Summer Love (Part 1)

The group over at the Old Red Barn Quilt Along has taken a break from quilt alongs and issued a quilt challenge throw down.  You can find the details here and it isn't too late to join in on the fun.  I really wanted to participate but I'm not sure I will have enough time to finish up my quilt top before the deadline of the 31st so I am working on this project with that deadline in mind but am not fully committed.

So step one was to choose a color pallet for inspiration.  Of course I still had tons of those pinned from when I was considering joining the Dead Simple Quilt Along a while back.  I poured over color pallet sites for days but in the end I kept coming back to the same one and decided to just go for it.  I had talked with an online friend about this same pallet around the time of the Dead Simple Quilt Along and had mentioned how much it reminded me of Fresh Cuts.  Of course being the fan I am of that line I still had some prints sitting in my sewing room.  I ordered a healthy does of Bella Solids to go with the Fresh cut pieces and then I was ready to get to work.

 This pallet reminds me of Summer and for some reason I just kept thinking about summer love.  You know that easy kind they talk about in every country love song ever written.  And that made my think about carnivals and Ferris wheels.  Yeah I know it's not a very new concept but once it was in my mind I just couldn't shake it and decided to just let it be the inspiration it so clearly wanted to be.  I searched and searched for a block that gave the feeling of a Ferris wheel without being a literal interpretation.  I couldn't really find anything that I loved but in the end decided to use a block by Elizabeth.  I think it loosely resembles a turning bucket shape.  And so my summer love quilt has begun.

WIP Wednesday #10

I haven't been spending much time in the sewing room lately.  It just seems as though there are a million things competing for my time and attention.  This weekend I got to experience what it was like to have a hot water heater dump itself in my laundry room/pantry floor.  Luckily there was no damage other than the tank that had to be replaced.  Which was a two day very expensive venture but in the end it turned out just fine but left little time for sewing.  Here's a look at what's going on in my sewing space.

I'm working on this quilt still for my mother's Christmas present.  She knows I am making it so that's not a surprise but unfortunately I can't share more details because I really don't want her to know much more than that.  Luckily for me I previously gave her a few options for the layout but she doesn't remember which one she picked so that should amp up the surprise factor just a little bit.

I'm still married, to the farmer that is.  We haven't been spending a lot of time together lately but I'm hoping to make up for my neglect in farm wife duties this week by making a few extra blocks.  Last week I only made one new block and then I took Whirlwind apart for the umpteenth time because my mom pointed out one of the squares was turned the wrong way.  I still can't believe no one else here or on flickr pointed it out to me.

Do you see it now?

I wish I would have used fabrics with more contrast here.

And then of course I am still debating joining in on the dead simple quilt along.  I thought I knew what palette I was leaning towards until I saw another picture on Corey's blog today of her fabrics and her palette.  I'm going to try and only work with materials from my stash and since that is incredibly lacking in solids and diversity at the moment I may need to rethink the palettes all together and go with what I know.

After seeing this bag this week I have ideas to make one of my own.  I have a Fossil Bag that I LOVE that my brother and sister in law gave me last year for Christmas.  I'm thinking a mix of the quilted solid and corduroy for the top and straps will be just dreamy.  Do any of you have a bag pattern that you just love?  I'd like to avoid zippers because well I'm lazy and I don't know how they work.  Someday maybe I'll tackle them.  And I need a large size bag because I'm always carrying around a ton of stuff.

 Check out what everyone else is up to by stopping by Lee's.

Quandary?

Lynn is hosting a new quilt along called the Dead Simple Quilt Along.  The purpose is to explore colors outside of your normal palette while sewing a very simple quilt.  In other words the challenge is in the fabric selections and not the concept of the quilt.  I've been avoiding this quilt along because honestly I just don't need another project right now.  I'm already feeling more than a little overwhelmed with all the things in my sewing room already and adding something else just doesn't feel like a good idea.  But today my good friend Corey posted about the quilt along and I was struck by her choices of inspiration and the solids she pulled to go with them.  I could see some of my favorite prints playing nicely in that palette as well.  And of course her inspiration made me go start looking at colors and inspiration.  I was immediately drawn to this photo with the cool blues and warm browns.

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But then I started thinking about the fact that if I was going to commit to making another project that while this is lovely it would be just another project.  BUT Rachel is also hosting Celebrate Color right now and I've been toying with the idea of making something which incorporates purples for this.  I rarely ever use purple in anything.  It's just not a color I am very comfortable with.  But since Rachel posted such a great set of inspiration photos for Celebrate Color in eggplants, figs, and rich purples I though it must be okay to use purple as a fall color and why not mix the two things together into one project and knock out two personal goals in one.  I can always donate the quilt to a worthy cause when I'm done.  Kate is hosting 100 Quilts for Kids so maybe if I make something in purple hues it will be like checking three things off the quilting goal list.  I saw this inspiration photo and I really dig it.  I'm not sold on the tan and green in the photo but after all it is just inspiration so I could go with something a little richer if I wanted, right?

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 But when I think of fall colors I don't really think of the cooler colors of fall like the silvers and purples.  I think of the rich warm colors.  I was telling Corey about my ideas and she sent me this inspiration photo which I love!  So my quandary is really this, do I go with something I'm comfortable with and make something I know I will love?  Do I go with inspiration that I like that just because I like it?  Or do I go with something that will push my normal limits and allow me to check a few things off the quilting list?

These last two are just some inspiration that I love and are really just for fun.  Although I have to be honest the more I look at the oranges, peaches, and grays in this one the more I am drawn to it.  Can't you just see that as an amazing little quilt.  I'm thinking some nice solids with a little Fresh Cuts thrown in, Dreamy!

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But then again this last one does work well as a inspired palette for boys.  And of course if I'm going to be donating it we all know there aren't that many quilts for boys out there.  It's just so easy and fun to make something pink and frilly.