The Quilts of Mimi Park

Get out the Vote!

2012-01-20T20:53:00.000-08:00

If you haven't yet, head over to 15 Minutes Play and vote for your favorite Block of the Month quilt! (Hint: mine- also pictured below- is H.)

New

2012-01-17T23:10:00.000-08:00

I was about to say that I had a new hobby... pinning quilts on Pinterest, instead of making them.

Then it snowed a bit, and in a very Seattle-ish way, everything shut down enough for me to claim some time to sew.

That felt good.

Happy

2011-12-22T06:45:00.000-08:00

In celebration of the return of light and the spontaneous creativity of the season... Happy holidays to all!

On the Wall

2011-11-28T08:18:00.001-08:00

I finally have a design wall, and I am so excited! I've been playing with my Blocks of the Month from 15 Minutes Play. You can see where all my yards of yellow strips have been going in this glimpse. I just heard that the deadline for finishing this quilt got moved back into January (yay!) I'll show you more of it then!

Don't Call It a Comeback...

2011-11-26T09:28:00.001-08:00

I've been sewing. But now I am posting again.

Yards of yellow strips!

It's been a huge year of changes. And I can't wait to share more of the quilts I am working on.

Taking a Break

2011-07-10T09:17:00.000-07:00

This last month has brought some major changes in my life, which have taking me away from both my blog and my sewing machine... I am looking forward to getting back to both when time allows, but in the meantime, I will taking a bit of a break to focus on the equivalent of unquilting my life and taking a whole new design direction. My promise to myself is that it will be beautiful and better than ever! Enjoy your summer and happy sewing!

It's Not What I Thought

2011-06-03T21:53:00.000-07:00

I have so many projects I am juggling, that I often put something away for a while, and when I come back to it, it turns into something totally different. Does this ever happen to you?

Don't get me wrong: I love the transformative effect of time. It usually improves my plan! (Now there's a great reason to keep that list of WIPs to juggle nice and long!)

Case in point: I made this Triumph Star top back in March. It was okay but I didn't love it.

I took it out today to start quilting it and realized: it wasn't done. A few borders later and voila!

It turned out to be so irresistible that my quilt photography assistants had to give it a test run. It checked out to make awesome forts, tents, curtains and capes. Excellent!

I pieced a fun back for it (it was just crying for a pieced back, don't you think?) so now it is all ready to quilt. For real.

We're supposed to have the nicest weekend of the year (the forecast says 80 degrees! Hooray!) so the quilting will have to wait. It might not be this nice again until August!

May Progress

2011-05-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that the first 5 months of 2011 are already over. I was impressed to check in on The List and find that I have actually completed 10 quilts this year so far! Now, a lot of them are small, and I still have a big ole stack of tops and WIPs to finish, but that is a pretty satisfying number. Check it out!

Finished Quilts of 2011

2 Christmas Tree Mini Quilts done 1/11
Baby quilt: spring strings (top done 3/10), basted 8/10, done 1/11
Bloom Mini Quilt done 1/11
3 Quilted Book Covers started and done 1/11
Girly I Spy Quilt done 2/11
Baby Blocks: Blue #1 done 3/11
Garden Path baby quilt done 3/11
Grayson's baby quilt done 4/11
12 x 12" Mini done 4/11
Memory Basket AAQI mini done 5/11

2011 WIPs:
My list is back up to 20- uh-oh! I added and finished the AAQI piece, then started a Block of the Month project hosted on the 15 Minutes Play site. It's too fun to resist! I spent most of the month working on other projects, so I didn't get any other quilts done.

Stars & Strings tabletopper (started 2009) top done 7/10, basted,hand-quilting in progress
Houses Donation quilt top done 8/10
Bright Snowballs (started 2009, top done)
Applique Flowers Wall Quilt top done 8/10
Indian Summer top done 12/10, expanded 4/11*
Gypsy Madness Leaders & Enders top done 1/11
Wedding Ring Table Runner top done, quilted 10/10
Amish-ish Mini Quilt top done & basted 2/11
Triumph Star top done 3/11
Stash Busting Bee International Log Cabin
Say Cheese Self-Portrait
Seasons Mat for R's preschool
Crumb Blocks-->stars
Pinwheel Quilt
Holy Night
Soup Dragon*
Yellow & Orange Log Cabins blocks done 5/11*
Rainbow String Quilt*
Scrappy Sixteens*
15 Minutes Play Blocks of the Month

* Quilts I worked on this month

On the design burner (fabric has been pulled or cut, but no sewing has been done):

Bricks & stones baby quilt
Girl blocks baby quilt
2233 Pineapple
Bento Boxes for S
Leopard Roses
Christmas quilts
Donation quilt for A's school auction
Retro Rail Fence

Quilting
I have mostly been un-quilting (ugh!) my Indian Summer quilt this month. I decided to rip out the progress I had painfully made and try again with better thread. I'm not sure what is slower- quilting with thread that just won't cooperate, or ripping out said quilting. Either way, it's a lovely quit and I am enjoying spending time under it. Even if it's picking out the quilting.

I tried quilting with a different color bobbin thread on my Memory Basket piece for AAQI. I learned a bit about balancing the tension to make it a success, and I am really pleased with how it turned out. I love these little mini quilts!

Stash
I had to get some more yellow and orange fabric this month- especially for my juicy Yellow & Orange Log Cabins! Other than that, no fabric came in (good) and I reorganized my stash storage so it's easier to use. Yay! It's exciting to be surrounded by so much gorgeous & inspiring fabric, and even more exciting to liberate it from being hoarded in piles and put it to use!

Building Blocks

2011-05-26T07:35:00.000-07:00

I can't even remember how long I have been working on this yellow & orange log cabin quilt... a blogger search tells me it was at least 2 years back in December. Maybe 2 1/2 years? I know I have been collecting yellow & orange fabric for it for almost all of my quilting career!

But now I have sewn all the blocks.

64: enough for a queen size quilt.

This picture doesn't do them justice, I was just so excited last night at midnight when I finished the last block, I had to take a picture. They are are so happy! They remind me of little jewel boxes full of sunshine and joy.

I still need to assemble the quilt top, which comes with a catch....

These are lazy log cabin blocks... meaning that I was too lazy to get and press each log as I sewed, I just finger-pressed and squared everything in my lap. There is a lot of variation in size, so I'm going to have to add some coping strips to square them all up.

I'm definitely adding more yellow and orange strips but I'm tempted to throw in some of this pink & red Kaffe print as well. What do you think?

photo from GloriousColor.com

Button Blankets

2011-05-19T07:15:00.000-07:00

I realized that I haven't posted here for 2 weeks! While my quilting time has been limited this month, I have been sewing up a storm on my daughter's 3rd grade class auction project. They are studying the Native Americans in our area, so they made these little button blankets.

They each designed their own applique based on animals in Native American folklore. Each piece is about 12" x 18".

With the help of a couple other parents, I added borders and hanging corners on the back so they can be displayed hanging on a dowel.

I like these 3 different takes on a whale:

Fabric Dreaming

2011-05-03T07:12:00.000-07:00

My Hancock's of Paducah catalog came in the mail yesterday... this always challenges my resolves to minimize my fabric purchases! How much do I love Brandon Mably's fabrics for the Kaffe Collective collection?

The other colorways are delicious too.

April Progress

2011-04-28T00:07:00.000-07:00

I'm wrapping up April with a look at The List . This was my big quilt-a-thon month, which kicked off which great success on Grayson's quilt. Then the throw I planned to quilt next morphed into a full size quilt and has been a pain in the neck ever since. I am taking a break from it, then I am going to rip out that quilting and try again with better thread!

Since I only finished one quilt (and a mini!) I am going to continue the quilt-a-thon into May... and as long as it takes!

Finished Quilts of 2011

12 x 12" mini

Christmas Tree Mini Quilts done 1/11
Baby quilt: spring strings (top done 3/10), basted 8/10, done 1/11
Bloom Mini Quilt done 1/11
3 Quilted Book Covers started and done 1/11
Girly I Spy Quilt done 2/11
Baby Blocks: Blue #1 done 3/11
Garden Path baby quilt done 3/11
Grayson's baby quilt done 4/11
12 x 12" Mini done 4/11

2011 WIPs:
This list actually got smaller! I finished one quilt, and added and finished another for the 12" x 12" mini quilt swap.

Stars & Strings tabletopper (started 2009) top done 7/10, basted,hand-quilting in progress *
Houses Donation quilt top done 8/10
Bright Snowballs (started 2009, top done)
Applique Flowers Wall Quilt top done 8/10
Indian Summer top done 12/10, expanded 4/11*
Gypsy Madness Leaders & Enders top done 1/11
Wedding Ring Table Runner top done, quilted 10/10
Amish-ish Mini Quilt top done & basted 2/11
Triumph Star top done 3/11
Stash Busting Bee International Log Cabin
Say Cheese Self-Portrait
Seasons Mat for R's preschool *
Crumb Blocks-->stars
Pinwheel Quilt
Holy Night
Soup Dragon
Yellow & Orange Log Cabins
Rainbow String Quilt*
Scrappy Sixteens*

* Quilts I worked on this month

On the design burner (fabric has been pulled or cut, but no sewing has been done):

Bricks & stones baby quilt
Girl blocks baby quilt
2233 Pineapple
Bento Boxes for S
Leopard Roses
Christmas quilts
Donation quilt for A's school auction
Retro Rail Fence

Quilting
I had a great time free-motion quilting Grayson's Quilt. Then I tried quilting with a different kind of thread for Indian Summer and it has been a real disappointment. Lesson learned! It's time to go back to the stuff that works, even if it costs a little bit more.

I am hoping to finish at least 2 quilts this next month... with decent thread this time!

Stash
My stash situation has not improved. There were a few thrift store finds that I could not pass up, then some reds that needed to be restocked, and then the cuteness of the new Denyse Schmidt collection. The good news on that front is that all this beautiful fabric makes me so happy and gets my creative juices flowing!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

I made these adorable felt bunny finger puppets for my daughters' Easter baskets. How cute are these? We're hunting for eggs at our house today, having brunch at a favorite restaurant and visiting with family.

Things I love about Easter:

Spending the holiday with family
A time of renewal
Lots of baby animals!
Pastel colors everywhere
Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate

For my Easter gift to myself, I found the new Denyse Schmidt collection for JoAnn's at my closest store. So cute and spring-y! I could not resist getting a few of the prints. (I got some chocolate, too.)

Wishing a very happy Easter to all!

Over the Rainbow

2011-04-22T09:40:00.000-07:00

I've been working on my rainbow string quilt bit by bit... I thought it would be fun to lay all the blocks out together to see how they look...

Stunning!

I have 32 blocks so far, so I'm less than halfway to the 80 I need for a twin size quilt. Unfortunately, some of my color-sorted bags of strings are still bursting and some are dwindling. I have a serious purple string shortage! I guess I need to do some more sewing to restock those strings!

In other scrap sewing news, I made this mini quilt for the 12"x 12" Something From Nothing Challenge Swap over on the 15 Minutes Play site. I love all these bright bits!
And now- back to more quilting!

End of Bobbin Sewing

2011-04-15T22:51:00.001-07:00

I have this intense dislike for half-wound bobbins, so whenever I need to change my thread color, I try to use up the end of the bobbin in my machine. You could also call it procrastinating on starting to quilt the dauntingly largest quilt I have ever quilted, but you could also call it resourceful and scrappy. Right?

