Meadowland Quilt Along

I started a new quilt! Partly because new things are fun but also because I wanted to join in with a quilt along on Instagram. The pattern is called Meadowland by Then Came June. 

We are now in week three of the #meadowlandqal and as of last night I now have 8 blocks completed. I’m using a stack of Denyse Schmidt fabrics I had originally put together for a different project back in 2013 but never got around to it. It would have been cool to use black or charcoal for the background fabric but didn’t have any in my stash and talked myself out of it. 

I added a few more prints and wound up cutting for 25 blocks total, which should give me a finished quilt that’s 80” square. The kids helped me mix and match the fabric pieces. The first block I sewed together ended up bugging me, the two orange prints were just too similar in value. So I performed surgery! Which was tricky and annoying but totally worth it. 

You might notice I don’t appear to be sewing in the bright new sewing room I was showing off in my last post! That’s because we spent some time working on the basement and it’s a big useable space now with a play area for the kids, so I’m sewing down here, too. Eventually everything sewing related will live down here full time and Rita will get her bedroom back. 

I love this method of making flying geese where you start out with one big square and end up with four flying geese units. It’s quick and fun and you don’t end up with little scraps. 

That’s all for now. 

Well Hello Again

I’ve recently come out of the fog of new motherhood and am rediscovering a life I once knew! A creative, quilty life. We changed houses, remodeled the new house, had a second baby, and I stay home with the kids now. In this time my sewing room has been packed up in boxes, waiting for me in the basement. And now it’s happening! I’ve moved the two kids into a shared bedroom and have set up a functioning sewing room. YAY.

Lots to unpack and organize still, but that’s the fun part, right? There’s a ton of long languished UFO’s hanging out and I’ve already finished up a few things while digging though. Here’s a couple of them. Leftover broken dishes blocks from a mini quilt swap became a throw pillow for Rita’s bedroom. She requested it be soft and cuddly, so I had to involve minky. I don’t really know why, but I did two layers of batting and things got pretty thick so I ended up doing a double fold binding and hand stitching it to the back.

Also found this half made rope basket and finished it up. For now it’s sitting on the floor for little scraps and thread trimmings. 

I’ve been posting on Instagram again but it’s a confusing place for me now. There’s a lot more to it than I remember! I figure while I’m figuring it out, I’ll give this old blog a kick too. Anybody out there? Leave me a comment if you read this far!

That’s all for now. 

two quilt tops and some x and plus blocks

Here's my latest set of friendship x and plus blocks for Elizabeth of opquilt.com.

I made them while at retreat with the KCMQG a couple weekends ago. Carla of lollyquiltz did a lovely recap post on the  whole thing, if you hadn't already seen it you should go check it out. We all had such a great time. 

I had just gotten over the first trimester hump (that's right, I'm growing a baby!) which involved a lot of sleeping and laying around feeling useless. Bad headaches, too. But luckily no vomit so I think it went pretty well! Anyways I had lost my sewing mojo and this retreat gave me three whole days of it, which was fantastic. 

I finally assembled my 64 scrappy trip-along blocks into a quilt top, they'd only been sitting in a pile for a year. That's me on the right, the photo is blurry because I stole it off a friend on Instagram.

I also got my Acacia hst blocks put together. Although when I texted Jon the pic he replied "why is the bottom row upside down?" which made me laugh so hard because we'd all been lookin at it for hours and hadn't noticed. So I unpicked and put it back on the right way.

A big thanks to MO Star Quilt Company and the KCMQG for the amazing weekend, can't wait to do it again next year!

friendship x and plus swap, a Friday late!

We're supposed to blog about our swap blocks on the last Friday of every month, but I forgot and figure the first Friday is just as good! I'm a big fan of where Elizabeth (opquilt.com) and I have gotten so far.

I'm counting 38 blocks, which means we're just past the halfway mark. I keep trying to stay ahead of her but I'd better get busy because once spring semester ends and she's done with grading, she'll have them all finished in no time! 

dawn blossom in progress

I promised a dear IG friend months ago that I would test out a pattern for her when she finished drafting it. So that's what I'm up to! Started last weekend by pulling fabrics and starching, pressing, cutting... I got all the half square triangle and flying geese units sewn together and then let it sit for the week. 

