Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

Hey there!  Happy belated Valentine's Day everyone!  I'm celebrating all month with red and pink decorations on the brain. 

Good news - I have a new Moda Bake Shop tutorial posted today called Snuggly Hugs and Kisses!  Go check it out and tell me what you think.  What fabrics would you use?  I think pink Liberty of London fabrics will be my next version.  Or maybe all solids.  Or maybe ombre fabric?  The possibilities are endless! 

PS this is my 3rd finish of 2015!  I'm starting this year out on a roll...

More Fall Sewing

Last year I started making maples like it was my business.  Have you ever had that moment of realization when you say, yeah, I what the heck, I'll cut into that Katie Jump Rope!  Or Mendocino, or Hope Valley, or whatever your special fabric is that you keep on a shelf to gaze lovingly at every now and then because you're scared to use it.  I finally said, let's do this.  These fabrics need to be treasured in an actual quilt and why not use them all at the same time?  They make the perfect fall leaf collection!  

I finished the top last December and shamefully let this languish in my closet until September when I pulled it out to finish it.  My life in Austin, Texas is too hot.  I have the opposite of seasonal affective disorder - I'm depressed when it's too sunny and warm!  I had to get some fall colors in my life.  

You can find the pattern for this quilt in Pretty in Patchwork: Holidays by John Q. Adams (Quilt Dad).   I decided to make some disappearing 9 patch blocks for my background squares to use a mix of low volume pieces.  I think that really makes the quilt special!

I wanted the wind to rustle my leaves.  I drew a few long arcing lines on the quilt top in water soluble marker in a pattern that seemed like the path the leaves would take as they tumbled across the sky.  Then I used my walking foot to start quilting on one path, filling the area in with 1/2" apart stitches until I decided it was time to change.  You can really see the quilting on the back.  I'm in love!  Do you need some fall in your life?  What's your favorite way to decorate for fall?

Making my own Fall

I live in Texas now y'all (just thought I'd throw that in for effect!) and it's HOT down here.  I know it's October, but it sure doesn't feel like it with the temperatures still in the 90's and no leaves changing colors.  I miss you Fall! 

Since moving into my house a year ago, I haven't had much money or time to decorate for holidays but I decided it was time to lift my spirits and decorate with fall colors.  My friend Corinne at Must Love Quilts drew a picture of the cutest little punkin and Sunday afternoon I decided to make a few, which turned into this lovely mini quilt! 

Presenting my very own Punkin Patch.  If you want to make your own, check out her free pattern on Craftsy!  I used fabrics from my scrap bin for the pumpkins and Peppered Cotton Charcoal for the background.  Isn't it perfect?  You can find it in my shop!  I love some spiral quilting, and I did this in a fun orange thread. 

WIP Wednesday: Family Room Pillow

I bought a house in October and I've discovered it takes me a very long time to make certain decorating decisions.  Like picking pillows for my family room couch.  I've been pinning and shopping for at least 2 months now!  Ridiculous.  

I finally decided to make my own because I'm a) cheap and b) tired of looking at (expensive) store pillows that aren't exactly what I want.  The other day I sifted through my Pillow pinterest board and chose Alissa Haight Carlton's pillow pattern as my first test subject.  My living room colors are navy, coral/orange, and grey with a little preppy green mixed in.  As I was looking through my stash, my beloved Katie Jump Rope that's been sitting on a shelf for who knows how long jumped out at me and I thought, what the heck.  Let's cut that!  Why not see my favorite fabric everyday on my couch?  Besides, it only needed a little bit.  Plenty left over!

So here's the front, almost all quilted.  I need a zipper and back panels quilted before I'm finished, so it's a WIP I started to avoid working on my Modern Quilt Guild Michael Miller challenge project due next Wednesday at our guild meeting.  Another day, another story :)

Emily and the Technicolor Cats

Back in December, Elizabeth at Oh, Fransson! started the Catvent Quiltalong.  She designed 25 different cat blocks for each day before Christmas and has the tutorials posted on her blog.  I couldn't help but start a few and thought this would be a great way to use up some of my overflowing scrap bucket.  Well, they're small so they don't take up as many scraps as I was hoping, but I'll have another project on my list for those soon I'm sure! 

