::Escapism::

My home is a disaster.  Everyone is sick.  So I sat down and put together my quilt top for some sanity.  I’m hoping this fabulous Halloween weather will hold so I can get some photos outside tomorrow.

I ended up adding a row to make it square.  This will actually be the first quilt I’ve ever made for myself.  I’m looking forward to cuddling up on the couch with it.  Mine all Mine!

So this week it’s time to stitch the rows together to finish the whole quilt top!

I pin the intersection of the blocks only when I piece the rows.  I pull a bit if needed to help them through and line them up.  I’m going to be lame and not reinvent the wheel with a tutorial of stitching the rows together, there’s plenty of info out there and I need to get ready for Trick-or-Treating with my little SQUID MAN!

Be thinking of your quilt backing, that comes next week.  I’m thinking some of the new Amy Butler, this one is perfect.

Happy Halloween!

Read Full Post »

::Catch-Up Week::

This is as good as a photo gets in your dark bedroom.  Roan’s snoozing in my bed, and there’s no way in Hell I’m going to chance waking him.  I think crappy photos of quilts from a distance are actually quite good in helping “see” the design anyway.

Below is my usual design, and though I like it, I’ve just done it too many times.

I probably will crash on the couch to watch cartoons with the little guy when he gets up.  You can get a lot done when you for no reason what-so-ever are wide awake at 3am.

I’ve read The Stranger and filled out my city voting ballot.  Ordered this delightful home decor owl fabric with Christmas presents in mind, and now that I am fully caffeinated I thought I would set us to work on the design of our Value Quilts.

That’s all we’re doing this week, because I need a break to catch-up on my quilting bees.  This might provide some time for some of you to catch-up too.  Head over to the Value Quilt Flickr Group, test out some designs, see what resonates.

I am curious what you think of the top design?  I can’t fit all the blocks, so I’ll have to add as I go.  There are a few blocks that don’t have enough contrast of light and dark, but I think I’m going for it anyway.  I did place a few of the squares to make the diamonds all one color.  Looking at the photo makes me see some other areas where I’ll do some more of this.

Off to look at House Blocks, not my favorite, I always feel so inadequate when I produce them.

Have a great weekend.

Read Full Post »

::Happy Without Sunshine::

I got paid to sew a pillow today.  I’m so happy!

Ok, ignore the pillow for a minute and the poor quality of the photo.  See what it looks like outside?  I always thought that going back to work in Seattle meant I would need coffee and a slap by noon…but Sarah really put thought into the lighting at her shop Fabric Crush.  It really shows the true color of the fabric (unlike my photo) and will likely keep me from Seasonal Depression.

Cross your fingers I’ll learn how to take better photos in it someday.

One of the wonderful things about working at her fabric boutique is coming up with lovely fabric combos all day long.  I loved the Anna Maria Horner dots with the new Amy Butler Love.  And while I was taking the photo I noticed how lovely the bolt the pillow is sitting on looked with the Carolina Chambrays below.

So much fun!

Read Full Post »

::Baby Steps::

How are you all getting on?  I don’t know if I get the hang of this Kindergarten/Work thing, it really cuts into your sewing time.

This week we are going to iron and square up our blocks.  Then you may play with your arrangement.

I love what I call my “lap board” for this next step.  The one in the link is a bit bigger, which would be nice and free shipping today only.

It’s an ironing board on one side and a cutting board on the other.  Our next step is a bit time consuming, and boring.  I like to catch up on some TV whilst I do it and this little contraption is perfect.

IRONING:

I like to cut the chain apart getting rid of all the threads and then iron the squares to set the seam before cutting them in two.  Certainly you could iron the squares while still chained first.

I iron my seams open.  I have also done it to the side.  I suppose there are arguments to each system, just do what works for you.

SQUARING YOUR BLOCKS:

If you are perfect you can skip this step.  I find squaring the blocks to be the most time consuming of the whole process.  Taking the time to do it will make all the difference in your corners meeting.

Like the picture above, line the diagonal line of your template up with that of your block.  You are going to square up the first two sides of the block.  Try to place the template close the first two edges.

This next step is a bit difficult to explain, but the picture above shows the line-up.  Now that you have two clean edges, place the template so that the measured corner of the template is on your cleaned squared corner.  Pay attention that the diagonal of the template and block is still lined up and cut the other two edges clean.

