Ahemmmm....Can I please have your attention

This announcement has been a long time coming and while I usually don't like to make a big deal out of things...especially personal things; but Gosh Darn It!  I'm gonna make a big deal out of this annoucement.  So here it goes...

This Spring you'll be able to buy my first Quilt Pattern. 

Whew! I said it out loud and lightning didn't strike...that's a good sign.

So how did this come about?  Well last year, I tipped my toes in the Designing water when I created this quilt as part of a Challenge issued to our STLMQG by Fabric Designer, Laura Gunn.  Two weeks later, the Puzzled Quilt was born and was later featured on Moda BakeShop.  About a month or so later, the stars must have aligned as a sudden surge of inspiration hit me and I drew up a handful of new designs.  

The designs fit together so nicely and compliment one another that my first thought was that I should try and write a book...Hahahaha!   Go Big or Go Home, right? 

Well, that vision lasted for a few weeks and then reality set in.  In the end, it just wasn't the right time for me to even attempt such a thing.  Yet, that doesn't mean that I gave up.  Actually, the exact opposite happened, I actually became more excited about writing and distributing my patterns the ol' fashioned way -by myself. 

I'm also considering submitting something to Moda Bakeshop again, trying for a magazine, or any other ideas that come my way.  So, if you have any ideas let me know.

I really think that you all will like the designs that I have created (a handful of people have seen them and have given me a Thumbs Up; which makes me smile).  I can't wait to share them with all of you.

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So, where am I at right now?

I just recently finished the first quilt top.  YAY!!!   In tandem, I've been working on the pattern writing, making tweeks here and there.  The first rough draft is done; but I really need to spend some time with it before I bribe Family and some Quilty-friends to look at it and test it out.

Like the announcement above said, I'm aiming for a Spring reveal of my 1st pattern and there will definately be some giveaways to go with it.

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A BIG Thanks to my Family and Friends who has been supportive of my craziness the last few months as I tackled what I was going to do.

WIP Wednesday 1-25-2012

Here I am participating in WIP Wednesday over on Freshly Pieced and this time I have lots to show you.

Let's start with my progress on the Swoon blocks I'm making as part of Katy's Swoon-Along.  I've now completed Block #2 and it's looking good.  This one went together a lot faster then Block #1 did, because I didn't think too hard about where the prints were going to go, I just grabbed what I needed and started piecing.

I haven't decided how many of these I'm going to make just yet.  The pattern calls for 9 of them; but as I mentioned before these measure 24" wide.  I'm considering just making 4 of them and using wider sashing and a border to make a larger quilt.  I'm in no rush though.

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I'm participating in the Fab Little Quilt Swap over on Flickr.  It's a swap where you make and exchange "Doll Quilts" with another participant.  The quilts measure anywhere from 12"x12" to 24"x24".  I'm excited to be participating; but nervous all at once too.  You see, it's an Invite-Only Swap and I kinda thought they were kidding when I received the email a few weeks ago.  Me...You are asking me to join? 

We got our Partners last week and I've been doing lots of detective work.  On Sunday, I had a plan; but not the kind of plan that you can put down on paper; since it was Improv-and you can't plan for that.  Monday, I finally started pulling some fabrics together, piecing, then cutting them into wedge shapes. 

I haven't decided on the final layout; but I like what I'm seeing.

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The STLMQG (St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild) is in the midst of our Charitable Project for the Fall/Winter season; which is making pillowcases as part of the American Patchwork & Quilting, 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge. 

This past weekend, I made 2 pillowcases, using this tutorial.  OMG!  It literally took me 15 minutes to make a pillowcase.  The process seems weird as you appear to be sewing things inside out; but it's amazing and super fast.  You have to try it.

I've got a few other larger fabric cuts in my stash that I can surely part with, as our guild's goal is 150 pillowcases by February's meeting.  At last count we are over half-way there. 

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I don't know what I was thinking when I thought up this brilliant idea; but I'm making itty-bitty hexies.  How itty-bitty...can you say smaller then a Dime.  Yep, as you can see from the photo below, I'm nuts. 



At our last STLMQG meeting, we decided to do a quick swap based off of Nova's "Itty-Bitty Magnets".  The finished size of the magnets should be about 1 1/2".  I was struggling with what to make when I came across the PinCushion that I created as part of Fat Quarterly's last Designer Challenge.  Sure...why not try hexies. 

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As you can tell, it's busy around here.

 

If you are visiting my blog for the first time...Welcome! 

If you are a regular...Thanks for checking in, nice to see you again!

Adding to the library

Look at two lovely books that I've added to my quilting library recently.

