Happy Modern Quilts

A New Start

2010-10-28T08:38:00.000-07:00

A smallish announcement: I've created a new blog. I'll leave this one sitting here for awhile, but from now on my home is over here. Come on over if you're interested!

Claire's Quilt

2010-10-21T20:08:00.000-07:00

Way back in August I sent out these fabrics to the wonderful people of the Fresh Modern Quilting Bee. These folks bent their heads to the task and created some stunning and whimsical blocks, then popped them in the mail back to me. The month of September felt almost like Christmas, as almost every trip to the Post Office resulted in a fun package with another lovely quilt block.

A couple weeks ago my design wall was empty (this is totally amazing) so I decided to put up all the blocks I've received to see them all together. (I'm waiting on one more yet)

My sewing room has terrible lighting, so this picture looks a little washed out, but you get the idea. Absolutely wonderful and fun, and exactly what I wanted. They're a mixture of 12.5" and 6.5" blocks. I'm planning on adding some more blocks myself. Probably a few very simple ones to balance it out and rest the eye.

The colors look a bit more true in this picture. This quilt is gonna be so much fun to put together.

For those of you who asked about the pattern for the circle-star block in my last post. It's called a New York Beauty. The book I found it in didn't have a name for it, but I think you should be able to find a free pattern for this block online. And if you haven't tried paper-piecing, go for it! Once you get the hang of it, it's really fun. Maybe I'll do a little tutorial on paper-piecing sometime, but before I do that I'll see if there's another comprehensive one floating around in quilt bloggy land.

Starburst

2010-10-19T07:21:00.000-07:00

October was Shelley's month in the Fresh Modern Bee. I was sent these LURVELY fabrics to work with. I had been wishing to see that middle print in real life and now I'm craving some for myself. (The one just left of the bikes) A small piece of that bike fabric already lives at my home, or else I'd be drooling over that one too!

She asked for a 16.5" block with any kind of star. She had some great inspiration photos for us, and I immediately was drawn to to the circle ones. Me loves circles. Me also loves paper piecing. (In small amounts). I would go entirely crazy making a whole quilt like this. But one block? Fun! Fun!

The seams do get a little bulky, and I'm a little bummed about the color placement I used. The outside ring of points simply doesn't stand out enough and I wish I'd rather used the dark green on the outside. But there's no such thing as perfect in quilting is there? And I really do love this block anyway!

Bliss

2010-10-18T14:24:00.000-07:00

A package arrived in the mail today. It was such a long time coming, I'd forgotten about it. Yes, it's Bliss by Bonnie and Camille. Although I like the looks of this whole collection, I knew that these two dots were must-haves for my stash. I only ordered a half yard of each, so I may need to go back for more yet. Hopefully they're not one of those that are all snatched up right away, never to be seen again.

And yes, I ordered the same two prints in the flannel as well. Can't wait to back some snuggly baby quilts with these.

2010-10-01T13:40:00.000-07:00

I think basting is my least favorite part of the quilting journey. (Ha Ha, big surprise) I've heard a lot about basting spray, and I've been toying with the idea of trying it, but it's just one of those things that hasn't happened yet. I do all my basting on the kitchen floor because I tape the backing down, and the kitchen is the only tapeable surface around here. Baby tries to grab the pins, and 3-year-old must have some tape of his own to put onto every surface. I suppose I should do it during nap-time. But I love the way my boy's face lights up when I say "we're gonna pin a quilt now". He loves to hand me pins, and pulls the tape off the edges when we're done.

The other day I returned from the nursery after changing a smelly pamper mid-quilt. I noticed the sun streaming in on this partially basted quilt and my little orange pin canister sitting there so happy. I had to show you this picture, not because it's anything special, but to me it signifies everything I love about this hobby of mine. And it's a sneak peak of Rainbow Quilt #2. (Those big empty brown spaces are getting some happy-colored hand stitching)

I have another toddler bed/lap size quilt basted and ready to quilt...
...piecing the back for my Hopeful Circles...
...and dreaming of new projects...I hope I have the self denial to finish these up before I even LOOK at anything new!

Should be back with some finished projects soon.

I Love Amy Butler

2010-09-24T06:44:00.000-07:00

When Amy's 'Love' collection came out, this print was my instant favorite. I had to buy a piece, although I had no earthly idea what I'd do with something purple!

The yummy bright mint green background (what is this color called anyways? I think of aqua as being more blue) is one of my favorite colors, and this shade of purple is just divine with it.

When I read that Amy(not Butler) was having a big Amy Butler bash, I thought hmmm... let's make something with that yummy fabric on the pile that you've been looking at every day for months. Of course I didn't sit down and make it till yesterday, and here it is in all it's brilliant purple glory. In a house that doesn't have one other speck of purple. But guess what? I LOVE it!

I used the quilt-as-you-go method, because I'm still not tired of quilting that way. I used a funny old insert that had been hanging around my storage room for years. I kinda like the rectangular shape cause it will be perfect for an afternoon nap. (What nap? asks the 3-year-old)

Another new thing I tried was an invisible zipper in the bottom rather than my usual envelope style back. I like the more tailored look for a change, and I actually had a purple zipper in my drawer. It's been sitting there for years, waiting for purple to come back into style!

Anyways, thanks to Amy for hosting the Amy Butler Sew and Tell since it got this pillow finished for me. If you like Amy Butler fabric or patterns, go check out her blog - she's having a link party (with prizes!).

Fabric Stack

2010-09-22T08:48:00.000-07:00

I love making stacks of fabric. Few of them actually end up a finished project, but it's fun to dream!

The Amy Butler Love print on top is being sewn into a pillow right now!

Hmmm... I'm thinking this needs a few more solids, and then it would make a lovely quilt like this.

An Evolved Rainbow Quilt

2010-09-21T07:02:00.000-07:00

It started out with an idea to make a rainbow quilt. I sewed 3" x WOF (width of fabric) strips together . I didn't take a picture, but here's the little bit of leftover. (After I had changed my mind and cut it all up into more strips, but more on that later)

I had envisioned a big happy stripey rainbow, with a small black applique down in one corner. But once I had all the strips sewn together, it was just too....much! Somewhere along the way I had the idea to make a few quilts out of this big rainbow chunk. A mini 'series' if you will. I thought I'd make one really simple quilt, and one with more complicated piecing, and maybe one with improvisational piecing. Each quilt would use a different colored solid as the background.

For the first quilt, I cut three strips 6" wide and used Kona Snow to make a classic coin quilt.

I did crosshatch quilting with double lines in one direction - Ashley's signature style.

Here's the back using Kona Aqua, another rainbow strip, and Kona Spearmint.

