a sweet quilt

This is a little quilt that I designed for the Moda Bakeshop.

It measures 45" x 54". I consider that a baby quilt, but it could also be used for a lap quilt.

I like the busy prints all crammed together. And the tumbler shapes make it look complex, but it really is easy peasy. Just the way I like it. :)

The tutorial is here.

complete

my new bedding set is complete.
i love it. so, so much.

i heart quilt alongs

Thanks a bunch for all the comments on the "where do you buy fabric" debate. I appreciate each and every comment...I read them all, yes, even those after the 200 mark. And don't you doubt it. :) It was so very interesting!

I've been working on several quilt alongs....I seem to be unable pass one up.

Anita at Bloomin' Workshop is hosting a reclaimed clothing quilt along. This is the stack of clothing that I started with.

Instead of donating our used clothing to a thrift shop, I have been slowly collecting fabrics that would be appropriate for quilt making. Yes, I'm trying my hand at making a quilt the old school way. I'm using fabric (of undetermined origin, no less!) for the background that came from my grandma's house.

The solids colored blocks are made from previously worn (sounds better than "old" doesn't it?) pants. The plaids are from shirts that my husband and son wore. The red one was a victim of an unfortunate mustard incident after church during a cook out. But there was still plenty usable fabric left for a few blocks. I am finding great satisfaction in repurposing these clothes.

It's not the easiest to work with the heavier materials. One thing that I have found is that I seem to have better success piecing with my walking foot. It allows me to sew a more exact 1/4" seam than my actual 1/4" piecing foot does. It's just a hair different, but when piecing stars, that hair really matters. Anyway, I have a recipient in mind for this quilt and the fact that it will be an old school quilt will be even better than if it was made from all quilt shop fabric, in his mind. Yay for that!

John is also hosting a wonky log cabin quilt along. He is doing a series of tutorials on his blog...I've learned a few new tips already and we are just getting started. By joining in, it is my goal to try to use up a bunch of my scraps, not to see how many quilts I could start in a year. :) (I had to leave my toes in the shot so I could add it to the toe catchers flickr group.)

I'm admitting defeat in Anina's geese in the forest quilt along. I'm making a very, very small version of it. Better finished than a few blocks floundering in a basket somewhere forever, right?

And finally, my one a day quilt along.

It's day 47. I have made 38 blocks. Gotta catch up!

i have issues

I think a lot about quilting. Shocking, I know. There is one issue that I have been trying to work out in my mind over the past several weeks. I've read several times in books and on the occasional blog that when quilting, "you should only use the highest quality quilting cottons that are available." Am I the only one that gets a little bit irritated when I read that? Isn't that a far cry from where quilting started out in the first place?

fabric from the Eagle Creek quilt shop in Shakopee, MN

In a perfect world, sure, that would be nice. But so would laundry that cleans and folds itself and a self unloading dishwasher. I do love what I call "quilt shop fabric" but I slum it at JoAnn's fairly regularly and even at Wal-Mart occasionally. I also use vintage fabrics in my quilts, which is another thing that "they" say you shouldn't do. I just looked through my stash and I would estimate that about 60% of it is from quilt shops. That's an all time high for me. I do love quilt shop fabric. It's pretty and well designed and soooooo nice. But then again, I have to be realistic, too. I am a stay at home mom to 3 kids who makes many quilts each year. I don't have an endless quilting budget. And the quilts that I made 9 years ago out of what would be considered less than the "highest quality quilting cottons available" are still holding together nicely. I guess I'm just thinking out loud.

fabric from Cia's Palette

I'm curious to know, what are your thoughts on this subject? What do you do?

a new work in progress

...as of this morning.

The inspiration quilt is here. Isn't that an absolutely incredible quilt?

I have a good excuse, though....September is my month for the Sew Connected Quilting Group. And I thought it only kind to do a test block before subjecting my fellow quilters to making blocks for me. :) I am so excited for this quilt!!!!

this post brought to you by the number 6

quilt top made from 6" squares-all scraps

$6 shoes by American Eagle (!!!)

6 days until my boys start school

6 is also the number of quilts that I have started in the past few weeks.

I realize I need help.

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Credit for the photo composition goes to Cheryl. It was inspired by this post.

my quilt cupboard...

is full.

