Sunny Spots

For my month as quilter in do. Good Stitches {a Charity Bee} I thought it would be fun to have everybody try out pieced applique shapes. I asked them each to send just the finished CD-sized circle, not sewn down, in sunny yellow/orange/green.



They only had to send two, but many sent MANY! So fun. A collection hang out on the back - they're wild and crazy, unlike the evenly spaced rows on the front.



Since all the circles had finished edges, it was easy to attach them to the whole cloth front. Oh, I almost forgot how pleased I was figuring out how to get them all perfectly spaced. With 5 rows and 5 columns I evenly folded the top and creased it both horizontally and vertically for each row. Then I just pinched the circles to find the middle and placed it right on each cross made by my folds. A quick zigzag makes sure nothing pops open for the child.



Some of my very favorite green made a cute binding. I'm hoarding that print in about three colorways. I love it so.



Hopefully these Sunny Spots will bring a sunny smile to a child. It was great fun making it! Thanks Comfort team.

Now just a tad of required 1st day of school talk.....Caleb is off to High School. First time he hasn't been a walker.



The bus was supposed to be there at 6:46(am! so early!) With the first day adrenalin we were out the door just a touch early, luckily. The bus pulled away from the curb at 6:40 - a few of his neighbor friends had to run a bit to catch it.

Thank goodness for the staggered start times for our morning sanity, Kenton doesn't really have to get his day started until Caleb is out the door. So as the bus was pulling out, Kenton was just starting his morning run. (He does it every day! On his own!) Anyway, as he turned the corner for his jog, the bus thought he was running to catch it and stopped. I yelled for him to turn around and run the block clockwise today. A good morning laugh.



He's off to 7th grade.

Becket doesn't start until next Monday - we've chosen to send him to a private K-8 school. With a Different. Schedule. This will be a true test to my organizational skills this year. I'm aiming for no missed/forgotten days of school those 28 times when they're days off don't line up.

Gotta grab the browines, they're done. Yummy 1st day treat!

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Imagine : Hobson Quilt II

First, thank you for all the nice comments here and at the Moda Bake Shop.  It's hard to know, when you're writing it, if your tutorial is going to make sense to anybody other than yourself!

If you recall, this was the sunny block I made on my birthday.  I created it specifically for a live auction item at our preschool.   Every year you have a chance to win a story time visit from the school's director, so exciting for the kids!  The child will have this quilt as a keepsake of her visit.

I chose some of my favorite story-like prints.  My mom especially liked the row of chairs, as if the kids can sit for story time in them. 

A few bees, flowers, and an inchworm.

I loved the green and yellow stripes on the back.  On my label I named the quilt "Imagine"  because that's a gift Hobson gives to the children. 

The dotty green binding was just the perfect frame.

I wish Becket was still holding this one! 

Stash Update : week 14

I just clicked on my Stash 2011 tag - I haven't posted about it since the first one of the year!

Well, I've been good and using my stash, so not much to report.  I've used/sent away 21 yards in the last couple months.  Making pillows, the Hobson quilts, and donating 2" strips to the Quilts for Quake Survivors.  

(Shipping note - that's called a Regional Rate box A.  It's a new postage class and lands in between the tiny priority small and the most costly medium.  You  may want to look into it if you send lots of fabric.  I fit over 8.5 yards of strips in that box and it wasn't yet full.)

 

But now I must update the Fabric IN, as the mail man has dropped quite a bit at my door this week.  These lovely pieces arrived from Sew Fresh fabrics.

And some prints from Fabric Shack.

Along with solids I HAD TO HAVE.  See, I bought a pattern because I loved the colors on the front.  Then I needed the colors.....so a little over 13.5 yards in this week.

I also popped in the resale shop downtown and was super lucky.  I never find vintage sheets, and I hit a jackpot.  Those don't count...I can't be bothered to add vintage sheet yardage up, so when I use them they don't go in either column. The summary:

 

Busted: 21.036

Purchased: 13.63 yards

Net YTD: (20.594)

In between, I spent a significant amount of time on a little project.  The fabric was sent to me and it didn't get recorded In or Out.  We'll finally get to see it tomorrow!

Pink Lemonade Finish

Thank you for all the great thimble tips!  