Next I pulled out some chocolate brown to make another quilt top with some more strips from this big hunk of rainbow.

I'll show you more of this one soon. I'm thinking of backing this one with a snuggly pink flannel.

And here's the third one on the design wall right now. I have enough rainbow fabrics left to make another quilt top, but we'll see. I'm hoping to finish these up soon, but first on the list is a dress for my little girl's birthday.

Grey, Red and Blue

2010-09-20T14:14:00.000-07:00

The days have been busy and drizzly, so there's been some finished projects, but no sun to take pictures, and no time to tell you about them. I have a couple of finished, as well as works in progress, but I'll start by just showing you this simple one.

My color inspiration began with the alphabet fabric. It's a white background covered in all the letters of the alphabet in black. I spotted it at the local quilt shop, and bought a small piece because I thought the letters would look cute cut up and put into something. I decided to go with a restrained color palette.

Here's the back with a strip of my favorite blue elephants print.

Stippled with grey thread and bound with Kona Coal.

I'll soon be back with more on my next project.

Christmas in September

2010-09-08T08:20:00.000-07:00

Is anyone getting in the mood for Christmas? I'll have to admit that I'm not. But I enjoyed making these blocks for Janice in the Fresh Modern Bee.

She sent some fun Christmas fabric and asked for pictoral blocks in any size ranging from 6.5" to 14.5". First of all I made a stack of gifts.

A snowy hillside with three trees. I'm really enjoying this Bee, and can't wait to find out what next month will hold.

Just a reminder. If you leave a comment that you'd like me to reply to, please make sure your Account is not set to 'No Reply', or else I can't contact you.

Selvedge Spool

2010-09-04T17:41:00.000-07:00

Since I was on a roll with the 'quilt-as-you-go' method, I made a little wallhanging to put above my sewing ma chine. It was fast and easy to make, and I think it would be fun to make a few more spools, maybe a really fat short one, and a tall skinny one, and group them together on the wall.

A Full Review

2010-09-03T08:03:00.000-07:00

It's now quilted, bound and washed. And I can say with great satisfaction that it was a success!

Fun and Easy? Check!

Soft and Cozy? Check!

Lovely texture? Check!

Nice looking back? Check!

I used a Little Folks flannel by Anna Maria Horner for the back. As I mentioned in my previous post, I didn't prewash the flannel for this quilt, in the hopes that it would shrink evenly with the heavily quilted front. This worked out great! The original instructions for this type of quilt were to stitch in the ditch around the outside of the blocks, and then either tie yarn in the middle of each block, or make a small decorative stitch in the middle. I decided to rather quilt around another set of logs inside each 12" square. It's completely invisible from the front, but looks nice on the back.

I chose a dark gray binding which I think looks deevine with the chartreuse back. I had thought of using black, but I'm really happy with the gray. It frames it well without completely taking over.

I was planning on putting this quilt in my store for sale, but I don't know if I can do it. I just love it too much. And it has so many of my favorite fabrics. It would make a perfect playmat for a baby, but my baby doesn't stay in one place anymore for more than 30 seconds... Maybe I'll just throw it over a chair to brighten up the room. It's so brilliant you won't notice the toys all over the floor!

I just love looking at the beautiful hideousness of the clashing colors here. It never ceases to amaze me how the texture of the fabric and quilting it, can make a deep rose pink look nice with a brilliant cherry red!

And by the way, I found some of that owl fabric. I'm swapping fabric for the first time, and I may be addicted!

A New Love

2010-09-02T08:11:00.000-07:00

A quilt-as-you-go has been on my list of things to try for a looong time. I read that Heather would be starting a new quilt along with this method, and maybe that was what inspired me to try it now. I was hesitant to make a big quilt right away, because I wasn't sure how if I would like a finished quilt done this way. Would it be soft and cozy, or would it be stiff because of the dense quilting? And I could never be sure how to do the backing so it wouldn't look funny. I was concerned about the difference in shrinkage from front to back. Because of the dense quilting on the front, I thought it would shrink quite a bit more than the back, and thus give the back a funny loose look.

So I started out making 12.5" blocks and decided to do a 3 block grid to make a small baby quilt. Let me tell you. These blocks are FUN! Talk about instant gratification. I disciplined myself to use ONLY fabrics from my scraps, and I just love the bright funky look of all these clashing colors together.

I also had the brilliant idea (we'll see!) of using a non-prewashed flannel for the back. I'm not a pre-washer, but I always pre-wash flannels, because they shrink more than cottons. So I thought this might work out nicely since hopefully the heavily quilted front, and the unwashed flannel will shrink a similar amount. I'll let you know how this works out. And I'm so hoping that this quilt passes the snuggly baby quilt test, because I want to make more like this!

And does anyone recognize that chocolate brown owl print? I had this one tiny piece that I received in a scrap pack that I bought once. I always thought it was really cute, but now it hit me that it would be PERFECT for some of my friend's babies. Somehow I think it's exactly up their alley. I'm having a bit of a hard time finding it since I have no idea of the designer or manufacturer. Or maybe it's a JoAnn's special! I found some on Flickr that a lady wanted to swap, but I haven't heard back from her... Oh the joy of the hunt!

2010-08-31T10:37:00.000-07:00

Thank you for all your sweet comments on my 'new' cupboard. It makes my day when I see that you take the time to comment. I'll have to admit that I'm a lurker most of the time. I don't mean to be this way, but I think it's an extension of my personality. I'm not a chatty person in real life. So I guess I'm not here either.

I see inspiring projects, or read posts that speak to me, but I don't think of the fact that you can't read my thoughts. So I rarely comment, (and it doesn't help that I usually have a squirming child in my lap when I'm at the computer!).

But I do think that this is all a little selfish on my part, seeing how I love to have comments from others. On the other hand, I'm SO with the whole 'quilting without obligation', and also 'blogging without obligation'.

I began blogging for myself, to chronicle my quilting and crafting journey. The fact that anyone is interested in my 'adventures' makes me feel great, and is a definite bonus.

I'm not so great with communicating my thoughts to text, but maybe you catch my drift...

Basically I just wanted to say "thank you" to all you amazing people who are interested in this part of my life which few people in my real life can relate to.

Paint in my bones

2010-08-27T11:59:00.000-07:00

Paint and I have a love-hate relationship. It's one of those things that I feel compelled to do. When I decide to paint a room, or a piece of furniture, I get butterflies in my stomache. Not because I'm nervous, but it's just so exciting to choose a color and pull out a clean paint brush. By the time I'm halfway through a project, I'm just sick of it! But wanting to see the final product keeps me going, and a few weeks later I'm ready to start something new.

