And of course I'm joining in! Who wants a fun fat quarter pack??
Just drop me a little comment and I'll have the ol' random number generator pick a winner on Thursday the 20th! I'm happy to ship internationally. Good luck!
And be sure to check out all of the other giveaways here. There are loads of chances to win great stuff!
Happy Monday!
My older sister lives in Gabon with her husband and three kids. They live a life in which every weekend they are here:
Yeah, rough, right?? My twin sister, Cate, recently went for a three week visit. The country is amazingly beautiful. A good portion of it is a natural reserve and so she saw things like this:
Not to mention the jungle goes right up to the ocean so you see animals enjoying the surf.
But on to what we all really care about... fabric! My sisters were kind enough to gather a number of yards for their fabric addicted sister. It's all so beautiful and inspirational!
Some that I think will have to be whole cloth quilts. I can't cut into the amazing large scale designs.
Some home dec. weight:
Some great repeats:
And check out the selvedges:
I have done a bit of reading on how to lock inks in fabric but if any of you have any tips I'm all ears! Definitely going to be going against my usual no prewashing laziness with these. I want them to last and the colors to hold so please do comment if you've got suggestions!
Been out of town for my job. First to Seattle and then to New York City. I took advantage and met some bloggy friends! It's so great to put a face and a person's energy with the emails you've exchanged! First, in Seattle I met Katie. Along with her friend Noelle, we had a lovely dinner and drinks. Such a great time. Here we are at Pikes Place Market late at night when no one was around.
Then in NYC I met Amy and Victoria for some delicious Indian food and great conversation.
And lastly, I finally met Kristen! You might think since we're writing Block Party together we'd have met before, but nope! I attempted a couple of photos on my phone but discovered that the combination of nighttime light, wine and my camera phone were too much to overcome. The pictures are too lousy to post!
It was great fun all around. Everyone in this online quilting community is just so nice!
So sorry for the late Sunday post about who is the winner! My computer had a total melt down and I've had to bring the poor lil' guy in for repairs. Let's all cross our fingers he makes it back ok and data can be recovered. Anyhow! The winner! The random number generator gave me lucky number....25!! Congrats to Julia! Hope you enjoy the first issue and the rest of you can buy it on Tuesday! Find all needed info over on the Fat Quarterly site.
Oh hey! A give away!
I'm sure that lots of you have been seeing mentions of Fat Quarterly around the internets. Pretty exciting stuff! A new e-magazine with lots of fun patterns and projects for the modern sewist? Yes please!
The first issue launches Tuesday, April 27th. Click on over for loads more info!
Meanwhile, wanna win the first issue?? Just comment on this post! I'll close comments on Sunday and announce a winner the same day!
Just so busy that the poor blog is seriously suffering. Lots of sewing going on but I can't show you here. I have managed to squeeze in a block or two for bees and so on...
Got to work with some beautiful shot cottons for Sew Connected 2.
And a couple of blocks for the raffle quilts we're making for the L.A. Modern Quilt Guild. You'll be hearing more about these quilts for sure!
Otherwise hope you all have a wonderful Monday!
This and that today. Have you seen that we're doing weekly posts on the Modern Quilt Guild blog about what different member guilds are up to around the country and world?? Well we are! And while you're over there, if you haven't joined yet, check that a member guild hasn't popped up near you! We're at an amazing 54 guilds strong... and still growing!
And did you see the amazing give away over at the Fresh Modern Quilts flickr pool?? It's in celebration of growing to 2000 members and I put together a cute little fat quarter pack that's included in the tons of amazing prizes.
Otherwise I'm back to work again so I'll be around here less. Not completely gone but quiet for sure. I promise I'll be back with a vengeance in June!
I finished up this simple and fun baby girl quilt top. I'm calling it Pink Stacks!
I took some (horrid) photos as I went so I thought I'd show you how I made it. I'm hesitant to call it a tutorial as there's so much winging it involved and I didn't keep track of my fabric quantities.... Plus it's super easy!
My finished quilt top is 45" x 60".
First, I cut out (at random) what seemed like enough rectangles of fabric that would make up my "coins." The goal was to have enough fabric to make up two stacks of coins that, when sewed up, would each be 60" tall.
My coin fabric rectangles
I cut more than I thought I needed and it ended up being just enough. I knew that I wanted to include a small pop of blues so I also cut those bits of a fabric.
My rectangles vary in width from 6" to 14". Make sure you have some variety in widths from narrowest to widest.
Next it's time to add the background fabric to either side of the coin fabric rectangles.
