Color inspiration

My favorite clear blue and lime green




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(ok, looking at this on my computer at home, the iPhone resolution is seriously lacking - or I'm doing it wrong.....comments?)

Happy Arbor Day

...and playing with my new toy


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Modern Log Crosses

This will be the off-centered center of one really big log cabin block.  It's about 37" square right now.

I love all the greens!

Downtown Chicago Inspiration

A couple weeks ago, on a non-preschool day, Becket and I met my mom downtown Chicago for a day at the Flower and Garden Show.  I found some cool quilty inspiration on the trip.  But first I have to add some cute Becket pictures.

We parked at the local Metra station and took the train in.  We sat in the top row seats.  Becket was a bit excited.

Once we got downtown, we had to wait a bit for my mom's train to arrive from the north suburbs.  So a snack was in order.  It was fun to sit on the old benches in the huge, marble station. 

The Flower and Garden show is at Navy Pier - and one of the permanent exhibits at the Pier is the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows.  It's a fabulous collection, and of course great quilt inspiration.

My mom and Becket peeked at me through this one :)

Surprisingly, I didn't find much quilty at the flower show.  They fill the big exhibition hall at the end of the pier with a bunch of mocked-up yards, ponds, flower beds.  A fabulous thing in the last of the Chicago winter!  But the theme this year was sports, so not as quilt-inspiring as the Alice in Wonderland displays last year.

But on the way back to our train station, I had to jump out into the road for two last photos.  It was so cool to see the cobblestones partially exposed from pot holes in the pavement.

Kid side note - so we're here watching Becket's favorite cartoon, Max and Ruby.   Do you wonder how old Ruby is?  There's never a parent around except for when the grandma comes to visit.  I hate it when I'm watching these things and am saying in my head how unrealistic it is to have no parents around, or traveling the world as like a 6yr old.  I have to remind myself that it's a CARTOON of talking rabbits - not realistic in the least.

Ripped in 30 - Day 1

Jillian is trying to kill me.

In 30 days I'll be ripped or dead.

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! 

Cathedral Windows Tutorial : Wing It OCD

[Moda's Bakeshop changed since it was published - I will post the tutorial here on my blog once I can re-create it!]

Finally, my Cathedral Windows tutorial is live - I've been patiently waiting my turn!  

I made a fun pair of pillows.

I was tempted to name my project: Just Wing It {NOT!} 

I got to use the fabulous new MoMo line Just Wing It, but as is most of my quilting, the cathedral windows border on OCD - the furthest possible thing from winging it. 

Optimized result with an efficient process, that's from the engineer in me.  I've included all the little tricks I use to keep things square, flat, and pointy.  Exactly how I like my windows!

Here's a little bonus project.   Use one of your first folding attempts or the most wonky, extra window and two charm squares to make a cute pincushion. 

Jump over to the bake shop and say hi!

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!

Eeeeek!

Two creature issues - one cute....

Becket wandered by my sewing area and saw the pile of trimmings on the floor.  He yelled "ah - green!" (his favorite color) and scooped up a pile of the scraps to hoard in his room.  On the way to his room, he also found Caleb's ipod touch, left on the steps when he was picked up for lacrosse practice.  Becket scooped that up too.

Not so cute.  SOMETHING chewed into or out of my front door jamb around noon today.  I heard it.  

I do not like having a hole from  the inside to the outside of my house!  It's stuffed with steel wool for the day, until our door guy can come out tomorrow morning. 

A Green Start

I love sketching out a plan, doing some quilty math, and pulling a stack of fabrics.

Inspired by the cover photo of Modern Log Cabin Quilting - I'm eager to look through the whole book.

Super Cool

Thank you Heather! 

Pink Lemonade is over at Modern Day Quilts today!

Blog Helper Outtakes

It had been horribly gloomy, wet and cold here - it's finally sunny (huzzah!) but at 35deg and flurries, not exactly prime spring break weather.

The last couple weeks trying to get good pictures of my finished Hobson quilts was tricky so I hoped to catch as much light as I could inside our sunroom.

Unfortunately I had to deal with both a zombie and giant invasion (the lego dudes without heads are zombies, playmobile dudes without hair are giants).  The strange result of a 5yr old hanging out with the teen brothers.  

You can see I was permitted only that little back corner.

I left the quilt and camera for a bit to find another good spot and quilt holder.  Becket decided to take things into his own hands and take the pictures himself.  Probably to get my stuff out of his area.

But first a few guys moved in to hide.  And he seems to be working on his toes-in-the-picture blog photos.

 

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.   

Binding

Stitching 250" along a home dec weight back.  

I poked a hole into my finger with the back of my needle.  

Ugh.

I don't have a thimble so I improvised.  To avoid the bulk, I cut just the fabric, sticky part of a bandage off and stuck it over the poking part of my finger. 

So do you have a thimble-type thing you like?

Ice cream Treat

I found this little guy hiding with his ice cream when I was pinning blocks.

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.

Chem 101

"One of the first rules of chemistry - always make sure liquid is in the vessel before turning on the heat source." ~ My Dad

Here is the practical lab showing why you don't want to test that lesson.  

Kids, do not try this at home.

I was making noodles to go with dinner, wondering why my water was taking so long to boil.  Lift the lid and find that I had forgotten to fill the pot with said water.  So it has been on the hot burner, dry, for about 10 minutes.

I take the pot off the stove and in about a half second think:  Is this a good idea?  Pot's metal, not glass.... all the rest of dinner is ready and I don't even have the water in the pot yet....at least turn the water on Hot instead of Cold.....

I hold the very hot pot under the running water and EXPLODE instantly boiling water out the top.  Then there's a strange hissing noise in the sink, and find I have blown the layered bottom completely OFF the pan!  By some miracle, and with the help of our large, deep sink, I wasn't splashed a bit.  My dad said that was a good example of a very violent expansion and contraction.

Enough chemistry for the day I think!

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!

Florida Cathedral Window Gift

Another Catherdal Window pillow as a gift for my friend's birthday.  I'm definitely on a roll with these.

She was in nice, warm Florida during her birthday, so I was thinking of that as I chose the colors for her pillow.  I liked how happy the blue and yellow ended up.

I love it when my corners come together so nice and symmetrical.  It's so satisfying - like checking stuff off a list.

I added a fun little VW guy I thought she would like.  

And you can see in the center bottom, I folded under the raw edges on every inset piece.  That was a bit of a project, but didn't know if she would like raw edges.  It did make for a very neat finish.

Becket was funny and started directing the photo shoot.  He dragged over another quilt and arranged it on the couch, then posed himself next to the pillow.

Oh, and I have to link up for the fun pillow party!

So - I was working on my tutorial for you.  But then it got changed just a bit.

I started baking it......you won't have to wait too long!