Since my daughter was born almost a year ago, I've done almost no decorating or renovating. (which usually involves paint). Since I decided to dive in and paint my china cupboard, it feels like the floodgates have burst open, and the need to paint every surface in sight it tormenting me.

I'll show you my lovely white cupboard soon, (this is a sneak peak!) but here I'm already deciding on colors for our bedroom, which hasn't seen anything new in about six years...

I'm so excited about this quilt, but I ran out of Kona for my sashing, so I guess it will go on the shelf for a few weeks. Hey, that means I can start another one!

More Sailboats

2010-08-23T15:11:00.000-07:00

You may know by now that's it's almost impossible for me to make more than one quilt in any design or color. But I was asked to make another sailboat quilt in similar colors, ('similar' being the key word here!) Since I didn't have any more of the Make Life fabric that I used for my other quilt with this design, I pulled out a charm pack of Happy Daisy by Chloe's Closet. Using different fabrics adds a bit more interest so it's not quite so ho-hum.

If I ever made another quilt like this, I think I'd add a wider white border around the outside. This pattern just seems so vintagey to me, and I think it could use more white. But I really like these fabrics in here. They're a bit brighter than the original quilt.

Here's the first one, made with 'Make Life' by Sweetwater.

Now I'm off to work on painting my hideous china cupboard since the kids are both sleeping. Maybe I'll show you a before and after once it's done. (If it turns out, of course)

Hopefully...

2010-08-17T09:04:00.000-07:00

I can soon have some time to get this baby quilted! I'm so excited to have the top put together. It's going to be my own personal quilt to snuggle under, and it helps that it's just the perfect rich, saturated colors for my living room.

Looking at the whole Hope Valley collection together, one thing that surprises me is the way that one rich reddish brown print stands out as being so differernt from the rest. I pieced this completely randomly. I was waaay too lazy to lay it all out on my design wall, and it's kind of interesting to see how all the colors are quite well mixed in. Although seeing it in the photo here makes me see that there's a fair bit of that dark brown in the bottom left hand corner!

I'm happy I added this all time favorite print, as it adds a bit of fun and whimsy to this very 'grownup' fabric.

And of course I have to flaunt the wee tiny bit of Flea Market Fancy that I own!

Now I just need to decide on the backing. A cozy flannel would be nice for cuddling, but a vintage sheet would be economical and fast. And then there's this quilt back which I'm crazy over...

Snuggly Castles

2010-08-15T14:35:00.000-07:00

This quilt is so BOY! I'm really loving this blue castle print. (Castle Peeps by Lizzie House) It was my original inspiration for this quilt. I pulled it out of my stash and decided to make something with it. I was initially going to use only blues and yellows, but couldn't resist adding some red.

Another thing that I've learned when choosing fabrics for a quilt. You can never have too many solids. When you think you have the right balance, then add just a few more solids! Of course this is only my opinion, but I think it just makes for a less cluttered look and helps the prints you use to really shine. And it's cheaper too!

Here's the back. I don't do a lot of pieced backs on baby quilts, simply because they're so small, it often seems full and busy. But this quilt just needed a few castles on the back, and I had only fat quarters of these prints, so I added some in here.

A few cheeky monkeys (Boys Will Be Boys by David Walker) and some yellow reproduction print duckies, to add some fun and whimsy.

Here's my latest stack, but we'll see if anything comes of it.

Time Flies...

2010-08-11T15:04:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted something. It's not for lack of inspiration, but mainly due to colds and teething. My Etsy shop is so low on inventory, I knew I really need to add something, so I quick whipped up this fun little girl quilt.

Warning: If you're looking for new quilt patterns or complicated piecing, don't read any farther. This one is made of more squares.

(and it's perched on my new Ikea Ektorp chair!)

I started out with this fat quarter of Wildwood by Erin McMorris. It came free with my last fabric purchase, because they were late with their shipping. I just loved the bright pink, lime green, and tangerine colors, so I added some more prints, as well as some solid white and lime green.

Of course I had to add some of my favorite Heather Ross dogs!

It's so satisfying to pull a big one yard chunk from the bottom of your stash and revive it as the perfect quilt back.

I want to point out another new favorite fabric, actually two of them. See the bright green with white dandelions? A wonderful print, and lovely shade! I just went and ordered another yard, because I know it's going to be my go-to lime green from now on. The other favorite is the Nicey Jane Big Roses on cream right above it. I'm surprised at myself that I like this one, because big prints like this aren't as versatile. But there's something about those fat, bright roses that make me want to inhale them!

And now for a sneak peak at the boy quilt that I'm working on right now...

A Finish

2010-07-29T09:58:00.000-07:00

My customer asked for a quilt in blue, green, choc. brown, and white. She left the design up to me, but suggested I could make something with just squares, or the same pattern I used for the football quilt.

I really enjoyed making this one, since it's colors I like, and of course I couldn't go with the suggested design, but had to change it up a bit by adding some Kona Snow sashing.

I immediately pulled a few of these cute doggies from my most recent purchase. For the rest of the quilt I used some oldies from my stash. It feels good to use up some of the fabrics that I'm not really in love with anymore, and see them come together nicely.

For the back I used another stripe from my stash. Now it's off to it's new home and I'm on to the next project.

Which includes finishing this top.

Can't wait till this one's done.

Bee Advice

2010-07-28T07:36:00.000-07:00

I am taking part in the Fresh Modern Bee. It's my first online bee, and so far it's been piles of fun. August is my month to send out fabrics. I'm using pinks, oranges, and yellows with pops of bright green. It's going to be a quilt for my little daughter.

My instructions for the blocks, as well as inspiration, are here. Now I have a dilemma. How much fabric do I include in each package? I want to include plenty so that the bee members aren't cramped by shortages. But since I am sending out all my most beloved fabrics, I don't want to send waaay too much either. I am asking them to add coordinating fabrics from their stash, and my theme is scrappy and happy. I also am planning to let everyone keep the scraps.

I'm thinking of sending a couple of larger pieces, maybe one fat eighth (9"x20") in a Kona solid, and four other pieces 9"x10" (this would equal a FQ). plus some smaller scraps. I would also throw in some smaller piece scraps, maybe enough to equal a half yard. Would this be enough fabric for one 12.5" block, with some extra left over?

If you have some advice for me, I'd love to hear it.

Fabric Finds

2010-07-27T09:01:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned this before, but is it only me that prefers to see an actual 'photo' of a fabric, rather than the swatch that shows up in an online store? I find so often that seeing a photo of a fabric on a blog or Flickr gives me more of an idea if I like it. Even so, I find that a fabric that I fell in love with just from seeing it on a computer screen, is only so-so in real life. On the other hand, I end up loving a fabric that I bought by mistake. It just makes me weep thinking of all the fabric out there that I would potentially LOVE, if I could only see it in real life! (Insert evil laugh from my husband)

So anyways, since I just received a large package of fabric, I thought I'd give you a few of my opinions.

