Urban Nine Patch

One night while surfing blogs I ran across Sew Kind Of Wonderful  by Jenny Pedigo.    I was immediately drawn to her curvy quilt patterns that you can see on the right hand side.  LOVE them.  I told my boss about them (these quilts are so Pink Chalk!)...and funny thing was Kathy had just found them too!  Long story short...Kathy ordered the rulers and now carries the patterns.  I bought a ruler but can't decide which quilt pattern to get so haven't yet.

Jenny recently created a new block called "Urban Nine Patch" that uses the ruler.  She posted a free tutorial on her blog for making it and I figured that was the perfect way to learn the ruler and get more practice sewing curves.  So today I made one.  

Here it is:

So gorgeous!  I totally love this.   And it turned out perfect.  

Totally perfect points see:

And it's perfectly 12.5 inches.  I followed the tutorial to the "t" and everything was great.  Jenny sews her curves differently than I learned years ago (and different from Rachel's teaching in the Curves class)...by sewing with the convex piece on top instead of the other way around.  I did it Jenny's way and it worked fine for this block.  

I think I will be making this block for my [3x6] Mini Bee members.   :)

Improv Curves

This week in my Curves class with Rachel we worked with improv curves.  I  ended up having a busier week than expected so didn't get to accomplish much...we had 3 projects to choose from and I only finished one mini top, still have to quilt it.

It's called O Christmas Tree Mini.  Isn't it cute?

Free-form...unplanned work is hard for me....curved or otherwise!   I struggled a bit with this.  Kept thinking I wished someone would just give me a pattern to follow.  Curves aren't scary but no planned pattern is.  :)

Here's a close up of the tree.  I think it turned out nicely.

Not sure if I'll try the improv table runner that was also this week or wait till I have more time to concentrate. 

Can't wait for next weeks projects.   :)

Clamshell Pillow

I'm taking an online class on curved sewing from Rachel of Stitched in Color.  Last week was our first week (out of  five) of class and I loved it.  I'm not new to curved sewing or curved piecing but I am new to improv curved sewing (which we are doing this week!) which is why I took the class.  Plus I love classes and always seem to learn something new.  Rachel is doing a fabulous job!

This is the clamshell pillow project from last week that I finished yesterday:

Matches my red chair so nicely, don't ya think?  :)   The printed fabric is Salt Air by Cosmo Cricket and the solid is Essex Linen.

I thought I had done pretty good sewing in the invisible zipper but it actually has a little bump on it.  Not sure what I did that caused that.  Will have to surf some other tutes and see if something jumps out at me so I can do better next time.  

Baby blanket

Finished this crocheted baby blanket on Friday.  Isn't it lovely?   I love making these soft and cuddly blankets.  This one is for one of best friends first grand child.....due in less than two weeks!   It'll be in the mail tomorrow.  :)      

Come Rain or Shine

Isn't that the cutest little wall hanging?  I just LOVE it.   During one of my blog reading days I came across Mia's darling wool felted items.  I pinned one on Pinterest and then thought....I want one I can hang on an actual wall and not a cyber one.  So I splurged and bought one.  This design was one of my favorites.  Birds and rain....so appropriate for here, don't ya think?   

This is the back.  

Check out more of Mia's items at her Etsy shop and maybe splurge for yourself!   

Design Wall Monday - Curlicue Crush

I am currently cutting out fabric for the Curlicue Crush quilt by Bec of Chasing Cottons.  I've wanted to make this for quite some time.  But first I wanted just the right fabric. Of course!  These are all by Patricia Bravo of Art Gallery Fabrics.  Love her work.
The pattern calls for you to make your own templates for the curved block.  Oooo...that was a stumbling block for me.  I really didn't want to cut that many curves with a plastic template.  TabSlot to the rescue.  Have you heard of this Etsy shop?   I was so excited to find it.  Jill will custom make templates for you.  All I had to do was ask and voila! I had acrylic templates.    I would be done cutting by now but I've been sick and doing nothing but napping these past several day.

I wanted to try sewing this curve so played with some scraps.  Since this is a corner to corner curve I knew I wouldn't have much room to mess up or I'd have no seam allowance.   No problems though.  The little blocks sewed up nicely.

This is as "off" as I got:

That would be a sixteenth of an inch and is close enough for me!  I feel pretty confident to start the sewing.  Sew sew excited!!!

Linking up with other Design Wall Monday folks over at Patchwork Times.

