Project Simplify - Day 23

Sometimes I can think outside the box and come up with good ideas on my own.  But for now, I still need a crutch for deciding on a FMQing design.  So why not copy (again) what is shown in the book?

Camille's used three different FMQ designs on this cute little quilt:  stippling, that loop-dee-loop from "Little Man" and a sort of scalloped flower thing.  At first glance, I thought that was a bit ambitious for me to attempt, but it is a small quilt and if I want to improve my skills, I might as well go for it.  (You know, broadening ones horizons and all ...)

Here's my practice run.  Not bad, eh? 

The results:  not perfect - still a little jerky here and there.

And a little accidental loop ...

Is it just me, or is it easier to get out of a tight spot with swirly twirly?  Stippling just seems a bit less forgiving.

And then there's my old nemesis - tension.  Hmmph.

One of these days I'll remember that if you practice your FMQ stitching with fabric/batting/thread that's not exactly the same as your quilt, you must double check your tension when you start sewing on the actual quilt!  At least this stuff was easy to pull out.  I gave the fun to you-know-who ... little Miss Loves-A-Ripper.

I'll show you the embarrassing part next time.  That's right, dear friends, I'm not through humiliating myself for your entertainment!

Project Simplify - Day 22

Whoever invented these bent basting pins should be awarded the Nobel Prize for Quilting. 

Seriously.

I held out for a loooong time thinking my regular safety pins still worked so why should I buy new ones?  Yeah, smack me upside the head!  Best $5 I ever spent. 

Project Simplify - Day 21

Chapter Four is a sweet little table topper called Coming Home.

At Quilt Market in Houston last fall I met Robyn Pandolph and got a charm pack of her new line "Scarborough Fair". 

I love it. 

I also bought the FQ bundle. 

I know, you're shocked ... ;)

Except for a few squares that I used in Last Chapter's quilt I haven't made anything with this fabric yet and I'm excited that I finally get to play with it.

Since the taupe/cream background fabric I'd planned for the last quilt didn't turn out, I'm going to give it another try for this quilt. 

And FOR SURE this time I'm going to use pink for the border.

Promise! :)

Love Thy Neighbor

Especially if he's a carpenter and you bought a 1952 bungalow (14 years ago) with a "fireplace" that looks like this:

(Sheeesh, I still get the heebie jeebies just lookin' at this photo!)  Yes, that's a bizarrely located electrical outlet.  I know ... I don't get it either. 

I could not paint that thing white fast enough, which was a MAJOR improvement, but still ...

A few months after we moved in, I found a salvaged fireplace insert (dated 1951).  I was so excited thinking I'd solved our living room eyesore.  And it was almost perfect, but in our attempt to make it fit we (meaning not me) removed a few tiles and chiseled away some of the concrete.  

And this is as far as we (again, not me) got.  It’s looked like this for about ... well, 14 years.  Ugh.

There's just no disguising those unsightly air vents.  The duct work was moved a while back (that's right, not by me ... see, I'm the IDEAS girl, NOT the muscle ...) and the vents relocated to the floor, so these grills are now purely, uh, "decorative" for lack of a better word.

I can never not notice this ... this thing.  Let’s face it, it's just ridiculous.  And I'm always embarrassed by it when people come over.  I mean, it IS the focal point of the room, but for all the wrong reasons.

So recently I was chatting with my neighbor (the carpenter).  Long story short, I drew him this ...

And he turned it into this ...

(cue the angels)

I KNOW!!! 

Like I said, I'm the IDEAS girl.   I've been fantasizing about this moment for soooooooo loooooooooong.  It's so beautiful I could weep.  Wait'll Santa sees the stockings hung here.  Thank you neighbor!

Now, can anyone out there tell me how to dress this mantle?  I'm not good at that sort of thing.  All I know is that now the mirror's way to small and I have a whopping 17" deep shelf! 

I'm trying to figure out how to have an afternoon nap up there. :)

Hope you have a great weekend!

Project Simplify - Day 20

Woohoo!  Look who's getting all fancy with her swirly twirly FMQing by throwing in the occasional heart ...

and

This was fun (after I got over the trauma of my really lousy daisies and breaking thread and all).

When I was putting the binding on I did that silly thing of twisting the two joining ends ...

I love this gently scalloped edge.  It's so much easier than severe scallops with all the inside corners to manouver.

The jury is still out as to whether the variegated thread was a good idea or not.  What do you think?