First up is Valori Wells Nest Berries:

'Nest' is her newest collection, and I'm surprised that I haven't heard or read more about it, although I do believe she has an interview in this new issue of Fat Quarterly. None of the other prints from this collection jumped out at me as 'must haves', but this print I fell deeply in love with. I bought some in three of the four colorways, (there's an orange too) This did not disappoint. My favorite is the white with pink. It's just so simple and whimsical.

Next, I'm going to mention the middle fabric in this photo.

This is Freebird by Momo. If you need chocolate brown in your stash, you can't go wrong with this one. Such a cool modern design and a very nice shade of brown too.

Another collection that I'm surprised more shops aren't carrying is Boys will be Boys by David Walker. When I saw this line in the Coming Soon section of Fat Quarter Shop, I knew I'd be getting some. Those little puppies remind me a bit of Heather Ross.

This one is 'Spa' by Rosemary Lavin. This is the only print I bought from this line. I wanted more, but that envelope was full! This is a great print as well that I would definitely recommend.

So was there any duds in this package? Actually I think I was pretty happy with everything I ordered. My only slight disappointment was these Michael Miller hearts. In real life, the oranges were a bit more faded and neon colored, rather than rich and warm like I was imagining. But they'll still be cute in a little girls quilt, so overall I'm very happy with my purchase.

Flat Rate Envelope Happiness

2010-07-26T16:37:00.000-07:00

A bundle filled with 9 yards of yumminess just arrived at my door.

I took some closeups of individual favorites, and hope to soon write a post with some reviews on favorites, and not-so-greats.

Just a sneak peak of a few. I ordered mostly 1/4 yards (from Fabric Shack) so there's lots of selection. More details coming soon.

More Hope Valley and a Winner

2010-07-21T09:40:00.000-07:00

I've finally finished up a few of those small projects that have been on my to do list for so long. I'm hoping to get a new couch soon, so decided that some of my little decor ideas for my 'parlor' should be done before.

First of all is this pillow that I made to replace the Hopeful Hexagons Pillow that I decided to give away. Since I have a wierd quirk that renders me completely incapable of ever making more than one item exactly the same, this one is squares.

If you think this pillow looks a little flat and empty-looking, you're not mistaken.

When we got married, my husband came with a well worn cushion adorned with cows and a barn in faded burgundy and cream. In all it's ruffly faded goodness, it stayed around here for almost seven years only because of it's single virtue of being soft and flat and perfect for napping on the couch. I finally decided it must go, but wisely kept the old insert and made this new one to fit with lots of room so it feels well-used and so soft. The family has deemed it the right feel and shape so I think it's here to stay!

Here's a gift we received in a generic grab box at Christmas time.

I don't know about you, but I'm almost tired of being told to "LIVE LOVE LAUGH", etc. but I thought the black frame had potential, so I spent about an hour and made something that's more 'me'.

I used my favorite Hope Valley print (LOVE this bright green) and used permanent ink to write the verse on Kona Cotton.

Now on to my giveaway. Thanks so much for each of you that took the time to comment. I was surprise that the majority of you liked the rocking chair picture the best. I'll need to look into perfecting the lighting in that corner. Now the random number man chose # 39, Tracy. I'll be contacting you.

Overcast

2010-07-19T07:51:00.000-07:00

I looked out the window yesterday afternoon and the first thing I noticed was the perfectly overcast lighting. I grabbed my camera, and one of my older quilts, and headed out for a practice photo shoot.

Can you tell this quilt has been washed a few times?

Trick on the deer! These little rosebuds amazingly went undetected.

I made this quilt when I was 19, entirely out of scraps from the local quilt shop where I worked. There's a few fabrics in there that still make me cringe, but as a whole, it works amazingly well. Just goes to show that almost any fabrics can go together! And I added a purple border to this long before purple was even thinking about being cool again! Six years ago, I thought purple was just so hideously nineties, but somehow it seemed right on this quilt. Now, it's in again, and I'm wondering what to do with my tiny purple fabric stash. Like one fat quarter! I think you'd agree that's reason to buy up.

I'll admit that I'm not just loving it yet, but when I made this block,

I fell in love with the bright green and purple combo. (Oops, I guess I have two fat quarters in my purple stash. I forgot about the Amy Butler Water Bouquet in Midnight. And the two others were tiny scraps in my bin still from my quilt shop days)

I'm thinking bright purple with emerald green is needing to be paired up in a future quilt.

Photographing Quilts

2010-07-17T15:24:00.000-07:00

...has got to be one of my larger challenges. When I decided to start my Etsy shop 10 months ago, I had never used a camera in my life. (Crazy, huh?) So, you can see that this presented a bit of a problem. I was completely innocent to anything concerning lighting, aperture, focal points, point and shoot cameras versus DSLRs. I thought you just pressed the button. Ha Ha big surprise. I now realize why there is a term 'professional photographer' and I highly respect them and their knowledge. I'd love to take some basic photography classes someday, but with all the generous and knowledgeable people I've found online, I've learned a few basics already.

I started by digging out my husbands little point and shoot which he uses very occasionally for his business.

Here are some of my very first pictures.

This one actually isn't too terrible because I unknowingly chose pretty good lighting.

I was in completely over my head, and I figured that out pretty quickly. Now, any of these photos are fine when you want to show fellow quilters what you're making. They want to see your design, the colors and fabrics, and they'll look beyond a bit of ugly gray carpet around your quilt. But when you want to sell this quilt, you need it to look bright, cozy, and show them the details without seeing the toys piled up in the background.

I took inspiration from Camille's stunning photos of quilts, and read her post about photography. And then I read Pioneer Women's advice, and soon I wasn't happy with my husband's camera any more. I wanted to shoot with aperture priority (in my case, I wanted the blurred background). So I bought a Canon S3 IS on Ebay for a good deal, and so far I'm really happy with it, although I haven't even begun to understand and put to use all it's capabilities.

I've mainly used my daughter's room for my shop photos because it has white beadboard and aqua walls as well as cute old furniture painted white, and a large window. The only problem here is that she actually USES this room, like, two naps per day type of thing. So it can be a little interesting at times.

I know I'm babbling on here, but I'm coming to a point, and it involves a giveaway, so bear with me:)

Originally I took all the quilt photos for my shop on this rocking chair in the corner.

But there's always such a nasty shadow in this corner. So now I've started hanging them over the mirror on the dresser.

