Tuesday Morning Stash

This little guy has been keeping me away from the sewing machine. I also haven't sewed as much lately because my sister Emily had been visiting for a while recently. It was a perfect distraction for me to have her around, as my husband has been MIA studying for the Massachusetts bar. We spent a lot of time at our parent's house in NH (we only live 30 mins away) going swimming. When Gregory took his naps, Emily and I would watch Law and Order while I made these hexagonal flowers. I have decided I might want to put a medium shade of gray between all of the flowers but I am still not sure......

A few of my friends received an email when I discovered this picture on flickr (it's a picture of a woman with a tattoo design modeled after a Tula Pink fabric). Now I am not a big fan of tattoo's to begin with - - but I had to investigate more: who is Tula Pink and why would you want one of her fabric designs permanently on your body? I already had a FQ bundle of Plume from a giveaway that I won.... I went to see what her other fabric collections were like. Let me just say that she does have a very unique style and I am excited to see what her next collection will be like for Free Spirit. I became obsessed with her collection, Hushabye, and shockingly found a whole fat quarter bundle at a local very traditional/thimbleberries type of shop. The mustached lady gave me a great discount and I used my birthday money. I also just completed a fabric swap for some of the elusive Full Moon Forest (the other FMF, haha) and I while I don't think I would go ga-ga for all of her collections, I think I can say that I am officially a Tula Pink fan now!

I always have stacks of fabric on my nightstand - I love how they look folded all together. Plume is on the left, Hushabye is on the right. (Is it terrible that they are crowding out a little framed picture of my baby? aackkkk.....)

I wanted to share two of my most favorite fabrics I have ever received from my online fabric swap group: a Japanese fabric of Snow White (I am dying over the little apples and 7 dwarves) and the sneaker print. Way too adorable!

July NEMQG Meeting

I promised I would share more about our most recent NEMQG meeting.

A few weeks before the meeting, several of us met to try out bleaching fabrics - and here are some of the best results with strips/pieces of fabric showing what they looked before. My favorite is the AMH cathedral print - it is definitely better after being bleached. Monet showed us a quick and easy way to make flying geese blocks:

And then we all showed our doll quilts to each other, here is the one Monet made for Rhea:

Rebecca made this one for Pippa:

Meaghan received this one from Rhea:

Katie made this one for Lisa:

Here is the extra special back that Katie made for the quilt:

Meaghan made this one for Katie - it was the only exchange that actually got to occur in person:

Here's a picture of mine, that was given to Kelley:

And finally, the one that Lisa made for me:

Overall, it was a great meeting! Can't wait till August 7 when we meet again!

Flowers and My Birthday

There are a lot of flowers popping up in our house lately...... These are the beginnings of the appliqued border on my Pop Garden quilt:

And my birthday was on Thursday - this is what happened to the cake right after I had iced it. It still tasted yummy!

This is an "action shot" - right before the pile of presents fell on top of Gregory.

I really got spoiled for my birthday and it made up for having to be on a "fabric diet." A friend recently told me that she hoped I wasn't "starving" on this diet.... I should've told her that when it comes to fabric, I could be considered "morbidly obese."

My friends and family got a lot of help when I gave them ideas for what I wanted. Especially with Nick being consummed in studying for the bar, I made it easy for him and actually ordered a lot of the presents myself. Of course, there were still a few surprises.

The collection of Tufted Tweets, does not disappoint. The colors are very bright and gorgeous and the images on the fabric are so crisp. I thought that I might not like the one with the couches, but they are all awesome.

On my birthday, Nick and I went on a little date in the morning and went to the Fabric Corner. Using my 40% off coupon, I got a yard of the Echino print you can see in the picture (the 3rd one). I hate that I have such expensive taste in fabric, but 40% off makes it very affordable. I plan to make myself a new bag.

I was really excited to receive just over 1 yd of the out-of-print chocolate Joel Dewberry woodgrain fabric. The possibilities!

All of this fabric in this next picture is Japanese and I think I could just roll around in it. It is SO soft and cute. The one on the far left is "Mary Poppins Boo" - a fabric I have been dying for! And all of the little elephants! They are so tiny and are a perfect addition to practically any project.

And finally, I convinced my sister to order some fabric for me from a recent amazing sale at fabric.com All of this yardage averaged out to $3.70 per yard! Plus free shipping! I even got several yards of Kona Cotton Snow- this will help me complete a lot of projects considering that I have A LOT of prints and hardly any neutrals.

When you order fabric online, it's almost guaranteed that you will receive at least one thing that you weren't expecting or that you didn't like. That would be this print:

It's just too large scale for me and way too baby-ish. But I am sure I will find a way to use it anyhow.

