Liberated Star Quilt

My MIL (Mother in Law) has plans to remodel her guest room.  So we landed on a design which wasn't too hard.  I knew she loved modern design and so I tried not to show her too many options.  She instantly fell in love with this one by Red Pepper Quilts.

 Liberated Star Quilt by Red Pepper Quilts

My chosen fabric stash for this one so far has many of the same prints form the Collage line by Carrie Bloomston of Such Designs for Windham Fabrics plus a bunch more purples and aquas, which will be the main colors of the room.  We found a few more low volumes we like and are trying to keep the use of red & yellow to a minimum so that they don't get too loud in the overall quilt.

Here are a couple of my blocks.  So far she likes it.  I'm trying my best to minimize waste with this liberated quilt block.  It's a bit tricky, but after doing much math and some test blocks, I think I've got it down.  

This will be a queen size quilt and so I've calculated out larger blocks (12" finished) to help reduce cutting.  There will be a total of 56 blocks.  I've only got 52 to go!

Lindsay

Time Out

Wow its been awhile since I sat down at my sewing machine. I've spent most of my free time hand quilting my swoon quilt.

Although it will certainly be some time before she is complete, I'm enjoying the process. Did I just call my quilt 'she'? Isn't it funny how we do that?

Today a stack of blocks that have been sitting neatly at my sewing table began calling me.

And so another quilt top was born. I'll just put it on top of the other top. I'm having quilter's block:: the lack of a quilting plan. You can read more about this flying geese quilt in this post.

I have no idea when I'll be back here to share more being that we are smack dab in the middle of the holidays, so Merry Christmas!

Thanks for stopping by.

Lindsay

 

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WIP Wednesday

I found a jelly roll pattern after about a year of looking. This is the first time I've began a quilt using a Jelly Roll. Its surprisingly very fun. I've had my eye on a few flying geese quilts (if you follow me on Pinterest, you already know that). I thought it'd be too many to do using a jelly roll, until I saw Aneela Hoey's Geese in the Middle pattern. It was an instant download pdf pattern I purchased from the Fat Quarter Shop.

I went to her blog, Comfort Stitching, which I hadn't visited in a while, and read about the pattern before I purchased it. I knew I could have just figured out the cutting by looking at it, but being lazy I decided to purchase it. After all, she went to the trouble of doing the math for me. Moments later I downloaded it, and spent some time reading it over before I got to cutting. Always read the whole pattern before cutting! Sadly I was a little disappointed to find the directions were a bit vague, but I easily figured it out. The upside is there are quality photos that help guide you thru. I use a cheater 1/4 inch presser foot and my blocks turned out much larger than the pattern suggests. If you decide to purchase this pattern, I don't recommend trimming the blocks down to the size listed as you would cut right thru the center of a flying geese. The block size doesn't really matter, does it? I mean, as long as they are all the same its all good!

You also end up with one extra flying geese per block, which isn't addressed in the pattern. So, I'll have to get creative with them for the back maybe.

Overall, I love the pattern and I think Chicopee is perfect for it!

>>----Lindsay---->

 

 

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Swoon Blocks

I nearly feel like an expert at the swoon block piecing, although mine are far from perfect. I am glad to announce that today I completed my last 5 blocks. I decided to do them all together, which has taken me about two weeks of a few hours here and there. What do you think?

I think that leopoard one is my favorite and will most likely be my center block. Do you have a favorite? The feathers comes in second I think. For those of you who may have noticed the slight color variation in the grey seed print in my last block, its true. I used some old scraps from the original line of FMF prints, which is surprisingly lighter weight as well. Its also a little darker. This doesn't matter much, but I can't help but hope that that print doesn't wear out before the others do.

Now on to the saching. I can't wait to see this thing on my bed. I forgot how long the process is for making large quilts. The anticipation is killing me! But...in a fun way;D

>>---Lindsay--->

 

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End of Summer

We had a wonderful camping trip to Yosemite National Park. Above is a picture of us at Tunnel View lookout. Behind us is El Capitan. Wish the photo-taking stranger had stepped a little further to the left and gotten Half Dome in the picture. Oh well! Our first camping trip was about as perfect as they get. Our 4 year old even hiked up 900' of elevation to Vernal Falls without one complaint. So proud of him. The weather was warm and wonderful. We are definitely doing this again.

This past week we've been spoiling ourselves at the beach. The sun finally decided to come out in San Clemente just as most vacationers were heading back to school. Funny how that works. FYI if you ever plan a trip to SoCal, come in Sept/Oct if you want sun at the beach. We always have overcast along the coastline. You can drive inland about 2 miles and it'd be blazin though.