I'm curious which one you like better? Hanging over the mirror, or the rocking chair.

Or are outdoor photos still the best. Please think in terms of buying a quilt from a shop, and what type of photo would be appealing to you. Leave me a comment with your opinion, and I'll give you a chance at this little prize.

A Panache charm pack and one yard of coordinating fabric. I'll pick the winner on July 21st.

Make... Sailboats

2010-07-16T15:55:00.000-07:00

My second most loved aspect of quilting (the first is choosing fabrics and designing the quilt) is pulling a quilt all warm and crinkly out the dryer for the first time. Something about going through the rigors of a good washing and drying, just adds personality to a quilt and makes it the real thing. Many quilts that I've been so-so about have turned to instant love when I pull them out of the dryer.

I quickly rushed outside to take one photo before the storm set in.

I find that I have to take two sets of photos, one for my blog, and one for my Etsy shop. As a quilter, I find nothing more frustrating than seeing 'teasers' of beautiful quilts in styled photos with props. All I want is to see the quilt as a whole. Overall, I find the best pictures are taken out of doors, so I prefer to take some of the whole quilt outside. But somehow, I don't like having outdoor shots in my Etsy shop. I think people that are looking for a baby quilt to buy, want to see it in a soft clean enviroment. (just my humble opinion.)

So here's the photo I took for you fellow quilters, and the shop photos will come later.

I was inspired by this quilt in an old quilting book,

It was a toddler size, and each ship was made from a single print. I decided to make it a baby size (40" square) and used a charm pack of Make Life... by Sweetwater.

I think next time I'd go with one print through out like the original, just because mine seems a little busy. That said, I do think these fabrics were just the right colors for this pattern. They're bright without being tacky.

...only three more projects to finish up before I can start anything new.

Time to Clean Up

2010-07-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

First off, the block I made for KarrieLynne in the Fresh Modern Bee. She asked for a 16.5" sampler type block using HST's. Since I was on a roll with the paper pieced flying geese, I decided to make another one. I learned another lesson. Drawing out a block on graph paper and thinking it looks good, does NOT guarantee a stunning finished block. I had huge misgivings, but now that the block is finished, I think it looks good.

She is using Make Life... by Sweetwater. And I just happened to be making a quilt with a charm pack of this sweet fabric when her package arrived. Hopefully I'll have a finished quilt to add to my shop soon.

Yesterday evening I said "Enough" to my messy sewing room.

Amazing what half an hour with a bright yellow payloader can do for a room!

Can you tell that I don't sew alone?

I'm thinking that this cleanup might produce a small giveaway in the near future.

A New Bee for Me

2010-07-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

I've been working on my 3 x 6 Bee blocks today. If you haven't heard of this bee, you're really out of the loop:) I actually stumbled upon their Flickr group a couple weeks ago, and was able to squeeze into the 16th group. This swap is totally my style, at least I've had a pile of fun making these blocks. There are seven quilters in each group, and we each make a block for the other six people in our group. We specify up to three basic colors that we'd like in our block. Each person chooses ONE block style and they make a block for each member out of the colors that each person requested. If that doesn't make sense, go check out the rules here.

So my mind began to churn with block style ideas. My original idea was this:

After a few hours of resizing templates with grumpy chilluns' pulling on my legs, I threw that one out the window.

I rolled ideas around in my brain for a few days, and then came up with the idea of making paper-pieced flying geese. Now, I've only paper-pieced once in my life, and that was about 8 years ago. . .

But after a few false starts, it worked out wonderfully, and I can now report that I LOVE paper piecing. It speaks to the tiny little part of me that would love to be a perfectionist and churn out perfect quilt blocks, when in reality, I'm totally incapable of this. Impatience being the culprit!

(my cutting table is TOO small)

I made a block like this. . . (by the way, this is the block I made for myself, since I requested white, blue and green)

and really liked it, but I was feeling a little insecure that it was too plain, with too much white space, so I thought maybe I'd add this:

to the bottom right hand corner. Or this:

to the top right hand corner...

But somehow, nothing else felt right. So I just went for this plain and simple Off-Centre Column of Flying Geese. And I love it. I'm totally freaked out that my bee members won't like it, but I'm trying to tell myself that 1. It's my fabric, and my time, so I'm not ruining someone else's fabric. 2. I'm going to like every block made for me simply because it's unique, and it was made with care by someone else, especially for ME! 3. If these lovely ladies wanted something perfect and exactly to their taste, they would have made it themselves, or gone the the nearest Home Decor shop and bought a Made in China version.

So now that I've bolstered my courage, here are the blocks I made.

First up is lnwcohen. She requested orange, aqua, and white. Totally awesome colors and I loved making this block. Only regret. That silly little weiner dog did NOT want his head in the picture.

Next is woolymama. She wanted a rainbow with white. Her couch is dark red and the room has a retro feel so I knew I had to add one of my fave VW vans.

Miniaturequilter requested purple, green, and cream. I freaked out at the P word because my purple stash is tiny, but amazingly, this turned out to be one of my favorite blocks. I'm totally gonna have to make a quilt in these colors now!

Ktelschow wanted to be surprised. Yikes! Can it get any harder than that? It's for her husband, so that made it a bit easier. That playful bulldog, was a last minute addition, but I think he feels quite at home with all these stately geese.

Jenjohnston wanted purple, blue and white to make a quilt for her all white bedroom. She mentioned that she liked Amy Butler, so the Water Bouquet in Navy worked out perfectly. I wish soo much I had a piece of purple Tufted Tweets chairs to add in here, but oh well.

Janesfabrics asked for pink, orange, with pops of green. What a yummy color combo. I could NOT decide between a pink background, or a safer white background like the rest. I'm glad I chose the pink, even though it does blend in with the little bike a tad bit much. That bike just had to be in there, because the seat is orange and the fender is green! And there's one little mistake on this block.

Which I'm trying to reassure myself with the fact that you won't find anything funky like this at Walmart!

Thank you ladies for giving me the chance to work with such lovely color combos.

and now I've got a stack of tiny snipped triangle pieces from all those geese. I'm thinking a Flying Farfalle quilt would be perfect.

Now I must go clean up my sewing room before I start on my next project.

HaHaHa. Why would I start being organized now?

Quilting Drought

2010-07-06T09:49:00.000-07:00

An action packed week of hiking, rafting, biking, and eating around the campfire in the beautiful Canadian Rockies. With my husband's parents and five married siblings. 14 kids from 9 months to 18 years.

Piles of fun.

Piles of laundry.

