MadeByMeaghan

Blogger's Quilt Festival

2011-11-04T18:35:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to see that it's time for another Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side! Last time I was literally the last one to enter (procrastinate much?) but this time there are still a few hours left to enter! haha

I finished this quilt just in time for my friend's wedding in October. One of my favorite parts of quilting is putting together a palette of prints. For this quilt I just wanted to use a pattern that would really feature the fabrics in a simple and classic way.

My friend's house is filled with a lot of earth tones and is very cozy. This is not my normal color scheme but I LOVE how it came out. What I did not love so much? Machine piecing hexagons! It was sooo time consuming, but so worth it in the end.

I also tried pebble quilting for the first time on a large quilt which was also very time consuming, but definitely the right choice for this quilt. This was a labor of love and I hope they love it forever!

Thanks for looking!

Some people say quilting and alcohol don't mix...

2011-07-11T21:53:00.000-07:00

I disagree! First of all, people say you shouldn't use the "heavy machinery" of a sewing machine while drinking wine, but it's worked for me for years. :) Anyway, that's not what this post is about. 4th of July weekend I had a long drive back to Seattle from Spokane and did some research ahead of time about where to shop for fabric along the way. Awesomely, the tiny center of Ritzville, WA has a quilt shop/liquor store combo. I had no need for booze at that point, but it was kind of a funny and unique thing. And I was so happy to find fabric there that is tough to find for a great price to boot. So, here's to you, Wildflowers Quit Shop Liquor Store. Cheers!

Flying geese top done!

2011-07-11T21:36:00.000-07:00

I felt really happy to get this top done in the last week. I have a little ritual about showing off finished quilt tops that I couldn't do, so showing it off in blogland will have to do. I don't typically love a flying geese block, but I think the scale and the prints themselves, on the white background, give it a more fun and fresh feel.

I also realized that it's a little too big for my full sized bed, but would be great for a queen! I'm still thinking about how I'll quilt it. I'd take suggestions.... :)

I love to lay out

2011-07-11T20:53:00.000-07:00

Awhile back we had a quiet night at the SMQG sew-in and I took advantage of the balcony to lay out some quilty stuff. Everyone said, wow you've been productive, but since then I have pieced these together and haven't done much else. It's been a tough month and I'm looking forward to some therapeutic blogging following some therapeutic quilting following all the therapeutic fabric shopping I have been doing. hah.

I love these big chunks of pips mixed in with some of my fave coordinating prints!

This strip of herringbone-esque blocks was kind of a headache. It was one of the few times where it didn't feel quite right and instead of giving up on it I ripped stuff out, redid it and came out with a much happier product. I'm having some doubts about my original intention for this, but for now I have a very colorful strip of fabric. :) Let me say, if I didn't love my solids collection so much I probably would have just scrapped this. haha.

My WIPs

2011-06-04T13:53:00.000-07:00

I finished all my flying geese blocks and I'm loving how they came out. A year ago I never would have thought I would make this quilt or be so excited about it! I started squaring them up - just a teeny bit off each side, and then decided I would go insane trimming 128 blocks. So I'm just going to do my best and piece them together on the fly (no pun intended). Next challenge - the layout. This is going to be a big quilt!

And these are my herringbone blocks. I'm having a hard time with the layout and just hit a point where I couldn't look at them any longer. So they are packed away for now until I hit that rare patient moment when I'll take them out and sew them all up.

Flying geese blocks

2011-05-23T19:53:00.000-07:00

As I've probably said before, one of my favorite things to do is create stacks of fabric from my stash. I get a lot of joy out of it - for the 30 minutes before I start panicking about what to make with it. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by all of the quilts out there in the blogosphere. It can seem like the line between "being inspired by" and "copying" is thin so when I see something I like, it sort of just feels like it's just another thing that I CAN'T make now. So anyway, I decided to make a traditional block with fabrics that I love. I started making these flying geese blocks using this tutorial with a larger scale block.

Here are a few, and I have many many more to go. The unfinished size is about 11.5X6. I found out (for once not the hard way) that directional prints don't really work with this method. Because the original square ends up being cut in quarters diagonally, none of the prints would end up going in the same direction. That kind of thing bothers me, so half my original stack is now out. Oh well.

I also think I'm going to limit the color palette to blues and greens, but I could change my mind... :)

Blogger's Quilt Festival

2011-05-20T22:04:00.000-07:00

This mini quilt is one that I had no special thoughts or feelings about when I started. I was just playing around with some paper piecing and tried this "lattice" type square with some Amy Butler Lotus scraps I had on hand. I didn't even really like the fabrics all together that much when I started out. In the end, this is hanging in my living room and is probably one of my most complimented pieces of work. I thought it would be a good entry for Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival!

I love how the quilting came out - concentric squares, done with my walking foot. Some squares aren't perfect, but in the end, I like it that way.

It's funny how you can start off with low expectations and end up very pleasantly surprised - I guess the opposite has been true before too!

(Still) feeling thankful

2011-05-14T13:41:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I wonder how different my life would be if I didn't sew. As solitary as it can be - good thing to keep you busy and creative when you're lonely - it has also allowed me to connect with so many new people in both cities I have lived in. Last week was my birthday and I was pretty homesick, but later in the week I had some friends over for food and drinks and I got totally spoiled! As much as I miss home, I am thankful to have these people in my life (and others who couldn't make it too!) They treated me with some fabric goodies too - such a nice surprise!

I was seriously not expecting gifts, but how nice! Katie made me a zip pouch and gave me hexie papers, Noelle gave me a pattern, fabric and hardware to make a curvy pouch, Season gave me this cute poster (perfect for my sewing area), and Rendy did some fabric shopping so we now have matching sets of fat quarters! All really thoughtful and creative gifts for a quilter!

My table NEVER looks this pretty! I have such generous friends!

Here's Season, Katie, me, Rendy and Noelle. What a good looking group! Thanks for helping to make my birthday special ladies!

Boston Modern Quilt Guild retreat

2011-05-14T11:55:00.001-07:00

So, yes, I live in Seattle now, but I came to love my old quilt guild so much that when I moved I decided to stay connected. The guild retreat seemed like the perfect time to make a trip home. We had a blast together - sewing, eating, drinking, and buying way too much fabric. I came home with over 10 yards of new fabric (including a backing, so I don't feel that bad about it!) By the end I got so sick of fabric shopping - I never thought that would be possible!

Here's what I was working on while I was there. I wasn't feeling very inspired, but this was a fun block to make. Saturday we stayed up until 3am sewing. It took me days to recover from the lack of sleep.

Here are some other pictures from our girls' weekend (to non-quilters that sounds a lot more normal and fun than a quilting retreat. haha):

Laurie's giant dresden plate quilt she made from fabrics she got in Uganda a few years back.

It was the royal wedding weekend, so playing royal wedding with the 11 yards of batting Monet bought (for the imprecise measurement and charge of 5 yards) seemed appropriate.

Monet gave Rebecca a bath in the scrap pile.

Rachel finished up this awesome quilt she made. I love her style and fabric selections.

This quilt is so simple yet packs a big punch.

A few of us at the beach in Kennebunkport, ME. I was so happy to reunite with my old friends (and see the sun again!)

New Denyse Schmidt fabric

2011-04-16T18:32:00.001-07:00

After seeing other posts pop up about Denyse Schmidt's line for Joann's, I thought I'd go check it out for myself. The store near me only had a few of the prints, but I fell in love with this one and bought a yard to make a tote. I used this tutorial, but adjusted it to be a bit smaller. It's still pretty big for a shoulder bag, which I love.

I have had this red print in my stash for awhile and have been waiting for the perfect project. I love how they go together!

Sometimes it just feels so good to start and finish a project in the same day!

Mini Quilt Sunday

2011-04-10T20:58:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure I've ever posted twice in one day, but I made this mini quilt today and had to share. In a book of graphic patterns I took out from the library I saw a painting that inspired this quilt. I was planning to make a pillow out of this, but decided in the end that it will hold up better being up on the wall. Plus it goes really well next to my green couch. :)

I have also been thinking about doing something similar and experimenting with fabric paint/stencils. The background is osnaburg, which was the main neutral in this quilt. I love the texture of it.

