



We had a very fun visit, but no sewing going on here.


We were so struck by how much my son Owen had grown since Grandma has seen him last fall. I had to go digging in my photo albums to show how much my tiny baby boy has changed since Mom stayed with us after the twins' birth.

February 7, 2012

Proud Mom

My sons competed in their first high school solo/ensemble festival this weekend. The top players for each instrument go on to compete at the state level. Both got wonderful feedback from their adjudicators, and Owen was selected as first alternate in the clarinet solo category. His teacher wrote "This is a huge accomplishment as this category had a huge number of entries and is very competitive."

They are 14 and both started playing when they were 10. I could not be any prouder of my kids.



January 22, 2012

Ball and Chain


Do you ever have one of those quilt projects that you can't wait to get back in your sewing room to work on? The quilt I'm working on is NOT one of them.

Don't get me wrong - I love the quilt, but this has been a very difficult project from the start. I already owned the pattern when I discovered an online quilt shop offering it as a Block of the Month. I signed up and chose the reproduction fabrics option. I was thrilled with the first package of 3 blocks that arrived and made them immediately. Then the blocks got stuck in a box as I moved on to another quilt and Golden Memories became a UFO. That was in 2007.

Fast forward to 2011, which became a year of finishing some UFOs for me. Since I was working on a couple of other BOM projects from 2007, why not this one? One big challenge were the log cabin blocks. Those are 1-1/4" strips, people! I don't really like repetitive blocks like these, so I decided I would finish them first, and then I would treat myself for finishing by doing the more fun sampler blocks.

I finished all of the log cabin blocks and started in on the sampler blocks. I finished the first 3 in 2007 and couldn't wait to make more. Number 4 went off without a hitch. Number 5 had some fabric issues and as I later discovered, so did most of the rest of sampler blocks. I spent many, many, many hours pawing through my stash to try and come up with pleasing fabric combinations. It was exhausting!

I spent most of November and December working on this quilt and was so overjoyed to get all the blocks done. When I started to sew the rows together, things weren't fitting together very smoothly. Some of the sampler blocks were a bit too big, but I tried to fit them in. I knew if I had to struggle with sewing them together, I wouldn't be happy with the finished quilt.

So, I put the quilt aside, worked on some kaleidoscope blocks and then decided that Golden Memories was wrecking my mojo. I didn't even want to go in my sewing room. I had to tackle the quilt top and I had to win! I ripped out 2 rows of blocks and then put the blocks back up on my design wall. I measured every sampler block. There were 7 of them that were 1/4 inch too big. Too big! You might think I would have noticed this sooner, but since they fit together in the first place, they had to be the right size, right?

The worst offenders were the blocks that had many pieces - some had almost 80 pieces. So I spent the last week homebound because of the snow and I've slowly been remaking the blocks. I'm still avoiding the sewing room because it's not been fun for me to find 7-1/2" blocks to replace the ones in the pattern and also to make that many more fabric choices.

But I will persevere. This quilt will not get the best of me!

January 16, 2012

Three Day Weekend


I love having an extra day at home, and especially since the roads are covered with snow and I really don't want to be out driving anywhere.

What better time to work on a new quilt! I'm still smitten with my Kaleidoscope Smart-Plate ruler, and decided to try something with some brighter colors. I grabbed a stack of leftover Ruby scraps and set to work.

I made 56 kaleidoscope blocks, so this little cutie is 22" x 25." I'm going to add a couple of borders, but need to get some more Ruby since I used up all my scraps!