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I went from this………
To this……….
I cut all my scraps into usable sizes, 5″ and 2-1/2″ squares. I decided on this because I seem to use these the most and these sizes will still allow me to use these as applique scraps.
I thought a lot about this and knew I would have a considerable amount of waste. But what’s even more wasteful is the fact that I’d collected all these scraps and wouldn’t even open the bin because it was so unorganized and overflowing. It was too overwhelming to go through. At least now I can see what I have.
I bought a container at Joann’s but ideally I want to make a trip to the Container Store for a better one because I think I would prefer to not only have the squares organized by size but also color. If I need a red square for applique, I would know exactly where it is. But this will have to do for now.
Someone told me once to save all of my extra bindings and if I was to ever make a scrap quilt, I could just sew them all together. You wouldn’t believe how many strips of those I had.
And if there is any doubt that a scrap quilt can be amazingly awesome, just check out the one my mom made from her scraps a few years ago.
I know… it’s Thursday. But tomorrow is the big day for the pillow giveaway, so I thought I’d move Fabric Friday up a day.
As some of y’all know, I began working at the LQS, Quilt In Joy, earlier this year.
It’s a great quilt store specializing in Batiks and Brights. They carry a lot of novelty prints as well as a good color wall.
I asked Kathi, the store owner, if I could feature some of our new lines on the blog, and she thought that was a great idea!
The line I’m working with this week for the store sample is Beetle Boy. Cute little “buggas” all over it….that’s what my son used to call them when he was “bitty”.
This pattern is called Beetle Boy and is available here as a freebie from Clothworks. The store also has several kits for these if anyone is interested. I made this in 1 day!
Love those giant appliqued bugs! My son would have loved this quilt when he was little. He had a giant tub of bugs and snakes. He used to arrange them in rows and play with them.
We even had a bugga birthday party!
I decided to tackle the overflowing scrap bin and it has taken me longer than I anticipated. I swear, every time I’d grab a handful of fabric from it, it would get bigger. I guess it was so compacted that i didn’t realize how much was actually in it.
This is what I’m working with….
What a mess, huh? So, I’m going to give myself a couple of more days to work on this. I’m almost there.
I would like to share something I’ve been working on with you. I began working at the LQS and was asked to make a sample for an applique class I might be teaching in April. I came up with a cute little design for a wall hanging. I used “It’s a Hoot” charm pack for this and a linen looking background. I seem to have a thing for turquoise lately.
I’ve never had to do something like this before and I didn’t want to disappoint and I think that’s when things start to go wrong. I didn’t trust my instincts that I’m good at this and was forcing my process.
It’s definitely not my best work and had many “issues”. I’m not a quitter though. I know that my next project will be better and I’ll find my confidence. I’m working on a cute bug quilt for a store sample that I hope to show ya’ll later this week.
I’m very excited to be a part of a team again!
The last month has been stressful finding out my uncle Bobby (and godfather) had pancreatic cancer and now with his passing last Sunday our family has gotten really small. When someone close passes you realize you never spent enough time with that person and how short and precious life is. Be sure to slow down and find time for the people in your life that really matter!
By the way, he was a huge Packer fan so I wasn’t too crushed they beat the Bears today…I think they had a little help from above! :)
So, since I didn’t have time to pull together a machine quilting tutorial I pulled together some quilts I quilted. Enjoy.
This is my first run at McTavishing!
I saved this dresden top from a resale shop and practiced echo quilting and feather circles – I luv this quilt!
These hand sewn basket squares were set in a 1″ bright green sashing and tied with green polyester yarn. I had to save the quilt, the blocks had so much potential. I found the perfect green fabric and used various colored fabrics around each block. Then used a thin black border to provide impact and to distract the eye from the different sized baskets -there was a 2″ difference between the smallest and largest blocks. I’m pleased with how it turned out. This was the first quilt I quilted on the Gammill almost 4 years ago.
