Fabric Friday Week 10: December 30

I've been using a lot of feminine colors, especially pink, lately. Which is fine; I have all girls, and I love pink. I love all colors, really. Pink is great. But sometimes it's nice to work in a palette that is more neutral. 

For this week's bundle, I focused on this focal print by Ruby Star from the Florida Vol. 2 line. I loved the first Florida line, and made sure to pick up a couple of prints from Volume 2. The colors were fun and out of my normal range, which is always interesting. 

I went simple this week, and tied in colors found directly in the print. So it's a pretty obvious bundle. But it's still appealing and I'd still use it for a quilt. I probably won't because I have plenty of other projects to work on, but it's a color scheme I could totally see myself using. 

Christmas Sewing

I did a lot of Christmas sewing this year! I made Christmas pajamas for the girls (and for me, because, why not?) and I made them all dresses. The pajamas were "from Santa" and the dresses were my gift to them. We let them open them first before church (our church meeting started at 9am this year, so we opted to do Christmas morning after church) so they could wear them to church. I was worried because they don't always love the clothes I make for them, but I ran the pattern and the fabric by my oldest daughter before I ordered them (pattern from Vintage Little Lady, not sure I recommend, and hacci knit fabric from Girl Charlee Fabric, which I highly recommend), and she seemed happy with both, so I went for it. 

I ordered WAY more fabric than I needed, partially because I couldn't figure out how much I actually needed. When you make multiple of one pattern from one fabric, you usually don't need to just add the yardage up, but the pattern didn't even have efficient cutting directions for one dress OR total yardage requirements. Instead, it broke it down by pattern piece and never totaled them up. For instance, 1/2 yard for the bodice, 1/3 yard for the sleeve, etc. It was pretty pathetic. And irritating. So, I just wildly guessed at how much I needed, added a little extra, and then added a little extra on top of that because I bought it on a FANTASTIC black friday sale. Like, it was $3/yard. 

So now I have loads of fabric left and I could make myself a dress if I could figure out a way to hack it to my size. It was a basic pattern, I think I probably could. But I have so many other things on my list I'm not sure how soon I'll get to it. 

Anyway, when they opened them on Christmas morning, they were all absolutely thrilled. Like, beyond thrilled, they just grinned, they all rushed to put them on, and they all told me throughout the day how much they adored them. I felt so pleased! They did turn out pretty cute, and I'm happy with them. They did find a couple of holes of places I missed when I was serging it together, which is understandable because they have pockets, which are always tricky on a serger, and I was just doing so many. Assembly line often leads to slight misses like that for me. But, I'll get them all straightened out soon enough. 

Hope you had a lovely Christmas too, and if you sewed for you family, it was as well received as mine was! 

Fabric Friday Week 9: December 23

Whew, we are so close to Christmas! Are you ready? We are just about ready. I wrapped up my Christmas sewing on Monday, we got most of the gifts wrapped, and I've got a lot of food prepped. Still a few things to do tomorrow, and of course, the excitement is building like crazy for my kids. So we're doing lots of fun things with them. I love this time of year. I love the festive celebrations, and I love the focus on our Savior. 

I DID manage to get a fabric Friday post ready and I can hardly believe it! With all the preparations, I figured two days before Christmas would be another one that got skipped. But, I played around in my sewing room just a bit this week and came up with this bundle.

I really love the coral with the citrine, and the navy and gray just round it out a bit. The one problem with doing these fabric Friday posts is that it inspires me with more possible quilts. Now I want to make something with this, ha! 

I hope you have a very merry Christmas if you celebrate, and enjoy a happy, healthy, and safe holiday season.

Home For the Holidays

 I finished one Christmas quilt this year. I had pulled a stack of fabrics last year when I was considering making a simple Christmas quilt to welcome a new neighbor to the street (I ended up making an embroidered throw pillow instead), and decided to use it to try out the Hurty ruler I bought at Quilt Con. I have tried to make half-rectangle triangles in the past, and it's hard. I hadn't seen HRT rulers before, and clearly they exist, but this was the first one I had seen and bought it along with the clammy rulers I chose. I was pretty nervous to use it, since unlike HSTs, you have to make sure they're angled the right way...so it took some courage to start, and that's one reason I wanted to use this stack of fabrics. They were fabrics I loved, but wouldn't feel bad if I used them on a project that didn't work. 

The assembly went pretty well and it didn't take long to get a stack of blocks ready. When I laid it out, I thought it would end up bigger than it did, but it is really only throw size. Which is fine, but, as you've probably noticed, I like big quilts. :)

I played around with layout a bit, and tried to add a couple of focal points by alternating the brights and low volumes. It's fun to experiment sometimes. Even if it's not super successful. This one I think works but isn't Ah-Mazing. 

When I got it back from the quilter, I decided pretty quickly to bind it with some of the white snowflake print I'd used. I had (and still have) plenty and it's a great print. It's backed with minky, of course. Naming it was tricky, it's always something I struggle with. I settled on Home for the Holidays because it felt right. I'm not sure why. Sometimes you just have to pick something, haha. 