So it's okay to be spoiled once in a while, right? It seriously was an amazing birthday filled with a date with Nick, swimming with my sister and Gregory, and lots and lots of fabric. What more could anyone ask for?

Doll Quilt Swap - Revealed

So I already showed you part of the back, but here it is in full: This is a close-up of the African wax print fabric I used, a design that I composed the whole quilt around.

I learned how to do English paper piecing with hexagons - totally addictive!

I have been working on this doll quilt for about 2 months, for the NEMQG doll quilt swap. I had the privilege of assigning partners - thus I got to choose who I would make my quilt for. I decided to choose Kelley. In scanning her blog, I learned that she is in the process of adopting a child from Ethiopia. Having lived in Africa twice, I have quite a bit of African fabric. I thought that the heart print was a very sweet and appropriate choice for this quilt. The colors are bright and kind of crazy - but no color pallette in Africa is very subdued, especially when it comes to fabric for garments.

The heart print is made in Nigeria. The green and black print is also from Africa. The colors are so dense in these fabrics, it is difficult to tell the front of the fabric from the back. I chose the dominants colors within the design to compose the rest of the quilt. It is purposely wonky. I think one of my favorite parts was making the hexagons. I really hope Kelley likes this!

Hexagons

I usually don't like to have more than one project going on at a time, but I decided that I really need a good "hand sewing" project for when I watch a movie, have a long car ride, etc. Call me crazy, but I think I am going to do a Grandmother's Hexagon quilt. It's something I have always wanted to have and I am going into this while constantly telling myself, "This project is going to last a decade."

I am excited about the prospect of doing it in modern fabrics but I want to still make it "timeless." In other words, I don't want a lot of trendy fabrics that I might get tired of later. Do you ever over think your fabric choices for projects? I know that I do.

This evening I brought Gregory into his room and let him play while I rummaged through my fabric (it's all stored in his room). The flowers will look like the one you can see completed in the picture. I am thinking about choosing fabrics with no more than 2 colors (not counting white) and trying to stay away from real primary colors (bright red, kelly green, etc.). I love a scrappy look and want to use what I already have. Any thoughts?

P.S. I want to have a solid color throughout the whole quilt- hugging all of the flowers. Mint green? Is it supposed to be yellow? Should I go with my favorite shade of pink?

Doll Quilt Received!

I have so much to post regarding our latest NEMQG meeting we had on Saturday. It was a busy meeting - I learned a lot, ate some great cake, and took lots of pictures. It was a lot of fun! I will be posting about the meeting periodically within the next week.

Literally five minutes before I left my house for the meeting, the mailman delivered my doll quilt that I received from Lisa! I was so excited to open the package and find this:

I am so jealous that Lisa knows how to stipple so well. We really need to do a class on this for our guild!

I have never received a gift from another quilter - so this is just awesome. It is now hanging up in my bedroom, very near my other mini quilt (Girl in a swing). Do you think my husband would mind if I decorated every available wall space with mini quilts? He's already used to seeing fabric and half-finished sewing projects everywhere.

Another Sunday "nap" project....

This is an extremely simple rail fence quilt.... the real show-stopper is going to be when I complete the border.... think lots of applique and ric-rac.

Happy sewing!

Busy week!

The fabric diet has also helped me rediscover fabrics that I LOVE but haven't made the time to get to, like my all-time favorite collection, Heather Bailey's Pop Garden. I am doing a very easy quilt from a Quick Quilts magazine right now and I am loving the yummy colors: And it's made me try to do projects I can easily do from my stash. This quilt is from the beautiful blog: Comfort Stitching, girl on a swing mini quilt. It's one of those projects that has been on my mental "to-do" list for quite some time and this past week I completed it in only 3 days.

The hardest part was "drawing" the picture with the black thread stitching. She recommends free-motion embroidery stitching, but I wasn't that brave. I sewed it while using the feed-dogs of my sewing machine.

I did wonky line quilting with a pieced back.

One of the best parts about this quilt was that I had the binding already made from when I made this quilt. I only had had a fat quarter and it wasn't enough for the quilt (not surprising but so frustrating!). But it ended up being a happy mistake because it matched this quilt perfectly.

Sewing on the 4th

Oddly enough, I had 4th of July plans on everyday except Sunday. After church, everyone needed a nap except myself (surprisingly). I happily picked through fabrics until I came up with this combination: I originally was going to just do all Nicey Jane fabrics, but it is so much more fun to do a combination from different designers.

All in one afternoon, I made these blocks, for Oh Frannsson's 9 Patch Lattice Quilt.

Here's the problem in finishing it- I do not have 3 yards of any solid for sashing or backing. I rarely buy solids and never in a very large quantity - I am too obsessed with all of the designer prints that get produced once and go out of print too fast. There is always decent plain greys, whites, blues, etc.... I may make my sister get me a "boring" (in her opinion) present for my birthday. This fabric diet is no fun but necessary.