Do you ever play that game with yourself where you try to pick your favorite block in a quilt you made?  I thought it would be fun to ask my helper which was her favorite .  She had a hard time deciding, but she chose this one ...

and this one ...

and this one ...

and this one ...

and this one ... :)

Mine is this one ...  In fact, it was the inspiration for the name my helper gave this quilt.

She was telling me how she didn't like this one block because it was the only one with a dress on it.  All the others had flowers.  I told her I liked that one little block because it was daring to be different from the rest and that it looked like it was going to a party.  Then my helper said, "Hey!  I'm going to call this quilt Garden Party!" 

Love it.  Hope you do too. :)

I'm regretting a little bit that I went with the yellow border instead of the pink (I already got an "I told you so, Mom!").  I think it turned out a bit too quiet.  Oh well.  It still looks nice.

Now, I usually try to use up leftovers for the back, but since the fabrics came from my scrap bin, I luckily found some older Robyn Pandolph yardage that did the trick.

Stash Redux:

• Yardage - 4.4 yds / 4.1 m
• Weight - 1.2 lbs / 0.5 kg

For a grand total of:

• Yardage - 35.9 yds / 32.8 m
• Weight - 12.6 lbs / 6.9 kg

Feeling good!

Project Simplify - Day 19

And now back to our regularly scheduled blogging. :)

Remember this sweet, innocent-looking spool of lilac variegated RAYON thread?

Yeah.  It's evil.  But I'll get back to that in a minute.

I decided that after my poor "daisy flower" FMQ results I should stick to what I know for now - which is the "swirly twirly".  Fine.

But things were not going well.  I'd only done about 5 minutes worth of stitching and the thread broke, like, at least 20 times!  I rethreaded, checked the tension, everything I could think of to fix the problem.  I was having a serious hate-on for the thread.  But when I started testing out different thread I discovered that the lilac rayon was only half the problem.  The other half?  Well, turns out you really do need A DARNING FOOT on your machine to do FMQing.  The open-toed applique foot won't work.  (Oops!)

When I finally clued in to THAT little oversight, my darning foot decided to punish me for ignoring it by falling off and breaking (another) needle.

Sigh.  So by this time there were so many stops & starts in my top-stitching I figured I should prob'ly take it all out.  I hate unpicking almost as much as I hate practicing.

But ...

Guess who discovered that the little helper girl L.O.V.E.S using a stitch ripper?  (This photo was her idea.)

She was all over that job!  Especially after I showed her how to cut every third or fourth thread and then after a few minutes do that oh-so-satisfying long thread pull.  :)  drrrdrrrdrrrdrrrdrrr!

I sent her off to her Grandmas with the quilt and the ripper and she happily undid my mess.

Then I showed her my secret weapon for removing all those annoying little bits of thread ... masking tape.

If you've ever had body hair waxed ... you get the picture ;)

I love this girl.  Who knew 24 hours of labour followed by a C-section would pay off this way?

Salt Lake City Market, Part 2

Yesterday was mostly about the people I met at Quilt Market (and the fabric ... but only because I knew a lot of you were interested to see what I found ... )

Today is about the eye candy.

Quilt Market is definitely a feast for the eyes.  It can be a little overwhelming because there's so much to see.  And there's no shortage of creativity and imagination that goes into some of the booths.  Here are a few of my favorites ...

Don't Look Now ... wow.  The English language doesn't have a word yet to describe how crazy talented Kellie is.

The Quilted Fish

Crabapple Hill - I've been a fan of Meg Hawkey for a long time.  In addition to several of her little doily/flower patterns that are now discontinued, I've made Heirloom Romance and Berry Picking Party.

Fig Tree - Every.single.time I walked by Joanna's booth she was either being swarmed or she wasn't there.  But we did have a little chit chat with her husband.  What a nice guy!

Sweetwater - we loved that sort of dusty retro feel.

Tula Pink - "Lisa in Texas", I passed on your message.  This picture is for you ;)

Charmpgraphy - I bought a few little charms for my wallet & purse here.  What a sweet mother/daughter team. 

Sandi Henderson - we caught her and her husband playing a quick game of checkers when no one was around.  How cute is that?!

At Quilt Market, there's a "best booth" contest.  Sandi won for one of the categories.

Thimble Blossoms, of course.  And that cutest ever signature red polka dotted chair!