Home For the Holidays, quilted by Abby Latimer, completed November 2022

Snowflake Quilt

 One last flashback Christmas quilt to squeeze in before Christmas. I also made this one last year, it was a big year for Christmas quilts, haha. (I also bought and had quilted one of those Lella Boutique Christmas panels that everyone has...I won't blog about that though because I didn't do anything except bind it, lol). 

I loved this snowflake quilt when I saw it social media, and bought the pattern and fabric on black friday sales. The pattern is by Modern Handcraft and I love it. It has 3 variations, so it's like 3 for the price of 1. You could do a scrappy background, a striped background, or a solid. I loved her black background in one of her quilts and decided to use a metallic black Essex linen. I love it! I had to copy her straight-line quilting as well...shrug.

It's not as cuddly soft as my others because I backed it with essex linen as well. But I love it anyway.

Snowflake Quilt, pattern by Modern Handcraft, long arm quilted by Abby Latimer, completed 2021

Fabric Friday Week 8: December 16

Well, I've already missed a week, and I'm only 8 weeks in. I knew I'd miss some here and there, and I'm just going to give myself grace. Because this is supposed to be fun! And it's Christmas. Of course I'd miss a week during December, December is slammed.

This bundle is one I'm planning for a gift. A few weeks back, I had stopped at my quilter's on the way to my mom's to pick up some quilts. I was excited to see them, so I took them in the house and spread them out and admired her work. My mom, who I taught to quilt, commented on the large one (which hasn't been bound yet...) and told me if I was ever bored, I could make her a bed quilt.

I laughed and reminded her I had taught her to quilt and she could make her own, and she said she doesn't like to make big quilts like that, which I can understand. So, I thought I'd do it for her birthday! It's coming up in mid-February, so I gotta get a move on! 

I'm planning to make a Swoon quilt for her, the large blocks, and I'm adding a row to make sure it's actually bed sized for her. She loves blue and I thought this gradient from blue to green would be a nice change from her typical blue and yellow color scheme. Hopefully she likes it! I think it'll turn out great so if she doesn't, I'll offer to take it back, haha.

Pine Hollow Quilt

I've been busy with so many things and plenty of sewing, but finishing quilts has not been one of them. And neither has taking pictures of what I've been working on. 

But, it's December, so it's a great time to post this flashback quilt! I made this just last year, which means it's one that fell through the cracks between when I stopped posting on Instagram and started blogging again. 

As I was saying...I made this last year. The pattern is called Pine Hollow by Amy Smart. I had seen some of these quilts around social media and thought they were fun! So many different color schemes, I especially liked one that had been done in Alison Glass Christmas fabric. I can't remember who made it, maybe Angela Pingel? I can't remember. It was so fun. I wasn't ready to embrace butterscotch and pink and aqua in my Christmas quilts at the time (stay tuned, lol) but I thought it was just too fun to not make. And, I had made a bunch of the improv trees for my memorial quilt from Amy Smart's tutorial and thought it was fun, so figured it would be a great project.

 I used some favorite prints from years ago and some newer prints and I think it's a great blend. I do regret using the low volume Sweetwater Noel print, because everything else is just so saturated, but that's okay. What's a quilt without at least one regret, right? 

I backed it with minky and my kids just love it. It's pulling ahead with an early lead for being fought over come Christmas Eve...we'll see who the lucky kid is who sleeps with it! 

Slopes Scrap Quilt

I've been pretty into Amanda Jean Nyberg lately, I have her book, No Scrap Left Behind, as well as the one she co-authored, Sunday Morning Quilts. I love them both. And this is a quilt from No Scrap Left Behind that I just had to make. She calls it Slopes for how the blocks are angled gently to give it a sloping appearance, almost like mountains. 

I don't think mine turned out nearly as effective as hers did. She used exclusively cool colors, and it's a lot more unified. And I think some of my blocks didn't get the angled cuts quite right, like not angled enough maybe, so the gentle sloping action isn't as pronounced in all the rows. But, it was one of my first attempts at an improv scrappy project and I struggle with fabric waste. By which I mean that I am loathe to use the perfect color if I will have to cut off an unusable scrap to make it work. So, I tried to use strings that were pretty close to the right size (or twice the size so I could use it twice...) and that meant I needed to use a greater variety of scraps because I just didn't have enough cool colors to make it work.

Also, I really try to put my own color scheme onto a quilt pattern. I don't want to copy it exactly, because I want it to be mine. But sometimes, that means it doesn't quite work out. It's okay.

Since it's not really perfect, I"m glad I didn't put any effort into making it much larger. It's a respectable throw size, but not as oversized as I usually go for. 

I still really like the pattern, and my box of solids is still overflowing, so maybe I'll try again? Who knows. 

For the back, I opted to collect all my flannel scraps from previous backings and piece them together into a scrappy backing. I was just a tad short, so I bought 1/3 yard of flannel to finish it off. 