Today this little guy started PreSchool. Can you see the excitement on his face? He basically ran in and didn't look back. You can imagine how I felt. I had to ask him to come back and give me a kiss. He did of course, he 's sweet like that. I love him so much.

Now back to quilting...more often. Please ignore the tear drops on my stitching.

As a distraction I finished up sewing these rows together. I've changed my mind on adding a boarder to this one. Its big enough and I kind of like it without a boarder. Not sure if I'll get to basting and quilting this one right away. I'm anxious to finish up my swoon blocks.

Got all the prints cut. Now I'm just waiting for more Kona Snow to show up at my door. I'm about 4 blocks shy. This is gonna be so pretty on my bed. I can't wait!

 

>>--------->

Lindsay

 

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Fun Filled Weekend

Phew! My weekend really began on Thursday last week. My sister and I drove into LA's Fashion District to shop for fabrics. Our goal was to gather fabrics for her photography studio. It was a success! She needed my textile know-how and I needed an excuse to visit the heartbeat of fabric. She thanked me for coming by purchasing this super cute vinyl for our family camping trip coming up. And I found these cute red & coral melamine dishes at Wal-Mart that match perfectly.

It'll be the cutest camping table ever! Thanks sister!

Check out that crazy hair! I look like I just walked off a 10 hour sweatshop shift. Ha! Hope I can tame the mane on our camping trip. Then again, it might keep the bears at bay.

Warning!!! This is a heavy picture post.

Friday was a melow day at home. I did however beigin Swooning again.

I was the most excited about this fabric combo. This one will probably be my favorite. Or I might say that everytime I make a block, we'll see.

Saturday, was super fun! I attended the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach. Sadly it is the last time the festival will be held here. But I'm so blessed I got to go. Here is the loot I picked up for a steal.

Some Anna Maria Horner prints and the Hex N Moree by Jay Bird Quilts. I went with my mother-in-law and it was a pleasure to walk about the gallery with her. We were on a mission to be inspired for a guest room quilt. We took lots of pictures. I can't wait to see what design she decides on. Here are just a few of my favorites.

See a modern theme?

And on Sunday we went to XGames.

Here are my boys in their happy place.

I'm sure you can imagine I'm looking forward to a slow week ;)

<3 Lindsay

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Granny Squares :: WIP

Made some great progress over the weekend with this project.  It came together quite quickly.

Today I finished a new quilt top.  It's so sweet and lovely.

Now to the store for some batting and a little research on quilting options for Granny Squares.  

Weekend Sewing

I started a new quilt top last night.  This lovely line of fabrics, was given to me by my dear friend, Christine Adolph (http://christineadolph.typepad.com/).  Its called Vintage Butterflies, and I love it.  Its hard to believe that she gave me this strip bundle 2 years ago this month.  I've cheated myself really, by not playing with it sooner.  The more my hands work with it the more my eyes enjoy its color pallet and images.  Its eye candy!

The mix of subtle pastels in lavender, mint, yellow and pink have pops of bright butterflies and water-color flowers in fusia, royal blue, and Turquoise.  Sadly this line is OOP (out of print), but I have seen a few remnants pop up on Etsy and Ebay recently, if you want to get your hands on some.  

This is my second post using the 'Blogger' App for iPad and I cant quite figure out how to add a hyperlink to text or photo.  Sorry for that.

Anyway, back to stitching:D

Lindsay

Free Find & Progress

Isn't cute?!  I found it out front of a neighbor's house.  Funny too, cause I was just admiring the return of this American classic in the latest Crate & Barrel catalog.  This one is an Ikea acrylic version, but who cares?  Its aqua and its mine!  

Last night I finished a little dresden cushion for the seat.  So comfy at my sewing desk.

Last week my MacBook Pro took a dive, so while my hubby is operating on it, I'm trying out the Blogger app for iPad.  Hope this post formats properly.  We shall see ;)

Above is the progress of my FMF Herringbone quilt all laid out.  Next I'll be sewing the rows together.  Going from machine to the pressing board and back again is a bit taxing, so I try to work in stages.  

Sad to say, now that its all  laid out, I'm not loving it. I mean I think its a great quilt, but I'm not sure I want it for my bed quilt anymore.  Why do I change my mind in the middle of the process?  I will finish this, but I'm finding myself distracted with a new vision.  More on that later.  

I managed to finish hand quilting the churn dash quilt this week.  For some reason this one seamed to take forever.  It feels so good to say its done.  Now for the binding...