This was my first time doing free motion on my new machine and it didn't come out that great. Apparently Janome sells another foot that's better for this, but it's sold separately. After today I think that will be well worth it.

I bound it with one of the herringbone prints from the Modern Meadow line and LOVE how that looks as a binding! Uh oh... :)

Fabric influx

2011-04-10T13:09:00.000-07:00

Wow. The fabric diet is OVER. I came home to two packages on my door step - Pips have arrived from Fat Quarter Shop and I got some great goodies from Sew Fresh Fabrics too!

Yesterday a few friends from my guild and I hopped on the ferry to Bainbridge Island for a trip to Pink Chalk Fabrics!!! They don't have a store front, but we were able to visit, do some shopping, see Kathy's FABULOUS space and dig through some amazing scraps! I was in solids heaven - I wish I got a picture, but I just stared endlessly at a wall of konas and free spirit designer solids. YUM!

I love to support a local shop - so I did what I had to do... :) This yellow print from Aviary 2 is gorgeous, and I got some kona stone, buttercup, charcoal, cerise, berry and slate to go with.

And I got to take home these scraps I got from the solids pile.

No this pile is not all the new fabric I bought this week (although that does take up a considerable portion of it) but this is what I'm calling the "overstock" (i.e. fabric that will not fit in my drawers. Better get sewing! :)

And lastly a BIG thanks to Kathy for hosting our group. We all had a great time!

My bee month has arrived!

2011-04-03T11:38:00.000-07:00

After months of agony, I decided to follow this block as inspiration for my bee month. Some may have noticed I love solids and I wanted to use the blue Erin McMorris fabric in the middle as my starting point. It is one of my favorite prints of all time and I have hardly ever even used a bit of it! I gathered some coordinating prints and a bunch of solids, cut it all up and sent it out.

Maybe this was backwards order, but I felt rushed to get the fabric out and didn't make my own version of the block until afterward. I don't LOVE my first attempt but I really like this free way of piecing. As I went along, I decided some things didn't look right, so I just sliced it apart, tested out different arrangements and kept on.

It's as pretty fun way to do it and also takes out the need to piece teeny tiny squares and get the same effect. I cannot get this last picture to upload right side up - bah! I hope my fellow bee-ers enjoy making it too!

Thanks for looking!

Project Modern challenge

2011-03-31T21:45:00.000-07:00

Nothing like the last minute, I finished my Project Modern challenge quilt, got some rainy day pictures (what a shock) and submitted it! This round's challenge was to make a monochromatic quilt. I'm pretty happy with how this came out, and can't wait to wash and dry it.

I used a Kona fat quarter bundle I got for Christmas and added in pops of an Anna Maria Horner print from the Innocent Crush line. I also used Innocent Crush for the binding. I did my binding a little differently this time and machine stitched it on. I have mixed feelings about machine binding, but I did love how quickly it worked up! I quilted it with diagonal lines in alternating light and dark purple thread and did some hand stitching around one diamond to balance out the placement of the printed diamonds.

Thanks for looking!

Spiderweb Bee Block

2011-03-30T23:07:00.000-07:00

I have been working on April's block for the Boston Modern Quilt Guild bee (I just need to sew these triangles together now). Next month is the last month - and is also MY month, so I'm a little stressed about getting that sorted out and sent out. I never knew how much pressure this could be, but maybe it gets better as you do more of them.

I always thought the spiderweb block was intimidating skill-wise, but Monet has an awesome tutorial on her blog that is really straightforward and her fabric choices are impeccable. They really bring this block to life! I added a few prints from my stash in and I hope she likes them! She supplied much of the fabric - including the Kona Cerise for the background - YUM!

Thanks for looking!

Butterfly bee block

2011-03-17T20:22:00.000-07:00

I sketched this block out quite awhile ago, then realized I did the math wrong and the block was going to be too small (after cutting a bunch of the fabric out). Yesterday I went back to it after being pretty discourage, realized I had actually done the math RIGHT (ugh!), and finished it up. The finished block is 12.5" square. As I was working on this I realized I tend to do bee blocks with lots and lots of seams and little pieces!

The background is an off-white muslin.

Aimee sent really nice Art Gallery fabric for this month's bee and just requested that it be a butterfly block that is not appliqued. I hope she likes it - someone I showed this to took awhile to see the butterfly... Maybe different fabric choices, values, etc. would have been better. Next time!

Thanks for looking!

Finally - diamond quilt top done!

2011-03-12T22:19:00.001-08:00

I was so happy to finish up my diamonds quilt top today at the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild sew-in! It's always nice to see those ladies and catch up on the past few weeks, but this time I was also pretty productive! A few other women finished up tops today too, so that was exciting!

I was trying to figure out where to trim off the tips of the diamonds on the border and it was suggested to me to leave some extra until after it's all quilted. Smart women! It measures about 46X53 and will make a great lap quilt. I still haven't decided on how I'm going to quilt it... I'll take suggestions! :)

Ara Jane finished this quilt top for her baby! I love her color choices and her random approach for piecing these half square triangles. It turned out great!

Thanks for looking!

Plus sign quilt tutorial

2011-03-02T21:46:00.000-08:00

I made this quilt a few months back combining some of my favorite prints in a fun, large scale design. I saw a lot of tutorials/patterns for plus-sign quilts that called for cutting all the fabric into squares and sewing them back together, but I didn't want to break up these prints more than I needed to so I made the plus signs with 2 squares and a rectangle.

I would suggest sketching the quilt blocks ahead of time so that you can figure out how many different fabrics you need to use, but I put together this brief tutorial to make it easier to figure out how to cut the squares and rectangles to make whatever size plus-sign you want with every plus-sign lining up just right. You shouldn't need a pattern to make this style of quilt.

The first step is to determine how big you want the plus signs to be. If you think about the plus sign as comprised of 5 squares (1 on top, 3 in the middle layer, 1 on the bottom) decide how big you want each of those squares to be. I made mine 6.5 inches, unfinished.

To determine the length of your (middle layer) rectangle, multiply the size of your unfinished square by 3 and then subtract 1. To be nerdy and algebraic... The long side of the rectangle = 3N - 1 where N = size of unfinished square. So, 3(6.5) = 19.5; 19.5 - 1 = 18.5 My rectangles were 6.5 X 18.5.

If you want a smaller plus sign, made up of squares that are 4 inches unfinished, for example, then it would be 3(4) - 1 = 11 inches. Your rectangle would be 4 X 11.

Once you figure out all the math and have your pieces cut, lay out the blocks to form tessellating plus signs and then sew all your rows together! It works up really fast - especially when you use larger scale blocks like I did!

I even had a few extra for the back.

A fun sewing-filled weekend

2011-02-28T19:29:00.001-08:00

This past weekend we had some friends stay with us with their 3 little ones. There was quilting goodness all around. My friend and I got to go to a sew-in with the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild and I laid out blocks for a new project, we got to enjoy the anniversary sale at the Quilting Loft and the girls loved snuggling up with their "uncle" Buddy under a quilt I made a few years ago. I mean, how cute is that?

I made a tree block for the quilt our guild is making for Amber, who was scheduled to have her baby today!

And I picked the fabric for a very special upcoming project! Choosing the fabric is one of my favorite parts of making a quilt, and I'm really excited about the palette I put together!

In the back here you can see the "quilt" that our 4 year old friend made on my design wall from a Fandango charm pack. She's very talented already! :)

Thanks for looking!

A break from the diamonds

2011-02-21T21:42:00.000-08:00

Okay, enough of the diamonds. Let's wrap it up - two things:

1. If you're using a template, don't assume that it will be the same exact shape and size right side up and upside down, no matter how symmetrical it looks. I'm embarrassed to say that this was most definitely the cause of most of my problems. When you're using solids it's that much harder since you can't tell front and back side... I suggest writing your name or something on the template so you can at least make sure the template is right side up. Then you can mark the fabric in some other way I guess.

2. When you are piecing your strips of diamonds together you can stretch them and make them line up pretty well. Even if they don't line up perfectly, just make it work. It's amazing how sewing at that angle can hide a lot!

I actually want to try a diamond quilt again (even though I'm not done with this one yet) because I love the look of it and learned so many things along the way! I guess I aired my dirty sewing laundry out here exposing all of my mistakes and "fudges," but if it helps someone else out then that's worth it.