Slopes quilt, designed by Amanda Jean Nyberg, quilted by Abby Latimer, completed 2021

Fabric Friday Week 7: December 2

I have a messy stack I threw together for you, the picture is just terrible! That's mostly because I pulled it out and intended to come back to it, but didn't...so sorry. 

I pulled out the Rifle paper stamp fabric and wanted to figure out a good stack for it. It has so many great colors in it, I knew I had to have it when it was first released, but it's not one I've gravitated toward using. This stack is fun, though. It's got some dark colors with the navies and greens and butterscotches, and some lights with the peach and pale blue, and just a bit of brightness with the pink. It seems happy and balanced. I also really like that I was able to use the navy with peach line drawing. It's such a fun print but one that I've been stumped on. However, I think I will actually use it in a quilt that I haven't finalized my fabric pull for yet, a quilt for my mom's birthday. I'll post that fabric pull later, maybe next week if I can get my act together!

Solar Eclipse quilt

One of my favorite types of quilt designs are patterns that create secondary designs. I love how the blocks work together to create a pattern and visual interest. It's something I like to incorporate into my own designs, even though it can be trickier. I think that's half the fun. 

When I saw this quilt pattern in a book by Vanessa Goertzen of Lella Boutique, I really wanted to make it. The secondary pattern is fun and the dark background was really striking. Of course I had to mimic her quilt. I didn't want to completely copy her color scheme and so instead of an aqua print for the squares, I used a gray solid, and I omitted green. It's possibly more similar to the original than I usually like to go for, but that's alright. I think it turned out beautifully. 

I did have to make a couple of adjustments; I didn't have any charm packs and didn't intend to buy any for this project, so I needed to figure out the cutting from yardage. It's been too long; I might also have taken the opportunity to do some more efficient piecing, like flying geese four at a time, and multiple HSTs at a time. I like to do that when I can, it makes it go so much faster. And of course I backed it with minky. I opted for silver, and then bound it with the same blue as the background to give it a bindingless feel. 

Solar Eclipse, designed by Vanessa Goertzen, quilted by Abby Latimer, completed 2021

Fabric Friday Week 6: Nov 25

 I hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving if you're in the US! Ours was great; I feel like we've got our menu down pretty well, especially the pies, which of course is the most important part. I make three: French Silk Chocolate, Pumpkin Praline, and Tart Tatin, a French caramel apple tart. All recipes from America's Test Kitchen, so you know they're perfection ;)

Today's Fabric Friday bundle ended up pretty similar to one a few weeks ago, I guess the colors are speaking to me right now. But, they originated from a different space, so I'm going for it. I picked out the Tula Pink hexagon print because I struggle to use Tula sometimes, and tried to make a bundle that would use it. Sometimes her color combinations are just a bit strong for me. I bought this one because I loved the brightness and it wasn't as jarring as some of her prints are, but I still haven't managed to use it yet. I like what I pulled out though and think it works really well!

Have a great weekend!

Christmas Banner

 I finished up my Christmas banner I mentioned last week just the other day and I love how it turned out! It was pretty quick, and I guess I was just nervous because of placing the embroidery, and then trimming them after to a uniform size...and not really knowing how long to make the binding...I do much better with patterns with measurements, haha. Flying by the seat of my pants is not my specialty!

But, it turned out great and I didn't need to trim too much. I did end up redoing a few as I mentioned, and instead of wasting the squares, I used them as backings for the blocks. This may not have been the best choice...I hang my banners in my stairwell in front of windows, and so during the day, especially the afternoon with the strong western sun coming in, you can see the outline of the embroidery. At the very least, I should have matched up the replaced blocks to their replacements so it would be less obvious...but it's okay. The color doesn't show through, just the outline of the letter, and its mostly not too noticeable. I was glad to not waste fabric. 

I used a gray stripe from Camille Roskelley's Christmas line and I think it turned out really great.

Now if only the rest of my Christmas projects can go as quickly and as smoothly as this one...

*fingers crossed*

Fabric Friday Week 5: November 18

 Today I'm skipping the bundle and instead showcasing a color scheme of Kona color chips. I have a Kona color card that I cut up and added velcro too, and keep it on my wall on a large canvas. I love it, it's a great piece of decor for a sewing room in my opinion, and it keeps the chips ready to use. 

I saw something that reminded me how much I love navy and lime green. So I pulled some for that. I thought the purple was a fun accent.

And then I pulled some that felt like fall to me. The same purple works great here.

And then I realized that they're a great color combo together.

So which do I like more? I couldn't possibly pick, so I'm posting all three, haha. It's so vibrant and I feel like this is exactly what I need right now.

Christmas Sewing

The craziness that is Christmas sewing has commenced. And it snuck up really fast. I planned last year to make Christmas pajamas for my girls because they're just so tall and it's disheartening to hear the cries and complaints on Christmas Eve that the pajamas that Santa delivered don't fit. I've tried numerous solutions over the past few years, and this is the final attempt. If this doesn't go over well...I'll probably ditch the Christmas pajamas altogether. As it is, I've been planning on making them all year, and I bought fabric over a month ago, but wanted to finish a few things before I pulled it out and got started. Now's the time!

