Blogger's Quilt Festival entry - A Mini Stitch (or Two)

I have wanted to enter a quilt finish in Amy's Creative Side's Blogger's Quilt Festival but never seem to have one ready.  So I'm happy to be able to enter my first quilt in the Festival, in the Mini category. 

I made a cute pink sewing machine for my friend's brand new sewing room (with pink carpet!) and then made another one in red for a friend's birthday.  I already have a few more in the works.  This sweet pattern is called Mini Stitch and it's designed by Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree Quilts.  Both minis are made using fabrics from various Bonnie and Camille (Thimbleblossoms) fabrics and quilted in a 3/4" grid pattern using my home sewing machine.  Each measures about 12" x 14".

Please click the symbol to the left to visit Amy's Creative Side to see all of this fall's entries!   Vote for your favorites beginning November 1.

Something Old, Something New

I made this quilt back in 2012.  I got the idea for it after reading I'm a Ginger Monkey's blog post here.  The tutorial I followed was from Jeni Baker's blog and is provided here.  This quilt was made from fat quarters of cotton velveteen by Anna Maria Horner and Amy Butler and I used a chocolate brown sketch print for the background.  This beautiful quilt top was languishing in my closet until last Friday, when I had another class at my long arm quilter's studio.

There was a whole lot that could have gone wrong with quilting this one, unbeknownst to a longarm newbie.  The velveteen is stretchy and the back is flannel, which was also stretchy.  Richla's machine Louise and I were in perfect sync, though.  I used a panto called Champagne and quilted a bubble pattern over the quilt.  I'm getting more comfortable and can't want for my next opportunity to quilt one of my own quilts on her machine.

I also had an old quilt rack that I had purchased a couple of years ago, and a big blank wall in my now-clean sewing room.  My DH, DD and I put up the shelf this morning (what a team!) and - voila!  Something fun to look at while I'm at the ironing board.

Something else I hope is not getting old with my blog readers - I have more stash to sell.  Please follow this link to my destash blog and see if there is anything you would like to have.

Have a great weekend, all!

Not much progress

I thought I would get a lot accomplished over the 3-day weekend.  Turns out, not so much.  I did get all my arcs sewn and pressed.  Half my blocks are together (I'm only doing 16 "hoops" instead of 20 like the pattern).  I only need to sew corner triangles on the last half of the blocks and I have my eye on another Quick Curve Ruler pattern.

I really love the look of these Metro Hoop blocks, but I'm not sure I love the fabrics I used.  I'm going to keep plugging away to see how it all turns out!

Be sure you check in with Thelma and Nicole and see how their Quick Curve Ruler projects are coming along!

I came, I saw, I quilted!

My wonderful local quilter, Richla, recently added a studio on to her home and began to offer classes where you could come and use her longarm to quilt your own.  Oh, the projects I have....   I decided to start with this cute quilt I made as a shop sample for Keepsake Cottage Fabrics.

The pattern is Fishy Friends by Ribbon Candy Quilt Company.  The fabric is a Northcott line called Shark Attack.  The quilt pattern is Van Gogh, which makes nice, wavy looking swirls.  It was a little nerve wracking, but a lot of fun to quilt it myself.  I have another date scheduled in July to quilt a second one.

Here is  close-up of the quilting and the binding.  Have you ever made a Magic Binding?  So cool.  I will certainly be using this from now on with small quilts, especially kids' quilts.  Here's a link to the technique - all by machine and you get a little flange of contrast color under the binding.  The first three times, I followed the binding cutting instructions as written.  Next time I'm going to make my 'flange' fabric a skosh wider so a little more of it shows.

My other project for the last week has been a complete sewing room redo that involved taking out 3 pieces of furniture whose only purpose seemed to be collecting piles of junk!

The bookcase holds all my favorite patterns and bundles of fabric, as well as cute pincushions and gifts from friends.

I got a smaller sewing table and a pistachio green rolling cabinet for notions. Now my machine is under the window with lots of natural light.  Maybe now I won't need 4 lights when I sew.  At least not until winter!

I decluttered the junk - 3 donation bags and 2 bags of trash.

The center of the room is now wide open!  I can pull my cutting table out or move my Big Board ironing board into the center of the room when I need to press those long seams!.

OK, but here is my very favorite part.  All my rulers are hung on the closet door.  No more hunting for the right size square or trimming tool.  And really?  Did I need three 6-1/2" squares?

Here's to happy, clutter-free sewing!

Still Swooning!

Construction continues on my Swoon quilt.  I've made a couple of the 24" Swoon blocks to go with my 8" Mini Swoons.  I'm having a lot of fun fussy cutting special pieces of fabric to feature in the blocks.  I'm calling this my "Grown-Up I-Spy quilt" because I'm having fun burying some fun fabrics in the blocks.  Mustaches!  Mini Coopers!  Bingo Cards!  A girl in a tree!