Lindsay

Growth :: WIP

Hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day.  I was blessed to share the day with my family.  

Today I got back to work on the quilt for my queen size bed.  This will be the 2nd largest quilt I've made.  I'm using mostly my FMF fabric stash and a few other favorites I thought coordinated well.  

One of my inspirations came from one of my favorite fashion designers Orla Kiely.  I'd die to own one of her handbags.  I had an Orla Kiely table cloth from Target once, but have recently parted with it.  BTW, Target sells the limited edition Orla Kiely for Method cleaning products right now.  I've purchased my fare share already.  I just adore this stem print wall paper below.  Don't know if you've seen it already, but her bedding is at Bed Bath & Beyond too.

Orla Kiely Home Decor (wall paper)

Although there are plenty of petal templates out there and lots of tips on sewing curves, I'm not up to doing that many petals for this size quilt at this time.  So I kept looking for other options that would give a similar vibe.  Then I saw the quilt below a few weeks ago from Cluck Cluck Sew:

 

Herringbone Quilt by Cluck Cluck Sew

I've admired so many herringbone quilts lately, but hadn't seen one done in multi color before this one.  And so a plan began, a sketch was drawn, and the quilt was calculated using 5" charms.  

300 HSTs (half square triangles) all squared up and ready to go:

Today I threw up the batting on my bedroom wall and Ta Da... My first design wall!  I love it because I can see the layout so much better this way.  Especially for such a large quilt!  My bedroom wall is perfect too.  1) because its the brightest room in the house and 2) its the room the quilt will live in.  Here is just a snapshot of the beginning sprouts.

I'm still rearranging and swaping out fabrics, but I'm loving how its coming together. 

Lindsay

Flea Market Fancy - The Beginning

Today I cut into my FMF (Flea Market Fancy) fabric bundle.   I've finally come up with a modern quilt plan for my bedroom using my favorite vintage inspired line from Denyse Schmidt.   More to follow in the weeks to come!  I'm so excited!

 

m&m's are my favorite sewing indulgence.  After each step I reward myself.  I found this cute little tin in the dollar section at Target.  Isn't it cute!  Oh yah, and I'm trying these new-to-me Raspberry flavored m&m's.  So far very yummy.  Try them, and thank me later ;D 

Success

Well, after a lot of hours, I have successfully made my husband a shirt, which he received on Christmas morning. And he didn't know I made it until I told him. He was so blessed.

I used a navy and light blue plaid from DS Quilts for Fabric Traditions at Joann's.  Unfortunately its a bit big in the mid section.  I probably should have made him a shirt in muslin first.  This is a true men's large.   My hubby has the shoulders and long arms that require a large, but his mid section will never fill this out.  Don't know what to do with it now.  It was the thought that counts...

Today I'm a little under the weather.  So just hanging at home with the little man of the house.  I have been slowly working away at my Red, White, and Blue quilt.   My head is so stuffy its hard to concentrate, but these fabrics seem to lift my spirits.  There are so many of my favorites in here.

Hope you had a good Christmas.

xo,

Lindsay

Second Attempt

Today I'm sewing a shirt for my husband for Christmas.  You may remember the last one.   He didn't love the linen fabric I chose, so here is my second go at it.

 

 

I'm using this McCalls pattern 6613 view B.  So far so good.  I'm opting out of using interfacing. I've used it in the past, but hate how it washes.  The collars always seam wrinkly to me even after pressing.  I don't think most shirts I buy him have any lining anyway.

And I finally got the idea of using the cork board above my machine for pinning directions.  Maybe when I'm done sewing I'll actually mount it to the wall.

Hope you all have finished you Christmas sewing/crafts by now and aren't rushing last minute like me.

Happy Merry CHRISTmas!

P.S.  This is my 100th post!  Can't believe I have this much to share, and so much more to come...

Aunt Martha's Embroidery

I started my first embroidery last night. 

Its one of Aunt Martha's Iron on Transfers called, Flowers of the Month.  The transfer was easier than I thought it'd be.  I'm using a linen fabric and DMC threads.  I'll give a full listing of color #s when I'm done.  Stay tuned!

This will be for my sister, she is visiting from Oklahoma, and we are celebrating her birthday late, but together this weekend.  Can't wait to see her.  Its so perfect that purple is her favorite color and asters are violet/purple. 

By the way, I started an Aunt Marth's Embroidery Flickr Group, since surprisingly there isn't one already.  Please join the fun if you are stitching away.