Riley Blake - Ok.  What?  Who comes up with this idea?  I want to live in their head for a little while.

I mean, seriously.  How fun is this?

Now I owe this lovely girl an apology.  Bigtime. 

Let be begin by saying I was born with a severe case of foot-in-mouth disease.  Really.  I have a gift for saying the wrong thing all.the.time.  I'm famous for it.  I never intend to be insulting or disrespectful or rude.  I always think that what I'm saying is nice, polite or funny. 

So, it was the end of Day 1 and I was on sensory overload.  While we were walking by CYNDI WALKER of STITCH STUDIOS' booth, I noticed a quilt and the fabrics looked sort of similar to the Fig Tree bundle I'd bought at Sample Spree the night before.  So I politely asked if those were Fig Tree fabrics in the quilt.  She very sweetly informed me that they were, in fact, her own design called Daydream available through Riley Blake.

I could not have felt more foolish.  I swear I could taste my feet way, way, WAY in the back of my throat!  She was so gracious about it all too.  What a gem.  "Thank you, Cyndi if you ever read this, for forgiving my careless tongue!"

And can I just now apologize in advance to anyone and everyone I will surely offend with something I say in the near and distant future?  Really.  I'm a very sorry person. 

More Riley Blake.  I heart hexagons!

Now, I don't know if I'm allowed to have a favorite, but if I am, this is surely it.  Sarah Jane.

She has awesome pictures of her booth on her blog.  You really need to go look at them.

She'd be annoying if she weren't so lovely :)  Talented ... nice ... pretty ... talented ...   Oh yeah, and her husband cooks too!

And now, my house is wanting some attention and we have a violin recital happening this evening.  Guess my sewing machine is going to have to wait until tomorrow for some much needed exercise. ;)

Whew, I'm Back!

Oh hello everyone!  Gosh, I didn't realize how much I missed you until I got home and turned on my computer.  ;)

And to all of you lovelies who wished me a great trip ... thanks.  I really had the best time ever.  Having my BFF with me made all the difference.  It's one thing to go to Market because you love quilting.  But having your bestie to share the experience is icing on the cake.  I know I'm a very lucky girl.

Ok, I'm gonna try to share all the best highights of my trip.  If you've never been to Quilt Market, here's a fraction of it ...

The first cool thing happened in the Salt Lake City airport and has absolutely nothing to do with quilting.  You know those moving sidewalks?  I love walking on them.  See, I don't run.  Ever.  If I can help it.  But if I can achieve the sensation of moving quickly without breaking a sweat, I will. 

So while walking on the moving sidewalk, we came upon a small group of people who were nicely standing off to the side to allow for passing.  Then I noticed one of them was Gary Busey.  That's right.  From the tv show "Celebrity Apprentice" with Donald Trump (most recently). 

Now, I was momentarily star-struck because I'd just a few days earlier watched him on an episode of Ellen.  But I thought, you know, he puts his pants on one leg at a time (presumably) just like the rest of us so as I passed him I gently touched him on the arm and said, "I thought you were very funny on Ellen the other day."  He replied, "Thanks!  I've been on twice!" 

I'm glad I had the nerve to say something to him instead of just walking by.

We got to SLC in time to grab dinner and head over to Sample Spree.  Craziness.  In anticipation of a heavy purchasing load I opted not to take my camera with me.  But here's the damage ...

Ruby by Bonnie & Camille

Etchings by 3 Sisters

Butterscotch & Roses by Fig Tree

Christmas Candy by Doodlebug Designs (love the coordinating ribbon!)

I've been coveting this fabric since I saw the drawings of it last Fall in Houston.   I mean, COME ON!  How cute is this print? 

It totally reminds me of an old Susan Branch print I've had for ... like ... ever!

The newest installment of Flower Sugar by Lecien

And Meg Hawkey of Crabapple Hill has this lovely new collection for Lecien called Whitewash.  Oh yum!  I can hardly wait to start stitching on the linen blend!

Check out this print.  I'd make a dress out of it and wear it ... if I were brave.

Now let me share with you some of the lovely & talented women I was lucky enough to connect with at Market.  There are so, so many more.  These are just the ones I got pictures of: 

The incomparable Amy Butler.  Wow.  She is soooooo nice.  And pretty.  And talented.  (And tall!)

The adorable Camille Roskelley. 