Some yummy mail awaiting me. Piece 'n Quilt had a wonderful sale on a while back and I couldn't resist at $5 a yard. The reason I succumbed in the first place was because she had Whimsy Jelly rolls on sale. The colors in this collection are the style that a lot of my friends and acquaintances like. This is the problem I have. I see the great stashes that some girls have, and they always suggest buying only what you really love. But so much of my sewing is done as gifts or to sell to others, and so many people have different tastes than me. So the Whimsy collection is one example of a compromise for me. I really do like it, and I know that most of my friends and family would love it. So... I decided to buy a jelly roll, and then threw in the some yardage just to fill up the flat rate envelope ;) Some Verna by Kate Spain, cute Tweet Tweet birdies by Keiki, and some Mary Englebreit Attitude Girls Polka Dots. (they remind me of Amy Butler's Full Moon Dots)

Then I found out that she had just sold out of Whimsy jelly rolls, and my options were down to a few of my less than favorite collections, so I chose a Tweet Tweet jelly roll on a whim, although it wasn't a collection that I was really fond of.

I still have mixed feeling on it. Some of the individual fabrics are sweet, but I'm not loving the whole combination together. I'm thinking I might divide it into a couple different quilts and add some solids. It will be another good challenge for me. I seem to always be finding myself trying to make something I can feel good about from fabric that I'm not loving. Maybe it will end up being a new favorite!

Hopefully I'll be spending some time in my neglected sewing room this week.

I Love Asterisks

2010-06-19T14:25:00.000-07:00

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.

A Quilt For Me!

2010-06-12T06:47:00.000-07:00

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!

Finished!

2010-06-08T20:42:00.000-07:00

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!

More Football

2010-06-07T07:56:00.000-07:00

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!

The Football Fabric Has Arrived

2010-06-04T07:57:00.000-07:00

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.

Heather Ross GiveAway

2010-06-02T20:29:00.000-07:00

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.

Today Was a Good Day

2010-06-01T21:26:00.000-07:00

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.

Ramblings During Naptime

2010-05-28T16:10:00.000-07:00

So many quilters talk of their many WIP's stacked in perilous heaps and stopping mid-project to start a new one. Because many of my quilts are made to sell or as gifts, I find I don't have this luxury. My mind is constantly boiling over with new ideas for quilts, but it seems there's always another one I need to be finishing up.

Anyways, just last night I got completely caught up on orders, so I attacked the pile of three quilt tops that were making me extremely nervous just sitting there and making little whistles and calls in my direction.

This first one is a actually a top I bought from Cluck Cluck Sew's Etsy shop. She decided to sell the top for fire-sale price, so I thought it was a cute little thing, and snatched it up. (Not to mention being made by a quilting celebrity!)

I used a Snippets print by American Jane for the back and stippled it for a sweet vintage looking baby quilt.

Next I grabbed a top that I pieced from my scraps awhile back, and although I'm not totally in love with it anymore, I'm forcing myself to finish it. I know that once I pull it out of the dryer all crinkly and warm, I'll like it again.

Here's a sneak peak of the front. It uses some tiny strips of pink from my scrap bin and lots of Kona Ash.

Here I am at my design wall, piecing the back. I wasn't sure I was liking this layout, so I took a picture of it, then took a picture with the scooters on top and birdies in the middle and liked that better. I find that it's very worthwhile to take a picture of layouts on my design wall and then go look at it on my computer. It's amazing how you see it different in a picture that in real life. Some of those little things like two red blocks right next to each other, can just pop out at you in a picture.

So here's my final layout which I like better. Don't ask me why. And we hope the quilting-washing-shrinking genie sprinkles his magic dust on this one and makes it turn out cute. (I left parts of my messy sewing room in, just for your viewing pleasure.)

Making a Quilt for a Stranger

2010-05-26T07:59:00.000-07:00

I've loved peeking into others' sketch books lately, with people showing more of their process in designing quilts. I decided to put my dilemma out here as well. I have a little different problem here, and one that seems to get me quite often. Because I sell quilts, I get a lot of people saying, "You make nice quilts, just make something I'd like." So therefore I'm the designated mind-reader and taste-definer. Although I'm quite confident in my own likes and dislikes, I find myself feeling a bit lost and insecure when it comes to making a quilt for someone I don't really know.

So let's get down to business. I've been asked to make a quilt for an acquaintance of a friend. So I have no communication with the final recipient. They wanted something 'sports-themed' (I know, my heart sank too) and when I asked about their style, I was told that anything classic, not too 'out-there'. I was relieved when they chose the fabric they wanted as their basis for the quilt because as sports fabric go, it's quite nice. It's here, if you want to see it. It's an Alexander Henry Football print called "Goal to Go", and it has a classic feel with a cream background.

So now I need to come up with a design that

a.) Is classic. Something that a majority of people would like.

b.)Not too time consuming or fussy, since I'm not getting rich any too fast.

c.)Uses the cream and red, as the main colors.

d.)The baby's name embroidered or added in somewhere.

What I've come up with so far: I'm going to use this Football fabric as the backing, not sure if I'll bring any into the top or not. I'll use cream as the background color for the front, and red for binding. (I don't usually decided on binding color beforehand, so this might change yet)

Now I need your help. I'm thinking of using red, blue, green, yellow, brown and cream. I'm also not sure if I'll use just one fabric in each of these colors, or an assortment for a more scrappy look.

I started out with this first one, but quickly abandoned it. (my love for HST's is growing, but they're still not my go-to pattern)

Next I tried this one, which I definitely like better. This one would not include the football fabric on the front, unless I did the centre of each block in this theme fabric and bordered them with the other colors.

Next up is a basic pattern that is sort of my favorite right now.

This picture is flipped sideways. The stripes should be running horizontally. I thought since this fabric was chosen specifically for this quilt, maybe I should incorporate some into the front. Now this goes totally away from what my mind is telling me I want to do, but the challenge here is to think like the general population and not like myself.

So if anyone has any insight for me, I'd love to hear it. And be as blunt as you like, because this is not my personal labour of love, I'm simply trying to make something these folks will LOVE and say "this is exactly what we wanted."

Ordering Fabric Online

2010-05-24T10:18:00.000-07:00

I've been reading on a few blogs about taking the process pledge and blogging more about the process of creating, as well as finished quilts. Although I love to see everyone's finished projects, reading about others' way of going about things always gives me new ideas and fresh ways of thinking.

Now, for me the first part of the process (and the most fun) is acquiring fabric, whether for a specific project of just to add to the stash. I'm plunked in the middle of the Canadian prairie and although we do have running water, there's no quilt shop nearby that carries the fabric I'm drooling over. So, 90% of my shopping is done online. This has an up side, which is that with two kids under the age of three, I can shop in my chair, without any of the hair-raising experiences that every mom knows happen with kids and stores.

