the finished flock...

I am off to a quick start with all of my finish-a-long projects for this quarter! Do you have any of those projects that can only be described as 'a long time in the making'? My flying geese quilt that I have dubbed 'the flock' is the very first full size quilt top I completed [it's a queen size], and probably one of the first big sewing projects I worked on. As I look through my stash I am reminded about my 'urgency' when it comes to buying things, especially fabric. I found this pattern in a quilt magazine in 2001, determined to make it, I bought all the fabric necessary along with ample fabric for pillows, pillowcases, even enough green solid to make a flat sheet. How ambitious, yes the quilt is FINALLY finished, but the pillow and bedding fabric remains folded or on bolts :)

This was before my 'modern' phase, so the colors are a little darker and distressed. It was also before I really knew what I was doing, so there are quite a few squished beaks on the geese.

LABELS: If you don't do this, you need to! I have quilts that my grandma and great grandma made - I think. There is no label, no information, no remembrance of when or for who. It is kind of sad to know that every quilt has a story, but it can't be known or told. This is a little big, but I like it all the same :) I used printable fabric; for more ideas on labels, check out this post.

Robyn Pandolph [who still designs, though not for Moda] designed this grouping called Morning Glory. The line included prints and homespuns [woven plaids] - which makes for an awesome assortment of textures. Still creating wonderful floral prints, you can pick up some of her newer RJR fabrics over at the fat quarter shop.

Quilt Started: 2001 / Binding Finished: 2012
Only 11 years to finish - do you have any projects that have been hanging around your craft area that long [that you're willing to admit]?

around the house [in way less than 80 days]...

This post goes out to those home dec/improvement projects that [sadly] do not warrant a whole blog post all to themselves. Above is the last of my outdoor-furniture-recovering-extravaganza. Again using my crazy low priced JoAnn's fabric.

My New York Beauty is finally quilted, bound, and hanging in its rightful place in our dining room. I still love the 'I-Spy' of it all - seems like a treasure hunt every time I walk by it! I have the pattern and the fabric stack for a pickle dish quilt, but it has to get in line behind my pile of UFOs. Also not quite ready for another intensive paper piecing project. [You can read all about my adventures with NYB blocks here]

New curtains for the bathroom! The former curtains were faded and on their last leg, so it was definitely time for a change.

This is the first time I have made a shade that operated like this one - fairly simple, but looks and works well. I used the same book that I did to make my roman shades in this post.

Currently have some top secret Christmas projects in the works. Hoping to share an update on my quilt swap blocks this week.

baby bandwagon...

This summer quite a few new additions came to our town. [which meant some baby showers were on my schedule] As I have mentioned before, I really enjoy making baby quilts - you get to try out new techniques, you aren't committed to a giant project, + I get to give a personal, handmade gift! I hope that these little quilts will see alot of snuggle time :)

This is Zak. [really wish I could take credit for the adorable cap!]

I was completely inspired by this retro-esque backing fabric! It screamed to be made into something for a little cowboy.

The stars are paper-pieced and [I think] go along with the western theme. The patchwork was a great way to use my humble stash of American Jane 4-in-1 prints. Awesome backing fabric + stars +knotting = a great vintage vibe!

This is Emili. [this is a pre-delivery pic - but take my word for it, Little Miss Calli is ADORABLE!]

This is their bedding - I tried to stay in a similar colorway and this line has some plums in it. I've always been a fan of coin quilts and with a candy bar of Fandango in hand, I went to work. It went together fairly quickly, more than a few layout revisions on the design wall.

To personalize it a little more, I embroidered her name. This is my first real attempt at machine quilting with a darning foot. Not terrible this being one of the few things I have quilted, I was fairly happy with myself. I hope both of these quilts will be part of many fond memories for these first time moms :)

months gone by [in the nittany block party]...

