Delighted by The Quilted Fish

My friend Julie is part of the creative team for Riley Blake and I was lucky enough to be invited to her Delighted launch party.  Delighted is the newest line by The Quilted Fish for Riley Blake.

Image Source: The Intrepid Thread

We had fun giggling and crafting.  Look at these cute pincushion rings we made.



I have a little crush on the sunny one.



These would make a cute gift for your sewing friends for the holidays, or just because.  It's also a fun crafty project for a sew day.  If you would like to make one too Julie has a video tutorial that shows you how.

LINKS:
Julie's Pincushion Ring Tutorial
Entire line of Delighted
The Quilted Fish blog
Riley Blake

Craft Hope Sock Monkey Drive

Craft Hope is requesting Sock Monkeys for victims of the Texas wildfires.  They must be handmade and the deadline is November 24th, 2011.  I'm hoping to get my kids involved with making these cuties.  I always see great striped socks at Target so I added a couple of pairs to my shopping list this week.  Then I headed over to flickr and Pinterest for some inspiration.  Let's take a look shall we?

Source: sockmonkey.co.uk via Adrianne on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Adrianne on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Adrianne on Pinterest

Image Source: maribel made via flickr

Image Source: sunsetgirl creations via flickr

Aren't they cute?  You could totally do this!!  Let's make a mountain of monkeys for the kids.  : )  More information on the following links.

Craft Hope website

Craft Hope on Facebook

Sock Monkey Tutorial links at Craft Hope

Habitat, It's All Happening

Here's a quick snap of my design wall today.  My project is coming along for the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild Habitat challenge.  I'm using a block idea from the book Liberated Quilt Making II by Gwen Marston.  I've been wanting to try out this block for a long time.  They're a lot of fun to put together.  You start with a square and a rectangle and then piece them at whatever angle you like.  Each one is a little different from the next.  I cut all my fabric into pieces and then just sat at the sewing machine and went for it.  Today is the persnickety part, fitting all the pieces together like a puzzle.  I think once it's all put together it will have a cool kaleidoscope effect.  Switching the focus back and forth between the pattern of the Habitat fabrics and the solids.

You may have noticed that one piece up there doesn't look like the others.  That's my daughter's contribution.  She made that block at make and take booth at Quilting In The Garden.  Eye brows were raised when she chose tropical fish for the background for her poinsettia.  I secretly admired her determination when they tried to steer her towards the Christmas background, but she knew what she liked and wouldn't be swayed.  Fish it is.  She is so proud of her quilt, she showed it off to anyone who would listen.  She added it to the wall and said I could give it to a baby that needs to stay warm.  My heart swelled with pride.  I love that girl!!

Baby Safari, Finished!

Whew.  Finished with a day to spare.  It has been a quilting marathon this past week.  I guess I do better with a deadline.  Who knew?  This quilt has been brought to you by take out, coffee, Pandora, and Dadurday.  What's Dadurday you ask?  It's when Dad takes the kids out on Saturday to bond, eat tons of candy, run around like monkeys and give Mom a break.  You hadn't heard?  Well now you know.  Go on and share it with your hubby.  : )

Let's see, I started cutting fabric last Saturday at the guild meeting, finished up on Tuesday, made the fussy cut blocks on Wednesday, pieced it Thursday and Friday (with my littlest helper) and finished it up today.  I could not do this every week.  It was like I was playing Monopoly.  Do not stop.  Do not pass go.  Do not do laundry.  Do not do dishes.  Wasn't that how it went?

Let's take a closer look.

Speaking of Pandora.  This quilt had a soundtrack.  It did!  I am not making this up.  Check out the playlist:

(I'm linking where I can to a YouTube video so you can hear it if you want to)

Little Bird by Elizabeth Mitchell
Here Comes the Sun, The Beatles
New Morning by Lisa Loeb & Elizabeth Mitchell
Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
New Soul by Yael Naim & David Donatien
You Are My Sunshine by Elizabeth Mitchell

If I could add one more song to this near perfect list, I would include this version of Baby Mine by Allison Krauss, a family favorite.