Beach Projects

I've written many times about my best friends. My Yaya's.  Every year we head to the Washington coast for a winter get-away of fun.   Our vacation always starts with a stop at Starbucks:

This year 3 of us turned 50 (M turned 50 two years ago) and were presented with our Tiara's.  We wore them all day on our way to the coast.  :)

This New Wave quilt was my main project.  We had such beautiful weather this year that I was able to get a picture outside.   I used Valori Wells fabric...most from her Nest collection.  I LOVE these fabrics. 

I also made my first journal cover. There are tons of free tutorials online and I read a bunch to see how they were made.   I chose to make a pretty plain one so I could see how it went.  I'm always a bit nervous about non-quilt sewing.   I love these Echino prints.   

I added a pocket for my pen.  I think I made it too skinny cuz it pulls.  Next time I'll allow more.

Remember this Mini Stacked Strips wall hanging I made.  Well I took the itty bitty scraps and made a Mini Mini one!   The strips are 1/2 inch and the whole thing is only 9 inches by 18 inches.  Some colors are missing because I didn't have enough.  But its still so cute.  That makes 3 of these Stacked Strips quilts from one Kona solids jelly roll.   :)

We had some amazing sunrises and sunsets.  

Nighty night!   :)

Free Motion Practice Again

First off let me say I really chose the wrong fabric to use for my free motion practice when I needed to be able to film it for the link ups!   Next time I'll be better.  :)    

Besides doing the weekly challenges of Leah's, I am also doing the monthly Free Motion Challenge over at SewCalGal.   Frances Moore is our teacher for January and she gave us this leaf design to work on.  Here is my first attempt at the leaves....if you can see it!

                                         They are fun to do but I struggle with consistency.  Oi!  


For my second try I did the leaves as a border to see if I could do that.  I had trouble flipping them so they wouldn't always look like a straight line.   Then in the middle I did week two of Leah's challenge -- which was to try to do stippling in rows.   Oh did that not work to well for me.  I learned to stipple years and years ago and was taught to randomly work so my brain just doesn't want to work in rows.  I may need to let it go with stippling and work on that idea with future designs.

Here's a close-up:

You're probably gonna be sick of my posts on free motion practice.  I'm linking up each week/month in order to get input from others and also for prizes with SewCalGal.    I'm even considering adding in the free motion quilt along over at Quokka Quilts to get even more practice.   We shall see.   Being house bound due to snow  for several days has sure helped with getting work done.   :)

Free Motion Quilting

2012 is the year for me to get free motion quilting (fmq) from just being head knowledge to being actual experience.  I've taken several classes and done a few quilts...some on my home machine and some on a long arm I rented.  But I've never practiced consistently...which means I'm constantly a beginner having to re-learn everything!

Leah Day from The Free Motion Quilting Project blog is hosting Quilt Along every Wednesday where she is guiding readers in learning fmq'ing.  She is starting us out with basic stippling.  I've stippled a little before so I just dove in an did it all over style.   I was trying to keep it big but found myself getting tighter...then I'd try to go big again.  Being consistent is definitely my issue!  No wonder Leah (and every fmq teacher I've ever had) tells you the key is PRACTICE!   :)
I'm quilting on a Juki TL-2010Q and using Aurifil 50wt. thread (cuz that's all I own).

Here's my first little practice piece:

And here's a close-up of some of my trouble spots:

Big stitches and pointy spots.  

I am easily distracted and it really affects my quilting.  A few minutes of the same old same old and I drift off mentally to something else.  Not quite sure what to do about that!  Maybe an actual quilt would help.   I also had trouble when I'd stop to relax (my shoulders get hunched up to my ears in no time flat) and would start again....my starts would be pointy or end up with those long stitches.   

Time for lunch and then back to PRACTICING.    

Pouches

I'm finally getting around to showing the other gifts I made this year -- Pouches!   I had so much fun with these.  I actually made another one but didn't get a picture of it. I actually didn't get any pictures!  I'm using these images that were taken at work for a blog post they did (we all made pouches).    We used Elizabeth Hartman's' "Perfect Zip Bag" pattern.  Her patterns are excellent.  I liked her method for putting in the zipper.  I created my own patchwork and added personal touches inspired by each of my friends.   

This is the back of  the air stream one.  So cute. 

I got those zipper pulls and the zippers from Zipit Etsy shop.  

And this is the back of the one with the glasses.  Those are one inch squares.

Such a fun project with so many uses.

Push for the New Year

No regular type of New Years resolutions for me this year.  Like so many of you, I never keep 'em.   

