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If you haven’t noticed by now, my recent projects and Handmade holiday’s have been made using scraps or fabrics from our stash. I didn’t plan it that way. It just must be the mood I’m in. I know everyone out there has a stash they’d like to bust through. Sometimes you just need a little inspiration, right?
Well, Paige was off work for the week of Thanksgiving and we accomplished sooo much! We worked almost everyday from morning till night trying to finish up some Christmas projects, client projects and doing SewMod planning. We busted, dented her stash! We worked on 4 quilts using fabrics she had collected over the years and I gotta say, I’m a little jealous of her stash. A closet full of fresh, modern fabrics. Like I’ve said before, she has a great eye for color and matching fabrics and it shows in these quilts.
These quilts are easy to assemble using mostly 3-1/2 ” to 4-1/2″ strips pieced together to make a 12-1/2″ block. Alternating the directions of the blocks adds interest. These quilts can be made any size by adding as many blocks as you have fabric for or adding borders. They can be quilted or put some Minky on the back, turn it inside out and tie it off with embroidery floss for a quick gift. We even used the leftovers for the backing.
We named this one, Gypsy Road, and it is backed with a chocolate Minky and tied off. No quilting or binding!
Candy Jar is a quilt for sale now in the Etsy shop. It’s made with a lot of Amy Butler fabric. Paige quilted this one on her longarm and the binding is hand stitched to the back. Very girly!
Urban Garden’s backing and batting was cut the same size as the top, sewed around the edges and turned inside out. It was stitched around the edges and through all the intersecting seams using the decorative wave stitch on your machine.
Lemon Grass turned out so fresh. I wasn’t sure about it at first when we started since the greens and yellows were so similar, but it’s one of my favorites now. Paige also longarm quilted this one and it has hand stitched binding.
I loved how easy these were to piece and the different ways to finish them off. So, start pulling out all those coordinating fabrics and get busy! There’s still time!
Andrea and Vicki came over on Monday to do some sewing, eat, gossip, lust over some new lines of fabric. You know, all those things girls do when we get together:) We can always count on Vicki to have the latest and greatest and if you haven’t seen Fig Tree’s new line, Strawberry Fields, then you must run to the quilt store. Sooo pretty and we’ve determined that it matches my kitchen perfectly…hmmm another project? Yikes!
So, back to my title. I was so easily distracted by the sweetness of those fabrics. Now onto the sweetness of gumdrops.
Can’t stop making gumdrops. So easy, so fun. So cool looking!
Andrea made the 24″ one out of Amy Butler fabric and polka dots and mine of course is the OU one:)
Holy tower of gumdrops!
The cubs one is my fave! It’s going on the Esty site along with the kiddie one.
At least these don’t make you fat.
Enjoy the weekend everyone. I’m going to be busy, busy. I’m rearranging and changing so check back next week to see what I’ve been up to!
The SewMod Gumdrop Party was Sunday. We met at Vicki’s house and I wish I had taken a pic of the food bar she had set up where we each made our own calzone and sodas. Kelly brought chocolate chip cookies and Pattie brought gourmet chocolate cupcakes stuffed with marshmallows. I know, you’re hating on me right now for the lack of pics. I’m so sorry!
We had a great time, as usual! Thanks Vicki for being a great hostess!
Meet SuperCool Kelly. She made her gumdrop in a black and tan with a cute polka dot top.
Vicki made a kids one for her nephew Kenny.
Looks like Auntie Vicki is taking a break on your gumdrop Kenny:)
And finally, mine and Paige’s. I used Central Park by Kate Spain and Paige used some calming green prints from her stash. I found hers to be very soothing colors.
These were so easy to make! I’m definitely making more. I think maybe a Cubs one for Russell and an OU Sooners one for the Etsy shop. Wouldn’t that be a fun one!
What’s next you say? How can we top tuffets in February and Gumdrops in March? Well, April’s party is going to be cooking lessons from Kelly’s friend, the chef at Cooking Fools, in downtown Chicago. Unfortunately, I won’t be attending this party but I look forward to Paige’s post and seeing what foods everyone learned to make. I’m sure I’ll be missing a great party…bummer:(
Shelley and I had a crafty day on Tuesday. We made the Moda Bake Shop’s Memo Board. It’s so much more fun to do things with friends. Even Daisy had a playdate.
Meet Dixie, Shelley’s cute pup. She came to help us out.