In any case, while using up the end of my bobbin this week, I made more Sweet Sixteen blocks... bringing my count up to 42. Since these are 6 1/2" blocks, the 6 x 7 setting is pretty small, so I think I need more of these. Part of me wonders if this quilt will venture into the Land of Giants too... we'll see!

I also made this signature block for Victoria...

And made a few more blocks for the Rainbow String Quilt. Now the quilting thread is in the machine, and I have started quilting Indian Summer. Hopefully I will finish it this weekend. Happy sewing!

Tonight's the Night

2011-04-13T06:59:00.000-07:00

Here's the next quilt up for quilting in the April Quilt-A-Thon, Indian Summer. I was planning on quilting it last week, but it's been through quite a journey since then.

First, the vintage sheet I was going to use for a backing was more "used" than "vintage." I couldn't find something else I liked for a backing for it...

Then, it was throw size and let me know that I really didn't need another throw, I needed a full size quilt for my guest bed. It got wide red borders, using up all the solid and semi-solid red in my stash (eek!)

Next, I did find some backing fabric for it, pieced a back, and decided I had just made the back for another quilt, that I have made one block of. So I put that aside for later.

Finally, I pieced it's own back, and basted it. It's ready to go... tonight.

And I wonder why I have such a hard time whittling down my stack of unquilted tops?

Grayson's Quilt

2011-04-10T08:27:00.001-07:00

I finished this lovely, squishy quilt for baby Grayson last week as part of my April quilt-a-thon. I am so excited- it's the first larger quilt I've free-motion quilted and I love the way it turned out. I used a meandering line pattern, inspired by Trisha's DQS quilt.

I used a lot of scraps and strings for the center panel and the detail of this quilt, using gray, black, orange, brown and red. I decided to break up the dark gray border with this little bit.

I went with a gray Robert Kaufmann flannel on the back. This flannel is so thick and soft! Since Grayson lives in the cold northern plains of Canada, he'll need a nice warm quilt most of the year.

I added some red and brown flannel from my stash when I realized that I had bought not quite enough gray for the back. That's what happends when you design on the fly- it is harder to plan yardage for quilt backs, but you get to make fun improvisational choices that lead to a more unique and exciting quilt!

The binding is mostly a gray on black dot, but I had just a few inches shy of the length I needed, so in went the white and red polka dot! It ended up being the perfect place to label the quilt.

My wishes for Grayson are stitched into this quilt- may he create a life of beauty and warmth with all the bits and experiences he encounters!

Flower Garden

2011-04-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

The last quilt I finished in March was this Flower Garden, based on the Garden Path quilt from Freddy & Gwen Collaborate Again. I free-motion quilted this in the ditch (a long story involving a broken walking foot) and machine bound it with solid dark gray. The quilting gives great texture and leaves the quilt nice and soft- perfect for the little baby girl it is going to.

It turned out that I had the perfect backing in my stash- this vintage floral thrifted find. It was exactly the size of my finished top- no piecing required! I love that serendipity- it was obviously meant to be!

Here's a closer look at the backing- the gray and yellow background tie in perfectly with two of my cornerstone colors from the front. The blue and red flowers are so vibrant and brilliant! I handwrote the label on the leaves on the back.

Flower Garden was truly a joy to make- the way it all came together so graciously was a pleasure. Made from scraps and stash, it's truly a testament to beauty we can find in what is around us every day. I hope it brings lots of beauty and brightness to it's recipient!

Weekend Sewing

2011-04-04T08:18:00.000-07:00

How cute are these? I spent a big part of my weekend hosting a stuffy sewing birthday party for my daughter and 3 of her best friends. We based the project on the cat, left, that I made with my daughter a few months ago. The girls did all the sewing and embroidery on their own.

Maybe because I had to clear out my craft area for this activity, I was super productive this weekend- I also finished 2 quilts (that I will show you later) and made my April bee blocks. I hope I can roll all this energy into the week, but looking at my calendar, I doubt it. How was your creative weekend?

April Quilt-A-Thon

2011-04-02T10:49:00.001-07:00

Here they are: my finished tops and one quilt in the hoop... the subjects for this month's Quilt-A-Thon! There is 9th quilt, too, I just don't have a picture of it (you know your pile of tops is out of control when you don't even have pictures of all of them!)

My goal for April is quilt as many of these as possible. If all goes well that means at least 3...

They are:

Grayson's Quilt done 4/11
Triumph Star
Amish-ish Mini Quilt
Gypsy Madness
Summer Flowers
Bright Snowballs
Stars & Strings
Calico Houses
Indian Summer

I am looking forward to showing off some finishes. If you've got tops... feel free to join me... April is the month... let's quilt it up!

March Progress

2011-03-31T07:22:00.000-07:00

Are we at the end of March already? It's been such a whirlwind... and it's time to check in with The List again.

This month, I've been working on getting my sewing machine fixed and trying out a new-to-me machine. I had big plans to finish, like, 4 quilts this month, which was so unrealistic for me. Between working, and all the family birthday activity this month, I need to realize that my sewing hours are more limited! After I finish sewing on a machine binding tonight, my total for the month will be 2 finished quilts, so that is pretty good!

Finished Quilts of 2011

Christmas Tree Mini Quilts done 1/11
Baby quilt: spring strings (top done 3/10), basted 8/10, done 1/11
Bloom Mini Quilt done 1/11
3 Quilted Book Covers started and done 1/11
Girly I Spy Quilt done 2/11
Baby Blocks: Blue #1 done 3/11
Garden Path baby quilt done 3/11

2011 WIPs:
This list is the same size as it was last month... it didn't shrink, but it didn't grow either. Nothing else is getting added until some items get taken off!

Stars & Strings tabletopper (started 2009) top done 7/10, basted,hand-quilting in progress *
Houses Donation quilt top done 8/10
Bright Snowballs (started 2009, top done)
Applique Flowers Wall Quilt top done 8/10
Indian Summer top done 12/10
Gypsy Madness Leaders & Enders top done 1/11
Wedding Ring Table Runner top done, quilted 10/10
Amish-ish Mini Quilt top done & basted 2/11
Grey baby quilt top done 2/11
Triumph Star top done 3/11*
Stash Busting Bee International Log Cabin
Say Cheese Self-Portrait
Seasons Mat for R's preschool *
Crumb Blocks-->stars
Pinwheel Quilt
Holy Night
Soup Dragon
Yellow & Orange Log Cabins*
Rainbow String Quilt*
Scrappy Sixteens*

* Quilts I worked on this month

On the design burner (fabric has been pulled or cut, but no sewing has been done):

Bricks & stones baby quilt
Girl blocks baby quilt
2233 Pineapple
Bento Boxes for S
Leopard Roses
Christmas quilts
Donation quilt for A's school auction
Retro Rail Fence

Quilting
It was a struggle to get my machine to cooperate, but we finally made peace and got some quilting done this month. My walking foot seems to be kaput, so I tried FMQ in the ditch to quilt the Garden Path. I don't know where I got his idea. I thought I read it on a blog, but it turns out not too be there, so it must have been a casualty of blog reading before coffee. Very dangerous! The technique was tricky, and imperfect, but it looks great as a Monet and gave me great practice.

Next month, I will be having a quilt-a-thon to turn my finished tops into bona fide quilts, and practicing my FMQ on my mini Triumph Star quilt.

Stash
I have a sad situation with my stash: it doesn't fit on my shelves. I've been working to whittle it down, but it is not going so well. I had an inkling to go into Goodwill one day this month, and they had 30% off linens (that includes fabric!) It was too good of a deal to pass up, but it put me over the capacity edge. I'm not going to worry about this until after my quilt-a-thon, since I should be able to piece a bunch of backs and open up some shelf space.

Here's to lots of finished quilts in April!

Little Gifts

2011-03-28T07:27:00.001-07:00

Both of my daughters had birthday parties to attend this weekend (it is definitely spring- it is birthday season!) so we put together some little gifts- first a knot bag for my 9-year-old's "Cute Things" themed gift swap.

We put a Paul Frank Lip Smackers tin inside- I heard this was super popular and one of the other girls' moms wanted to buy one from me. Remember when these were super popular a couple of years ago? I always planned on making one but didn't get around to until just now. They are very quick and easy, especially if you remember to clip the curves when you are sewing at 11 PM on Friday night after teaching all week ;-) Now my daughter wants to make them with her friends at her birthday party next weekend, too. The tute is no longer on line, but I did find the Japanese Knot Bag PDF (thanks Google!)

My 5-tear-old took this sweet little doll quilt to her fancy salon party. It will be the perfect size for her friend's American Girl Doll. I had made a series of doll quilts last summer, so it was great to have one on hand for gifting. It was really hard for her to choose one to give away though- she wanted to keep them all!

I did get my sewing machine back from the shop, but the jury is still out on how well it is working. I had some problems with it but think it may actually be my walking foot that is now the culprit. In any case, I got out this old sewing machine that I picked up at Goodwill for $20 a while a go and stashed in the garage. I had started reading about how to fix it up and somehow got convinced it was a another fixer machine without ever even trying it.

It's a Singer 201-2 and she is a beauty. She sews so smooth and quiet, and all I had to do was clean out some lint from under the throat plate. I need to look into getting some accessories for her, but she may be taking over as my main machine.

Look at the gorgeous Deco-y plate on her! I think she must be from the 1930s when this model came out. By the '50s, these plates were all vertically ridged. I'm just amazed that my 8 year old sewing machine has at least partially worn out, but this 80 year old one is going strong. I'm hoping to give both these ladies a test drive getting some quilting done this week!

Motherhood & Creativity

2011-03-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

I'm have a guest post on motherhood and creativity over at my friend Rachel's blog, My Right Brain. I'm so excited for Rachel- she just became a new mom!

WIP World

2011-03-23T19:42:00.001-07:00

O...M...G...! This is really what my tiny little sewing area looks like right now... It's WIP World and it is a disaster!

Now that my big family birthday week is behind me, and my sewing machine is back from the shop, it is time to crack down on this situation. I'm all for making a big creative mess, but at a certain point I can't find anything, and have no room to work, no space for any constructive energy to flow, nada.

My desk needs to be cleaned off, the stacks of fabric and quilt tops on my ironing board need to be dealt with, and the bags of WIPS under the ironing board need be marched out and WIPped into finished tops!

My big plan is to:
-quilt at least 3 quilts by the end of the month
-not start anything new until those babies are quilted
-piece my heart out on those WIPs

Annnnndddd..... here I GO!

Taking It Slow

2011-03-18T08:28:00.001-07:00

I'm waiting to get my sewing machine back from the shop, doing some hand quilting, watching March Madness and getting ready for 2 birthdays in my household this weekend. (That's slow mode? Yes!) What are you looking forward to this weekend?

Baby BOOM!

2011-03-13T23:36:00.000-07:00

I want to share a couple of baby quilt tops I have made in recent weeks. I am clearly in the midst of a baby boom- if you look back one day and see that there was a tremendous population surge in 2010 and 2011, you'll know that the people I know are in large part responsible. Yay for procreation! Seriously- I love babies, and I love making quilts for them!

