One Down

Five gathered clutches to go.

Hexies made from Fandango scraps.

The strap might be a little long. I'll have to compare it to Julia's Vera Bradley.

Look! Grass!
It is 50 degrees today, the sun is shining and the birds are chirping.
Spring is on the way!

WIP Wednesday

It's been two weeks since my last WIP post, so I get to report that I actually finished something!
Actually, a bunch of small quilts...
A baby quilt (to be named later)
A Zig Zag quilt
and a City Quilts-inspired wall hanging.
Cherri House commented on my blog, which is just so cool!

These swap postcards were mailed yesterday, a week before the deadline! The swap was organized on Pat Sloan's Facebook page. I took a ton of pictures because I'm planning to write a tutorial for this paper-pieced, 4 X 6" zig zag postcard.


Today's project is the famous Gathered Clutch.
My nephew's fiancee (Hi, Jamie!) asked me to make them for her bridesmaids. She wants 6, but I have 10 different color combinations ready to go, including 3 shades of linen blend. The gorgeous colored zippers were purchased at my LQS.

Be sure to visit freshly pieced to see what everyone else is working on...

An early morning visitor, blending in.


If I can stop sneezing, I'll start cutting and sewing!

Modern Design Wall Monday

I'm experimenting with some paper-pieced zig zags for a postcard swap. I wanted to replicate my modern zig zag quilt that was made with half square triangles. The first attempt, on the right, was paper-pieced in rows, with all the same seam lines as HSTs. I've been paper-piecing long enough to know that I didn't need so many seams! Plan B is on the left.

Much better! It is flatter, and you can see more of the designer fabrics.
It will be quilted, trimmed and backed later today.

Julia's block for the Girl Scout Troop quilt is on the design wall. Each girl designed or chose her own block to piece. They also dyed some of their own fabric. The light blue in the corners was dyed with Kool Aid! Now that swim season is over, she should have some time to sew this together soon (after trimming up the units!).

Julia got her license a couple weeks ago, so she and her boyfriend Josh went on their first real date this weekend (dinner and a movie). I forgot to give her a curfew, but she didn't need it. She was home over an hour earlier than I would have allowed her!

Here are her Valentines for him. Stickers from Twig & Thistle.

I actually ran into Josh in the grocery store yesterday, with this can of olives in my hand! He was buying a rose for Julia. So cute!

I'm listening to Esperanza Spalding today. She won the Best New Artist Grammy last night (a cure for Bieber Fever?)! We saw her perform on a side stage at the Saratoga Jazz Festival in 2007 and we knew then she was awesome.

Listen to some jazz today! It's perfect for Valentine's day!

Zig Zag Friends

I finished three small quilts this week, and this is my favorite!

For my lecture on Modern Quilting, I wanted to show how nicely all the designers play together.

Lots of girls: Valori Wells, Pamela Mostek, Martha Negley, Pat Bravo and Amy Butler.
And some boys, too: Kaffe Fassett, Joel Dewberry and Philip Jacobs.

I'm really happy with the way the color progression worked out, and I think it would make an awesome Blooming Nine Patch, too. Although, HST Zig Zags are a lot easier to make than BNP.

I had a big piece of this orange solid for the back, but I was wishing it was a little paler. The soft stripe worked pretty well for the binding.

For the quilting, I first quilted in the ditch along the zig zag, then went back and quilted both sides of that line, riding along the edge of the walking foot. The best part of edge to edge quilting is not having to bury any thread tails!

Please visit my friend Karen's blog and her Sew Darn Crafty Party!

Then, be bitten by the modern bug with Megan and her friends!

Baby Girl Quilts

I love making quilts for little girls!

This one is for my 3rd grand-niece who is due in a few weeks. This just might become my go-to baby quilt pattern. I love piecing these! And I love using grown-up pretty fabric in the border. I'll need to learn how to Skype so Great Grandma can visit with the new baby.

Two years ago today, I started this Whirlygiggle for Anna, who I thought was going to be a boy! She is a hoot and a handful! Happy Birthday, Annie!

(Hey, I like that skinnier inner border. Why didn't I do that this time?)

Her mom had requested a reproduction of her own baby quilt (made by my mother) for her first daughter, Lily. So Lily's puff quilt was a labor of love from Great Grandma and Great Aunt Tina, with help from Julia and my sister Anita, the official puff stuffers!

This is Lily's big girl quilt, made of scraps of all kinds of fun girlie novelty prints.

I've made my share of baby boy quilts, but girl quilts are cuter!

The last quilt I made for Pete is currently keeping his snowboard warm on his bedroom floor!

Solid Squares

Last night I gave a lecture to my quilt guild on Modern Quilting. It went really well, but I'm not sure if I turned any of the traditionalists over to the dark side!
(Sorry- no pictures!)

One of the quilts I put together for the lecture was an interpretation of Cherri House's City Green. I'm calling it Ten Squared. for now.
(It's ten by ten, all squares. Get it? If you can think of something better, do tell!)

I dug through my stash of solids and was drawn to the colors in my home: yellows, greens and a splash of orange! I wish I had a couple more greens. I used every bit of that milk chocolate brown.

I enjoyed the simplicity of the piecing and did most of it during the Super Bowl.
I did the quilting on Monday, after quilting a baby quilt, then quilted another lap quilt on Tuesday. Boy, are my shoulders sore!

I didn't want to add a bulky binding, so I made a facing. It was my first attempt at facing a quilt, so I googled and read a bunch of blog posts and tutorials. I think I like it, but now I need to figure out how to hang it.

With all solids on the front, I needed a funky print on the back!

WIP Wednesday

It doesn't feel like Wednesday already, but here we are.

Instead of quilting the pile of tops, I keep piecing more!
I'm still making samples for my Guild lecture. It was snowed out last month, and bumped to next week. I can't wait!

I made 9 blocks of Elizabeth's Crazy Nine-Patch Lattice with leftovers. I had to dig deep i the stash for the pale pink solid, but I think I like it. It's a weird shape, so I might need to add some borders to make it bigger and proportioned better.

The next top I want to make is a variation of Cherri House's City Green from the book City Quilts. Again, I'm digging deep for solids. I think I might make a table runner, 3 rows wide by about 15-20 squares long.

Nothing completed this week. There's always next week, right?