Hello 2013!

Okay so you know how people use the expression "as excited as a kid at Christmas" well that is my feeling today.  Here we are on the brink of a new year and honestly I can't wait to get started.  2012 was not good to me in a lot of ways but I wouldn't trade all of those bad minutes for a second because I got some really great memories, opportunities, and experiences in there too.  No need to hash out all of the details here but I am excited as a fat kid with cake to start 2013 with a brand new set of goals and a shinny new calendar.

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.

Find My Fabric

Sometimes I am asked to review services that would benefit my audience.  And while I have never participate before because I am only willing to share products I would use myself.  I did decided to share this site with you.  Although the following is my opinion of Find My Fabric, I do need to disclose that I am being compensated for this review.


Have you heard about findmyfabric.com?  It's a pretty cool search engine just for fabric lovers.  I had the chance to spend some time on the site and wanted to share with you all the pros and cons I found.  I hope you will take the chance to look around on the site and that you will bookmark it for help in finding products you may be looking for in the future.

I really like the easiness of the search feature.  If you know the name of the fabric you are trying to find you can just type it right in the search box and it will search 100's of stores and return a list for you.  One of the best parts is that it displays the prices so no more clicking on links to compare who has the best price.

The one drawback to the search I found that it wouldn't be fair if I didn't tell you about is that the site only searches for the product in stores that are registered with the site.  These means some of those more obscure fabric sites may still be missed.  If you have friends or family that have online stores be sure to tell them about the site so they can check into registering.  The more stores that participate the better this site will serve all of us in the sewing community.

Another cool feature the site offers is the ability to search using something similar to facial recognition technology.  Say you have a piece of fabric and you don't have the selvage and you can't remember the name of it but you are having one of those OMG I am short of this fabric and I have to get more pronto moments.  Come on I know I'm not the only person that happens to.  You can snap a picture and upload it to the site.  The computer then runs that photo through the system and returns similar images.

I tried it and while it did find the fabric I was looking for it also gave me some other interesting products as well.  I searched for a gray polka dot and was a little surprised when rulers popped up on my screen.  So the technology may not be perfect but over all it was a success.  And ultimately I think I would rather it give me more options than be so specific it might risk not returning my desired fabric.  The rulers it showed me did after all have gray dots on them.

The site is still in a bit of a test phase right now but I know I will be bookmarking it and using it to find what I am looking for in the future.  Having all of the pricing alone in one spot is sure to save me some time and energy.  So go have a look around on the site and be sure to let me know what you think.

Dueling Flurry

You may remember from way back in December when I made "The List" one of the project I listed was my dueling flurry quilt.  My mom and I made matching Christmas quilts a few years ago and then my mom surprised me by giving me her quilt for Christmas that year.  We decided that my brother and sister in law needed to have Christmas quilts as well and if we each made one it would make the process that much easier.  We decided on Flurry by Kate Spain for the fabric and my mom picked out the Seville pattern Cluck Cluck Sew.  This quilt is made up of three different block types-all of which are relatively easy.  I had the first two sets of blocks done a while back because our original goal was to drop the quilts off to the long arm quilter by the end of July.  Then I procrastinated.  I am not a huge fan of snowball blocks.  I haven't found a trick that works for me and any block that requires sewing a square to a rectangle or a larger square and then cutting it off and pressing back to fill in that space does not get along well with me.  No matter how careful I am when I cut, press, and sew they always seem to go a little wonky on me.  But my mom dropped her top off last week so I knew I needed to get on the ball and get this one done so I took advantage of the three day weekend here in the states to make that happen.  But it must have been a little later than I thought on Sunday night when I laid out my quilt top and started sewing rows together because it is not as evenly distributed as I would have normally done.

First four rows sewn together.  Bottom four rows of the quilt.

I decided the next morning when I got up that I would make it work instead of ripping the seams.  And by happy accident I ended up putting a red square in each of the four corners.  You probably don't remember but the Christmas Quilt my mom gave to me is named Red Square Envy and this is one of the traits of that quilt.  So it seems appropriate that my brothers quilt also has a little red square envy of its own.

Finished Quilt Top

This is the finished quilt top after I got the boarders sewn on and I very much like it now that it is done.  I am particularly fond of the large circles the pattern makes.  I think it is just the right amount of interesting and with it being in Christmas fabrics I think they look a little like ornaments and the squares look like gifts.  Maybe that is a stretch but that's what I see when I look at it.  My mom is going to drop this one off at the long arm next week so she can work a little more Flurry magic into it.  Turns out the snowflake design my mom selected to have them quilted in is also called Flurry.  It may be a while before I have finished photos to show you but at least I can pretty much promise you this one will get finished in 2012.

