#ProjectQuilting week 1

 I've decided to try and play along with Kim Lapacek of Persimon dreams Project Quilting. You can find out all about it here.

 The first week's challenge is "confetti".

At first I was going to nope right out of this one when I first saw what the challenge was. How could I come up with something spectacular, which having seen past challenges I know others will come up with, in a week? With no extra materials?
Then I remembered this wasn't about winning or even making something jawdropping. It was about seeing the process through from start to finish and to help me reclaim more of my creativity and ability to just make things.
Yes, I want to push myself, but not to a point I can't find joy in what I'm doing.

So yesterday I had a brainstorm and I just let myself go with it.
I overthought everything, but that's OK.

Confetti calls to mind celebrations which to me means weddings, babies, birthdays and get togethers. So my quilt was going to have elements of all of those things.

There are Cathedral Windows, prairie point windmills, and lots of colour all in a baby mat that begs to be touched with lots of texture and flippy bits. I love seeing confetti in the wind so I love how much movement is in the top, especially around the center.

I've named it "You Belong"

The quilt is 30" square and used a charm pack of Simply Color,and some left over black Bella solids charms.

What do you think?

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!