what I've been working on (and a quilting dilemma)

I finished something cute the other day:

 This is the knotted top from Little Girls, Big Style in size 2. (affiliate link)  I used a couple of the DS Quilts fabrics from JoAnn, and the dot fabrics were others I had on hand. (The big red/white polka dot is from JA too, and I love it. The light blue is a mystery. I bought it in Utah a couple years ago but I don't have any other information on it.) I like this pattern; it turned out really cute, and if I make it again I will definitely make the shoulder straps significantly more narrow, or else make a pleat in them where they are attached to the bodice back. With the straps this wide, the back of the top doesn't lay really smoothly when my girl is wearing it, and making the straps narrower will look better in terms of scale on the smaller sizes.

And, my friend Ceresa made the adorable bow this afternoon. She makes fabulous bows and sells them at her etsy shop, Bowreesa. The bow she made matches the top perfectly!

I got some new quilting thread yesterday and decided to start quilting my vintage sheet quilt.

I am just going to do a little at a time (we have some busy weeks coming up here) and take a kind of sampler approach to the free motion quilting.

I am kind of bummed out... because for a long time I really wanted an extension table for quilting on my Janome, and I quilted with the extension table attached for the first time last night and this morning... and it's not working for me. The fabric seems to be sticking to the extension table (or at least not sliding very freely), and I know that can be corrected if I buy one of those slider things I've heard about, but the problem is that the extension table I got extends in front of the needle area of my machine and I have to hold my hands, arms, and shoulders higher in order to manipulate the quilt. And it hurts. So I need to figure out a solution to this somehow. Maybe see if there is an extension table that doesn't go in front of the machine, or at least not as far. Or find out about getting a higher chair (a lower table isn't really going to happen any time soon I'm afraid.)

I will probably do some more quilting tomorrow; we'll see if I can make any changes in my approach that will solve my problem!

Ruffle Crush Tester Quilts

Hope everyone's summer is going well! We are keeping busy here--my son had a birthday this last week and we had a fun but sort of basic birthday party for him. T-shirt decorating, pinata, presents, and homemade cookie cake. My sewing machine had to go to the shop for a little while but I actually got it back sooner than I expected and was able to do a little bit of sewing last week. It runs so nicely now and I found a new place that has the best sewing machine servicing prices in town!

Anyway I wanted to thank everyone for their support of my Ruffle Crush quilt pattern. I have some photos to share from my testers, in case you wanted to see more examples of what this quilt can look like.

Sharon made this lovely pink and brown version (I think these fabrics are from the Lily and Will line by Moda):

 

And Molly made this one from Fig Tree fabrics:

Molly blogs at Stitch-N-Thyme Designs and she blogged about this quilt for the Blogger's Quilt Festival back in May. 

I really appreciate my testers, they had great suggestions for this pattern--thank you again! I'm hoping to share photos from my other 2 pattern testers soon. :)

Ruffle Crush--My First Quilt Pattern!

I'm so happy to finally be launching my Ruffle Crush quilt pattern! The PDF pattern is available to purchase at my Craftsy shop here. (There's also a link to the shop in my blog sidebar.) It is an instant download and will be emailed to buyers as soon as payment is finalized. Making this pattern has been a long process for me, and I want to share a little bit about the quilt--I made the first Ruffle Crush quilt last year for my sweet sister-in-law Amy T., using Moda's Blush fabrics by Basic Grey.

Here are some photos--front of the quilt:

This quilt is about 50" x 70". Close-up of some of the gathered strips:

The back (directions for this pieced back are included in the pattern):

I did the first diagrams and fabric calculations for this one while I watched the very last episode of Lost on tv last spring. :)

I gave Amy the quilt for Christmas last year and after thinking about it for a while, I decided to submit it to some magazines for publication. I sent my submission to just one magazine... and they never emailed me back. Then I decided that actually I wanted to write up the pattern and sell it on my own. I got out the original drawings and figures and decided to make the pattern in two sizes. I drafted a baby quilt size and decided on a color scheme using mostly Kumari Garden fabrics by Dena Designs. Here's the finished quilt:

photo by Katrina Coleman

The ruffle strips in this quilt are Moda Grunge in the color "Decadent," and the charm squares came from my stash. All other fabrics are from the Kumari Garden line. This quilt is about 40" x 53".