Sun rays are fun to free motion quilt…
This was a giant queen size quilt. I used a tracing of a template in the light areas and free motion waves in the star. Wool batting which has a higher loft gave the quilting a more dramatic impact.
Rest in peace Bobby…and go Packers!
I finished block 1 of the Birdie Stitches BOM. These fabrics are sooo cute!
Originally, I had done this in the turquoise background, but the longer I looked at it, I knew it was too overpowering.
This time I used Moda’s Grunge in white. I like this version much better. I do wish I’d done the snowman in a darker pink and when all is said and done, I’m sure this block will be on its 3rd version. I’m just that way. I want it perfect!
I did a cluster of french knots in his earmuff and a fringed scarf. I used a hand dyed variegated floss for the scarf and earmuff. I found an awesome store on Etsy that dyes all their threads and flosses. Its crochet4u2dye4. They sell embroidery and crochet threads. Check it out! You won’t be disappointed in the variety they have.
Happy Monday!
I can already hear the moans out there:) But if you’re one of the lucky ones who get the day off, it’s the perfect opportunity to get something done. I’m a big believer in any task, small or large, that you can accomplish in the day is rewarding. It makes us feel good. It’s satisfying and always makes me geared up to take on the next task.
Our SewMod group had 1 year to make 7 rows, each of them different, for each member in the group. Each of us provided a fat quarter for focus and we took off from there. For example, I made stars for Andrea from her fabric, dresdens for Shelley from hers…etc. In the end we will each have a completed quilt. I know, it’s a little confusing. It took me forever to figure it out.
We do our row swap in just 2 short weeks at our monthly meeting.
So, I’m using today’s post to encourage any of the group who haven’t finished to git”r”done!
Here’s a few of the girls’ rows completed so far.
Aren’t they awesome! Their creativity amazes me and I’m ever so honored that I was invited into this group. It’s literally changed my life….but more on that subject at a later date:)…. I know, the suspense will kill you, won’t it?:))
I can’t wait to show you my completed rows in a couple of weeks. My focus fabric is Halloween!
I just finished machine quilting this on the Gammill for Kelly (supercool Kelly as Lorrie puts it!). Her quilts inspire me so much the creativity just flows so easily. She designed this quilt from the center out until it reached the dimensions she wanted @ 96×101! I believe most or all the fabrics are Wonderland by Momo for Moda Fabrics. Here are a few of my favorite pictures…
Isn’t this design perfect for flying geese?
The back of the quilt turned out just as interesting lots of texture.
Check out my Flickr site for more pictures!
I finally finished my Snowbound quilt and only a day behind schedule. I decided against the chain blocks because they competed too much with the snowmen. I thought a simple scrappy nine patch worked best. The only image I see when I look at this quilt is a swirly, yummy lollipop. It has all the colors…pretty fun, huh?
Maybe I have a thing for candy….. I’ve also made a quilt and all I kept seeing was saltwater taffy:)
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
I find that the bad thing about starting a project that lasts quite a while, actually years, is I may have liked it when I began, but now not so much. You take too long and your taste in fabric changes or you’ve past that point where it doesn’t have priority anymore.
I swear this thing is probably 7 years old. My Grandmothers Flower Garden quilt was the perfect thing to do when I was waiting at the orthodontist, waiting for school to let out…waiting, waiting. You know…all those chunks of time where you think…..I could be doing something. Well I was….making about a gazillion little hexagons.
So, what do I do with them now? It occupies 2 drawers that has different projects just dying to take its place. The Flickr group I belong to is hosting a “Git R Done” quilt along and this was the first thing I thought of. I’m committed to freeing this poor project from its lonely home.
I found this pic online that looks like they have set the blocks in a quilt. This would be less daunting than finishing it the way I had started.
I could also use some of them for the sewing boxes in the Etsy store.
Paige found this cute pillowcase idea.
I feel sooo guilty about this project so I have to do something with it.
What do you guys think….suggestions?
SewMod