Nostalgia Dreams

 I think about fabric. A lot. Sometimes I even think maybe I think a wee bit too much about things. Ok. I absolutely think too much about things. But sometimes, sometimes it leads me to fun quilts!

 I had left over Nostalgia from the first quilt, which I'm 90% sure I'm going to quilt with a wood grain motif, ala wood paneling, anyways, and I was thinking how much the colours reminded me of bit and pieces of things involving my grandmother and how special those memories are. So it kept rattling in my head, until the idea of memories being gems just wouldn't go away.

 And this quilt was born!

I adore this design for some reason. It is fun and easy but still interesting. And I think I like is sideways more then I do "right" side up!

 I'm thinking of taking it and offsetting the strips but then I'd lose a lot of the prints and they really are so very pretty. They're softer then Jennifer's other lines but there is still something very bold about them. It's fun!

 I have enough I think for one more baby quilt from the bundle so watch out!

More Meghan Peasant Dress love!

 I made a second dress!! I shortened the skirt and sleeves a bit and went with a size smaller skirt and I think I love it even more!

 I had Little Bit take another picture!

 The fabric is Amy Butler Lark and Daisy Chain for the sleeves. And the hair colour is new! What do you think?

I made a dress!

  I'm so excited! I made a DRESS! All by myself! Yay!!!

I need someone else to help get some better pictures but I'm thrilled with how it turned out!

The fabrics are Lark by Amy Butler and my hoarded Honey Child by Jennifer Paganelli.

 I used the Meghan Peasant dress pattern from Sisboom, aka Jennifer Paganelli and Carla Crim of Scientific Seamstress. It was easy to follow and I couldn't believe how quick this baby came together!
 I now want to try all of the Sisboom patterns. I've always thought I can't sew clothes without my mom's help but I think I'm coming around to it.

 The pattern. It was a PDF version, which means I will be able to just print off and tape together the necessary pattern pieces as I invariably lose, tear, or miscut one.

 There are sizes from XS to 3X, and instructions on how to make it any length you want, with several sleeve options. So very customizable.

 Biggest plus? I didn't get lost while reading it. It was simple instructions with clear diagrams. This dress didn't have anything I couldn't handle with my quilting skills.
 It even had charts to tell me which pages to print for my size in the templates, how to measure to get the lengths I wanted etc.

I would definitly recommend giving it a try. And it's easy enough I think a teen or even tween could handle it with appropriate supervision. And all it takes is the fabric, elastic and a bit of bias tape.

Here is Little Bit's helping with a picture of the dress on me.

I think there is a second one of these in my future! 

Another new quilt!

 While I wait on backing fabric for my Nostalgia quilt, which I will post about again soon, I had a request for a quilt from my sister-in-law.

 We talked a bit but it was free reign for me so I thought way too much about it and started sewing before I had a full plan, which is is not my normal way of creating a design.
 I didn't even have all the fabrics figured out! For me this is some serious improv.

 I started with one idea when I stitched the center Carpenter's Star but it evolved several times to become this lovely.

It is 70" and has a mix of fabrics, including a charm pack of BasicGrey's Eva, Art Gallery Fabric Pure Element in Mystic Grey, more Eva fabric, and the greens I think are Robert Kaufman Kona solids. This was pieced entirely from my stash! Yay stash!

 I need a name for this one but am coming up empty. Any ideas?

Nostalgia Pretty

 I was lucky enough to get my hands on some of Jennifer Paganelli's (aka Sisboom) Nostalgia for Free Spirit and I wanted to show off the huge prints, but also how they can be chopped up small to be used in quilting.
To get a really great look at the fabrics head over to the debut post here.
 I'm really excited to get this one on the frame but I can't decide on how to quilt it. Any ideas?

The wind keeps blowing

We've had the warmest fall I can remember but it sure has been windy!

Happy Halloween!

I got my modified Little Bit of Boo ( Quilt Sampler pattern Little Bit of Boo (Fall/Winter 2010) by Sandra Workman) bound up just in time for the big day tomorrow!

This is my first embroidery quilt so that is a fun thing in itself for me. But the fact I finished in it season is a win. I also ended up binding it without a thimble as mine has run away. Again. I suspect it's hiding out in all the scraps on my sewing room table but so far the searches have only resulted in a bigger mess on the table. 

 I've set myself the goal of Cheryl Arkison's lecture, at the London Modern Quilt Guild, on November 5th to have the sewing table cleared of scraps. We'll see if I make it, but at least it's a goal, right?

I did it again...another jelly roll lone star!

  This time I used Claremont Farm from Minnik & Simpson. You can see the Pom Pom de Paris by French General version here.
This version only took 18 jelly roll strips to make and I've finally figured out matching the diamond seams so it goes together really quickly. For the center lone star I recommend Hopeful Homemaker's tutorials.
Now to do something with the whites and tans that are left over...