I asked my husband what I should do now. He simply said, "Rejoice."
That was the best answer. Ever.

i can knit my own socks!

it makes me giddy. it really does.

to prove that the first pair wasn't a fluke, here's my second finished pair.

my husband thinks i'm nuts.

i just think it proves that i have a high tolerance for tedium, which comes in handy in my current profession, stay at home mom.

elia's quilt top

48" x 60"

My dear friend Erin's little girl is 11 months old. This was going to be her baby quilt...ahem...but given her age, I decided to make it a little larger so it will last her awhile. Works out, as it seems I am incapable of making small quilts.

The quilt is a far cry from what I envisioned in my head, but I think I like it. I was planning on having the red and aqua more checkerboard-ish, but it ended up random, so I'm going with it. It's probably better this way...less predictible.

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Here are the measurements of the blocks, if you would care to make this quilt yourself. Heather made a larger version of this quilt, too. You can see it here.

(Double click on the photos to see the measurements.)

Make 10 blocks like this.

And 10 blocks like this.

Each block should measure 12.5" unfinished for a 12" finished square.

Alternate the blocks when laying out the quilt. Easy enough, right?

It requires a total of 1.5 yards of fabric.

All the fabric for this quilt came from my stash and scraps. I think I used about 18 different prints.

If you make a quilt like this, I'd love to see it. :)

sugar + spice + everything nice

Here is my quilt from the Old Red Barn quilt along-finally finished. I've had a roller coaster ride with this one, as far as me liking it. I loved the fabric, then put it all together and thought about putting the top up for adoption. I had a hard time settling on a backing I liked, too. Since I quilted it, though, I love it again.

When piecing this one, I decided to press the seams on the blocks open. It took a long time, but it made the quilting easier. After making this quilt, it strengthened my dislike for strip piecing. I know it's efficient and all, but I personally don't care for the process. I think it's because I'm an excessive back stitcher.

This is one of my favorite fabrics of all time to use for binding quilts...in any color way...I love it every time.

For quilting, I branched out. Again! I owe a big thank you to Cheryl for helping me break free from my stippling rut. She has helped me get over my fear of "I'm going to ruin this quilt if I don't stipple it." She encouraged me to try to come up with a quilting design based on one of the fabrics in the quilt. This is what I came up with, inspired by this fabric. Isn't it fun(ky)? I really like it. A lot. It was a happy accident that I chose to quilt in rows, as the design of the quilt (the strips) kept me going in a fairly straight line without any marking. I love it when things work out like that.

For the backing, I used one strip of the patterned fabric down the middle and put the solid pink on each side. Much like this quilt back. All the backing came from my stash. Actually, now that I think of it, this is a 100% stash quilt. I wonder if I get extra points for that??? :)

This is a full size, measuring 72" x 90", but I'm using it on my daughter's twin size bed. I really like having the extra overhang on the sides. Now I just have to order some fabric to make a matching sham. The cutie pie doll on the bed came from Carol. :) She matches perfectly.

Can I tell you just how much fun it is to have a little girl in the house?

easing back into things

Thanks for all your kind comments and encouragement since my last post. I am so thankful for your words of support. They mean so much. I feel so much better with all that off my chest.

My husband was on vacation last week, so it was a perfect time to step away from the blog. It felt great to take a break. So great. We went camping for a few nights (got that out of my system for another year-two days is all it takes!), spent some time with our families and I actually did very little quilting. My husband and I celebrated our 12 year anniversary, too. It was a good FULL week.



Now, back to business....the quilt along....it's day 23. I've got 22 blocks made. I spent some time yesterday and today trying to catch up. How are you doing on the quilt along? Still plugging away?

the rest of the story

Thanks so much for the kind comments on the studio and for sharing your space with me. I'm still working through the links...but I will be sure to make the rounds.

A few of you asked, "Is it always so neat and tidy?" Well, I did clean up a little bit before shooting the photos, maybe 5-10 minutes. So not a lot. I try to keep it neat because it's much more enjoyable to work in a neat space. But here's the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey would say...


My closet.

It's never clean. There are layers of stuff in front of other stuff. The way it's set up now, it's not user friendly at all. I wasn't going to share this photo with you, but I am, because oftentimes when blogging it's too easy to edit out the dirty details. It can create the illusion that all things are rosy. I guess I'm just trying to do a little fair and balanced reporting here.

Which brings me to my next point...blogging has been making me feel grossly inadequate. And fiercely competitive. And a little bit crazy. I've been trying to keep up with it all, but I can't. I keep pushing myself to come up with more and more fabulous stuff and it's making me tired. So very tired. So for those that ask me, how do you do it all? Don't try to do it all. It takes all the fun out of it.