Here are some details on the pattern:

*It's available in my shop and is on sale for $8.50 until June 27, 2011 (next Monday). After that the price will be $10.

*The pattern includes directions for two sizes—baby quilt (40” x 53”) and throw quilt (50” x 70”).

*This pattern is a 27-page PDF file that includes lots of photos, cutting and layout diagrams, and two suggested backing options for the larger quilt size. 

*Three tutorials are included with the pattern—Detailed Gathering Instructions, Straightening Fabric Edges, and Matching Large Scale Prints. 

The fabric requirements for both sizes of the quilt are available in the pattern description over at the shop.

photo by Katrina Coleman

Finally I'd like to thank Katrina Coleman, who took the photographs of the Kumari Garden Ruffle Crush quilt. She is a local friend who's just getting her photography business started and I will let you all know as soon as her website is ready!

Chef Swap

Last week I finally got to go to another KC Modern Quilt Guild meeting. It was so good to see everyone; I'd missed the last couple meetings due to kids' school events. One fun part of the meeting was the Chef Swap--a couple months ago, we brought fabrics of our own and then swapped, and then we had a couple months to make kitchen items for the person whose fabric we picked. Carla got my little fabric pack and here's what she made for me:

A cute potholder and 4 kitchen towels with pieced fabric strips along one edge. I love it, and I can really use new kitchen towels!

The person I am giving to wasn't able to attend the meeting so I can't show her stuff off yet....:)

Also, Caitlyn brought me a zip pouch that I won on one of her blog giveaways:

I love this fabric and this is a great little bag!

Finally, some fabric. Our meeting this month was sponsored by Tammy of  Marmalade Fabrics. She had a lot of great fabrics but I just bought one thing.

1 yard of the paint splatter fabric by Jay McCarroll. I am thinking a large tote bag... we'll see what I end up doing though. I had to take my sewing machine into the shop yesterday due to excessive squeaking and clunking noises, and my backup machine is broken too, so I have a bit of time to get organized and plan out what I want to make next when my sewing machine gets back. I might even do some hand sewing.

One more thing! I wanted to let you know that my Ruffle Crush quilt pattern is getting very close to completion and I hope to have it available for purchase in the next (deep breath) week! Stay tuned and I'll let you know as soon as it's ready. :)

Quilt Backs

Rebecca at Chasing Cottons has a new post up about creative, interesting quilt backs, and I decided to show and tell some of the backs of my quilts.

back of my lavender scrap quilt (not very exciting but I LOVE this quilt so much)

back of a Halloween mini-quilt I made

this was given away on the old blog, here

back of my SIL Krista's quilt (me in the shadow)

back of my figgy pudding Christmas quilt

back of my chicken quilt for dqs8

back of my daughter's mermaid strip quilt

back of my nephew L's quilt (hey it's almost his birthday again)

back of my Y2K10 insane quilt project quilt

back of shirt quilt, made for Grandma M with Grandpa's shirts after he passed away

back of my "no prints allowed" kona challenge dear jane quilt

Do you have any interesting quilt backs to share? There's a link-up at Chasing Cottons... I'm going to go check it out!

Summer Mode

I have been so busy for the last month; I'm afraid I'm not going to have a lot of time for blog-writing (or reading) this summer! Here's a quick list of some of the things going on here:
*Pool time
*Late start but we got a little garden in
*Library with kids
*Sewing a secret project (needing to work on another one, too!)
*Working on keeping up a chore schedule for my kids
*Totally giving up on a bedtime routine for them, sigh.


I did want to share about the KCMQG pouch project; it is a difficult thing to write about but our guild has been making fetal demise pouches to be used at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City. That's where my preemie girl was born so of course I had to join in. I've made a couple and have a few more kits to make up today before our guild meeting. Do visit the Kansas City MQG blog to find out more about the project, ok?


