Sunday Stash 09

Hidden treasures from a Houston quilt shop.

Lush by Erin Michael, Wildflowers and Tadpoles by Heather Ross

The winners from last weeks American Jane giveaway are...

KatieB, 1/2 yd of Green Pez

Jansie, 1/2 yd of Blue Pez

Our Busy Little Bunch, 1/2 yd of Red Pez

Congratulations ladies!!!  Please send me your mailing addresses.

-A

Central Park, A Closer Look

Central Park by Kate Spain for Moda is like a walk through your favorite park.  Imagine a perfect day, the sun is shinning, the air is crisp and a slight breeze dances through the flowers.  Kate has captured exactly that.  There is so much about this collection to love!  The colors are so fresh and saturated.  It will be available January 2011.

Ok first you have to see Kate's booth.  Isn't it gorgeous??  

I bought a fat quarter bundle at Sample Spree.  There are lots and lots of pictures to share.  Enjoy!  : )

 * Click on any picture to see it bigger *

Even more pictures on my fabric forum.  A lot.  Come on over.  : )

Strip Swap, The Plan

I left our last guild meeting with a bunch of strips convinced I was going to make something log cabin-ish.

Remember these were the strips?

The mix of styles made me nervous.  I've got batiks, brights, traditional, modern, reproductions.  BUT!  If you look at the strips with fuzzy eyes, the colors actually flow pretty good.  The one on the right stands out more because it's darker than the others.  I decided it should be a feature.  But how?  It could be the center of all the log cabins.  At this point I wasn't sure I still wanted to go in that direction.  

I went to my flickr favorites for another idea.  Check these out.  Yes!  That's what I want to do.  Tiny, wonky, scrappy stars.  My theory was the fabric pieces will be small and instead of seeing the prints you will see the colors.  I have always wanted to try this kind of star and this was a great excuse to play.  I used this tutorial for wonky stars. 

Instead  of 4.5" pieces I used 2.5".  I chain pieced my way through the wonk.  I picked pieces randomly from a bag to make sure they were mixed up.  I wanted it to be as scrappy as possible so there would be lots of movement with the finished stars.

 Wonky = lots of trimming.

I took this picture out of focus on purpose to show you the colors and not the fabrics.  The dark centers unify the stars but the scrappy colors make them dance.  Or should I say twinkle?  ; ) 

I'm almost done piecing the stars.  I've had a Coldplay song stuck in my head as I work.  You know the one that goes, "look at the stars, look how they shine for you."  I think I might incorporate that into the back somehow.  

I'm supposed to have this done by Monday for our next guild meeting. Wish me luck!

-A

The Winner of Bliss is....

And the winner of the Bliss fat quarter bundle is.....

Kati!

Congratulations Kati!

-A

Manly Beginnings

I'm contemplating the start of another quilt.

I really should be cleaning the bathrooms or maybe vacuuming.  Both are desperately needed. The kids are playing so nice together and planning a quilt is so much more FUN.  : )

Have you seen Cara's Manly Quilt?  I love it!  So many people loved it, she's doing a quilt along (she's awesome like that.)

So the plan is to make a quilt for DH.  Shhhh.  Don't you dare tell.  My starting point is his favorite color, maroon.  I love the color combo of the plaid shirt (above) so I grabbed the blue and gray from that.  Now I have my three colors, but how to arrange them?

Slate Manly Quilt

At this point I grab my laptop or a paper and crayons, whichever is closer.  Today, it was my laptop.  I built a quick mock-up in Photoshop and started playing with colors.  I add the colors to my palette to make it easy to refer back to.  Then I use the paint bucket to click around and play.  So easy!  I came up with two versions I like.

Maroon Manly Quilt

I prefer the slate, but I really think DH would like the Maroon.  It is his favorite color after all.  At this point I get out my Kona color chart and pick my fabrics and go shopping.  Cara recommends Simply Solid Fabric and together they are having a giveaway here.

Come and play too!  You can do so much with this pattern.  It doesn't have to be manly.  It's all about the fabric choices.  The blocks are 12" and paper pieced.  I think it's going to come together really quickly.

-A

Sunday Stash 08

My stash, your stash, everyone needs this in their stash.

My favorite purchase from Houston, Tx were these three fabrics.  Peas and Carrots by American Jane for Moda.  One of my all time favorites!  Up until now I have only owned two charm sized pieces and I've already used them.  I think everyone should have a piece of these in their stash.  Do you agree?  : )

I am GIVING AWAY three 1/2 yard cuts (one of each color).  If you'd like a chance to win some, please leave a comment below.  Let me know if you have a color preference.  I will choose the winners next Sunday, November 21st.

Yoohoo, winner are you there?

Calling Tylynn, are you there?  You won my Bliss giveaway.  Please send me an email right away.  I have no way to contact you.

If I do not hear from the winner by next Wednesday, November 17th I will draw another name.

