decamping

The movers will be here in 1 week. Instead of freaking out, I am trying to just do stuff. They will pack everything, except my quilting/sewing stuff. I will do that next weekend. In the meantime, and when in town, I have been doing therapy sewing (isn't it all therapy?).

Finished this:

Pattern is Moon Dance by Villa Rosa Quilts. These are the little postcard patterns. I can not resist them. Fun, well-written, easy, wish I had thought of this?
A detail, mostly Carolyn Friedlander fabric, with this little goldfish thrown in for fun.

I think it makes a great gender-neutral baby quilt to have in my stash.

On my wall, I am designing this:

Can you tell I like orange? This winter has been tough so I am gravitating toward the bright colors. Orange, red and pink just make me happy. And with my traveling for work, I have a lot of time in the to think about quilts. While I appreciate ALL quilts, I realize each of us has a different aesthetic, and for me, I love scrappy! This one is coming along nicely, if I had a batting, I would get to quilting!

Finally, I have done some quilting for hire. Here is a detail of what I recently finished:

A Downton Abbey themed quilt for a friend, she always lets me do what I want. This beautiful quilt really wanted feathers. And it quilted like a dream.

Next post may be from our new abode. Fingers crossed for a smooth move!

Recalculating...

So, you know when you put an address in your GPS and it maps your trip? You are supposed to follow its turn-by-turn directions and reach your destination in the proscribed time.

Then, a billboard for an interesting shop catches your eye, so you take the next exit. Then you hear that robitic voice instructing you to make a u-turn. And next, in a resigned tone you hear: recalculating.

See the GPS is still trying to get you where you told it you wanted to go. And you still want to get there, but this neat detour popped up!

I use this to describe my quilting journey. A couple of years ago I had planned how it would go. I was dying my own fabric, working intuitively, doing my thing. Then I got caught up in wanting to make the quilts I was seeing online, using the fabrics that were being introduced each week.

My journey took a detour. Not by design, but by purpose. See I was making a quilt each week, zipping through them. Learning a lot as I went.

Lately, my making has slowed down, I am in a very busy place. My job has me traveling, and this time of year has a lot of activities. I still try to sew or quilt each day. But I am recalculating as I go, no specific destination, enjoying the detours.

Recently completed this large-block "X plus" quilt.

 

And used the extra half-square triangles to make this baby quilt.

Focusing on the fabric.

I am using my stash, making patterns I have been saving. Not racing, just enjoying!

Fun, fast, eazy times 2

I found a new "go to" pattern for using my obessive collection of fat quarters. 

It is by Villa Rosa, the "Cloud 9" quilt. 

I had a FQ bundle of Foxfield by Tula Pink, and grabbed some yardage fron my stash of "whites that aren't really white" (thats what I call them). I pieced the first one while at the beach. Once I had it done, I knew I would make another!

Here they are together:

 

One is my 2014 Stokes County Humane Society raffle quilt, the other is being raffled in Virginia by the Friends of Hanover Dog Parks.

I love how bright and colorful they are! I also love how fast they go together!

The faster I get them pieced, the quicker I get to quilt them!

Easing back into the blog

Life has been happening.

Traveling a lot with new position (yay)!

Lots of work with new position (loving the challenge)!

Son completed graduate degree (yay)!

Moved back home.

Son found job in career field (whoopee)!

Helped son find apartment in new city 2 hours away.

Gifted son with this quilt in recognition of his accomplishment:

Pattern: Metro Hoops made with Quick Curve Ruler by Sew Kind of Wonderful.

Curve and diamond fabrics are Little Black Dress 1. My son loves green, so I found this mottled fabric and love the classic look with the LBD fabrics.

FMQ on my glorious Tiara.

For the record:

I love the Quick Curve Ruler and the Sew Kind of Wonderful patterns are amazingly well written and easy to follow.

Long time, no post!

So, life happens!

Took a new position in my company, lots to learn, blogging took a back seat. Squeezing in quilting as often as possible. To catch you up, gentle readers: 

My Jolly Rodger, 20" by 20".

Lunch bag swap in TMQG

Quiling for $$$

More quilting for $$$

Yes, it is done but I didn't get a pic before it got hung! Hanging in a LQS, 105" square.

I purchased this quilt top from a group in Poland. I quilted it and donated to a church fundraiser. Approximately double-bed size.

20" by 20" pillow for our sofa.

So you see, I have quilted a bit!

One more for 2013

This one squeaked in under the wire, i got it bound around 11:30 last night.

I call it "Sweet Dreams", as this is for our bed. It is 97" long by 108" wide. I engineered the pattern to fit our king bed without a turn-down at the top.

I started it last New Year's Day, as just a large star. I jumped on the #scrappytripalong and used those blocks for the border. I think it has a vague Russian-Gypsy feel. I went with the patterned dark background because our dogs get on the bed and this will hide those indiscretions. 

And I love how vivid it is! Nice to start 2014 under a new quilt. Quilted in a stipple on my Mom's Gammill, with feather accents added on my Tiara.

Squeezing a project in

The Thanksgiving holiday break is a great time for me to get in some quilting. The cooking, cleaning, feeding, cleaning all hits on Wednesday-Thursday, so while a seemingly large number of people are shopping, I am holed up in my sweatshop, happily stitching away! I was able to begin, and complete a wall quilt, all on Friday.