Cut out your background fabric so that when sewed onto your coin fabric, it will measure 23" wide. I do this by sight, putting the rectangle on my cutting mat and just using the inches on the mat to know how much white to cut. Be sure to account for seam allowances. I always err on the side of cutting too much as it's easier to trim it down than redo it!
For example, if your rectangle of coin fabric is 7" wide by 9" long, your background fabric should be 17" wide x 9" long.
Next cut the background fabric down the middle and sew the two peices of background fabric onto either side of the coin fabric rectangle.
Trim down to 23" wide and cut into strips of varying widths. My strips varied from 2.5" to 4.5" wide.
Repeat this process of framing your coin fabric rectangles in background fabric and cutting it into strips until you have turned all of your coin fabric in to coins.
Using a design wall or the floor (get those cats closed in the bedroom!), arrange your coins in two columns in a fashion you like.
If you need to make new or different coins, do! I found I didn't have enough wide ones so I made some more and added them in. Take time to make sure that the coins are arranged so that you have wider and narrower ones evenly spread around the quilt.
Finally, assemble the top by sewing together the strips into two columns, and then sewing the two columns to each other.
You have a quick and easy finished quilt top!!
A queen - finished in two sittings. Had to get my fill as I'm back to the job today! Happy Monday everyone.
The Modern Quilt Guild has a brand new flickr group?? Why yes, it does! Please join us there if you haven't already!
Actually going faster than I'd thought it would! And oh the color!
No lack of fun whimsical prints as centers either. Have decided I'm shooting for a baby quilt. We'll see how it goes!
Hurray!
Happy National Quilting day everyone!
I know you all just saw this quilt top - but it's now finished!
I ended up binding it in black (this is my first use of black in a quilt ever) and I'm really happy with the outcome.
And of course I did another of my usual pieced backs:
I really enjoyed working in all neutrals, but now back to color!!
when you're completely swamped with sewing obligations??
Start a brand new baby quilt of course!! Happy Monday everyone!
Finished up a quilt top that's a commission. A version of this quilt in all neutrals was requested. It was a stretch for me because I usually use so much color but I am happy with the outcome!
The commission was for April, who's blog is Regretsy. Have you ever checked out that blog?? There's some stuff on there that you cannot believe actually exists. Don't say I didn't warn you.
That's what we're having with the MQG! Another great meeting of the Los Angeles branch on Monday night. We were lucky enough to have Ashley, from Film in the Fridge visit us and it was great to meet her. Ashley and I have been bloggy friends for a couple of years now so it was really wonderful to chit chat in person!
Our show & tells are always fun, but this time around there was a really amazing quilt shown. Eliza bought this quilt on ebay and if you look closely (you can click through to flickr to see it bigger) it's ALL little yoyos! Seriously so, so beautiful. She bought it from someone in Louisiana who was an African-American quilt collector. That's all that she knows about it, but she is so lucky to own it! The quilter who made this would be so happy to know how loved her amazing quilt is.
I love keeping my hands busy with these little hexes! Something so cute about each one and the little bundle they create with their little paper inside. They sure do make it easy to cut into the precious scraps.
Not going to think long term at all about this project. Who knows what these will become or when it will be finished. Just enjoying that they give me a sense of accomplishment while I watch a couple of hours of tv in the evenings.
Off topic - I wanted to mention because some of you asked, the Purl Soho warehouse is in Tustin in Orange County and it's open to the public. Location and number found here!
And no - they don't have anything to do with each other! Got some bee blocks done recently:
And for John and Bee Imaginative.
And to wrap up, you've all met my cats before, but not my dogs. I was able to snap a particularly good photo of them this weekend, so I thought I'd put it here to add some cuteness to your day. Happy Monday!
Jamie, Jane, Liz, Terri and I all took a little outing yesterday to the Purl Soho warehouse. Their stores might be in NYC, but the warehouse is out here in sunny California. We had to make a trek down to Orange County, but it was worth it!
So much great fabric all in one place!!
I managed to show incredible restraint and bought only one yard of some Cake Rock Beach dots. But in the future, when the bank account is a little bit better off, I'll be going back. Everything they have on their site, only in person and with no shipping cost?? Yes please!
I'm feeling crazy busy these days. A tad too busy, but when it's all quilting all the time that's keeping you that way, how can you complain?? A quick little class sample for an Improv. class that I'll be teaching at Common Threads Studio in Pasadena.
And why am I currently so obsessed with the color combo of gray and raspberry?? I can't get enough!
Ok back to the sewing machine I go!