In addition, I've been wanting to make a Christmas banner and decided that would be the project I work on when I'm visible, since the pajamas need to be a surprise. So that's what I started this week and here's the progress! 

I decided I needed to remake the aqua and cream letters, which made me sad, but I'm glad I just redid them instead of regretting later that I hadn't.

I'm using a linen from fabric-store.com and some fun Christmas prints. The black and red are by Lella Boutique and the green is by Sweetwater. The embroidery design is by meringuedesigns.net. Looking at it again, I might do two more redos, and make the I red and the s on the end black. Sigh...

As if that wasn't enough, I also decided to make another Christmas quilt. I blogged about the fabric here, and I decided to make another Shimmer quilt (pattern by Cluck Cluck Sew)

And, this probably won't get done, but I bought the panel by Sweetwater for a new advent calendar. It was too cute to pass up, what can I say?

Finally, my girls all said they wanted me to make them Christmas dresses this year. *sigh* Christmas does fall on a Sunday this year, so it's actually a good year to do it...but man, I'm feeling overwhelmed right now. However, I found a knit pattern on Vintage Little Lady, and a black and white polka dot hacci knit on Girl Charlee, so I might just cave in. I couldn't think of anything to make them this year as a gift anyway, so maybe this is a good idea. We'll see...

All the sudden I'm pretty overwhelmed by Christmas sewing. At least, the banner, quilt, and advent calendar are all things that can be ditched. But the clothes for the girls need to happen when they're not around, which is trickier, especially since my oldest likes to stay up late and often finds herself in my sewing room while I'm sewing. 

Fabric Friday Week 4: November 11

I have a few prints that I really love but that I just can't seem to use. Maybe can't is too strong. I'm befuddled by them. So, I decided to pull one out that I recently purchased to see if I could pull something together. I feel like it's a pretty basic bundle, but that's okay. I really like it, and it doesn't feel basic, because it uses bold colors.

The print I used was this great Ruby Star metallic floral. I think the size of the blossoms and the color just make it a bit difficult for me. It's a beautiful color and print, which is why I bought it, but I don't typically use this vibrant magenta. And it's pretty new to my collection, so maybe it's not right or fair to say it's a tough one for me, I bought it at Quiltcon, I think...which was in February. 

I really like the balance of warm and cool in this bundle, I think it's just a pretty effective group and now I'm trying to think if I have more I could pull in for a more complete quilt project, I'm not sure this is quite enough, haha.

Florentine Sunset

 I loved Quiltcon earlier this year. It was such a fun, but exhausting day. So inspiring. The quilts were just amazing, and I loved browsing the vendors area. It was so large! I was hoping I would be able to get a Clammy ruler, and I was happy that I could. Sewtopia had them for sale and I bought two sizes, plus a Hurty ruler. I can't remember where I had seen a clammy ruler quilt, but I knew I really wanted one, and that Latifah Saafir, the designer behind the clammy ruler, was a MQG darling. 

I bought a bunch of other things too...it was fun. I did try to restrain myself, but it was just all so inspiring! 

I came home and was promptly very intimidated by the Clammys AND the Hurty. So I "brainstormed" color schemes and designs so I could avoid them for a bit. I really wanted to try them, but I was so intimidated!

I finally got the courage after coming up with a fun color scheme (and testing out the sewing method with some scraps) and I went for it! I was inspired by this watercolor that inspired my mini quilt I blogged about here. I referenced this quilt in that post too, but I hadn't started yet. I couldn't decide if I liked the more visual bridge idea that I used in the mini, or this clamshell color scheme better. So I just made both.

Unfortunately, these pieces are a bit off a fabric hog and so I really went through a lot of fabric. It doesn't create useful scraps either, with the shape...and the pieces are so large that some fabrics I wanted to use weren't large enough. Everything was from my stash, I don't think I bought anything specifically for this quilt...pretty sure. That's my favorite way of quilting--I keep a large stash and then sew from it instead of purchasing fabric by the project. I feel like it gives my projects a uniquely me look.

The assembly was tricky, and I bet it was a bit wonky for my quilter. She is a good sport and doesn't complain. Hopefully most of my work is flat and straight enough that once in a while she's willing to tolerate it, haha. About half way through, I realized I really should have starched my fabric. But I never starch, so it didn't occur to me before it was too late. 

We backed it with a mustard yellow minky. I love the ombre effect this quilt has as they blend together and I'm proud of myself for making something hard! Maybe I'll even make another clammy quilt sometime. With starch, though. 

Fabric Friday Week 3: November 4

I inadvertently fell in love with a fabric that is completely not my style, but I didn't even care, because it's so darling. Art Gallery Fabric put out this vintage Christmas print in one of their lines and it was so cute. At first, I bought just a remnant for a steal at the Garden of Quilts. Then, I decided I needed a bit more, and a couple other focal prints in the same style. And Ruby Start had some pretty cute vintage-y prints that I thought would work...and then all of a sudden, I had a bundle of fabric for yet another Christmas quilt. 

