Patchwork Bag

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New Bag

Gosh, I love bags! I picked up a patchwork bandana today, and decided that I’d make it into a new lunch bag for work. It only took me a few hours and for a first try, I’m pretty pleased with it. (I love projects that only take a few hours to do!) I have collected a few other bandanas (not the patchwork kind like this one though) so I think I’ll make some more. Maybe my sewing skills will get better with the next one.

Big Dots

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I just finished piecing the top of my Love Beads quilt for the Modern Quilt-Along. Wheeee! I’m happy with how it turned out.

Love Beads Top

I really wish I could take some better pictures. Part of the issue is that I still need to give it a good ironing before it will look better. After that, I’ll need to sqaure it up and trim the edges (the last two circles on each side will end up looking like they’re moving off the quilt) and the top will all be done.
I’ve been debating trying machine quilting for finishing this, but I think I’m going to end up hand quilting it after all. I just like the look of it so much. I do have a different strategy for going at the quilting though. I’m going for close quilting to give the effect of a lot of texture. It’s such a visually stimulating pattern that I think I need to continue that with the quilting too.
I’m so excited to have this part done!

Denyse Schmidt Quilt-Along Kick Off!

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I’m officially starting up the Denyse Schmidt Quilt Along! Like I mentioned before, the plan is to pick either a quilt or a project (you can do more than one if you want!) from the new Denyse Schmidt Quilts: 30 Colorful Quilt and Patchwork Paterns book. I’ll be writing about the quilt-along at least once a week to keep everyone up to date on other quilter’s progress, too.
If you want, take a button with you, and link it to this page.
Denyse Schmidt Quilt Along
When you get started, you might want to take some time to read the section about color and fabrics in the beginning of the book. If you’re planning to make a quilt or project similar in style to the Denyse Schmidt Quilts, she suggests using 70 percent solid color fabrics and 30 percent prints. She says that it’s okay to not worry about color combination rules, and to chose combinations that give you an emotional response instead. If that overwhelms you, another suggestion is to put possible fabric choices in a paper bag, shake it up, and pull out random pieces to use!
Remember, even if you don’t have a lot of sewing experince, you can still try your hand at smaller projects from the book. There’s no due date, so don’t feel like you can’t join in, even if you don’t have the time to start right away. Just leave me a comment or an email and I’ll add you to the list! Happy Quilt-Alonging!
UPDATE! I’ve added links to everyone who has contacted me to participate in the Quilt-Along so far. If you don’t see your name there, I’m sorry! Just leave me a quick comment or e-mail and I’ll get you added to the list. I’ve also put folks who told me they were tentatively interested in joining in earlier. If you aren’t interested in doing it anymore, let me know and I’ll take your name down. But remember, nothing is due, so you have no pressure to make something right away!

No Fair

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Quilts on Display

My Wedding Spectaularrr Quilt ended up with a 3rd place ribbon at our fair. I was pretty disappointed, honestly. We thought my quilt was much better than the 2nd place winner (the one above mine). There was very little actual quiling on it, and I thought my stitches looked a lot cleaner. I’m not even really sure if they’re judged by a quilter though. Oh well. It’s not what I had hoped for, but at least I won a ribbon.
(Special note: I came in 3rd and 4th in the hand-quilted, pieced division. There were only 4 quilts entered into that category!)

Big Idea

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You know how I was going to do the Eclipse quilt in red, yellow, orange and pink for the Modern Quilt-Along? Scratch that. I just couldn’t make it look right. I have a new plan though. First off, I’m changing to the Love Beads pattern.

Love Beads

Then I started thinking about an actual Big Idea. Why did I want to use those colors in the first place? They’re colors that I keep wanting to make a quilt out of (most things I’ve made seem to end up in the blue and green family). At that point I decided to drop the pink and orange from this quilt. I just think it’s going to be necessary for this project.
My next train of thought was to determine what things I love are red and yellow. Flowers, of course!
They were in my wedding bouquet:
Red and Yellow Bouquet

And they’re some of my favorites in my yard:
Red and Yellow Tulip

Yellow Sunflowers

Red Daylily

Yellow Coreopsis

I made a list of my favorite red and yellow flowers and picked fabric to represent each one of them:
Love Beads Fabric

The main color will be similar to the color of my house to represent all of my favorite flowers growing next to my home. I feel content finally with this Big Idea. It’s much more satisfying than my original plan was.

I Smell Cows

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Tagged!