Of course, I don't have to mention how big a fan of hers I am :)   I gave her a hug, we posed, she signed my book (yes I took it with me!)

and we chatted for a quick minute.   I wish we'd had time to talk quilting and stuff all day, but man that girl is busy!  I tell ya, vendors at Quilt Market are a hearty breed.

She also gave me some bits of her new fabric line "Ruby" to make a little something special.  Hopefully you'll see that later on this week.  Sorry, don't mean to tease you ... ok, yes I do ;)

The incredibly talented Verna Mosquera. 

This was a slightly surreal moment for me.  I've been a huge fan of her designs since I made Vintage Valentine in 2006.  I also made Happy Hauntings about 4 years ago.  After recently reading a profile on her in Homespun Magazine, I really wanted to meet her.   You know how when you meet someone you've admired for a while, you just never know what they're going to be like in real life.  Let me tell you, Verna is just as lovely as she is talented.

I started my conversation with her by jokingly saying how much I hated making all those little tiny bones for the skeleton in Happy Hauntings (seriously, go check out the picture ... at least 80 in the hands & feet alone, many smaller than a quarter!), but that it was like the pain of childbirth - once it's over and you see what you've made, the memory of the pain fades away and the gorgeous quilt is something I'm very proud to have made.  Her new designs do not disappoint.

BTW, sorry about all the pictures of me ... my girlfriend - who's conspicuously absent from any picture - was the one with the camera and kept making me be in the shot.

The Happy Zombie herself, Monica. 

Now she's a true treasure.  One of my favorite moments at Market was meeting her.  I love her blog.  She's so funny.  And just the.nicest.lady.EVER!  At the same time, my biggest disappointment at Sample Spree was missing out on her new line Happy Mochi Yum Yum.  It was sold out by the time I got there.

One of my very first blogging buddies, Thimbleanna. 

I didn't quite catch why we're behind a pillow.  Something about Wilson.  She said it was an inside Quilt Market joke ... !

When I posted about making Camille's Quilt Sugar Rush with Flower Sugar fabric for Project Simplify, I mentioned that I'd purchased some of the fabric from this beautiful shop.  I was so happy to see Sandy again and to meet her sister Holly. 

These sisters are just so cute.

The very first online fabric store I shopped at was ShabbyFabrics.com.  I can always count on finding fabric I love at Jennifer's shop.  She is just delightful.  And by the way, her online shop has excellent customer service. 

We had a good laugh about our reverse color-matching outfits!

And here is a real sweetie, Bari J.  She is such an easy person to talk to.  A real, genuine girl. 

I started reading her blog over a year ago and met her at both Markets last year.  I always enjoy chatting with her.  And you should see her new line with Lecien called Paris Apartment.

And then there was the Queen of Shabby Chic herself, Rachel Ashwell. 

I KNOW!!!! 

I think the 'deer-in-the-headlights' look on my face says it all ... "Is this really happening?  Please don't make a complete fool of yourself.  Maybe if I don't move I can stop time and just stand in the presence of Rachel forever!"  Good thing I practiced with Gary Busey!  haha!

I have her sheets, some fabric, I watched her show on tv when it was on ...  I can't even imagine a world without her signature style.  She was introducing a new line of fabric for quilting (and I have confirmed that  ShabbyFabrics.com has ordered the entire line - I can't beLIEVE I forgot to take a picture of it all!) and signing her new book! 

Yes, I got a copy.  And she was so sweet taking time to chat with every single person who came to see her.  I still have to pinch myself.

Tomorrow, I'll share the pictures I remembered to take of some of my favorite booths.

I'm Off!

What can I say.  I'm gonna miss my family. (A lovely little note from my sweet dyslexic girl.) 

I'm not equipped to post from the road, but you can always check out PamKittyMorning's Reports! 

Oh, and for those of you following along with Project Simplfy - remember Rule #1?  I'm going with the assumption that there isn't a jury of my peers (quilters) on this planet that would convict me for breaking that rule ... at a Quilt Market ... right? ;)

Have a great weekend!

Project Simplify - Day 18

I changed my mind (again) and picked a different background fabric.  Both my helper and I agreed that the small taupe print was too "busy" with all the scrappy piecing action going on.  But I just so happened ... ;) ... to have a tonal from the same fabric line (Simplicity by 3 Sisters) and it works much better.

For a border I was going back & forth between these two delicate checkered Susan Branch prints.  I thought I'd like the pink better, but again the piecing in the middle is just so ... noisy ... that I chose the yellow (much to my helper's disappointment - she's a pink girl like her mama).