Fast Hexies

 Hi I'm Cara from CaraQuilts and I really like hexies and mini charms.
 I've collected a lot of mini charm packs and wanted to be able to see some of my favorite lines so I created these hexie mini quilts.

Requirements

 1 mini charm pack
 2 sheets water soluble paper (I use C&T Publishing's Wash-Away Applique Sheets)
 1 water soluble glue stick
 12x12" fusible batting (I use Pellon)
 12x12" backing
 Coordinating thread for top stitching

To start

We need to cut out 42 1" hexies from the water soluble paper.

Use a dab of glue to place the hexagon paper in the middle of each mini charm square.
Another swipe of glue and fold down the fabric to the paper.

Repeat going all the way around the hexagon.

 Repeat for all 42 from the mini charms.

The original one I made I fused each individual hexie. The second time round I stitched them into rows first and I found it easier to fuse them with less risk to my fingers so I suggest first laying out your hexies so you know you like the colour placement etc. and stitching them into 7 rows of 6 using a small zig zag stitch in a coordinating thread.

Lay your first row near to touching the edge and follow the directions for the fusible batting (if using regular batting pin down).  Place the next row right up against the first and fuse. If you have tails from stitching the rows together just tuck them under the row about to be fused.
It's a bit like piecing a puzzle only here forcing the issue is just fine. Continue until you have fused each row.

 Lay the batting and top piece onto your backing and gently press. This normally keeps the quilt sandwich together without needing to pin on such a small piece.
 Using the same thread zig zag the rows together, stopping with the needle down and turning with each point.
 Once your rows are stitched down press the entire piece.

Lay a ruler across the edge of the quilt and trim to a straight edge.

Bind and enjoy!

More A Little Bit of Boo!

I stitched up another couple of the blocks from the Quilt Sampler patter Little Bit of Boo (Fall/Winter 2010) by Sandra Workman.

Finding the pattern was a perfect remind to go look through all my stashed magazines, of which I have waaaaay to many. But there are some great patterns I'd forgotten I'd wanted to make in them so I'm thinking the next rainy day I may have an old magazine flip through.

Rainbows

Sometimes a girl just needs a lot of colour. And having a stash of thread helps a lot.

Pumpkin time!!

With Canadian Thanksgiving in October it's a great time for pumpkins!!

English Paper Piecing

I used a bunch of mini charm packs from Kate Spain, Sweetwater and Aneela Hooey to make this fun little triangle rings top. I have to say I'm really happy with it. I just have to finish the edges so it will be mostly straight binding except for the "corners".

 I've set myself to using up a lot of my smaller precuts so I will hopefully have lots more to show soon!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving! So to my fellow Canucks Happy Thanksgiving! May it be blessed and peaceful for you and yours and continue all year round.

I also want to take a sec and nag any Canadians to make sure you are registered to vote in the federal election Oct 19th. You can do it easily here if you haven't received your voter card in the mail by now.
Voting is a great way to show how thankful you are to have had others fight for that right. I passionately believe that as a people our votes matter, regardless if you like you comes out on top.
Try CBC's VoteCompass if you are having trouble deciding or just even to compare where you stand to the party leaders.

Fall has arrived!

The leaves are becoming brilliant and the air chilly so October had to come to my sewing room too!

Critter Embroidery

I'm really happy with how this one turned out!! I used the free pattern from Penguin and Fish and more of the amazing 12 wt thread and just kept stitching away.

I did a great deal of it before, to and from a trip to the apple orchard, which is an annual tradition here.

We picked a ridiculous amount of apple and I even found a pink and teal pumpkin!!

Do you have any fun fall traditions?

Happy time

When the worries get too much it's time to colour!

Season's Embroidery

I've been really enjoying playing with some embroidery and the 12 wt Aurifil thread collection Bari J did a few years ago. The colours really work well together and I've found it easier to stitch with the 12wt, even doubled up, then I ever have with embroidery floss.
Weird how stitching is more enjoyable when then back doesn't keep becoming a tangled mess. Although it also means I can't blame my less then perfect lazy daisies on my tools!

A work in progress!

A million years ago I started this Double Wedding Ring wall hanging using the Ring's That Bind, which I found via Kaye Wood's Youtube video.

I'd made the individual blocks and then chickened out on the whole putting them together part. I sewed them together and now just have to figure out the whole top stitching and matching points thing.
Yay for progress!

This one is important to me so I know I will eventually get it completed if not perfected.

One more little cabin...

To welcome fall and hold some of my favorite pin toppers!

Farmer's Wife/Mistress Revisted

I pulled out my Farmer's Wife quilt blocks that I'm doing in all Fig Tree Quilt fabrics and made a few more blocks! I'm going to run out of blocks I can do without either printing the templates or paper piecing and I'm really not sure I want to fool around with either of those right now.  

