BQF!

I'm so excited about this spring's Blogger's Quilt Festival (hosted by Amy)--last time, I was still a quiltgawker, so it's nice to finally be on both sides of the equation. I'm so looking forward to browsing all the beautiful entries.
















My first quilt--named Pink Lemonade--is still my favorite. The layout was kind of an accident, but I think I prefer it to what I had originally envisioned--and it was an great lesson in keeping calm and carrying on (something I've come to actually love about quilting, a la Gwen Marston...sometimes plans change for the better!).

I adore both the colors and the big blocks of white.  And it was so satisfying to finally execute all of the steps I'd been reading and thinking about for so long...from piecing the blocks all the way through to sewing the last stitch of the binding...and of course to pulling it out of the dryer.

It was just a little bit hard to give it away...at least it went to an adorable baby girl, and of course there are always more quilts to be made.

Thanks for stopping by!

improvising, DS-style

My partner for the Urban Home Goods swap on flickr really made things easy on me.  She put "wall hanging" first on her list (with an exclamation point!) and loves Denyse Schmidt as well as charcoal, yellow, orange, and aqua together.  That combination really sort of spoke to me (and I already owned three of those colors...though who can resist a few extra Kona solids?), so I was off and sewing.


















I actually own Denyse Schmidt Quilts, and while I have long enjoyed browsing the photos, I realized I had never really looked at the patterns very carefully.  Talk about picky!  So many pattern pieces!  I was kind of looking forward to improvising, wonkiness, and etc., so I ended up going in a different direction.  The "pattern" I ended up using was inspired by the beautiful DS Run & Fall...the description talks about the complicated pattern and math that goes into achieving a random look, so I guess I was kind of wrong about the improvisation process.

I'm more of a rotary-cutter person, so I went that route, a la wonky log cabin/Gwen Marston slicing (even without a ruler sometimes!).  I think the idea comes across pretty well, though there is a certain something about the shapes of the pieces in the DS quilt that I'm missing, I think--maybe that's what the pattern pieces are for!  I wish, too, that the scale was a little different....I think narrower rows with two charcoal strips might have looked better. 

On the up side, she was certainly right about that color combo!  I had originally planned to use two different oranges, but in person, they were almost the same...so one orange it was--still, though, it's a good mix.  Can you spot that one yellow-and-white poka dot piece?  Using a little bit of print with mostly solids seemed kind of DSish, and it's also a nod (along with the bigger stripes of dots on the back)


















 to the dots my partner loves (sorry they're not red!).  The binding is charcoal (though it looks almost royal blue in the photo of the back...not sure what's going on there).
 
The quilting was fun.  I scoured flickr for inspiration, as most of DS's work seems to be hand quilted...something I'd like to try but wasn't ready to do for the first time on someone else's project.  This is kind of what I was after, though there's no part of me that's ready to quilt leaves!















My partner also mentioned magnets, and somehow I thought of this project...it was fun to look through my photos for favorite shots of fabric.
















All packed up with some Lemonheads (the factory is right next to my hometown, but these were made in Canada?) and off to New Jersey, an hour before the last FedEx pickup.  Whew! 

Next up, the sheets (for real this time!), then some shots of the beautiful things my partner made for me.

Happy weekend!

a diversion

Probably, it wasn't the best idea to make a quilt for the same event I was chairing, but it was actually kind of nice to have something I *had* to do that I also *wanted* to do. A break from talking to the printer and coordinating ticket sales and knocking on doors for donations.

The downside was that the photos were taken five minutes before I left to set up the raffle table, where it was bundled with tickets to an outdoor concert and gift certificates to wine and gourmet stores. An embarrassingly large number of my own raffle tickets went into that bag, and though I didn't win, at least I know the person who did...so maybe I can at least visit it once in a while.  Because it wouldn't be weird to visit a quilt!