-A

Me and the Pips

Me and the Pips got to know each other a little better today.  I've got to tell you, it's a match made in heaven!  I bought a bundle at Quilt Market, but it's for a friend.  After today, I'm sending them off.  April 2011 will come quickly right??  These are some of my very favorites.  I added pictures of all the colorways on the forum.

I think I need a whole quilt around this cutie.  I LOVE her!

Scarves and Stripes... Perfection!

 A must have for my red & dog loving son.

More Pips sightings... at comfortstitching,  imagingermonkey, cluck cluck sew and crazymomquilts.

Can't wait until Aril 2011 to own some?  Hop on over to Aneela's blog.  She's giving some away!!!  : )

Are YOU a Sherbet Peep??  ; )

On My Mind

While working away on this...

Options A, B and C

Blanket Stitches

I'm feeling day-dreamy today.

Wishes in a Jelly Jar

I have lots of on my mind.

• Fat Quarterly's Newest Issue on Fussy Cutting
• Homeade Christmas Bags made with Michael Miller Tiny Trees in Spice
• Snuggly Christmas Blanket tutorial from So September
• Softies for Mirabel and this Wee Wonderfuls pattern
• The most awesome pincushion idea ever from Izzy Inspired
• Martha's Pumpkin Cookies
• Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte

I'd love to know, what's on your mind?
-A

Parisville Magic

Tula and Angela, Angela and Tula... what a pairing!  Each is so expressive in their work and when brought together... magic happens.

Click on any picture to see it bigger.

You've probably already seen pictures of Tula's booth from Quilt Market.  I wanted so share with you some of the details you can't see from those wide shots.

Masked statues and Tula M&Ms.

Cool business cards Tula!

detail of Angela's Quilting

 This detail is part of Lady Parisville's hair.  Amazing!

Love the funky quilt label.  The spray stretches all the way across.

You can see more of Parisville on Tula's blog The fabric will be hitting your favorites fabric shops very soon.  We have a preview up on the fourm.  I will add store links as I see them.  Angela takes us behind the quilting scenes in this post on her blog.  Check it out!!  Freaking Incredible.  : )

-A

Pillow Talk Swap

I'm so excited to be joining the latest round of the Pillow Talk Swap.  Megan brought in her pillow for show an tell at our last guild meeting.  It was so pretty and she had such good things to say about this swap.  I was familiar with the swap through flickr and blogs, but now I really wanted to take a closer look.  Oh my gosh, it looked like so much fun!!

A little about the Pillow Talk Swap

-Currently in it's fourth round
-Over 250 uber-talented members
-Over 1200 drool worthy images have been uploaded
-Started by these two lovely and talented ladies,  Heather and Kerri

It's a blind swap so I know who I'm making a pillow for, but I don't know who is making one for me.  As with most swaps these days, in the begininning you upload a mosaic of some favorites.  Something to get the creative juices of your partner going.

I told my partner to be that I like fun colors, simple shapes, modern fabrics, scrappy quilts and polka dots.  My favorite colors are blues, greens, aquas and teals.

Here is my inspirational mosaic:

1. Hexed, 2. BH&G diamond quilt - block #3, 3. WIPs-3, 4. pincushion, 5. hexagon pillow no.1, 6. flockoftriangles4, 7. starquiltfront, 8. Sew New To Me Virtual Quilting Bee * Corey *, 9. If it's a boy quilt - front

My favorite part about swaps is making something for someone else.  It pushes my creativity and I always love an excuse to play with my fabric!!  : )  There is always fun discussions going on and lots and lots of talent and inspiration.  LOVE that!  If you want to read a little more about it, Fat Quarterly featured it here.

Have you been in a swap?  Which swaps do you recommend?

-A

Look, a Tree!

Last night I was busy cutting out shapes and playing with fabric at the table.  It was so much fun!!  Kind of like cutting and pasting in preschool.  I got comments like, "Mama's getting fancy!" from my DH and "Mama, what ARE you making?" from my son.  I continued after the littles * finally* went to bed.  Gotta love the time change. Ugh.  This morning I was greeted with, "Cool!  A tree!"

Appliquéd tree for Fall

I've had this in my head since I bought this fabric.  It's going to be a wall hanging for our kitchen.  So far it measures 24"x36".  I made a quick cardboard template from a soda box for the leaves.  They're attached to the background fabric with Steam a Seam lite.  It's perfect for this kind of project because it has a slightly sticky back to keep the leaves stuck enough until I iron and stitch them down.  It is re-positionable so you can move your shapes until you're happy with the layout.  I needed a bigger fusible piece for the trunk so I used a roll of Heat N Bond Lite.

leaves

My plan is to free motion around the leaves and fill the background with lots of swirls.  I've never done this before so I've been practicing drawing swirls and dreaming of swirls in my sleep.  Today I have an appointment with the sewing machine to practice on some quilt sandwiches.  I hope it goes well!  *gulp*

Here are the projects that inspired me:

- Scrap Buster Fall Pillow by Cluck Cluck Sew
- Anything by Don't Look Now.  I am in love with Kellie's swirly quilting!  It is even more stunning in person.
- Jodie's Table Runner
- Old Oak Tree by Gayle Shelton...