First, a baby girls quilt... based on the Garden Path quilt in Freddy & Gwen Collaborate Again (which is one of my favorite quilting books ever!) I started pulling strips for a little girl with a gray nursery (with pink, green and yellow accents), and quickly realized this was a perfect opportunity to make this quilt that I have always loved. It was so fun to fit all the strip sets together-- I definitely plan to make this quilt again and again!

This quilt is for a brand new boy named Grayson... the colors remind me of his talented daddy's art. More strips, more improvisational piecing, a Gee's Bend feel... another quilt I have always wanted to make. The orange, brown and red with gray combination was a happy surprise when I started pulling strips and strings for this quilt... I like the masculine, earthy feel of these colors, and hope they will stay with little Grayson for a long time!

The funny thing is, both these quilts started out in the same place conceptually- I planned to make Chinese Coin quilts (which I have always wanted to make.) I love that they ended up in two different, but wonderful places... and I still have a Chinese Coin quilt in my bucket list :-)

Triumph Star

2011-03-10T22:00:00.000-08:00

I was compelled to finish up this quilt top before working on anything else... I love how it turned out! Even though it started out as a "mistake" and went through a couple uncomfortable patches as it grew, it's lovely and finished: a triumph.

I really had to tear myself away from using red with my made fabric- it did sneak in there in a few places, but I am really happy with the combination of yellow, orange and pink with blue.

At just under 36" square, I am counting this as a mini quilt and looking forward to machine quilting it to try boost my skillz.

Decisions

2011-03-10T06:58:00.000-08:00

How does your creative process work? Do you ever start something and not like it? What makes you decide to scrap it or keep going? I started this piece as a possible entry for Victoria's 15 minute block challenge... and I thought it was brilliant, until I realized that it was WAY bigger than the required size.

Scrap it? No, I thought I could make it into a mini quilt... I'm planning on using minis to practice my free-motion quilting. So I addded the corner blocks with the diagonal rays, and thought it was awful.

Scrap it? No, my sewing time has been seriously reduced because I recently started a great new job, so I am going to make something of every creative moment I have. I added the scrappy blue border next, using all the scraps from piecing the star.

I needed a little extra fabric to make it all the way around, so I reached into my 2.5" strips bag and pulled out some blues. EW! They looked all wrong, but I sewed them on anyways. How is it that they can look the wrong color separately, but all together they work? That's the magic of scrappy quilting!

Now this is going somewhere that I like, and I have some ideas for where it's going next that I think are brilliant!

Baby Blocks: Blue #1

2011-03-06T17:31:00.000-08:00

Here is my finished quilt from the weekend: a simple Baby Blocks with a lot of blue fabrics, plus some orange and green. I like a quilt of simple 6" squares for exploring different color and print combinations. I had a lot fun playing with different rotations of the stripes on this one... they turned out pretty kinetic and fun!

The other fabrics that came out to play for this one include the ducks form Lizzy House's Red Letter Day, some Prints Charming prints and solids (I love the hand on these, they are velvety soft!), orange dots from Denyse Schmidt's Katie Jump Rope, and some assorted picks from my stash, including a vintage pillowcase with stars.

It's backed with a thrifted cobalt blue solid, which also serves as the binding. Thanks to LeeAnn, I was able to finish machine-sewing the binding last night and deliver it to a lovely mom-to-be today for her baby shower.

I considered a couple different quilting options before deciding on this plaid-like pattern inspired by the Prints Charming wavy plaid. At about 40" x 50", I think this quilt will be enjoyed by it's soon-to-be-born recipient for quite a while!

Magic is Afoot!

2011-03-05T13:48:00.001-08:00

Or maybe I should say, LeeAnn is a-wheel! Not only does she make incredibly beautiful quilts, she is also one of the nicest people I have ever met. This amazing lady offered me the loan of her Singer Featherweight and delivered it to me in the midst my crazy Saturday morning basketball mom hecticness. The little primrose I gave her could barely express a droplet of my gratitude. I have always wanted to try sewing on a Featherweight, so I think this whole sewing machine fiasco may indeed be lined with silver... and I will get the baby quilt I am working on done before the shower tomorrow. Thank you LeeAnn!

Blue Streak

2011-03-04T21:31:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to keep the profanity to a minimum, but oh, cr@p, my sewing machine is broken. It was having some feed issues recently, but after cleaning and oiling it seemed to work better... for a minute. Now it won't feed, won't change stitch length and is making a horrible clanking noise.

It looks like I will be hand sewing the finishing touches on 4 (!) gifts I had planned to finish for this weekend. And fretting over whether to fix my 8 year old cheapie or buy another one... Yuck. This totally blows my fun sewing plans. I'm gonna go eat some ice cream and pout.

February Progress

2011-02-28T15:00:00.000-08:00

It's already the end of February? I know it's a short month, but I don't know if 3 more days would make it seem any slower... It's time to check in with The List , my annual goal setting and focus-inducing effort.

It seems the theme of February, was variety! January was a great month quilting wise and while I've kept up some of the momentum in February, I worked on a huge range of different projects, and only finished one quilt. But, I also started a new job as a preschool teacher and managed to troubleshoot and (hopefully) fix my machine.

Finished Quilts of 2011

I finished the cute Girly I Spy this month, bringing my total finished for the year to date up to 5.

Christmas Tree Mini Quilts done 1/11
Baby quilt: spring strings (top done 3/10), basted 8/10, done 1/11
Bloom Mini Quilt done 1/11
3 Quilted Book Covers started and done 1/11
Girly I Spy Quilt done 2/11

2011 WIPs:

I finished one project from this list (yay!), added 2 (whoops!), and moved 2 projects off the design burner to here... which both got a lot of my attention and are almost finished quilts.

Stars & Strings tabletopper (started 2009) top done 7/10, basted,hand-quilting in progress*
Houses Donation quilt top done 8/10
Bright Snowballs (started 2009, top done)
Applique Flowers Wall Quilt top done 8/10
Indian Summer top done 12/10
Gypsy Madness Leaders & Enders top done 1/11
Wedding Ring Table Runner top done, quilted 10/10
Amish-ish Mini Quilt* top done & basted 2/11
Boy blocks baby quilt top done 2/11*
Grey baby quilt * top done 2/11
Stash Busting Bee International Log Cabin
Say Cheese Self-Portrait
Seasons Mat for R's preschool
Crumb Blocks-->stars*
Pinwheel Quilt
Holy Night
Soup Dragon*
Yellow & Orange Log Cabins*
Rainbow String Quilt*
Scrappy Sixteens*

* Quilts I worked on this month

On the design burner (fabric has been pulled or cut, but no sewing has been done):

Bricks & stones baby quilt
Girl blocks baby quilt
2233 Pineapple
Bento Boxes for S
Leopard Roses
Christmas quilts
Donation quilt for A's school auction
Retro Rail Fence

Quilting
I would like to practice my FMQ more. I talked to some quilters who keep a scrap sandwich by their machine, so they can practice different motifs whenever time allows. I like this idea, but I think I'll keep a mini quilt on hand for this purpose.

Stash
OK, just a few irresistible thrift store finds, some Katie Jump Rope off of Etsy for the Soup Dragon (I had to have the yellow posies and then 2 other favorite prints came along for the party), and a wool scrap bundle to celebrate my new job.

The next goal: a quilt-a-thon in March... tops be gone!

I'm a Winner!

2011-02-27T17:40:00.000-08:00

I already knew I was a winner at lots of things in life- loving husband, awesome kids, nice fabric stash, and the list goes on. But thanks to Kelly at Pinkadot Quilts, my dream to win a Blogland giveaway came true! I won a copy of Quilt Fiesta by Cheryl Lynch.

I am always taking pictures of architectural quilt inspirations when I travel, so I am excited to check out this book. Hooray! Now that that dream has come true, I'd like to ask the Universe for world peace next...

The Sweet Sixteens

2011-02-25T07:57:00.000-08:00

They are still growing! A little more slowly, because I've been working on other quilts (and socks) and because I started a new job this week. I hope to have a couple of quilts all quilted and ready to go this weekend though!

In Other News

2011-02-23T07:27:00.001-08:00

I made socks! I started these just after Christmas and finally finished them for my 5-year-old. She loves them. I had a lot of fun making them. I wonder how long it would take me to make a pair for myself... Does anyone have a favorite pattern for fast socks for long footed ladies?

A Special I Spy

2011-02-20T16:57:00.000-08:00

Here's a happy finish for the weekend... a fun I Spy quilt for a 3 year old girl who is battling leukemia. My daughters gave it the "Awww, cute" approval rating so I hope it brings her lots of comfort, enjoyment and happiness!

I feel very grateful to be able to create this for her... that I have the time and resources to make something to benefit others. Looking at the patches in this quilt, I am also grateful for the generosity of so many Flickr and blog friends who have swapped or sent me the novelty fabrics that have made many wonderful gifts. You all put smiles on a lot of faces, mine and hers included!

Let's hear it for quilts: YAY Quilts!

Trying Something New

2011-02-16T07:20:00.001-08:00

I have been sewing something other than 16-patches (but don;t worry, 16-patches, I still love you!)

I have this improvisational red and yellow quilt called the Soup Dragon. It called for an arc of points, which has had me stymied for quite a while. How do I do that? I thought paper piecing would be my best bet, and thankfully, Victoria had a reassuring tutorial that helped me overcome my apprehension that I would ruin everything totally.

I discovered that paper piecing is actually pretty easy.

And it looks great.

Now to finish piecing that brown/ochre border (in much smaller bits) and figure out how to attach it along the curve. Another something new to try... it's amazing how much you can learn when you follow your intuition!

Even More Cuteness!!!

2011-02-12T20:44:00.001-08:00

These blocks just keep growing.. and growing! They make me smile... but I promise my next post will be about a different project... like the kids quilt that has been languishing almost done on my sewing table all week while I obsessed over these scrappy little blocks!

More Cuteness

2011-02-10T07:20:00.001-08:00

I've been single-mindedly sewing more of the cute little 16-patch blocks in all my spare moments. They are multiplying like bunnies! I can't help but feel that my other projects feel sad and neglected right now, through. I really need to get back to some finishes!

Seriously Cute

2011-02-07T23:09:00.001-08:00

These 16-patch blocks are 6 1/2"... so little and so cute! I had been planning on making these blocks from my scrap strips for a while... all the scrap quilts from the 1930s and 40s with 2 color blocks really get me going... especially 16-patch and bow ties. Love them! Not that my scraps look like a Kansas farm wife's in the 40s... but they are really cute in little blocks. (The colors in the photo are horrible... I need to find a better way to fix that, iPhoto isn't cutting it.)

I was supposed to be a good girl and finish something before I started these... but it's better to have fun than be good! I am quilting a kids quilt, but I keep running out of thread- dang it!
When I couldn't quilt, I cruised Flickr and ran across this phenomenal Seriously Red quilt by Linda Rotz Miller (whose photostream is endlessly inspiring!) I seriously had to start piecing 16-patch blocks right away!

It turned out that my 2 1/2" strips were pretty well under control but my 2" strips were bursting out of their bag... so out they came to play. I think these will end up being a baby quilt... possibly hand quilted.

Piecing scraps and listening to jazz on a Monday night... as Shelly would say, quilting makes my skirt fly up! Seriously!

Bloom

2011-02-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

I finished quilting and binding this little mini quilt over the weekend. I am really excited because it's the first free motion quilting I've done that turned out relatively decent and frustration free. Yes, I've been getting up the gumption for at least a year to give FMQ another try, and I finally did it!