Based on Camille Roskelley's wonderful Swoon and MINI Swoon patterns (find them here if you don't already have them!), I'm going to make up the layout as I go.  Still having fun and I love working with these bright colors!

 

Marching in the Parade!

I was excited to see that this month's "assignment" was a choice of any Thimble Blossoms mini pattern.  I have a few of Camille's adorable mini patterns in my collection, but it didn't take me long to decide on MINI Swoon, and on the fabrics.  I've been collecting fuchsia, pink, orange and yellow - citrus colors - and low volume/text prints.  How would these look together for a scrappy MINI Swoon?

I showed my friend Chelsey after making 2 blocks.  She told me I should make a whole quilt with 8" blocks!  Well, I'm not that ambitious, but it did give me the idea of making a Swoon quilt with my collection of citrus colors and 3 different sizes of Swoon blocks.  This quilt is still swimming around in my head.  But for now, here are my Baby/MINI Swoon blocks (8").  Soon to be joined by Big Sister (16") and Mama (24") Swoon blocks.

No, it's not sewn together because the blocks are going to get mixed around when I decide on my layout, but I hope it's ok to enter the parade anyway, Sinta and Sherri!  I can't wait to see what everyone else makes for April, and to find out what's ahead for May!

Garden Medallion

I saw this beautiful quilt on my longarm quilter's blog after she quilted it for another customer.  She mentioned a kit available at a local shop.  I may have left work early that day so I could race right over and buy one, but - to my disappointment - they didn't have any kits.  They did have the pattern, Garden Medallion by Bloomin' Workshop, so I bought one and started planning my quilt.  I have quite a bit of Kaffe Fassett fabric stashed, so I started playing.  I decided I wanted to make mine larger than the pattern, and included another pieced border.

I love the large, colorful Kaffe prints, but they can be hard to work with.  Sometimes the big prints have colors that you don't want in your quilt.  Sometimes I changed the fabric in one border, then had to change all subsequent borders to get the look I wanted.

I made hourglass blocks for the fourth border instead of the pinwheels shown on the pattern.  I also added a pieced star in the upper left and lower right corners of the quilt.  My quilt is 70x70.  The pattern without one added border is 63x63.

I got HOOKED!

I really liked the look of this month's Schnibbles pattern, Hook.  I got Basic Grey's fun new Christmas 2014 line, 25th and Pine.  Guess what goes perfectly with 25th & Pine?  This tone on tone green polka dot from Bonnie & Camille's April Showers line!

I ran out of the white fabric (and steam - I have 3 baby gifts to make!), so I left off the last 2 borders.  I'm going to get a fabulous striped binding to finish this off.

Love the pattern, Carrie.  Sinta and Sherrie - I'm ready for the parade!

Seven years in the making!

Backstory, abbreviated:  I started this quilt in 2007 as a block of the month.  It's the Golden Memories sampler designed by Lori Smith, From My Heart to Your Hands.  Loved the fabrics and made the first 3 blocks immediately.  Following my usual block of the month M.O., the rest of the blocks were put in a project block since I was always in the middle of some other quilt project when they arrived in my mailbox.

Fast forward to November 2011, when I started to work on the blocks again.  I made many fabric substitutions when I found that the combinations were not always pleasing.  I was very happy to have a large Civil War reproduction fabrics stash that I could use to make this quilt my own.

I also discovered some sizing issues with some of the sampler blocks, and ended up having to remake 9 blocks in order to have them fit the 7-1/2" block size. 

My friend Joyce, upon seeing my finished top, told me I had to  have it hand quilted, so I did.  And I am so happy I took her advice.  I contacted a company called Plain and Simple Quilts and a lovely lady named Mary beautifully hand quilted my sampler.  Those log cabin strips are 3/4" finished, people!  And each patch is outline quilted. 32 sampler blocks, 31 log cabin blocks and pieced outer border.  2,980 pieces.

This.  This is my masterpiece.   I don't know if I will ever top this one (but I'm going to keep trying).

Science Fair

I finished this quilt some time ago, but forgot to blog about it.  It's the Science Fair pattern designed by Jaybird Quilts, and I used V&Company's Simply Style for Moda.  The background is an ombre from the first V&Company collection, Simply Color.

I love how this quilt turned out.  I can't take credit for the ombre idea.  I blatantly lifted it after seeing several versions using the ombre background on Quilting is My Bliss.

This quilt was fun and very easy to make, really - it only looks complicated!  I added an extra background piece to the top and bottom of each vertical row, then trimmed them off square, but the pattern as designed follows the shape of the hexagons for a fun ziggy zaggy edge.

This doesn't match anything in my house, but will get a Minky backing and it will make a fun rec room cuddle-up-on-the-couch quilt.