Traveling Quilts Roundup

Over the past eight months I was lucky enough to participate in a spin off group that came from the Old Red Barn Quilt Along group.  A lot of the really good friends I have made in this online community are from that group.  I don't think Dana had any idea how big it would become or how many amazing friendships would be formed through the group when she first started that original quilt along but there have been many a quilt made through that group and many a friendship as well.

For the last round I had Dee's quilt.  Now I was lucky enough to get to meet Dee in person a few years back so I knew I wanted to do something really special for her quilt.  I pondered and pondered and in the end I decided a tribute of sorts to the very first Old Red Barn Quilt would be a nice touch.  So I added a modified rail fence boarder.  Dee's only request was that we pick one color for her starting square to use as the focus.  There were lots of great colors in there but I decided to focus on the plums and mustard's.  It seemed to me like they would help ground the quilt after all of the white space Nichole used in her round.  I have to say I am so in love with the color scheme that I plan to sew my quilt for 100 Quilts for Kids from the same pretty colors.  I think it is girly with a side of sophistication and hope that maybe a little older girl will appreciate it.

Here is a look back at the other quilts I had the chance to work on.

Finally my quilt top is finished and will hopefully be on the way home soon.  I started off with the smallest center of just a 12 inch block but my top has grown into a massive queen size quilt.  My only request was a orange, blue, and gray color story.  Dee had my quilt first and started off by adding those amazing spools.  They popped up several times and it's so exciting to see how well they all work together and the cohesiveness they bring to the top as a whole.  I already have a plan for the back and then this one will be going to the long arm to be quilted.  Hopefully I'll have it finished by the end of 2012 and it won't get sucked into the WIP vortex.  

Argh Matey

Ahoy there!  Just a quick little baby quilt to share with you today.  One of my coworkers had a baby a few months ago and this quilt has actually been sitting around for a while just waiting to have the binding finished.  So I finished sewing it down last night and have a quick spin in the washer and a tumble in the dryer it was baby ready.  I fussy cut some pieces from a focal fabric and then just arranged it in a pretty abstract way.  I was going for controlled improv.  Sorry for the less than stellar photos I realized after I got to work that I hadn't taken any.

Improv is not my strong suite.

She really threw me off a bit with the Pirate theme and because I was trying to finish it in time for a baby shower I just went with fabrics I could find here locally.  In the end I didn't finish in time for the shower and could have held out for something else but I think these colors work with the other pieces she already has in the nursery and hopefully will be a bright and cheerful addition to baby Tripp's collection.

Closer view of the front and the quilting.

For the quilting I kept it simple and just did some wavy lines on my home machine.  I kept the quilting to a minimum since I wanted the quilt to stay nice and snugly soft but I'm almost regretting not throwing a few more lines in after seeing how much it crinkled in the wash.  It finishes at about 38 by 46.

Showing off the fun fabrics on the back.

I have a bit of fabric left from this quilt.  Scraps really but there is a good part of the focal fabric I used on the front left that you could probably get quite a few fussy cut pieces out of.  I'm going to give it away to a good home so if you are interested just leave me a comment and let me know.  It will just be first come first serve.

Crazy Town

So I feel like I have been living in crazy town lately.  I haven't been spending much time sewing so I haven't had a lot of things to share here as of late.  I've been reading more and more post from friends saying they haven't felt much like sewing lately and that they are taking a break.  I totally understand that sentiment.  I did get a chance to catch up on my traveling quilts this weekend.

 First I had this masterpiece.  My original plan was to applique flowers into the corners.  But those ribbons and leaves closer to the middle are paper pieced.  No way could I add raw edge applique to this thing.  I struggled a lot to find something I liked.  Finally settling on a border from quilters cache called entwined.  WOW did I way underestimate how much time this would take.  I can't even begin to think what it would have been like if I had gone all the way around with the intricate piecing.  In the end I opted not to because the measurements were off a bit and I couldn't get my limited math skills to cooperate with me.  So I made the background and the rail that the ribbon was entwined around go all the way around and placed the ribbon in opposite corners.

I did a ton of seam ripping on this bad boy.  I made many of the pieces upside down not once or twice but too many to count.  It seems silly now but I kept looking at the piece I had done and not thinking that I needed to make the mirror image of it for the other side.

Next up I worked on this quilt which is super scrappy.  It is HUGE already and measures close to queen size.  So I went with a very simple scrappy border.  I got a lot of great fabrics mixed in there.  Sorry I didn't get a better photo but it is already boxed up and off to its last stop in the traveling quilt group.  I have one more quilt left to work on and then this group will be complete.  I am planning on taking a break from flickr after this.  Life has just gotten a little crazy and I hate feeling like I am letting people down because they are waiting for me.  And seeing all of the new groups and quilt alongs can be a little maddening sometimes because it turns into inspiration overload.  So I think a break will be good for me so I can get on the train out of crazy town.