ridiculous

I am making 9 patches out of 1'' cut squares. I'm not sure why.

I'll be the first to admit that it's ridiculous.
Each block will finish at 1.5".
(I totally blame Tara.)

Oh, and the next contestant of my scrap challenge is Thimbleanna! Send me some of your scraps, lady, but don't go expecting a king sized quilt! ;)

scrap challenge, round 3

This mini quilt came all the way from England. Anne, who was my round 2 scrap challenge contestant, offered to play with my scraps in return. This is what she made for me. I LOVE it! It's currently hanging on my craft room wall and I smile every time I see it. Thank you, Anne!

That reminds me...

It's time to open up the scrap challenge for round 3!

Here's how the scrap challenge works. One selected reader will send me a small bag of scraps. I will use the scraps, plus additional fabrics of my choice, to make a mini quilt. The mini quilt will be sent back to the scrap sender. I absolutely love this challenge because it gives me a chance to play with fabrics that I may not choose on my own. If you would like to be entered in the draw, leave me a comment on this post. If you have any suggestions of what you would like to see, you can feel free to add them in the comment. I will chose the winner randomly this time.

You can read about how the scrap challenge series first started here.

The results of the first round are here.
And the results of the second round are here.

crazy quilting with free fabric from the yarn shop

Alternate titles could be:

crazy mom takes a stab at crazy quilting

(you know it was only a matter of time...)

or

what's wrong with adding yet ANOTHER work in progress (or two) to the list?

So, my friend Tara came to visit this past weekend. The trip here was her birthday present and I love that I got to take part in celebrating with her. We had a BLAST! (With the exception that my boys shared their colds with everyone.)

We made a stop at IKEA. We did some playing with fabric and yarn. We did some sock knitting. (And some frogging and re-knitting.) Tara did some free motion quilting on the Juki. I started 2 new quilts. (Why start only one?) We visited my favorite yarn shop and my favorite quilt shop.

At the yarn shop we found a few things to purchase (of course) and in the middle of our transaction, Pam (the wonderful yarn store lady) excitedly remembered that someone was purging their fabric stash and told us to go take a look. (She knows that I'm a quilter.) I was skeptical that we would find anything good, but how wrong was I?

Very, very wrong.

We found lots of vintage silks. And some velvets. And linen. Some woven cottons and a few batik pieces. Most of the pieces were once clothing pieces. There was a wonderful variety of colors and prints. We left with a bag and a box full of fabric. Full of FREE fabric. :) It was a fabulous find.

The fabric find led to some crazy quilting experimentation. The plan was to make a few squares to turn into pillows, but I switched from pillows to a quilt in no time flat. I think I neglected to tell Tara, which was very funny. But making quilts is what I do.

Here are the first two blocks. I rather like them a lot. The bird piece on the right was part of our find as well and I think that it will make a wonderful (funky) addition to the crazy quilt. The piece on the left is my very favorite of the whole lot. It's is a GREAT red polka dot. I wish I had yards and yards.

It is sweet to find free vintage fabric at the yarn shop, but even sweeter when you have a friend to share it with. :)

Happy Monday to you!

use your stash!

I have a lot of big plans for this year. One of them is to use more of my stash. We all say that every year, don't we? Well, I have a plan of attack. I must admit I'm a bit hesitant to do roll out this plan, because I'm afraid that I'm biting off more than I can chew...so I will state this as an intention of what I hope to do. :)

My plan is to make a quilt top each month, mostly from stash. I will reserve the right to purchase a few things to make it work, if necessary. Each pattern will be pretty straightforward and fairly simple. (Nothing new there!) And, I plan to share that pattern each month (any day I choose) here on my blog. It is my hope that this will inspire you to use your stash, too!

Here's the first pattern, called Long Division....

Finished size is 60'' x 75''

I designed this quilt to showcase some of those big bold prints that I was hesitant to use because they were too pretty to chop into tiny little bits. I used 70 different prints, each fabric is only used once. In order to keep things somewhat orderly, I arranged the prints according to value.