IN BETTER NEWS:

I have a new addition to my family! Me and my new sewing machine spent a lot of time this weekend getting to know each other. The difference between my old machine and my new machine is huge and I'm really happy that I finally made the leap. For something that I use every day, it's probably a good idea for it to be a machine that works really well.

This is the project I was working on - and oh man did the quilting go a lot faster than it would have on my old machine!

Thanks for looking!

Diamond quilt - the first steps

2011-02-13T17:51:00.000-08:00

1. Cutting

Some patterns call for cutting long strips of fabric and then slicing them on the diagonal. Brilliant! Well, if you only want/need a few diamonds of each color from a fat quarter bundle, this might not be the best method. Plus, a lot of books include diamond templates, making you believe that using template will be just as good...
The problem: cutting around a template is not that accurate, you can actually cut the template which makes it smaller and dulls the hell out of your blade, it takes forever, and seems to produce a lot of annoying-sized scraps. Also, since you are cutting at angles, you are never cutting along the grain so there is a lot of room for stretching which can distort the shape (this stretching is your BEST FRIEND in later steps though!)

Aargh!! I thought I was cutting accurately, but apparently they are not all the same size...

2. Piecing the diamonds

The diamonds need to overlap each other in such a way that when you sew them together with a 1/4 inch seam they press out to have even edges. Because of the stretching that can take place, and any inaccuracy during the cutting stage, this may be difficult to do. (No tutorial or pattern I have seen has ever mentioned this - for them it all lines up and comes out perfect!) The most important thing is that you stitch them together from from the valley that forms at one end of the seam to the valley at the other end. I think that even if the seam is not a PERFECT 1/4 inch the whole way across, that the diamonds will line up well when piecing the strips together if the stitching goes from "valley to valley." This is where the stretching comes in handy in later steps!

This is a good overlap and example of the stitching (hard to see) going right into the valley formed between "peaks":
This is quite obviously a bad overlap (because the diamonds were not cut very accurately), but as long as the stitching goes right into the "valley" and that part is about 1/4 inch from one edge it comes out okay.

aahhh....much better. See how the edges are straight now?

Again, this is not to say that anyone should aim for imperfection, but once I had all these diamonds cut I was determined to make them work!

Thanks for looking - and I apologize to followers like my sister who find the technical quilting stuff less than exhilarating... :)

Piecing diamonds tutorial - the true hollywood story

2011-02-08T23:08:00.001-08:00

I have shown a few peeks of a project I am currently working on that involves piecing diamonds. I have run into several issues while working on this and I haven't been able to find any tutorials to help me fix them! This made me realize that most patterns/tutorials/techniques show everything going great, and at the end of it you have a perfect product! Well, how often does THAT actually happen?? There don't seem to be any that are like, "Well, you sure messed that up, but here's how you can fudge it and make it work." I'm not aiming for mediocrity here, just admitting publicly that it's okay for projects to not be PERFECT - they are made by humans after all, right?

So I decided I'm going to show what happened to me, and hopefully it will help someone else to avoid similar problems. I think this will be a 2-3-part post since there are issues at every freaking step of the way!

I wish I could say that I know the outcome will be perfect, but since this is a work in progress (as all of quilting - and life I suppose - is) we'll just have to see. The whole point of this anyway, is about how to make something that's not perfect into something that will be loved for years to come. You know how I am about the relationships I develop with quilts. I'm committed to making it through this rough patch. I hope this will help someone else's quilt-love troubles too!

Thanks for looking!

super sunday!

2011-02-06T19:27:00.000-08:00

As many people are vegged out in front of the tv watching the Superbowl, I'm painstakingly re-piecing these diamonds. The first time I stitched them all together I didn't think that perfection was necessary (when piecing squares you can always trim them!) but diamonds are a different story. Anyway, a glass of wine and Whip It on dvd is making this much more tolerable.

On my design wall. I've had this Fandango charm pack and I seriously love this line. The colors are just so warm and the prints really complement each other perfectly. I don't know what to do with it yet, but I like looking at the squares all together on my wall!
This is my block for the Sew Fresh Fabrics scrap bee. They sent scraps in the mail and we could make whatever block we wanted. We send them back and they're put together and donated to Project Linus. I just started sewing strips together, cut them apart, turned them around, played some more and voila. It's not my favorite block I ever made, but it was kind of a fun process to just piece and cut and see what happens!

This is one of two final fabric shipments - for awhile. I'm happy to add all of these to my stash, but I don't have plans for them yet.

p.s. even though I PROMISED on this very blog that I wouldn't buy any unessential fabric until Sherbet Pips comes out in April, I had to support the local shop where we went for our anniversary getaway. Any fabric with red in it was 25% off so it was kind of a sin not to buy a little something - only 1/2 yard of a gorgeous Tanya Whelan red polka dot! :)

Thanks for looking!

Mini Amy Butler Quilt

2011-01-31T21:16:00.001-08:00

Tonight I enjoyed some hand-sewing for the binding on this mini quilt. I have been enjoying this more lately, which surprises me, but once I slow down a bit and stop thinking about my next project, the one after that and all the ones I need to finish up in the mean time, I can actually relax and just stitch away.

I made these using some Amy Butler scraps I inherited and Kona Bone for the background. I quilted it with straight lines using either side of my walking foot, which made it go quickly!

It's bound in Kona Coal and now I just have to figure out what to do with it! Man it feels good to start and finish small projects!

Thanks for looking!

Feeling thankful

2011-01-30T14:42:00.001-08:00

This is the end of a rough week for me and knowing this, my friend Laurie sent me this bag she made me! It arrived on the gloomiest day weather-wise in Seattle and is sure to brighten up this whole city! I love it!

It reminds me how special it is to know someone was thinking of you and went out of their way for you. It's definitely time for me to pay it forward!

On Friday night the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild had a sew-in, which was awesome! Every time I go to a sew-in I meet new people and get to know others even better. I have heard that some guilds can be competitive and that's definitely not the case here. People are so supportive and getting positive feedback from people who also quilt makes me feel really, really good. I laid this quilt out at the sew-in and then sewed the blocks together on Saturday. I'm LOVING it! Not my usual color scheme, but that's what makes me love it even more. I also did some therapeutic fabric shopping in person and online on Saturday - yikes - and got the backing, so hopefully I'll be able to finish up this beautiful bad-boy soon!

No, you're not seeing things, that is a bit of blue sky above my house!

Any thoughts on how I should quilt it?? I'm not sure yet and am glad I have a little time during the shipping process to decide...

Thanks for looking!

Long-arm Sunday!

2011-01-23T20:23:00.001-08:00

Right now I'm at the binding stage for 2 quilts, the "figure out the best layout" stage of another one, the "I wish I was better at geometry so I could figure this out" stage of yet ANOTHER one, and all I want to do is start something new! But I have quilter's block and can't decide what type of project (design/technique) I want to do and what fabric I want to cut into! Does this happen to anyone else?

So it worked out well today that I got to try something new and entirely different! Thanks to my fellow Seattle Modern Quilt Guilder, Sandie, I got to try long-arm quilting for the first time! This quilt was a combined guild-effort and is a gift for one of our members. I think it came out great, and felt spoiled to have had this experience this afternoon!

We each did some of the quilting, and she totally handled the tricky parts! Thanks for taking these pictures, Sandie!

I love making bee blocks!

2011-01-12T23:49:00.000-08:00

I finished my friend Laurie's bee block last night! It is based on Oh Fransson's Mod Mosaic pillow tutorial and got rave reviews around my house! I had a lot of fun making it, but I have to say it was a little challenging getting the size of the block right, and balancing the different colors and values. On both blocks I thought I was done and the block was about 12 inches square, so I had to add on more, but then trim down so it would be 12.5"square. A little tricky, but so worth it. I like how they came out and I am LOVING the color scheme and fabrics Laurie chose. She really has an artistic eye and knows her fabric!

I hope you like them Laurie! I'll mail them to you soon! :)

This is not the greatest picture, and it's sideways, but this is a sneak peak of my next project... :) I'm excited to work on the layout and piece this together at this weekend's Seattle Modern Quilt Guild meeting!