This little quilt started out as a 15 minute play scrap block, that morphed into a flower and needed a cheery orange garden setting.

I tried echo quilting around the flower...

Stippling in the background...

Loops in the "grass"...

Adding veins to the leaves....

My free-motion quilting has a long way to go, but I figure one day I'll look back on this project and appreciate the journey. Mostly, I'd like to improve my stitch length evenness and figure out how to keep the thread tension balanced. My machine is pretty basic (I am kind of surprised I can drop the feed dogs actually) so I have a feeling that a proper quilting machine would make the job easier, but that's not in the budget for me for a while.

In any case, this is now a happy little birthday gift for a very special person who admired this piece on my blog. A lovely winter bloom!

January Progress

2011-01-31T10:45:00.000-08:00

I'm doing an end-of-month review of The List , my annual goal setting and focus-inducing effort. Here at the end of January, I am doing... well, great! If I can keep this up for the whole year, I am going to be one accomplished lady.

Finished Quilts

4 of this month's finished quilts

I finished 7 quilts this month (6 of them small, but hey, that's still 7 quilts!) 4 of them were on my WIP list (the 2 Christmas Tree Mini Quilts were one item.)

Christmas Tree Mini Quilts done 1/11
Baby quilt: spring strings (top done 3/10), basted 8/10, done 1/11
Bloom Mini Quilt done 1/11
3 Quilted Book Covers started and done 1/11

2011 WIPs:

I only added 2 items to this list this month, so with the finishes above, I am heading in the right direction: towards starting some new projects that are currently just glimmers in my mind's eye...

Stars & Strings tabletopper (started 2009) top done 7/10, basted,hand-quilting in progress
Houses Donation quilt top done 8/10
Bright Snowballs (started 2009, top done)
Applique Flowers Wall Quilt top done 8/10
Indian Summer top done 12/10
Gypsy Madness Leaders & Enders top done 1/11
Wedding Ring Table Runner top done, quilted 10/10
Girly I Spy Quilt top done 1/11
Stash Busting Bee International Log Cabin
Say Cheese Self-Portrait
Seasons Mat for R's preschool
Crumb Blocks
Pinwheel Quilt
Holy Night
Soup Dragon
Yellow & Orange Log Cabins
Rainbow String Quilt

On the design burner (fabric has been pulled or cut, but no sewing has been done):

Bricks & stones baby quilt
Boy blocks baby quilt
Girl blocks baby quilt
Grey baby quilt
2233 Pineapple
Bento Boxes for S
Leopard Roses
Christmas quilts
Donation quilt for A's school auction

Quilting
I did it! I bit the bullet and practiced my Free Motion Quilting. I only procrastinated in that for a year, so I am going to wait a little longer to post about it ;-)

Stash
Uh-oh, not so good here. All those irresistable year end sales that I just had to treat myself to for Christmas and my birthday mean that I can barely put all my fabric away. As long as I stop buying and keep sewing, this will work out fine, but I need to correct that course ASAP!

Still Life Night

2011-01-27T21:14:00.000-08:00

I had the best non-sewing creative jaunt tonight with my daughters and the watercolor crayons and watercolor paper postcards I gave them in their stockings. I love trying out art supplies, and these were a real blast. You can dip them in water and draw, or draw on paper and wash a wet brush over them for different effects.

Our still life subject was a work of art in itself: my daughter's bouquet from her preschool Moms' Night. There are a zillion things I love about her school, and doing flower arranging is definitely one of them!

Here's R's version of her bouquet and hand-painted vase. She's 5, learning to write and really interested in text right now.

A, who is 8 1/2, used really saturated colors. I love her precision and definition in this piece. She really enjoyed discussing the different details that made each of our paintings unique, which took me right back to art class critiques.

We all chatted about impressionists and how each of us gave a different impression of this little scene. I love our little family of pictures and think this will become a regular event in our household!

Getting Small

2011-01-25T14:50:00.001-08:00

I started making some small projects on a whim this week... small = quick to finish, which is good. Especially when you have a bunch of large tops to work on. They turned into a series of book covers, all starting with this Terrie Mangat panel that has been held in a treasured place in my stash for many years.

She needed some extra rays on the side, and some clovers for luck.

Then the fabric from the rays became a star. A few other fabrics jumped into the mix, just for fun.

Others filled in to use up all the bits.

I really enjoyed working in this scale, just following my intuition and liberating some favorite fabrics from being hoarded in my stash!

Spring Strings in WInter

2011-01-13T07:45:00.001-08:00

I had visions of being able to take those gorgeous pictures of quilts in the snow once I finished this Spring String quilt and snow was in the forecast... but by the time daylight came, it rained, and it ended up being a quilt-in-the-slush picture instead. It's warm enough that my quilt holder/ husband is wearing zoris in the snow!

Or you could say that this quilt is SO springy and bright that winter doesn't stand a chance against it. It melts snow in a single unfurling! It is really cheery and sweet....

I backed it with one of my favorite thrifted vintage sheets. I think my grandparents had these same sheets, and it reminds me of waking up in their house on the North shore of Oahu, with the sun streaming in the windows and the surf pounding on the beach out past the Easter Pond. I miss them!

It turns out that vintage sheets, being so soft and lovely, are a real pain to quilt. Even with generous pin basting, I got so many tucks that I wanted to trade in quilting for a different hobby altogether (like... housecleaning? Gah! It was that bad!)

Then came the discovery of a lifetime: basting spray (thanks to Chawne for the suggestion!) It really is better living in a can. I have 2 other quilt tops ready to quilt with vintage sheets on the back, so this introduction could not have come at a better time.

This sheet must have also been the inspiration for The Summer Lovin print from the Dream on collection by Urban Chicks for Moda. It looks so similar!

photo from Fabric.com

True Colors

2011-01-11T07:27:00.000-08:00

I joined up with the Flickr Scrapbusters Challenge 2011 for a couple of reasons:
1. There's nothing I love like a scrap quilt
2. I have a lot of scraps, and the strings are especially out of hand. Or I should say- out of basket, since my bags of color sorted strings are just... overflowing.
3. The lovely LauraJ invited me!

So... I started a string quilt (oops! There's another quilt to add to the list!) I had my strings sorted into rainbow colors, so I started making rainbow blocks.

As Cyndi said, "Your true colors, True colors are beautiful... like a rainbow."

So pretty... I LOVE these colors... but I've made more than 10 8-inch blocks, and barley a dent in my string stash....

We're having a lot of fun with these, through. My 8 year old is helping choose the strings, and she loves peeling the paper off the backs. I have to admit that is my least favorite part of string blocks, so we make a good team!

We're going to keep making blocks until we either have enough for a twin size quilt for her, or all the strings fit in the basket- whichever comes first!

More Madness

2011-01-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

I finished my Gypsy Madness quilt top this weekend- it's my version of Kaffe Fassett's Diagonal Madness Quilt from Country Garden Quilts. I started making it from yellow, orange pink and blue scraps as my Leaders & Enders project last year. I ended up adding an extra border of Amish Buggy, or 16-patch, blocks to make it fit my queen size bed.

This is a huge quilt for me... it barely fit on my living room floor to lay it out and quilting is going to be a B! I had to get my husband and my daughter to help hold it up so I get photo of the whole thing. My daughter is standing on a chair behind there, it's so big! We had to go outside to take a picture because of the size, before it starts raining later this week. Even with all those shadows, I am loving the striking watercolor tones of this quilt!

I'm planning on sticking to Kaffe's simple quilting from the book... I want to get this done and on my bed!

Let's Call Them Epiphany Quilts

2011-01-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

My first finished quilts of this year are here! Yes, I started them in December for Christmas, but my machine got really cranky about the zig zag topstitching. I learned that when topstitching through the edge of a pillowcase turned quilt, only a heavy duty needle will do the job.

But now I can enjoy being ahead of the game for next Christmas... or a few days early for Epiphany! Complete with a shining star to top the tree.

The List for 2011

2011-01-01T21:46:00.000-08:00

Now that 2011 is here, I'm looking forward to what goals I'm getting focused on for this year. I have a pile of quilt tops all stacked up, WIPs in queue, and as always, a lot more ideas than time. I will use this list to keep me on track all year.

WIPs
Clearly, I did finish some WIPs last year, but the list (below) keeps growing. I currently have 15+ projects in some uncompleted stage! My first goal this year is to finish those beauties, and especially to quilt my finished tops!

Quilting
Speaking of quilting, I had a goal last year to improve my machine quilting skills and I still need to tackle Free Motion Quilting. I can do this! This year, I will make some mini quilts for FMQ practice and work on at least 2 different FMQ techniques.

Stash
This seems like a perpetual goal of most quilters: use up my stash. I actually enjoy quilting from my stash, but I enjoy collecting fabric even more. I don't actually want a smaller stash, but I am just running out of room. So, I'm renewing my goal to use up enough stash to fit my boxes of fat quarters on my fabric shelves. This will be the year that this happens- it will!

I also aim to use up scraps, especially strings, and keep my scrap bins at a manageable size.

2011 WIPs:

Christmas Tree Mini Quilts done 1/11
Stars & Strings tabletopper (started 2009) top done 7/10, basted,hand-quilting in progress
Baby quilt: spring strings (top done 3/10), basted 8/10
Donation quilt: houses top done 8/10
Bright Snowballs (started 2009, top done)
Applique Flowers Wall Quilt top done 8/10
Indian Summer top done 12/10
Gypsy Madness Leaders & Enders top done 1/11
Wedding Ring Table Runner top done, quilted 10/10
Stash Busting Bee International Log Cabin
Say Cheese Self-Portrait
Seasons Mat for R's preschool
Crumb Blocks
Pinwheel Quilt
Bloom Mini Quilt
Holy Night
Soup Dragon
Yellow & Orange Log Cabins

On the design burner (fabric has been pulled or cut, but no sewing has been done):

Bricks & stones baby quilt
Boy blocks baby quilt
Girl blocks baby quilt
Rainbow book stack baby quilt
2233 Pineapple
Bento Boxes for S
Leopard Roses
Christmas quilts
Donation quilt for A's school auction

2010 in Review

2010-12-31T09:12:00.001-08:00

1. I Spy Houses quilt, 2. Rosebud Doll Quilt, 3. I Spy Quilts, 4. Flower Patch Quilt, 5. Crow Mahalo, 6. Doll Quilts on a Line, 7. Sun Break Quilt, 8. Baby Bricks 2, 9. Modern Rococo, 10. Baby Boy Book Stack11. Collaboration Doll Quilt 12. Christmas Table Topper

I really can't believe it is already New Year's Eve 2010. This year seems to have zipped by even faster than any before it! Nonetheless I did make time to create all the quilts above, as well as a number of other non-quilt items this year.

Looking at all these works together, I realized that 2010 was the year of giving- all of these items were gifts or for donation. I did enjoy sharing my love of quilts this year, but next year I'm finishing some quilts for myself. But before I get ahead to next year, I want to revisit my goals for this year.

At the beginning of 2010, I set goals for the year, to improve my skills, reduce my stash and finish a number of projects.

Machine quilting skills: I got a walking foot and improved my straight line quilting, but I did not work on free motion quilting. I will definitely tackle that in 2011!

Applique skills: I learned needle-turn applique this year, and tried out fusible, machine and raw-edge techniques. I love applique and want to incorporate more of it into my work!