Yes, I am a little behind in SHOWING my blocks for the past many moons from the Nittany Block Party, but I am happily on time with FINISHING them :) I'm not sure why a whole month to sew one block always seems like a stretch. Given the right month, I could probably push out a whole bed sized quilt. For me, it seems like there is always a bit of anxiety that comes with making a block for someone else - if it is a creative task, there is always the question of the other persons taste; if it is a 'make this block' month, I am worried about the limited amount of fabric provided in the event of an oops moment. I feel quite accomplished to be getting my blocks on their merry way home on time and in the correct month. April's block for Tracy - using THIS tutorial. Great block, definitely testing my hst skillz. May's block for Freida - love how the coal kona sets off all of those little colorful prints! The hst inquisition continues. June's block for Amanda - using THIS tutorial. Beautiful, simple... and, yes, filled with hst's! July's block for Jessica - using THIS tutorial. Definitely a new one for me. I really enjoyed building this one [even if it did end up 1/4" off - seriously not sure how that happened, perhaps something to do with not having a 'true' 1/4" seam allowance and tons of seams] I was up in August and I cannot wait to show you more of that project :) Block swaps are wonderful ways to connect with fellow crafters and to learn new skills! If you haven't joined in on the action, I would suggest you check out this flickr group. Remember not to over-commit; start out with one bee and make sure that you can keep up with that one.

lovely baby twisters...

I've said it here before [and, you guessed it, I will say it again] I enjoy a good baby quilt. They are such great, personal gifts that last AND I get to try out some new patterns and tools in a relatively quick-finish project. Without further ado - Baby Miah's new quilt!

Though I have had my very own lil' twister for months, I have never found the opportunity to put it to work. Quilts made with this tool have been popping up all over the place with great result. You get a complex look with a little less complexity. My only issues: 1) I found it awkward to cut around all sides of the template, my arm/wrist just doesn't bend that way + 2) there is a lot of fabric wasted. I also worked on my machine quilting skills... kinda :) I chickened out and didn't use the walking or darning feet - I just used a wide stitch length, a lot of basting, and my regular 1/4" foot. Except for having to turn the quilt a little too often, I think it was smooth sailing and looks pretty good.

This project made quick work of a Lovely charm pack that I won in the Blogger's quilt along. I hope Baby Miah will have many happy memories with this quilt. What are you thoughts on quilts as gifts? [or any handy crafted gifts] How do you decide who will get something from the store or something from the sewing machine?

up next on the quilting block...

As I shared earlier - I do indeed have another quilt neatly folded and ready for the quilting to begin. [alas, I still wish I had the patience or the machine or the skill to quilt a full size...] The Bloggers' Block-A-Palooza quilt is finished!

This is attempt numero 2 at on-point piecing. The basic on-point construction in my Diving for Diamonds quilt was simple enough. Upping the skill level for this quilt I attempted to add sashing. Which didn't quite turn out as I had planned [i.e. don't look too close at some of the point/intersections]. For the life of me I couldn't figure out what had to be sewn to what and in which order for those to work out - so if anyone has suggestions or a tutorial they can direct me to, I would love the help!

The leftover blocks I made are destined for pillows. This was a great qal - always something new to look forward to on Mondays and Thursdays! I was a little hesitant to make the cut into my Lotus stash, but I think it definitely paid off :) Well, a little dog is lovingly staring up at me asking for a food bowl refill - Have a great Wednesday!

stop, block, and roll...

I sew and blog as a hobby... you know something that you do voluntarily, something with limited outside pressure or force... So sometimes, I get behind on my blogging and I have to force myself to be okay with that. No one will die, my income will not be affected - in short, no major tragedies are happening because I disappear off of the interweb for a time. And though I have not been posting, I have been lurking around some inspirational blogs and continuing to craft.
Keeping up with the Nittany Block Party has been going well. In March, Dena asked us to make mod mosaics using the Oh, Fransson tutorial. I really love this finished product and enjoyed the process to boot. Yes, there is a tinge of surprise in that statement. I was hesitant to dive in, but now want to start a quilt of my own using this technique. Oh the options - scrappy, coordinated, color wheel style, all of one line... I think they all have their particular appeal.

