the right track

Most times, when I make something, I picture it and then do it. Which is not to say that there aren't changes and mistakes along the way (case in point)--but the finished product is usually pretty similar to what I had in my head to begin with.

This swap was different.

What I ended up with could not be farther from my original plan, which I had deliberated over for quite some time as it was.

I do like the finished product, but there's a part of me that's kind of grieving for my first idea. I'm not sure there will ever be another time to use it.

Maybe, someday, for myself.

Onward. The front is fairly straightforward, though I did get a chance to play around with positive and negative space.



I had planned to hand quilt the entire thing, but then I discovered that I really know nothing about hand quilting. I kept the bird (since that motif from the back...



...was the inspiration for this final version), but opted to machine quilt the rest.



Bound, labeled, sent (again!) with hometown-made lemonheads, with half an hour to spare.

eggplant and bone

first attempt.



first-and-a-half attempt.



the right track.





finished now, and in the dryer...just needs a label.  photos tomorrow, before I mail it, right on time.

out the door

in the car, actually, ready for the PO in a bit.  We were too tired to go after (the first day of) camp.

People, this was so much fun.  Watching the flickr group and choosing fabrics and meeting new quilters...which all of us could do...but also having all 669 quarters on my dining room table at once,






















and sending packages to bee friends,
























and seeing the possible combinations as I sorted made it even better.

And such happy things in the packages!  Like this on the back of a return envelope,
























and fun cards (like a paint chip from Audrey!),















































and a Hawkeye block (an excellent inside joke from Susie for which I already have a gifty project in mind--because let's be clear, we're Illini fans in this house!),






















and extra blocks from Karen.  And a butterfly pin.
























I think another round is in order.

"problems"

with hosting a swap might include:

overflowage of your awesome free storage bag...



...or realizing that you probably don't have enough fabric or time set aside to make sufficient blocks so that you can keep one of each design for yourself...



Seriously, I have been mostly resisting the urge to tear the envelopes right open so that nothing gets lost, but in the interest of keeping the sent/received thread current, I've had to make a few exceptions. These blocks are stunning--all of them. Check out the flickr pool and see for yourself!

how 'bout a swap?

As it's just about the only quilted thing that I have made and kept in my own home, I am a little bit obsessed with this pillow.  Except I didn't make it in its entirety, which you already know if you've been around a while...Ashley, from the much-beloved Film in the Fridge, made it for her Modified Bento Box Block tutorial...and it became my first and only giveaway win.

I would love to make a full quilt like this someday...and might...but one day I got to thinking how much fun it would be to swap these blocks.  And so, I give you The Mod Bento Block Swap...

...mod from Ashley's "modified" tutorial, and also for modern fabrics.  The basic deal is that you make as many blocks as you want to, quarter them, mail them, and get back that same number of delightfully-mixed-up quarters for your own awesome project.  Ashley was kind enough to allow me to base the swap on her tutorial--thanks, Ashley!

Through a little graph-paper geekery (which I'll post in the next day or two), I figured that you can get all of the components you need for one block from a quarter-yard (not a fat quarter) of fabric, and so 5 quarter-yards will yield 20 coordinating-but-different quarters.  Do some assembly-line cutting and sewing, and end up with a great variety once the swap is done.  Of course, these can be scrappy, too...more thinking, but maybe more fun.

Some ideas for smaller numbers of blocks (in case you're not up to making a full quilt's worth)...

• 4 quarters:: a pillow, 4 placemats
• 12 quarters:: a wall hanging, a table runner
• 20 quarters:: a lots-of-solids quilt (I'll throw some possible layouts around in the coming days), 
• 48 quarters:: a lap quilt with dimesions like Ashley's original (40" x 54").

Sound like fun?  Here are the specifics of the swap:

• Please use modern (there's that "mod" again!), quilt-shop quality fabrics.  There are plenty of lists floating around the web of what constitutes "modern fabrics"--I'm guessing most people who are participating know them when they see them, butif you have a question, just send me an email or post to the flickr group.  
• There are no color police, but to keep everything coordinating pretty well, let's aim to use primarily neutrals and saturated colors and prints.  Also, please try to use a mixture of colors in each block--no "blue-only" blocks, for example.  Solids are great, and it's fine to use different fabrics within a particular "ring" of the block.
• Please follow the tutorial!  Nobody is perfect with seam allowances & block sizes (least of all me!), but the strips in each quarter need to line up fairly well with their neighbors in order for the blocks to look good.  To allow a bit of wiggle room, let's go ahead and follow Ashley's suggestion of squaring up to 15.5" (before cutting), which will result in 7.75" quarters.
• This is a centralized swap, which means you'll mail me your block quarters and a stamped return envelope (the same amount you used to send), and I'll mix everything up and send you back the same number that you made.
• International swappers are welcome!  I think the best way to deal with postage is through Paypal, which we can handle as needed.
• A suggested mail date for US participants is June 28.  Allowing a week-plus for the blocks to get to me, I'll mail what I have on July 9.  I'll plan to do another switch-and-mail for stragglers after a week or so if needed, but for best variety, the blocks should arrive here no later than July 5. 
• Feel free to keep one of your quarters (i.e., make a block, send me 3 quarters and keep one for your project).
• I'll do my best to give you a variety of quarters, but depending on what I receive, you may end up with a couple from the same set of fabrics.

If you're still with me (I know, I'm kinda wordy) and want to participate, please send me an email at bento.giveitago@gmail.com with your name, mailing address, and a guesstimate of how many quarters you'll send (not that I'll hold you to it--I'm just nosy).

From here on out, we'll handle questions, discussion, etc. at the Mod Bento Block Swap flickr group.  Join us!

**edited to thank Christina for catching an error in the button code...if you've had trouble with it, try again as it should be fixed.  Thanks, Christina!**

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!

little things

Sheets for a swap, fresh from the dryer, ready to cut.  Top, bottom, and 2 cases, all for three bucks.

A partner for another swap.  And wondering: who has me?

luckily, fedex is open 24 hours a day...

The Small Fox Ornament Swap (first-annual, and I hope she does it again next year!) mailing deadline was Saturday, and I have never been late with a swap, but this was a close one.  I've had the sweaters felted and a sample made for ages, but I was a little busy last week (and we've been going through some bedtime issues around here too--put to bed, squawk, call/go upstairs, repeat until WAY too late), so my hopes of make it to the good ol' USPS by closing time were dashed.  And I almost ran out of glue, as in I was keeping the bottle upside down between applications.

I used this tutorial from the so-talented Betz White, and learned the following: I don't love making a bunch of the same thing (could I really need 16-20 circles per ornament?  Why yes, I could!),

...Alex will tolerate crafting and even help if I find the right task for him, and I have more research to do about how to felt a sweater for optimum finished texture--perhaps an email to Betz is in order?  She seems like someone who would answer.

I'm having a great time looking at the SMOS flickr pool, crossing my fingers that each ornament I see will find its way into my package.

Many thanks to Sarah for organizing!

**Off topic, don't forget about my little giveaway...there are still two days left to leave a comment.**