The only problem is that it isn't my style.

But I'm not sure I care? 

I really don't go for vintage stuff, normally. And this print that caught my eye, that I had to have, it has flocked trees. In white AND pink. Guys, don't hate me, but I think flocked trees are so extraordinarily tacky. Like, so bad. I remember seeing my in-laws' Christmas tree for the first time the first year after we married, and it was flocked. I guess if you live in sunny southern California, you need the flocking so you can feel festive? I don't know. They thought it was so pretty and I just thought it looked weird. Fake. Snow. Why? But, I do love green. So I'm probably biased toward more natural looking trees...

ANYWAY, I don't do vintage. Or Santa, really...I don't think I had any Santa prints before this one. So I guess we'll see. And maybe it'll be my girls' favorite and they'll fight over it every year...who knows. 

Years ago, I decided I wanted to have enough Christmas quilts that when the girls are all big and move out, they can take a memorable Christmas quilt with them. Which meant I needed at least four. And then we started a fun tradition, and they all get to sleep with one on Christmas Eve. JUST Christmas Eve. They love it, and spend the whole month of December trying to decide which one they want to pick. I have way more than four now, which is good, so no one is stuck with the one no one wanted, but apparently, I can't help myself because I want to make yet another Christmas quilt to show off these cute prints.

Right now, I'm thinking a Meadowland quilt. The centers are nice and large and would show off the prints well. And this stack of fabric is what I'm currently thinking. We'll see. The row on the left would be the fussy cut centers.

Following the Leader

I love using leaders and enders. I see so many benefits, and very few drawbacks. It "saves" thread (although, does it? *shrug*), it DOES help fabric not get sucked down into the stitch plate, especially when you're sewing triangles, and it's like getting a bonus project without a lot of extra work. Additionally, with the way I use leaders and enders, I get to use up scraps. It's pretty much my main scrap quilting method. I should maybe sew more scrappy quilts, but...not right now. 

Some drawbacks I can see are that I tend to feel guilty if I DON'T use an ender for some reason, and it does rather clutter up my sewing desk, because I keep my pieces all ready to go behind my machine. 

Nevertheless, I find leaders and enders exciting, even though I've been making them for many years at this point. I love when I get close to finishing and seeing what I've worked so long on come together. I love how interesting scrappy quilts are to look at. And I get excited to start a new one. The excitement has not worn off yet, haha. 

This is my fourth completed leaders and enders and this one is entirely from scraps. My others have been *mostly* scraps, but this one is completely scraps, which makes me pretty proud. I opted to use this one for another picnic blanket, so I backed it with some denim. 

I was inspired for this one by this quilt by Crazy Mom Quilts. And interestingly, she was inspired by a vintage quilt, so apparently, it's an inspiring design. She provided a tutorial, but I did not follow it. I did use the final block size, and these are TINY. But, I love that I got to use up a lot of smallish scraps, and it also gave me a good opportunity to weed out a lot of scraps that are tinier and I really should let go of. These pieces are all 1x3 finished, so they started out at 1-1/2" by 3-1/2". In my opinion, 1-1/2" is pretty small, so if something was narrower than that and not a good length, I tried to let them go. I still have pieces way to small in there, and maybe someday I'll use them to create some fabric slabs or something. We'll see. 

Anyway, another departure from her tutorial is that I chose to make them into 9 patches instead of piecing long rows. This made more sense to me, and I think it made handling a little easier. Pressing wasn't always perfect, but that's okay. I also made it a lot larger than hers. By the end, I was pretty tired of piecing little rail fences, but I think it was worth it. It's a great size for a picnic blanket. 

I did try to follow her color scheme, which was brights on the outside and low volume on the inside, and I treated this like a kitchen sink quilt--any color was okay. For the most part, I think that aspect was okay. I regret using the black solids, and the ones that are more mid-toned that don't read well enough as a light or a dark. I feel like there are far more of those than there should be and it disrupts the design that the rail fence should produce. But that's okay. I did manage to use a lot of scraps that I knew I could use somehow, these border pieces from doll panels. I used more than I think I should have, but they were the perfect width and the colors are perfect. These are just three of the different borders I used (the two horseshoe colors and the aqua arch/rainbow. The lavender strip and the red with pink and white arches strip in the photo above are also border pieces from panels; there are a lot in this quilt!).

Of course, Halloween costumes got in the way of binding it and now it's too cold to actually use it, so we'll have to wait until next summer. *sigh*

Oh, and I did the math. There are 1,728 individual scraps in this quilt. Whew! No wonder it took YEARS. It's a 72" square quilt. 