I bring my original 6 inch squares to 5.5″.  You will be so pleased when you have a neat pile of perfect squares!

Now you can place with the placement of the blocks on your wall and see what you like.  Next week we’ll sew rows.

Happy weekend!

Read Full Post »

::The Time Has Come::

Ok Friends.  The moment you have been waiting for is here.  I know I’m a day late and a dollar short, all due to working at this FABULOUS store.

Hope you have cut yourself some squares!  I went a little crazy.

This week we’ll pair up our squares and sew them.  Then cut them into their new blocks.

DETERMINING VALUE:

No worries on making fabrics match, we’re going to think in values, or the degree of lightness or darkness of a color.

Cut your fabric squares. I used 6-inch squares, but you may go smaller or larger.

Divide them in piles into light, medium and dark. Like below:

You have a ton of Mediums you say? Our eyes tend to like Mediums. Most likely your stash is made up largely of this value.

You won’t immediately know into which pile to place some fabrics. The questionable squares will be sorted out in the next step. One will always be lighter.

PAIRING UP SQUARES:

Now you need to pair TWO squares.

Pull a square from one of the Light, Medium or Dark piles and match it RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER with another value, until you have one big stack.

This is an easy way to weed out the questionable (is it Light, Medium or Dark?) valued squares, by mating what you have left.

Remember, value is relative.  When you hold those last stragglers up to each other, one will ALWAYS be lighter.  You might have to rematch a few to pair all your squares.

Each pair will now need a line drawn diagonally from one corner to another on the wrong side of the mated pair. Pencil is the recommended method, but I use pen, make your own calls on this.

SEWING SQUARES:

Sew a quarter inch seam on each side of that line.  I don’t pin, but you might want to if your blocks aren’t staying square. I chain piece when I do this step.  If you need some photos of this and the pinning, Stitches In Place does a fabulous job.

With your rotary cutter and ruler, cut on the penned line to make two blocks.

If you get a moment, I would love to see what you’re up to!  Our Flickr group is HERE.  I really wanted to include discharged blocks as my light, but time didn’t allow…would love to see this if someone has the time and motivation!

I decided with everything going on that I wasn’t going to reinvent the wheel. All text and photos have already been done, so if you care to skip ahead because you have time, the whole process is HERE.

I am so excited to have a weekend with my family.  We are super busy tomorrow, but Sunday I hope to fit in football, beer and sewing.  Have a productive week you all!  I’ve really enjoyed the emails.

BTW, totally quilting unrelated, if you are any of these things:  someone who likes to laugh, waste time that you could spend sewing on the computer, or possibly white, go check out the blog Stuff White People Like.  You will be humored, I promise.

Read Full Post »

::Fabric Crush::

I’ve always had this thought,

“If I was working outside the house I wouldn’t have so much time to search out and buy fabric.”

HOLD THAT THOUGHT.

It doesn’t apply if you work HERE:

(All photos courtesy Chara Michele Photography)

My friend Sarah is holding a soft opening of her wonderful new store FABRIC CRUSH, on Friday the 2nd of October from 10am-2pm.

Her shop is located in the Village of Magnolia at 2313 Viewmont Way West, Seattle, WA 98199.

Come in and say, “HI!” and receive a 10% discount!  Fabulous fabric and a boutique feel!

Some more eye candy for “Come and See Us Incentive.”

MORE to come!  We’re still unwrapping fabric, but can’t wait to see your smiling faces and your fingers itching to sew with beautiful fabrics!

Read Full Post »

:: That’s Right, Adding More Fluff To Life::

I haven’t run for days…lazy.  So I might be adding some fluff to my middle section, especially with all this beer I love.

But I am productive.  Three Quilting Bee Blocks and two pillows in two days.  That’s my marathon.

I funked up Rachel’s String Block for the Cottage Quilting Bee.  Sorry about that Rachel, the white is off, but I’m a newbie and fully hooked on this!  Check out her tutorial.  I think this will be my block for my Ten Make Two Month.  Sorry in advance to those of you having to make two.  You all can damn me now.

