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:

Seeing Stars in Central Park

This has been one long work in progress - it's taken me over a year to finally finish this puppy!  I used two Central Park by Kate Spain charm packs and a Kona can't remember the color yellow as the sashing.  

I just bought Angela Water's new Free Motion Quilting book which gave me tons of ideas.  I think I just didn't know how to quilt this and that's why it took me so long to finish.  I attempted to do a paisley design from the book.  It turned out well, but I think I need tons more practice before mine looks like hers!  

I have been just using all prints for my backings lately and I wanted to break things up a bit.  What better way then to use the solid from the front?  

This is my entry in the Aug edition of the My Precious QAL hosted by Kelly at Kelbysews.  I just love Kate Spain's work, especially Central Park!  I've been on the lookout for more, but sadly it seems to be sold out everywhere :(  Oh well, I guess I'll just have to buy a ton of Cuzco to make up for it!

Happy sewing!

Carlton's rug mug

I've been working on hexies in my free time at work, not really knowing what I would do with them when I was finished.  I'm using scraps from Little Apples and have already made a wallhanging that's in my kitchen, so I decided my cat, Carlton, needed a matching placemat for his food dishes.  It's basically just a mug rug about 8" x 14".  I sewed the hexies onto a muslin background in red with a thick blanket stitch on my sewing machine and echo quilted a little bit.  Very zakka style, no?

My Precious Part 3

I've had this quilt top done for awhile now, pushed to the back of the pile, waiting to finally be loved.  I found the sweetest, perfect vintage sheet to use for the backing and I am proud to say I've finally finished my precious vintage sheet quilt!

The pattern is called New Wave by Elizabeth Hartman of Oh,Fransson!  I was in a couple vintage sheet FQ swaps awhile back and these were some of my favorites.  One of them is the same print my mom had in college :)  

For the quilting, I just followed along the block edges 1/4" away from either seam.  Kind of boring but I feel like I've been stuck in a quilting rut lately, doing mostly straight line stuff.  My new quilting book from Angela Walters came in the mail today, so I'm hopefully going to start quilting more creatively in the future!

Flea Market Fancified

Just a quick peek at my Flea Market Fancy + other DS Quilts project.  I can't wait for this one to be all sewn up!  I'm kind of nervous because this is the first time that I chose fabrics for a pattern that weren't all in the same collection.  Hopefully I have good color sense :)  Once I'm done, I'll let you know where you can get this awesome free pattern so stay tuned!

My current list of projects:

Finished!

Nada

Completed tops needing backings & quilting:

Modern Meadow Urban Cabin

Sew Cherry Over & Under

My Precious Tufted Tweets 

Simply Squares Vintage sheets 

Central Park Charming Stars

Cherish Nature- Flights of Nature

Vintage Sheet New Wave 

Hunky Dory Pandora's Box

Tops in pieces:

My Precious Neptune

Sew Cherry Snapdragon #2

Flea Market Fancy Sampler

New projects this week: 1

Finished projects this week: 0

My Precious QAL Round 2

For Round 2 of the My Precious QAL, I decided to use my Neptune charm pack!  I had a plan for this little charm pack for quite some time now, but didn't really have the motivation to do the math until this great kick start.  I'm using a grey solid to border each charm pack and then the DS Quilts dark blue/aqua print as the sashing in between.  I picked up some Tula Pink Prince Charming for the binding and backing.  Since there are a few projects on my plate right now, this baby will probably be waiting awhile to be completely finished.  

Happy sewing until next time!

I love Ikat :D

Have you noticed all the great ikat prints popping up?  They're everywhere - quilting fabric, home dec fabric, wallpaper...  I think the colors and designs are so fresh and powerful. 

When I saw this Lanikai fabric from Dear Stella, I thought to myself, 'Self - you must WEAR that fabric!  And pillows.  You must make pillows.  Maybe stretch it over a canvas for wall art.  Hmm it might make a good tote bag too.  You should probably buy a whole bolt.'

I didn't buy a bolt, nor did I make all the things I said I would out of it yet, but I have made this awesome summer skirt.  I used Elisabeth's tutorial for The Elastic Waist Flirt Skirt which is based on a J. Crew skirt.  It went together super quickly (even though I had to do math) and the greatest part is that it has pockets!  I think I'll be remaking this skirt in the adorable lobster print from Crabtastic in the near future :)

Finish it up Friday

Everyone loves a finish!  This quilt is made from vintage sheets that I swapped for on Flickr and used Oh!Fransson's Mod Sampler quilt pattern.  I had made this quilt using 1930s repro prints too - one of my first quilts actually.  I love seeing how different they are even though the blocks are exactly the same!  

My favorite part of this quilt is the vintage sheet on the back.  Isn't it mod fabulous?  I quilted with straight lines in a diamond pattern and along the sashing too.  I really love this quilt, but I've decided to give it to my dear friend Caitlin who really came through for me in a desperate time of need.  I'm pretty sure she'll think it's as fabulous as I think it is :)

Man Quilt Muscled into Submission!

I was toying around with the block layout on this quilt for what seems like forever!  I felt like all the same patterns were touching too much and I needed to spread them out more.  I was happy with this layout, until I started staring at it while writing this post : P  I'll probably go back and rearrange one more time for good measure - it's my Type A+++ personality talking I guess!


Anyways, this is a quilt using mostly Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow that I'm making for my dad.  The pattern is Atkinson Designs Urban Cabin.  I thought about using my FMF grey seeds for the binding, but the greys don't match that well so I'll probably end up using the light blue circles because I have a lot of that left. I'm trying to shop my stash lately!  

I've been working on My Precious Quilt Along Round 2 project - Neptune.  I made up my own design that's basically sashing each charm square in grey, then using some of the original dark blue DS Quilts fabric from Joann as another set of sashing.  Here's my progress so far.  Can you tell I've been into grey lately?

And finally, I finished up a quilt top that had been languishing in my "please quilt me I'm dying to be snuggled" pile.  And guess who's back??  Carlton!  Such a good helper.  He makes sure the fabric is nice and soft, has a good drape, and can withstand lots of use.  He had been on sabbatical at my parents' house for awhile when I had a roommate who was allergic to cats.  Now he's back and ready to quilt!

This is the second version using Oh!Fransson's Mod Sampler tutorial.  The first  version, here, is made using reproduction 1930s prints that my grandma gave me for my birthday awhile ago.  Carlton is modeling the vintage sheet version.  Doesn't he look smashing in blue and green?  

This is his 'oh no you din't' face.  He doesn't really like his picture taken.  Who knew a cat would be camera shy?

My current list of projects:

Finished!

Vintage Sheet Mod Sampler 

Completed tops needing backings & quilting:

My Precious Tufted Tweets 

Simply Squares Vintage sheets 

Central Park Charming Stars

Cherish Nature- Flights of Nature

Vintage Sheet New Wave 

Tops in pieces:

Modern Meadow Urban Cabin

My Precious Neptune

Sew Cherry Snapdragon #2

Sew Cherry Over & Under

Hunky Dory Pandora's Box

 

New projects this week: 2

Finished projects this week: 1