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!!!

WINNERS: Aurifil Thread

And the winners of the Aurifil Thread packs are...

I'm sending you all an email. You guys are going to love this thread! Thank you so much Aurifil for sponsoring this giveaway!!

-A

Zakka Style Sew Along: Week 6 - Itty Bitty Quilt Block Magnets

Hi! Welcome to Week 6 of the Zakka Style Sew Along!! If you're new, this Sew Along is the brain child of two friends, Lindsey and Amy. They rounded up a team of bloggers and together we are sewing through the book, Zakka Style by Rashida Coleman-Hale, one project at a time. Oh, and  there are prizes when you finish up a project and link up! You can join anytime.

If you are already following along, are you having fun with your projects? So far I've only managed to make the Zigzag Tote, but I can't wait to make the Orchard Path Tweed Pouch and the Patchwork Pot Holder.

Today I'm going to show you my version of the Itty Bitty Quilt Block Magnets by Nova Flitter from the blog a cuppa and a catchup. I remember when I first saw these cuties pop up on flickr. Nova made a batch for a swap she was in and I was smitten immediately. I mean come on! They are so cute!!

MATERIALS: 

• Essex (a cotton/linen blend) by Robert Kaufman in Medium Aqua, Sunshine, Carrot, Grey and Hot Pink
• Cosmo Embroidery Floss by Lecien

I started with one block to test out the pattern and I quickly made two more. They were like chocolate kisses, I couldn't get enough. One thing I cannot overstate. When they say Itty Bitty, they really do mean teeny tiny! The finished size is 1.5" x 1.5". That is shorter than your pinky finger. The best advice I can give to you is to follow the pattern as written. It's laid out very well in the book. Some of the pieces you cut are smaller than 1".  Eep!

My kids were home with me the day I worked on these and they really wanted to help. They are 4 and 6 and it took a minute to figure out their jobs. I printed off some over-sized graph paper so they could color the patterns in.  While they colored, I cut squares of fabric for them to arrange. Then I sewed them together. Both of them were really into it and it was fun to work on it together.

Before you get started on your blocks, I have a few tips to share with you.

Tip #1: Starch is your friend. Seriously. You will be working with itty bitty pieces of linen. If you stretch your pieces even a smidge, it looks like a lot. I used Essex (a cotton/linen blend) and starch and it was still tricky getting things lined up.

Tip #2: Lock those stitches. I popped more than one flipping these right-side out in the final step. If this happens to you too you can mend it with a hidden ladder stitch like I ended up doing. I won't tell! ; )

Tip #3: If you make the string block and you use a paper foundation (as recommended in the book) shorten your stitch length. Every machine is a little different. I changed mine from 2.5 to 1.2. This step will make it much easier to tear off your paper pieces. 

Tip #4: This is actually in the book, but I am repeating it. Test you magnet to make sure it works and is facing the right way BEFORE stitching it closed. Before! Ok, I feel better. Now I know you won't sew it backwards like some people I know. Ahem. 

 It's such a sweet little project and useful too. Great for holding up your most important notes. ; )

GIVEAWAY
**This giveaway is now closed. Thank you to everyone who entered!**


Yup, that's not all!  Aurifil generously gave me five packs of thread to giveaway to my readers!!!  Five winners will be randomly selected on Friday, May 11, 2012.  Winners will be contacted by email, so if it is not visible in your profile, please add it to your comment. International entries are welcome.

TO ENTER:
1) Please leave a comment below
2) If you are a follower please leave a second comment.  I love you guys!!!

Thank you so much to Lindsey and Amy for putting together this fun sew along!  And a big THANK YOU to all of the sponsors for making it possible.

Zakka Style Sew Along: ZigZag Tote

Yay! I just finished up my Zigzag Tote from the book Zakka Style by Rashida Coleman-Hale. As you can see when it came to picking colors, I strayed from the natural linen example in the book. Robert Kaufman’s Essex Linen comes in so many beautiful colors and these were calling to me. Loudly. I used medium aqua, carrot, hot pink, grey and sunshine.



My bag making skills lie somewhere between novice and expert.  Intermediate maybe? I’ve got to say, the zigzag tote was hard for me.

For some reason, my patchwork piece came out bigger than it was supposed to and I ended up cutting off some of the triangles to make it fit. Sob! The lining was already cut, so I felt like I had to. Two sobs!


My finished bag is a lot more square shaped than the one in the book. I don’t know what I did wrong. Probably the cutting mentioned above. *ahem*


Eyeballing the triangles to line up was hit or miss.  Some rows turned out better than others. I wish I knew exactly where to measure and line them up properly. You can't tell from far away, but they are bothering me a teensy bit.


After I finished sewing the last stitch, I realized I sewed the front on upside down. D’oh. Oh well, the people at the library will never know it was supposed to go the other way. Shhh.  It will be our little secret.


I was inspired by Terri’s version to add some hand stitching. I wish mine looked a little less “my kid made this” and a little more “ooooh, nice”. I used Cosmo floss in yellow, hot pink and orange to coordinate with the front. It pops nicely off the gray linen doesn’t it?

My machine was not happy sewing through the bulk of the fusible fleece. The safety function on my sewing machine kept turning on when I was sewing down that last line of stitching along the top. I think it thought I was sewing through my finger or something. Eep!


Phew. It was a process and now that it’s done I like it.  A lot. The colors make me smile. The size is perfect for our trips to the library. Check out all the awesome zakka style projects in the flickr group. Lots of great looking totes in there! 

I hope to see you back next Monday when I share my Itty Bitty Quilt Block Magnets with you. : )


-A

The Letter A

Today’s blog post is brought to you by the letter A.  Cyn, a friend and fellow East Bay MQG member just welcomed her first baby. Nothing gets a bunch of quilters fired up to create like a new baby!


Together we chose a letter or two and made mini quilts. Stacey put them all together to make an ABC book. We had complete freedom to create whatever we wanted for our page.  The only guideline was the size, 8.5” x 11”.  Pieced, appliqued, fussy cut, improv, anything goes. The creativity of this group is so impressive!!


I chose the letter A. Adrianne starts with A, so it wasn’t really a stretch. ; )


I love reading with my kids. Love. When they were babies I remember spending hours sitting together and looking at books. They were always so engaged, touching, pulling, looking, patting and drooling. I would point and call out colors, shapes, letters, objects, textures, anything that was related. They would coo, curl their little baby toes and kick their feet in excitement.


There is a lot of potential conversations packed in this seemingly simple page.


FABRIC:
I fussy cut some apples out of a horded and beloved Japanese fabric from my stash. I think it was called “une pomme”. I really wanted the red apples to pop off the page so I picked an equally clear blue and a sunny yellow. The letter A is made from Washi by Rashida Coleman Hale (hot off the new fabric pile, woot!). The background dot is from City Weekend by Liesl Gibson. That whole line has the softest feel to it. Lovely.

Then I made a custom tag out of the same apple fabric for the side of the page. My babies loved tags, and this adds some interest to the side of the page.

QUILTING:
On the front of my page, I used a letter stitch on my sewing machine to embroider the letter A scattered all over. It kept the page soft and A’s are bumpy for little fingers to touch. The texture of the quilting on the back is very different (straight lines), which is not only fun to touch, but it’s more structured to help the page keep it’s shape.

Welcome to the world sweet baby!!


Love,
Adrianne


View entire book here.