Sew to Swap: Quilting Projects to Exchange Online & by Mail

by Chrissie Grace

Modern Log Cabin Quilting: 25 Simple Quilts and Patchwork Projects

by Susan Beal

The Sew to Swap book, I won as part of last year's SewMamaSew! Giveaway Day.  Darci, Stitches & Scissors, was hosting a giveaway and I won.  Coincidentally, Darci was my partner in the Spicing Up The Kitchen Swap over on Flickr last year.  She also is a contributor to this book.

The Modern Log Cabin Quilting book, was given to me by my future Brother-In-Law (owner of the Harry Potter Quilt).  I most certainly wasn't expecting anything from him for Christmas...much less a Quilting book...much less a Modern Quilting book.  I love surprises!

I really like all the inspiration in these two books and can't wait to spend some time really going through them.

WIP Wednesday 1-11-2012

So last week, I participated in the first Work In Progress WIP Wednesday of the year, over at Freshly Pieced.  This is week #2, and I'm gonna try to keep it up.

I'm proud to say that I've made lots of progress on my 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 in squares that I showed you all last week.  I've been combining them into awesome little blocks and I'm really looking forward to putting those blocks together.  Unfortunately I can't share with you what I'm making; but in due time it will all come together.

I let go of one of my WIP Skeletons, the orange/brown quilt from my post the other day.  A friend rescued it, so that's one less thing hanging around gathering dust.  It has a good home and I don't have to worry about it anymore. Thanks Jenny!

I'm Swooning it up, along with like 300+ others as part of Katy's Swoon-Along over on Flickr.  I've finished 1 block and have 8 more to go.  If you scroll down to the previous post you can read all about  my attempts at resisting the Swoon.

I don't want to let you go without sharing a new photo...even if it isn't a WIP.

I found the below piece of fabric at a thrift store a few weeks ago.  It was all folded in on itself; but the few bright colors I could see, I figured it was worth the 79 cents.  Turns out that it's a drapery fabric from the 1920s/30s, that was printed in the UK.  The basecloth is a linen.  Don't you just love the bright colors?  The selvedge edge is actually still attached and says Puritan Doulton Cretonne.

Can you imagine having curtains like this hanging in your home?

Don't forget, to visit Freshly Pieced to check out what others are doing on this WIP Wednesday.

Do you Swoon?

I caved...I gave into temptation.  Damn you Swoon.

It's not that I didn't like you, it's just that everyone and I mean everyone seemed to be going Ga-Ga.  You are a lovely pattern and yet I didn't want to be just another lemming.  I enjoyed watching from the sidelines, as scores of Swoon quilts popped up on Flickr and Pinterest last year.  Yet, I resisted.

That was until I saw that Katy was hosting a Swoon-Along.  You can find the details here on Flickr...maybe you resisted temptation too; but let's be honest Resistance is Futile!  Hahahaha

So you want to know what my Swoon is going to look like, eh?

Well, it's gonna be scrappy and what I'm most excited about is what I chose for the background.  I was out on Saturday looking for some grey fabric (never found it) when I came across a small pindot print.  As soon as I saw it, I knew that was going to be the background for my Swoon quilt. 

Of course, due to my excitement, I had to jump in and get started...ya, know (just to see what it would look like).  After I got a third of the pattern done, I knew I hit gold and had to finish. 

I give you Block #1.

Isn't it so freakin cute?

Now, I don't know how quickly I'm gonna finish the rest of the blocks; because I think the speed with which I've finished this 24" block was a fluke; but I'm sure gonna try.

Wish me luck...

WIP Inventory & Skeletons

After I wrote my first WIP Wednesday post of 2012 yesterday and checked out some of my fellow WIP'rs, I noticed that many of them keep a sort of tally at the end of their posts.  Something kinda like this:

This Week's Stats
Completed Projects
New Projects
Currently in Process

I love making lists and am one of those people that once so many things get crossed off the list, I have to rewrite what is left onto a new list.  Yep, I'm one of those people.  This got me thinking that I probably should take stock of just how many WIP (works in progress) I do have...which is kinda frightening; because as I'm writing this I FEEL like I have ALOT of unfinished things going on.  But then again, one doesn't really know until they take stock of what is hanging around.

The other thing I'm wondering is when does something stop being a WIP...and I don't mean when it's complete (that's obvious).  What I mean is when is something an eternal WIP or WIP Skeleton, as I'm calling it.

It's inventory time, people...walk with me.

------------------ Works in Progress -----------------

Snapshot Quilt

Top is Pieced...Yes

Quilting & Binding...No

String Block Quilt

made with blocks from the Simply Strings Bee members

Top is Pieced...Yes

Quilting & Binding...No

LouBee Quilt

Top is Pieced...No
I love these blocks as my LouBee girls from the STLMQG made them for me.

Small Plate "Innocent Crush" Quilt

Top is Pieced...No

I have made pretty good headway in finishing the blocks though

Blue/Yellow Improv Quilt

Top is Pieced...No
I do pull this out routinely and make another block or two.

