Bloggers' Quilt Festival

I had serious doubts of joining in Amy's Bloggers' Quilt Festival this year...I wanted to show my postage stamp quilt, but I just haven't had the oomph to get it finished...well, I did it!! 

Just finished the binding 10 minutes ago, so it needs washed and dried yet, but no time like the present to blog about it!

This quilt marks the first time I have used a jelly roll!  I used 1974 designed by Urban Chiks for Moda.  I was lucky enough to find the textured teal solid that was released with the line at my local quilt shop!!

Here is a detal shot of the quilting design.  Simple, but really fun I think.  I debated adding a border...and still think it might have been a good idea...but I was ready to have this one done.  I do like the dotty fabric for binding though...

Ok, Happy Halloween, we are off to a birthday/costume party for my nephews.

Don't forget to stop by Amy's blog for many many more wonderful quilts, their makers and their stories!  Thanks Amy for organizing this festival and giving me the extra incentive to finish this quilt!

TO DO LIST

 How do you keep track of your quilting TO DO list?  To this point, I have been MENTALLY keeping track of my TO DO list and I probably don't have to tell you how unsuccessful that method has been.

Do you keep a list posted next to you sewing machine?
Do you keep a journal?  My mom bought me a quilting journal...I have no idea where it is...
I have started a few galleries on Flickr but it is turning more into a favorites gallery.
I need to get organized and spend my few quilting/sewing hours productively, can you tell me how you do it?
I have bought books (or rather borrowed from the library) on organizing your craft space.
Your help is needed!!

And on a side note, Im going thru my stash again, and I must lighten my load.  I listed a few things on ETSY (an plan to list more as I find the time) and if you buy something, leave me a note...I will stuff lots of extra goodies in your envelope!!

Decisions...decisions...

How in the world does anyone decide on what fabrics to take to a quilting class???

I am perplexed!!
I am lucky enough to be going to FOUR Gwen Marston classes next month and I feel like I will need to take a large piece of luggage for my fabric choices alone...
And seeing that this is the first time I have ever attended a quilting class, I have none of the proper "quilter's luggage" I've seen many of the women in my guild prancy about with...
but nothing I can do about that...I need to decide on fabric!!

She outlines for each class how much/which fabrics to bring, and then says to err on the side of too much fabric, well, I think I've done a good job on erring on the side of caution...behold my tentative stacks!!

Abstact quilts in solids class

 Liberated Log Cabin...I was going for a more masculine feel for this quilt...but I might have gone overboard.

 Liberated Baskets:

 Small Quilts.  ha! laughing at myself with this pile...nothing small about this stack!!  I was going for a "quiet, neutral" quilt...but then feared I didn't have enough contrast so threw in all the Kaffe spots...

OK, who out there can help me focus????

birthday quilt

My friend, Krista recently had two quilts published in Quilting Arts special publication 101 Patchwork Projects & Quilts.  I knew immediately I would need to make my husband a version of "Rolling On Through".  Finally got around to doing just that this weekend for Kent's birthday. 

My daughter helped with all the fabric selections...and that was harder than you might think.  She wanted to add all the little novelty fabrics she could find...but I love Krista's use of mostly solids...Colette and I found a happy balance that pleased us both.

I had a lot of fun quilting this little guy.  Although, I think I need to head back to the quilt shop because the darning foot I bought in August doesn't fit my machine....grrrrrr.  I found that out last night at 1015pm!!

I think this little quilt will head to work tomorrow with Kent and hang in his work space.

I'm linking this project at Clover and Violet: Stash Project of the Month!

a birthday gift

I trust my sister will not read my blog at least until tomorrow night...I am gifting her a laptop sleeve tomorrow.

She originally wanted some Amy Butler art nouvou-ish type fabric for the exterior and I am SO glad she found this Alexander Henry print from Alewives.  Not only is it a light canvas weight and more appropirate for the type of bag, I think it's a great print!!

 The interior print will be a surprise to her.  I'm guessing she will either love it or hate it...but she owns 2 guitars and L*O*V*E*S Eric Clapton so my fingers are crossed that she will love it.  I do.

I used a tutorial by Oh Fransson at Sew Mama Sew.

sorry that my pictures are a bit dark, but when using a flash, it really washed out the pink dot in the exterior fabric...and I just wanted to give you a shot with the true colors!

Have a great evening...weather has been great here in Indiana...and supposed to continue a few more days!

100 Quilts for Kids

 Finished my tumbler quilt this weekend. This quilt is part of 100 Quilts for Kids.  It will be donated to my local children's hospital pediatric cancer unit.  It always feels so good to donate a quilt to these kids.

I need to give a bit shout out, *thank you* to my flickr friend, Patti.  She has an Accuquilt cutter, and since I can't seem to win one :) I sent her the fabric and she cut it for me!!  What a doll.  She has a huge yo yo quilt project going and I sent her lots of scraps for her project.  Win Win for me!  I got rid of some more scraps and I cut tumblers pre cut!!

it's taking over our house!

