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.  

Natural Sourdough Bread Starter Action

BF and I picked up a loaf of sourdough bread at the store last week that I found so tasty I challenged myself to DIY.  After searching through many starter recipes, I chose to duplicate this one at Naturally Knocked Up.  I started it on Monday and my has it grown!  

The first two days I used white all purpose flour.  Then I decided to switch to Bob's Mill rye flour to get more flavorful bread.  Yesterday it started to bubble a little bit but today it's full blown bubble action!  I don't want to have to buy a bigger jar to put it in so I may split it into two.  Researching sourdough is definitely interesting.  I'll probably make a simple loaf of bread first.  BF has been begging me to make chili lately though so maybe I'll tackle some sourdough bread bowls too!

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.  

DMQG Modern Block Challenge

The DMQG is having a lottery for modern quilt blocks at our next meeting.  The way it works is that each 12.5" block you make in the official colors gets you one chance to win a set of 12 blocks, all of which have been made by the people participating.  Sounds fun, right?

This one was hard for me because, while I consider myself a more modern quilter, I'm definitely scared of the abstract.  I like patterns and seams that line up.  I prefer geometric shapes.  I like symmetry!  Depending on who you ask, these are all requirements of "modern" quilting.  I will say that I've been drawn to stronger colors, so maybe I'm warming to the trend :)

These are my two entries for the raffle.  12.5" x 12.5" each, no pattern required (eeps!) 

The colors were supposed to be a light/medium grey for the background, and feature solids (or tone on tone that read as solids) turquoise, orange, lime, and fuchsia.  I found inspiration on Flickr and then kind of did my own thing.  I'm pretty happy with how they turned out, and maybe I'll even be making more sometime soon...

Cherries sure are great for summer...

I finished a quilt top using Sew Cherry fabric by Riley Blake and one of my favorite patterns from Scrap Basket Sensations by Kim Brackett - the Over and Under Quilt.  I love how it looks like all the pieces are woven together.  I think this fabric line is really kitschy cute and works well in this design.  For the background, I used a tone on tone white orange peel pattern from JoAnn.  The borders are a pink polka dot from Pam Kitty Morning and some Heather Bailey Welcome Road print to round it out.  While I was putting this together, I wasn't quite sure if it was going to turn out the way I liked, but after adding the borders, I'm very excited about it.  I think this one will make its way to a friend of mine as a house warming gift.

Ingenious Ikat

I've been enamored with ikat prints lately, especially the fabrics in the Dear Stella Lanikai line.  I made a skirt already, and recently I decided to reupholster this great thrift store score with a darker printed ikat for my living room.  I bought this fabric for $20/yd at one of the fabric warehouses on Harry Hines Blvd in Dallas (great fabrics at those places!) and I think that particular store had it custom printed.  It's home dec weight and partly linen I believe.  I absolutely adore my new chair :)  I think I have enough left over fabric to make a throw pillow or two for the couch.  Love when things turn out like that...

Before:

After: