Almost Wordless Wednesday

New bed--small baby

Design Walk Monday

Lots of piecing time this weekend on the High Cotton quilt, so more of the same on my design surface.

I now have 20 of the 63 blocks required, though not all are shown here. Liking it so far. :)

Tonight I'll attempt to get the backing to the baby quilt spray basted, as I didn't get that done. 

Pink Minkee for the backing. This is a quilt as you go project. I have the batting cut and resting. Part of the reason it didn't get done was a very good one--DD Elaine walked over with Cove and then said she'd invited a surprise guest, who turned out to be my older brother who hadn't yet met Cove. 

I got a good pic of Cove and his grandpa sitting in my sewing room!

See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times. 

Shopping, Stitching, Ripping

Friday I stayed home due to a ripping headache I woke up to, and an unhappy tummy, but after a few hours I felt pretty good. Some time spent with the rotary cutter and my fave CW fabrics helped. I did a lot of cutting for the High Cotton (Kim Diehl) quilt. Those 6.5" blocks take a while to add up to a good sized quilt, you know?

Simple Comforts cover quilt is High Cotton.

Later there was shopping. My sister Kathy was happy to join me in returning some clothes I'd bought which she detested, and then boss me around while I tried on many many pairs of jeans.  She then arranged for me to get a pre-sale discount on the final picks. Little sisters can be like that!  

Saturday was full of piecing.

I used the High Cotton pieces as leader-enders between the baby quilt rows. Two pretty disparate projects that don't look good together!

 There was just a little ripping--block fail!  Four blocks were completed while all the rows for the baby quilt were assembled. 

More shopping at Michael's for spray adhesive to attach a Minky backing to the batting, which I plan to get done forthwith. Then on to the quilt-as-you-go portion of the baby quilt. It would be great to get most of the rows done today.      Fingers crossed!

Wordless Wednesday

Design Wall Monday--April 21, 2014

On my design surface today is a new project and off the design wall is an older project.  The new project is a baby quilt.  My co-worker is having a girl and there is an office baby shower coming up in a couple of weeks.  I pulled out this grouping of fat quarters I bought a couple of years ago at Tuesday Morning.

The pink print is from stash and I may switch out one of the lighter prints for another pink print, since my co-worker loves pink.  The pattern I'm using is this design by Gudrun Erla found in the new magazine Fresh Quilts.  Her trademark is quilt as you go and she has several books out containing designs with this method.  This quilt called for an applique of a fox, but I won't put that in.  The above fat quarters are a Riley Blake collection from 2009 called Summer Song.  The baby is due at the end of May, which is close enough to summer for me ;)

Off my design wall is Pink Lemonade, a project that has been a flimsy since Lori of Humble Quilts' quiltalong several years ago, and it got pin basted a few weeks ago. Last night I did some stitch in the ditch to hold the layers together so I could add the two color binding I'd already made, from instructions in the above Fresh Quilts magazine on another baby quilt pattern.

I think it turned out great--really liking that flange idea that the two color technique creates. Vivian did a good tutorial on her recent use of the same method.

Here's a bad pic of the whole quilt.  I'll add some big stitch quilting in the plain blocks and it finally will be A Real Quilt.  See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

And now, some baby spam: We got to babysit our grandson Cove for the first time on Friday night.  He's seven weeks old and getting cuter by the second.  Here's a photo our daughter sent Friday morning with the message, "See ya later alligators!"

This outfit kills me!  We had a good time taking care of him and look forward to the next visit.

Doll Quilt Wrap Up

Lori at Humble Quilts organized a Doll Quilt Swap and the deadline for mailing was "before Easter".  I spent several of my bus commutes last week tacking down the binding for the doll quilt I've made. Then I added some big stitch hand quilting accents.

The finished doll quilt--again, these Churn Dash blocks are a Kim Diehl design, from her book, Simple Comforts.  The total number of different fabrics I used in the quilt was 24.

 I wanted to keep the crisp piecing the focal point, so I added only a bit of stitching to the nine patch centers.

The sashing got a double outline of big stitching.  The fabric for the binding was the same dye lot/purple-y blue color as the sashing--another deliberate choice to keep the Churn Dash blocks the focus.

Though I was hesitant about the effect at first, in the end I really enjoyed the big stitch hand stitching, for a rustic touch.  I'm not skilled enough at hand quilting to make it a focal point!

This hand-dyed Valdani Perle Cotton in a bluish gray accomplished the subtle addition I was hoping for. I was happy to find it at the guild show from last week.

After this photo, I added a simple label and sent off the doll quilt in the mail.  I hope the recipient enjoys it as much as I did making it.  My swap partner was more timely in her completed project and I received it on Friday.  I had just enough time to tear open the package before we rushed off to babysit our grandson for the first time, so savoring the gift waited until yesterday morning.

Barb in Arizona crafted some beautiful baskets with ribbon handles, and exquisitely hand-quilted the entire doll quilt.  Aren't the baskets sweet?  I think they finish at about 3.5".

She also used an extra basket as a cute label. I appreciate every stitch Barb put into this doll quilt!

A scrap-lovers delight with each basket a different print.  Thank you, Barb!

Two Minis

So I played around with the photo editor app I have called Aviary, and enhanced the poorly lit pics I took of the mini quilts I bought at the guild show. 

At first I thought this was a panel print, but it is not!  I think each square finishes at less than an inch. Blue isn't a color I usually work with, so buying someone else's work is a good thing!

This is the one Lani made. Lots of scrappy goodness here!  Both minis have hanging sleeves so I can slip them on my stand. 

I don't have a mini for each season, but this runner is Spring-y enough to provide a backdrop. 

Love this leaping bunny on a stick I bought last year at Pier 1.  Is Spring in bloom where you are?

Camarillo Quilt Guild Show 2014

My sister Kathy and I spent a lovely several hours at the Camarillo Quilt Guild show on Saturday.  This local show is put on every other year.  This year there were more vendors than ever, and more quilts than ever.  Here are a few of my favorites. 

What a great block this is--an expanding star of some kind.  Loved it. 

Look how the 9 patch in the center bursts out.  The quilter carefully constructed the directional print all going the same way.  I managed not to get a photo of the quiltmaker, unfortunately.

 Intriguing take on the One Block Wonder.  Another terrific quilt.

 How nice that her husband was the instigator!

A favorite color in this traditional quilt. 

Beautiful big quilt, too. 

Hi Lani!  Love your quilt!  I met Lani a couple of years ago as she is a local reader of my blog.

How about this interesting version of Storm at Sea?

I really liked her fabric choices, which was a surprise since blue isn't a color I'm usually drawn too. It must be the Asian prints, those seem to attract my attention often :)

I think I've bought some of that dragonfly print before!

Another blue Asian quilt that I loved.  This one is called Falling Pagodas.  See the sashing?  It is not a print. 

The sashing is hand-embroidered with a feather stitch and about one bazillion french knots.  Amazing!  Really great to see so much variation and individuality on many of the quilts.  And then there was a little shopping...

These batik 1/2 to yard cuts will be used for a quilt for my sister in law who's having a big birthday in a few months.  Lots of additions will be made to this pile, however, before any cutting and sewing is done.

I was able to fulfill my main goal, which was to find some larger scale 1900's repros to add to the High Cotton quilt, and replenish the stash.  The Rusty Crow Quilt Shop booth fit the bill exactly--I've purchased from her before at the Long Beach IQF show (which has moved to Portland this year, dangit!).

The colors got a bit washed out in this photo but you can see the bigger scale of the prints against that smaller cheddar background, which is also destined for the High Cotton (Kim Diehl) quilt.  The Perle cotton was a nice find too--these are hand dyed and yummy in person. 

My last purchase of the day was in the silent auction area, where a large display of mini quilts on stands was available.  Unfortunately there were few bidders, so I was given the two minis I wanted without waiting for the end of the show.  After I'd paid the cashier and was about to put the minis in my bag, I realized one had a label--Made by Lani!!  Too funny that I liked her big quilt and her mini. My photos were terrible so no sharing today.  I'm pleased to support the quilters of the CQG and look forward to another show in a couple of years.

Stripes

...on tiny toes

Design Wall Monday

A week passed before I touched my sewing machine. It was a stressful week at work and I was tired at night. But yesterday I did sew a little. 

Three more blocks for the High Cotton/Simple Comforts quilt. There was other fabric play, ironing the fabrics under the blocks shown, for a cutting session of more block pieces. And I got my doll quilt basted for Lori's (Humble Quilts) swap. 

Hmm. A bit blurry but you'll get the idea. These blocks were also from the Kim Diehl book, Simple Comforts. 

This is the back of the doll quilt. I'll be combining some machine quilting and big stitch accents. Only two weeks to deadline!  See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times. 

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday--Big and Little

 

Big Hound, Little Boxster

Big Limo, Little Victorian House

Big Clouds, Little Rainbow