The one problem though, (besides the cost of shipping) is the gamble of purchasing something you've never seen or felt. I've found the swatches I view on my computer to be very accurate in most cases, but there's also a few times when I open up a package and say "ick."

And when it comes to finding fabrics to coordinate with something you already have? Impossible. This is where I've found stash photos from other quilters to be invaluable. Somehow, a close up photo of the fabric in which you can see the actual texture helps me out.

So here's a few fabrics I've ordered recently, and my rambling impressions of them:

First up, Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow Flower Field in Orange. I love the entire line of Modern Meadow, but I fell deeply for this print, so I ordered a 1/2 yard of three of the colors.

The flowers are so whimsical. I love their shape. But the orange in this print just isn't doing it for me. I admit I'm a little picky with my oranges. But I put it together with a few other oranges from my stash to compare.

To me is seems a little pinky and washed out compared to these other prints. I'm sure I'll find a use for it, but it's not something I'll order again.

Next up is the two others colors that I ordered in this print and these two did NOT disappoint. These colors work well with so many of my others, and the colors are so clear and lovely.

This is the only navy print in my stash, and I'll be on the lookout for sales so I can purchase some more.

Next up is Monaluna Mingle Squares in Red, Tangerine, and Aqua.

These were a great purchase as well. The colors are bright and true, and the design adds such fun, without being too busy. And Robert Kaufman fabrics are so soft as well.

If I've tempted anyone to go buy some more fabric then I've accomplished my mission!

Give Away Winner

2010-05-20T20:06:00.001-07:00

Wow, this has been a lot of fun. I think I see more give aways in my future! I'd like to thank each one you that commented, and briefly entertained the thought of making 439 more pillows just so I could send you each an email saying "you won." The voice of reason quickly intervened though and saved me from 950 hours of sewing hexagons.

I've never won a giveaway, although I've entered quite a few, but now that I've hosted one, I've learned a couple of valuable things.

1. If you're entering a giveaway, try to look around their blog a bit and in your comment mention something you liked. It's not necessary, but it will go a ways towards giving them a good day!

2. Ummm... I'm having a mind block. Oh right! Say something nice, even if you don't really mean it:)

I'd also like to thank everyone who chose to follow my blog. I'm honored by each one of you.

So without further blather... random.org chose #138-Camelama. I'll be sending an email to you soon.

And here's a sneak peak for tomorrow- The Festival of Quilts!

Festival of Quilts

2010-05-20T14:05:00.000-07:00

I've been looking forward to the Festival of Quilts. I was hoping to have my Hope Valley Circles quilt ready to show, but Life decided otherwise, and inserted a few other items that had to be taken care of.

So, I thought I would just leave it this year, since I have nothing new and amazing to show. Then I thought of two quilts that I've never photographed, let alone posted online. What these quilts lack in intricacy and stunning beauty, they make up for in soft and cuddlyness, and are very well loved, even with no Designer Fabric in sight!

Before my baby was born almost three years ago, I decided I wanted to make him one special quilt that he would use all the time, and that would also be a keepsake for him to keep all his life.

This is the quilt I made him. It was made before I discovered Heather Bailey, Joel Dewberry, Denyse Schmidt... Oh the innocence I had! It is also quilted in the ditch, which is somewhat uncool nowadays, but guess what? I still kind of like it, and my son sleeps with it every night. It is also made with pieced with circles, which I jumped right into back then, not realizing that they were supposedly hard to do, and now I can say I have no fear of them, (and you can try them too, they're quite forgiving. Just make sure you have a proper template.)

Two years later, I was expecting our second child, so I made a quilt for her. This time I tried wonky log cabins, which I'm not sure that I'm really into anymore, but that's life.
I also tried pebble quilting on this quilt, which is another cool feature that I will never do again. It has awesome texture, but SO hard to make it look nice, and you need a lot of patience and perfectionism to make this work, and those are two things I don't have.

So there are my two quilts that are not really show-worthy but they're very well loved, and they won't even be offended if no one else likes them, because they just love being snot-wipers and cuddlers to their very sweet owners.

Give Away! NOW CLOSED

2010-05-16T09:59:00.000-07:00

I'm joining in on the fun with SewMamaSew's big Giveaway Day. Go here for a list of all your chances to win great handmade items or supplies.

Now, for my contribution.

Meet the Hopefull Hexagon Pillow. I want to keep this thing. It makes my thirty-year-old chocolate brown couch seem almost cool. It will make your couch look cool too. (couch?, sofa?, whatever you call it. I'm from Canada)
So all you need to do is comment, of course. If you say something interesting, that's wonderful. If you say something nice, that's great too. Or if you're like me and have a hard time thinking up original comments, just say 'nice pillow', or 'ugly pillow' or tell me your current favorite fabric. I'm thinking if you showed up here from SewMamaSew you've got to be a fellow fabric junkie! And I love hearing about other's fave fabric lines.
You're welcome to enter from anywhere in the world. The giveaway will be open till May 20 and the winner will be chosen randomly. I will ship by May 24. I am giving away the pillow cover only. It fits a standard 16" form which can be found at craft stores.

There. I think I followed all the rules and stated all necessary requirements.

Now go pad your chair with lots of soft pillows cause your butts gonna get sore sitting at the computer for hours checking out all the giveaways. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Hexagons

2010-05-13T14:25:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking of making a half hex quilt, so decided to try it on a small project first. My least favorite part was the cutting, since me and templates aren't friends, but if you were doing a larger project making more than one hex from the same fabric you could cut strips the right height and then stack them and cut the angles.
Other than that, it was relatively simple to piece, and since I doubt I'll be mastering the hand sewn hexes anytime soon, I think this will be a nice alternative.

Everybody's So Nice

2010-05-12T07:20:00.001-07:00

First of all, thanks so much to everyone who's commented here. I'm just blown away that anybody has stopped here at all. I started this blog because I thought it looked like fun and as a way to see my progress and what I'm working on. The fact that I'm getting feedback and the chance to interact with others who share my interests is such a cool bonus. Anyways, I need to figure out how to reply to individual comments. Guess I'll go find my friend "Help" again. ( I'm SO dumb when it comes to some of this stuff, yet it gives me a giddy feeling when I can actually figure it out by myself without asking my husband!)
On a different topic here, I just love actual photos of fabric, as opposed to flat swatches that you see in online shops. For me it give more of an actual feel for what the fabric looks like, and of course makes it way more tempting to buy. For example, I've been eyeing the Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow fabric and and loving it, but stayed firm so far. Then I saw this picture, and weakened almost to the point of buying some.
Besides that, I just love seeing other people's stash. It's just so pretty. I'm thinking I should make a quilt that looks like shelves with stacks of bright colors. Hmmm...