Following the Leader, quilted by Abby Latimer, completed Oct 2022

Fabric Friday Week 2: October 28

Here we are for week 2 of Fabric Friday Reboot! I have another bundle I've got stashed away this week, this one started out as a quilt kit so it feels a bit like cheating. I went to the Garden of Quilts at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi this year and it was so fun! I'd never been, and I didn't go to any classes, but it was a great and full day. They had a few booths for vendors and that was really fun, too. I picked up a quilt kit from Pine Needles (which has a brick and mortar in Gardener Village in Sandy) because I just couldn't say no! It was an economy block quilt made from the Little Women fabric by Jill Howarth. It was adorable. I'm not a Little Women fan per se, but it was just too much. I got home and resolved to make it larger and decided I wanted some additional yardage. But...I got sick, and didn't make it back to Pine Needles shop for several weeks and by the time I got back, they had only a few bolts left. I really needed more of the fussy cut yardage so I ordered some from Hawthorne Supply Co, which is one of my favorite online shops, along with the gingham I needed for the cowgirl Halloween costume. That's how I justified buying more Little Women fabric, anyway...

In the picture below, the row on the top is fat eighths (I think...I should check, maybe they're 1/8 yard cuts...) that came in the kit. I purchased half yards of a couple that I really liked. The stripe on the right of that row was the intended binding but there obviously won't be enough so I'll just use it in blocks. The row on the left is the focal prints I have that I'll use for fussy cutting the centers. On the right are the low volumes I've pulled, including the background print that came with the kit, and I think I'll mostly stick with the A/B block layout from the kit, with low volume prints on the outside of half the blocks. That's kinda the plan, anyway. 

I don't typically make quilts from one line, so I was happy to pull additional fabric from my stash to go with it. I really love how it's come together, and I love the additional fussy cut fabrics I found. I think it's really going to add to the quilt. I think I'll also make bigger blocks. The pattern for the kit used 6" economy blocks but I found a tutorial on Amy Smart's website, Diary of a Quilter, that has instructions for 8" blocks. I'm really anxious to get going on this one, but it will have to wait a bit longer...

Seattle Quilt

 I’ve been admiring scrappy quilts lately, especially the work of Amanda Jean Nyberg. I’m still sad, years later, that she discontinued her blog but I’m glad she maintains her instagram for now. And with all that scrappy goodness, I’ve felt inspired to just sew. 

After finishing a more finicky pattern, especially, I was tired and really wanted to just sew. And I have loads of solid scraps that seem to multiply and never get touched. I decided to try out some improv scrap quilting and opted for a log cabin. Not very imaginative, I know this has historically been a staple of modern improv. But I’m still pretty new to improv and it’s a staple because it’s effective. So I went for it. I chose a color scheme of mostly blues and grays with accents in pink and yellow. 

I tried to be judicious on my scrap usage because I hate wasting fabric and didn’t want to cut pieces down by less than I could use elsewhere and that really drove a lot of the design decisions, which means some blocks aren’t necessarily very sound color-wise. That’s okay. I’m pretty pleased with my first go, even though there are blocks that aren’t effective. 

I was surprised it felt smaller than I expected. It’s 60x70, with 10” blocks. It’s a reasonable size, but it still felt small. It’s okay. I was really running out of scraps anyway. Rather, I was running out of different appropriately-sized scraps. My solids box is still overflowing, haha. 

As I was getting ready to make this quilt, I sorted out my solid scraps. I had them in a cardboard box because they outgrew my plastic scrap box they had been in. They’re still in the cardboard box, but I separated them into a few different groups and use bags to keep them separated. I have grays and blacks, warm neutrals and browns, blues, greens, and yellows, reds, oranges, pinks and purples. I struggle with solids storage. I also have some solid cuts in my stash drawers, but some are so small they’re barely big enough for a binding. But they’re mostly still intact so they don’t really seem to fit in scrap storage…it’s a problem. I’m trying to reevaluate how I store them, so I might switch things up. We’ll see. 

I pieced the backing from some of those larger small cuts that I don’t want anymore. Colors purchased for specific purposes that are now finished, and pieces that are too small to be usable. It’s not pretty. But it’s the back of a scrap quilt and I think that’s fine. I’d rather use it than have it languish in the drawer, and using it on a backing feels less wasteful than donating it or discarding it. 

I got it back from my quilter and had to wait to bind it because I had other pressing things. I was finishing up piecing the block components of the All the Good quilt and didn’t want to put on my walking foot, and then I had to dive into Halloween costumes. With those finished, I was finally able to bind it. Yay! The binding is scrappy from leftover bits of bindings from other quilts, in the colors of this quilt, so I thought it turned out great. And, it means that this entire quilt (save the batting...) is made from scraps. I think that's pretty great. What is not so great is the wavy binding. When this has happened in the past, I thought it might be that I was pulling the quilt and the binding unevenly, and I guess I must have been doing that this time. This time, I was too lazy to move my serger that sits next to my sewing machine, because this quilt isn't *that* big, but it looks like I needed the space. Oh well...done is better than perfect...

