design wall

I've noticed that my design wall ends up being a place for block storage rather than for designing. But I don't really mind. If nothing else, it's good to keep the blocks out in the open so I don't forget about them. :)

I almost always end up designing on the floor instead. It's easier to shuffle things around.

This was going to be the start of a kitchen sink quilt, but I wasn't feeling it. Yet. Rather than force the issue, I threw all the blocks into an orphan box and I'm letting it process a bit more. Maybe if I work it out in my head first, I'll avoid some major stitch ripping. Here's hoping so! I guess I have plenty of other things to work on until (further) inspiration strikes.

easy as pie

The Easy as Pie quilt is done! I sure love simple quilts that show off all kinds of pretty prints. Tara helped me pull fabrics for this quilt when she came to visit in February. It's always interesting to see my stash through other peoples' eyes. She added a few fabrics into the mix that I never would have thought to put it in, but I love how they all work together.

If I ever grow up as a quilter and I have my own signature style quilting, I'd like this to be it. It's relaxed, easy to do and adds a bit of movement to the quilt. I haven't washed it yet, but I have a feeling that it will have a great texture (even better than it is now, I should say!) after I do. The quilting lines, which are done with a walking foot, are about 1 1/4" apart. Just the right density to keep the quilt together for a long time, but far enough apart to maintain softness in the quilt.

This backing is something that I came across at JoAnn's, if you can believe it. It is THE perfect red, it was half price and I was amazed at how good it felt. Gotta love that! I just love red polka dots!! I bound the quilt in a sweet lime green print from my stash.

The quilt finishes at 58" x 70".

If you want to make a quilt like this, you can find the tutorial for the Easy as Pie quilt here.

Happy Monday to you!

winner

The winner of the book Modern Log Cabin Quilting is Momma Yen. Momma Yen, please send me your address. Thanks to everyone else for playing along. I loved reading your comments. Have a great Thursday!

my new baby

Last week I got a GO! baby fabric cutter. The main reason I wanted one of these cutters is so I can cut about a million 2 1/2" squares. I LOVE 2 1/2" squares, as you can see here, here, here, here and here. They are a pain to cut individually, but the Go! cutter makes quick work of them.

I've been getting acquainted with my new cutter by cutting down as many of my scraps as I can, starting with the ugly ones. Or should I say, the less than appealing ones. I'm working my way up to the pretty ones. I've made some progress, I'm happy to say. And just in time...my scraps were ready to take over!

Using the Go! cutter is easy....

lay the fabric on the die, making sure to align the grain of the fabric to the angle of the die,

 lay the cutting mat on top (as you can see, it's gotten some use already!)

crank the entire thing through the Go! baby

and almost instantly, the pieces are cut

there isn't a lot of waste....but if you know me, you know I won't toss all that

a few quick snips with a scissors or a few quick slices with the rotary cutter leaves you with tidy scraps

in the bowl they go with like sized pieces to be used for other projects...like triangles!

my kids love to help! if they are around, they always ask to can turn the crank

It folds up and becomes very compact. It's lightweight and portable, too.

The pieces shown were cut using the value die. It has a 2 1/2" square, 2 1/2" half square triangles, and a 4 1/2" square. The triangles are cut with the dog ears already trimmed, which is extremely handy!

Here are two of the little half square triangles sewn together. This little block will finish at 2" square. Oh, my! But then again, I'm not a stranger to insane scrap projects. I rather like them. :)

Modern Log Cabin Quilting

I'm happy to have the chance to review a copy of Modern Log Cabin Quilting, by Susan Beal. This beautiful book includes a brief history of the log cabin quilt, a section about choosing fabrics and materials, a quilt making basics section, and 25 patchwork projects. The projects are broken down into 3 sections: Quilts, Home Decor and Bags & Beyond. There are so many great ideas of what you can create using the log cabin block as your jumping off point. My personal favorite from the book is the quilt on the cover. I was smitten at first sight. After reading through the pattern, I think it's genius! I'm excited to make my own. It's simple and stunning...just my kind of quilt. :)

A few other things I loved in the book:

This inspiration quilt....made in 1865. Kinda looks like our modern quilts, eh?

I loved the simplicity of design and bold colors in the Straight Furrows quilt.

The starry night pillow is great, too.

The kind folks at Crown Publishing are offering up a free copy of the book to one of my readers. If you would like to win a copy, leave a comment in this post. In your comment, let me know what you are up to today. Personally, I'm going to go run some errands and pick up ingredients to make a huge kettle of soup. Yes, it's May 2 and it was SNOWING this morning! I'm none too happy about it, as you could probably imagine! So, I'm going to make some soup, hunker down with some quilting and try to make the best of it. After all, I do have a few quilts to work on. ;)

Happy Monday to you!

Oh, and thanks for all the birthday wishes for my daughter. I appreciate each and every one of them!

no time to quilt today

It's time to celebrate! My little girl-my baby-turns 5 today. I spent the whole week feeling melancholy, as I do any time my kids turn a year older. But now that the day is here, I'm ok. She's so excited, it's contagious. I just heard her singing in her room, "It's my birthdaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!" It's good to be 5!!! My hubby is off today and we are going to take her out for a day of fun. It's going to be a good, good day.

