Postage Stamp Quilt Top

Hooray!  I finally finished my postage stamp quilt top!  It looks like it took forever, right?  It did take awhile, but not as long as you might think, because I used Rachel Griffith's (of P.S. I Quilt) great tutorial.  I've got a creamy yellow sheet for backing, and I know exactly how this baby is going to be quilted, so hopefully I'll have a finished picture to show soon.

Special thanks to Chelsea for her help with this picture.  See her shadow there?  Isn't she cute?  :)

Cathedral Windows

I finished this project months ago, but put off posting about it because I wasn't finished yet.

To make this Cathedral Window panel, I used Hyena In Petticoats' tutorial, although when I try this again I'll use The Sometimes Crafter's much easier-seeming method.

My initial thought was to make this panel part of a pillow, like this gorgeous pillow I found on flickr, which actually looks a lot like my panel - same blue buttons and similar colors.

The problem is, I can't find the perfect fabric to finish the pillow.  In the flickr one, she uses a FFA print that I have too, but it just doesn't look right.  Any ideas for what I can do with this?  For now, it's just a mini-quilt on my wall, makin' me all happy.  :)

Quilt-to-Be: Krista's Baby Quilt

 Tangerine         +          Lavender         

=    

My friend Krista, who is expecting a baby girl in September, told me that she likes "tangerine and lavender - no pink!"   ...How do you think I did?

These are destined to be another rag quilt - my first for a baby girl!

Quilt-to-Be: Marine quilt

Last winter when I saw this Marine line was coming out from Dan Stiles, I knew I had to grab some of it.  I love it all so much!  I picked up some coordinating Quilter's Linen and Bella Solids, and am planning to make a quilt from it soon.

These are my 3 favorite prints.  I love those birds so much, and the sprocket print is just too cute.

I like how these two coordinate, but aren't quite the same.  The red and orange is just a sunset over the water - no whales or birds.

Everytime I look at these, I start singing, "In the town where I was born, there lived a man who sailed the seas..."

Aw.  Is there anything cuter than whales in love?

Amazing inspiration quilt by Oh! Fransson HERE.

Wordless Wednesday: What I'm Working On

Central Park Doll Quilt

Yesterday I finished this doll quilt.  I didn't mean to make a doll quilt, but I've been working on a larger postage-stamp quilt Kate Spain's Central Park line, and I had extra blocks after I finished piecing the quilt top.  ...Just enough for a doll-size quilt!

Actually, this was a good chance to try out my straight-line quilting idea... I like it a lot, and will definitely use it on the bigger quilt.  I backed this with some Heather Bailey Nicey Jane, and bound it with some Kona Ash.

It's doing a great job of brightening up the walls in my sewing room!

I'll be posting on the larger quilt soon.  :)

Flower Fairy Quilt

Just wanted to share the quilt I just finished for my mom's birthday.  She and I made a little field trip up to my favorite fabric store in the universe, where she picked out an alphabet panel from Michael Miller's Flower Fairy line, along with a pretty green swirly fabric to coordinate.  At home, I added the blue flower fabric and a dusty blue print from the Metro Living line (love!) for the binding.  It's so her- these colors are all over her house, and for as long as I can remember she's loved those flower fairy prints from the 1920s. 

Happy Birthday, Mom!!

Kitty Cat Mini Quilt

Yesterday I tried my first mini quilt.  I needed a little mat I could put under my cats' food dish, and I figured I could do a whole lot better than the dishtowel that was doing the job up to that point.  I dug in my scraps for some fun Heather Ross (see the kitty/seafood theme?), and accented with some orange Katie Jump Rope.  I loved how quickly this project came together - very satisfying! 

Hmm... what else in my house would look better sitting on a mat?

Last One for Awhile...

My last block for the Freedom Swap!  Well, technically I have one more to do, but the fabric hasn't even arrived yet, so I feel like I'm off the hook for that one for now.  I mailed 15 happy little blocks off to various parts of the world yesterday afternoon.  Now I get to sit back, relax, and wait for my blocks to find their way home to me!!

Nirvana

 Last night I dreamed about pecan pancakes.  Although I did not want pancakes when I woke up this morning, the seed of breakfast foods was planted in my mind, and nothing short of a big fluffy omelet would satisfy.

After scratching my itch at the Denny's in Bothell, I remembered that I'd read in a couple of blogs that there was a great quilt store up in Bothell.  iPhone let me know that Keepsake Cottage Fabrics was a mere 2 minutes away.

Holy. Fabric. Mecca. Batman.



From Keepsake Cottage Fabric's website



This place is insane.  I almost don't want to tell you about it, but I will. Sadly, I wasn't brave enough to take pictures in the store, but I'll try to grab a few next time.  Picture a weird, cutesy red barn.  Now imagine that it's all divided up into a labyrinth of rooms, and every wall is stacked three layers deep in fabric. 

Now imagine that every fabric you've ever wanted is here.

Including ones that were discontinued long ago.

Ones you thought were out of your reach.

Ones you've been kicking yourself for not buying more of when they first came out.

There was a whole section of both cotton and flannel Bliss.  Two walls of Riley Blake (including the Tone on Tone Dot Blue - see it in the picture?).  An entire ROOM full of vintage-inspired fabrics... I was in American Jane heaven.  Nicey Jane, Farmer's Market, Erin McMorris' UH-dorable bicycle fabric, and that seed pod pattern (no idea what it's called), which I bought in two different colors. They had new fabric too - the entire Central Park by Kate Spain line (which I'm using for my Postage Stamp WIP, but I had to have more of that glorious orange).

Okay, I have to stop now.  I'm worried the drool is going to short out my keyboard.  But you can be sure there will be more fabric posts coming soon... I'll be back to Keepsake again soon, and next weekend is the Sew Expo!!