So I've been back practicing FMQing.  I was so happy with the results of "Little Lady" (I'm inserting this picture now as a defense for the next picture) ...

... that I thought I'd be a little adventurous.  If you look closely at the picture of this quilt in the book you'll see that Camille incorporated the sweetest daisy-like flowers with her "swirly-twirly" top-stitching.  Here's how mine are turning out.  (In a word - laughable.)

I admit that I'm biting off a bit more than I can chew right now.  I need to match my execution with my skill level - not my lofty ambition - and clearly I ain't there ... yet.

In keeping with the premise of this project - simplifying my stash - it occurred to me that I should be including thread.  I bought this lilac variagated thread ... oh, maybe 5 years ago ... and have never used it.  I think it might look really pretty for the top-stitching. 

I admit it's a bit risky, but what the heck, I'm feeling brave ...

Oh Yes I Di-id!

(Sorry, that's just me trying to be 'hood.)

Never mind.  From this ...

to this ...

to THIS!  Eeeeeeeeeep!!!

My head nearly exploded when the idea hit me.  This bag just HAD to be born!

I put flowers on both sides so it can never be worn "backwards". 

I love using a contrast fabric for binding on the inside - sort of a designer touch, don't you think?

And I am my mother's daughter so I had to use a practical, dark fabric for the bottom.

The only thing I forgot in my excitement was to make a pocket or two for the inside.  Yes, I could add them now by hand ... but I know I won't. 

To Market, To Market ...

... to buy a fat pig, home again home again jiggity jig.  To market, to market to buy a fat quarter, home again home again ... I'm a fabric hoarder!

Yes, I'm a very lucky girl who's going to Quilt Market this week with my best friend.  I decided last week to make each of us a pretty quilted tote bag and thought you might like to see them.

I love Japanese quilting books & magazines (don't mean to offend, but I call them - shh - quilter's porn!) and have long admired this delightful little design of revolving log cabins, alternating with solid squares, on point.

I practiced making a few of these itty bitty 1 1/2" finished blocks a long time ago (I included them in my banner photo up top) and have been patiently waiting for just the right project to come along.  They aren't difficult - necessarily - but they are quite fiddley because you need to sew a partial seam on a 1" square.  

The bag required only 63 log cabin squares but I ended up making ... almost triple that number.  Why?  Good question.

First, I started out with this grouping of fabric.  I was trying to imitate the book's use of black/white (with a little brown) but with a smokey gray, taupey brown palette.

and ended up with this (the first 42 blocks).

Too scrappy.  I don't like the weird geometric accidents happening from the dark rectangles.  If you look at this picture with squinted eyes you'll see what I mean.  Plus, it looks like a patchwork bruise to me.

But I was determined to get it right so I removed all the very darks & very lights and came up with this grouping.

Too dull.  The results were a little better, (another 35 blocks) but I wanted the piecing to ... sparkle.  I also figured out that some of the "too scrappy" was happening because I was picking my log cabin logs randomly. 

Third time's a charm?  I again removed all the remaining darks, put back all the lights and added a few more lighter lights.  I also planned out the log cabin blocks by using either a light middle square with equal valued dark logs or dark square with equal-valued light logs.

You know how when you plan to make something and you have an idea of what you think it will look like but somehow your imagination never quite manages to see exactly how it will turn out until it's done?  And sometimes you're happy with the results and sometimes ... not so much?  Well, I literally got butterflies in my tummy when this came together (another 35 blocks). 

(And there's no pink in it!?!  Quick, check to see if the sky is falling!) Right now I'm wishing I'd made just a few of the little log cabin centers with the softest blush pink.  That would have been really pretty.

Oh, and then when I was making the outside pocket, I must have been totally distracted because I accidentally made it one row too short - yet another 24 PLUS 28 blocks for a grand total of 164 - and of course didn't notice until I'd already top-stitched it ...

I have to admit that I've absolutely no idea where I got the inspiration for this top-stitching design - it came out of no where.  Up to the very last minute I was just going to ... you guessed it ... cross-hatch (which I still did on the piece behind the pocket).  Maybe I was influenced by all the Cathedral Window quilt stuff I've been seeing around lately.  And I do love the classic Double Wedding Ring, but I haven't made one in years.

Anyhow, it should be big enough to fit my camera, a bottle of water and all the paper one tends to collect at Market.