Thanks for looking!

workin' on my WIPs

2011-01-04T20:18:00.000-08:00

I'm super motivated to finish/keep working on some projects I started awhile back (mostly so I don't feel as guilty about starting new ones! haha). I made these paper pieced squares awhile back with scraps of Amy Butler fabric and decided to stitch them all up tonight. Now I'm trying to decide if I want this to be a pillow or a wallhanging... suggestions?

I also have these on my "design wall" and have been adding to it bit by bit. It's Kathy's Block it's from Liberated Quiltmaking 2. I saw this block shortly after seeing a similar one paper pieced by my friend. To me, the "liberated" version seemed more enticing (I'm way lazier) but her quilt is BEAUTIFUL! (I'm talking about you Rebecca!) I think if the background fabrics were all the same color it would be really awesome too. Maybe that's what I'll end up doing in the end, but these are part of the trial run I guess...

Thanks for looking!

I quilted the biggest quilt I ever quilted!

2011-01-03T22:10:00.000-08:00

Sounds impressive, but all the while I worked on it I couldn't help but hear my dad's voice saying "never do a job half-assed!" I started this project about four months ago and was getting tired of looking at it folded up, not being used. And I was sort of getting tired of looking at it in general. I want to move on to new things but also not let my WIPs (works in progress) pile up unfinished.

Somewhere in the middle of all that jumbled mess I sat and wrestled this beast!

I chose to do a large meandering quilting pattern, but I can't help but wonder if it was more of an effort to be done with it and not have to look at it anymore than to enhance the project itself. Overall I'm happy that (once bound) it will be be used and appreciated for actually covering the whole bed (unlike the quilts we use now), but I just don't feel as excited about it now as when I first started it in September. I've been thinking about the relationships that we have with the quilts we make. You invest tons of time and money into it and sometimes the relationship loses its spark and sometimes it turns into something better than you imagined! Has your relationship with a quilt ever grown, or diminished, with time?

At least someone likes it! :)

Thanks for looking! (and sorry for such poor lighting in these photos!)

New year, fresh start

2011-01-02T10:19:00.000-08:00

I got the urge when I returned home from Christmas to get organized and start the year off right. No, this does not mean I have actually unpacked from my vacation, it means that I reorganized all my fabric, ironed and refolded all of the Kona fat quarters I got for Christmas, and organized my scraps. Buddy came home and I felt like a deer in headlights sitting in the middle of fabric chaos. When you go through it you realize how much you actually have... That's okay, I'll use it all. It doesn't go bad!

My kona drawer. Mmmm....This is my current project that I started right before I left for Christmas. I picked up some Meadowsweet at my LQS and mixed it with a lot of different fabrics and scraps from my stash. I love how the blocks turned out, but when I tried to sash the blocks with Kona Bone, I realized it was just too bright. Luckily with my new kona cotton card, I was able to determine that parsley will be a much better fit. What a nerd!

Happy New Year!

Thanks for looking!

yummy new Christmas treats!

2010-12-31T11:27:00.000-08:00

No of course I'm not talking about the crazy amount of candy and food that was consumed in the last week (not to mention wine too...) I'm talking about my new fabric treats!
I got Malka Dubrawsky's new book and I want to make almost everything in it. This is kind of rare for me, but I found her projects really inspiring. My aunts gave me these kona bundles (to go with my new Kona cotton color card!).
And some gifts to myself....
Z and S fabrics had a one-day 50% off sale. As much as I was mad at my friend for telling me about this (not really) I made out big with some Early Bird, Dolce, Nicey Jane and a few other assorted prints. I got the delivery yesterday and Buddy goes, "I'm so proud of you buying prints instead of just solids!" Well, there was a yard of Kona Kelly in there too. haha.

Merry (belated) Christmas and happy new year!

Thanks for looking!

p.s. New Year's resolution - blog more!!!

Quilting bee

2010-12-03T15:58:00.000-08:00

I'm so glad that I joined the quilting bee organized by the New England Modern Quilting Guild. It's been a great way to stay connected and to share ideas with each other even though I don't get to see those guys any more. This month was Rebecca's and she was inspired by an Ingrid Press quilt, asking us to use neutral solids around a print "center" and using some other prints/solids as accents. I really, really enjoyed making these blocks and can't wait for Laurie's next month!

It might be hard to tell in the pictures, but the fabrics are mostly neutrals - shades of tan, light blue, light yellow, I added a very pale pink, and then I used a deep purple for an accent strip in the top one. I hope you like them Rebecca! :)

I saw this sewing machine in the National Museum of American History in DC over Thanksgiving weekend. It's amazing to see how basic these machines were in their origins compared to how they are now!

Thanks for looking!

Project Modern entry

2010-12-02T08:58:00.000-08:00

I am really excited to share with you my entry for the Project Modern competition run by The Modern Quilt Guild! We were to make a quilt inspired by something we could provide a photograph of. I decided to do a fall themed quilt because I have been missing fall in New England since moving to Seattle. I found this photograph by Eric Valentine through a google image search and used it as inspiration for my quilt (with his permission)!

His version:
My version:

I quilted it with mostly straight lines, but didn't beat myself up when they were crooked. I wanted it to look and feel as organic as possible. You can see I've left the edges of the fabric raw for the same reason. The watery background is made entirely from my stash - with Konas and one medium gray pin dot fabric.

The patchwork for these leaves was also made entirely from scraps in my stash, using Heat 'n Bond and then cutting out the shapes free-hand. I fused them to the background, but stitched them on as well, to resemble veins.

Because I quilted it before attaching the leaves (so the leaves would really pop) you can see the vein stitching on the back. Eh, all in all I love the back - especially these fabrics from Alexander Henry's Farmdale collection. The gray is Kona Ash, which has a tendency to show up in quilts I make... haha.

Winners are announced on December 15th - wish me luck! I'm just looking forward to finding out what the next challenge is! :)

Thanks for looking!

Christmas came early for Patrick!

2010-11-30T14:55:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I finally got to meet my new nephew and finally got to give him his quilt! Funny, the quilt is so big it's more his daddy's size, but Patrick will grow into it for sure!

This is one of our first pictures together!

All snuggled up with mommy and his new quilt!

It was a great visit to DC with my family and a great chance to bond with our newest family member! I have finished my quilt for the Project Modern competition and will post pictures of that soon too!

Thanks for looking!

Thoughts on spray basting a quilt

2010-11-15T21:54:00.000-08:00

I love every step in the quilting process, but I'd like to get some steps over with as quickly as possible (i.e. basting and binding). Spray basting is quick, but I find it can make the quilt feel stiff until you wash it and dry it. Maybe this isn't a big deal, but one thing I love about working with fabric is the soft, natural feel of it and for some reason having glue involved makes both the fabric and the process feel very synthetic to me. I think there's a similar debate to be had about pre-washing too in terms of how the fabric feels in your hands while working with it. Eh, we'll see. Not having to use ten thousand pins for a big quilt is also very nice...

This is the first quilt that I spray basted, and also the first large quilt that I stippled (I finished this quite awhile ago, but just recently got around to photographing it.) This is Oh Fransson's Paintbox quilt pattern which was a really fun way to mix prints and solids from my stash.

It was very flat and stiff before washing it, as you might be able to see in this picture. I also learned a good hard lesson about the importance of using good quality cotton fabric - this medium gray ain't so great and I think that adds to my mixed feelings about the look and feel of this quilt.

I think I like the backing of this quilt more than the front! I made the backing from scraps left over from the quilt top. I love the effect it creates on the back and also the fact that it uses so many narrow strips that might otherwise have been tossed!

Thanks for looking!

Speedy Delivery!

2010-11-11T08:56:00.000-08:00

I finally bit the bullet and bought the backing fabric for the quilt for our bed. I'm so glad I did because now I can finish this baby up and put it to good use! I bought this fabric blind online, knowing that I like Amy Butler's prints, but not knowing if it would coordinate the way I wanted it to. I've definitely been burned by online fabric purchases in the past. I was very happy when the 6 yards arrived that work perfectly! In retrospect, what was was I thinking??? I had to throw a few other items in my order too - including 2 fabrics from Anna Maria Horner's new line. Love them, but have no idea what to do with them yet.

Last night I was toying around with all these ideas, really wanting to cut into some fabric. I was getting a little frustrated not knowing what to do with myself and said "I'm in a total block!" To which Buddy replied, "Maybe we should make a quilt out of you then!" - Get it? Quilt made out of blocks? Yeah, it was that bad. And that good.

