Blogger's Quilt Festival

If you ever need any inspiration, this is the place!

I've been such a fan of Amy Ellis' Bloggers Quilt Festival for the past few years, but timing always got in the way of actually participating.

Until now!

In the Original Design Category, I'm showing my Improv Log Cabin Sampler.

Perfect for Halloween, eh?

I made a similar quilt to this last year,

and then promptly gave it away. 

I really wanted to explore improv log cabin blocks again, and this time 1. keep the quilt and B. make it into a class sample. (If you're in a group or guild and within a few hours of Baltimore, contact me and we can make this quilt together!) 

My friend Cheryl of Sweet Dreams Quilting did the quilting for me. Thanks, Cheryl!

Here are some more pictures with my quilt model Katie, on a very windy day.

Thanks for stopping by! Please be sure to visit the links the other amazing quilts. And, if you're so inclined, feel free to vote from November 1st through 7th.

Leftover Quilts

Being cheap I mean, frugal, I love leftovers. Food, yes. Fabric, even better.  Ages ago I started a Swoon Quilt for my daughter. I finally had it quilted up this spring (thanks, Maria!)

If you've made the Swoon, you know that there are a lot of little leftover triangles. I saved all these little trimmings, and made mini blocks along side the larger blocks.

I started calling them mini swoons. I made about 6 of them, then abandoned the project. Recently, though, in a studio clean up, I found them and decided to make the reaming 3 blocks. Of course, by then, Camille had come out with a pattern for a real mini swoon. So now, I give you Leftover Swoon.

And, the astute blog observer will notice that the leftovers from the Leftover Swoon became my latest Mini Amish Quilt.

I still have a few more scraps. Don't be surprised if you see these fabrics yet again!

Playing with Curves

And my Quick Curve Ruler.  The more I play with it, the more I see the potential. It's just so fun!

This is from Jenny's free poinsettia tutorial. I was going to stop at just one flower, but now I think I need a few more.

Oh, and if you love this ruler, I'm teaching a class with it at MAQ this summer. Check out the Classes link above to see more details. I'd love for you to join me!

A Tale of Two Cabins, Final Chapter

You may have read this post, about two log cabins that I just wasn't feeling.

As I suspected, I just need to keep going. And I'm feeling them now!

For the vintage sheet quilt, when I put all the blocks together, it just looked like a whole lot of mush. Pretty, vintage mush, but mush all the same. I tried the gray sashing but it wasn't doing it for me. So I pawed through my stash and found the pink heart herringbone from BasicGrey. Perfect! I find sashing to be so tedious, (and don’t even mention corner stones)but I really didn’t mind with this quilt. It really perked things up and I love the final quilt. I’m so happy that a sweet little girl will cuddle up in it very soon.

For my modern log improv, I just kept plugging along, making more blocks. The more I made, the better I liked it. For someone like me who doesn't do a lot of improv, I think I could actually see my improv improve (my spell check is going crazy over that last phrase!) Whenever  I would see improv quilting classes I would think, “how do you teach improv?” but I do think there is a method to it. Or at least, for me, I found what I liked and didn't like. Another thing I liked about this quilt was the restricted color palette, and the fact that they were all scraps from other projects. I will definitely revisit the grey/red/black/neutral scheme again.  And in the end, I don’t think it’s too modern for a little boy. I think it will be just right for a very cool little dude.

All told, the Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild made 21 log cabin quilts for the kids of the South East Early Head Start program! The quilts will hang in the gallery of the Kennedy Kreiger Family Center before going to their permanent home in the arms of the babies and toddlers of the center. Way to go, guild!

Uh, where did April Go?

A blur. That's what the last month has been. It seems like there has been activities every weekend, with no let up until June. Not that I'm complaining (well, maybe a little bit.) I like being busy. I just wish I had more time to sew. I've got a couple of projects due, one June 1st, one July 1st. The first one is a t shirt quilt for a graduating Senior. I did one for his brother last year and the family loved it so they're continuing the tradition. I really do like making these. The quilting is a workout, though. Imagine trying to jam 30 t shirts plus batting through your sewing machine. If you've not tried one, I'd say go for it. I'm using a different fusible this year, which gives the t's a little more body and a lot less stretching. Email me if you want some tips!

I did some catch up on my bee blocks too. I'm only in one bee at the moment, Bee Vintage, the one that I host. The Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild has an ongoing bee, but I'm taking a break for a few month so I can catch me breath a bit.

For Emily

For Monica

For Pam

For Jodie

Project #2, due in July is super secret, and I'm super excited about it. More later!

More Swooning

I met up with some pals at Baltimore Threadquarters on Saturday for an afternoon of sewing.  (Hey, there I am sewing!) Marlo and Allison are so welcoming. You really must stop by.

As always, I brought way too much to work on. I did manage to chop up my fabric for our upcoming rainbow charm pack swap (this is a pink herringbone from BasicGrey's Kissing Booth Line, leftover from this quilt.)

 Then I worked on my swoon quilt. These blocks take me forever. I had two cut and ready to sew (even drew my lines to make hsts) and only managed to sew one. One large one. I also sewed two "minis" that will make their way into a sampler for me. So, five down, four to go. I want to have this done for Katie's birthday in July. Always good to have a goal, right?

New Quilt, New Class

Baltimore has a cool, new sewing/fiber arts space called Baltimore Threadquarters. I stopped in a few weeks ago to check it out. I brought a few of my favorite vintage sheet quilts to show, including this one that was inspired by Jodie's quilt

Owner Marlo liked it so much, she asked me to teach a class to make it! If you're in the Baltimore area April 21 and 28 (two 3-hour classess) I hope you'll join me. Kits are available at the store and in my shop.

not quite perfect points, but close enough!

vintage sheet bouquet

backing

Here is a picture from the shop.

It's a great space! I hope you check it out if you're in town.

So, Hi Again...

When bloggers take a break, be it a few days, weeks or months, there's the obligatory, Sorry I've been away, and here's why....

My why: I got a job. One that requires me to show up at 8 every morning, and stay until 5 ish. I tell you what, working takes up a LOT of time. And leaves very little time for sewing. And even less for blogging. Those bloggers who work outside the home, have kids and a life, and who also manage to blog on a regular basis: I tip my rotary cutter to you. You rock!

Some sewing has been going on. I participated in the Madrona Road challenge with my Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild. I'd show you the quilt, but I think I left it at work. Next week for that one. I can show you this though.

Yeah, I did it. A scrappy trip around the world (although, I set it in more of a chevron style.) I wasn't going to do this one. I have plenty of projects. But a few weeks ago I and a few friends from the guild taught a Modern Quilt Sampler workshop, which meant plenty of downtime while the other gals were teaching. I wanted to sew something relatively mindless. This was just the ticket. I ended up doing 20 blocks. I don't really love this. I don't hate it, but I don't love it. Up close, it looks like a hot mess. It really needs distance to get it. But, I'm glad I made it for two reasons: I found some great fabric combinations along the way. And, I realize I haven't got nearly enough lights in my stash. I'll need to remedy that asap!

The 2013 Bee Vintage group started up this month. Linda asked for Lady of the Lake. Lots of hsts! I think it will make a nice quilt.

Liz asked for a granny square block. This is the perfect block for vintage sheets!

So there. I blogged. Hope I can make it a more regular thing!

My Kissing Booth Quilt on the BasicGrey Blog!

I'm so excited!! I have my first tutorial on the BasicGrey Blog today!  Hope you like it!

Come back tomorrow to see it done up in a different color way!