My older brother lives at a residential school for the intellectually challenged. I'm visiting the campus for their family weekend.
I came across this table of beautifully made hand tied quilts that will be making their way to Kenya. What a wonderful activity for these students -- definitely a skill that's good to learn, plus a chance to use pretty fabrics. Im impressed with this awesome service project!
This has been "one of those weeks." I'm glad it's now Friday and the weekend is here. Hubby had a super-stressful work week and I've been really off my mark this week, only to find a minor health issue pop up that hasn't reared it's head in years. No worries -- it's being taken care of. But it explains a lot about how I've been feeling lately.
Not a whole lot has been going on sewing-wise. I started the chef/cooking quilt for my youngest stepdaughter's housewarming gift.
I also completed a scrap vomit mug rug for a friend.
On Tuesday I went to my regular sew day at Ben Franklin in Monroe. I was so excited. I had all my tools and fabric to play with. I left my pattern at home! So, too lazy to drive home and bring back the pattern, I just bought a jelly roll and a new pattern (which I proceeded to cut incorrectly I may add).
Sigh...
I did score some supplies at Joann today. Took advantage of the sales/coupons. Got me some single yard cuts of Kona solids. Bright colors. Figured those will come in handy or I could make a solid quilt.
I did have my small group ladies from the guild over on Thursday. This is what my hexie box looks like now. I need a bigger box. Plus, I need to cut up more scraps, as I will be taking some with me as I travel later this month. One of these days I'll know what I'm going to do with these. But for now, I'll keep making them from my scraps.
Wow, I guess I *did* accomplish something this week. Sure didn't feel like progress, but I guess I'm selling myself short. What about you?
When a quilting buddy needs something specific and is heading out to find it, what does she do? Calls me and we go on an impromptu shop hop! Yesterday I piled into Kathy's van and we headed North. She was on a mission for butter yellow batiks.
Of course, four stops later and only one suitable batik to be found for her, I came home with just a few (ahem!) things...
The first shop, The Quiltmaker's Shoppe in Arlington, WA had a sale going on. Evidently they have something fun every first Saturday of the month, and this month was 20% off fabric. While Kathy searched for her holy grail batik (butter yellow -- not gold), I found some lovely gems. First was this kit for a chef-inspired quilt. My youngest stepdaughter (who happens to be a chef) will be moving into a new home, and I thought this wall-hanging/table topper quilt would be the perfect housewarming gift for her. I really love the black focus fabric. And the bright colors complement it so well! It's perfect because she's a very cheery, happy chef!
I also saw this line and scooped some up. Also got some of this stash at a few other stops. I see a fun project or two coming from these bits and pieces. I love the seed packet and measuring tape fabrics.
The second shop we visited was in Marysville, WA -- Aunt Mary's Quilt Shop. Oh my, I really, really loved this shop! These folks are super friendly, and they have such cute stuff! I swooned over some of their shop samples. One in particular. It was a Buggy Barn applique pattern that was done in more modern fabrics and I just wanted to take that quilt home. I didn't buy the pattern (I'm hoping to pay the Buggy Barn a visit. I did pick up two books on applique -- one by Yoko Saito and the other a good how-to book from Piece O'Cake Designs. The Yoko Saito book is just scrumptious! If you've never seen one of her books, do give them a browse. The photos are beautiful and her projects are just breath-taking! I love the Japanese style of quilting using the neutral fabrics.
Next on the list was a trip to The Needle and I in Everett, WA. They are also a local Bernina dealer. There I was greeted with a smile. I came out with some yardage and some FQs inspired by the Japanese neutrals. While they are in quilting cottons, I think it would still be fun for some experimentation with the linen I have in my stash.
What I loved was that all these shops were so very friendly! Every one of them! Each shop was well-lit, had lots of decision space, had a little bit of everything (but cherry-picked, if that makes sense), and the staff was helpful!
Can you tell I've got my quilting mojo back? Dang, I'm a woman on fire! And, yes, I've been busy! Tuesday was sew day with my peeps at the Ben Franklin in Monroe, WA. They call it pajama Tuesdays. NO, we don't wear PJs. It's a free sew day. Just bring your machine, a project, and go!
Side note: I've been dieting (doing Weight Watchers) and to keep myself from snacking I'm sewing. The less bored I am, less likely I'll snack or indulge in mindless eating.
I'm still mad at the big applique project. So that's still being set aside. I made HUGE progress on Johnny Mac's Quilt. I got the top pieced together. I found the beautiful floral fabric in that line (thanks, Kathy!) in a stripe is awesome and I'm debating on adding a couple more borders. So it's going to hang on my design wall for a while to "talk to me." I was thinking of adding a triple border (black/floral stripe/black). I'd fussy cut the flower part of the stripe. Part of me says to leave it along and call it done. Not bad for an incomplete block swap piece. I had tons of fun piecing the center crosses. I just love those!