This time I decided to choose a word to focus on for the year.  I've been pondering which word........a task that normally would take weeks and weeks......until I realized that what I had to do to pick a word was my word! Push....push through the over-thinking and choose.   Nike's "Just Do It" is my self-nag but its already chosen and I wouldn't want to get into copyright infringement!   Hee, hee.  

So PUSH it is.  Push myself to: love more, get in shape (sigh), learn the auto harp, write a few letters, connect with people more, grow creatively, let go...and so much more.

Designing with Kaffe

Rhonda and I will be teaching a 5 session long class at Quilted Strait starting in February.   

This is the quilt we will be making:

A big focus of the class is asking "what if"?   So often people see quilts and want to make the exact thing....or think they hate it simply because they don't like the color or a particular block.  We need to be able see beyond what we see!    Why not change the block you hate to one you love?  Why not make a scrappy quilt a two color one?  Why not try to achieve a modern look or a traditional look?   Why not?

I am challenging myself to combine Kaffe fabrics (which I happen to love) with solids (very trendy in modern circles)....something that is new to me.

Here are my fabrics so far that I'm playing with:

Who knows what I'll stick with, what I'll take out or what I'll add.  Rhonda is also working with some Kaffe fabrics (stripes mostly) and also wool.  It'll be exciting to see what her version will look like.   That's the fun of it!    I absolutely LOVE this process.  

Happy Recipient

As you can see it was a pillow I made for Liam.  He was pretty excited about it and who doesn't love it when the recipients of our gifts love them?  :)   

Merry Christmas

I took this picture at my friend Yvonne's house the other day.  I LOVE the blue bowl with those little bitty bulbs in them.  If you look closely you'll see my reflection in each one.....so there I am over 40 times.....wishing you a Merry Christmas!!!!

Child's drawing to fabric

I am working on a Christmas gift for my oldest grandson and the picture is a little sneak peek.  :)     Several months ago I asked Liam to draw me some pictures and this dinosaur is one of them.  I wanted to take the drawing and turn it into some kind of fabric project.....not a quilt!    So easy to simply trace the drawing shapes onto the paper side of fusible web and then adhere to fabric.  Isn't he cute?     I'll show you the finished project after Christmas.  His Mama reads my blog and I want her to be at little bit surprised too!  :)

Comedy when you have nothing to post

It's been nearly a month since I posted anything.  Yikes.  I've been making quilty/sewing things but its been for birthdays and Christmas and I can't show anything yet.   I'm also not a fancy photographer who can blur shots just right so you get a peek but can't tell exactly what the project looks like.  So until I can reveal a few things, here's a chuckle for you:

Last One Yard Wonder project

This is my last One Yard Wonder project for work.  Its a dog bed.  I made it for my sons dog, Charlie.  Unfortunately I couldn't get a picture of Charlie on his bed so Carrie had to stage a photo for work.   :)

The bed in the book didn't have a zipper but I added one and used a pillow as "stuffing".  This way the cover can be removed and washed!    The directions also called for piping all the way around but I just pieced those side panels to give it the same look.....easier for me.

This project has been great to participate in.  Gave me lots of new sewing experience with things other than quilts.  

Playing With Big Huge Labs

I see these mosaics all the time on blogs I read and in Flickr when I'm peeking at beautiful things. I have always wanted to know how the gals were making them.  I started noticing this phrase underneath them: "created with fd's Flickr Toys".  When I clicked that phrase it took me to Big Huge Labs......and a new BIG world of FUN!   :)    

This is my first mosaic of projects others have made that I have in my "favorites" on Flickr:

1. DSC_2541, 2. Pretty Pouch- front, 3. Pretty {Little} Pouch, 4. lillian and jill, 5. Untitled, 6. Sewing Machine Block for Amisha, 7. Patchwork Strap Clutch, 8. Pretty Pouch- front, 9. Shirt block for Amisha

Mitered Blanket - One Yard Wonder

This was my latest "One Yard Wonder" project.   It's a small (18 inch square) blanket...doll size.  I used one of the striped fabrics in the picture.  It's a very fussy quilt to do....I wouldn't make another. It took 5 hours just to make those 9 blocks!  

You can see my other One Yard Wonder creations here and here and here.

Little Pouch

I made this little zippered pouch today as a thank you gift.  Its a pattern from Keyka Lou Patterns.  It was an easy pattern to follow and turned out pretty cute.  I did so much better on the zipper this time. Practice is definitely helping.  :)

Fully lined.  And see that cute zipper pull?  I got it from Zipit...a fun Etsy store.