Mixed Bag

I volunteered to make this sample for the shop because I wanted to work with the fun Mixed Bag fabrics.  Such happy, bright colors!

Made with just one charm pack of Mixed Bag by Studio M for Moda and a little yardage, this quilt is called Which Way and measures 42 x 54.  It's available on Moda's website, one of their free pattern downloads.

Double Hubble, Fini!

I don't think I've ever finished TWO good-sized quilts in less than a month before, but this month I have!  Two Hubble quilts, both ready for the quilter!  (Just showing one because it was quite the feat getting it on the design wall with my injured arm.)

Maybe it's because I made both quilts at once that it didn't seem like all that much extra work.  Hmm, I'll have to keep that in mind for the future, although I seldom make the same pattern twice.  I think this Miss Rosie's pattern using Little Black Dress was totally worth making twice.

Now on to the baby quilt!  I have so many ideas swimming around in my head!

Double Hubble!

I was lucky enough to have a 3-day weekend, and I also had Sunday off from the quilt shop.  I spent most of the day Saturday organizing my sewing room.  It was a disaster, but now is very tidy and inviting.  I love it so much when it's like this, why do I ever let it get to disaster stage in the first place?

After organizing, I was able to finish my second Hubble quilt.  This one the more simplified version using squares instead of half square triangles.  I think they both look amazing!  One will be a gift and one for me (the HST version).  They are both at the "run for the border" stage, so that's my next task.  After I finish that, I have a BABY BOY quilt to make for my niece.

Hubble is a great pattern from Carrie Nelson at Miss Rosie's Quilt Company.  It's one of her Schnibbles and can be made with charm squares!  You need 102 charm squares and yardage for the background.  I made mine with a layer cake of Little Black Dress and a fat-eighth bundle of Little Black Dress 2 - both by Basic Grey for Moda fabrics and great neutrals for a striking quilt.  I used the LBD light grunge for my backgrounds.

I am absolutely LOVING using my older sewing machine again.  Perfect seam allowances.  Both my centers measure exactly 56-3/4" square.  OK, enough blabbing, I'm back to work on my borders.

Say it ain't so!

Earlier in my quilting career, I had a real disdain for 9-patches.  I found the piecing "boring" and the blocks too plain for my tastes.

Then I met and took a class with these women...

And made this quilt...

And now the 9-patch block is one of my favorites.













Here is the start of my Nantucket quilt.  Like Sinta, I started with the 9-patches.  I know I'm really going to LOVE this quilt!

One of these things is not like the others

One of these things just doesn't belong!  Yes, that blocky sunflower on the left does not belong!!

Note to self:  This last row of blocks went together so quickly because you FORGOT to add the flip corners to the center of the sunflower.  FOUR TIMES!   Argh...   I will be at one with my seam ripper today!

Autumn in My Garden

Wow, where has the summer gone?  Kids heading back to school in less than a week.

We've had an amazing summer in Seattle - hardly any rain and lots of sun.  But I can already feel a hint of fall in the air and it will be here in less than a month.

Another sign of late summer - I'm seeing fields of sunflowers in my sewing room!  This is Autumn in My Garden by the Buggy Barn.  It's from their book A Little Bit Crazy.

Thelma, Nicole and I saw this quilt hanging at the Buggy Barn quilt show last summer and have been talking about it ever since.  We've even traded strips of fabrics to give each quilt more variety.  Even better than raiding your own stash, is raiding your friends' stashes, too!

There is a lot of prep work involved in getting ready to make a block.  The centers are 8 x 8 squares that finish 1".   I've got some oldies but goodies from my stash worked in here!

It will be fun to see my friends' versions of the quilt, too.  Because even though I know we have some of the same fabric, I have a feeling all of them are going to be unique.

Diamond Traditions Blog Tour, Brilliance

Thanks for joining me on my featured day of the Blog Tour to celebrate Monique Dillard's new book, Diamond Traditions.  This is the quilt I decided to make - Brilliance.  This is the version of the quilt that you'll see in the book.

Before I show you the one I made, Monique asked all of us some "getting to know you" questions, so here are my answers.

1.  When did you start quilting?
I started quilting in 1993 (gasp - 20 years ago!) after watching a PBS show called Quilting from the Heartland, hosted by Shar Jorgenson.  I'd always liked fabric and quilts, and the idea of rotary cutting really appealed to me.  My first quilt taught me that rotary cutting and cardboard templates do not mix, and also that I never wanted to use templates again!

2.  What was your first project?
Ambitious for a first project, I chose a quilt from Quiltmaker magazine called Winken, Blinken and Nod.  I had all manner of trouble with shaving off just a sliver of the cardboard template with every cut of my rotary blade, so in my first attempt at assembly, nothing fit together.  I was determined, though!  I had to buy more fabric and I bought a template kit that included a laminate type material and special scissors that allowed you to cut through it.  This worked out better for me, but I still wound up with a quilt where nothing matched in the center!

