Blogger's Quilt Festival Entry

It's International Quilt Market time, and that means Blogger's Quilt Festival time too!  Amy does a magnificent job putting on this great festival of quilts and their stories. 

This time around I decided to enter a quilt I just finished today!  This is my American Jane quilt made with Snippets and a Happy Camper binding.  The pattern is Confetti Cake by Margot of The Pattern Basket. This first photo really captures the bright colors of the fabrics.

Confetti Cake is a large quilt, so the best place to get a full picture was outside.

And of course it has a scrappy back (like most of my quilts)!

I didn't start looking for binding until after quilting--I was unable to find any Snippets around, but this great print from Happy Camper matched perfectly!

I started this quilt over a year ago and don't know why it took me so long to get it finished (well, actually it was hidden for a while at the bottom of the "to be quilted" pile).  It just goes to show that it's never too late to finish up a work in progress!

Head on over to Amy's and enjoy the rest of the quilt entries!  Have a wonderful weekend!

It's the Little Things...

After working on so many big projects this month...I was ready to sew some small items.  On Saturday I sewed these "boxy" bags I've been meaning to sew up for awhile; and, yes, I used my scraps to make them (fabrics Fresh Cottons and Bliss)!

Because of all of the talk about scraps these days (thank you, Jodi!), I've been really motivated to organize some of my stash.

Today I organized my Lecien stash using Lori's method here (you'll have to scroll down to nearly the end of the post, but you can see wonderful pictures of her amazing sewing room along the way).  I plan on making several scrappy projects with these fabrics, so I took the time today to do some cutting.

 I collected these fabrics over the past year from a variety of shops and really think they make a cute set.  A  few extra charms and fat quarters have been listed in my Etsy shop.

And I've continued to work on one of my favorite small projects ever!  I have three flowers completed now and have them pinned and ready to applique' them to the background fabric! What little things do you work on when you don't feel like a major project?

Oh...and I've got a quilt that will be coming home soon--you can see it here...thank you Judi!

What a Week!

My Fall 2010 market sewing is officially finished--for the second time! Well, let me explain. Monday morning I shipped off my final market project (or so I thought); later that afternoon I received an e-mail...could I make one more quilt and have it back by Friday?! The quilt was one I'd made earlier this fall in another colorway; however, it involved applique', and I just wasn't sure I could do it!  My husband took over most of the household stuff (cooking, car pools) so I could sew, sew, sew! And yesterday I was able to overnight the finished quilt less than 48 hours after it arrived. So that was pretty much my week along with my son's Junior Varsity football game and working in the snack bar tonight for the Varsity game!

Today I was lucky enough to find binding fabric for my American Jane Snippets quilt--(one of these days I will learn to buy binding when I start a project--seems as if I'm endlessly trying to find bindings for older projects)! I found the perfect binding in another American Jane line, Happy Camper--I'll be binding this soon, for sure!

And, my search for all 45 Flea Market Fancy prints is nearly over--I have 44 of them.  The grey print on top was the final piece I collected.  I'm so thankful to everyone who swapped or sent me swatches (and sometimes bigger pieces) of these fabrics.

I'm still missing one print (the other green bubble dot print), but I've pretty much decided to start my project without it...maybe I can leave a space for it in case I'm ever able to find it.

Oh...and you're probably wondering about the winner for my box of scraps giveaway--I used the random number generator which chose #266--Jessica!  Congratulations Jessica...I'll send you an email to get your address so I can get those scraps in the mail!

Sneak Peek...

Just a sneak peek of a quilt I'll soon be able to share...This amazing fabric is "Central Park" by Kate Spain for Moda.  The fabric will debut next week at International Quilt Market. And...just a little hint...there might just be a giveaway going on right now over here!

Got Scraps?!

Have you seen the great "Sew Scraps Along" posts by Jodi over at Pleasant Home? Jodi has great ideas for organizing, storing, and most importantly using your scraps!  I'm looking forward to all of Jodi's posts because, well, you know, I definitely have scraps!

I have new scraps (can't wait to show you what I made with this new line by Kate)!

I have some very Blissful scraps...

I have jars of scraps...

And I have bags of scraps (if I know I have enough to make a small project, I'll bag them up--this bag should make a nice table runner).

I even have a box of binding scraps!