I thought these would be adorable for a quilt that I give to my dad, who's a veterinarian.  Won't they look cute hanging at his clinic?

I'm finally sewing again!

Wow... it's been over a month since I've sat down at my sewing machine!  I guess when you move, other things take priority.  Like scrubbing down the insides and undersides of all your kitchen cabinets. How did they get food there??  Or spending all your free time coordinating viewing and delivery of Craigslist furniture.  Or mopping every surface you thought of and then some.


Anyways, what am I sewing?  I'm working on my Planetarium quilt using vintage sheets.  I've separated my sheets into warm and cool colors and the cool colors set is finished.  Just making more quarter square triangle sets in warm colors and then I'll be ready for sashing!  Woohoo.  It feels great to start sewing again!

Finally, A Finished Quilt!

I can't believe how much I'm slacking in the finishing department this year.  I chalk it up to no longer being in a long distance relationship (because he's here now!), my brother moving in with me, and having a more active social life in Austin!  Whatever the reason, a finish still feels awesome.  Especially since this one turned out craze-amaze, to quote the annoying girl in the Jack in the Box commercial.  I'm so excited to mark something off my 2013 Finish Along list!

The fabric is mostly Sew Cherry by Lori Holt and the pattern is jelly roll friendly Over and Under from the book Scrap Basket Sensations.  I've been more adventurous in my FMQ lately and decided the negative space needed some giant mums and the prints would pack a punch with a back and forth loop that creates some movement.  By the time I went through eleventy billion bobbins, I decided that I was tired and just meandered the outermost border.  

For the backing, I used a Martha Stewart sheet from the thrift store.  Unfortunately after I started the giant flowers, I noticed there was a little pilling on the sheet which was supposed to be 100% cotton.  What??  Oh man.  I kept going even though I felt like it was pointless.  After I took it out of the dryer though, you can hardly tell, so maybe I'll be able to list it in my shop after all.  What would you do?  I wasn't planning to keep it, I spent too much time to just give it away, but wouldn't I feel guilty selling it??

Another exciting thing about this quilt is that it actually has a label!  I'd had my eye on some different labels on Etsy when Julie at 627Handworks posted a discount code for the labels from the shop ikaprint.  My labels are so awesome and came all the way from Paris - oo la la!  I can't wait to slap these labels on everything.  
 

Free Motion Quilting Fun

I'm having a really fun time trying out some new moves - FMQ moves that is!  I made this Over and Under quilt using Lori Holt's Sew Cherry fabric over a year ago and finally decided to drag it into the light of day and quilt.  After making my dad's quilt, I've had an itch to expand my FMQ skills.  On this baby, I made giant flowers in the white negative space and now I'm making a skinny loop in the strip area that kind of reminds me of ribbons interweaving across the quilt top.  Don't ask me how long it will take or how many bobbins I'll go through...Thank goodness for Connecting Threads' giant spools!  

Quilt Showcase: Flights of Nature Quilt

I finished this lovely quilt January 21, 2013.  The pattern is Flights of Nature by Charlie Scott of Qubee Quilts from the Moda Bake Shop and the free PDF can be found here.  

I love the blues, aquas, and teals in this line of fabric Cherish Nature by Deb Strain.  This was one of the first layer cakes I bought for myself back when I started quilting.  It definitely waited a long time to be turned into something!  Now it's residing on the quilt ladder my dad made for my birthday last year.  

Back, you can kind of see the quilting

Quilt Stats
Pattern: Flights of Nature, 43"x51"
Fabric:  Cherish Nature by Deb Strain for Moda
Quilting:  Baptist Fan, see Elizabeth's tutorial 
Finished 1/21/13

Quilter's Favorites

Geta from Geta's Quilting Studio is hosting a lovely link up in the quilting community to help us share our favorite quilting tips.  So, without further adieu, here are some of mine!

List a few of your favorite quilting notions. 

