4 squared top

First off thank you for all the nice comments on the Quilt Festival Quilt. You guys are GREAT, it makes my day to know that other people really like this stuff as much as I do. It makes me feel better about the fact that my floor hasn’t been vacuumed in six days and my sheets haven’t been washed in ___ days. I’m sparing you that number. Believe me.

I finished up this quilt top last night with all of my colorful blocks put together. The hardest part was fitting all the blocks in there, balancing the colors, and not letting any 2 of the same color be next to each other. Heaven forbid that should happen. :) But I finally figured it out and I’m happy with it. I don’t love sewing sashings, its a little too boring for me, so I’m glad this top is done. The top measures 50” by 60”.

Besides sewing, I’m attempting to improve my photo taking. I love taking the pictures, but it is the editing and printing, and what the heck do I do with all these pictures???….that really gets me. I finally got a prime lens, which was a main reason for buying a Canon in the first place…..that was 2 years ago and I’m finally getting around to using it. So VERY slowly, but surely, I’m going to play with my photos more. And then there’s the scrapbooking…..and that’s a whole other problem. :)

PS. I’ve received some questions I haven’t been able to respond to…so if you have a question you want answered use my email at the top of the toolbar on the right. My computer still won’t let me comment on blogger blogs with embedded comments (blogger says its our IP?) so if you leave your email I’ll get back with you!

4 squared

I have all my blocks done, and so far (knock on wood) its turning out nicely and I love how the colors are coming together. The squares are 2.5”. I used a lot of the Amy Butler dots, and the rest were scraps. Mostly the weird shaped scraps I didn’t know what to do with but saved just to look at them. I will probably sash these in white, I have 30 blocks, so it will make a nice sized lap quilt.

As with each new project I usually ask what my husband thinks before I sew it all together. This time he said, “Wow, good job cutting up the fabric and sewing it back together.” I’m guessing that’s his approval. And it made me chuckle because that’s all quilting really is….just cutting up fabric and sewing it back together.

And its so much fun.

My fingers hurt…

I just finished cutting 480 of these little squares. Of course I had to do it in one sitting that left me with a whopping blister beginning to emerge. I would tell you what I’m making except it could be a total flop. Now I’m thinking I should have thought this through a little bit before giving myself a blister. Here’s to being spontaneous I guess. I hope you all have a great weekend. I’m going to enjoy every minute of this 80 degree weather forecasted this weekend. Finally!

Ginger Dot Quilt

This quilt was made almost exactly like this one. Except the quilting and this has a cotton back. I love this quilt all crinkly with the free motion quilting.

This one is also in the shop. After this I’m taking a break from making things for the shop. It’s always fun, but its more fun to make things I know are going to stay in my home for us to use and look at everyday. Plus next week I’m headed off to Seattle (home) for a few weeks, so it will be a nice chance to start a new project or two while my little man is in Grandparent heaven.

Zinnia Quilt

I don’t think I had this Zinnia Fabric two hours before I had it cut up into this quilt. Before I got the fabric I had decided on making a different pattern, but after the fabric arrived I realized how big these Zinnias are! So I couldn’t cut them up, and instead made them into a basic block quilt so you can see those fun flowers. I only bought a fat quarter of the Zinnias, but now I’m wishing I had bought more, because the fabric matches everything and the colors are bright.

The backing is a cotton aqua floral, I’ve used it before for backings, so I thought I’d spare you another picture.

Retro Zig

I finished stitching the binding on this just in time for our sunny warm weather today! This fabric is so cute, I bought it at the Quilt Expo here in Cleveland a few weeks ago. I love muted primary colors, they are so retro and bright. I couldn’t find anything perfect for the binding, so I went with a pieced scrappy binding. The back is a soft neutral dot. I hope you are getting this nice warm weather like we are…now if you’ll excuse me I have one very eager toddler who wants to go to the park!

ps. Have you seen this video yet? It will make your day.

I have no words…

I opened up my email inbox Saturday night to find 126 comment notifications.  Yikes, you guys are scrap lovers.  I expected maybe 30 people to say “yeah I’ll take your scraps…I guess....whatever,” but I NEVER expected 253 of you to reply!  You guys must love scraps, and just so you know I’ve read every single comment.  I gave up nap time sewing because I had so much fun reading all of them and looking at your blogs.  It really is so inspiring to see so many quilters out there, and how many people are just getting started ( its addicting…you’ve been warned).

Today I decided to share with you a really ugly shirt I made last week. 

Not to be gross or anything, but it reminds me of speckled puke.  I think (know) its the really ugly yellow mixed with my fair skin, bad combo.  Plus it reminds me of a scrub top I used to wear to work in my hygienist days.  So this one will be donated, if they’ll take it. 