Speaking of amazing quotations, my friend texted me while I was writing this post to tell me that "Parsley is the new black." LMAO. I love people who love Konas as much as me and I just really miss all my quilting buddies back in MA!

I made this stocking and a few others that are on sale on my small, but slowly growing etsy site. I need to spend some more time on my shop. This is a whole new world to me!

Thanks for looking!

Practicing some new things...

2010-11-09T18:24:00.001-08:00

I made this wonky star block at a class taught by Katie a few weeks ago and wasn't sure what to do with it. I decided to just finish it off and make it a mini mini quilt. I tried pebble/bubble quilting on it, which I hadn't done before and I'll say it looks better from far away than up close. It was fun and quick and has a cool overall effect.

I also tried for the first time machine binding. I found a few different techniques for doing it and I don't like the one I chose or how I did it. I think next time I need to change the width of my strips or something. Anyway, I always put off doing the binding because the hand stitching is so time consuming, so I feel like practicing this technique will be a good investment over time...

This is what's on my sewing table right now. Going to turn into some Christmas stockings! I love these bright colors!

This morning I was up fairly early and caught the sunrise over the Cascade mountains as I was coming down my street (I pulled over to take the picture, don't worry). Of course it looked better in real life, but still pretty nonetheless. I also realize I'm developing a habit of putting Seattle scenery pictures in my quilting blog in every post. Not sure how I feel about that... :)

Thanks for looking!

Benefits of sunny days in Seattle!

2010-11-04T15:13:00.001-07:00

They're happening less and less these days, but in the past week we've had some great sunny days - good for photographing quilts on my little lawn and great for seeing the amazing views that Seattle has to offer. A few new friends showed me this park in Queen Anne and I took Buddy there to check it out.

Amazing view of the space needle, otherwise unrecognizable Seattle skyline and Mt. Rainier. Every time I see Mt. Rainier I just can't even believe how beautiful it is! Most of the time it's too cloudy to see it - it's pretty far away, but so big that on a clear day it's a pretty major sight!

I made this Christmas baby quilt last week. I've been practicing my half-square triangles since my first attempt went so poorly and I learned some better techniques for doing it.

This is made from a charm pack of Kate Spain's 12 Days of Christmas and Kona bone - a new fave of mine! I used yardage from this line for the backing and binding, with a Kona red thrown in there too - not sure the name of the color... As unoriginal as it sometimes feels to use pre-cuts, it also feels good to actually start and finish a project in a reasonable span of time.

I quilted it with a beige thread in an all-over meandering pattern. It was sooo much easier to quilt this small quilt after doing Patrick's ginormous quilt! I love how crinkly and warm it looks after going through the washer and dryer!

I love this fa la la la print on the binding! I have posted this on etsy - my first item for sale ever!

Thanks for looking!

Bloggers' Quilt Festival!

2010-10-29T13:17:00.000-07:00

This is my first time entering a quilt into the Bloggers' Quilt Festival and it's very exciting! This is a quilt that I made for my brand new nephew Patrick. I'm going to meet him next month and I can't wait to give it to him - well, he won't know the difference, but I think his parents will like it! :) At 68"X73" it's a pretty big quilt for a baby, but I want him to have it forever, and considering that he's already 2 feet tall I think he'll grow into this quilt just fine! I still have to hand stitch the binding, but I love it and didn't want to have to wait to post it on here!

A close-up on the blocks and the stippled quilting. I wrote about the process of making this quilt in a previous post, but pretty much all of the prints in the quilt top came from my stash, which works well for my very small fabric-buying budget... I feel like I'm finally getting a feel for free-motion quilting and getting a lot fewer aches and pains from doing it!

My neighbors might have wondered what I was up to dragging our dining room chair outside onto the lawn...but I think this shot shows the quilt more "in action" than lying flat on the grass, which is definitely not its natural state!

I pieced the back, as (almost) always, and like the way it looks with the blue polka dot binding too. My friend Laurie turned me onto these whales and I'm so in love with them! The whales and the argyle are both Ann Kelle prints, from the Urban Zoologie and Remix lines respectively. The solids are all Kona, but I'm not very good about remembering the names of the colors...

Thanks for looking!

Quilt for baby Patrick!

2010-10-26T20:50:00.000-07:00

Warning: if you are one of Patrick's parents, stop reading. I want you to be surprised. :)

Well, big news! I'm an aunt! And as a New Englander "aunt" rhymes with "flaunt," not "pant." Just saying. I found out almost 9 months ago that Patrick was on his way and it was such a big secret to have to hold in for those first few months! My brother called me at work and asked me if I could make a baby quilt. I thought this was weird because my sister in law also quilts, but then it all came together in my (slow) head and I started crying, so happy!

I started his quilt when we first got to Seattle. I know this because these first photos were taken in my then-"studio" before the neighbors told us it was right above their bedroom. So because I like to sew late at night I now have a permanent setup in the living room. I'm not bitter or anything. Okay, blah blah, let's get to some pictures.

I decided I wanted his quilt to be scrappy, but I don't really have enough scraps, so I cut strips from my stash. I only bought a few fabrics for this quilt - sashing and fabric for the backing, which I'll show later - so I felt good about really using fabric from my stash. I used a few solids, which I sort of regret now, but all-in-all I like how it came out.

Even though I hand selected this palette of fabrics, I still wanted it to look random, so I put all the strips in a bag and picked from it to determine placement of the strips. I allowed myself a few vetoes, though. I can't give up all the control!

I considered laying it out like this with no sashing, but I decided it would be too small, or would require way too many blocks and might be a little crazy. I added navy blue sashing and this thing is HUGE! Granted, Patrick is already almost 2 feet tall, but he could probably take this thing to college. I'll show finished pictures once I finish the binding.

You can see a photo of the quilt pre-basting "by the hearth" in this posting. I got real photo-happy that day and showed too much too fast. I thought I'd go a little more into the process of making this quilt in this posting. Looking at this picture right here I think I do want to do a nice scrappy log cabin quilt with no sashing. Maybe I'll add that to my ever-growing quilting to-do list!

Thanks for looking!

Busy bee!

2010-10-21T16:57:00.000-07:00

Now that I have time on my hands I have been so busy sewing! I was very sad to leave my friends at the New England Modern Quilt Guild, but am really happy about the new friends I've made in the Seattle branch! To stay connected, I'm participating in a bee with the New England folks and I wanted to post pictures of my blocks here.

Jill asked for blocks based on the Friendship Star block and sent some great old Amy Butler prints. I just had to make 2!

And Jen wanted a star block on this white grunge fabric I hadn't seen before and sent along these jewel-toned fabrics for it:

This is my first bee and I think it's really fun figuring out a block that the person will like but that also has a bit of yourself in it too.

The wonky star block that I made for Jen is a block I just learned the other night at a class with Katie. It's easy and a fun way to use different scraps together! Being the first to arrive at her class I even got to take a goodie bag of scraps away with me! How lucky am I! I have decided I love Amy Butler now that I have a good chunk of her fabrics in my stash!

Here are some of my fave new scraps!

Thanks for looking!

Quilt "to remember me by"

2010-10-20T01:33:00.001-07:00

I showed a little bit of this quilt back in the summer before I moved and now since my mom has received it I can show more of it! This pictures are from when I gave it to her at our going away party. She bought me a gift earlier in the summer and said it's to "remember her by" when I am living far away (like I could forget about her!) so I joked with her that this quilt held the same purpose. The funny thing about this is that she had sort of seen it before because it was folded up in my old apartment and every time she came over she would say "Oh, I LOVE that one!" (even though she could only see one row of blocks) Well, that made me feel more confident that she would love the whole real thing - even though she's absolutely the type of mom who loves anything I make for her!

The fabric is all from the Nouveau by Sentimental Studios line for Moda. I don't usually make quilts all from one line, but this was an online purchase from way back when and the fabrics really go well together. I pieced the back, as usual, and I did add in a light green polka dot not from the line (also from my stash! Don't ask me why I had almost 3 yards of anything "on hand."). I used the no-triangle zig zag technique and although it took a lot of space to lay it all out, it was super easy to piece together. I will say it was difficult to predict how large it would be. I ended with a fairly narrow quilt that was freakishly long. I had to hack some off the end and it will still be plenty long enough to cover toes on the couch.