Mod Mosaic Quilt

**Sadly this never got off the ground properly, as I only received back 5 of the 12 blocks
I sent out as part of a Quilting Bee that ended last year; but I will finish this one day, even if it's just compiling the blocks I do have into something small.**

Linen Quilt

Top is Pieced...Yes

**This was meant as a gift and while I have the backing and thread ready to go.  I'm questioning my choice to use linen as the top...it's literally 95% of the top.  I'm envisioning it to be a shifty mess; but I'm probably not giving it a chance.**

----------------------- WIP Skeletons ----------------------

Que the music...dun, dun, dun

Orange/Brown Quilt

**This was supposed to be a Shower gift for a co-worker like 7 years ago.  This was back when I was quilting very sporadically (like every 2 years) and hated everything that I made because the quilting never looked right.  I have since been introduced to a Walking Foot (duh!).  This top measures approx. 36 x 48 in and is completely pieced; but I think that's where our relationship is ending.  It coincidentally is sitting in the same plastic tub with its WIP Skeleton in crime below.

Improv Quilt

**So, I had made an improv quilt for a fundraiser (sadly don't have a single photo of it) and loved it so much that I wanted a similiar one for myself; but in a different palette  I remember being super-excited with my fabric selections and thrilled with the first 2 "blocks" I did; but then life kinda got in the way.  I packed it up, years have gone by and here it is sitting in a plastic tub and I hate it**

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Do you have some eternal WIP skeletons around your house?  I'd love to hear about them. 
Hmmm...now what to do with the 2 WIP Skeletons above is the question.

As for including my tally list in future WIP Wednesday posts...let me think about that one for a while.  Maybe making this visual list is enough for me right now.

WIP Wednesday

I tweeted over the weekend that I was cutting out 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch squares...I needed 320 of them.  Well, here they are in all their scrappy goodness. 

I did "cheat" a little, but only out of frustration.  You see it was my intention to cut all of these out of my scrap jars (as seen below); but as anyone would know who has tried to cut things from their scrap piles...it's a tedious process.  You pretty much have to do it one or two at a time since my scraps (and let's be honest, most people's scraps) are all sorts of sizes.  After like the 100th one, I gave up and just started cutting 2 1/2" lengths from fabric in my stash, then subcutting them into the squares.  On fabrics I really liked, I used 6 or even 8 squares; but tried to keep the duplication under that.  And the added bonus was that I added more scraps to the jars.

What is to become of those squares is still being "pieced" together; which is why I've decided to link up to Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday. 

I'm gonna try to keep better tabs on my WIP because let's be honest, once you've put it out there, it's something you need to finish...eventually.  I do have big plans for this particular project though and will share more once it's completed.

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Also, here are some other things that are on my radar as 2012 starts off with a bang.  I'm looking forward to trying my hand at this Quilt-Along.  Rachel from Stitched In Color is hosting the Scrap Attack Quilt-Along.



I got the scraps...as you saw in my pickle jars above, now I just need to decide what to do with them.

Also, Erin over at Two More Seconds has co-created the Tangerine Tango Challenge.  Pantone, the world leader in all things color, announced that Tangerine Tango was the 2012 Color of the Year.  Who doesn't love a challenge?

I don't have alot of Tangerine in my fabric stash; but I wonder who really does.  For anyone taking on this challenge, it sounds like a great excuse to go buy some Tangerine fabric. 

Well, that's about it for now.  I hope 2012 is shaping up to be a good year for you so far.

First Finish of the New Year

Okay, so technically I have been working on this the last few weeks in December; but coincidentally the binding was finished this morning, January 1st...so it kinda counts. 

When my Sister's Fiance', who is like the world's biggest Harry Potter fan, jokingly mentioned that I should make him a Harry Potter Quilt, I don't think he realized that I'd actually follow-through.  I mean, who really makes a Harry Potter Quilt...and especially one that doesn't "SCREAM" Harry Potter.

I found Owlsea's Pattern for a Hogwarts crest and did some intense paper piecing.  I did enlarge the pattern though, as the original was only going to finish at 5", mine is about 10".

While I had the key feature finished, I had no idea what I was going to do with the rest of the quilt.

Finally, I came across this quilt in my Flickr Favs and after consulting with my Sister, we both agreed that I was on the right track. 

So, I give you my take on a Harry Potter Quilt.

Oh yeah, did I mention we are having wind gusts up to 30 mph today

And of course as an added bonus, I stitched the "Deathly Hallows" into the quilt too.  I'm not gonna tell him about that, let's see how long it takes him to find.

He'll be in town this coming weekend for a late Christmas and will find this waiting for him.

Oh come on...like you wouldn't wrap a Harry Potter quilt like this? 

Happy New Year!!!