In February we made improv style rectangular and square blocks for Rachel.

I also wanted to share with you the final installment of blocks for the Blogger's Block-A-Palooza quilt along. Are you impressed that I had all of my blocks completed in a timely manner? [even before finishing instructions were posted!] In fact - these blocks are now in a completed quilt top that I finished two Sundays ago! [if you want to see these blocks a litle closer, click on the image to head on over to my flickr]I also have another top completed using an Odyssea charm pack and am putting the binding on a baby quilt made with a Lovely charm pack. So, no sewing slacker here [just a posting slacker :]

Last week was spring break around here... spring break with snow accumulation doesn't seem very springy to me. [this unfortunate weather is, by the way, why my pictures on this post are so muddy :[ Here's to hoping for sunshine [SOON]!

diving for diamonds...

Many moons ago, in a place not so far away was a land of dolphins, and seals, and penguins, and killer whales. Amongst the plethora of now-defunct businesses in Ohio lies Sea World Aurora. One of my fondest childhood memories is an elementary field trip to Sea World that my mom and grandma came along to chaperon. From that trip I have 1) memories and 2) a Shamu made from really stinky plastic. One of the attractions I remember was pearl diving - divers are in a giant clear tank and you watch them swim to the bottom and emerge with a pearl. And that, my friends, was the catalyst in the naming process for my latest quilt finish: diving for diamonds.

This is my first 'on-point' quilt. It was really not all that complicated, I just needed to do some math and figuring before I started out - and thank goodness for a design wall to help me lay it all out before sewing! On-point just helps a quilt to shine, next time you are over on flickr take a look at how many quilts are posed in close-up pictures to look as though they are on point. Point envy, perhaps :)

A confession: I accidentally bought backing fabric twice, so the quilt got a border and a considerable boost in size. I am CONSIDERING quilting this myself [eek, I'm scared!] A few more practices with my darning foot, and I think I might be ready! My quilting templates are already drawn up for the borders :)

Want to know a little more about what happened to Sea World Ohio? There are details here and here.

hemisphere pillows...

Though quilting hasn't even started, these pillows are ready to match the hemispheres quilt that I finished a few months ago. The plan is to use this quilt to freshen up the living room, and the pillows will be the finishing touch. It is always a struggle to figure out what to do with all of the leftover bits and bobs from a project - scraps, extra blocks, additional yardage. There is always a part of me that wants to keep all of these together, I'm not sure why, suppose it is 'just in case' I need to make something else to match. This is why I especially like to use as many of those extras up, and these pillows did just that.

My first crack at string blocks was last year in the Block Swap 2. The technique is super simple using a paper pieced method. I enjoyed playing around with machine quilting on these blocks. It's so neat how you get unintended patterns when you quilt - in my head I only saw the quarter square corners and not the overall cross pattern that appears.

Leftover circles made this pillow a snap to put together. This is my first attempt with a darning foot - I am not sure that it is perfection, but it really wasn't as scary as I thought! Practice will make perfect I'm sure. I actually made two of these, the other one is up in my etsy shop if you love it too ;)

The backing finishes off the remaining stash of my fave fabric from the hemisphere quilt. Sad to see it go, but glad I was able to use it in a larger piece. The piping [and other half of the backing] is a cotton linen that I had and happened to coordinate PERFECTLY! I have enough of this fabric to bind my quilt with - yay for using what I have!

I'm excited to see a little bit of blue appearing in the sky, though something about this weather and time change has given me the worst headache :( Perhaps some crafting and netflix will be the cure!

cotton candy pinwheels...

I think now might be a good time to share baby Liv's quilt with all of you. I took the pictures while there was still green grass to be seen. At the moment we have brownish/green lawns, but the weatherman has promised to take that away from us and cover them up with 4"-8" of snow! This is a particularly depressing time to have another snowmaggedon... it was 60 degrees this month! 6-0, you know spring time, grab your sandals and leave your jacket at home weather. So in the meantime, let's look at little Liv's quilt [and the green grass]!