The fabrics are all the pinkish/orangeish Kaffe Fassett prints I could choose in the (short) time a 3.5 year old is happy at the LQS, plus some Kona solids.

Hot pink quilting in a loop/pebble hybrid, made denser by the fact that it's harder to control your (faithful but not-meant-for-quilting old Singer) machine when you've attached an oatmeal lid to it with painters tape in order to cover the feed dogs...(such fun to have the new machine die mid-quilt!).  There are some puckers.

Machine-bound in the pink solid and a pink KF diagonal stripe.  First time with that, and likely my last.  Doesn't look as good as Rita's always do.  But it's a picnic quilt, not a bed quilt, so I'm mostly OK with that.

Tomorrow...my sheets are here!

under the wire

Now it really is finished, without a second to spare.  I literally took it out of the dryer and got into the car to take it to the auction.  It was one of those situations where I really wish I'd had (or really taken better advantage of) ten more minutes.  The rush meant that Alex didn't have enough time to acclimate to the busy and the noise.   

There are so many kids here.  Some tears. 

His wonderful teacher held him for the beginning of the sing ("Danny Boy" + "Toora Loora Loora"--he whispered along) and by the time they were ready for his specialty ("Michael Finnegan"), he was back in business.

This wonderful teacher is part of our wonderful preschool, where the classrooms are painted (and named) yellow, green, and blue, hence the fabrics.  The top is modeled after this beautiful quilt, though the fabrics are from a variety of lines.




















I cut the 16 fat quarters that made the team (I smiled when I saw this collection, because three of the fabrics I used appear there as well--which I'm wrangling into some sort of personal fabric selection validation, since I really love all of Rashida's work) into 17 inch squares, and arranged and rearranged for a good while.  I do wish I could swap one of the dark blues for one of the greens in the upper right corner, but every switch necessitated another, like dominoes, and so I finally drew the line and sewed them together.

The backing is mainly some (soft!) chambray that I already had, along with some scrappy patchwork from the prints.  I really had almost nothing left, but I'm so glad to have used what I did for something I'm keeping because I love this combination of fabrics.  A lot.



















I quilted it in thread to match the binding, a risk I'm really glad I took, with imperfect (Jacquie calls them organic) lines about an inch apart--this took forever with a capital F.  I finally found a speed that my walking foot could handle without the process stealing years of my life.  It's bound in the teal-on-teal dots, along with some Kona everglade.
















It's home for the weekend so I could photograph it and go over the binding, and then back to school on Monday it goes, to meet its owner.  Next up is Alex's quilt (while I was working on this one, he kept asking, "Is that for me?")--but this one is hard enough to let go that I can see its cousin somewhere off in the future.

testing...

It's finished!

Just kidding.  This is just a mini-quilt (even though it's not Monday) that I made from scraps to test out quilting design and thread color.

The real thing (check it out in the background...) is actually almost finished, and it'd better be totally finished by tomorrow at 11:15 a.m., because that's when the very-much-anticipated preschool St. Patrick's Day all-school sing and potluck and benefit auction (whew!) will be held.  Have you ever heard a preschooler practicing Michael Finnegan?  I have now, and it's cute.

on your mark, get set...

I've got two weeks to turn this into a quilt.

















(Give It a) Go.

lemonade, a long time in the making

Finally, I am a Fresh Modern Quilter.
















A year or more since I figured out that there was such a thing as modern quilting, and a lot of planning, researching, thinking, and new-sewing-maching-buying (thanks, Mom & Dad!) later, I have finally finished my first quilt: Making Lemonade.  Aptly named for its colors, but also because the layout for the top evolved from a cutting mistake--forgotten now, because I just love it so much.





















I remember reading on one blog or another (maybe here?) about how wonderful the moment of pulling a first quilt out of the dryer would be, and it really, really was.  Certainly a highlight of my crafting career; maybe one of the top ten moments of my life.  Anyone who's a crafter probably doesn't think I'm crazy for saying so, and anyone who does should definitely take up quilting.  I really liked knitting when I first learned, and still do, but the combination of thinking, planning, rearranging, designing, actual making, and the handwork at the end makes quilting just the perfect craft.  I'm completely hooked.