Thrifty Finds....

One of the secrets to being a good patron of yard sales is to go to as many yard sales as you can. By doing this, you increase your chances of finding some great stuff and beating other people to it. The fabric in this first picture is one of those finds that I am SO happy to have found - and it was bought at a yard sale that I almost didn't get out of the car to go to. See, when you are in a rush - you sometimes do "drive-bys" because it's not really worth it to even get out of your car to look at someone's used candles, empty baby wipe cases, or empty CD cases..... Anyway, I bought these beauties for $1 - not pictured are all the other, more plain, cuts of fabric that came in the bundle. I absolutely adore the print on the left - so 70's! I also got a large stack of vintage children's patterns. These books were bought a few weeks ago from a lady who was a bit snobbish when I told her about modern quilting... but we'll forgive her because she sold me these great books (plus a few other great sewing notions). I love quilting books- but I have to restrain myself sometimes because I am running out of room for all of this sewing stuff. Anyway, I am most excited about the book on the far right - it's all about how to do massive rotary cutting of 200 different classic quilt blocks. Have you ever seen those drool-worthy quilt books that have pages and pages of different quilt blocks - but you have to put it down in dismay - when you realize that it is instructing you to make templates and cut out every little piece individually? Yuck! I will let you know how I like using it - as I have been constantly thinking about making traditional blocks out of modern fabrics.

Sneaky Peaky

Please pardon the corny title, I couldn't resist.

I spent Monday morning and evening quilting the doll quilt - something I had procrastinated for a while. Though I call myself a quilter, this is only the third project I have actually quilted myself. It's intimidating to work so hard on something and then attempt to sew all over it - positioning the layers, choosing the right thread, and attempting to be methodical about it - even though the urge is great to just rush right along.

This picture is of the back of the quilt - I followed the lead of Red Pepper Quilts in this post - and I have to say it was a fun method. I organized the New England Modern Quilt Guild doll quilt swap and in the guidelines, I told people a certain size to not exceed.... But mine is kind of huge. Can someone please tell me it's okay that this thing measures 21" x 28"??!!!

Summer Birthday....

Gregory has several "friends" close to his age. One of them, Sam, turned one today! How fast a year goes by. Of course, I had to make a few presents in his honor:
While I was at it, I went ahead and made Gregory a tie-onesie as well. As I went through my stash to make these, I realized I have maybe 4 stripes to choose from. I guess I usually gravitate towards polka dots and other geometric prints.

Here's Gregory today, demolishing a cupcake:

Happy Sewing!

Mini Tote

A good friend asked me to give her sewing lessons.... I get asked for this fairly frequently, but usually people really aren't very serious about it. But this person is determined and we had our first "lesson" on Tuesday. I was really impressed with how she dove right in - she was careful and methodical but not overly perfectionistic. She also was very eager to learn and not scared to do things by herself. I turned to one of my favorite books, Bend the Rules Sewing by Amy Karol, to do our first project. In hindsight, it might have been better to do the "clutch" pictured on the cover of the book, but the "mini tote" was fine too. I only say this because the clutch is EXTREMELY simple and we could've finished it in 1 hour easily.

Just before I went to her house, I made my own mini tote, and here it is:

One handle is shorter than the other - which is a feature I thought I might omit - but I decided to go for it and I really like how it turned out. This project is so easy - only took me 1.5 hours and requires only 2 fat quarters. I love the outer print I used - a Kokka import that has little bikes and trees on it.

I am really thrilled that my sister is home for the summer. We are very close and she usually lives in CO - so her opportunities to see Gregory have been quite limited. Now that she is home for a few months - we are spending a lot of time together and she is helping me with occasional babysitting. I decided that I want to make her an extra nice graduation present (she has just completed her Master's in School Pyschology at BYU). Of course, I am going to make her a quilt. I made her a quilt for high school graduation and I wish I had a picture to post - displaying the many reasons why one should not use Wal-Mart/Joann fabrics and polyester batting (needless to say - it is falling apart and has lost a lot of its color.) I thought it would be fun to have her choose the fabrics - and it's a good thing that I did this. Before I let her go through my stash, I had visions of the loud and bright creations I could make with some of my Momo Freebird, Meadowsweet, Farmer's Market, or Amy Butler Love.... I was even willing to impart my treasured Flora and Fauna or do a toned down quilt with the ever popular (and overrated) Hope Valley.....

Needless to say, we do not share the same taste.... Here is what she picked:

I got these fabrics at Marden's a while ago with her in mind and then forgot about them. I like them, but there is no pink, no birds, apples, trees, gnomes (I am kidding about the gnomes)..... This experience has got me thinking: I have a lot of fabric that is uniquely my taste - it may not necessarily match what other people prefer. I would say that 75% of my sewing is done for other people..... Kind of funny that I have a bit of a loud, wacky fabric selection - but those around me are a bit more subdued in their preferences.

