Saturday, June 19, 2010

I Love Asterisks

I joined the Fresh Modern Bee and June was our first month.  Jennifer asked us to make asterisk blocks.  This is the first Bee I have taken part in, and I've already learned some new things.

1.  ALWAYS make a test block first.






2.  Wild and wacky ideas may not turn out exactly as envisioned.









3.  Some one else is going to see the back side of your quilt block.  Eeeek!






4.  You may discover a new block design that you would have never made otherwise, but now you'd like to 20 more.



So here are the fabrics that arrived in my mailbox.  (I LOVED working with these bright happy colors)  Green Floral from Erin McMorris Park Slope line, Black Ta Dot from Micheal Miller, and another geometric print from Micheal Miller.  I can't remember that name and am too lazy to look it up.



I made my sample block first.  It's the first photo, pulled from the scrap bin.  So, I thought 'this is easy, let's dive right in'.  I had all kinds of ideas, since my crazy brain rarely lets me follow directions to the letter.  Jennifer gave us room to make different sizes and varietions,  so I thought a few tiny asterisks floating on black polka dots would be cute.


This block was fun, although I made it yesterday, so I think I've almost forgotten the small moments of frustration!





Here is where things went downhill a bit.  I had the crazy idea to make a shadow on the asterisk and never thought about potential design problems.  This one almost didn't make the cut, but after a bit of ripping and extra piecing, I think it will be OK.  Thankfully, this picture seems to disguise the tiny seams and problem areas.


This morning I made two more simple blocks from the left-over fabrics.  This one is 6.5".


and this one is 3.5".  It reminds me of a little black long-legged spider.


Here's the whole family.  Daddy, Mommy, Big Sister and Little Brother Asterisk.





Here's Daddy Asterisk picking some Lilacs for the table.





Here's Mommy Asterisk making supper.






Here's Big Sister climbing into the toy box.




Little Brother's doing a chin-up on the old milk can in the front yard.

I hope Jennifer likes these blocks.  It was so much fun making them, and I can't wait to see what next month holds!


On another note, I won a giveaway in SewMamaSew's big giveaway day.


Four coaster made from the lovely FMF and Katie Jump Rope.  I can't seem to get my sticky little fingers on too much of this coveted fabric, so now I can at least look at these lovelies everyday.  



They're way too pretty to hide under any old mugs of coffee, so I hung them in my dining room, and am loving their square beauty.  My husband noticed them right away and commented that he like them there.



They are beautifully made and give such a fun look to this boring corner.  They come from Sue and I highly recommend that you check out her blog for some great quilting inspiration.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

A Quilt For Me!

I'm finally starting on the quilt that's been floating at the back of my head for about 6 months.  I always pushed it off because it's gonna stay here with us, but for now all commissioned projects are caught up.


I'm so excited about this quilt.  It's mostly Hope Valley, and made from this tutorial.  A couple of my favorite prints from other lines just begged to be included, so what can I say?  I feel quite proud of myself for cutting into my one precious fat quarter of Flea Market Fancy posies in  green. 

 

The other print I added was Erin McMorris' Wildwood Forest in Fuchsia.  I only had a fat quarter of this one as well, so all that's left after this project is a tiny square.  I'm valiantly resisting the urge to go buy up a couple of yards while it's still available.  I've decided that the amount of fabric sitting on my shelf is ridiculous, and I HAVE to use a whole bunch more before I can buy more fabric.  Oh, it's so hard...


I'm guessing this quilt could take me longer than most, because it will sit on the shelf, waiting for those moments when I need a little time by myself to play with beautiful colors and patterns.  Half an hour spent stitching peacefully, and I'm (almost) ready to cheerfully face the dirty dishes and piles of laundry!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Finished!


First of all, a Stacked Books boy quilt.  This one was made on impulse, and I thoroughly enjoyed making it.


When I chose the fabrics for the 'books'  I was thinking of Kona Aqua for the solid background, but decided on impulse to use Turquoise instead.  I started my quilting journey ten years ago by working in a local quilt shop. I learned so many good  things about quilting during that part of my life, but I also picked up on matchy-matchy notion.  It's a real challenge to just leap out and follow my instinct when putting together fabrics that don't really go.  It's these fabrics that clash when you just lay them out together, that give the finished quilt depth.