3.  What is your favorite movie?
Wow - so many to choose from!  I choose Dirty Dancing which has a wonderful love story, great music and Patrick Swayze - yowza!

4.  What is your favorite book?
Another tough question.  I'd have to say She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb.

5.  What is your favorite tv show?
My favorite classic show that I can watch again and again is Friends.  I have all 10 seasons on DVD and watch them often while I'm sewing.  My favorite current show is Grey's Anatomy.

6.  Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Seattle, Washington.  When I was in junior high, my parents moved us just north of Seattle, near where I live today with my husband and 3 children.

7.  Dog lover?  Cat lover?  Neither?  Both?
I love dogs and have been trying to adopt a French bulldog for years.  Maybe someday I will actually have one!

8.  If you didn't quilt, what hobby would you do?
Blasphemy!  I can't imagine not quilting - I love it so!  But I'd probably do something with yarn - knitting or crocheting - if I couldn't quilt.

9.  Sports - participant, spectator or neither?
I'm not much of either, but I do enjoy watching high school girls' basketball, especially when my son is playing in the band.

10.  Least favorite part of quilting?
My least favorite parts are anything having to do with the finishing - assembling the rows, adding borders, piecing the back.  I'd much rather be sewing blocks!

11.  Most favorite part of quilting?
My favorite part is cutting out a quilt and bonding with the fabrics that I am going to use.  That's the part that feels the most creative to me - choosing the perfect fabrics to go with a pattern, then making that first test block to make sure I like how the fabrics play with the pattern.

12.  Person who is your quilting inspiration and which designer/quilter would you most like to meet?
I'm lucky enough to have met two of my favorite designers that I now consider friends - Carrie Nelson and Monique Dillard.  I would very much like to meet Kim Diehl and Kaffe Fassett some day.

13.  Salty or Sweet?
Definitely sweet, preferably with chocolate!

And now back to the real reason you're here, to find out more about Monique's new book!

When Monique asked me to participate in her blog tour, I wanted to help, but found myself really short on time.  So my choice from the book was Brilliance.  It's a very simple quilt with snowball-ish blocks and it really shows off the fabric.

I used the fabric collection 2wenty Thr3e designed by the folks at Cosmo Cricket for Moda.  I used a cream Bella Solid for the sashing and Moda Essential Dots in Dove for the border.  I quilted it using straight lines about 1/4-inch apart.  I'm really pleased with how it turned out, and now I have a cute table runner that measures 16-1/2 x 27.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of the Blog Tour.  Please leave a comment on this post before 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, June 23 and I will select one lucky person to win a copy of Monique's fabulous new book!  Good luck to all.

Diamond Traditions Blog Tour

Happy Monday and welcome to the first day of the blog tour to celebrate my friend Monique Dillard's beautiful new book, Diamond Traditions.

Please join these bloggers this week to see their versions of the quilts in Monique's book and comment on their featured day for a chance to win a book.
Monday - Thelma from Cupcakes 'n' Daisies
Tuesday - Denise from Quilter’s  Window
Wednesday - Me!
Thursday - Sherri from A Quilting Life
and wrapping it up on Friday - Monique from Open Gate Quilts

In the home stretch

Ready for Block 6 of the Blogger Girls' BOM?  This block is another one of my favorites.  I made a little design tweak by making some of my star points from a different fabric.  Not that I'm all original and stuff - the simple truth is that I ran out of main star fabric and had to make do!  Other than that, this block was a cinch to make.  Head over to Monique's blog to get your final free block pattern.

Next month we'll show our finishes.  I haven't decided on a setting, but I have figured out the order of the blocks.

Don't forget to stop by the following bloggers to see what they've done with Block 6.   And check out the Flickr page, too.

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

Strawberry Fields Forever

Have you discovered the wonders of Pinterest?  Where you can lose hours looking at home decorating ideas, recipes and quilt designs?  I don't spend a lot of time there, but I do keep an eye out for quilt designs.  When I saw this quilt made from Fig Tree's Strawberry Fields fabrics (one of my all-time favorite collections), I decided I had to make a quilt like it.

I clicked through to find the pattern and was able to determine that the quilt was designed by Ryan Walsh, who has a blog here, though it hasn't been updated in a while.  I didn't see a pattern available for sale through his website, so I looked up the found the block in my Around the Block Again book by Judy Hopkins, decided on a block size (mine are 12") and made my own Strawberry Fields quilt.  There is a narrow sashing between the blocks and a slightly wider border of the background fabric.  I plan to use Minky on the back and finish with a scrappy binding using my leftovers.

This was a really fun quilt to put together - nice big pieces and easy construction.  Thanks, Ryan Walsh, for the inspiration!