Showing Off

OH MY, I am so flattered! The person who bought the gnome quilt from my shop sent me a photo of her son wrapped up in. So adorable, I just want to hug him!

Quilting

I finished piecing and backing the quilt and quilted it this morning! It was very easy to quilt the double gauze, it doesn't move as much as regular quilted cotton which kind of helps, I didn't need as many pins.

I have some tangerine Garden Pindot binding from Michael Miller on it's way for the binding, I held a scrap up to the quilt and it's perfect! I'm going on my second roll of this same color binding, I think I have an orange fetish.

SHE'S BACK

OK, my means for paying for fabric and sewing supplies (aka the JOB) is taking way too much of my time and energy lately. But I seem to find time to buy more fabric and today I finally pieced this quilt, calling it the Far Far Away Citrus quilt, I just love the lime and tangerine linen combined with the double gauze from Heather Ross' new Far Far Away line.

I used my VW Bus pattern and just substituted other fabrics. I didn't plan this one, just did each row one at a time, cutting, piecing and sewing to the previous strip. I enjoy doing it on the fly this way. My day job is so technical and precise that I have to escape that when I sew.

I got my first batch of these fabrics from Super Buzzy and Pink Chalk fabrics but I've seen some good deals elsewhere on the web. It's pricey but beautiful.

Orange and Green

There's something about this color combination that I really love. I just finished two aprons using a southwest or Mexican motif fabric and ordered more which I'm planning on using to make a funky ruffled apron complete with tulle, how fun is that!?! OK, well I think it's fun!

FEATURE: Oh, Fransson! Quilting by Machine

I pretty much taught myself how to machine quilt using the free-motion technique. I did make one trip to the sewing machine store where I got some great tips, but everything else I learned by googling and youtubing.

Today I stumbled on a new blog post on Oh, Fransson's for a Quilt-a-Long with detailed step-by-step sections for each stage of making an adorable mod sampler! Please go check it out.

What I really liked was the section where Elizabeth describes machine quilting, everything I learned by trial and error is right there! Fantastic. If you are just learning or even if you know how, you have to read this. And the last step is making and sewing on seam binding, again all simply explained! And you get to see all sorts of her gorgeous quilt projects used in the examples. I am SO impressed.

Also be sure to check out the Mod Sampler Flickr page for posting pics of quilts you make using the tutorial.

Isn't the internet great?


(BTW, this is my first ever attempt at machine quilting, before I got my new sewing machine, eeek)

What Happened to Sewing by Hand?

I was looking at some hand stitching photos recently on Flickr and was reminded of the days when I used to actually have the time and patience to needlepoint, hand quilt and cross stitch. I made this mini cloth made from linen when I was in Cameroun, Africa in 1986, trying to become a missionary. I have kept it all this time because I made it. I don't know if I used a pattern or not but it's completely symmetrical and all counted.

I still have a book with gorgeous counted cross stitch patterns and this is one that I started but never finished. I still think it's beautiful.

I'm not sure how I lost the sense of being able to sit down for hours and stitch by hand but maybe it's something I can aspire to again some day.

Fabric, Fabric, and more Fabric!

There have been some incredible sales recently and some incredible new fabrics coming out and DARN IT ALL, I just have to have some! If anyone can figure out how to a) increase the number or hours in a day and/or b) allow me to now need sleep, I may be able to make a dent in all this. Of course I have many many plans for it all but very little time.

Fabric.com was having a 50% off sale and I picked some incredible bargains including some Joel Dewberry manzanita in sky and espresso, LOVE THIS so much:


And some orange and green Joel Dewberry Aviary fabric:


And some Heather Ross double gauze:


Sooo, if I can change the time/space continuum, I'll show you what I'm making soon!