Negative Space Swap

This was from a fun little swap between SBAMQG members. The goal was to make a small swap item featuring negative space. We wrote down hints of inspiration on scraps of paper to get our partners started. Some wrote down colors they liked and some wrote down items they would like to receive (pot holders, mug rugs, mini quilt). Then we blindly chose our partners names out of a hat. Or was it a bag? Anyway...

I picked Sharon's name and she wrote down blue, green and melon. I really liked the addition of the dark grey and chalky white. Without knowing what I wanted to make, I pulled out this stack of solids.

Once they were on my worktable, I got my inspiration and I knew I wanted to make a mini with floating triangles. They are all cut identically, but isn't it interesting how some of the colors seem larger than the others?

I quilted dense lines all over it to give it lots of texture. The thread I used is a medium grey which I chose to both compliment the background and not overwhelm the lighter shades of the triangles.

The binding fabric is so awesome! It's from Moda and it has ruler markings all over it. I knew a fellow quilter would love it. It's printed on canvas, so it wasn't the easiest to hand stitch on, but for a mini quilt it wasn't too bad.

South Bay Area MQG Tote Swap

The March meeting at the South Bay Area MQG meant it was tote swap time!! We signed up earlier in the year and were assigned secret partners and a list of likes and dislikes.

My secret partner, Susy, is always a joy to visit with. She brings a smile to my face every time.  Susy loves many things, but I concentrated on her love of bright colors, the sea and Malka Dubrawsky.  

This is what I came up with. I arranged the fabric in stripes to let the design and colors do the talking. Then, I quilted the heck out of it.  

Add a bold blue interior and a sassy flower and we're good to go.

On the flip side, I received two gorgeous bags from Pat.  

My tote came with it's own carrying pouch. Dots? Stripes? Orange? Aqua?!? Yup, she did good.  Real good! : D This was such a fun activity. I highly recommend you swap totes with your sewing friends.

The Secret Fabric Swap and the *almost* Poochie Bag

This gorgeous bundle is for my secret BAMQG holiday swap partner. After I got her wishlist, I headed my local quit shop. My partner likes:

• Ric Rack Rabbits
• Chicopee
• Geometrics 
• Retro fabrics

I remembered another helpful hint; my partner often comes to the meetings wearing red. I liked the idea of a coordinated, but slightly eclectic bundle. These rabbits were my starting point and I added the rest one at a time.

When it came time to wrap it up, I thought I'd be sneaky and use the same prints from her bundle. Who would guess if it matched? I remembered Monica's fat quarter friendly Poochie Bag pattern. Perfect! I ended up fudging the measurements a little to fit the print. It's not exactly as the pattern was written, but I think it still looks cute. For inquiring minds, I pooched 2" in order to fit the fat quarter stack.

Add in a fabric covered journal and a spool of thread and we're good to go.

Now my secret it out. Happy Holidays, Annemarie!

FABRIC:
Ric Rac Rabbits, Bunny Dresses in Red by Creative Thursday
Meet the Gang, Friends in Green by Creative Thursday
Chicopee, Cross Square in Green by Denyse Schmidt
Chicopee, Circle Cross in Red by Denyse Schmidt
Ric Rac Rabbits, Wreaths in Red by Creative Thursday
Ric Rac Rabbits, Bunny Suit in White by Creative Thursday
Chicopee, Cross Square in Red by Denyse Schmidt
Chicopee, Voltage dot in Red by Denyse Schmidt
Chicopee, Paisley in Red by Denyse Schmidt

BAG PATTERN:
Poochie Bag Pattern - FREE from Monica Solorio-Snow of Happy Zombie

Pillow Talk Swap 9: Modern Butterflies

Modern Butterfly Pillow

Wrapped and ready for my partner

From Instagram: Test Block, Fabric Pull, Butterflies in the Wild

Wow, another fantastic round of the Pillow Talk Swap!  I had so much fun stalking my secret partner.  Darci made a great inspiration mosaic to get me started.  When I was thinking about what to make for her, I knew I wanted it to be not only scrappy and colorful, but also crisp with a touch of whimsy.  Butterflies are whimsical, right?  Well, this is my spin on butterflies.  It's a nod to a traditional quilt block with a twist of my own.  I loved making it so much, I'm already working on a butterfly quilt.

Does anyone else want to try it?  I'd be happy to write a tutorial.

Scrappy Pillow Swap and Sudoku

Scrappy Pillow Swap for Bay Area Modern

I used Oh Fransson's Orange Peel quilting tutorial.

We just finished up a swap in my guild called the Scrappy Pillow Swap. Participants brought in bags of scraps and we blindly swapped them.  Each maker turned the scraps into a pillow cover. My partner included some of this great tree print from Modern Meadow by Joel Dewberry. There were also pieces of Buttons by Suzuko Koseki, Pearl Bracelet by Lizzy House, Miscellany by Julia Rothman and Daisy Mae by Denyse Schmidt and Echo by Lotta Jansdotter. An interesting mix!

I knew I wanted to fussy cut the tree somehow. At first glance, the black prints stood out a lot and it was going to be important to either spread them around or make a feature out of them as a binding or a border.  The browns scared me a little. The tree had browns so it would be ok in the end. Right? 

I got stuck on what to do for the longest time and turned to EQ to work it out. After a lot of different ideas and blocks, I decided to go with a simple patchwork. Make the fabrics work it!

