Monday, February 18, 2013

Found: binding perfection


Ok, maybe not quite binding nirvana. I do wish the stripes were a little narrower, but it's surprisingly difficult to find black and white stripes. I'll certainly be keeping my eye open for some new stripes to stock up on.

And now this quilt is backed (with cozy flannel!), the basting is done, and a fancy new serpentine stitch has been programmed into my Janome. Quilting soon!

Monday, February 11, 2013

Undercover mission

2013 is filled with some very exciting weddings. Both of my sisters and one of my very best girlfriends are getting married. Obviously, these are some very important people, and I'd love to make each of them a wedding quilt. But time! Time is not my friend!  And yet, somehow, in the middle of the Blizzard of 2013 I was able to get one of the quilt tops done.

I had pre-ordered a jelly roll of Simply Color by V and Co. for Moda, but then proceeded to stare at it for months. It was nearly impossible to take it out of its wrapping --  it was so perfect all wrapped up! But then, Saturday morning I woke up to thirty (30!!!) inches of snow outside my window and (I kid you not!) a four foot snow drift against the front door. My whole body must have screamed "rainbows, now!" because  I overcame my fear of the world's-most-beautiful-jelly-roll pretty quickly  :)

I started with Cluck Cluck Sew's "Strip and Flip" pattern, but made a few modifications.  Inspired purely by laziness I used  2.5 inch strips, instead of 2 inches.  In keeping with the slightly larger scale, I used 2 inch strips for the white vertical lines. And lastly, I added on quite a few extra strips to the top and bottom to make the quilt lap size --  my final quilt is 48 x 66 inches or so.

I definitely spent a good amount of time obsessing over which strips would go where. It was pretty tricky to arrange them so that there was a smooth color transition, while also balancing darks and lights.  I'm really happy with the final layout, though there were a few happy accidents that happened in the "flip." See how the orange chevrons meet up with the purple chevrons? I wish I could say that was planned or a stroke of genius, but it wasn't :) It's so cheery and happy, just like it's future owner. I can't wait to give it to her!

Now I just have to find the perfect binding/backing... and make sure this quilt stays a secret! 

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Humbled

This blog started as an outlet for my stitchy-side -- a quiet little place to store my thoughts and progress.  It was also an attempt to spare my friends and family from my inane quilting chatter. But I never really thought that *people* would read it!

And then a crazy thing happened. I came home from work, got dinner started, and decided to check my email... and there was an email from Kate Spain! She had seen a picture of my Good Fortune Quilt on Flickr and asked if she could use it in her upcoming newsletter. I am such a huge fan of hers and was completely star-struck.  I managed to pull myself together enough to (of course!) say yes, and the newsletter went out today (if you're not signed up, you should be!). Words cannot even describe how honored I am! Hearing from her and picking up some new readers was (and is!) an enormous encouragement. Thank you!!

And now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go do a little sewing while I float around on cloud nine. :)



Sunday, February 3, 2013

Sly Foxes

I needed a quick gift bag for a friend. Sounded simple enough, so I looked around some of my favorite blogs before deciding on Jeni Baker's lined drawstring bag pattern.

But then the cutest little foxes showed up in the mail. This fabric clearly deserved better than becoming experimental-and-sacrificial-gift-bag material. Honestly, Birch's organic fabrics are some of the softest cottons ever. Such a pleasure to sew with... and a nightmare to waste. So, I made a practice bag:

Which my child quickly claimed as her own. It's been filled with a collection of her treasures (read: stolen fabric scraps and Mr. Potato Head pieces) ever since.

Then, about half way through  my second bag I became hooked. Within 24 hours, I made three of these babies. Aren't they super cute?