2014 Planning

As the year is coming to a close, I've been thinking about the projects I'd like to work on next year. I'm starting graduate school and I know that my sewing time will be whittled down quite a bit as a result. I still have a few WIPs that I'd like to finish off, but I've decided that (at this moment in time) there are two projects that I'm really excited to work on. And they're new...which means I should probably stitch up some of those projects for which I've already cut the fabric. Hmmm.

Ever since finishing my nephew's Chicopee Scrappy Trip quilt, I've wanted one for myself. And I decided a couple months ago that I wanted to make it out of Nordika by Jeni Baker. She even put together an amazing color-matching guide that I used to order some coordinating oval elements and pure elements fabrics since the scrappy trip pattern takes a ton of yardage.

Photo courtesy Westwood Acres Fabric

Photo courtesy Jeni Baker via incolororder.com

Photo courtesy Jeni Baker via incolororder.com

A photo by Pitter Putter Stitch

The other project that I'm really excited about is a half-square triangle quilt using Anna Maria Horner's new True Colors line. I haven't been a die-hard AMH fan in the past (I know, blasphemous - there are lots of prints from her that I've loved though), but the colors in this True Colors line are so saturated and absolutely glorious!

Photo courtesy Westwood Acres Fabric 

My quilt won't look like this one from Anna's booth at Fall Quilt Market, but I definitely will be using HSTs in my value study layout. I. Seriously. Cannot. Wait!

Photo courtesy Lee Heinrich via freshlypieced.com

There is one more project swirling in my head today that I think I want to tackle next year as well. I just don't have the fabrics figured out yet. I really love Angela's Arkansas Crossroads quilt that she posted on IG today (and has shown snippets of in the past). I absolutely LOVE it!

Photo courtesy Fussycut via Instagram

So there you have it. A few projects I'm excited to work on in 2014. I've got one more quilt to finish up for Christmas and I'll be back to share my other finishes for the end of the year. Merry Christmas next week to those of you celebrating!

Finally some quilty sewing!

After Christmas, I was so excited to get started on some new projects. You might say I was a little impatient. I felt a little scatterbrained at first trying to decide what new project to start, so I ended up starting three.

One of my quilt plans for 2011 is to make a new quilt for my bed. The mister and I decided to go with the All Star 2 line. My plan is to make square-in-square blocks. Here are the first two.





I'm not sure what the final size blocks will be. These are about 12 inches, but I'm just kind of winging this one. The finished quilt needs to fit our queen-sized bed so I might finish the blocks at around 16 inches. We'll see how they turn out.

I got a baby shower invite in the mail yesterday, so after working on the two blocks last night, I started a quilt top for the baby-to-be. I tried out Oh Fransson's Mixtape pattern, but made a few modifications to speed up the process. I'll talk about this more later as I work on the quilt (it's due by next Friday), but I left out the sashing and I think it came together nicely.



Finally, I decided to start on a Kitchen Windows quilt from Elizabeth Hartman's book, The Practical Guide to Patchwork, using two of the colorways from Far Far Away 2. I wasn't quite sure what fabric to use as the "windows." I initially went with Kona Green Grass to create a lot of contrast between the windows and the background. But, the more I looked at the fabric, I didn't like how the color changed depending on the light. In natural light, the fabric matched the colors in FFA2 nicely, but in florescent light, it totally clashed.



The problem with going with a neutral, though, is that I'm worried the quilt will just get muddled.



Then I had the thought that if I go with the green window sashing, the green might overpower the FFA2 fabrics and stand out more than anything else. I kind of want the FFA2 fabric to be the star of the quilt, so I'm torn.

Any suggestions?

Jandi's Giveaway

Jandi in Stitches is in my quilt guild, but I haven't met her yet. She has a lot of fun ideas on her blog, plus she works at a local fabric shop. Oh heaven! I was looking at her blog today and she's helping out a new blogger (and pattern designer) with a giveaway. Head on over and check it out.

Fabric-Related Birthday Goodies

I celebrated my 28th birthday on Wednesday. I had to work. The mister had to work. It felt like a regular day. But then I tracked a package I had ordered the previous week and it was scheduled to be delivered on my birthday. Hip, hip! I ordered some yardage and a turnover of Figgy Pudding to add to my small stash.


I didn't learn about Figgy Pudding as early as the rest of you so I've been searching high and low for shops that still have some of it left.


I'm using Momo's Odyssea for the Jellyroll Quilt Along with Moose on the Porch Quilts. I bought solid Kona cotton in green, brown, and cream for the backing, sashing, and binding. When I ordered the Figgy Pudding, I decided to buy an extra yard of some Odyssea to supplement the quilt somewhere when we're done with all the blocks.


Yesterday, I stopped by my sister's house and was as giddy as a schoolgirl when I opened her gift. There was a new quilt book with really fun quilts for kids;


a quilt journal,


complete with blank pages for sketching


and graph paper for layouts;


some blackboard material for making chalkboard pillows for my two kiddos;


a scrapbook page for inspiration on a family tree quilt (we tossed around a lot of ideas for putting that one together);


and last, but certainly not least, a 24-piece fat quarter pack to make this kite quilt from my new book!


There's some Blush, Bloom & Grow, and others that I don't know the names of.


Yum,


yum,


yum!


Thanks, Hawl! You made my day!


The only downside of my birthday was that my back went out and I haven't been able to stitch an inch since Sunday! I'm dying to make some more progress on my Life Is What You Make It quilt as well as finish off the blocks for my Swirling Stars quilt.

Buttercup Bag Redo

More of Jessica Jones' fabric was on sale at JCarolineCreative so I snatched some up (like this and this).

It came in the mail on Saturday so I decided to make another buttercup bag last night after the kids were in bed.


I enlarged the pattern two inches on all sides. I also re-purposed a cotton canvas curtain for the lining. (The curtains were a nasty puce green that I tried dyeing blue for my new bedroom color scheme. That didn't work and they turned out gray. But, they were the perfect weight for the lining and I was happy to put some of that fabric to good use.) Like the previous bag, I made two pockets for the inside because one just isn't enough.


I also doubled the width of the strap to make it more substantial, but afterwards realized that a tad thinner would have been better for sitting on my shoulder. This time I sewed the strap between the inner and outer layers halfway through the process rather than just attaching it to the inside as the last step. I inserted the ends upside down the first time and had to unpick and resew them. Kind of a pain because I hate unpicking. But it worked out just fine.


On the last bag I made, I didn't top stitch around the top edge of the purse and I wish I had. So this time, instead of just doing a plain stitch, I used my machine's asterisk-looking stitch (one of my favorites) to give it a little more personality.


I'm really pleased with how this one turned out. I thought I did a pretty good job on the first one, but now that I've made another, I can see more of the flaws in the first one. But, they say practice makes perfect...and I have lots more canvas to put to use.

A few of my favorite things

As I've become obsessed with all things quilting, I thought I'd share some of my favorites.

Favorite rotary cutter:

The Martelli ergonomic rotary cutter.


Favorite fabric:

Too many to choose from. Here are some I really really really like today (and have had to force myself not to splurge on).

Apple by Alice Kennedy





Figgy Pudding by Basic Grey for Moda


Blush by Basic Grey for Moda, particularly the Vanilla Fudge Milk Chocolate - yum!


Favorite patterns:

I haven't tried any of these yet, but I really want to. They're all by Camille at Thimble Blossoms.

Wild Thing


A Piece of Cake


There you have 'em. I wish I had an unlimited supply of money and time and patience so I could make more quilts. At the rate I'm going, my spring bed quilt will be done a month and a half after I started it!