 - I don't feel like I use that many notions when I'm sewing.  Pins?  No. Fancy rulers?  No. No.  I do pin baste my quilts together and I love using the Kwik Klip to save my fingers some stress.  

image from JoAnn fabrics

Any advice for a successful color scheme of a quilt ?

 - I'm still branching out into creating my own color schemes.  I used to exclusively use Moda Precuts because they are a fast and easy way to get a variety of fabrics that coordinate beautifully.  Now after making many quilts with the precuts, I've started experimenting with my own color palettes.  Sometimes it works, sometimes I don't love the results, but now I know for next time!  
   Pinterest is great for color inspiration too.  Lots of quilters I follow have a color palette board that I pin my favorites here.  Design Seeds is a great website that uses a photo to create a color palette for you.  I could spend all day on their site!  

Image from Design Seeds

Some thoughts about thread and needles, batting, fabrics ?  

 - I usually use Gutterman 100% cotton thread for all aspects of my projects. I also usually use Warm and White quilt batting.
   Never underestimate the importance of a fresh, sharp needle!  I gave myself quite the headache on my Weekender Bag and all I really needed to do was change my needle...  

Tips for easy piecing

 - I rarely pin things together when I'm piecing, so it's very important to me that all of my pieces are cut the proper size.  Measure twice, cut once!  Depending on what I'm working on, I may press seams towards the dark side so they nestle together well and I don't have to pin things together, or I press seams open to reduce bulk if I have a lot of seams coming together at one point.

If you enjoy other quilt techniques than patchwork, could you share some tips with us ? 

 - When making my Weekender Bag, I tried quilt as you go, and definitely think I'll be making more projects this way!  It was fast, fun, and a great way to use small scraps.  

Do you have free tutorials on your blog? Share the link.

 - I have a tutorial for a flat iron cover here.

The sewing machine - share a few things you love at your sewing machine; what makes it special? What features do you think are the most important to a sewing machine used for quilting? 

 - I use a Bernina 440 with the BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator) for free motion quilting.  I love it!  My stitch length is very consistent when FMQ and it makes my work look a lot better.  That's Carlton.  He's a lot bigger now and probably wouldn't fit...

Flea Market Facified

I finally cut into my Flea Market Fancy and favorite DS Quilts prints awhile back when I found the perfect pattern.  This is called Perfect Points Sampler from Connecting Thread's website and can be found here.  I had a lot of fun making each of the different blocks, particularly my favorite Bear's Paw.  The quilt turned out quite green and orange - not exactly how I pictured it but that's what happens when I pick the fabric instead of letting Moda do it for me!

Winter Flickr Quilt Bee Blocks

I actually broke into the Flickr quilt bee world and signed up for the Winter Quarter 4x5 Modern Quilt Bee!  I am super excited because Elizabeth Hartman from Oh!Fransson is in my group!!!  I'm toying with having her sign my block :P  There are 5 other ladies in my hive, and these the are blocks I've finished so far.  I thought I saw a block like this somewhere, but I can't recall where and so I'm calling this an E.T. Phone Home original.  Each block is 12.5" square.  

October Sewing

This week while I was searching for a double oven mitt tutorial, I came across The Plaid Scotty Kaelin's pumpkin table runner and thought I just had to make that so my house will be a little bit festive.  Here's my version.  It goes together very quickly!  I'm actually quite surprised with myself because I used all scraps for the pumpkins and the backing!  

This was my first attempt at a pieced binding and I think it turned out great.  The directions call for the backing to be quite a bit larger than the front before quilting, so I just used the excess cut to my binding size and added a little bit extra.  I may actually like the back a little more than the front - oops!

Happy October!

How about a recap?

I realized that I never got around to showing off my finished first Triple Irish Chain quilt - how silly of me!  I used the Moda Bake Shop pattern featuring a Snippets Honey Bun and Kona white.  This pattern really struck me because of the flowers in the centers of the chains.  Aren't they gorgeous?

I machine stippled this quilt and used DS Quilts Fairgrounds prints for the backing and binding.  My grandmother was the lucky recipient of this quilt at Christmas last year.  I made a matching pillow cover to go along with it.