Also I got this sweet book in the mail the other day; I was lucky to win it from Ayumi at Pink Penguin during giveaway week. Thanks Ayumi! I've just flipped through it so far but it has some interesting projects that I think I'll try for sure.

My boys want to help make a German pancake this morning, so yummy. I need to decide if I'm going to wake them up now or wait a little longer. Hope you have a great day!

Piecing Batting by Machine Tutorial

Hi friends! Just wanted to let you know I have a quick little tutorial on how to machine piece batting into larger pieces... over at Chasing Cottons where Rebecca has been hosting Quilt Class 101 over the last several weeks. Thanks so much to Rebecca for letting me join in!

king size quilt top, finished

A few notes: King size, 104" x 96", flea market fancy plus some others in the blocks, moda crossweave in gray for sashing and borders. 96" borders take a LONG time to make and attach. For the Naked Bed Challenge!

Some fabrics I used just about all the way up, besides my FMF, that I might try to replace: turquoise henna garden, pink grunge, that one pointy diamond fabric by H. Bailey in light blue, the turquoise scissors fabric.

This was my main project for just about 3 weeks and it was almost the only thing I sewed during that time. It was less stressful than my typical sewing MO which is a sort of project ADD, working a little bit on something and then switching to something else when I feel like it. All the while having several projects occupying my brain space and stressing me out. Working on one thing was so different (in a good way) for my stress levels--I'm going to try it more often!

Last 3 Blocks

Today, I finished up the last 3 blocks for my (this quilt needs a name!) king size quilt, for the naked bed challenge. I took some pictures along the way.

Here's what I had when I was getting started this morning:

Making some progress:

And, all finished!

I ended up taking apart a couple of my earliest blocks and redoing them; they didn't have the same feel/look as what I ended up doing later, and I do like them better after the second try.

The deadline for the challenge was extended until Monday, so I don't have to try to finish this thing by tomorrow. I did get started with the sashing though, and the first row is assembled. My leftover fabric and scraps are all straightened up, too.

In regular life news, we are starting off the summer busy! We went to the pool yesterday, and the library today. We have a ton of new books from the library and I plan to take the kids weekly. I also got the boys signed up for swimming lessons but I was too late to get them into the first session. Tomorrow we have an orthodontist get-measured appointment and I think Friday will be another pool day, if the weather cooperates!

Improv Block Progress

Good morning! How's everyone doing today? We have had a crazy week with my boys finishing the school year and then tornado fear and warnings on Tuesday night and Wednesday. It was pretty stressful and scary to watch the weather guy talk about the tornado heading towards my husband's work the other day. Communication was also difficult then as I guess a ton of people in our area were texting and using cell phones all at the same time. I'm so glad it ended up passing him by and not causing a lot of damage in our area. 

I spent a some time working on blocks for my Naked Bed Challenge quilt again yesterday and Tuesday, and I made some good progress! I now have 8 completed blocks and a few more in process (remember I only need 16 total). Here are some pictures I took yesterday:

(above: finished but not trimmed)

 (these ones aren't done yet)

I'm finding that it's easier to work on 3 or 4 blocks at a time than it is to work on just 2. That way I can set up to sew the next piece on a few blocks at a time instead of just one, and each time I go to the ironing board I'm pressing more than one as well.

I bought a fat quarter of gray Moda crossweave to see how I liked it, and it is going to be the sashing and border for this quilt! (You can see it in the top left block in the photo immediately above.) I ordered more yesterday and can't wait for it to arrive. I'm planning on another big sewing session today--going to spend some time cleaning the kitchen up first!

The Winner!

Thanks so much to everyone who participated in my giveaway for Sew, Mama, Sew's May Giveaway Day! It was so fun to get so many comments, and I appreciate all the kind things you guys said about the bag I made. I had fun entering a lot of the giveaways too, but I didn't have time to visit all of them! (Still crossing my fingers but afraid I didn't win anything this time.)

The winner of the Kathy Davis Journeys fabric, book, and greeting cards, is

#106, Alice! I have emailed Alice and will pass her address on to the people at Kathy Davis Designs as soon as I hear back from her.