I quilted it by following the zig zag lines with the outside edge of my walking foot. Quilting was minimal for a few reasons - one I wanted it to be really soft and sometimes a lot of quilting makes it feel stiff to me. And two, I was under a bit of a time crunch since I was about to move!

I miss my mom! (Can you tell we both like green?!)

Thanks for looking!

Unemployment

2010-10-13T23:45:00.000-07:00

So I have moved to a new city where I don't really know anyone and don't have a job. Well, day to day that is really scary, but overall I'm trying to look on the bright side. When else in my life will I have free time, with a (dwindling) savings, in a beautiful city, with a giant stack of fabrics in my stash. I have bought some fabric since I got here, but pretty much only to finish projects - maybe a fat quarter or two just to treat myself... Since I arrived in Seattle a month ago I have finished a quilt top for me and Buddy's bed....

started and finished a quilt for my brand new nephew Patrick (only a sneak peak here until he receives it)...

And I started my project to submit to the Project Modern competition.

I have done a few other things that I might blog about later. Considering I pop up on here so sporadically I should probably spread it out a bit.

Anyway, I thought unemployment would give me all this time to quilt and blog and be free. Turns out the blogging part has been missing, but I'm going to try to do better. I wonder what percentage of my posts involve a sentence or two about me committing to blogging more. haha. Well, to my 3 readers out there, you might have something to look forward to in the coming days.... Might!

Thanks for looking!

Getting in the mood...

2010-08-18T07:16:00.001-07:00

For Christmas, that is! Get your mind out of the gutter! I bought some Christmas fabric awhile back, and also last Christmastime, and actually, to be honest, I have a separate box of Christmas fabric because they don't really go with the rest of my stash... I just saw this giveaway over at Stitched in Color that is making me excited for Christmas (especially as the days are starting to get a little shorter, this is the next big thing to look forward to!) and because every Christmas I realize that if you are going to make gifts for people you really need to start before December 1st. Being that I'm unemployed for the next unknown period of time, I think it would be pretty smart of me and non-procrastinatory of me to start now. (p.s. I know that's not really a word) I always like to include a picture, so I guess I'll show some of my favorite Christmasy fabrics from my stash. I have so much I think I better start cutting and stitching soon! Yikes! I think these dots could make an awesome binding!

Unemployed productivity

2010-08-16T18:55:00.000-07:00

Friday was my last day at work, and now the clock is ticking for our big move to Seattle. There is so much to do, but I gave myself today to have fun and do whatever. I dressed for the gym, and never made it. Oh well. I was amazed to find out how much you can get done when you don't work (and don't have kids, etc.)! Today I pieced the back of a quilt I started long ago, basted it, AND quilted it. Ridiculous. I mean, it's a pretty simple quilt, but to have such a long stretch of time to work on it was such a luxury! More pictures to follow - it's a present for someone! :) I kept reading about people who use a spoon to close their safety pins while basting and I'm totally amazed and converted! It made that slow and physically painful process so much quicker and easier! Now I'm watching Twilight and finishing the hand-stitched binding on my paintbox quilt - this is taking me forever to finish!Here's a picture of a pincushion my friend Laurie made me. What a generous person she is. I really will think of her every time I use it even when I'm very far away from her! That apple fabric is her signature. :)

Thanks for looking!

Wearing gloves in July

2010-07-04T07:50:00.001-07:00

I am SO happy to say that I finished stippling my first big quilt yesterday ( I had practiced on a small baby quilt before ). I picked up a pair of quilting gloves at Jo-Anns and they worked pretty well so I wasn't gripping and pulling the quilt the whole time! I'm very happy with the end result, but there were definitely a few fumbles along the way. I took pictures, but they didn't really come out. All I can say is that I definitely need to take my safety pins out!! I thought I could scoot around them but I ended up sewing one of them to the quilt, ugh, and another one got completely punctured by my needle. I have to say I am so lucky that nothing broke/flew out at my face. I have never seen anything like that. Because I used spray baste there weren't too many safety pins to navigate anyway, and I don't see any puckers! I think I'm sold on spray basting now, although we'll see if my next project yields the same result.

This is a bad flashy picture, but I'll take better sunny pictures when it's done.

Another thing I learned is that even if you're anxious to finish, take a break! I had sore arms and shoulders all night because I just quilted for 2+ hours straight. Yikes. I also need to learn to not be so tense in my shoulders and jaw. I'm glad no one has video of me because I know I make weird faces while I quilt. :) So now I'm cleaning up loose threads and trying to decide which fabric to use for the binding. Yay! I can't wait to show my peeps at the NE modern quilt guild meeting next week!! My next projects are some little gifts for my sister-in-law's baby shower next week. I'll post pictures after she receives them. Can't wait to meet little Patrick! :)
Thanks for looking!

Thank goodness for chain-piecing!

2010-06-19T12:35:00.000-07:00

I was feeling the need for a repetitive project that I could just do in stages and see my progress as I go along. I've been hoarding this charm pack of Lila Tueller's Soiree for a long time now and was waiting for the perfect project. Well, I have lots of fabric that I'm "saving for the perfect project" so I figured, eh, just get sewing!! It felt good to work on all these half-square triangles in stages. I haven't done a half-square triangle quilt before, so hopefully I still enjoy the process later on in the project. At this point I'm just trimming the squares down, which I think will be the worst part, but I am watching Julie and Julia on loan from the Boston Public Library, I'm home alone and it's a beautiful day. Things are going well! :) I actually don't know what the final product will look like, but I feel okay with that. I just want to finish these HST's and think about the layout and the size of the quilt later.

Thanks for looking!
Siobhan, was this less excruciating??

2 days in a row!

2010-06-15T16:35:00.000-07:00

So I'm really trying to be better about posting more, so this is my best effort - 2 days in a row! I have been kind of agonizing over this doll quilt swap that the New England Modern Quilt Guild is doing because I have never made something for another quilter! Usually when I make something it's for myself - I'm picky, but not too picky, or a friend/family member - definitely not picky, but making something for someone who knows all that went into making it and could pick up on little mistakes (not that they're going to be looking for them or anything) feels very exposing. It's also with sadness that I work on this project because I will only be able to attend 2 more meetings before I leave Boston and move away to Seattle. I've met some great friends through the guild and I know we'll stay in touch through blogland and talking excessively about modern quilting. :) So, this is a little peak at the project I'm working on. It's almost done, just need to hand stitch the binding... I'll show the whole thing after my partner receives it!

(not a great skyline shot, but view of Boston harbor at sunset)

My first adventure in spray basting...

2010-06-14T18:11:00.000-07:00

I looove piecing a quilt top. I don't even mind binding my quilts (I know, that's weird), but the basting process is so stressful to me for some reason and it's so time consuming! When I read people's blogs who seem to be finishing projects quickly and they spray baste, I figured, what the heck. I'll give it a try. So, in the spirit of "process" I wrote this post as I was spray basting (like 2 weeks ago).

I'm finding that my seams are getting a little wonky, but not in a good way. I'm trying to flatten the top out, but it's sort of distorting things. Now I've realized that half of the top is "glued" to the batting, which is "glued" to the backing and it's completely off.

If I reposition the whole top, I run the risk of stretching the fabric and making it permanently "off." I used some pins anyway, per the suggestion of some posts I saw about this. So far I'm not convinced this is a big life changer. I also have a LOT of seams in this quilt, so there's more room to stretch and get a little crooked. More to come on this process. Maybe since I just basted the whole thing including some pins, while watching glee, in under an hour (amazing!), I'll just have to settle for now and get a bit more practice in the future. I'm sure that my boyfriend will appreciate the "taped to the kitchen floor" stage has drastically decreased in time. I'm interested to see how this goes stippling, especially since that's brand new to me too.

Okay, okay, I'm rocking the stippling, the layers are staying together well with the spray baste and a few pins. No puckers so far, and then...