 

 See all the squares in this bag ("Oak Park" bag--pattern by Stephanie)?

The squares were all scraps...2 1/2" squares that ended up making up one of my very favorite bags!  So...would you like some scraps?!  I'm going to have a giveaway for one small Priority Flat Rate box of my scraps.  And you get to choose betweeen Modern/Bright or Traditional/Earth Tones.  Just leave a comment telling me your favorite way to store/organize your scraps...and which colorway you'd like if you win.  I'll keep the comments open until Thursday and announce a winner on Friday!  And be sure to follow Jodi's blog as she shares her fun ideas for scraps!

Oh, and I'd like to send a little something to Kim from the Great Cover-Up Post for her super cute Fandango ironing board cover up...Kim, could you e-mail me your snail mail address?  Have a great day!

The Great Cover-Up

 Ironing--something I love to do if it involves quilting fabric--ironing clothes, not so much!  But today I recovered my ironing board in some fabric that might just make me look forward to all ironing--well maybe, maybe not.

The fabric is sew now! sew wow! by Alexander Henry, and after I saw this fabric in Jodi's amazing sewing room I did a little searching on ebay and was able to find some.

Quite a few of you have also recently covered your ironing boards for the first Le Petite challenge--you can see half here on my blog, but be sure to head over to Sinta's blog to see some other great cover-ups! First up is this cover from Liz.

Kim (no blog) added flying geese blocks to her cover and used Fandango by Kate Spain!

Julia made a wonderful red/red polka dot cover--doesn't it look great up against her aqua wall?!

Karen sent in this photo from an ironing board cover-up tutorial she did earlier this year...thanks for the link, Karen!

Jo went the extra mile and recovered two ironing boards--first she made a new cover for her table top board.

Jo's second ironing board cover-up was for her full-size ironing board.

This new cover was made by Brenda (no blog), beautiful fabric!

Anne Ida sent in this "after" photo.

And Cindy made a new reversible ironing board cover--the photo above is side one.

And here is Cindy's side two...love them both, Cindy! Cindy shares her "how-to" directions for these covers here. If I've missed anyone's great cover up...please send an e-mail so I can add you to the parade.  Sinta and I will both be choosing winners from our cover-up parades!

I've got some binding to do--and some applique' to finish as well...think this is going to be a hand-stitching weekend--hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Granny Squares

I finally had a few minutes to make my first "Granny Squares" block (pattern by Lissa Alexander)--I'm using Maison de Garance by French General for Moda and will be adding in some Rouenneries as well. I love this pattern--love working with the 1 1/2" strips, and love the fact that if you follow the pressing directions every seam nests perfectly.

I've been wanting to make this quilt since this issue of American Patchwork & Quilting arrived. I'm using a fat eighth bundle which is adding a little bit of work for me since I can only get 22" strips from the bundle. I can't make any more of the blocks until the brown around the edges is available in yardage, but I love the fact that I've started working on this project.

And here is the reason I'm so intent on making this quilt--these granny square vests were made for me by my Grandmother when I was a little girl.  I wore these vests with a white blouse underneath, and my Mom saved them for me. I had always hoped one day my own girls would wear them, but neither of my daughters would ever try one on! I've kept them as a reminder of my grandmother's handiwork, and when I saw the "Granny Squares" quilt I immediately thought of these vests.

I had a lot of fun getting them out today to photograph for this post...they do kind of date me, though!

I was able to pick up nearly 20 yards of fabric for just $42 the other day--a Las Vegas quilt shop is closing it's doors, and the big sale has started.  I was happy to be able to find some Fig Tree fabrics, Shangri-La, and American Jane Recess for borders and backs.

I'm finishing up the last of my market sewing this week and am looking forward to being able to share some of the sewing that's been going on behind the scenes here.

Oh...one more thing...my blog is now a dot com...blogger should redirect you automatically...but just in case it doesn't, go here! Hope you have a great day!

One Flower Wednesday...

So many things on my "to do" list this week--and the next--and the next-- and so on. But the simplicity of one single project--the ease of a "one-flower Wednesday--" seems to have given me just what I needed to prioritize, slow down, and enjoy creating.  My favorite quote this week is from Leonardo da Vinci--"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."  I think "one flower Wednesday" fits the bill! How do you slow down and simplify?