I decided instead of blending my little corner studio in the living room or the livudio as we call it, that I would make it stand out.  I already had the red metal drawers and made myself a pillow for my booty and painted my chair black.  I’m lovin’ all the red and purple popping up all over the place.

Purple center side:

Red center side:

I believe I’ll go check out the swivel chairs at IKEA this week, maybe it can add some more fluff.

My Ten Makes Two Blocks for By Needle and Thread just pressed!

They look awesome in person.

Oh, but wait!  I finished this for my friend’s birthday.  She has the most awesome hand painted pillow with a Virgin of Guadalupe on it.  I thought this would pair up well.

Read Full Post »

::Cut Squares… Check!::

I’ve been busy cutting squares for my Value Quilt Along.  It’s amazing, I REALLY don’t need to buy any more fabric, but how I love looking at it all!  Just LOOK at that stack!  It makes me so happy.

Here’s some cut squares.  I went a little crazy.

I’ve been a bit obsessed with Alexander Henry’s fabrics of late.

Love this orange Amy Butler with the turquoise.

Old Amy Butler’s are the best in my opinion.

The colors are so vibrant in Kaffe’s fabrics and I love Good Folks.

I’m sure not one of you saw something you needed to add to your stash.

One thing I love about cutting for this quilt is it gives me new inspiration for new fabric combos.  I wish it would curb my enthusiasm for purchasing.  You’d think I would just say, “enough is enough!”

Some new combos:

A pillowcase for me, because Heather Ross fabric is sooo soft and I can hide it behind the mountain of other pillows so I don’t have to worry about it not matching my bed stuff:

Some random combining.  Quilts or some sort of patchwork for sure.

Hope your cutting is inspiring too!

Read Full Post »

::Ready… Set…Value Quilt Along::

I’ve been brewing a while on an idea of a quilt along for my Value Quilt Tutorial.  I think the time has come.

And because even the longest journey begins with a single step (or steps in this quilt), I thought I’d give you all a heads-up and some planning time before we all jump in.

What you’ll need:

* Quilting Wall: You will need to see your work from a distance on this one.  Value is best determined from a distance.  Vertically seeing your work will help a lot.  Buy one or craft yourself one.  Blair of Wisecraft does it well here.  I suppose you could make do without, but try for one.  It will be indispensable to you once you’ve used it.  Even a flannel sheet will work.  I just tack mine to the wall.

*Mass array of fabrics: Lights, medium and dark in value.  Cut into squares (I’m doing 6-inch).  Take a good look at your stash.  You most likely have a lot that are medium in value. This is the time to hit the fabric swap groups, or buy those FQs you’ve always wanted!  Try to fill in the gaps by buying the values you don’t have much of.  Start cutting!

*Amount of fabrics: I will be doing 12 rows up and 12 across for a family sized quilt.  Two squares will make two identical squares.  For less of a commitment try a baby quilt.

*Square template (6-inch or smaller).

*The rest is the usual quilting stuff.

There are some examples on the  Values Quilt Flickr Group.  Some are less “distracting” in their use of print and use a solid as the light.  For those of you with less stash this might be a good start.

You are also not stuck to the diamond shape of my example.  By switching the squares around you could easily create a different look.  Maybe light and dark lines?  I was thinking of perhaps making a bunch of squares and then sashing them.  Similar to these I made for the Ten Make Two Bee:

Let me know if you want to jump in with me!  Join here.

Read Full Post »

::Stepping Stone Quilt::

It’s finished.   I was never able to see the finished product, as it was mailed straight from my quilter Lori (steinquilts@yahoo.com) to my dear friend Kara for her wedding.  There’s no way I would have quilted this in time and in this manner by myself.

Kara moved into my old house when she was three, our family built a house next door.  Many days of our youth were spent in the yards and woods together.  Sadly we can’t make it to her wedding in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

So here’s the line up for each rectangle:  Kona solid rectangles surrounded by improv print piecing, linen, Kona again in a color followed by natural Kona.  Added one print and then linen again.  The final layer wraps them all in natural Kona.

It will lay on the bed the other direction, more hopscotch style and the binding is Cake Rock Beach dots in the green.  A little hard to see in the picture.  More photos of that and the back to come.

One more shall we?

I am so thrilled with how it turned out.

Read Full Post »