Anyways, now that you’ve seen my ugly shirt, I have ALOT of counting to do in the morning.  So I’m off to dreamland, see you tomorrow morning with winner! 

-Allison

Hoarding...and April Blocks

I'm not much of a fabric hoarder, I don't even have that much fabric in my stash. ( as my husband shakes his head) But these I had to have, and I will probably still have until I'm 90. Except the ginger blossom dot, I have plans for that. The others are discontinued and hard to find favorites, all from American Jane's Wee Play and Building blocks line...I think. Either way I love them. And I used the the small bits I had on this quilt, and I love that quilt.

This cute owl print I found at Joann's, and it is really soft unlike some (most) Joann's fabric.
It will make a cute quilt back someday.

And last, my blocks for the Pieced Together Quilting Bee. (whew that's a long name!)
This one is for Stephanie C.

And this is for Erin.

I have to send out my fabric within the next two weeks for my bee month, and I don't have a single IDEA what to do. Actually I have about 100 ideas...and that's the real problem.

P.S. I had a couple of questions I haven't been able to answer due to my annoying computer not letting me comment on blogs with embedded comments... so..

1. To applique the pillows in the last post, I used heat n' bond to iron my fabric to. (buy it on the bolt at Joann's) Then I cut out my shapes, removed the paper backing, ironed them on how I wanted them and did a tight zig zag stitch around each piece. Which takes awhile.

2. The green fabric in the zig zag is from American Jane's Snippets line for Moda. Its pretty new so you can find it almost anywhere. I love the paper dolls fabric from that line, I probably need that too.

Pillows on my mind

After seeing a similar zinnia pillow at a store (which I won't name but its my favorite store ever) I had to make it. I was obsessed with it. So I bought myself some canvas and went to work. It took awhile, but now I have a new favorite thing to do with my scraps of fabric I can't part with. And a really snazzy pillow.....going into the shop.

And a tree pillow...oh the possibilities!

And an unfinished project that is no longer staring me in the face. The Nest Pillow.

I have a feeling there will be much more applique in my future. Its addicting.

Back and busy..

Whew! I think that's the longest I've stayed away from this blog. I was camera-less this past week so instead of posting I was sewing. Which means I have lots to show you and lots of posting to do. Your going to be so sick of me......so lets get to it!

First the red, aqua, and pink quilt. Just because I love these colors and I had the fabric. And It was snowing outside. I pieced the back, but forgot to add the picture, nothing you haven't seen before though.

Second is this bright and cheery little number.
It makes me happy just looking at it. And gave me a good reason to cut up some of that blue/green Erin McMorris flower I wasn't sure what to do with. This is the disappearing 9 patch pattern, except I started with 7" blocks instead of 5" so it shows of the big fabric prints.

If you want to try this yourself you need 45 - 7" squares, sew them together just like the disappearing 9 patch block instructions say (on the sidebar over there -------------> )
It will give you 5 big nine patches, which you cut to make 20 blocks, and sew four blocks across by 5 blocks down, it made it 35" by 42 1/2" after washing.

Third is this zig zag. I added a border to make it bigger and spent an hour staring at it deciding whether to take it off or not. Ultimately I left it, its busy and bright, but happy and colorful and its growing on me.

That's probably enough to stuff into one post. But there will be more. I told you, you are going to be sick of me!

Pottery Barn does it again...

I think I skipped a heart beat when I saw this at Pottery Barn. Denise Schmidt- Katie Jump Rope in a Single Girl quilt and patchwork pillow goodness to match.

Now if I only had an extra $500 lying around to buy this white quilt that would be stained two minutes later. Or the time to make it....not gonna happen folks.

Today I am yet another year older. So in celebration of being one year older I'm going to go eat a lot, and then maybe sew, and check in with you all later. Did I mention I have the sweetest husband in the whole world??...I'm a lucky girl.

Something New

When I really started sewing I remember saying that I would never sew my own clothes. Never. Ever. Ever. Mostly because I can't follow a pattern worth a dang. Also because I pictured myself looking like a mega granola Mom in my handmade outfit walking through Whole Foods.
Now I'm eating my words and loving my new ($4 !!!) top.

The pattern is the oh so popular simplicity #3835 Built by Wendy. There are blogs and
flickr groups devoted to these patterns, so I figured its a good start. Just don't expect to see me in handmade pants anytime soon (besides pajamas), or vests, or jackets, or underwear, or anything with puff paint.

Note....if you make this pattern make it big. Luckily I read this tip online before cutting mine. I normally wear a medium in shirts, so I cut this at a size 10 thinking it would be big. I still had to use a smaller seam allowance to make it bigger. Next time I'll cut it at a 12, so be warned it is small!