I thought about a possible name while I was binding, and it was hard. I thought about the colors...the wonkiness, the log cabin block...I felt stumped. And then I thought about Seattle, which often has such dreary weather, and gray and blue seem very Northwest to me. But when I've visited, we've always managed to get a few days of sun, like the bright pops of yellow. And Seattle, like the Northwest in general, is a little wonky and weird, which we love, right? Plus, I asked for a wavy quilting design, which kinda looks like waves, an Seattle is on the Sound...So, Seattle. *shrug*

Fabric Friday Week 1: October 21

Years back, when I was trying to get a blog going, I did a Fabric Friday column because I'd seen so many successful bloggers with consistent weekly content and thought it would be fun, and a great exercise in color. I think it really helped me grow as a quilter, and it kept me familiar with my stash, which is always a good thing when you have a large stash! I eventually let it taper off because weekly was a lot of work.

I still love playing with my fabric and often have multiple fabric pulls ready for a quilt that I either can't decide on a pattern for or haven't gotten around to sewing yet. So, this week, I'll start with one of those, and share plans, and hopefully in the future, I'll get back to this habit and use it to stimulate my creativity through color schemes or fabric pulls. I'll shoot for weekly, but it probably won't end up being weekly, haha.

Today's pull is one I've had on my shelf for a while, waiting for a pattern. I've thought through different patterns I've seen, what type of pattern might work best, and I think I've settled on another Shimmer quilt by Allison Harris. I love that pattern, I've made it twice, and I've made Wallflowers once, which is nearly the same block with a different setting and different block size. I love it. It's a really fun quilt to sew up. I've also considered a Swoon, which is a similar feel, but I think I'll go with Shimmer.

 

Aren't these great together? I really love all the colors and it feels really me with the different prints. 

This bundle was inspired by the Rifle Paper florals. When they first came out, I had to have them. But I couldn't figure out how to use them. So one day, I sat down and pulled out fabrics in all the colors from the print with the exception of the background color. I really like it and I'm excited to see it as a quilt! I'm opting for a Shimmer quilt because I think the centers are large enough to show off the print. Some of my fabric isn't large enough as the pattern is written, so I'll have to use more fabrics to make up the difference, which I'm completely fine with. I love lots of prints in a quilt, and I think I've pulled more than necessary for a lap quilt anyway. 

Halloween WIPs

 I got my All the Good quilt laid out, but promptly had to pick it up and put it away so I could focus on Halloween costumes. It's just as well, I like to let layouts marinate and now that I've thought about this one, I'm not thrilled with what I've got. Now that I've thought about it for a week or so, I really want to bring the navy up so it's a rounder shape, and I want the "nucleus" to be closer to the center of the quilt and not so much in the corner. So I'll move a row to the left side, and possibly the top...all this switching sounds really tricky though so I'm not sure how to transfer my carefully-organized stacks of rows to the new shift...it'll be a big job. For after Halloween. 

And for Halloween, I got my four girls to commit a couple weeks ago so I could get to work. My second daughter mercifully chose to be a pirate, which my oldest had been 3 years ago. Or was it four? I can't remember. In any case, I only had to make a new skirt because the one from a few years ago was not big enough for my second daughter. But skirts are really easy and quick, and after I purchased the striped fabric, it took just about an hour to get it finished up. Love that.

My oldest and one twin want to be witches and want to match, and I had a super simple costume pattern with sizes for both of them that I'm working with. It has only 3 pattern pieces, and includes a gather neck with an elastic (which means no closures to worry about), and so I'm about done with that. My twelve year old has a vision, and making this simple pattern fit her vision has required a bit of finesse. She wanted puffy sleeves and flare out, so I took a cue from a different pattern and added an elastic casing to the bicep area (I got lucky with placement since I just guessed...). And I'm making a simple belt with eyelets from a different pattern (it's super basic, using the pattern is hardly required...) in a pretty lilac color to add some interest and some definition to the waist. 

The other twin wants to be a cowgirl, which isn't surprising at all, because she and two sisters are in horse lessons right now. I had a costume pattern I used a couple years ago for a witch costume (a different one...) for her, so I needed to retrace the size, but it's really cute. It's the most complex pattern but it's adorable. I bought a Robert Kaufman window pane woven gingham in blue and some tan canvas for the top skirt from Joanns, and some cute eyelet trim. I think it's going to turn out really cute and I hope she loves it. 

And I hope it doesn't take too long. I'd love to get this improv quilt sewn together, even though I know I can't rush it. And, I've got Christmas sewing to think about...this year, I'm making our annual Christmas pajamas because I just can't bear the disappointment and upset when the Santa pajamas don't fit right because my girls are so much taller than the average kid and off the rack clothes are just not made for them. Sigh. I ordered some cute Dear Stella nutcracker fabric for pajama pants and a great Art Gallery Fabric striped knit for the tops and I think they'll be really adorable. And if the girls whine and gripe about them, we'll have to find a new tradition because pajamas will be done, haha. 

Housewarming Quilt

My brother moved from Utah to Kentucky about six years ago. I can't remember exactly...it's been a while, and I feel like it was around the time my twins were born. They rented a home for a while and then were able to build a new home because they hadn't found anything they liked well enough to buy. It wasn't their first home purchase; they had owned a home in Utah. Still, we had just finished building our own home and I was excited for them to have a new place of their own. They came out to visit shortly after moving in, and I decided it would be perfect to send a housewarming quilt back with them. I wanted it to be a simple design, but I love big quilts and so I aimed to make it a large throw. It ended up closer to twin, but that's okay. 