I think the last I left you with that I was going to do one of these. Most of you said the coffee cups. Nope. It was the one on the top left. The traditional one with pink and brown floral.
And, no, I didn't go all traditional on you. Nosiree. Not me. I decided to play with some fabric from the new Comma line by Moda. I took a few of the black and cream print fabrics and paired them with some scraps of Connecting Threads blenders.
So here is the finished project compared with the book page. I loved how this turned out! I decided to make it wonky, using different sized buttons for the accent. I haven't named this yet (or given it a label). I'm still thinking on the title.
And I was so excited that I had enough leftovers for this! That's two projects for the price of one!
So, it's time for me to choose my next project from this book. Actually, there are two on this page I want to make. I've already got the fabric bought for one project, and I'm probably going to pull fabric for the other this week.
I've also been making a few Jean(ie) Journals.
This time I played with washi tape for the spine. Love the look! These are going to a fellow guild member who put in five years of hard work and is now going to enjoy time just being a member. I wanted to so something simple. These will come in handy for taking notes on projects, etc. I've gotten hooked on washi tape. And Downtown Tape has the coolest designs and their tape is quite reasonable! You can't beat $1.99/roll!
Now if I can only find the floor of my studio. I know there is one. It's just a matter of finding it. LOL!
You remember earlier this week when I expounded the praise for this book? 101 Fabulous Small Quilts, published by Martingale/That Patchwork Place? Well, on Tuesday I took a baggie of fabric with me to my regular Ben Franklin sewing day and proceeded to play. By the time the session was over I nearly had my top complete.
I posted this photo earlier (from the book's project photos) and said I was going to make one of these quilts. Now is the time to see whether your guess was correct. Was it?
Well, here is my version. I decided to play with some color and work on a complementary color scheme. Hence the name, Complements
When using color, I adore putting complementary colors together. And to me there's no happier combination than blue and orange. Orange for me is a happy color. And I find it strange that I gravitate toward blue. I thought I was more of a green girl, but unconsciously I trend toward blue.
This was a very fun pattern to make. While the cutting was tedious (lots of 1-1/2" squares to cut and sew). It came together pretty quick. I learned how to deal with pesky triangles on this one.
I'll admit I had an issue with one block (long story). I attempted to fix it, so there's a little humility work in there. But all in all I'm quite proud of the piece. I also played with a new binding technique ("magic binding") which I loved. I adore that little strip of orange in the binding! Makes it look so fancy nancy! For the next project I'll work on my binding techniques, so I have a better closure on the ends. Please overlook that on this one
Here's a close-up of the quilting. I started off doing a stitch in the ditch quilting around the basic shapes. I did this just to give it stability. Then in the border triangles I free-motioned some "flower petals" to give it some panache.
Then in the lighter blue areas I did a larger stipple, while allowing the ninepatch to "pop" out without any excessive stitching. I was keeping it simple here.
I liked Complements enough to give it a label. I printed inkjet info on muslin through my word processing software (see the method here), added another piece of muslin to the back (to make it more opaque), did some decorative stitching around the label, and then misty-fused it to some medium blue fabric (which also had a mistyfuse backing on it). Then I trimmed the entire label and ironed it onto the quilt back.Who knows, I might even stitch on a hanging tube! (yep, getting fancy here!)
This would also be an adorable placemat or doll quilt. I'm debating on whether I'll give it away to a FB friend or not. After all, I did make the statement that I'm going to try to put out one piece/month as a surprise for a FB friend.
I'll definitely make this pattern again. Who knows, you might see a series. Maybe that would be fun.
Next up is one out of these four. Can you guess which one it will be? To be honest, I'd love to do all four of these.
On a side note, it's great to have my sewing mojo back! :)
One of my latest projects was a simple prayer flag for my beastie's mom (Kelly's Mom ) who is in the throes of end-stage cancer. Kelly, her mother, and the family are in need of prayer right now.
Prayer flags originated in the Bhuddist faith. You can read about prayer flags here. I'd like to think that the prayer flags carry the prayers through the winds to God and surround the recipient with comfort.
This prayer flag started as a panel. Actually, the moment I saw the panel in the shop (at Gossypium Quilt Shop in Issaquah, WA) I knew it would be a holy piece for me. Incidentally, the fabric is called A Healing Tree by Frond Design (The collection was designed by Melissa Marie Collins). The companion fabrics are just gorgeous! I purchased two panels -- one for my prayer flag, and another that I will quilt and embellish.
For this particular one, I gave the panel a good pressing and gave it a good "even-ing out" on the cutting mat. I just finished the edges using my rolled hem foot. I folded over the top edge to create a tunnel for the hanging rope. (I just included some basic laundry line to fish through the tunnel for hanging) Because this flag will be flying outside it wasn't necessary to add additional layers or quilt the panel. The base flag was now complete.