So my quilting can no longer be contained in the sewing room!

I have the backing for my 1974 postage stamp quilt laying over a quilt rack in the living room....

 I am working on backing for my neutral quilt...I really wanted the riding clothes for the entire back (it is SO soft) but I don't have enough of the gray fabric, so I'm going to use some of the textured solid blue for the other half....now I need to find a quilter...I think I want this one quilted in fans...very traditional, but it appeals to me.

 Let us continue upstairs into our bedroom where I'm working on my quilt for 100 Quilts for Kids.

and finally...my fantastic score of vintage fabrics and feedsacks from an auction this weekend.  I think some of these might be headed to ebay to cover my costs and sedate my husband a bit...

so do you even want to guess what the sewing room looks like???

Playing favorites

I'm playing along with Molly and Suz today.

We are showing bits and pieces of our favorite fabrics, or those fabrics that are down to scraps yet you still adore!

The top piece in the picture is a Timeless Treasures print.  I once located a shop that still had some, yet I didn't buy more???

The middle scrap, I'm told, came from JoAnne Fabrics a few years ago...something about the fabric appeals to me so much!  I love neutrals, and this reads as a neutral to me, yet adds a sweet kick of color!

and the last scrap is my holy grail.  It's an out of print Alexander Henry called Bite Size.  I have managed to locate a 1/2 yard of it in pink, yet it's this blue color that I would like to buy by the bolt!!

So stop over to Suz's blog and look around and share your favorite bits!

for Amy

If you are like me, you read quilting blogs and feel like you get to know the person posting every day or every week to their blog.  And you probably also know that the quilting/crafty community is very generous.

A blog friend recently lost her husband to cancer and Sarah put a call out for quilt blocks.  These are the blocks I sent. 

I hope to have a finished quilt top to show later this week.  I decided after putting the flimsy on my bed that I wanted it a little bigger...so back to the cutting board!

laptop update

Thanks so much to everyone who chimed in with laptop tutorials!

I think I'm going with the one at CrapIveMade...

but now, can I request one more round of input?  My sister and I have really different taste.  Really different.

She is thinking she would like a fabric that is kind of Art Nouveau but does not look ANYTHING like ANYTHING Vera Bradley has ever produced.  (Being in the same city as Vera Bradley kinda does that you.)

I sent her to Quilt Home and she found this Amy Butler print...I'm not sure of the size on this print, do you think it will work on a laptop cover for a laptop that has a 17 inch diagonal screen? 

Can you suggest any other fabrics that might fit the bill?

100 Quilts for Kids

In my efforts to cut and tidy up my scraps...I found these squares.  My friend Holly sent these to me months ago.  And now I know what I want to do with them!  100 Quilts for Kids is gearing up and I hope to use these for a quilt for a child right here in my community!

(Head over to Katie's blog and read more about this project!!)

The squares are not uniform...some are near 5x5 inches, but others are 3.5 x 4ish...so I might start by squaring up these pieces...but from there...I'm still in the dark.  Do I keep it uniform? Do I stack them like a coin quilt? Do I use them as the middle of a log cabin?  any suggestions?

School bag

I made my pre-schooler a tote bag for school tonight.  He is not at all excited about the idea of school, so I thought if he picked out the fabric he might be more interested in the process of getting ready for school.  He picked out this home dec fabric at JoAnn's this week.

And it was a no brainer to line it in Pokemon fabric!

I started making this bag with directions from Amy Karol's Bend-The-Rules Sewing...but got utterly lost immediately!  So I went back to the tutorial Terri has on her blog.  The only thing I added was boxing the corners...following these directions.  Hugo is happy with the finished product...although he is no more excited about school.

 So I am also playing with my tiny scraps and have come up with this block.  Which arrangement do you prefer?  top or bottom?

Children At Play

Here are my favorite children at play...empty boxes is all it takes really.  This space ship has since been painted red, graffiti with Pokemon and christened The Raichu.

And here are my second favorite Children At Play:

 For those of you who know Anna perhaps the baker's twine will be a dead giveaway...but I am lucky enough to live in the same city as Anna, and she has a sweet online store selling bunnies, bakers twine, fabric and other fun goodies!  When I found out she was selling Children at Play I placed my order right away...she is even selling it at 20% off right now!  look!  she has the balloon fabric!!

Of course, I also picked up some bikes and trikes fabric too...maybe you noticed in the first picture we have a few bikes around my house?  I've been collecting bicycle fabric for ages...my husband needs a bike quilt.  sooner vs. later hopefully!

leftovers...

Thanks for your suggestions of what to do with the leftovers from my obsessive squares cutting...
I have a few things happening on my "design wall".   Some neutral blocks and then some blocks made using the leftovers of my square cutting...I think there is some hidden potential in both projects!

OK, my oldest sister who NEVER asks me to make her anything has asked for a lap top case.  Help! does anyone have any pattern suggestions or tutorials to point me to?

ok, someone is waiting to finish our game....