I ended up getting one at my LQS, but haven't had the chance to try it out.  I'll take its picture and give a little report once I use it.

Our Hobson preschool auction has been keeping me busy, but it was a big success last weekend and I had fun giving away the two quilts I made for them.

This bowtie pattern is such a fun and satisfying block to piece.  

Today's Hobson feature is "Pink Lemonade" a 64inch square picnic quilt.  

I named it Pink Lemonade because there's nothing more fun when you're  kid than a picnic with pink lemonade.  And the most fun for a kid at preschool can be found at Hobson!  It really is the best preschool ever - it's a play based curriculum, parent run co-op.

Did the home dec weight back again, as I really expect it to be used on the ground all summer.  It helps just a bit more with the damp or rough ground.

Awesome colors and pattern on the back - perfect for the cathedral windows kick I had been on.  

And see my 'label' on the bottom right?  I wrote directly on one of the white circles and I loved the look.  Can't be any easier, either!!  I used a sewline pencil first, then fine tip sharpie over the top.

This quilt was in the silent auction part, all on it's own.  I was kind of nervous/excited to find out where it would end up.  Just as the auction started, a couple I didn't know came up and said they had bid on it right away and how pretty it was...a nice thing to hear.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to see what would happen from there.  The auction people decided to try something new this year and made some of the packages with a 'buy it now' option in addition to the silent bidding option.  A set price was at the bottom, and if you filled in your bid number before the bidding reached that price, then you immediately won the package.  Two problems with how they did it I think (since a lot of people felt a need to complain to me about it during the actual auction) they set the buy it now price at 80% of retail, and you were able to choose to buy it now after others had already bid.  For example, on ebay you must choose to 'buy it now' before any other bids are entered.  So what happened on some of the popular packages, the bidding went along until it got near the set price, and then stopped as it was then scooped up.  There was confusion and a few grumpy people with those packages.

If I set it up, I would have removed the buy it now option as soon as one bid was entered.  And/or made the set price double retail or so.

Now I must admit I took advantage of this once I realized it was going on, and scooped up a fun package that I would have paid more for, had the bidding continued - without the bidding stress.  Also, the evening was FABULOUS from start to finish in every other way.  

But of course I'm mentioning it because my quilt happened to be one of the items that had the option of a set price.  I was kind of bummed missing out on seeing where the price would go, but am super happy about who did get it.  One of the moms in Becket's class lost out on my quilt last year.  This year her husband noticed the set price option and bought the quilt for her, she was so happy and I gave her a big hug!  

I've been wishing she would come out the winner - I knew my quilt would be well loved with her.  So, it was a good end to the story.   

Keeping Track

How do you keep track of where your blocks go in the quilt?  

I tried numbers and stacks, but the quick digital camera print is my best bet for stitching things up exactly as planned.

Start of the Second

I love the start of a quilt.

Isn't that a pretty stack, Ann?

Pulling the fabrics, cutting them up.

And sometimes doing a chain or two.

 Happy Birthday to me -  yesterday I spent the day sewing!  

It was great and I made this fun, sunny block. 

I love it so much I formatted it as x-large!

It's about 22" square, and is based on Aneela's quilt in the first Fresh Start issue.  

I'm making two auction quilts for the preschool Gala next month.  This one will be a 40" child sized quilt to go with the auction of a personal night story time visit from our awesome director - that's always a very popular live auction item.  Thought the fairytale themed center would be the perfect match!

 

And this little guy may have won some brownie points as favorite child.  He ASKED for a sweater last week, looked for one I had hand knit, then WORE IT the WHOLE DAY.  Then asked to have it washed to wear again the next.  Finally, a child that will wear my knit sweaters without screaming, "The Fiber! The Fiber!" and tossing it down after 5 minutes.  I may have to pull out my knitting needles again!

{Filled} : a finished quilt

My mom has been waiting - semi patiently - for me to post these pictures.


I finished my Women's Advent Tea quilt, for their raffel, just a few days before it was needed and about 12 hours before I started the stomach flu.

I chose to name the quilt {Filled} as that is how you feel when you're with such a great group of women.

 I used my Moda Figgy Pudding that I love.