Nearing the Finish Line!

I love the block pattern above - it's called "Flying Over Fields," and I think Ryan Walsh designed it.  I think I'm going to do it again on one of my last fabric bundles.

This is a shoo-fly block.  I thought these graphic prints kind of spoke for themselves, so I wanted to try something simple to showcase them.

14 down, 2 to go!  Although I'm still waiting for the 16th bundle to arrive from Australia... so really only one more that I can do right now!

Two Holiday Blocks

Two more blocks for the Freedom Block Swap!  12 down, 4 left to go!

Finally! Wee Play Wild Thing Quilt - Finished!

Okay, it's taken me about a hundred years to photograph and post the finished quilt, but here it is:  the Wild Thing quilt made with two charm packs of American Jane's Wee Play line.  My free-motion quilting definitely improved on this one! 

I love American Jane, and the Wee Play fabrics were so adorable.  I found the cute orangey-red polka dot fabric to border, then bound with a navy-and-white star fabric to give it that Americana feel.  Normally I'm not big on Americana, but on this quilt, it works.  The backing is just a super-soft white cotton sheet.  I'm thinking this quilt will move onto my couch this spring when I'm ready for a little more color... I'm feeling more and more ready every day!

WIP: Central Park Postage Stamp Quilt

This week I got two lovely jelly rolls in the mail:  a white Bella Solid, and one with the entire Central Park line by Kate Spain.  I love this line - lots of vibrant blues, purples, oranges and yellows!  I'm making a postage stamp quilt, using the quilt-along directions from p.s. i quilt.

First step:  unroll those jelly rolls!  

Next, I sorted the fabrics into color groups. I've been busy sewing the strips together, alternating the Central Park prints with the white solids.  I'll post again when I get to the next step!

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

This is my latest block for the Freedom Block Swap.  These fabrics just felt like a rainy spring day to me, so I did a log cabin design and embroidered a little umbrella in the middle.  I just love quilt blocks that have a little bit of embroidery in them!  I'm not thrilled with the puckering, but I know that after the block is quilted and washed they won't be noticeable.  10 down, 6 left to go by March 15!

More Swap Blocks!

...I feel like all I do anymore is sew blocks for the Freedom Block Swap! I do have a couple of other projects going, which I'll be posting about soon.  But it's been so fun playing with fabric and block designs, that I've just been powering through the bundles I've received so far!  We're almost halfway through our time frame now, and I've completed 9 of the 16 so far, so I'm feeling good about having enough time to finish them all.  Here are the 4 latest:

Pinwheel and Zig-Zag

Today I'm home sick in bed, so I thought it would be a good day to post a couple more pictures of quilt blocks I finished last weekend.  Both new types of blocks for me - a pinwheel and a zig-zag block!

I still think that the string block and the wonky log cabin were the most fun to make, but I like how these turned out too.  The person who sent the pinwheel fabric only sent these two fabrics.  You know how I love color, so I was a little apprehensive about creating something in just a color plus black, but I like the graphic effect this block has!

More Swap Blocks

It's been a really productive weekend so far... I caught up on my grading last night, caught up on my quilt swap today, and plan to catch up on National Boards tomorrow!  Let's hope I can keep the momentum going.

I'm trying to make the swap blocks as I receive fabric packets, under the theory that this will help me not procrastinate until March!

Today I made my first string blocks, using paper piecing.  They were so fun!  I used this great tutorial over at P.S. I Quilt.  I've always been a little intimidated by paper piecing, but it was really simple, and it created much neater quilt blocks.

The fun thing about doing this swap is playing with fabric I'd never choose on my own, like these batiks:

I honestly think that the batik section is probably the ONLY part of Pacific Fabrics that I don't know backwards and forwards.  Nothing against batik - I just had a somewhat hippie childhood and it's given me an aversion to all things tie-died.  :)  I liked this color combo though - very tropical.

This block is going into a Halloween-themed quilt.  It's hard to tell with the fabrics so broken up, but there are a few fabrics here from Moda's Haunted Mansion line.  That green print is my favorite - it looks like creepy wallpaper (with dangling spiders!) and reminds me so much of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland.

I'll post the other blocks I did today soon...

Freedom Swap Block #1

Okay, I am such a dork.  The Freedom Block Swap I joined didn't even officially begin until today, but I happened to get my first fabric bundle in the mail yesterday, and I simply couldn't wait to start sewing!  One of my swap buddies from Las Vegas sent these adorable Dr. Seuss fabrics.  She has twin boys and is hoping to put together a Seusstastic quilt for their bedroom.  By 10:30 last night I'd finished this wonky log cabin block. 

One block down, 15 to go by mid-March!

The Question of the Day

Okay, here's the question.

White buttons?



Or orange buttons?

Freedom Block Swap

So far this year, there's only one thing written on my calendar...

I joined the Freedom Block Swap on Flickr!!  I'm so excited.  Darci from Stitches and Scissors was my inspiration - she's a part of so many different types of swaps!  The idea behind a swap is that crafters can join a group and make lots of little goodies for each other.  In a quilt swap, each person chooses her own fabrics, then mails little fabric bundles out to all the other members:

In turn, I'll receive bundles from everyone else.  So I mailed out 16 bundles:

And in the next week or so I'll receive 16 bundles from other members.  I have until March 15 to turn each bundle into a fabulous quilt block and mail it back to the original sender.  By March 15 I'll have all 16 of my bundles back, sewn into 16 unique quilt blocks.  Each block will have a different design, but the common thread will be the fabric I chose, so they'll go together into a new quilt! In some swaps, you get to tell everyone what kind of block to make with your fabrics.  The reason this is called the Freedom swap is that you pick the fabric, but then the design is a surprise.  Go check out the Flickr pool if you want to see pics from previous rounds of this swap!