Stash goals:

I did quilt extensively from my stash, and even started making a visible reduction in it. But then I filled in some gaps, and added some finds... and there's no chance that I'll be able to fit my fat quarter boxes on my fabric shelves. That goal is getting carried over to next year.
I finished a Leaders and Enders quilt top. It did make a huge dent in my scraps and stash. I enjoyed working this way and have a couple of baby quilt tops cut and ready for more Leaders and Enders work.
I did make 12 quilts this year- more if you count all the doll quilts. I have 2 ready to donate, and 2 doll quilts that I donated to an auction. One more donation quilt top is finished... so I am pretty close, but not quite at my goal of 6 donation quilts for the year.

WIPs finished in 2010:

I Spy Houses (started 2009) done 1/10
2 I Spy donation quilts 1 done 1/10, 1 done 4/10
Flower Patch done 4/10
R's mini quilt done 7/10
Baby quilt: floral log cabin (top done 3/10) done 7/10
Baby quilt: "Sun Break" grey & orange rails (top finished 1/10) done 8/10
Baby quilt: shirt scrap bricks done 7/10
Baby quilt: blue + green book stacks done 9/10

Outstanding WIPs:

Stars & Strings tabletopper (started 2009, WIP) top done 7/10, basted,hand-quilting in progress
Baby quilt: spring strings (top done 3/10), basted 8/10
Donation quilt: houses top done 8/10
Bright Snowballs (started 2009, top done)
Applique Flowers Wall Quilt top done 8/10
Stash Busting Bee International Log Cabin
Indian Summer
Leaders & Enders
Say Cheese Self-Portrait
Seasons Mat for R's preschool
Crumb Blocks

On the design burner (fabric has been pulled or cut, but no sewing has been done):

Baby quilt: boy blocks
Baby quilt: rainbow book stack
Baby quilt: bricks & stones
2233 Pineapple
Bento Boxes for S
Leopard Roses
Christmas quilts
Donation quilt for A's school auction

I'm really looking forward to 2011, and taking all the positive developments of 2010 further in that direction. Happy New Year!

Holy Night

2010-12-24T12:48:00.001-08:00

A holiday challenge piece in progress... Wishing a peaceful and joyous Christmas to all!

Happiest Blocks in the World

2010-12-22T10:07:00.001-08:00

I always crave bright and cheery in the darkest days of the year... After finishing my first round of gifts last week, I really needed a nice quilty pick me up, and none of my WIPS fit the bill, somehow. I started working on these log cabin blocks... I have been gathering orange and yellow strips for 2 years for this quilt, and the blocks are so worth the wait!

I am really excited to see ALL THOSE FABRICS come together... I'm going for queen size with this one too. There's something very meditative and calming about sewing rectangles together into squares, so working on this makes me feel like a cat napping in a sunspot in the midst of all the holiday hustle.

Adding to my happiness this week... Victoria requested these cheery blocks for the 15-minute SCRAP-BEE for January. They are so irresistible I couldn't help but get started early!

Wishing a very happy and merry week to all!

Flea Market Bag

2010-12-21T11:21:00.000-08:00

The final teacher gift I made for the holidays was this Flea Market Bag by Grand Revival. I loved this pattern! It was easy to make and came out very cute! I used a found home dec fabric- you can't tell in the picture, but it's actually a sparkly silver, not grey. I'll have to make myself the one I planned on when I bought this pattern, too. After the holidays.

Embroidered Ornaments

2010-12-15T07:35:00.001-08:00

Here's 2 more holiday gifts for my kids teachers that are finished! I made embroidered linen Christmas tree ornaments and stuffed them.

One is a ukulele, decorated with Christmas lights.

One is a bird, with folk art-ish designs.

Both have the green tree fabric on the back.

Now I just have one more teacher gift to make... and my deadline is tomorrow. I'm trying a new bag pattern so I hope it goes smoothly!

Pretty Patchy Apron

2010-12-11T15:20:00.000-08:00

Here's one holiday gift finished! I made this apron for my younger daughter's preschool teacher, who wears an apron every day to school. The patchwork is a pocket... a kangaroo pocket. Are they not the best pockets?

It's reversible too- the other side is one of my favorite Anna Maria Horner prints and has a patchwork waistband. Ach! It's so cute, it makes me want to be a preschool teacher and wear an apron to work every day too!

Now just 3 more teacher gifts to make... and 2 other handmade gifts on my list. Yikes, there's less than 2 weeks til Christmas!

The Spirit of Un-finished Christmas Presents Past

2010-12-10T20:09:00.000-08:00

I had big plans for this little mini quilt to be a much bigger Christmas throw... it was either last year or the year before.

Then Anita's recent post about starting Christmas quilts in December... and not finishing them... motivated me to dig through my bags of unfinished projects and turn my interrupted Christmas quilt into something festive and, best of all, finished for this year.

Right after I assembled this little rectangle, my mom called to ask if I had any Christmas decor for her dining table.

Well, voila! Just in time to decorate for the houseguests she has coming this weekend. Because, you know, she's my mom and she says she likes to brag about her daughter is an artist. Hmmm. This spirit of giving is making me feel very merry indeed!

Holiday Sewing

2010-12-07T07:59:00.000-08:00

The holidays are here! I've been quietly but busily stitching away at some mini quilts. I adore these cute little trees!

Once I finish these pieces, I have gifts to make for my daughters' teachers and a few lucky family members.

If there's any time left in December after that, I'll try to finish up as many quilts in progress as I can! I do have a Christmas quilt planned, but it will probably have to wait until next year. No matter- another year filled with more quilts is a happy prospect!

Snow Days

2010-11-26T21:03:00.000-08:00

We moved into a snowglobe this week... we had 2 or 3 inches of snow, which in Seattle means that the whole city closes down. My yard was blanketed in snow...

My family was wrapped up in quilts...

And I got lots of sewing done since it was so cold we didn't even want to play outside long. I made enough 16-patches to add a border to Gypsy Madness, since it needed to be a little bigger...

And I started piecing my log cabin blocks from the Stash Busting Bee International into a quilt top-- another queen size! I am in the land of giants! It's totally different than the layout I had planned when I requested this block for my month back in January, but it's looking great.

Giants!

2010-11-21T09:20:00.000-08:00

I finished the Houses quilt last night, and it now takes the title as the biggest quilt I have ever made. It's GIANT! When I started making quilts, I resolved to only make baby and throw size quilts, since my house is small and full of a family, and my sewing space is limited. This one is a queen size and definitely taxed the limits of my "design bed" (which happens to be my actual bed, too.) I'm so happy with it!

I had previously put on a different border, which just didn't work, but the time spent with my seam ripper removing that mistake was worth it. Even with queen size seams.

I also found this to be a satisfying challenge as the small calicoes I used were the "uglies" in my stash, and to find a way to enjoy working with them and like the outcome was a stretch.

It also made a huge reduction in my stash- I'm down about 3/4 of a stack (of 6 stacks.) Whooo!

This quilt inherited the pieced back I made for my Gypsy Madness quilt. It fits perfectly and even has some of the same fabrics as the Houses top.

Gypsy Madness had to have this fabulous vintage sheet for a backing instead.

Working with the Houses top, I realized that Gypsy Madness is too small- it was previously the holder of the Biggest Quilt Ever title, but it barley hangs over the edges of the bed. I am going to add another row of 9-patches around the edge, that should be perfect. It is going to be giant too! Basting these babies is going to be a bi***- I'll have to move all the furniture out of the living room and hope I have enough pins!

Now That's More Like It

2010-11-18T22:03:00.001-08:00

I got my sewing mojo back... or I should say, I committed to spend time doing what feeds my soul-- now that all the muck of returning home is cleaned up. No more laundry, cleaning, driving all day doing errands, etc...

I am feeling happily productive as I put the binding on this table runner for a wedding gift...

Started assembling some new borders for this donation quilt...

And spent a little playtime starting with the extra triangles from my binding trimmings. The colors remind me of my FAVORITE wintertime lunch, tomato soup and grilled cheese. I ate it yesterday, when the wind held the threat of snow-- it was absolutely heavenly!

Funny

2010-11-13T17:12:00.000-08:00

I was just thinking that I hadn't updated my blog in a long time (it's been a busy month full of not enough sewing, lots of travel, etc.) since my last post was about our Matisse collages back in October... then I saw this Matisse-inspired fabric by Alexander Henry over at Hancock's of Paducah.

(photo from Hancock's of Paducah)

FABULOUS!! I was wondering why no one had licensed his work for fabric yet... I'm hoping some of this collection will find it's way to my house for the holidays. It will make the Matisse inspired quilt I'm planning for one day much more jazzy ;-)

I'm hoping to actually finish something- or things- this month... it's going one stitch at a time...

Matisse Inspired

2010-10-10T22:33:00.000-07:00

I think it was Lee Anne at Nifty Quilts who got me all excited about Matisse again with her incredible Matisse inspired quilt. That led to me getting a Matisse book from the library and making a Matisse inspired collage in my youngest's Sunday school class today ....

And all of us getting scissor happy with construction paper before bed tonight.

by R, age 4

by A, age 8

by Alexis, age 29 again ;-)

Fun, fun, fun. Thanks Lee Anne! I might make a Matisse inspired quilt one day too!

Juggling

2010-10-09T19:32:00.000-07:00

I'm working on 4 projects at once and it is great. It feels almost electric and I'm itchy to add a few more. This is definitely the stage of quilting I love the most- design, fabric selection, cutting and piecing. There is such a creative journey in bringing something into being, from a concept to a full fledged piece, it's always amazing in at least some way or another. My scrap basket is filling up fast too... that means more juicy inspiration for another day!

Meet Honoria

2010-10-03T10:48:00.000-07:00

I have a new sewing machine that has come to live at my house, and I am so, so, so excited. I have dreamed for a long time about having a antique treadle machine for human powered sewing. My dad found this one at a garage sale so long ago that I didn't even know he had it until I saw it in his garage when we went kayaking over the summer.

Her name is Honoria. She'll need some work, but her treadle and needle movements are good. She needs refinishing and a drawer repaired.

She came with some extra goods, including leather belts- one in the original box, I wish packaging was still designed like this!

Needles in a wooden case...

And a box of tools and extra feet.

According to the woman who sold her to my dad, Honoria came to the West Coast on a covered wagon in the 1870s with her grandmother or great grandmother. I'll have to check her dates but it's a great story!

I also found out that my aunt has her grandmother's treadle sewing machine that was purchased in 1907 when my great-grandmother arrived in America. My aunt collects antiques, so it's in perfect condition but is not used for sewing. I would love to use that machine one day!

Slow September

2010-09-30T11:12:00.000-07:00

I'm sending out 3 quilts for new babies today, which will make some space in my little sewing area for more quilting. I only managed to finish one of these quilts this month. With school starting and our fall schedule getting busier, it has been a slow month as far as sewing goes.

I visited a fortune teller (the coin fed kind who gives your fortune on a little card) on the waterfront earlier this month who shared these sage words with me:

Slow down just a little for you will gain enlightenment.

Enlightenment? Maybe if realizing that measuring my productivity in terms of finishes is frustrating and focusing instead on the rewards of enjoying the process of creating with my hands, seeing beautiful riots of colors come together from disparate patches, and sharing a little warmth and joy through the mail.

