Quilting 2013

Hey.

I was talking to my son the other day. He's 21, and lives a great deal of his life through social media. We were talking about how with Instagram, blogs, Twitter, Facebook and everything else you really only get to see everyone's best. And it can leave you feeling a little deflated.  I've been reading a lot of blog posts, seeing everyone's wrap up of the year. There has been an impressive amount of quilts made out there and I've totally enjoyed the eye candy. However it has me feeling, I don't know, unproductive. Less than. Which is totally crazy. Because I've had a great year quilting.

I did a few pillows:

And a few things with vintage sheets:

A few things for fun:

A few things for charity:

Plus, I had the great fortune to be included in this book:

For which I made this quilt:

And got to hang out with these two at quilt market:

And I had my first Moda Bake Shop feature:

So, overall, it's been a pretty awesome year. 

But still.

Going forward, I don't just want this blog to just be "Hey, here's a quilt I made" (although, I totally get that this is exactly the kind of post I'm making. Old habits, my friend.)

I want my blog to be a little more real. A little more messy. A little more honest.

More tutorials. More mess ups. And maybe even some stuff that has nothing to do with quilting. 

Gasp.

So, I'll be making some changes. 

Nothing major. Or, maybe major. 

We'll see.

I do know that I'm really looking forward to this year. Thanks for reading!

Festival of Strings

Rachel over at Stitched in Color  is sponsoring a Festival of Strings to "celebrate the beauty and joy of scrap quilting." I do love a good scrap quilt. The blocks for this one have come from a few different virtual quilting bees (Lovely Linen mostly). I've had them for a year or so now. And while I've been knee deep in projects that I really needed to get done (as in some one was paying me to do them) I went ahead and procrastinated and finished this one up. And, lucky girl that I am, 2 weeks after finishing it, an invitation for a baby shower arrived in the mail. Cousins Scott and  Heather are having a girl!
Gift? Done. (If I were the kind of gal that said "boom", I'd say it now.)

Finished Size Approximately 36 x 48

Close up of Vintage Sheets

Pieced Backing

Gingham Binding

P B & J Sneak Peek

I have a little sneak for you. I did a pillow tutorial for BasicGrey using the super fun line P B & J.

As soon as it's up, I'll let you know!

Sew Mama Sew! Giveaway Day!

I love the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day. I've entered hundreds of giveaways, and I think I've won 2. So, that's not so bad, right? Always fun to win something.

So here's what I'm offering up: some of my original Subway Art! You can choose from Black, Tangerine or Aqua. You'll be sent a digital file, with an 8x10  image that you can print at home, plus a 16x20 that you can send to your favorite lab (I like Costco!) to print. Or, if you're feeling fancy, you can even have it printed on canvas (Groupon always has deals for this.)

To enter, leave a comment telling me either how you manage to fit in quilting with a full time job (mothering counts as a full time job!) OR tell me a great storage/organization tip for your supplies (we're thinking of downsizing soon, so I want to know how to sew in a small space.) For an extra entry you can become a follower or let me know that you're a follower. I'll choose 5, that's right, FIVE winners! (If you don't win, the prints are available in my shop. Just sayin')

Good luck with the rest of the giveaways. I hope you win tons!

Scrappy Trip ~ Checked off!

I quilted up my scrappy trip a long! Took no time at all and I'm so happy to have peeled another layer off of the "tops that need quilting pile."

Last weekend I swung by our local post office, hoping it was open (it was not.) Adorable, isn't it? Built from an old railroad depot, back in 1904. Right next to the post office is this stone bridge which runs over the tracks. Hmm, looks like a great place to hang a quilt from.

So yesterday, as Katie was practicing her driving (she did great and I only had to slam on my invisible passenger seat brakes once!) I took her to the bridge to do a quilt photo shoot.

The quilt is still a little crazy for me. But, I did discover some fabric combinations that I really like. I hope I still have some of this fabric left!

Pillow Pop, my version

There's a new book out called Pillow Pop, compiled by Heather Bostic from the blog a la mode.

                                                                   

I really like it! With limited quilting time, pillows are the perfect project to satisfy a creative urge. Lots of projects from some of my favorite bloggers (and some new ones to check out!) The book even inspired me to finish UFO!

I made the tops, over two years ago. I participated in the Spice up your Kitchen swap on Flickr, and made my partner place mats (plus some other goodies!) based on this QAL by Cherri House. I made two extra panels at the time, thinking I'd eventually turn them into pillows. Didn't think it'd take me two years. I really love the brights solids against the Kona coal. I debated whether or not to do any quilting. I finally decided to do some simple straight line quilting to emphasize the horizontal lines. And I think the quilt batting adds a little more stability to the pillow in general. Honestly, once I got started, it took maybe two hours to finish them. Why did I wait so long? They really add a {Pillow} Pop of color on a dreary February day.

Working on a little mini quilt today. More solids. So not like me. Or maybe more like the new me! We'll see!

Fresh Squeezed

Remember last week, when I said I'd have my BasicGrey Kissing Booth Quilt in a different color way. Well, better late (and bound) than never.

Here you go!

I measures about 50" x 50". I made it one row shorter than the Kissing Booth quilt. A simple cross hatch for the quilting. Now what to do with it. Maybe into the shop.

Sewing with Vintage Sheets

I did some catching up with Bee Vintage this week. Since I was late with July, I decided to be proactive and knock out August as well. Whenever I sew with my sheets, I always take over the sewing room and make a royal mess. As I was working with them this time, I decided to tame the beast a little. I went through a bunch of scraps, and cut them into layer cake sizes and for those that were too small, charm sizes. The rest I tossed. I'm still deciding what to do with larger pieces. Whole sheets, I either save for quilt backings, or sell in my Etsy shop. Others that may have a rip or stain, I'm thinking of cutting into yard size pieces, just to make them more manageable. We'll see.

Here are this (and last) month's blocks:

Pam asked for Garden Fence

Linda wanted Wonky Stars

Liz wanted Bow Ties

And finally, Emily asked for a Dresden

In the last round of Bee Vintage, I also asked for Dresdens. I found all the blocks I had received, and realized I only needed one more block to make a top. Then I found my Ziploc of Dresden making supplies and found I had most of the blades already made ~ enough for Emily's block and one more for me. So, one for Emily, one for me. At this point, I couldn't put this quilt away again, so I plugged away and now have this top!

My latest stack of tops needing to be quilted stands at four, with another 2 in the works. Sigh. Might be time to visit my friend Maria. 

Finally, some Christmas in July

I'm thinking of taking these:

And making this.

Every year, when I haul out the Christmas decorations, I sigh and wish I had made a new skirt. The current one is a circle of pre-quilted holiday fabric, with some red bias tape sewn on in a few places, ripped off in most places. I made this, oh, 20 years or so ago, before I really understood bias tape and all that. I remember jamming the edge of the skirt into the tape and sewing it all at once. No wonder it's falling apart.

Oh, and I had a revelation the other day, while sewing with my guild friends. Why is every block I make square? I've sewed up a good hundred blocks in the past few weeks. Everyone of them square. I know it doesn't sound like much of a revelation, but it was an aha! moment to me. Well, I shall be square no more (except to my teenagers.) Time to think outside the equilateral and try something, oh, I don't know, how about Rectangular!! (And yes, the above pieces are cut into rectangles. Ha!) Hopefully more to show next week!