Materials:
2.625 yards medium and dark fabrics
1.375 yards light fabrics
1/2 yard binding fabric
(I didn't round up in my estimation of the fabrics above...so you can if you need to.)
4 yards backing fabric
64" x 79" batting of your choice

Cutting:
From light fabrics, cut 20 pieces 6.5" x 12.5" These are A pieces.

From medium and dark fabrics, cut 20 pieces 6.5" x 9.5" These are B pieces.

From medium and dark fabrics, cut 30 pieces 6.5" x 11.5" These are C pieces.

Assembly:

From the A pieces, take 5 blocks and sew them together, horizontally, end to end. (See rows 2, 4, 6 and 8 in the photograph below.) Make 4.

From the B pieces, take 10 blocks and sew them together, vertically, side to side. (See rows 1 and 9 in the photograph below.) Make 2.

From the C pieces, take 10 blocks and sew them together, vertically, side to side. (See rows 3, 5 and 7 in the photograph below.) Make 3.

Sew rows 1-9 together and you have a completed quilt top. Baste, quilt and bind as desired. Then wrap up in your pretty new quilt!

This is a 100% stash quilt. Yay! But I didn't even begin to make a dent in my stash. Boo! However, it is a step in the right direction! I hope you like this one as much as I do. If you make a quilt using this pattern, I'd love to see it.

Happy Monday to you!

disconnect

There is a serious disconnect between my stash and how I decorate my home. I've known this for quite some time, but for some reason, it's been bugging me lately.

Here's a pile of stash fabrics that I acquired last month when shopping with my sister at Bay Window Quilt Shop. Love that store! The sale they were having was quite good, thus the tall stack. (It was my end of the year add-a-little-to-the-stash-before-I-have-to-be-good-again hurrah.)

In contrast, this is a photo of my couch.

The pillows are made from the Glace line by Moda. Anything by French General or 3 Sisters would fit perfectly in my home, but I certainly don't stash (or rarely even buy) that fabric. Instead I buy bright orange and aqua. Yellows, pinks...anything bright. Does anyone else have this problem? It just seems a bit strange to me.

I had a fleeting thought, which would be more expensive to replace: my furniture or my stash? I quickly realized that it's definitely best NOT to contemplate that one...

fresh fabric treats winner

Thanks for all the excitement about the new Moda Bake Shop book, Fresh Fabric Treats. The winner of a copy of the book and a layer cake is epban. Thanks to everyone for playing along!

cold

Last Friday the temperature here was -22 degrees F. Can you say FRI-GID?

It is no coincidence that I found time to finish up a pair of hand knit socks over the weekend. This is my 5th pair! I love hand knit socks! These are made from Alpaca yarn, which is incredibly soft. They feel wonderful on my always cold feet.

It is also no coincidence that I started knitting a pair of mittens. Easy peasy. These are so soft and smushy. I'm going to love wearing them!

I also found time last week to crochet this scarf. It went QUICK! I was done in about a day and a half. I love it! Hurray for crochet!

There was plenty of quilting going on between these projects. I had to laugh, because it occurred to me that all my hobbies involve making things to keep me warm. At least they are practical. I can't complain about that. :)

Progressive Dinner

Welcome to Moda Bake Shop and Stash Book's Progressive Dinner! We are celebrating the upcoming release of a new book called Fresh Fabric Treats. It's a book filled with 16 great patterns for using pre-cuts. The patterns are designed by Moda Bake Shop chefs. (hey, that includes me!)

If you are new here, let me introduce myself....I am Amanda Jean aka Crazy Mom. I have 3 young children and a wonderful, supportive husband. I quilt rather obsessively. I've been at it for 10 years (can it be?) and I love it more every year. I have recently started teaching quilting classes and I love to design my own quilts. A few of my favorite MBS quilts are here, here and here.

Since this is a progressive dinner, here's a little recipe for Stromboli for you. I know it's early in the dinner, so I should be serving up an appetizer, but I'm skipping right to the main course. This is one of my family's favorite meals. Serve it with a green salad and cottage cheese. Oh, and don't forget some marinara sauce for dipping! Yummy for all! We actually had this for dinner last night.