Part of what has been going slowly is piecing the biggest quilt top I have ever made- a queen size scrappy rendition of Kaffe Fassett's Diagonal Madness. This was my Leaders and Enders project for this year, and I am absolutely enchanted by all the colors from my scrap bags and ugly piles turning out so beautiful. I've been on a bit of a sewing hiatus for the last week since finishing this, but I'm hoping to break it today by piecing a really fun pieced back for this quilt.

And then I'll have to quilt it. Something tells me that October may be a slow month too... but hopefully it will be more enlightening!

Little Boy Blues

2010-09-14T07:53:00.000-07:00

... and a few greens! I finished up this little book stack quilt last week for a friend's new son. I have wanted to make one of these forever! It's a really simple design but I loved the opportunity to showcase large expanses of different fabrics. Maybe one day, each stripe will be a racetrack, a runway or field. I quilted it in organic horizontal lines for a nice texture.

The back is blue gingham with green polka dot binding. I like how fresh and happy these colors are together!

I wrote the label directly on the dots of the binding- I think this is the funnest label ever! Now back to doing a lot more piecing...

So Long, Summer

2010-09-08T14:21:00.000-07:00

Today is my 3rd grader's first day of school, the rain is pouring down, I'm back in polar fleece. Summer already seems like a long-lost friend... but she was so loved while she was here! It was truly a glorious and enjoyable summer, just far too short.

A big part of the fun was crafting with my daughters. We made cloth dolls, with me as the seamstress and them as the art designers.

Nothing better than girls and dolls! They also made dolls out of juice containers, and craft foam "paper dolls." Lots of fun there!

We also celebrated my 4-year-old's unbirthday party (she is a Christmastime baby, so we party with friends at another time of year) A tea party, dress up, hoola hooping and running in the sprinkler in addition to the requisite cake & ice cream. Wheee! I whipped up some cloth favor bags for her frinds to take home their party crowns and stickers.

I am still working on my WIP list, but as I was cleaning up from the party, my rotary cutter slipped and I started cutting squares for a new quilt, just because the fabric was soooo pretty.

Whoops! The list gets longer and as long as the rain keeps falling I'll keep sewing and waiting for summer to return again

August Inventory

2010-08-22T23:11:00.000-07:00

I have been working away on my list of works in progress, after taking a good look at my projects for the year about a month ago. I am happy to say that this kind of inventorying has been very productive for me, and it is really energizing creatively to see the work-in-progress pile diminish and get to play with new or set aside projects.

I've updated my July list to track my progress, so all the changes are in italics.

Finished quilts this year (4 quilts from the WIP list finished in the last month! YES!):

I Spy Houses (started 2009) done 1/10
2 I Spy donation quilts 1 done 1/10, 1 done 4/10
Pink Squares done 4/10
R's mini quilt (quilted and ready to bind) done 7/10
Baby quilt: floral log cabin (top done 3/10) done 7/10
Baby quilt: "Sun Break" grey & orange rails (top finished 1/10) done 8/10
Baby quilt: shirt scrap bricks done 7/10

Works in progress that need to be finished, in order of priority (this list has shrunk slightly, and I have finished 4 tops and gotten started on quilting 2 more) :

Stars & Strings tabletopper (started 2009, WIP) top done 7/10, basted,hand-quilting in progress
Baby quilt: spring strings (top done 3/10), basted 8/10
Donation quilt: houses top done 8/10
Bright Snowballs (started 2009, top done)
Applique Flowers Wall Quilt top done 8/10
Baby quilt: blue + green book stacks done 9/10
Stash Busting Bee International Log Cabin
Indian Summer
Leaders & Enders (top done 9/10)
Crumb Blocks
Say Cheese Self-Portrait

On the design burner (fabric has been pulled or cut, but no sewing has been done):

Baby quilt: boy blocks
Baby quilt: rainbow book stack
Baby quilt: bricks & stones
NJ wedding gift - liberated wedding rings
2233 Pineapple
Bento Boxes for S
Leopard Roses
Christmas quilts/ table runners
Donation quilt for A's school auction
Seasons Mat for R's preschool

Just one new project added to this list, for my youngest daughter's school- and I am really excited about it!

The Finished Sun Break

2010-08-21T17:16:00.001-07:00

Here's the Sun Break quilt, just finished today and fresh out of the dryer, all crinkled up and lovely, taking a test drive in the grass. Fresh air? Check! Sunshine? Check! A chubby cheeked baby rolling on top? Well, it will have to take a long trip down under for that.

I used an old Old Red Barn quilt along for the pattern, with a range of pink, orange, grey and cream prints. I finished the top for this back in January, but it has been sitting in my stack of tops to be quilted since then.

I used the trimmings from the strip sets I cut into quilt blocks to make a little pillow. My daughter took this picture. She is a quite the budding photographer!

I adore curved corners and I think they are perfect on this quilt.

Curved corners might be my favorite thing about this quilt. I will be making more quilts with curved corners for sure. That little Japanese print is really cute... and I love the light, bright colors peeking through the greys too!

Now to figure out the best way to send this set all the way to New Zealand!

Sun Break

2010-08-17T10:30:00.001-07:00

When I started this quilt at the beginning of the year, I was thinking of sunbreaks in your typical Seattle way- the glorious moments when the grey clouds part, and the light pours through. Today, I'm working on this quilt, taking a break from the sun. It's a rare stretch when we have real heat for days in a row and we are all starting to wilt a bit. In fact, if it stays hot much longer, my betta is going to be a slow cooked fish dinner!

It's only cool enough to sew late at night and early in the morning. Especially if you need to press binding. Good thing is, I gave myself a mommy time-out this morning (don't talk to me for 15 minutes!) and now the binding is all ready for both the Sunbreak pillow and it's matching quilt. And the temps are supposed to drop down to the 60s and 70s later this week... perfect timimg for finishing that binding.

Late Summer Flower Border

2010-08-14T13:29:00.000-07:00

I played with putting some borders on my applique and half-square triangle center... using all the fabric I could... piecing together bits to make it all fit, while leaving enough expanse to rest the eye....

It reminds me of a riot of late summer flowers, spilling out of the bed, and onto the cool green lawn. Ahhh, I can almost feel the grass between my toes!

I was thinking of adding some more applique along the top, but I think it might be just perfect the way it is. Maybe just a little flower off to the left on the top border? What do you think?

10 Step Crochet Hook Roll

2010-08-12T10:29:00.000-07:00

One of my daughter's friends recently started crocheting, so we made her a crochet hook roll for her birthday. It was a hit- even as a new "hooker" she has already lost her crochet hooks at the bottom of bags. (Aren't the possibilities for crochet puns endless? I'm going to refrain so I don't have to groan at myself when I make another one of these!)

I looked at a number of crochet hook roll tutorials, but couldn't find what I was looking for- just a small, simple roll that would be easy for a 9 year old to use and carry. This tutorial came close, and was a helpful starting point for the size of the roll. I ended up using different materials and construction for a softer roll, though- here are my instructions on how to make it.

This is a great project for fat quarters or larger scraps of material. You can use quilting cotton or home dec fabric.

You will need:

2- 10"X11" rectangles- one for the exterior and one for the inside.
1- 11"11" square
1- 10"x11" rectangle of quilt batting
approx. 30" of ribbon
fabric marking pen or pencil
a sewing machine and basic sewing sewing supplies
About 30 minutes to an hour

1. Have all your pieces cut and ready to go. Fold the 11"x11" square in half and press. This will be the pocket for the hooks.

2. Place the pressed rectangle on top of the lining rectangle, lining it up with the folded edge in the middle, and the raw edges along the bottom of edge of the lining. Pin it in place.

Mark off lines for sewing the pockets at 3", then every 1". This will give you a larger pocket for a small pair of scissors, and about 7 hook pockets.

Sew along the lines.

3. Next, lay the lining on top of the batting.

Fold the ribbon in half and position it at the top edge of the pocket, on the 3" scissor pocket side. Machine or hand baste in place.

4. Place the exterior rectangle right side down on top of the batting and lining. Make sure the loose ends of the ribbon is secured in middle. Pin the exterior in place.

5. Sew around the entire perimeter, leaving a 2-3" opening at one side.

6. Trim the seam allowance, to reduce bulk (pinking shears work great for this if you have them- I like how they reduce the bulk without cutting too close to the seam.) Make sure to trim off the corners on the diagonal and leave the seam allowance along the opening so it's easier to turn right side out in the next step.

7. Reach inside the opening and turn the whole thing right side out. Poke your fingers into the corners and along the seams to get them nice and smooth.

Carefully turn the tabs of seam allowance along the opening in and press, then pin. Also press the rest of the piece so it is flat and the edges are even.

Top stitch all the way around about 1/4" from the edge. Take care to secure the tabs you have turned and pinned along the opening as you top stitch.

8. Your roll can be finished now, but I added a flap at the top to help keep the hooks from sliding out.

To add the flap, turn the top edge down 1 1/2" and press.

Sew along the pressed fold to secure. Now the sewing is done!

9. Finish your work by pulling the loose threads to one side, knotting and burying the ends.

10. Finally, roll it up and get ready to take your hooks anywhere you go!

Half-Square Triangles

2010-08-08T16:43:00.000-07:00

My half-square triangle (HST) setting triangles are looking good! I added the yellow sashing today to square up the fit. I love these colors for warming up a cool & cloudy Seattle August day. They are luscious!

I'm thinking about adding some scrappy borders next. I might finish it off with additional applique on the border.

Since I recently figured out how to square up HST blocks so the corners will match (so that's what the diagonal lines on my ruler are for!) and I have an HST quilt on my list- not my WIP list, nor my cut/ pulled list of projects to start after the WIPs are finished, but the list after that one- that will take a while to get to, I'm going to give myself a reminder for later, on how to make HST blocks.

1. Start by cutting squares that are 1" larger than your finished size. For instance, I wanted 3.5" squares, so I cut 4.5" squares.

2. Cut the square diagonally from corner to corner, yielding 2 triangles.

3. Sew 2 triangles together along the long side with a .25" seam allowance.

4. Press the seam to one side- it will look like this:

5. Line up the 45-degree line on the ruler along the seam, and leaving at least the width of your square under the ruler, and trim the first side.

6. Repeat on the opposite side, lining up the trimmed edge at the desired width.

7. Continue trimming the other 2 sides the same way, ending up with a nice square block that will line up nicely at the corners.

Now I'm off to piece some borders, I am hoping to finish them today!

Points

2010-08-05T13:20:00.000-07:00

I've been plugging along on finishing my big stack of quilt tops, sewing on borders, quilting and binding. And quilting and binding some more. It is great to see the stack shrink and send out finished gifts of love... but it is Boring.

I mean, I love the conception stage of quilting the best- the colors! The fabrics! The design! The throw it all to the wind and just start sewing and see what happens! None of that is involved in finishing. So... I am taking a break, and working on other WIPs that are somewhere in progress before the finishing stage. Ahhh, I feel like my creative lungs are breathing again!

I'm playing with my needle-turn applique blocks that I made this spring. I fooled around with different settings, and decided on putting them on point, like this:

I added some borders, using mostly the pink batik and orange and pink dots, and filling in with some others when I ran out. I love it when that happens! Being forced to include more fabrics spontaneously results in a much more interesting quilt!

Then I need to add some setting triangles. I've been obsessing over half-square triangles, so I decided on setting triangles made of triangles. WHOOO! I am having fun now!