I'll show you the other bag tomorrow, but I'll tease you with this ...

My Mother's Day

Tissue paper art just never gets old.

I love portraits.

And apparently my freak out a few years ago made quite an impression! 

(Yes, I was literally jumping up and down.  Come on, that spider was HUGE!!!)

Thank you my dear little artists.  You make my life wonderful.

Happy Mother's Day!

Dear Mr. Policeman,

Thank you very much for giving me a warning instead of a ticket after I rolled through a Stop sign at the corner of my very quiet residential street. 

Oh.  And also, thank you for that totally awesome adrenaline rush I got when you scared the crap out of me sounded your siren behind me.  That was just the pick-me-up I needed in the middle of the afternoon ... WAY more effective than a cup of tea.

Sincerely,

The mom who's gonna try really hard to not lose track of time while sewing and then be late picking up her daughter from school.

Project Simplify - Day 17

You know that saying "misery likes company"?  Well, apparently crazy like company too.  I don't feel any less crazy about my fabric issues, but I sure do feel like I'm in very good company.  Thanks y'all who chimed in.  You guys are funny!

So, from that barfing scrap bin, here are the prints my helper & I picked from my scraps for this quilt.  And I chose this light taupe on white print for the large border from my main stash. 

I haven't committed to a fabric for the colored inner border yet.  (Scroll down a bit to see the first picture of yesterday's post).  I usually wait until the main part of a quilt top is pieced before picking one - especially when I'm using scraps.  I just never know which color I'm going to want to accentuate ... although pink is usually a pretty good bet! ;).

There aren't enough years left in me to list & describe all the things I've made from these fabrics.  I couldn't possibly give you each piece's history.  There's everything from brand new Robyn Pandolph charm squares to 5 year old 3 Sisters by Moda prints to more Susan Branch to 20+ year old Laura Ashley scraps.  But you're looking at a fairly good representation of what sorts of colors & prints make me happy.

Ooooh, this is gonna be a pretty quilt (if I do say so myself)!

Project Simplify - Day 16

Chapter Three.  A scrap quilt.  I adore scrap quilts.  I think of them as a collage of the quilt maker's history. 

But I've been dreading this chapter for one reason.  You see, I sorta feel like a fraud because you might have the misconception that I'm a really neat & tidy person from seeing this picture of my stash that I shared with you a little while ago.  (It took 5 hours to make it look this nice.)

Yeah.  Here's what I didn't show you ...

My shameful scrap bin.  Doesn't it look like it's barfing?  I keep it under my sewing table, which is probably very bad Feng Shui.  And every time I try to get it under control I turn into someone who should be on a reality show about hoarding. 

• "But I could use that for ____!"
• "But this piece is way too big to throw out!"
• "But I really love that _____!"
• "But this would be great for _____!"
• "But that's my very last piece!"

See, I have a weird love/hate relationship with my scraps. 

I love them because I can make something pretty without spending money.  It makes me feel ... frugal.  And I love the challenge of making things from scraps - no pattern, no guidelines.  It forces me to exercise a different sort of creativity.  Plus they're very handy when you just need a little bit of something.

At the same time, I hate using up my scraps.  The only reason they are still scraps and not garbage is because I love them too much to throw out.  Using up and throwing out a scrap is the same to me - either way, it's gone.

I don't quite understand why I can get so emotionally attached to fabric.  I almost always buy it because I fall in love with it, not because I need it.  I rarely find a pattern first and then look for fabric.  I'm always drawn to fabric first.  Then I buy it.  Then I wait to find something to make out of it.  This pattern of behaviour (pardon the pun) goes a very long way to explaining my stash.

So for me, my "scrap bin" is a sort of "scrap book".  It's like going on an archaeological dig every time I search through it.  Memories of past projects come flooding back.  Feelings about the objects made and the people I made them for bubble up to the surface ...  much like I experience when looking through a photo album or scrapbooks.  Some are old and dear friends, some are just aquaintances and some have grown old, tired & out-of-date but I still feel great fondness for them.

Anyone else feel the same?  (Please don't leave me out here all alone in crazy fabric addict land.  I could use some company right about now!)

Daughter's Pride

If you were 9 & 3/4 years old, which recorder case would you prefer?  This one (standard issue, grotty canvas) ...

... or this one (fashioned with a scrap from the last quilt your mom made and some pretty matching ribbon)?