My son had been playing Sudoku for the first time that week and I can't help but feel that influenced the design. It's true! The layout is a nine patch within a nine patch. The tree makes up the center of the big nine patch and then I broke down the remaining eight squares into nine patches too. Why? So I could layout the colors Sudoku style!  

It came back to worrying about where the black was going to go. If I made sure it was in a different position in each one it would look balanced and scrappy. Do you see it? Bottom right, top center, bottom left, etc...

Then I added in the brown/taupey color. I really wanted to mix that one in well. One per block please.

Ok, now that I had the foundation down, I could add the rest of the colors.

Layout for the Scrappy Pillow Swap

Isn't it pretty???  I think it would make a good mosaic project. Maybe a framed mirror or something.  Anyway, after all that worrying about the colors, I couldn't imagine this composition without the black and the brown. They look so great all together.

If you are an Eagle Eye, you might be wondering what happened to the light aqua color in the final pillow.  That was something I was going to add from my stash, but I decided not to in the end. It wasn't that I didn't like it, I did, I just wanted to stay true the colors my partner put together.

My partner turned out to be our Vice President, Kathleen! I was so surprised because these aren't colors she's ever used in a project together. She really had me stumped. The best part of all (the part I hold my breath for in every swap I've ever done), will my partner like it?  She did!!!

Pillow Talk Swap 7, Received!!

I am feeling so lucky.  Just look at this gorgeous pillow sent to me by Dawn aka, guiltyquilter on flickr.

I just love aqua of any kind and she paired it with some bright oranges.  Isn't that one of the best color combinations ever?

Here is a closer look.  Check out the attention to detail.  Hand stitching and fussy cutting.  Wowsers!!

She also sent along some sweet extras.  Thank you so much Dawn!!!

Here was my inspiration mosaic...

Here is a bunch of stuff that I love right now.  I always have a soft spot for aqua and teal.  There seems to be a theme of simple repetitive shapes, happy colors, and a touch of yellow-orange.  Who knew?

1. doll quilt swap 2 - top almost finished, 2. seaglass quilt top, 3. LA Kindle Case, 4. Pillow Talk Swap 4, 5. Calico Quilt., 6. stripey blocks arranged, 7. PTS6, 8. Sew & Bee Happy - January, 9. STLMQG Habitat Challenge, 10. scraps, 11. More crosses, 12. a quilt for harry.

If you ever get a chance to participate in this swap, and you're ready to bring your A game, run don't walk.  It's just plain awesome!

Pillow Talk Swap 7

It's time again for my favorite swap ever! The Pillow Talk Swap. There is so much talent in this group. I am amazed and inspired every single time.  Here's what I made for round seven.

I chose the deep jewel tones of Heirloom by Joel Dewberry for my partner and I paired it with Essex in gray and Kona in cerise.

If you were online on Sunday you may have seen some sneak peeks.  I was posting pictures as I worked.  Hey, it's a great excuse to get up and stretch while you're sewing.

Whichever way you press your blocks, do it the same for all of them.  Otherwise they don't match in the end.  D'oh!  I had to remake two blocks after learning this the hard way.  This picture shows my preferred way to press these blocks. To the side for the strings, and then open when you join the blocks.

This pillow did talk to me.  It whispered how it wanted to be quilted.  Close lines on the linen, looser lines on the strings and leave the border alone, ok?

And the full reveal...

This might look familiar to some of you.  This is an original design that I shared for a quilt back in October of last year.  I have more Heirloom and I'd love to make a larger version of this someday.  The original had white crosses, but I really like how the gray Essex looks.

I hope my swap partner loves it!!

Pillow Talk Swap 6

I participated in the latest round of the Pillow Talk Swap on flickr.  The deadline to mail our pillows was November 1st.

This is the pillow I sent out on... November 1st.  : )

After stalking my secret partner on his/her blog, through his/her flickr projects and favorites I put together this stack of fabrics I thought he/she would like.  Sorry for all the he/she stuff.  It's a secret you see.

The fabric sat around awhile, marinating, waiting to become something. Narrowing it down to one idea is hard.  There are so many possibilities, so many things you could do.

Image Credit: Seven Island Fabrics

One of the fabrics is a cheater print and I started thinking, what if I cut those squares apart and treated it as separate fabrics?  I remembered how much I loved Erin's scrappy Swoon block.  If I made one Swoon block a little smaller, it would be a great pillow.

I liked the idea of it, but I wasn't sure how it would look.  My friend Jaye says, "make visual decisions visually".  So I drafted the block in EQ and colored it with a similar color palette.  I LOVED it.

I bought the pattern Swoon by Camille Roskelley and started piecing the blocks.  I made some changes as I went.  For a scrappy look, I broke up the big rectangles into squares.  The cheater print and linen were so great together I decided to not use any of the other fabrics.  I also changed the center square from a colored block to plain linen one.  Slowly I'm learning to listen to my instincts as I go.

Pressing the seams open helped match up all those points.

I had a few extra blocks and I added them to the back.  Now my pillow is on it's way to it's new home.  I hope my partner likes it as much as I do.

The Pillow Talk Swap

The end.  : )
-A

I've been...

Quilting. Circle quiting is a lot harder than I thought. I really want this to work and not look so wobbly. Unsewing is in my future. Try, try again. ; )


Buying fabric from Australia


Swapping with friends.


Adding to my bookshelf and contemplating new beginnings.