Here's how it looked when I laid it all out late last night:

I am really excited because I finally figured out how to square up my HSTs so my points match. I know it's basic quilting, but it was a recent revelation for me! Unfortunately, I did the math myself for the size of the setting triangles, and now that I've assembled one of them, I realized I miscalculated. I always knew that awful 10th grade geometry teacher I had would do me no good! It's just a little too big, though, so now I get to add a little border around the block sashing. It's going to be smashing!

Stitching Up Some Fun

2010-08-03T17:53:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a good bit of library book borrowing this summer, especially looking at quilting and craft books for inspiration. My 8 year old daughter has been really interested in embroidery, and learning some "actual stitches" as opposed to just messing around with a needle and thread, so I checked out Colorful Stitchery by Kristin Nicholas for her.

We liked the book so much- both the instructions and the projects and ideas- that we bought a copy on Amazon. Funnily enough, it's an old library copy....

I designed a sampler for my daughter so she could learn a number of the basic stitches right away.

She did a great job and it turned out really cute! She learned cross stitch, chain stitch, straight stitch, running stitch, back stitch, French knots, lazy daisy, stem stitch and satin stitch. That's pretty good for a little summer sampler! Her 4 year old sister is now asking for one of her own, so she'll get plenty of practice!

Blue & Brown

2010-07-30T16:18:00.000-07:00

Here's another baby brick quilt, inspired by the Kaffe Fassett quilt from Glorious Patchwork, this time for my cousin's first baby. I made another one of these last year for a friend's baby, and had lots of soft shirt fabric left. I usually dislike making the same quilt more than once, but I really enjoyed creating this simple pattern with a slightly different fabric selection. In addition to a warmer red check, I also added an Amy Butler stripe that wound up sitting next my stack of shirt fabrics and looking rather handsome with them. Serendipity being one of my favorite design partners, it stayed in the quilt and directed my attention to the brown as a perfect anchoring color. I quilted it in brown, mostly straight, lines along the seams, and added a few wavy lines, too, just for fun.

I wanted to add a personal touch, so I monogrammed their last name in the lower right corner. It was my first attempt transferring a computer font for embroidery and I love the result!

Going with the brown theme, I knew that I wanted solid brown for the backing, but I didn't have any in my stash. I ended up cheating on my fabric diet- I found a sheet on sale that was the perfect color, and used it for a self-binding, too. It was a far better deal than buying that much fabric by the yard! And I love looking at the tone-on-tone quilting on the back just as much as the front.

Now to wrap this baby up and mail it off to it's new home.

Modern Rococo

2010-07-21T17:34:00.000-07:00

I finished the floral log cabin quilt, which I named Modern Rococo for it's exuberant florality. It's gorgeous- a floral on floral on a few non floral prints, in soft, feminine, watercolor tones. There's a few favorite fabrics, a few fun retro prints, some vintage fabric and even a thrifted sheet.

It was a perfect day for taking photos outdoors, I just had to be careful to not get the quilt or the camera wet while my kids were playing in the sprinkler.

My neighbor's house used to be a barn until after World War 2. It makes me feel closer to my dream of living on a farm!

My three month old niece is now the owner of this beauty. I hope she spends lots of summer days like this one laying on it in the grass, gazing at the sky and dreaming of wonderful things!

The Power of Lists

2010-07-12T20:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I made lists. Lists of quilts I have finished this year, of my WIPs, and of the quilts I am planning to start. It was an inspiring and invigorating exercise: I already finished one quilt and completed a quilt top that has been a WIP for more than a year!

This is a mini quilt I made with my 4 year old. She embroidered and drew on the fabric squares, then chose the other fabrics. I did the sewing and consulted her on the quilting. I loved that she choose a machine binding so she could play with it sooner!

Mid-Year Review

2010-07-11T08:58:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of this year, I posted about keeping focused on my quilting goals this year. Now that the year is at the mid-point, I'm checking in and seeing what I can check off my list, and what I need to hone my sights on for the rest of 2010.

Overall, I am happy with with the goals I set so far, and feel much more focused than last year. But there is still more to reach for, especially in terms of finishing projects!

First, my skills checklist:

Machine quilting: I will improve my machine quilting repertoire including better free-motion quilting.

I got a walking foot to help with my straight line quilting in February (check!) but I still need to seek out resources for free-motion practice. Shelly is a great FMQ cheerleader- I just need to take a big breath and follow her advice. That will be coming up next as I finish some of these WIPs.

Applique: I will try at least 3 different applique methods this year.

I fused (check!), I needle-turned (check!) and I have a raw-edge applique project simmering on my mental design burner. It's been great to expand my applique skills and be inspired by my ability to incorporate this technique into my work.

Stash: I will strive to quilt exclusively from my stash unless I absolutely can't find a satisfactory option there. By the end of the year I will at least make space for my fat quarter boxes on my fabric rack.

I have definitely been doing a better job of reducing my fabric consumption, but I still have a long way to go before I can eliminate a stack of fabric from my shelves. I need to up my output and get more creative about using my stash to piece quilt backs in order to accomplish this goal.

Stash: I will work on at least 1 Leaders and Enders project this year to maximize my quilting time for the goal of using up my stash of scraps.

I have a L&E project underway (check!) I have pieced enough 4.5" four-patches for a queen sized quilt! Now to start piecing them together as I sew other quilts...

Stash: In the interest of giving back as well as stash busting, I will donate at least half of the 12 the quilts I make this year, or at least 6 quilts if I make more than 12.

I have finished 2 donation quilts, and started a third one. I'm a little behind to meet this goal, but only slightly. I'd be doing really well if I can finish two more this month, but I'd be happy if I finish the one donation quilt WIP.

Quilts to finish/ make

Here are my finished quilts so far this year.
Making this photo mosaic, I realized that

I haven't made as many quilts as I would like (I think I should aim for at least 2 per month!)
I have finished a number of quits that were not on my January list
I have a LOT of projects in underway that really need to be finished.

Finished quilts from the January list were:

I Spy Houses (started 2009) done 1/10
2 I Spy donation quilts 1 done 1/10, 1 done 4/10
Pink Squares done 4/10

Works in progress that need to be finished, in order of priority:

R's mini quilt (quilted and ready to bind) done 7/10
Baby quilt: floral log cabin (top done 3/10) done 7/10
Stars & Strings tabletopper (started 2009, WIP) top done 7/10
Baby quilt: "Sun Break" grey & orange rails (top finished 1/10) done 8/10
Baby quilt: shirt scrap bricks done 7/10
Baby quilt: spring strings (top done 3/10)
Donation quilt: houses top done 8/10
Bright Snowballs (started 2009, top done)
Leaders & Enders
Applique Flowers Wall Quilt top done 8/10
Indian Summer
Crumb Blocks
Say Cheese Self-Portrait
Stash Busting Bee International Log Cabin

On the design burner (fabric has been pulled or cut, but no sewing has been done):

Baby quilt: boy blocks
Baby quilts: 2 book stacks
Baby quilt: bricks & stones
NJ wedding gift - liberated wedding rings
2233 Pineapple
Bento Boxes for S
Leopard Roses
Christmas quilts/ table runners
Donation quilt for A's school auction

Crikey! It's pretty clear what I need to focus on- finishing up these WIPs and getting to my list of quilts in planning! That's enough to keep me busy for a looooong while!

Going to the Fair

2010-07-08T18:33:00.000-07:00

These little doll quilts are taking a trip this weekend to the Wallingford Street Fair.

If you're in the neighborhood, look for them at my friend Miriam's booth with the Stitchcrafty Mama sign.

These have been keeping me busy through the last few weeks of clouds and drizzle. It makes me smile to see them all together enjoying the sunshine!

Sweet Like a Rose

2010-07-05T09:03:00.000-07:00

I found this fabulous vintage rose fabric at the Goodwill in Lincoln City Oregon. There's at least 4 yards, and it was $4.99. I love thrift store treasure finds! I'm thinking this will make a great summer skirt for me, plus a sundress for my big girl and a center panel for a quilt for my little girl.

Quilt Trail Discovery

2010-07-01T13:45:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a long weekend on the Oregon Coast. It was breathtakingly beautiful...

It was so nice to unwind...

and appreciate the beauty of small moments.

One of the treats was discovering the only Quilt Trail on the West Coast, in Tillamook County, Oregon. Yes, that is where the cheese (and ice cream!) come from! We stopped for a quick cone at the Tillamook factory visitor center, but next time I'm planning on spending more time exploring the Quilt Trail and the Latimer Quilt & Textile Center there, as well.

Crows and Thanks and Summer, oh my!

2010-06-22T21:58:00.000-07:00

Today was my daughter's last day of second grade. Every year her class does an expedition, or in depth study on a topic, and this year her expedition was crows and ravens. Fascinating creatures-- although they are all around us, I never realized how little I knew about them until now! Of, course, we made a thank you gift for her teacher that incorporates crows...

Her teacher is from Hawaii, like my family, so I experimented with a Hawaiian style quilt with hand-appliqued crows. I love the crisp contrast of the black birds against the white background. I did hand quilt it, which was a first. I love the look of the quilting, wonky and all.

My daughter loved studying crows, since they are so easy to observe. Her class wrote poems, built nests, and read tales about crows from around the world. I learned that crows are believed to be messengers of creativity in many cultures, which makes sense with how inspired I was to make this quilt! My daughter consulted with me on every step of the design, and when it was done, she wrote a special thank you to her teacher on the label.

This piece stretched my skills in design, applique and hand-quilting. I really enjoyed making it and hope it is always treasured. Now that I've finished all the handwork, I'm looking forward to finishing up a bunch of the quilts in progress that I've been neglecting in the meantime. But only after the sun goes down- I don't want to waste that summer light indoors!

Friends & Swaps

2010-06-17T22:10:00.000-07:00

I had the most fun sewing day today at a mini-retreat at Trisha's house! We met originally because I sent her my quilt in Doll Quilt Swap 6, and it turned out that she lives about 45 minutes away from me. We met in person recently at Jacquie's trunk show, and worked out a sew-in for today- she's the sweetest, and her kids are too. In another twist of fate, her kids have the same names as me and my husband, so the conversation kept us "in stitches" (snicker) all morning! I got some work done on a old WIP, too, in between laughing, looking at quilts, talking about fabric and eating the yummy lunch she made.

Also, I just finished my June block for the Stash Busting Bee International. It is for Adrienne, who sent me her quilt in the Doll Quilt Swap 5. The blues and greens she requested challenged me since my stash leans warm, but I think the result lovely, like seaglass. I took this picture on my lawn chair, last week when it was sunny. Now, it's rainy and grey, but that should mean that I have more time indoors for sewing and swapping and more fun!

Treasure Find

2010-06-14T09:25:00.000-07:00

I love thrift shopping, and this weekend, my compulsive habit of popping into the nearest thrift store whenever I have a few extra minutes paid off! I found a great deal on a vintage quilt top, which has been on my mental thrift shopping list for a few months.

It's baby quilt size, and a fantastic collection of scrappy old fabrics.

This is a favorite block.

Here's another- I wonder what the origin of the word fabric is...

I need to give this a bath and a good pressing. It's machine pieced, but I'm currently trying out hand quilting on another smaller project and think this would be wonderful with hand quilting as well.