And just for fun, here's a view of my sewing space/kitchen table right now:

I have been working on blocks for my king size quilt, more on that later!

May Giveaway Day! --Kathy Davis Journeys Fabric & More

Hi friends, and welcome to my May Giveaway!  But first I have to tell you about my new bag.


I was recently sent a gorgeous stack of fabric (plus a book and some cards!) from the Journeys collection by Kathy Davis. I have been wanting to make myself a new bag and had the Amy Butler book, Style Stitches, (affiliate link) checked out of the library. I decided to make myself the Teardrop Bag using some of the Journeys fabric:

(I didn't get photos taken when the bag was brand new because I made it in a rush before vacation. It's a little bit broken in here--it's been a great bag and I really like it!)

My thoughts on the pattern and the bag--
*I used the recommended Shapeflex interfacing; next time I might try a stiffer interfacing or interline the bag with stiffer canvas or use fusible fleece instead. (It's a little floppy.)
*There is an error in the book for the larger sized Teardrop bag. If you want to make this bag, check out the correction for the pattern on this page.
*I followed the pattern for the handle and it turned out too narrow for my tastes, so I made another one and widened it.
*I found some good tips on inserting magnetic snaps here. I used 2 layers of interlock knit to reinforce the snap pieces, instead of fleece.
*I sewed some dividing seams in the pocket, you can sort of see them in this pic:

My phone fits just right in that center pocket.
*The strap. I lengthened the strap so I could wear it cross-body but I don't think I got it quite right. Someday I need to figure out how to make an adjustable-length strap.
*And, I used sewn-in interfacing on one side of the strap and added some sturdiness by using a layer of twill fabric in place of interfacing the other side of the strap fabric.

 
Ok, you made it! The folks from Kathy Davis Designs would also like to give a set of these fabrics to one of my readers. The giveaway includes:

Half-yard cuts of the following fabrics (this was my set, obviously I've used some of them):

I like all of these... but I LOVE the text fabric, and the dragonflies are my favorite, too! The large floral in the top row is also super pretty.

Also included in the giveaway is the book Scatter Joy, along with a pile of gorgeous greeting cards, all by Kathy Davis as well.

(The giveaway does not include the bag!)

**The giveaway is closed now, thanks so much! Winner will be posted in the morning!**

To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment below (one comment per person.) I'd love it if you tell me something interesting, but it's not required. :D I will choose the winner via random number generator on May 25, and the folks at Kathy Davis Studios will mail the prize to the winner. Don't forget to make sure I have a way to contact you! If you are a no-reply commenter, include your email address in your comment!

If you are interested, here are a few more places you can find out about Kathy Davis Designs and her products:

Blog & Website:
http://www.kathydavis.com/

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/KathyDavisStudios

Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kathydavisstudios/
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/KathyDavisKDS 

Now, go enter more giveaways at Sew, Mama, Sew!

Blocks--Flea Market Fancy Improv

While we were on vacation I decided I am going to try to work on one project exclusively instead of bouncing constantly from one thing to the next. So here's what I got done this week:

These are blocks for my Naked Bed Challenge quilt. They are mostly about 17" square or a little larger. The plan for my (king size!) quilt was originally going to be 16 blocks, 16" square each, separated by sashing and surrounded by wide borders. I'm using my Flea Market Fancy fabric for the blocks, and the sashing/borders will be gray. I decided not to trim the blocks down to 16.5" though, that would be a waste of half inch (or more) strips of fabric here and there and I think in the end I will figure out a way to keep them all slightly different but still fit together well in the quilt top.

I was feeling frustrated a few times throughout the week, wishing I was getting more done, but we are finishing up the school year and it's a busy time. I was able to go and spend time with my boys at school, and also attend the promotion ceremony for my 5th grader who will be moving down the street (for school) to the middle school in the fall.

Also, these blocks are somewhat time consuming. I try to put a lot of thought into the color and value placement while making each block, and then it usually takes some time to get the layout of the quilt top just right as well. I had a twitter friend who said something about just pulling fabric and sewing the blocks randomly, and I actually think that would be a good exercise, but it hasn't been how I've made this style of block, so far at least. Have you made improvised log cabins or done other improvisational quilting? What is your process like?