The top is pieced from Ginger Blossoms by Sandi Henderson, with a liberal amount of Yellow Tiled Primrose from Heather Bailey's Bijoux line (which I didn't love until it was quilted and now I wish I could buy more) and Kona muslin.  The backing is random scraps with more of the muslin, and I stippled it novice-style and pieced the binding like crazy.  It measures about 49" by 36"--hopefully a good size for a baby quilt.
















No matter that I'm giving it away...I've already bought fabric for the next one, which I'll be keeping right here at home.

the surprise pillow, unveiled

Not only is it "the surprise", but it's also called "the surprise pillow"--just call me the double entendre explainer.

It all turned out OK, but there was some stress at our house the night before SMS Giveaway Day.  The book gift bag was giving me trouble, but I wanted something more substantial than just the gift card holder & supplies...and at about 9:00, "the surprise" came to me.

Thankfully, my saner self took over and I decided not to try to make it that night.  And then I figured out my issue with the book bag, thought of the giving theme, and wrote my post, and all was right in the world.

Once that was done, I had to switch gears back to the blanket, but on Monday I was ready to get back to my sewing machine.  Another bit of stress when I washed it (a reminder to always press seams toward the darker fabric, lest the wet, transparent lighter fabric with red peeking through give the illusion of a fabric bleed, thereby inducing a heart attack), but a little QT with the seam ripper and I was back in business.

Excuse the photo quality; we've had gray dreariness and snow.  It's cuter than it looks here.

Simple, simple.  The front is one tree (à la this quilt) and one tiny maverick star block (I started out with 1 /38" squares), with creamy muslin elsewhere.  I am officially in love with the maverick star block.

I adore the quilting (inspired by this quilt), but the back is where it's at.  I love this print so much that I just ordered more, and so didn't even flinch when I used it for the top panel and the pocket. 

The pocket is the giving part.  The point of the pillow is that it's a secret place to leave surprises in your house for small people (or bigger ones, I suppose!)--a (wrapped, please!) chocolate, a silly note, a penny.  Nothing big, and not necessarily just at Christmas time (I have a whole slew of other-seasoned surprise pillows floating around in my mind), just a little, secret, I'm thinking of you message for someone special.

And that button!

Since there's no way I'm going to finish that quilt before Christmas (a side benefit to making this project, my first quilting endeavor--and man, am I hooked on that now!--, is that I realize that I really do need a walking foot; good thing this guy is little or he'd be pucker central), I think I'll carve out some time to make one for our house.  It'll ease the pain of sending this one away (at least it's going to a good home!), and I know a three-year-old who would love nothing more than scouting for surprises in pockets.  That darling boy of mine!

disappearing friendship block

The first block tutorial for the Block Party QA was up earlier this week, so I made a friendship star block using some of the fabric from my Christmas-quilt-in-progress, thinking it would be fun to incorporate it into the back.

Then I started thinking about this block, and wondered what would happen if I quartered the friendship star.  Fun ensued!  So many choices.

How about just sashing in between?

Not sure what to call this one:

I tried some other arrangements (note to self, when basement is finished, get a design wall up...my cutting mat on the floor isn't so inspiring)--boats?  birds?--but finally settled on this one,

which I love because of the mini-star in the middle, and also because I think that a quilt with staggered rows of this block would look so cool--the quarter stars matched up with others in contrasting fabrics.

For some reason, I'm really into this quartering thing, or rather, into cutting and rearranging blocks.  Next up, I think I'll make a couple of other traditional blocks for quartering...maybe in some of the other fabrics from the Christmas quilt--might as well have a use for my experiment.