To make Stromboli you will need:
1 loaf frozen bread dough
1/2 lb. sliced ham
1/2 lb. pepperoni
8 oz. shredded Swiss cheese
Parmesan cheese
dried oregano
garlic powder

Let the dough rise according to package directions. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface until it is about 14'' x 18''. Layer the ham and pepperoni on the dough, top with Swiss cheese, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, oregano and garlic powder. Roll up like a jelly roll and pinch the ends and edges to seal. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes. Let cool slightly. Slice and eat!

Ok, now let's talk a little more about this book and the prizes!

Here's a sneak peek at a few of the projects that are included....see that quilt on the lower right? That was designed by me! I'm so thrilled to be a part of this book. (It's still hard to believe.) It's fun to finally be able to talk about it!


If you would like a chance to win a copy of the book AND a layer cake (specific fabric line to be determined), please leave a comment here on this post. The book is scheduled to release in late April or early May, so you would receive both prizes at that time.

If you would like a chance to win a fat quarter bundle, a fat eight bundle, jelly roll, layer cake AND a charm pack (over $200 value!), be sure to visit and leave a comment at every author's stop of the progressive dinner.

Here's the schedule:

January 20
Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts
Roslyn Mirrington of Bloom

Vanessa Christenson of V and Co.

January 21

John Adams of Quilt Dad

Monica Solorio-Snow of The Happy Zombie

January 22

Kimberly Walus of Bitty Bits and Pieces

Melissa Mortenson of The Polkadot Chair

January 23

Natalia Bonner of Piece N Quilt

Vickie Eapen of Spun Sugar Quilts

January 24

Rachel Griffith of P.S. I Quilt
Lissa Alexander of Moda Lissa

January 25

Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts
Sweetwater

January 26

Angela Yosten

Jenny Garland

I'll pick the winner of the layer cake and a copy of Fresh Fabric Treats on January 27th. Good luck!

stars

These were made from white Kona cotton and lots of pretty scraps...many of which came from Terri. Thank you, friend!

The tutorial is here. I loved it then, I love it even more now, in a scrappy version.

I love free piecing, but once in awhile it's a good exercise to do some precision piecing for a change. My 1/4'' foot helps!

Doh! I just noticed an error in one of the blocks. Can you see it too?

workshop in progress

Cheryl is relaunching her Workshop in Progress series this week. (You can read more about it here.) I am joining in. Truthfully, this isn't easy for me. It feels like I'm putting a lot of myself out there...and some days that's easier than others. Today it feels like a stretch. But I love the concept of this workshop and I do need some input.

Remember my gingham quilt? I really wanted to make gingham. I NEEDED to make gingham. Once the idea got in my head it took root firmly and I had to see it through. Know what I mean?

Once I made the quilt, though, I could see that it needed something. I didn't expect to use this as a background fabric, but that's where I'm headed. I'd like to applique a large daisy on it. I wanted to see what it would look like before cutting into fabric, so I used paper instead. It's handy, because the paper pieces will serve as my templates when I make the applique pieces.

My dilemma is...the daisy is just sitting there floating on the surface. Does it need some design element to anchor it to the background? I don't really want to do a large stem. I thought about adding on a few smaller daisies (for a total of 3) and maybe having one go "off the page". But they would still be floating on the surface. I'm stuck.

Do you have any thoughts? Suggestions?

my bed

This is version 3!
You can see version one here
and version two here.

I love having options! And I LOVE this bedding set! My husband doesn't mind florals. Hurray for that!
This was going to be my summer look, but this is such a nice contrast from these short dreary winter days.

Don't be fooled, my house only LOOKS peaceful...and only in selected areas. :)

winner

The winner of the very small scraps that would make an excellent Ticker Tape quilt is Korbi! I've added a bunch more to the lot during this past week and I'm glad that they will be going to a new home. Thanks to everyone for playing along. I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who saves and LOVES scraps that much!

Happy Monday to you!