Finish-A-Long Sing-A-Long Q1

The deadline for the FAL is tonight did you know that?

Here is my list for the first quarter:

1. Test pattern for Sew Crafty Jess - almost finished just needs quilting. Here's a sneak peak at the fabrics. I used the same fabrics (mostly) from my EPP pillow

And I am quilting with these bad boys

2. The test pattern is so great I started another quilt (baby this time) for some friends. Here are the fabrics. I love how fast baby quilts come together - the top is almost done in half a days time.

Fly a kite prints and various solids from my stash

3. Finish purple and gold bee quilt. On sashing at the mo.

4. Quilt for Allie. Everything cut.

5. Finish placemats for Mom. Just the dreaded binding to add.

6. Finish EPP pillow (maybe)

Look, if I don't add 6 more projects in this quarter, I'll be surprised. Ok back to sewing for a bit before Downton!

WIP Wednesday - Piecing with Purple

This early in the year my WIP list is short. I also realized when I was compiling photos for this post I have been using a lot of purples lately. I guess I am overcompensating for not having them in my stash when I needed them.

First a finish. Geaux Baby quilt.

You can read the full post here.

1. Eggplant and Mustard Bee quilt. This is also my January lovely finishes goal. I decided on a layout using my trusty design bed. It is preferred over the floor due to puppy interference.

I had enough blocks for a 4 x 4 square layout but realized I wanted 4 x 5. I made three new blocks to fill in the gaps (sorry I forgot to take pics before adding sashing)

A good ole Churn dash

Finally got around to making myself a ribbon star block from the last month of Nubees. Pattern by Faith at Fresh Lemons

I used the leftover bits from the ribbon star block to make these hour glass blocks. I wish I had enough of the light gray for the rest of the block so it looked like they are floating.

This was supposed to be one of the three blocks for the front. I tried the sliced 9 patch on the Moda bake shop (designed by Quilt Dad). But I didn't check the block size and I made my gray pieces too wide which made this block huge. I think it is 17". I might use it on the back. I love the design.

These are my backing sashing and cornerstone fabrics. 

All my efforts right now are on pattern testing. Here is a sneak peak at the blocks: 

 See more purple?

Linking up with Lee (and guest host Heidi) at Freshly Pieced.

Geaux Baby

This is Meredith.

It is clear that in the summer of 2010 she was overeager to get hitched. After catching 10 bouquets her boyfriend finally got the hint and proposed. They were married in 2011 and now are expecting their first baby girl in April.

They are wonderful friends, people and a great couple so I wanted to make them a special baby quilt. I chose purple and gold because they are both from New Orleans and are huge LSU fans. I used a bunch of fabrics from my stash, most of which were a gift from Kim a la crafternoondelight. There are a few Art Gallery Fabrics in there including some rock'n'romance. I started by sewing 2.5 inch strips together and then cut out 6.5 inch rail fence blocks.

I loved the mix of rich colors that aren't too babyish. The problem came along once I started to make a layout. My original design was a traditional rail fence layout, alternating the block 90 degrees from one another. It looked really busy and had no focus. Sensing the little cloud of doom over my head, my hubs helped me rearrange the blocks for about an hour until we settled on this layout. It kinda looks like a square modpop quilt. 

The only thing that bothers me is that I wish the purple fabrics made a complete box in the center row. C'est la vie.

 I took these photos in my BIL's back yard in New Orleans before giving the quilt away to the happy expecting couple.

I dug into some birds and the bees fabric for the backing. If I could change anything I would have made the trees line up where the red and yellow prints meet. Sorry the pic is so dark. It was getting late.

Here is a close up of my loopy flowery FMQ action. I used a gold gutermann thread. FMQing on my new machine is like a dream. 

I made a little label with the quilt name in the corner and I couldn't resist throwing in some cheesy hearts.

The binding was also a hard decision. I had the whole family going through my stash giving me options. Purple? Gold? Something else to pop? In the end I went with the ever so popular bike paths in gold. I bought this print in every color because it is perfect for bindings. The gold works equally well with the patchwork on the front and the red and yellow prints on the back. yippee!

Final stats

Name: Geaux Baby

Size: 36 x 42"

Pattern: reworked rail fence block 

Machine pieced, quilted, and bound by moi on my home machine. White Aurifil for piecing and gold Gutermann for quilting.

This was the last quilt I made in 2012. It was finished on Dec. 29th. Now on to 2013. Linking up with Plum and June's Monday linkup (a bit late) and fabric Tuesdays.

  

The teacher learns from her student

As you may have seen earlier, I have been teaching my mother-in-law, Luisa, the basics of patchwork quilting. She has a sewing machine at home and it was a longstanding dream for her to learn to quilt. She does lots of other crafts including painting and jewelry making. This is what she made during her visit to the states:

One pillow and four placemats made by my MIL during her stay at my house this holiday season

 Needless to say, I created a monster...

The pillow design was inspired from my Scrappysaurus rex quilt. She chose a variety of scraps and figured out how to transform the design into pillow sized. She did a pretty good job with the HSTs. I taught her the two HSTs from squares method. She chose a simple envelope back.

The placemat design was from an old quilting book I had. I can't tell you which one because she took it with her back to El Salvador today to keep on practicing.

 This one is for my father-in-law. Machine pieced and quilted. Handsewn binding. It was nice being on the other side of someone making bias tape for the first time. You know what I mean.

 This is one for her. She loves fall colors.

Luisa fell in love with the process immediately and after these two so she started two more for her parents. The blue one is for her father and the green one is for her mom. She picked out all the fabrics without my help (I kept annoying her with the word "or" such as you could use that OR that OR that OR this other thing here).

 She loves the scrappy look and even tried her hand at improv piecing!

I mean seriously, look at the color placement here. This is sophisticated stuff folks. I give her an A+ on layout.

The back was a bit hard to photograph but she attempted some more organized improv here with a flying geese block surrounded by yellow and orange prints.

The binding is in the middle of being hand sewn to the back. She basted the binding to the placemat so that she wouldn't take any of my pins or clips with her. I never would have thought to baste it! So smart and it worked well. I can't wait until she finishes them all and gives them a wash.

 It was inspiring to see her figure out things on her own and pick fabrics without any preconceived notions about what fabics are "in" or what color combinations are popular now. Next year we tackle paper piecing EPP and foundation. Thanks Luisa for letting me post your creations on my blog!

PS: Do any of you know of good online resources for quilting in Spanish?

Mystery gift

Hey peeps,

I just got some quilting fabric sent to me from NC with no note or return address that I recognize. If any of you are the culprit, thanks! If not, why didn't you send me fabrics!! But seriously I would like to know who sent it so I can thank them.

EDIT: mystery solved and gifter thanked. I am almost as good as Sherlock Holmes.

Thanks,
Marla

Starting to commit to things already...

This is my first New Year in the blogging world (having joined in August) so I am more than a bit overwhelmed at all of the year in review posts and 2013 planning posts. Despite my overwhelmitude, I know I will kick myself later if I don't jump into the Lovely year of Finishes hosted by Melissa of Sew BitterSweet Designs and Shanna of Fiber of All Sorts.

My goal for the month of January is to finish my mustard and eggplant lap quilt. The blocks were made by my hivemates in the Nubees swap which I participated in from August to October. This is a monthly block swap where you make 4 blocks and receive 4 in return in the colors of your choice. Incidentally, they are open for January until the 5th. If you have never joined a bee before, it is a great way to start.

Most of the blocks and that darn cat

Sashing with the feather print. Cornerstones with various mustardy yellow and eggplanty purple scraps

Since the front is so busy I chose to go with a simple large scale print for the back. Normally I make pieced backs using the leftover fabric from the front but seeing as this is a bee quilt I don't have that option.

To finish this up I will need to...

1. Make three more blocks

2. assemble top with sashing and cornerstones

3. quilt and bind (not sure on the binding yet. Probably something golden)

Linking up for the January goal setting. Won't you join me? 

Goals for 2013

 (nice button redesign, Lee)

Hello 2013! And hello WIP Wednesday! One of my goals for the new year  is to participate in all the WIP Wednesdays. This is sometimes hard for me since I like to work on on project to completion and not leave a lot of WIPs about (I bet some of you wished you had that problem). This growing list should assure that I always have unfinished business...

First some things leftover from last year
1. Test pattern for Sew Crafty Jess
2. Tree skirt
3. Finish purple and gold bee quilt

4. Quilt for Allie

5. Finish placemats for Mom

6. Finish EPP pillow

And some new projects
1. baby blanket for Lauren (my first commissioned quilt, I am both thrilled and frozen with fear on this one)
2. Wedding quilt for Sarah and Riley
3. Wedding quilt for Heather and Nick

4. make more Elizabeth Hartman quilts

5. make a full across the square quilt

6. solids only quilt

7. quilt for the master bedroom
8. modpop quilt for the living room

Other
1. Update blog design so it doesn't look crappy
2. Go to stash bash in April and meet some sewists in person!
3. Join a year long bee?
4. Write more tutorials
5. Get a booth at a craft fair

I've been out of town for about a week and am just itching to get back into sewing. I wish I could join in on the scrappy tripalong fun. Happy New Year and thanks for reading! I'm linking up with Lee.