If you haven't heard about the Block Party blog and (companion flickr group) that inspired all of this, take a second to check it out.  What started as a virtual quilting bee has grown into a book deal for the admins, a quarterly quilt-along for anyone and everyone, and the flickr group...which has inspired a bunch of new bees, including mine!  I've been wanting to join one for a long time, but they seem to fill up so fast!  With so many interested people in one place, the flickr group was the perfect opportunity to start a new one.  The Bee's Knees is up and running, with a start date of January.  So excited!

camera woes

I'm beginning to see the weaknesses in either 1) my camera, or 2) my command of my camera.  It's a pretty new camera, much nicer than our old one, but a point-and-shoot nonetheless.  Having started to care more about getting quality pictures of a particular subject at a particular time (I used to look at a great picture as great luck), I've started to remember more about what I'm reading about photography: no flash, white balance, bokeh.  And I'll admit that I don't really know how to turn off my flash, and I'm still trying to understand the concept of the white balance, and the bokeh--love it, but still great luck when I achieve it.

My (our?) shortcomings have been highlighted twice in the past couple of days.

Case 1: The Moon.

Here, note that I was trying some sort of "night" setting, which apparently required me to hold myself still until the moon had set (does the moon set?).

Then, I tried (I think?) turning off the flash.  I actually really love this one, because the sky is not quite black...the cherry tree's shadow is just discernible.

Next up, gelatinous moon-like blob.  Not sure how I did that, but the colors of the sky & trees are just about right.

And the best one.  The moon has a halo, which it didn't at all--it was so crisp in the sky--but the scale is good, and it's a start.

Case 2: The Quilt.

Remember the cutting?  Well, now, I've sewn all the blocks, like them all, love a few, and am ready to sew the top.  In The Modern Quilt Workshop, which is the best academic craft reading of all time, the authors talk a lot about design intention and having a Big Idea (their term), which has both interested me and sort of put me in a tizzy.  I'll talk about the tizzy in another post, but for now, I share with you the three possible layouts for the top, in all their point-and-shoot glory:

The middle layout was originally my favorite, now, not so much.  Not sure if that's because of the horrible picture quality, which I originally edited but have now decided to leave as is to demonstrate my point.  That one was taken at night, by the glow of a single living room lamp, flash on.  Uck.  The other two I took in natural morning light.  My question?  What do I do if I have to take a picture at night?  Like if I'm taking a picture of dinner and don't want to try this?

Something to think about while I finish my quilt top.

allow me to share a little bit about myself...

Because I always like to know a bit about other people.

I'm 32 and live about 30 miles north of Chicago.  Truth be told, it's usually faster to drive to Milwaukee, but I'm definitely a Chicagoan.  My parents still live in the house I grew up in, a mile or so from the house where my husband grew up...we had the same bathroom tile and likely went to day camp together in third grade.  We've been married for almost eight years.  I taught seventh grade for seven years (right now, you might be thinking something like You couldn't pay me enough! or It takes a special person...--but really, seventh graders are cool human beings) until my son was born (can you guess how old he is?).  I'm home with him now, and loving (nearly) every second of it. 

He's gone four mornings a week now--when did he get so big?--so I've been using some of that time to get myself organized (note: Do not plan a mostly-do-it-yourself kitchen remodel to overlap the birth of your baby.  Just don't.) and some for making.  Friday's a making day, though I didn't get as much done as I'd planned--never do.

My weekend: Alex has an overnight at Grandma & Grandpa's, so I'm hoping to get my pantry organized while Mike works on our basement remodel.  I've been working hard on planning meals ahead, stockpiling when things are on sale, etc.--and this post has been in the back of my mind since I read it.  Before and (hopefully!) after photos tomorrow.  Then dinner and a movie.  Movies are such a special treat for me these days!  I can count on one hand then number I've seen in the theater since Alex was born.

And when I was looking for the pantry post, I found this one, so I might have to be making some seven-layer bars too.

Happy weekend!