LINKS:
Baby Safari, Beginnings
Baby Safari, Sneak Peek
Dadurday is real!
Pandora, Internet Radio

Baby Safari, Sneak Peek

Here's a peek of my design wall today.  Baby Safari is well under way.  I cut a bunch of charm squares from the fabric stack I showed you earlier.  I really love these colors together, especially for a baby quilt.  They are so warm and happy.  I had the charm blocks done and on the wall and the quilt was telling it needed a little something more.  The animals in the main Central Park print are so cute so I fussy cut a few and framed them with scraps.  It took a little figuring getting each one to fit into a 5"x5" grid.  Remember when I did the Fat Quarterly quilt along?

For that quilt, I fussy cut some of the Circa 50 print.  They ended up being my favorite blocks.  I like just a few sprinkled in for interest.  Kind of like Where's Waldo, but way better.  This quilt has to be finished by this weekend so I've got to boogaloo. Ha!  Do you ever use that phrase?  My Mama did growing up and I guess it stuck.  ; )

I hope you all have a happy weekend.  Sew something will ya?
-A

Project Terrain, Part One

I took the cute mini charms that Kate sent me and turned them into two lanyards.  I made one for me and one to share at my next guild meeting.  I followed this tutorial by my friend Trish at Two Peas in a Pod Designs.  Aren't they cute?  It's a quick, satisfying project that's perfect for those little pieces of your favorite fabrics.  I found the hardware in the jewelry section of Michael's craft store.

My daughter's eyes lit up when she saw them.  She said they were just like her teacher's name tags at school.  I bet the aren't pretty patchwork lanyards!  Wouldn't that be a cute teacher gift?

PROJECT NOTE: I used the mini charms as is (2.5") and I didn't cut them down to the 2" that is written in the tutorial.

Safari Baby Beginnings

Thank you so much for all of your positive feedback on my Cross Strings block!! There has been some interest in a tutorial or a quilt along.  I think that sounds like a lot of FUN!  Let me see what I can come up.  : )

Today, I've got a new baby quilt in the works. The Mother-to-be likes purple and the nursery will have a safari theme.  My goal is to make a soft, happy quilt that will grow with the new baby.

I really like this print from Central Park by Kate Spain. I'm using the third one from the left. Purple? Check! Animals? Check! Fun, fresh color palette? Check!

I chose my colors based on the print.  I'm using mostly purples and yellow with a just hint of taupe and blue for balance. There is a variety of values within each color and I stayed away from anything too light since the animal print is on a white background. Add in a mix of scale and shapes and we're looking good. Aren't they pretty together?

Purples

Taupes

Blues

Yellows

The baby shower is coming up fast so I've got to run and cut.  Not at the same time silly!

-A

Cross Strings Block for the 4x5 Modern Bee

4 x 5 .... that is five blocks to send out to my bee mates.  The block I designed turned out to be a little intense sewing wise. First making the strips, sewing the strings and matching all of those points.  I'm calling the block, "Cross Strings."

Now that I look at the design wall full of blocks I am really happy with the way they turned out.  Maybe it's like having a baby.  Once the baby is in your arms you forget about the labor part.  These ladies are worth it.  You should see the awesome blocks they made for me.  I will share them here later this week.  I really lucked out with the best hive (don't tell the others).  The talent in my group is amazing!!

The next round of the Modern 4x5 Bee is just starting up if you're interested in joining.  As of this morning there were 40 slots left and they were going quick.

For Jessica

For Charise

For Rachel

For Tina

For Amelia

Then, I couldn't sleep last night so I got up and played with EQ7.  What else can I do with these blocks?  What would they look like all together?  What about a Cross Strings quilt?

Aren't the colors great?  I think my subconscious was still thinking about the BAMQG Joel Dewberry Heirloom challenge.  Kind of wild.  The working title for this quilt is "Jungle Stripes".  When DH woke up this morning I pounced on him and in a crazy sleep deprived, talking to fast, excited voice said, "look what I came up with last night.  What do you think?"  He thinks it's a little Crazytown.  Hmmm, maybe it was my concept delivery.  ; )  I kinda want to start making this quilt... TODAY!

Smile!  It's Monday.
-Adrianne