Okay, back to real time now: This keeps happening, so I ended up taking my machine to get repaired/tuned up for the first time ever (which is so bad of me!) and I was without it for 9 days. aaahh!! I played with a lot of fabric, kind of went crazy during the last week or so, and finally got to work on something new yesterday. I'll show that later I guess. I'd love to hear if anyone out there...(echo, echo...) has any thoughts on spray basting...
Thanks for looking!
Meaghan
p.s. for those of you friends/family of mine who read this just to be nice to me, sorry this was a boring quilty blog post. I'll have prettier pictures to show soon! :)

I'm obsessed with solids!

2010-05-25T17:55:00.000-07:00

When I first got interested in sewing I was all about really funky prints and had no interest in plain old solids. I only used them on the back of wall hanging quilts. Now, out of necessity (they're cheaper than prints) and change of taste I find myself thinking about solids and using solids much more frequently. I love putting together different combinations of colors and seeing how other quilters out there are using them. I love Cherry House Quilts and her use of solids. I can't wait to see her new book!

Oh Fransson's Paintbox quilt pattern was the perfect way to incorporate my growing stash of solids with my stash of prints. It felt really good to make a quilt top almost entirely out of fabric I already had (besides the sashing). These are the first 2 blocks I made, a midway shot, and I have since finished the whole top. I'm working on piecing the back of this quilt and will show pictures when I'm done (hopefully soon!)

I've been seeing more and more string quilts in blogland and although I love the scrappy look of using different prints my mind is still in the solids gutter. I made a few blocks, using Film in the Fridge's tutorial, and using varied widths of strips. I like how they came out, but they are intended as part of a swap in the New England Modern Quilt Guild and I'm nervous about whether or not my partner will like them... hmm.... Anyway, I'm committing to blogging more often. I love doing it, but work has gotten in the way. Darn job! :)

Lastly, I'm moving out of my apartment with my amazing sewing area and into an apartment-yet-to-be-determined in Seattle in September. I'm hoping I'll still have room to spread out and tape a whole quilt back to the floor and leave bits of scraps and threads around without disturbing my "roomie." :)

Thanks for looking!

Broken.

2010-02-15T09:43:00.000-08:00

Winter months make me feel especially happy that I have an indoor hobby that I love so much. Yes, I miss being able to be outside more, but there is guilt that I feel when it's 75 degrees outside and I'm inside sewing. So winter is perfect for me in that regard. I decided this year that I wanted to get better at snowboarding though and enjoy some outdoor winter sports. I had tried this one time before and liked it, but most likely re-broke my tailbone and was content with only having one really expensive hobby (fabric-buying, and sometimes -using).

I was excited for our big ski weekend and ended the first day like this ( I did cry a LOT, but this was a posed sad face ):

I have to say I still had a really fun time, but this (awesome) purple cast has really put a damper on my winter months sewing. Notice how much better the purple is than the cardboard I have on in the previous pic.

I have pulled out some fabrics to make one of Oh Fransson's Paintbox quilts, but when I started cutting strips, I realized that being able to really grip your rotary cutter is essential to actually cutting in a straight line. I only wasted a small bit of fabric, but it still felt really bad...

Well, one more week of this and then hopefully I'll be back to "normal."

Okay, I posted. You happy Eric??

New Year's Resolution

2010-01-11T12:50:00.001-08:00

Well, I'm embarassed to see that my last post was in September. I chock this up to having a really busy fall at work and getting used to our nightly routine at home. I would really like to continue my blog, but I think I need to post more than once per quarter. So, this is a new year and a fresh start. I can't say that I will post daily, but I will be doing lots of sewing and plan on showing some things I'm doing on here. I don't even know if anyone is reading this, but at least if I promise "in public" that I will blog more often then hopefully I will be more likely to keep that promise! Here is something I made recently, as part of Bumble Beans' Wave Runner Quilt Along.

This is very unlike anything I've done before - different color scheme, solids instead of prints, freehand piecing and quilting, etc. I really enjoyed it and have thought about other colors that would work well with this pattern/style too. It was freeing to cut without measuring and piece together random strips, cut into smaller bits, and rearrange them all until it was just right. Definitely felt good, but I still enjoy me some 90 degree angles too. Also, the backing was a fabric (Nouveau by Sentimental Studios) I bought a long time ago that looked very different in person than it did online. It suits this project just fine!

Thanks for looking!

some more quilting injuries

2009-09-20T18:19:00.000-07:00

So, seriously. I'm kind of an old lady. In a lot of ways, but most recently because I keep getting muscle spasms I think as the result of quilting for hours upon hours the past few Sundays. I have been so happy having extended periods of time to be at home, to be creative, to make some dinner, and to get to bed early. As relaxing as that sounds (and is) my neck and back apparently don't like it so much and I've been pretty darn stiff. Oh well. The sacrifices we make for creativity! :)

No pictures right now because I just realized that I left my cord at work. But, I'll have some pictures of my most recent project and our trip to the Baltimore/Sox game this weekend!

I'm going to work on a little bit of decorating this week. This place has been too beige for too long!

Thanks for looking!

So, it's been awhile...

2009-09-09T18:23:00.000-07:00

The past month has been CRAZY! My work is based around the school calendar, so the end of the summer and the beginning of September is just a lot of running around. I've realized though that padding the bad, stressful, work stuff with positive things makes life much more bearable and enjoyable. With my new sewing space I've constantly been working on things, but I don't necessarily have much finished product to show for it. I'm okay with that, though.

These fabrics are for a gift for someone close to me - not going to say in case he/she is looking at this! I'm trying out AmandaJean's triangle-free zig zag quilt but one thing I found challenging is that I sort of had to cut out all of the fabric and then decide on the layout before i could start piecing together. I like projects where I can sort of "sew as I go" so this one didn't fit the bill so much. I also learned after buying this fabric, that colors can look very different in real life than online. I still like it, but I'm not so sure that all of the fabrics go together as well as I thought they would, especially being part of the same collection. I'm committing to buying fabrics in person from now on. I much prefer feeling them, and putting them next to others anyway, than just buying a collection of stuff online. Also, there's no sunlight in my apartment, so these pictures are pretty much horrible. That being said, the multitude of fabric sale emails I get every day will probably sway me back to buying online again eventually. I can't wait to show my current project. It's basted and almost ready to start quilting - once I peel it off my kitchen floor! More to come...
Thanks for looking!

my new "studio"

2009-08-11T08:00:00.001-07:00

I finally have my sewing area up and running. Having this extra space in the kitchen was a major draw to this apartment and thanks to my generous friend Desie, I finally have a suitable table for my machine. It's so nice to sew in between stirring things on the stove, or just having my machine out to work on things a little at a time. Last night in Boston was horribly hot and maybe not the best night to make homemade spicy black bean soup or to iron fabric for an upcoming project. I did it anyway and just sweated it out. It was worth it. I'm thankful to Buddy for helping me put my desk together and to Desie for giving it to me! Now, I just need some color up on the wall - and maybe some batting for my very first design wall!

Another first for me, I just picked out my new glasses yesterday! I'm sort of excited about them, and even though they're technically pink I think it's subtle. You may also be able to see the sticker too - 50% off! Isn't it great when the thing you like most just happens to also be on the sale rack? Hopefully these will help my eyes during all my blog scrolling and sewing. :)

Thanks for looking!

blogging injury

2009-08-07T10:49:00.001-07:00

So...after boasting my whole life about having excellent vision, the time has finally come that I need glasses. I've been getting horrible headaches - they last on average for about 10 hours - and my eyes just feel like they're working so hard to see as well as they used to. Oh well. I only need them for reading and being on the computer, but I'm sure that I'll need them sewing as well. I don't really have a problem with this since I just want to feel better. My sister says that sewing hurt my vision, but in actuality, it's probably reading and scrolling through so many blogs.

I don't regret it. People don't really know that there is such a big quilt blog community out there, and are surprised when I tell them how many I follow. Yes, maybe it's a bit much, but it's become something that really inspires me in my own projects and gets me excited about learning new techniques. I really admire all the women that share their thoughts and ideas with others and will just continue to follow their blogs from behind my new frames!

This is a sneak peak of a project I'm working on. I think I loved it more at the beginning stage than at the middle stage I'm at now, but hopefully by the end I'll be in love again. We'll see!

Thanks for looking!

nerd alert!