A little background: When I pray for others, my standard prayer is for strength, wisdom, faith, and peace. Strength to get through challenges. Wisdom to overcome said challenges. Faith to know that good will prevail whatever the outcome. And peace to accept the outcome.
I wanted this prayer flag to send those prayers out to the wind and keep that energy around Olivia.
To accomplish this I took a piece of white muslin and ironed it to the shiny side of freezer paper. (I read about this snazzy technique and have always wanted to try it). I made sure to get out almost all of the wrinkles and get my surface as smooth as possible. This ensured that the fabric/paper would run more smoothly in the printer.
Then I trimmed the fabric/paper to a standard paper size (8-1/2" x 11"). I logged onto my computer's word processing program, typed out the words, formatted them to the size and boldness I wanted, added the fabric/paper to the printer, and pushed the print button on the computer. Voila!
Instant ink jet printed fabric! Fancy schmancy! I'll be doing this again. This was a fun technique!
I grabbed my rotary cutter with the pinking blade. I cut the strips to fit the words. After that I peeled off the freezer paper and placed each word carefully on their respective colored strip. One edge of the word were tacked down to their respective strips with some stitching. Just enough to get them on the fabric. I basically sewed two rows of stitching before each word, leaving the rest of the edges free. I wanted the ends to flow freely in the wind to carry my prayers.
I strategically placed the word flags on the larger flag body. I picked out three buttons in each color to embellish the word strips, machine stitched the buttons and strips to the flag, and then it was done. Quick, easy, peasy, and prayerful. This was my kind of project!
Isn't this panel just perfect for prayers? I just love it. This was one of my favorite projects.
It's been a while since I posted a Projects in Progress report. So here it is!
I shipped out the Palmetto project to my stepmom today. it's on it's merry way to warmer climes in Florida. I was going to save it for the guild meeting for show and tell, but decided ship it sooner. I also shipped out a cute scrap mug rug to a friend as a surprise. In addition to all that I also shipped out a super-secret project, which I will show you once it is received. I'll just leave you thinking about it. It was a prayer flag for Kelly's Mom. (I don't want to spoil the surprise)
Last week's Ben Franklin store sews yielded lots of projects. I attended the regular Tuesday Pajama day (not in PJs-- the world isn't ready for me in PJs). I made a center medallion block for my block exchange quilt (Johnny Mac's quilt).
The Saturday late night sew yielded the prayer flag and six pillowcases. More on the prayer flag in another post.
The pillowcases were repeats of the fish fabric ones I did earlier and I busted out the last of my Michael Miller Par Avion fabric. (pictured above)
I started to make the backing for my Evening Bloom project but I mis-measured and needed some more backing fabric. Note to self: measure FOUR times just to be sure!
So that meant a trip to Gathering Fabric for more backing material. Susan, the shop owner buys very carefully. You can tell she really cherry-picks the best of the lines out there. Susan made a good call by buying the Little Red Riding Hood fabric by Tasha Noel for Riley Blake. It is so stinkin' adorable! And yes, some made it home with me. (blushing)
One of the other ladies in the shop was reading a recent book put out by Martingale/That Patchwork Place entitled 101 Fabulous Small Quilts. This is a compilation book, so many of you folks might have some of the patterns featured in the book. I ended up buying a copy based on her recommendation (I'm a sucker for books).
I've decided to do some smaller projects to bone up my piecing skills and give me the feeling of accomplishment. So I'm going to try to make several of the book's smaller quilts. My first one is from the photo above, but in a more modern frame of mind. I won't tell you which one. I need to sandwich, quilt and bind it. Then I'll show you.
When leafing through the patterns last night, I kept mentally pulling fabric from my stash thinking, "This would go great with X and Y!" It may be just an ah-hah experience or my brain searching for something fresh, but I rarely have a book give me such a reaction. Honest? I need another book like I need a hole in my head. But I love this book. And let me tell you, I'm **SO** glad I bought it! Now I have 101 projects to put in my queue... and these are all doable!
I've been re-organizing and building my stash. Today I got two text FQ bundles in the mail from Pink Castle Fabrics. I love their special bundles. They are always tempting me from their FB page... LOL! I also have some other stuff coming from Fat Quarter Shop. I really really need to go back on my fabric fast, or I'll end up being buried alive in fat quarters!
Oh, the fourth episode of the Great British Sewing bee is up! Watching it now!
And if you're still with me after this lengthy post, thank you! I didn't realize I had so much to say!
Speaking of having a lot to say, Pat, of A little of this and a Little of Pat blog fame is having some blog issues and is unable to post. She wanted to let her readers know that all is well. Or in her words:
"[I have]serious Blogger problems and can no longer use [my] blog...don't want folks to worry about [me]. IF it ever straightens out, I'll post again, but I'm not very hopeful..."