So even though I was discouraged this week, and feeling like these were coming along slowly (and I might not make the June 2 deadline for a finished quilt top), I got almost 1/3 of the blocks I'll need finished. I am going to see if I can get another one done tonight, but I might need to play some video games with my kids. I'm just going to keep at it and if I don't make the deadline, it will be ok.

back from vacation!

So... we're back! We went to the beach in Florida for almost a week (more than a week, if you count the days spent driving.) It was so beautiful, and relaxing, and fun.

We stayed in a vacation home that was just a couple blocks from the water. My husband's parents and sister met us there and it was really nice to spend time with them. Most of us went down to the ocean every day we were there... there was one day that I had to stay back and take a nap with my 2-year-old.

There were some unexpected fabric/quilty moments on the trip. I hadn't been really clear on our route before we left and when I realized we would be driving through Paducah, KY, I told my husband about the really big fabric store there, and we ended up stopping so I could shop a little bit. Hancock's of Paducah is a huge store, but I spent most of my time in there searching through the (half price) remnant tables. I ended up getting these 4 fabrics:

From left to right they are: Art Journal by Bari J., Soul Blossoms by Amy Butler, the black and white line from Moda, and Oliver + S (that one needs to be a little girl dress next spring.) If you're ever in the area, and you like fabric, you should definitely stop by this store!

In other quilting news, we went to the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola last Tuesday, and there were airplane quilts! (Lots of actual airplanes too, of course.)

This last one was my favorite. Here is where you can see more photos of quilts made to celebrate the Centennial of Naval Aviation.

We also saw some planes while we were there--the Blue Angels:

(I was really nervous watching them.) 

I took some hand sewing with me on the trip too. I'll show you my progress on that another time. I will probably take that same project/scrap bag with me on our trip to Utah which is coming up soon.

I'm going to be posting a giveaway in the next couple days so check back soon!

Blogger's Quilt Festival: Rainbow 9-Patch

I'm excited for another installment of the Blogger's Quilt Festival! Amy has done such a great job with it over the last couple years and I can't wait to browse through all the quilts that people are sharing.

A few weeks ago, I wasn't sure if I was going to have a new quilt to share for the festival this time, but I decided to get busy and finish this one up. I'm so glad I did! Here's my finished rainbow 9-patch (with my little girl peeking out from behind):

My son was the photographer for this one (above), but I found that I am not quite tall enough to hold it up nice and straight. I still wanted to share the straight-on view of it. Here's another shot of it spread out on the deck:

This is my second 9-patch quilt in this style (here's the first) and I had a lot of fun making it. I followed the one-a-day quiltalong instructions at Crazy Mom Quilts again, but this time I made a smaller quilt with 48 blocks instead of 70. It is about 58" x 74". For my first quilt like this I just made the blocks with whatever fabrics I liked, but this time I made them in a rainbow of colors, and I really like how it turned out.

It's kind of difficult to see, but the binding is pieced together in a rainbow, too. It was a bit of the challenge to figure out the math for that part, especially because the pieces are sewn together on an angle, but I think it worked out really well.

Here is the back: 

I had three blocks left over somehow, and I decided to put them into the back of the quilt. 

A few notes: 

*I free motion quilted this one with white thread, in an allover flower/loop pattern that you can see better in this blog post.

*All of the fabrics for the 9-patches were already in my stash, except the green print that is paired with the yellow henna garden fabric, and the purples in 2 of the purple blocks, which were given to me by my friend Kim. 

*I've been saying I was going to make a 3rd quilt like this, but I might be ready to take a break from 9-patches for a while. I am glad I made this second 9-patch--even though it is very similar to the first quilt, I feel like I learned more while making this one, mostly about color. Have you ever made the same quilt pattern twice? 

Thanks for stopping by; if you're new to my blog, I hope you'll come back again soon, or maybe even subscribe if you want! Now go look at more of the Blogger's Quilt Festival quilts!