 Old Oak Tree by Gayle Shelton (she won a ribbon for Best Pictorial Quilt at PIQF)

Sunday Stash 07

When my husband, (Tom the DH to you forum members) dropped me off at the airport he said to me, "Go big, or go home."  I think he was challenging me to be inspired, meet people, be open to all the possibilities a trip to Quilt Market can bring.  When I came face to face with Sample Spree it took on a whole new meaning.

After standing in line for H-O-U-R-S, I worked up an enormous fabric appetite.  That is the only way I can think to describe this stack of gorgeousness.  From the beginning it has always been about the fabric for me.  I love fabric!  All kinds of fabric.  Fabric is my mistress and my muse.  Can you relate??  ; )

Moda: Buttercup by Fig Tree Quilts, Central Park by Kate Spain, Just Wing It by Momo and Le Petite Poulet by American Jane

Moda: Sherbet Pips by Aneela Hoey, Sunkissed by Sweetwater and Pom Pom de Paris by French General

Riley Blake: Quite Contrary by My Mind's Eye, Sweet Divinity by The Quilted Fish, All Star 2 by My Mind's Eye, Enchanted Garden by Samantha Walker 

Far, Far, Away 2 by Heather Ross

If anyone wants a closer look, I will be posting more pictures next week on the forum.  

It's a rainy day here at home and I'm staying snuggled inside with the family and working on a new fall project.  Think Don't Look Now meets Cluck Cluck Sew.

-A

Hoot-N-Nanny Tote

Whooo Whooo

Hoot-N-Nanny Tote

I met Trish Preston of Two Peas in a Pod at Quilt Market.  You can see a picture of her booth on her blog.  What a lovely and talented lady!!  : )  She was there debuting her pattern collection.  Her booth was full of cute projects.  There was something for everyone - quilts, bags, accessories and clothes.  

This tote grabbed my attention right away and wouldn't let go.  I brought the pattern home and amidst a stack of market goodies, this is what I wanted to make first.  Isn't it cute?  I had a lot of fun picking out the scraps for the top and fussy cutting the owl pieces.  The body of the bag is a linen scrap I had from another project.  

This pattern pushed me to try sketching with thread... I like it!  It's a very fun and satisfying project.  A definite hoot!  I think it would make a great gift.  

Trish sells this pattern through her etsy shop, Two Peas In a Pod.

Happy Weekend Peeps!

-A

Strip Challenge

I'm a member of the Bay Area Modern Quit Guild and at our last meeting I challenged our members to a strip swap.  We all brought in 2.5" strips from our stashes at home and put them in a big bag at the meeting.  We passed the bag around and took turns picking out a random strip.  There was a lot on nervous giggling as none of the strips really seemed to relate to each other... at all!

These are the strips I picked at random from the bag.

The challenge is to use these strips together with the addition of one fabric and make a modern baby quilt to share at our next meeting.  Our final projects will be donated to our local hospital NICU.

I've been reading a lot about Denyse Schmidt's workshops and I wanted to push myself and our guild to get a little funky and spontaneous.

For inspiration I put together this flickr gallery of some of my favorite strip, scrappy, wonky, modern quilts.

links to originals here

What is a guild activity that you loved?

-A

Bliss Winner!!

Thanks so much to all of you who commented, added buttons, joined the forum and tweeted!!  There were over 1000 entries!  You guys rock my socks off!!  : )  I am so impressed, I am adding two more winners.  I just happened to have 4 charm packs of American Jane's new line Puctuation.  Two of you will be getting two charm packs each.  Woo Hoo!!!  Ok... now onto the winners...

WINNER of the Bliss Fat Quarter Pack is...  Tylynn who said, "I signed up for your talk about fabric. That is sooo cool! I can't wait to get looking!"

WINNER of two charm packs of Punctuation by American Jane is... Quiltjane who said, "I am a follower of your blog."

WINNER of two charm packs of Punctuation by American Jane is... Sequana who said, "I'll just depend on my one comment to do it for me. S Thx for a really wonderful giveaway."

Congratulations winners!  Please email me your mailing address.

-A

International Quilt Market Fall 2010 (more)

**Edited to Add Links**

Hooty Hoot, Dohikey Designs, Riley Blake

 Hooty Hoot, Dohikey Designs, Riley Blake

 Sherbet Pips, Aneela Hoey, Moda
Discussed Here

 Sherbet Pips, Aneela Hoey, Moda

 Silk Tempest, Cherri House

 Silk Tempest, Cherri House

 Sweet Divinity, The Quilted Fish, Riley Blake
Discussed Here

 Sweet Divinity, The Quilted Fish, Riley Blake

 Wee Wonderfuls, Hillary Lang

 Wee Wonderfuls, Hillary Lang