This is yet another awesome pattern by May Chappell "All Squared Up". It finished at 24" square.

I purchased the pattern as part of a kit from SewLux Fabrics. I swapped out the center square fabric, using instead a fussy-cut piece of "Winter's Lane", and instead of a solid background fabric, I used a low-volume print.

I had a blast quilting this. I used a bright polyester thread on my sweet Tiara & just let it fly!

Yep, that is some insane matchstick quilting in that border.

And some gratuitous back shots!

This will hang in our foyer as our "winter" wall quilt.

Spare time quilting

At long last, my manic business travel season has come to an end. Can I say "whew"? For a while, I only knew where I was by looking at my calendar!

I did squeeze in some sewing the few times I was home. Started some projects, finished a few. Here is one I finished:

 

Regal Garden - a wedding gift for a friend of my dear hubby. I have not met the bride, but the groom told us her favorite color is purple.

This is my 2nd using May Chappell's Lazy Sunday pattern. Can I say again how much I love the pattern? This pattern allows me to indulge my love for layer cakes, and enables me to make best use of my limited (of late) quilting time.

I used an "Urban Oasis" layer cake and added both an inner & outer border.  It finished at 56" by 68" after washing.I FMQ-ed it in all over loop, nothing showy as this quilt is all about the colors.

I love the striped binding. It really made everything pop.

my kind of intuitive

This is "good for the Gander":

 57"square

I used no pattern, making it up, deciding on the parts as I went along. I started with some random scraps, using this method for the Flying Geese. It is a fantastic, precise and fun way to make this block.

I love medallion quilts so I set out to find an appropriate center. I settled on this block, but I strip pieced it instead of the method given. I made positive/negative versions for more visual interest.

After some thinking, exploring and pondering, I stumbled upon this method for Flying Geese, and changed it up to have the Diamond strips.

After a bit more pondering, and auditioning different blocks, I opted for a piano key border. I kept the quilting simple, mostly SID (stitch in the ditch) as this is a quilt that for me is about the play of fabrics. I FMQ-ed feathers in the setting triangles.

What do you think? Like my method of intuitive quilt design?

Small Whole Cloth Quilting

I have finished a couple of small whole-cloth quilts.

These measure 17" square and are gifts.

It is really difficult to get a good photo of the "V", the red fabric really flares.

Silk thread, 2 batts: wool over cotton.

I love the dimension and texture.

The back shows the density of the quilting.

White on white is hard to photograph as well.

Here it is, back lit by the sun.

More dense quilting, more feathers. Way too much fun!

Syzygy

 (read on for a discount code for the pattern)
I have been planning this quilt for a while. The pattern is "Designer Star" by my friend May Chappell. She brought her quilt to our guild meeting and I was smitten! I love big, bold, one-block quilts and hers fit the bill. I bought her pattern and set out on this experience.

Syzygy (pronounced siz-uh-gee) 55" square

Lee (the genius behind May Chappell) and I are buds, yet I had never made one of her patterns. She is gifted at combining fabrics, has a fantastic color sense and is a great designer, but can she write a pattern?

Heck, yeah!

(Lee is also an excellent teacher!)

(And she won 2nd place in this year's Accuquilt Barn Quilt contest)

The pattern description states "Want to make a quilt top in a day? This graphic quilt comes together very quickly and is so fun to make! Using simple techniques, the pattern is written for a beginner, but fun for an advanced piecer as well."

The instructions are clear, concise and easy to follow. There are pictures and diagrams, and instructions available for 11 (yep, eleven) sizes! My quilt is the 55" square version. This is a great pattern for a quilt that will make a tremendous visual impact. And it goes really fast! I pieced mine in about 3 hours.

My version the pattern photo

I chose to cut into my Moda Cross Weave Natural stash for the background, some Kaffe and Tula Pink give it the zing!  I free-motion quilted in soft wavy lines to accent the star.

Like this and want to make your own? Well, Lee has graciously offered a discount to my readers!
This pattern is available in the May Chappell etsy shop. You can order the pdf or printed version. And until July 31, enter the code "kheli20" in the special instructions area and you will receive 20% off!
Check out all of her amazing patterns. Do you have an Accuquilt die cut system? The Designer Star pattern is also available as an Accuquilt GO pattern.

I believe making a quilt out of the 10" or 19" blocks would be awesome too! I am going to make a pillow from one of those for me! This quilt now is hanging behind my sofa, so we can enjoy it every day!

What are you waiting for? Go, use the discount! Make a quilt!

Why "syzygy"? The astronomical definition of a syzygy is an alignment of 3 celestial objects; for me this was 1) the perfect pattern at 2)the right time, with some of 3)my favorite fabrics!

Darma Sunrise

I got a little carried away with the quilting on this one.

Darma Sunrise 46" by 36"

I started the border first on this one. One of our LQS, Sew Original is hosting a "Solids Challenge" and this was originally going to be my entry.

I love how the border looks. But originally I wasn't loving the dark gray I used in the center.

So I decided to lighten it up with quilting. And I quilted a lot. 

Feathers, fronds, swirls, oh my!

I believe this will serve nicely as a teaching sample for a while.

 

The backing is a batik I had in my stash, and the colors worked perfectly.