Just a few simple ingredients for this recipe:
Charm pack
Fusible fleece
Cork
Ribbons and buttons
Foam board
Frame
Shelley made hers from Amy Butler solids.
And I used Basic Grey’s Origins.
They’re almost too cute to put notes and pictures on!
Its the last Friday of the year and I was just thinking…. what fabric I should post about today? I decided to show some pics of the fabric in our stash that we would really like to use up in the coming new year and list the projects that we would like to accomplish in 2011.
I would really like to get through the Lucy’s Feather Bed fabric. I bought a lot of this because it is soooo darn cute! But I’ve had it a long time. I think I’ll make some baby items up…burp cloths, changing pads, etc.
Now for the list…
1. Of course the Grandmother’s Flower Garden blocks are atop my list.
2. Susan’s Dresdens….I’m halfway through the embroidery and finished with the bitty dresdens. I have all the dresden blades cut out. I want to show this during our SewMod quilt show in July.
3. Welcome to the North Pole
4. Auntie’s Flower Garden…I only have borders left to applique and attach.
5. New York Beauty blocks…I’m going to work on these during our SewMod Sunday Sew-ins and at the end of the year I can decide how to put them into a quilt.
6. Nesting Time embroidery project. I’m pretty excited about this one. Instead of embroidering the pot, nest and eggs, I will be using this wool. Just imagine the nest with different brown strips of wool and maybe some ribbon woven through it…like you’d see in a real nest.
My list is usually a full page but with the Etsy shop and working at the LQS, I’m sure that I’ll be pretty busy. I can’t wait to see if I’ve been able to check these off my list come December 2011.
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When I started my longarm quilting business 4 years ago I ended up putting several projects on hold and boy do I miss them! Now that I’ve pretty much halted machine quilting for clients I’m so looking forward to finishing them up and creating a bunch more!
As I went through my stacks and containers to pull all the unfinished projects I began to hyperventilate when I realized how long some of these projects have been around…so sad, all these beautiful fabrics and ideas waiting to be made into a special gift or cozy blanket. So, my goal this year is to tackle one at a time starting with some of the ones pictured below and of course use as much of my stash as possible!
1. This baby pinwheel top has to be more than 5 yrs old my memory isn’t so good I will have to ask my friend Karen V. where we got this she has an amazing memory and we tap into her constantly!
2. This is Amy Butler’s Mid-Mod quilt pattern I’m hoping I have enough of the Midwest Modern border fabric I just love the flower pattern.
3. I picked up this kit at a shop in Saginaw Michigan a couple years ago on a retreat with my longtime sewing group the Pieceful Pals. The pattern is called Flora and fabrics are by Valori Wells. I thought it would be a wonderful spring throw to brighten up my living room.
4. These cute winter batiks are adorable…I just haven’t found the right pattern yet…any ideas????
5. I started these blocks earlier this year in one of our SewMod sewing days. I just love the little black cat so reminds me of my Kitty!
6. I picked up this jelly roll and charm packs at the Rosemont Quilt Show at least 3 years ago. Not my usual style but I was drawn to the combination of the purples, browns and greens. Still haven’t found the right pattern…bought enough of the green for the backing and/or borders.
7. This bunch will eventually be made into 7 giant bags one of my designs we will have on Esty soon! Each pair of fabrics from the top down will be quilted together, bound and straps added -they are really cute and carry a ton of stuff…I fill it up with fabric and projects when I go on retreats. They will hold 3-4 large quilts. I even use it as an overnight bag it will hold my pillow, change of clothes and all my toiletries and of course some quilt magazines!
8. I have all these wonderful hand-dyed fabrics…they are pushing 15 years old by now. So beautiful and soft! They actually inspired my very first quilt below which I paper-pieced the summer of 1995 using copier paper… never will do that again! Took forever to pick out all the paper. I also sewed it using my mom’s Singer which had two speeds screamin’ fast or off.
I still can’t believe this quilt is rolled up in a bag waiting to be finished. Back in ’95 I had no idea how to machine quilt so there are a billion little stipple stitches throughout all the white areas. A few years ago my mom started picking out the stitches, I took over last year. Very tedious work so I decided to pick out from the backside so if I accidentally ripped the fabric it didn’t matter because it is just plain white fabric…doing it this way is definitely protecting the front from any damage and speeding up the process.
After all the stitching is gone it will be ready for the Gammill…I’m still working on the quilting design -stay tuned if I get this done by the end of the year I will jump for joy – I can’t wait to wrap myself up in it!
Paige
SewMod