 

I quilted in straight vertical lines with light aqua thread...


and backed it with this yummy Valori Wells Birds flannel.  And it came out of the dryer very wrinkly and squishy soft.

And now for the finished Football Quilt.


Quilted in straight lines.  Looking at the quilting pattern on the back, it reminds me of a football field with ten yard lines, etc.


I like the happy primary colors.


And here's a peak at the back, including the hand embroidered label with the baby's name.  (I hope no one will be able to steal the baby's identity from the last three letters.  Quilters have such a bad reputation for this.)

Now, time to dive into a new project!

Monday, June 7, 2010

More Football

If you're tired of this football quilt, please read no further.  I'm hoping to finish it today, because I've got so many other quilts in my head right now!

 So, here it is on the design wall.


I couldn't say that I love it, but I think it works well with the style of the fabric.  I fussycut scenes from the football fabric for the center of the squares, trying to get different scenes in each one.  




I promise I'll only show one more picture of this quilt, when it's finished, and then you'll never see another football helmet on this blog!

Friday, June 4, 2010

The Football Fabric Has Arrived



My husband likes it, so what can I say?

I'd like to thank each of you that left comments on my dilemma over this custom quilt.  I was amazed that you cared enough to give your ideas.  Every suggestion helped me to come to a conclusion on how to make this quilt.  
Quite a few of you mentioned that the football fabric should be included in the quilt top as well.  I think you're right, and I'm basically decided on the final pattern.  I went to my fabric stash with trepidation, since I was afraid that I wouldn't have anything to 'go' with this fabric.  But I'm pleasantly surprised to find some that will work, although it's just a bit hard to use up my precious red squares...



And I think I need to quit buying polka dots and stock up on stripes and other small geometric prints.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Heather Ross GiveAway

                                             
 photo courtesy of SugarStitches

I visited Little Bluebell, and found out about this wonderful giveaway.  Jennifer from Sugar Stitches is being VERY generous and giving away some Far Far Away 2.  I'd really like to break my non-winning spell and acquire this super-awesome fabric!  Head on over to Jennifer's blog for a chance to win.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Today Was a Good Day

I pulled this quilt out of the dryer, all warm and crinkly.  And like I predicted, I do like it now that it's done.



I pieced this top a month ago, by pulling out some fun scraps from my pink bin.  I used Kona Ash to go with it, and though I had moments of wondering what I had done, I'm happy with the finished product.  I quilted it in straight vertical lines, and I really like how this worked.  I did the lines about 1 1/2" apart (I'm too lazy to get up now and measure)  and this helped it go really fast, since it's not quite as dense as this type of quilting usually is.  It's still really soft and snuggly for a baby, yet gives a nice modern look.  Yup, I'll be doing this again.  Finally something to add to my sadly neglected little shop.  




Love these scooters!  It's so hard on me to use up the last of a print that I like, but I must remember, there's always something cuter coming up.  (Take a look in the 'Coming Soon' section at Fat Quarter Shop)




For some amazing reason, these hearts on the binding turned out perfectly centered, and I didn't even try!





Now, I need to add something boyish to my shop as well, and I'm working on it...




I tried something a little risky and totally out of my comfort zone.  I was going to use a pale aqua as my background on this quilt.  Then I thought it would look good with white too. THEN, I spied my pile of Kona solids stacked beside my design wall and my eye caught this bright turquoise.


Oooops!  What have I done?  It's feeling a little bright right now, but I'm hoping it will look good once it's quilted.

 Notice those little birdies in the strip above.  They're from  Petunia's Textiles who prints her fabrics through Spoonflower and sells them on Etsy.    I love discovering these independent fabric designers because they have awesome designs, and although the fabric is more expensive, I just use small amounts as accents.

Here's a couple more droolworthy Etsy sellers with their own fabric designs.

Pocketful of Pinwheels
Pyglet Whispers
Scarlet Fig
WonderFluff Shop
A Little Sweetness

OK, I know there's more, but I've got to quit now before I notice something I need ;)  If I tempted anyone enough to buy from any of these shops, let me know.  I just love creating fabric buying temptation for others.  It makes me feel a little better.

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