And tried to go for a design that was fun, modern, and would also appeal to the more traditional women as well.

I saw somebody's "Jelly Filled" quilt online (pattern by Camille) and thought it would be a great solution.  Especially since I had a few Figgy Pudding Jelly rolls left that had been used as table decorations last year.

My favorite, cute winter Munki prints show up as little surpises.

The chocolate brown print was the perfect binding to frame the whole thing.

I had math fun with the back - I did fibonacci stripes.  Fibonacci really does give a nicely balanced/proportioned sequence of stripes.

At 58" x 58" it turned out to be a great lap quilt.  I hope it's enjoyed all winter long by the woman who won it at the raffle.

Advent Tea 2010

Last year I made a ton of minis and one large quilt for the Women's Advent Tea my church does each year.  I had already decided I don't have the time to do a table myself, the way I would like to do it, for this year.

But one of the women in charge of the Tea called last weekend - she said that so many had talked about my quilty table, they hoped I could donate a quilt for the raffle this year.

Perfect!  I certainly have the time to make one lap quilt. 

  

Figgy Pudding is still my favorite holiday fabric, so I'm going that direction with color.

I pulled out the graph paper, some markers, and sketched away.  

(I could not find a maroon marker, so the purple had to stand in)

A little bit modern, a little bit traditional - hoping to grab the attention of both the younger and older crowd.   Due mid November.

Bees

I'm finally getting to my bee blocks this month!

First I made Victoria's flying geese block. Talk about a challenge! That's a lot of precision piecing needed there - thank goodness she sent all the bits pre-cut. The geese corners are only 1.75" I can't wait to see the riot of color when all the blocks are back to her!

For bee beautiful we are making a charity quilt along with our own. So here's my three fun stars to join the rest!

The Day After

I took the camera, but didn't take any pictures. I didn't think to carry it around with me and I missed the best part for film.

My picnic quilt was in the silent auction. If you've never been to one, all the different packages are displayed with a sheet of paper in front. The first bidder puts down their number and bid, then the next person can choose to outbid by adding onto the next line and so on. There is a set end time, very exciting with 1 minute countdown. You stake out your favorite package and guard against being outbid. Just like ebay, only live. If you didn't have to see those people ever again I suppose you could wrestle the pen out of the outbidder's hand.

Anyway, after much action through the night, my quilt came down to a family from my class and the preschool director. The director set her husband to the task of winning the quilt. They swapped bids for the last 45 seconds or so. He ended up winning, the experienced husband had written his bid slowly, so as to take up the last seconds. We all had a good laugh at the end. She then asked to be added to my list of custom quilt orders.

Several moms asked if I could just make a custom quilt.....I said I had business cards already and was thinking about it. So I quickly ended up with 4 lined up. I just love taking a pile like this and turning it into something beautiful. If I could support my fabric habit, all the better!

And on that note, I've been sewing on already recorded-cut fabric. But I didn't buy any either. So my stash is even for the week!

Finished quilt to celebrate Quilt Day!

A name usually comes to me for my quilts, but this final auction donation came down to the last minute. Kind of like being ready to leave the hospital and not having a name for your child. So at 11:00 the night before I had to hand it over I was stitching on my label!

I asked my husband for some desperate last minute help with the name. He spread the quilt out and said - how about 'Rainbow'. Um , no. This is not for a 10yr old girl. But without any other ideas coming I went for the translator and ended up with 'quilt' and 'rainbow' in french and I liked how they looked. So I present (certainly not grammatically correct)

'Couette Arc-en-Ceil' a 67"x67" picnic quilt.

I used Home Dec Ikea fabric for the back to hold up to rough and damp ground a bit.

Attached ties make for a nice, tidy roll.

And of course some of my favorite, sunny, happy fabrics. The auction is tonight. It's going to be in a silent package with tickets to Ravinia - they do wonderful, summer outdoor concerts. I'll actually be there so I'll update tomorrow with how it went. I did have a terrible dream last night and nobody wanted it - they all wanted a Holly Hobby hand tied quilt!

When I handed the quilt over at preschool yesterday, the other moms and the director loved it, so hopefully others will, too! We need to get more people to see cool, modern quilts - my public service project for National Quilt Day today!