 Each of these has Cinnamon Stars fabrics, and my obsession is showing I know! But this was one of those early lines I was able to track some down and I'm not ashamed to say I'm kinda proud of that fact. It was fun.

I now have 29 of the blocks done. I still have no idea how many I'll ended up making, and I have several ideas for not in the book blocks I may through in.

Have you restarted any old projects lately?

Stitching Time

Some times a girl just has to stitch something cute! This one is going to hang in my sewing room, which is really where I feel at home right now.

What to do with apple core scraps?

Make a mini log cabin! I had 42 1" x 5" strips from when I did the apple core English paper piecing (EPP), so I went with the classic log cabin. I ended up with enough to make 4 3" blocks which were sashed with leftover strips that matched the center square in each cabin's "hearth". 

What do you like to do with little bit like these strips?

Apple Cores!

 Normally when I say apple core it is normally preceded by a "Why???" and followed by "insert location apple cores absolutely should not be" aimed at Little Bit but these are the kind I love to find!!

Two packages of apple core pieces from PaperPieces.com were hiding in one of my sewing drawers so they ended up glue basted to some gorgeous fabric from Holly Taylor called Enchanted Pond. I really love the depth of colour her lines have, as well as how they can be very gender neutral but still rich with warmth.

I was originally going to hand stitch them together but I decided since my hands hurt a lot lately I'd cheat. I sewed them together on the machine with a zig zag and I finally have an apple core not quite mini quilt!

Lonestar strikes again!

That's how it feels anyways!

I had some left over strips from a different project I started, but haven't finished, when the strips just demanded to be sewn into a top and this lovely was the result!
I used Pom Pom de Paris by French General for Moda and am thinking of adding on of the pink prints as a main border with maybe one of the lighter reds as an inner border. What do you think?

More Tumblers!

I got curious after playing with my other mini tumblers top what a charm pack would look like cut up. So I cut one up.

And sewed it into 14x12 rows

And got this lovely! It measures about 17.5*24.5".

 These gorgeous beauties are from Moda's Weave line and I really loved them. I cut the charm pack in quarters then cut up all the 2.5" squares using a template I made out of the charm pack cardboard.

Tumble on!

Tumblers are always in style

I've had the above mini top in a drawer for years and contuing my effort to at least put hands on and look at my old projects I got it out to add a few more rows.

 This is made out of 2.5" mini charms I've cut into tumblers from different lines of Moda Fabrics. I think there is only one of each print and there currently some Kansas Troubles, Civil War Reproductions, and generally heavier feeling fabrics get added to this baby.

 It's now 17*23, which is 391 tumblers.

This one I don't actually have a plan for when it will be done, maybe never, just that it gets worked on every once in a while is enough.

Paradise Batik revisted

Many years ago, in an apartment not very far away there was a quilt created for a Moda Bakeshop project Batik Wave, whose scraps were cruelly stuffed in a box.

A box where they have lived until now....

I dug into a box of scraps and came up with a huge amount of roughly 20" strip sets with black and batik strips that I'd made in a brilliant moment of bad math. Luckily it was I now have too much type bad math. 

Ironed cut up and sewn up into 4 patches I came up with this block

Which made this top!

I love happy endings!

Review Update Sullivan Edge Ruler

About three years ago I reviewed the Sullivan Edge Ruler I'd picked up at Quilt Market from Pat Sloan.

I've used this thing a lot now. When I first reviewed it one of the things I had issues with was how do you tell if your blade is really staying sharper longer?

I still didn't figure out that part but I did discover that there is a big problem with the ruler that will completely dull your blade in one move.
Ever miss the edge of your ruler and scrap the plastic? Well doing that on the Edge will result in a blade that is pretty much useless after 1-2 times doing it. When it goes it goes fast. So I think it's one of those it works until it doesn't type things.

In the last month I've worked on over 15 quilts or projects of varying size. I've gone through 5 blades. It took to number 3 for me to realize what was going on and then number 4 confirmed it when I was paying attention and sure enough I hit the top of the edge instead of the side and I couldn't get the cutter to work again without sawing away.

So if you don't hit the side it works great.

Having the 1/2" and 1" lines a different colour make using it backwards, without the edge possible, which is what I'm doing for a lot of cuts when I may not be paying quite enough attention or my hands are shaky.

Over all, it's still a pretty good ruler. Do I like the edge? I still can't decide.

A Charity Quilt

 On the 10th anniversary of my son's death I retreated to my sewing room. I grabbed the left over HSTs from the Barn Raising and went to work on making a baby quilt with the intention of donating it to the local NICU in memory of my little one who didn't get to come home.
 I managed to sew it and get it quilted and machine bound in the day and have just enough sun left over for a picture outside.

 I'm actually really happy with how it turned out and I added some heavier quilting to this one and I really felt a huge amount of peace just putting stitches into this one hoping that the child and family it goes to gets the prognosis we all wish for.