2009-08-06T09:55:00.000-07:00

I had some really nerdy exciting quilting news the other day, but I don't have too many people to share it with! The other day, I realized after being CONVINCED that I can't drop the feed dogs on my machine that I actually can! I just figured I'd never really be able to try free motion quilting and might just have to get a new machine some day to expand my quilting options. I was so excited and Buddy was happy for me too, especially when I explained to him what feed dogs are. He's really interested in how a sewing machine technically works, and I honestly have little clue. Well, he's amazing and empathic and really takes an interest in things I'm excited about. I couldn't ask for more. So, now, I think I'm going to try some free-motion stuff. Seems intimidating and painful at first but sounds like with a lot of practice it gets easier.

Well, I don't have a photo on this computer of projects I'm working on right now, so I'll just leave with a "I wish I was there" picture. This is where I go to in my mind when everything in life is stressful and I have knots in my back and shoulders so bad they actually frighten massage therapists. I think island life is much healthier for me than city life...

Thanks for looking!

A quilt for Lev

2009-07-31T12:16:00.001-07:00

It's been a long time since I've blogged, but it's been a crazy month - both at work and outside of work. I actually made this quilt awhile back but just recently got pictures of the baby with the quilt, which is my favorite part. I mentioned previously that I work with all women, and a lot of crafty women at that. It's nice to make a gift for someone who I know will get a lot of use out of it but will also really understand and appreciate all the work that goes into making it. Leah has been a good friend to me since I started working and a really great mom to Lev as well.

My challenge for this project was that the baby's sex was a game-day surprise and I also wanted to make something really bold and not too stereotypically baby-ish. I absolutely fell in love with David Walker's Robots collection for Free Spirit when I saw it in person and matched it with some other coordinating fabrics. I figured that planets are fine for boys or girls and since we work for a girl-serving agency I shouldn't worry about gender stereotypes anyway.

I based this quilt on the Happy Hour pattern, which I fell in love with instantly and have really enjoyed the different versions I've seen other people make as well. I didn't do any interesting quilting on this one - just around each of the squares and rectangles. I'm happy with how it came out and am even happier that they get a lot of use out of it.

I'm working on a bigger project right now and am going to start my Christmas projects soon (crazy!), so hopefully I'll have more to share soon.

Thanks for looking!

blogging from a distance

2009-07-09T11:14:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy couple of weeks - I bought a car last Tuesday, moved in with Buddy on Wednesday and then came out to Montana on Thursday. That's a lot of things to happen all at once, and a really long time to be away from my sewing machine! Especially considering that when I get back home, for the first time, I will have a whole permanent sewing area of my house all to myself! Once I get that (and the apartment) set up I'll share some pictures.

So now we're in MT and the trip is going really well. It's nice to inhale and not be grossed out by all the city crap you're breathing in - it's the small things, really. haha. Here are some more reasons why I love Montana:

Me and Buddy's mom tried to go to a few quilt shops nearby and one said "closed permanently" on the door and the other is on sale so they didn't have much of a selection. How amazing would it be to own a quilt shop?? Anyway, I'm not quite there yet. I'm surprised there aren't more places around here though since quilting seems pretty common. Oh well.

Buddy's sister gave me a Celtic quilting book for Christmas a few years ago and I never shared the pictures of it with her! So here it is, pretty small, and my first stab at applique. Looking at this project from one year ago I'm amazed at how much I've learned and improved in the past year - the binding and stitching on this is horrible! haha. At least you can only really tell that up close.

It was the perfect project for being stuck indoors on a rainy beach vacation last summer. My SIL suggested I make a whole big quilt made out of these smaller appliqued blocks, but I was just so happy to finish a project that I decided to leave it as a small wall hanging - about 14"X14". She's right, it would be really nice, but I have so many unfinished projects as it is! Maybe that would be a good project for later on in life - when I'm better at hand applique and I have more patience! :)

Thanks for looking!

Some bright colors for a rainy month

2009-06-26T06:30:00.000-07:00

This is a quilt I made in a Curvalishish class at Cambridge Quilt Shop with a family friend. I was intimidated about sewing curved pieces, but this method was pretty easy and I loved that it was all free-hand with my rotary cutter. The hardest part about this quilt was choosing how the blocks would be laid out. I nearly went crazy, it was like a sudoku puzzle - this green shouldn't be next to this other green, but this purple is above this other purple. It was fun and I love how it came out. I also got to use up a lot of fabrics that I really like but that had been hanging around for awhile.

This picture is so awful - I didn't realize how much the creases were going to show! I just want to smooth it out!!

I have been thinking lately about how my closet can be such a good place for quilt color combo inspiration. This quilt is a good example since it's made up of all my typical go-to colors. Nettie wrote about this same type of idea, getting inspiration from her dishes. I guess we all have colors we're drawn to, but my current project strays from my "usual" quite a bit. More on that to come...

This is my favorite block of them all. Every block is unique which was fun to put all together. I loooove this navy fabric. I feel so bad because I cannot remember the designer's name for the life of me (if you know, please tell me!), but I went back and bought a whole yard to have "just in case." Edit: the above fabric that I love so much is by Erin McMorris for Free Spirit. It's from the Park Slope collection. I just found it on sale here, but I really can't justify buying even MORE for my stash! :)

I used this batik for the backing. It's from Jo-Ann's Indonesian batik line. They're starting to have some higher quality fabrics it seems, which is nice because I can still use my coupon!

Thanks for looking!

p.s. what a difference taking the photographs outside makes! You all are so smart! :)

Okay, technology, here I come!

2009-06-18T11:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, uploading pictures is really not that hard, so I'm glad I finally got around to doing it! I really want to share with you my most recent (finished) project and then I'll show you some more stuff later. I work at an all-women's office, where most people are in their 20s and 30s. Them's baby-makin years so I have really enjoyed making a few baby quilts in the past few months. They're so quick and easy and a good chance to try out a new pattern (and use up some scraps!) I was happy to know the gender for this quilt - although a gender neutral quilt is kind of a fun challenge too! I love a pieced back and never even thought of that before finding Amandajean's blog. My mom thought I was a genius, but it seems like most people do that these days - and I love it! It's almost double-sided this way. I got to use up a lot of scraps and fabrics I've had hanging around for a long time. I hope the new mom (and baby Celia) love this as much as I do!

This one really shows the quilting. This was the first time I didn't stitch-in-the-ditch and I'll never go back to that. I used painters tape as a guideline and it was pretty easy! I can't lower the feed dogs on my machine, but once I have some time I'm going to play around with some different quilting styles. In the mean time, I love the way this came out and couldn't believe until I did it how much the quilting can really add to the quilt. I love how crinkly it is too after washing it. Next time I'll make sure the creases aren't so obvious from when I folded it!

Thanks for looking!
Meaghan

I didn't forget about my new blog...

2009-06-17T19:27:00.001-07:00

So I was soooo gung-ho and excited about the blog, got it all set up and haven't even put up anything worth seeing yet! I swear it's coming. It's a good thing I got some pictures taken over the weekend because the forecast in Boston is rain for the next week! I'll get them up tomorrow hopefully. My big sewing project of the moment is organizing all of my fabric for my big move! I'm sort of afraid of what my boyfriend will think when he sees how much fabric I REALLY own! :) I have a hard time thinking about leaving some stuff behind, but let's be honest, a lot of it is just junky stuff I got on sale at Jo-ann's back when I worked there and hadn't yet discovered the MAJOR difference between cheap and nice fabrics. I received an order I placed on fabric.com and was a little surprised at how the colors look in person. That's what I get for being a sucker for those sales! It's like if they offer free shipping, then it's like the same as going to the store, minus actually having to get off my butt and go. But there is something soooo different about going to the shop and feeling the fabrics and seeing the colors next to each other. It's really my favorite part, so I think I ought to get away from this online stuff. Yeah right! Maybe I'll just do both. So much for saving up my money... Recession? What?

Waiting for the sun to come out

2009-06-11T06:18:00.000-07:00

Hello! So this is my first post on this blog. I started another blog on a different site, but am finding blogspot a little easier to handle. I'm eager to post pictures of quilts I have recently made and some projects I currently have going on, but using a flash indoors at night doesn't quite capture the colors in the right way. Anyway, I'm really excited to be blogging, especially since the highlight of my day is checking out updates on all the blogs that I follow. I can't say that I'll be able to update quite so often as others, but I hope this will help me be motivated to finish up some unfinished projects and share some ideas with others too.