Now I would like to declare publicly that I am on a fabric diet. Nick is on the job hunt and I need to actually sew with the fabric that I own. So I am hoping by making it to known to the universe out there that I am not buying fabric right now!!!! So far, I have stuck to it - but I am not going to deny that I have been tempted many times to cheat.

Upcoming Fabric Lines

I've said it before, and I am going to say it again: I love fabric more than I love to sew. I know I am crazy about fabric and I get made fun of (not in a mean way) for it sometimes. I just need to blog about some of the upcoming fabric lines that I am very excited about:

First, Urban Circus by Laurie Wisburn. Ok- now I am really about to hyperventilate. First Laurie posted some images on her blog- with 8 different prints (4 boyish, 4 girlish). I was SO excited about this! I was also naive enough to believe that I wouldn't go bankrupt because I could just get a yard of 3 of the boyish prints..... well in looking for the link to this collection - I have just learned that there are other designs and colorways in this collection! It is all so adorable, tasteful - and not too babyish! (I wish that I could post pictures instead of just providing the links - but I cannot do so without permission.)

Second, I receive the Hawthorne Threads newsletter through email every Monday. I was really thrilled when I saw a few prints from Urban Zoologie. I am not crazy for the owls at all, but it's the whale prints that keep me up at night! I absolutely have been obsessed with whales since a very young age. In third grade I wrote a very wild and imaginative story called "Annie and the Whale" - I still have it in my scrapbook right now. I consider the day Nick and I went on a whale watch out of Gloucester to be the fourth best day of my life (1st: wedding, 2nd: birth of Gregory, 3rd: playing with baby lion cubs at a farm in South Africa - in case you were wondering). To this day, I often have dreams about swimming with whales - and to be honest - it kind of freaks me out a little. Anyway, if you are still reading this blog post, hopefully you are not thinking about that horrible book (the first and last book I will read by Wally Lamb) - I do not identify with whales like that protagonist did!

May 28, 2009 Humpback Whale, Gloucester, MA

Moving on, I am also really excited about Moda Bliss. The best way to get a view of what this collection is like is to see this quilt top over at Comfort Stitching. I am not crazy about all of the prints, but I think the style and color palette would make a timeless Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.

For all the Meadowsweet fans out there, you might be excited to know that Meadowsweet II is coming in July/August. I love the colors even better than the first version.

Finally, I think that the upcoming Dr. Seuss fabric is adorable. Apparently such fabric has been released before and is now going for a billion dollars on EBay.

There are a few fabric lines that just came out that I have been eyeing: Tufted Tweets, Castle Peeps, and Far Far Away II. A lot of online vendors sold out of these collections before they could even get the plastic wrap off of the bolts. I think that sewing for children is so much fun!

So with all of this amazing fabric available and coming soon, I have to wonder why people are still trying to pay $40+ per yard for Flea Market Fancy and older Heather Ross prints (these links are for fabrics priced at $180 per yard... that fabric better be made of gold!)

Thrifty finds....

Okay, when I go to garage sales - I cannot resist buying vintage buttons, thread, or florally vintage fabric. This lady had a huge box of vintage patterns too, but I restrined myself and bought only 2. I know I do not have a daughter, but I could not resist the illustrations on these pattern envelopes. I am embarrassed with how many vintage buttons I have... if you ever need any buttons - you know how to contact me!

Finished pillowcases and hexagons!

As hoped, I did finish those pillowcases on Tuesday night, and here they are:

This is the conversation I had with my husband when he saw the finished project.

"That's a lot of pink." (me)
"I know." (Nick)
"Now you can be like your idol."
"That's true."
Nick had a youth leader in church whom he really looked up to. This man has had a great career and is now living his dream of traveling the world and serving others - but a funny footnote to the whole story is that this man's wife LOVES pink. When Nick was a teenager, he helped his father (he is a residential remodeler) redo this man's bathroom - all remodeled to be pink. We're talking pink bathtub, pink toilet... Apparently, the family even owned a pink car. So I am glad that I can help Nick become more like this person that he has really looked up to :)

Here's a sneak peek at the doll quilt I finally started... I am following the blog-craze of paper piecing hexagons. It is as fun and addicting as everyone says it is. As I write this, I am about to put the whole quilt top together - I finished the hand piecing last night. I was so into it towards the finishing stretch, that I accidently sewed my project onto the jeans I was wearing! Thankfully it wasn't too hard to undo.

This is a very untraditional color scheme for me, but the reasoning will be explained soon. I am REALLY excited about it!