Yeah, that's the one my daughter picked too. ;)

On days like today, I feel like a good mom.  There's just something about knowing my daughter is proud of me that's ... well ... everything.

PS:  Can't forget the other one!   (Fairsies math ... )

Project Simplify - Day 15

I l.o.v.e scallops.  Love them!  Not so crazy about binding them, but I've never regretted the extra time required to make a beautifully scalloped edge on a quilt.

The awesome thing about the scallops on this quilt is that they aren't on the edge!  They are cleverly appliqued on so you get the same scallopy sweetness without messing about with all the things that come with a scalloped edge.  (Anybody else suddenly have a craving for piping hot cheezy potatos ... mmmmmmmm!)

Remember I talked about shadowing in my last post?  Yeah.  Same problem here.  Maybe not as severe as the stripes & flowers because it's just little uniform polka dots.  But I guess I just felt like making things more difficult for myself ... again ... and I reverse appliqued the scallops too.

If you follow the instructions in Camille's book, this scalloped border is fairly simple to make.  And it just looks soooooooo sweet!

So here's the quilt top.  I think it looks so bright and happy & fresh.  I can't imagine how any quilt made with Flower Sugar can look anything but!

Oh, and I'm calling this one "A New Day".  I just realized I forgot to tell you that I made this quilt solo - no assistant this time.  You see, there are 9 quilts in the book and I only have 2 girls.  If you've ever had the fun of doing "fairsies math" you'll know why I had to do one by myself ;).

Quilts for Quake Survivors was accepting quilt tops so I didn't worry about top-stitching it.  (But I did make a back for it.  Sorry, forgot to take a picture.) 

I have mixed feelings about not top-stitching this quilt.  On the one hand, I am anxious to "practice" some more free-motion quilting so I'm sad to miss the opportunity.  On the other hand, I have absolutely no idea what design I'd use!  The quilt in the book is beautifully, professionally long-armed and there is no way I could replicate that design myself.

Do you have any suggestions for a nice FMQ design for this quilt? 

Stash Redux:

• Yardage - 9.8 yds / 8.9 m
• Weight - 1.8 lbs / 0.9 kg

For a grand total of:

• Yardage - 31.5 yds / 28.7 m
• Weight - 11.4 lbs / 6.4 kg

                              *          *          *          *          *

Well, I didn't quite make the deadline for the quilt to be shipped to Japan (I got a confirmation email saying they received it just a few days late).  But they are setting up an Etsy store to sell all the post-deadline quilts they receive.  The money raised is going to Mercy Corp.

I'm very excited about being part of this initiative and hope the quilt makes at least a few dollars for them.  I'll keep you posted on what happens ...

Project Simplify - Day 14

Shadowing - at least that's what I call it.

It's an evil thing that happens when you applique a lighter fabric onto a darker one and the dark fabric shows through.  This is a pillow I made for my daughter 4 or 5 years ago.  (Notice the cross-hatching?  Told ya I need to learn FMQing!)

See how the dark hearts show through the pink?

What does this have to do with the green flower?  Right.  I'll get there. 

I had chosen a rather busy paisley print for the flower's center and it worked great with the light green polka dot. 

However, I thought the paisley was too busy to go with the busy-ness of the new green print and I wanted more contrast between the petals & the center of each flower.

So I went with a solid white which I'm also using for the scallops on the border. 

And here's where the problem lies - shadowing.

Ugh.  Now, one could always just cut away as much of the green from underneath as possible.  But you'd still see a shadow line just inside the seam.

My solution?  Reverse applique!  That means instead of positioning the flower's center on top of the petals, I cut out the middle of the green petal piece and put the white fabric underneath.

See?

And then just trimmed away the excess.

In the clear?  Not quite.  See how the stripes of the background are now shadowing through the white? 

It's a little hard to see in the picture, but trust me, it's there.  And the shadows will only get worse after top-stitching.  (I've made the mistake of hoping that top-stitching over shadows wouldn't make a difference ... )  So I just cut them out too.

It might seem like a lot of trouble for one little flower.  But every time I look at my daughter's heart pillow, I cringe.  And I just couldn't - in good conscience - make a quilt with shadows.  To me, it was so worth the effort.

Hormonal?

I think Mother Nature is having some pretty bad PMS today ...

... this is snow as seen from my kitchen.  I'm going back to bed.  Someone please wake me up when she's finished menopause.