This is a fun little quilt that was inspired by Windham's Simply Baby fabric that I bought at my lqs. I love prints with writing and text! I made some simple color blocked pinwheels and sashed them in white to show them off.

The backing is a delightful teal flannel [really cozy and a great color]. I used a light weight poly batting and hand quilted it with long stitches and perle cotton in yellow, green, and pink. It is VERY simply quilted, but I like the minimalism + I am not a quilter, so this was manageable for me.

I made a few coordinating pillows, they are in my esty shop :)

falling off the face of the earth...

I'm still around - even if my online persona has been mia for quite a while now! Again real life has taken me away from my computer. Between the holidays, pre-classwork, a masters level course intensive, and being stuck in Georgia any spare moment has been filled. Rest assured, my crafting addiction has not taken a holiday. I have projects to complete, pictures to upload and edit, and lots to post about and share in the coming days. Above is the final block for the Block Swap I was a part of in 2010. I joined in on the Nittany Block Party and my first fabrics have arrived - can't wait to get back into the swing of things!

How do you keep up with posting when life gets crazy?

hemishperes quilt...

I added another one to the needs-quilted pile! I started this quilt months ago, but lost a little momentum along the way. Following this tutorial over on cluck cluck sew, I used my handy dandy circle ruler with my rotary cutter.

This block goes together pretty quickly - there is alot of waste left over from trimming the excess fabric off the back of the quadrants. I'm not sure what to do with a million or so [not uniform] triangles.

I used up nearly all of my coveted bubbles in gray by Kaffe Fassett. I wanted to add on a border but couldn't find any additional yardage [that wasn't $20+/yard].

When I finished the individual blocks I was just not thrilled with the way they looked right next to one another. I am not sure if it was the fabrics I chose or what, it just looked too dark. Then a serendipitous moment, when I layed the blocks out on my sewing table I loved the off-white of the table separating the blocks. Enter Kona in bone... Sashing proved to be the perfect solution.

I would love to have it quilted with swirls in the circles and some kind of grid quilting or pebbles in the sashing. I have still not had any luck finding a machine quilter. Many of the quilters I have contacted don't do the free hand work and some I have emailed haven't responded at all! Do you have any recommendations for a quality quilter at a reasonable price??

quilt festival...

Though this post may look familiar, I assure you it is new :) I didn't expect to be chatting about this quilt again so soon, but I am excited to be participating in Amy's Online Quilt Festival. I loved looking at the quilts last year, but was new to the online seen, so I didn't jump in. I wanted to share this quilt because it was my introduction to the online quilting community. I had just started blogging and fallen head over heels for the new modern look; the brights, geometric shapes, lots of white, random/free-form piecing - I was hooked. I joined in Quilt Dad's round of the Old Red Barn Quilt Along and this quilt is my finished product! Life is better with my flickr and blog friends around, I enjoy the inspiration and community I find. This is the first modern bed sized quilt I have finished and the first quilt I have completely finished since Derrick and I were married. Definitely a memorable quilt in many ways!
Be sure to check out the many beautiful quilts that have been entered this year! Amy does such a wonderful job of organizing the Quilt Festival!

pièce de résistance...

How very international of me to have a blog post title in French :D I am so excited to FINALLY be able to share my finished wonky log cabin! All quilted up by the wonderful ladies in the quilting group at UCC. I love the finished look - clean, modern, fun, bright.


The quilting is simple and clean - a diagonal grid. The grid on the center is slightly larger than the one used on the border. A quick job of marking with a quilting ruler!

And no bed is complete without a mountain of pillows! These were some of the first pillows I made [and clearly I liked them as I haven't been able to stop making pillows since!]

Best of all, the warm and white batting is so cozy; and that's important as the nights get colder! Sophie definitely approves :D I have to add that, even though this photo looks posed - there is no other photo I could have taken. I tried to take a pic without her in it, but she is a persistent little bug and kept jumping on the bed!