I decided a simple house block would be perfect. I picked a neutral palate of colors, and, I'm a bit embarrassed to say, used it as an excuse to use a lot of prints I liked, but didn't love or want in my stash any longer. I like them all, I promise! Some I like very much, like the navy floral, that's a favorite. Some I love but I can't seem to figure out how to use them. Maybe because I don't usually make large blocks like this. And I do like them all together. It feels very primary color to me, even though I used green instead of yellow. 

I had recently reconnected with a former neighbor who also happened to move to Utah County (I grew up in Salt Lake County), and who I hadn't known was a sewist and quilter. She now works at a sewing machine/quilt shop near my new home, and I bumped into her there. She does long-arm quilting and so I thought I would try her services out. She did a great job and finished it more quickly than my usual long armer, who is quite busy now (because she's good!), but it was more expensive than I hoped for and I wasn't overly thrilled with it. Nothing set it apart from my go-to quilter. I don't go to that quilt shop often, mostly just for thread (they carry Mettler and a good variety of serger cones) and Tula Pink fabric occasionally. They have eclectic fabric: lots of traditional and juvenile, and then Tula and Kaffe. It's very odd. And it always takes FOREVER to check out. Their computer system is ancient. And slow. And doesn't always work. So I avoid it. And she is getting ready to retire so I think she has scaled back her hours. I actually haven't seen her there in a year or so, now that I think about it...maybe she's already quit. In any case, I still continue to use my go-to quilter.

So, here's the large quilt I made for my brother! He said they loved it, I gave it them in person when they visited since they drove, and that save me massive amounts on shipping. I backed it with minky because, minky. But that made it HUGE and heavy. I'm so glad I didn't have to ship it. 

Housewarming, quilted by Ruth Ann LeBaron, completed February 2021, gifted July 2021.

A Memorial Quilt

I think we've all seen the elusive traveling quilts, where a small group of quilting friends get together to piece together quilts. Each person starts with a theme and a color scheme and creates the center. They mail it to the next person who adds to it, and then it continues on through the circle until it makes it back to the owner, much larger than when it starts. I say elusive, because there don't seem to be that many but they always look so interesting and spectacular. I was always intrigued by them.

And then, my dad died. He had early onset dementia and was not doing well, but he died from a stroke. We all had a chance to say goodbye, it wasn't a sudden death from the stroke and we felt very blessed. But, I was five months (or so?) pregnant with my twins and was already extremely uncomfortable. I didn't feel able to really mourn the way I wanted to, which was to go to the mountains, his favorite place. So I sat and mourned as best I could. I brainstormed quilting ideas. 

First I made a mountain mini quilt, designed by Amy Ellis. I love it and it hangs in my living room. 

And then I thought of those traveling quilts. And the wheels started turning. I started brainstorming memories that could be turned into quilt blocks. Mountains, obviously, specific phrases, favorite books, favorite foods. I originally thought I might assemble it as a traveling quilt but quickly realized that it would be best to assemble the blocks and then try to work out how they all fit together. 

So I made blocks. Lots and lots of blocks. For nearly four years. Periodically I would see a pattern that was perfect and it would get added to the list. Lots are paper pieced and by the end, I was really done with paper piecing. In my mind, it's a necessary evil. I love how the blocks finish but I sure don't love making them. Here are few I liked a lot (not necessarily the making part, but the design, haha). Hufflepuff was from Fandom in Stitches (which has reliably good paper piecing patterns, usually for free) and the aspen leaves are by Center Street Quilts, available on Etsy. The lettering is all paper pieced as well, designed by From Blank Pages.

I also really liked this camera block, a free block of the month block from Fat Quarter Shop years ago as part of one of their charity fundraisers.

Finally, I finished the last block. Somewhere between the first block and the last, I purchased an embroidery machine and so there are several machine embroidered blocks I designed. I love what they add. Possibly my favorite is this digitized version of an illustration from the book Me and My Dad by Mercer Mayer. It took HOURS of digitizing, and at least four attempts at the multi-hooping before I got it right.

Once they were all finished, I laid them out and they fit pretty well together, I got pretty lucky. I added strips of fabric here and there to make them fit, but it wasn't as hard or awkward as I feared. I'm really glad I assembled it this way, I never would have thought of the camera strip otherwise, and I think it's a fun detail. And it turned out to be a great size: generous lap size. Nearly twin? Maybe it is a twin. But it lives in the living room, not on a bed. 

I took it to Marion McClellan, who is absolutely fantastic with custom quilting. She gets all my really special quilts, and she did a great job with this one. 

I love it. I love pulling it out and remembering. And I love pulling it out and telling my daughters the stories of their grandfather. They were too young (or not born yet) and only remember him in his illness. He was among the best of men, and, as Billy Joel says, only the good die young. I ache that they will never know his goodness. 

In Memory, long arm quilted by Marion McClellan, started in 2018, completed March 2021.