Yeeeehaw! My quilts are going to smell like swine by the end of next week. It’ll be worth it if I win the top prize of 7 bucks. I could almost buy an elephant ear with that on the midway.
Here’s what I took in: I entered my only completed queen-size quilt finshed to date: Wedding Stars, aka, Wedding Spectacularrrrr (you’ve really got to roll your “r’s” when you say it though or it just won’t come out right). It was a gift to my sister-in-law and her new husband just over a year ago.
Wedding Spectaularrr, One Year Later

I also ended up entering the first quilt I made that was finished in 2002. I hadn’t planned on using my second entry since the other wedding quilt that I’m still finishing (I’m getting close!) isn’t done yet. I didn’t want to waste the quarter that I paid to enter a second quilt (yes, I’m cheap). From far away it doesn’t look too bad:
Ben's Quilt

But when you get up close to it, you can really tell that I had no idea what I was doing. I hadn’t read a book, talked my quilting Granny, looked anything up online…. nothing. I remember when I put it on the floor to baste my quilt sandwich, my mom was standing there and her comment was, “It looks nice, but it kinda looks like an elephant sat on it.” The thing doesn’t even come close to being squared up. And when I started to quilt it (I hand quilted this one too) I had no idea that you could just pull the knot through the fabric and slip it into the batting….noo. I wiggled my arm all the way up to the middle and started my needle between the quilt sandwich. I got a book about 5 squares into it and suddenly realized, “oh! That’s how I do it.”
Band Hand Quilting and Puckering

Just look at that puckering and stinky hand quilting! On the up side, it does have a four-leaf clover fabric in it that could look like a 4-H logo. I’m hoping to win some of the judges over that way.

Wow!

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My Denyse Schmidt Quilts book arrived in the mail yesterday and I found this on page 172:

Weblog Shout-Out!

I am so flattered! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Denyse!
I had a few people tell me it was in there, but it was still so cool to actually see it there, in print! Now I’m in the process of showing everyone who’s even remotly willing to look at it. (Most people already know I’m crazy, so if I start flapping a book at them while jumping up and down, they’re usually not too weirded out anymore…)

New Top

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What do you do on a 90 degree day? I make quilts, of course. I didn’t know I could work up such a sweat using my sewing machine. Today is better though; it’s much cooler and the breeze is nice. (I’m no longer trying to cool the entire house with one wee window air conditioner.) I’ve been working on this for the last few days:

Almost Finished Top

Sorry for the bad picture. I tried and that was the best I could get. The top is almost done but I’ve pretty much wiped out the last of my white fabric and will need to get more before I can finish it. I do have a question for the more knowlegable quilters though: Can I technically call this a charm quilt? There’s no two pieces of print fabrics the same in it, despite the white. I didn’t know. The machine piecing is going well though. I’m feeling a lot more comfortable with it now. I’d like to try tackling machine quilting too, but I think I’m going to need to get a walking foot before I hit that.
Today’s big project is to add a hanging device to Wedding Spectacularrr (last summer’s quilting drama). I’m taking it to the fair on Friday (to be judged along side of the cows and pigs) and I think it needs to be able to be hung. We’ll see how it goes. I have a feeling that I’m not up to fair standards though–like my friend Steve told me, there’s no way I’ll win since there’s no chickens, sheep or 4-H logos appliqued anywhere (everywhere) on it! County Fair Pride!
I’m reconsidering my decision on doing the Eclipse quilt for the Modern Quilt-Along. I just don’t think it’s going to work. Once my book gets here I’m going to rethink the project a bit.
Off to have lunch with my birthday husband!

Wanna Quilt-Along?

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Anyone Up For A Quilt-Along?

Would anyone be up for doing a Denyse Schmidt quilt-along? I know there’s a lot of people who are really excited about the new Denyse Schmidt Quilts: 30 Colorful Quilt and Patchwork Patterns book (including myself!!) and this could be a great way for all of us to encourage and learn from what we’re all doing. If you’re intimidated by doing a big quilt don’t worry–there’s lots of other small paterns included in the book that you could participate with.
I’m thinking that we’ll start sometime after the first week of August. That’ll let people have some time to think about what they’d like to get started with, and pick up a copy of the book (I just ordered mine yesterday!). There’s no deadline and no pressure to finish your projects by a certain date.
If you’re interested in joining in, leave a comment or drop me an e-mail!

I’m Nuts

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I’ve started another new quilt (this is in addition to my Modern Quilt-Along Quilt). I have my reasons though. I’m planning on machine piecing the Eclipse quilt, and most (like 99%) of the piecing I do is by hand. And since the Eclipse quilt has curved piecing (which I don’t mind doing by hand) I felt like I needed to at least get the sewing machine out and practice. So this new project is a practice quilt. I got the idea from Hillary’s awsome coin quilt, and so far, this is what I have put together:

Charm Quilt

The dog was in the spot where I was going to take the picture at. I’m actually really excited about this quilt, because another part of the reason for making it is to put this really pretty fabric I’ve had for several years to use:
Backing Fabric

It reminds me of a Monet painting! Just so far, nothing has really made me want to use it yet. I was really moving on it this afternoon, but I had to stop when the sun was reflecting off my sewing machine into my eyes like a blinding laser. That made sewing not as much fun really.
But as I’ve been working on this, I’ve been re-thinking my color choices for the Eclipse project. I was feeling really set on the red, pink, orange and yellow combination, but I just don’t think it’s going to work. I think I can probably leave in yellow and maybe pink, but I’m having a lot of trouble finding fabric that would really work for red and orange. I don’t really want to have a pink and yellow quilt either (too girly for my taste). It’s not that I don’t like the colors in the original pattern, it’s just that I’d like to do something different with it.
And if these projects weren’t enough, I know I’m going to have to start more new projects as soon as I’m able to order this:
AHH! It's OUT!

I can’t wait to get my copy! Exciting!