Somebody please invent more hours in the day. Or else discover a robot who will cook, clean, and fold laundry so that I can spend all my time reading stories to the kids, going for walks and making every quilt that pops into my head.

Is This Old Fashioned Enough?

2010-05-11T13:04:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned here, my friend asked me to make her some vintage inspired baby quilts, which is proving to be an interesting challenge for me. I made the nine patch, and now I made this one with 1 1/2 charm packs of Whimsy. But now I'm wondering if this is vintage enough, or should I get up the courage and tea dye it?
I've never tea dyed something before, and it's definitely not my style, but she mentioned that she liked it, so... Help! I'm so scared to do it! Please tell me it looks old-fashioned enough, or else reassure me that it will look even better dyed. (I wouldn't use actual tea, but the dye that's supposed to look that way. )
I can't find too much advice or before and afters online, so I'm thinking I might try it on a small piece of fabric first. By the way, I just LOVE the color of the aqua in this line. Actually the whole Whimsy line has such a warm whimsical feel, I'm tempted to buy more, but my husband lovingly reminded me today, that I'm selling quilts to make a bit of money, and if I spend too much on stocking fabric, I might end up with thousands of dollars worth of outdated fabric sitting on my shelves. (Thousands? I don't know where he came up with such an outrageous number!)

An Ode to Simple Squares

2010-05-10T07:25:00.000-07:00

Need to whip up a quick quilt for a friends baby? Not sure what style of quilt they'd like? Or just loving some fabrics and no ideas how to make them pop. I always fall back on simple patchwork squares. There's something so satisfying about laying the squares out in a pleasing arrangement, then sewing them together.
Ashley of FilmintheFridge has popularized this age old pattern and helped make it seem new and fresh. It's a great way to use a charm pack, but also works well with any other of the wonderful fabric out there.
What's your fave way to quilt a squares quilt? I like cross hatch quilting, but don't like marking, so I usually stick with straightline quilting 1/4 inch from the seam on both sides and I love it every time. I hope there are many more of these quilts in my future.

Hope Valley Dreams

2010-05-08T08:23:00.000-07:00

This, (minus the Full Moon Polka Dots) is going to turn into this. Just as soon as I can get a few other projects out the door.
Ever since I made this table runner, I've been thinking of Hope Valley in terms of circles. Although sewing curved seams like this doesn't bother me, I hate cutting out the pieces cause they're so fiddly and I have to use a scissors.
Hence, I will go with the easier way of raw edge applique and I think it will look awesome. I'm afraid the problem will be that I'll be so tempted to keep this for myself.

Wonderland Table Cloth

2010-05-07T07:24:00.000-07:00

95% of the things I make are sold or given away, so when I discovered Wonderland by Momo, I fell completely in love and said, this is going in my house. So I bought a jelly roll and a layer cake, and dreamt for months of what I'd use them for. Then on my birthday last year I cut into my jelly roll and made a quilt to hang over our very ugly unused front door. (I'll have to talk about that one another day when I get some decent pictures.)

Then the other day I got inspired to make a tablecloth with the layer cake, so I cut it into 5" squares and lined it with flannel rather than batting, which makes for a perfect drapey tablecloth.
I used an aqua flat sheet that I bought at Target when we were in the States a while a go. (Why didn't I buy more?) Although I hesitate to use sheets in quilts that I sell, it works perfectly when I want something cheap, and when I'm not in the mood to piece the back.

So I'm totally in love with this tablecloth, even though it ends up in a heap on the floor about 15 times a day (and that is NOT an exageration) My toddler thinks it's the neatest thing to go under the table and pull the table cloth down, pretending he's closing his garage door. And my husband thinks it's very impractical and always asks "Am I supposed to eat on this thing, or take it off?" But it's made cleaning up lunch fun, cause I can't wait to wipe the table and put this happy hunk of textiles back on the table and give it a little stroke and pat before I walk away.

2010-05-06T13:19:00.000-07:00

You couldn't get much farther from modern, could you? Oh well, my idea of what a modern quilt is will be saved for another day. A friend has asked me to make three vintage, old-fashioned, or retro baby quilts for her, so I'm finding it kind of a fun challenge to make something in this style that's still enjoyable for me to make. I've also found that my stash includes very few old-fashioned prints, so time to go fabric shopping, right? I take any excuse I can find.
I was pleased to find this shop on Etsy, that carries piles of reproduction prints and has great customer service. And of course, one has to be efficient and fill a flat rate envelope, so I found a few cute prints to add to my stash as well!

For this quilt I used one charm pack of Wee Play by American Jane, and approx. 1 yard of quilter's muslin. I've found that muslin is the perfect background color to go with American Jane fabrics. I cut the charm pack into quarters, making 2.5" squares, which made 6.5" squares when sewn into nine patches. I'm really happy with how it turned out, and am thinking I'll be revisiting this simple pattern in the future. It's truly a timeless style, depending on the fabrics you choose. Right now I'm thinking, replace the musling with Aqua Kona, and make the printed squares in scrappy reds. Oh I wish I could start on that right now, rather than the many other custom orders I need to fill.

Simple Solids

2010-05-06T07:05:00.000-07:00

There's something so delicious about a stack of solid colors. Right now I'm really excited about the idea of using unusual colors for sashings. In quilts where I would normally use white, gray, or tan, I want to try using aqua,(of course), lime, and yellow.

I ordered a Kona Color Card from Pink Chalk Fabrics, and I can't wait till it gets here. Then, I'll have to wait till Hancocks of Paducah has their next free shipping sale, which will hopefully coincide with a 20% off Kona Cottons sale, and we'll stock up on some colors that we're sorely missing.

Jelly Filled

2010-05-05T20:15:00.000-07:00

I love this pattern. It's by Camille of Thimbleblossoms, and uses exactly one jelly roll. I rarely use patterns, and when I do, I usually feel the need to change something, so this is one of the few quilts I've made that is exactly like the pattern. Wait! Actually the pattern calls for borders, which I didn't add...

I used jelly roll strips of the Kissing Booth colorway of Nicey Jane, then added a bunch of my favorite colors and prints. I backed it with soft pink flannel with tiny white polka dots, which makes it one of the softest and squishiest quilts ever.

I'm thinking of using my Arcadia jelly roll to make this pattern as well. Of course, my plans change daily, so we'll see.

Another Drop in the Puddle

2010-05-05T20:10:00.001-07:00

Like one more raindrop falling silently into a puddle...

This blog plops quietly, with hardly a ripple, into the large puddle of the blogosphere.