Cutting scraps

Ever since I finished the recovery quilt, I have been cutting squares from my scraps and in some cases, my stash.  mostly 2.5 inch squares, but some 5 inch squares when the size warranted it.  I love seeing my fabric up close and personal...not sure if I am going somewhere with all this cutting, although my new Amish books have got me thinking about Sunshine and Shadows...for now, I'm just enjoying the cutting.

This is a small section of what is left over...scraps from my scraps.  I'm having a hard time with the thought of putting them in the trash.  any good ideas for what to do with them?

Recovery Quilt

I made this lap quilt for my best friend's mother. She is recovering from major surgery.

This quilt taught me that its great to have a layer cake laying around. and, it taught me that I really really learn how to machine quilt. Other than straight lines. Because straight lines are making me batty. note to self: start experimenting!!

I'm linking this post with Clover and Violet's Stash Project of the Month.  Check out what others are making from stash, and this month, how others are organizing.

book finds

The kids and I were at the downtown library this week and I found a few treasures...some I bought at the bookstore of library withdrawn books and a few I borrowed.

First, my purchases:

Can you believe the library let me have these books for $1 each!  I love Amish quilts, and I read the first chapter of The World Of Amish Quilts while sitting outside with the kids.  There are many Amish communites nestled all around northern Indiana, I find it fascinating to learn more about their culture.

(and a quick stop at a thrift store netted me some binding and ribbon for cheap!!)

And then I checked out a number of other quilting books, these two being my favorite.

 

Carla recently posted about one of Mary Mashuta's books and blogged about her project, check it out!  Both of these are great books!

Happy Birthday darling...

As you can see, my not so girly girl is pleased with her pillowcase.  I did use #18 pattern at All People Quilt and it turned out OK.  It annoys me a little that it called for such a large piece of fabric, only to chop off about 5 inches after you've finished quilting....but I should have looked over the pattern better and realized that before hand...

I quilted it in a large grid...not that you can see from the picture...but I was all ready to try Monster Teeth free motion pattern (Thanks Des!!) when this happened:

At some point, I hit the zig zag button on my sewing machine and BLAM I broke the foot.  Very discouraging to have this happen at 11 pm...
I hope this foot doesn't cost a fortune to replace...anyone know?

And just so you can all laugh WITH me...here is my daughters birthday cake...we made the frosting ourselves and I think I didn't get it runny enough as it was a real problem to frost...but then after Coco "decorated" it with York pieces in the shape of a Pokemon it all worked out. 
(what? you don't see Raichu)

It was a great weekend.  I can't believe my baby is 6!

Pokemon

Yep, you read that right...Pokemon.  ugh.

My daughter's birthday is Saturday and I am planning to make her a pillowcase with this horrible, scratchy, rummage sale bought fabric.  And she is going to L*O*V*E it.

I looked through All People Quilt pillowcase patterns and decided on the quilted pillowcase because the fabric is of such thin, cheaply made quality.

Here is the question I'm posing tonight...should I do grid quilting as shown in the example or should I stretch my non-existent machine quilting skills and try something else...and if option two suits you...what is that something else? 

And in other news...I did purchase a bit more Children At Play fabric...and in an effort to cover the cost of incoming fabric...I am selling off some fabric on etsy.  Next item to be listed is a 1/2 yard bundle of Red Letter Day by Lizzy House

As you can see, I'm in no danger of running out...

Summertime

Oh wow, it has been a long hot week!
The kids went to Vacation Bible School this week from 6-845pm...so they have stayed up much later than usual...missing naps...and having to find indoor activities because of dangerous heat index!  weird long week!!

I have been making a quilt for my best friends mother who is recovering from major surgery...and once again, I'm slowed down by the quilting process.  I need something more than straight line quilting up my sleeve!   I talked to a lady in my guild who teaches machine quilting at a local quilt shop and I plan to sign up at the earliest possible chance!!

I used a layer cake of Rural Jardin by French General...nice and easy.

And...I made a fabric purchase...I won a gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop a few months ago from the wonderful Leona (Thanks again Leona!!) and surprised myself by not ordering anything until now:

I love every single print I got.  LOVE.  I plan on getting lots more Children At Play but I will have to wait for a sale or discounted prices!

And lastly, it's my sisters birthday today...happy birthday Weise!  And in addition to a few things I bought her, I made her a pony tail holder...bright and cheery (and fuzzy in the picture I realize now) and fun for summer.

Have a great weekend, and I promise I won't be so absent from the blog!

Hometown winner

I really must say...we spend a lot of time at the library and and I was so surprised by how many book suggestions I got that I have NEVER HEARD of!!  I am so excited to compile a list of all of them and work our way through them this summer!  Thank you everyone!

It was also recommended a number of times about workbooks...and we are doing those...so I feel like we are on the right track.

In an attempt to not post without a picture, Ill show you a few of our favorite books, old and new:

 

yes...I borrowed the pictures from Amazon.

and so, without further ado...the winner of the Hometown scraps goes to:

Sandie!

Sandie, Ill send you an email if I don't hear from you first...must get lunch on the table now!