Normally, I have gotten away from birthday posts, but I read this blog post and some of the comments yesterday. (Don't click on through unless you have lots of time.) Boy, has it go me thinking! It makes me want to be a more honest blogger. Not that I've been a dishonest blogger, not at all. But it makes me want to be more real here. More well rounded. But more on that later...I've got some celebrating to do!

Happy Friday to you!

finishing

I've been focusing on finishing some quilts this week. Man, does it feel good! I hope I can keep up my momentum, because I have 22 to go after this. That's not THAT bad, is it? ;)

a new portable project

I'm very excited-I found my portable summer hand stitching project! This makes me laugh, and is highly optimistic, since spring hasn't even sprung here yet. But once summer comes, I'll be ready!

This quilt is inspired by Jessica's travel quilts. Aren't they AMAZING? I have admired her star quilts for years, and now I'm diving in. I'm as scared as I was when I first was trying hand applique, but that turned out pretty dandy, so why not try something new?

A few specifics: Jessica has a video tutorial on how to make the stars. There is a flickr group here. She suggests using quilt patis, but I made my own cardboard templates. I didn't want to wait and order them, so I tried making my own, complete with punched holes and so far, so good! I drew a 60 degree diamond, with each diamond side measuring 2" long, which means the stars finish at 6.5" across. I can't wait to watch it grow. This is going to be a fun journey!

Happy Monday to you!

pillows

I finished the triangle pillow! And I LOVE IT! The tutorial for the triangle blocks is here. The inspiration for the pillow is here.

I turned my dresden into a pillow, too. I had to add some patchwork to two of the sides to make it bigger. And then I added a few strips to the two remaining sides to make it (almost) square...and then I had to stop myself. :) I love how they BOTH turned out. I think I need to make a few more!

retreating

I had fun retreating in Colorado this past weekend. It's always wonderful to spend time with my friend Tara. That girl throws an amazing retreat! Good times, great food, great people!

Penny was just as cute as could be in her little apron. She taught workshops on paper piecing and improvisational piecing. The workshops were great.They had the perfect mix of information and inspiration with some challenge thrown in for good measure. I learned a lot.

I made these sewing machines without a pattern. I just improvisationally pieced them from my own little sketch. I looooooooooooooove them! This is nothing I have ever tried before, (shoot, this is nothing that I had even thought of doing before) and I am so pleased with my first attempts. The spools were Penny's idea and I think that it totally makes the block!

We had all agreed in advance to do a pot holder swap. It was fun to see how all 6 of them coordinated so well. Aren't they so so sweet? The second one from the left, made by Carmen, came home to live with me. Yay!

I sewed on this cutie patootie sewing machine all weekend, thanks to the ever generous Julie.

The prize bags were filled to the gills with goodies! We all got spoiled. Thank you Tara!

There was also fabric shopping, which was actually more like fabric hunting. :) We had great success. Hurray!

There were lots of laughs, a few headaches (literally, which don't mix well with paper piecing, let me tell you!), and lots of fabric scraps everywhere by the end of the weekend.

from L to R: Penny, Amanda, Tara, Carmen, Melinda, Audrey

Here's a group shot. I had met Carmen, Penny last fall. It was great to meet AudreyPawdry in real life (she and I were in a bee together a few years back), and Melinda, who is also from Wisconsin. I'm so glad that I was able to sew all weekend long with these very lovely ladies. Good times, good times.

On the flip side, it is great to be back home. I missed my husband and kids so much. Now, I have to find a home for a bunch of fabric scraps and the yardage I acquired while I was away.

living up to my blog name

I'm working on a small project using small scraps. These triangles finish at about 3", give or take. I took this project to my little neighborhood quilting group on Saturday morning. They all know I'm off my rocker now. Or at the very least, living up to my blog name. :) Oh, well. I'm having fun!

If you want to make some of these little babies yourself, here's how. You know, because I want to enable you to use your scraps, too. That way I won't look quite as crazy.

First, make a pattern of an equilateral triangle that measures 3.5" on each side. (Or any size you please.) 

I drew it on paper first, using my 60 degree markings on my cutting ruler as a guide. 

Make a cardboard template of the triangle. Use the cardboard template to trace the triangle onto scratch paper. Math homework sheets seem to work the best. (ha!) Once the triangles are traced, cut them out using a paper scissors.

Then, take your fabric scraps, the smaller the better. Pick two.

Make sure that the scraps will cover the paper completely when in place.

Sew them right sides together, right through the paper. Set your stitch length on something pretty short. On my machine, I use a 2 (out of 6). This allows you to rip the paper off easily.

Fold down the scrap on the right and press well.

Pick another scrap, sew, press.

Repeat until the triangle is covered.

Flip the piece upside down.

 Trim, using the paper as your guide.

There is a little waste...but not much. Yay!!!

Rip off the paper pieces and give the triangle a final press.

Repeat until your heart's content.

One disclaimer....sewing through the paper will dull your needle, so you will want to change it afterwards. I usually have a few needles set aside just for foundation paper piecing projects like this.

I'm sewing my little triangles into rows. And someday will make a pillow cover with it.

If you try this, I'd love to see what you come up with! Have fun playing with your scraps!

Happy Monday to you!

winner

The winner of The Art Quilt Collection is Jane! Jane, please send me your address so I can set you up with your new book! Thanks to all of you who entered. I hope you have a happy Friday!