My favorite part about this quilt, aside from the delightful vintage prints, is that it had no price tag, so when I took my finds up to the register, the cashier priced it the same as the cheapest piece of fabric I had- 99 cents! I bet she thought, "That fabric looks like a bunch of crazy old rags," but it is a treasure to me.

My other finds- 99 cent red solid, a quilt back sized piece for $1.50, the Gnome book, plus a good size piece of wool felt, all for $6. I love you, Goodwill!

I Heart Applique

2010-06-08T14:46:00.000-07:00

One of my goals this year has been to learn needle-turn applique. Actually, it's been a goal for longer than that, but it's taken a while to overcome my intimidation of hand sewing-- and hand applique in particular. I've been hanging out with my applique book-- Piece O' Cake's New Applique Sampler-- since the beginning of the year, and this month, it finally happened.

I appliqued.

Not by the book, just cutting fabric freehand, and following the Piece O' Cake techniques....

My blocks are not perfect, but they are pretty. And I'm in love with applique! I'm trying to decide whether to make these into a table topper or wall hanging....

Portrait of a Work in Progress

2010-05-29T09:32:00.001-07:00

I had a chance to work on my Say Cheese project a little this week- I fused the pieces together and am trying this out for the background. Part of me feels it is perfect self-portrait just like this- a lot going on, and I am still in progress. I even used this photo for my work bulletin board headshot.

Blogger's Quilt Festival: Flower Patch Quilt

2010-05-21T14:47:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my Blogger's Quilt Festival entry! I'm very excited about Amy's 3rd online quilt festival- check out her post and list of participants if you haven't already and join the fun!

The quilt I am showing is my Flower Patch quilt. It's a simple quilt of mostly pink squares, but
it makes me think of a garden full of pink flowers, with rays of yellow sunlight kissing the blooms.

I started it in February, when the dark and brooding winter was just beginning to give way to spring flowers. It was a pleasure to work on at that time of year, especially since my 2 daughters helped me choose and arrange the fabrics.

Because this quilt feels so celebratory of spring's new life and all things girly, I thought it would make a perfect baby gift for one of 3 expecting couples that we know. Only it turns out that they all had, or are having, boys.... so there are more quilts to make, and a baby girl out there with a Flower Patch coming her way! Maybe she'll have a flower name, and that would be perfect.

Even in it's simplicity, this quilt is notable in my repertoire as the first quilt that I quilted with a walking foot, which was delicious experience after 2 years of quilting without one. It or my hand sewing kit are my new favorite sewing things- what's yours?

Vacation Inspiration

2010-05-18T13:19:00.000-07:00

I recently got back from 2 weeks in Puerto Rico, and I'm all sun warmed and rejuvenated from my vacation! I love that big breath of fresh air that I get from traveling and returning home.

I'm creatively refreshed, too, although it's taken some time to get back to sewing. I did take an applique project with me, but ended up only using my sewing kit for first aid (nasty ant bites! Blisters! Splinters! Very handy!)

The colors and sights of the tropics gave me plenty of inspiration, though... and a longing to return to La Isla del Encanto soon!

Since returning, I did start working on my applique, as well as quilting on the Watercolor Log Cabin quilt, mending 3 articles of clothing for my husband, assembling 2 costumes in a week for my 8 year old (Dress as a Favorite Book Character and an Alice in Wonderland costume party!), and making a block for the Stash Busting Bee International. All in addition to unpacking, cleaning, doing laundry and working in the garden... it just shows how energizing vacationing is. I think I need to take them more often!

Cheese!

2010-04-17T13:59:00.000-07:00

I joined Victoria's Say Cheese play group... I would call it a challenge, but the challenge is to play! Take a photo of yourself and turn it into a fabric portrait... It's fun and there is a lot of talent over there!

So far, I have been cutting fabric freehand and laying it out... it's a very liberating "sewing" experience. I used to do a lot of collage and this combines that love with fabric- it doesn't get much better! I will fuse it together, add a background and quilt it next... happy sewing!

My Best Work

2010-04-15T22:03:00.000-07:00

As much as I love quilting, my best work is with my family and especially my children. They never cease to amaze me!

This one wore my clothes to school today.

The other one is collaborating with me on her first quilt.

All this makes my heart swell up, and almost makes me feel like a grown-up!

Travelling Companion

2010-04-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

One of my goals this year is to learn needle turn applique, both because it's lovely and because it's a handy type of project for when I'm away from my sewing machine. I made this cute little hand sewing kit from a tutorial by Sophie of Blocks & Swaps & Patterns & Tips.

It's got handy felt pages for needles & pins...

A big interior pocket (I thought this Momo Wonderland fabric was perfect for this!)...

And some little pockets.

Made mostly of scraps & stash, including thrifted bias binding and button and a button loop leftover from a Buttercup Bag. It was very quick and easy to sew- if anything, I went too quickly on the binding, which could look better at the corners. Next time- slow down and don't rush to finish a project right before school pickup!

I LOVE these colors! I'll be so inspired to applique, and it will work waaaaay better than a Ziploc bag for holding all my pins and things!

Watercolor Log Cabin

2010-04-09T07:58:00.000-07:00

Another quilt top I finished recently- so many soft colors and florals, and the tones blend together in a way that reminds me of watercolor. This quilt turned out completely different than planned, which is always an exciting journey. I love the result! A perfect baby quilt for a little girl!

Added Monday, April 12: My sister-in-law just had her baby last night, and it's a girl! Yay! She had admired this quilt top when she was here recently, learning to use my sewing machine and making some curtains... so this one is going to go to baby P! I'm thrilled for them- and relieved that my ratio of girly quilts to baby girls born is working out pretty well so far.

Quilt Friends

2010-04-08T09:43:00.000-07:00

Almost all of my friends who sew, and especially quilt, are online friends- that's a testament to our modern times. However, the other day, my friend Trisha of TLC Stitches invited me to a trunk show with Jacquie of Tallgrass Prairie Studio at Fabric Crush. A chance to hear from an inspirational quilter and blogger, meet an online friend for "reals" and check out a new fabric store in my area? Oh yeah!

That's Trisha on the left- I sent her a doll quilt for the Doll Quilt Swap last year, and we've been blog friends ever since. It was awesome to meet her in person- she's funny, sweet and friendly in addition to being a talented quilter and knitter! I also met her friend Ginny of I Sew who is a real sweetheart and talented seamstress who live right in my neighborhood!

Jacquie was also awesome- it was great to touch quilts I had seen previously in photos, and hear her stories about each one. Her quilting was beautiful - a lot of it was very modern, with alot of straight lines, and pretty dense. I was very inspired that she's only been quilting for two years! This quilt was especially gorgeous- it was quilted by a woman in her local guild. Incredible!

I'd love to make something like this out my selvages, too. Jacquie has a tutorial on her blog for the selvage spiderweb blocks. I loved seeing this up close- both for the technique of piecing the selvages and for the fun "I Spy" effect with all those fabrics!

Gadget Love

2010-04-06T08:55:00.000-07:00

I finally got a walking foot for my little Singer... I know, I have been quilting for 2 years without one, but I get a little stubborn when there is something I have to do or buy (I suppose that's my inner Groucho coming out!) Sewing is the one area in my life where I'd rather work hard than work smart, since I feel like it's part of the quilting tradition to make do or do without, but no more of that nonsense! My feet are out of the mud, and I am in love with my walking foot!

Quilting is so much faster and easier, and I have so many more options, like using the different stitches on my machine. I've gone from reluctant to finish my stack of quilt tops to feeling like I can't finish enough in a day. I love it when a tool really makes a positive difference in your life!

What other tools jazz your quilting?

I met a dear lady at JoAnn's last weekend who was looking at cutting mats, who was probably my mom's age or older. She has been hand cutting and hand sewing her whole life, but had lost her templates, and had I used a cutting mat? After we talked, she went home with the mat, rotary cutter and ruler! I think her new tools will totally revitalize & revolutionize her passion for quilting too!

Another I Spy quilt finished

2010-04-05T12:33:00.000-07:00

I finished my second charity quilt this weekend- it just needed the binding attached but I've been riding a wave of new project inspiration that I had to see through before I could get into any finishing work. I think the purple Kaffe stripes are really cute with this! I'm donating these 2 quilts to Hope Place, an residence & recovery program for homeless women and their children. My daughters love these quilts, and I hope they will bring comfort and joy to some kids at Hope Place too!

Scenes from the Garden

2010-04-01T14:38:00.001-07:00

I'm so happy that spring is here! We've had plenty of rain but the days are getting warmer and longer, which makes everybody happy. I love getting out in the garden to see who's there...

Cat napping...

Blooming...

Growing baby (pink!) pinecones...

Cutting lots of bitty squares for quilt blocks...

Hope you are enjoying spring or will be very soon!

Basic House Blocks

2010-03-31T16:04:00.000-07:00

I sent these blocks off to New York last week for V's Bumble Beans Basics block gather. They were fun to make and for a good cause! The afghan in the background was made by my husband's grandmother. We have another one that his other grandma crocheted as well. Among the many things I am grateful for, a warm and cozy home to share with my family and provide a space for cherishing memories and creating new ones is high on my list!

Scraps, Stars, and Blooms

2010-03-25T10:30:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy month, including a ton of yard work and the dreaded guests in the sewing room situation- loved the guest, it was the loss of sewing time that was dreadful! I've slowly gotten up to speed again, including this fabulous Stash Busting Bee International block for Barb. The bright colors reminded me of the sweet bulbs and pansies blooming in my garden.

Barb sent some multicolored and white scraps, including a lot of Denyse Schmidt fabrics, and I provided the rest- more Denyse Schmidt, some Kaffe and some little retro looking prints and more. She was inspired by Rita of Red Pepper Quilts, whose instructions we followed.

I adore this block. It takes a lot of piecing, but it's a great way to use up scraps. I'm thinking of making more, but out of 2.5" and 2" squares from my scrap bin (this block used 3" and 2.5" squares.) Wouldn't these make an adorable baby quilt?

Now I'll get back to sewing- I have a top to finish by the time this pesky rain storm blows through and the garden beckons me again!

Adventures

2010-03-08T22:29:00.000-08:00

I was supposed to buckle down and finish my bloated pile of quilt tops in my sewing room, but instead, I've been running around, having fun, getting inspired and starting new things- yes, life is good!

I had some pleasure of wandering into some local quilt shops this weekend that are off my beaten path... I was totally taken by the Island Quilter- just check out their wall of Kaffe! There were more bolts- maybe 20 or so- that didn't make it into the frame, too. I would love a quilt that looked just like this. It is amazing, and evidently the largest collection of his fabric on the West Coast. Paul, one of the owners, said Kaffe wants to come back to the shop for 4 days next time... sounds like the perfect excise for a quilt retreat!!!!

On the way home from the Vashon ferry, we stopped by the Pike Place Market and Undercover Quilts. What a beauty they had displayed in their window!

In the other window, they had these fantastic art quilts by Mary Downes that were quilted versions of nautical charts... here's the Vashon Island quilt, where we had just come from! I love the interpretation of maps into fabric, complete with quilted topographic lines!

And in my sewing room, I've been working on making house blocks for Victoria's House Block Gather... these ones turned out to be not quite the right size, so I whipped them into a little quilt top with a scrappy border. This is very different for me, but I like the way it's coming along! I have 4 more houses to mail off to V, too, along with some setting squares once I get those cut.

I'm liking adventure and the discoveries it leads me to... hope you are too!