So then this past weekend we were at Jon's parents' house and I pressed and trimmed the HSTs and geese, then sewed all the segments into blocks. At which point I debated on whether to go ahead with the table runner I had planned or turn it into a wall hanging instead. You see, the blocks turned out way bigger than I was imagining them in my head. Which is great, but also means the table runner will be way too big for our table, which is even smaller than the one it's pictured on below. 

So I think I'll end up doing the runner, but it will have to be sent down to my parents' house to live since they're the only ones with a table large enough to display it properly. I'm sure they'll be terribly disappointed, but parents were put here to make sacrifices for their children. 

More on this later when it's finished.

sunday stash + birthday fun

Yesterday was my birthday so we stopped off at Missouri Star Quilt Company on our way to the inlaws' house. I only spent $17, can you believe it?! I have a LOT of fabric and don't really have room for more, but this shop in Hamilton, MO sure is fun to visit. They have a huge selection and beautiful antique quilts hanging all around.

Since 2013 was my year for stashing, I figure 2014 ought to be my year for slashing! With the #economyblockalong in full swing on Instagram, I started thinking about which hoarded fabric bundles I could use to play along. Any excuse to start something new, right?!

I posted this mosaic on IG and asked for feedback. Clockwise from top left: Dream On by Urban Chiks for Moda, Folk Modern by Ellen Luckett Baker for Kokka, some Civil War repros that I bought with Jon in mind (I love them, but he REALLY loves them) and Bake Sale by Lori Holt for Riley Blake. My goodness I got a lot of feedback! Surprisingly it was somewhat evenly split amongst the four.

Of course, after hemming and hawing and coming no closer to a decision, I ended up tucking those options back into my stash and pulling out my Flower Sugar by Lecien and the assortment of black and white prints I'd been building for an occasion such as this. 

So here's where I'm at, almost all the cutting done and can't wait to start playing with the pieces! I'm making a total of 64 12" blocks which will yield a 96" square quilt. Go big or go home!

In addition to the wee bit of fabric shopping, I received a 14" rotating cutting mat, a 24"x36" standard mat pictured previously (under all that glorious fabric) and this book by Denyse Schmidt which I've been lusting after for a while. The large mat will stay at my inlaws' house, since I'm always missing mine when we're here! 

All in all, it was a fabulous birthday and I feel super über loved and spoiled! I guess getting older isn't so bad. Have a happy Sunday! :D

you know what's fun?

Fabric wrapped rope art! The kind where you take cotton clothesline rope, wrap it with those leftover fabric strips that are too thin to use but you just can't throw away, and sew together in coil fashion using a wide zig zag stitch. So easy, so useful, so fun!

I made several as last minute Christmas gifts last week and in all the mayhem didn't manage to take many photos! Blarg. I made a big basket with handles for my grandmother, it used 50ft of 3/8" rope, seen in progress below.

The wrapping with fabric part is a bit time consuming, so after a while I decided to play around with just the rope and some brightly colored thread. This worked great and was SO fast. Next time I'll try variegated thread an see how that looks.

I made some bowls and baskets in various sizes, including the one above filled with mini charm packs, which I kept for myself. I'm gearing up to make a table runner out of those 2.5" civil war repros, I've been having a thing for them lately.

 

I then switched gears to create a set of four coasters all cozied up in their own little carrying case. I think coaster sets may turn out to be a very quick and easy (and cheap!) handmade gifting staple in the the future. 

Also some batik wrapped trivets, because those are fun and easy and totally useful, too! Endless possibilities. I didn't have any trouble fitting the rope under my presser foot, but I did raise it up just a smidge by messing with the tension spring.

As far as rope goes, my first batch was from Westlake Ace Hardware, 50ft for about $8, which seemed steep. It has a poly core but it's mostly cotton and behaved beautifully when sewing. Then my husband got 100 ft lengths for $4 at Walmart, which felt like a steal! It doesn't look as nice unwrapped, but sews just as well. 

Also, Happy New Year! I'm too lazy to round up all my 2013 sewing projects into some kind of mosaic or video, I hope you don't mind. It was such a wonderful year for me, the best yet by far! Here's hoping this year is just as good or web better.