Monday, Monday

Some pictures of the baby quilt I finished for a friend back in April.  This pattern is a Rita Hodge tutorial that I fell in love with.  I added a border.  I see many more of these in my future.  This quilt made me so smitten with small reproduction and vintage prints, and I have a nice stash of those building for future projects.  Throwing the modern hexies on the binding (this is an older Angela Walters Art Gallery Legacy print) ended up being a really nice and gentle contrast with the other fabric choices.  Also…super old Jo Ann print…the red and white pinwheel candies motif on an orange background?  Love it.  Good luck ever finding that again!

And of course, one of my helpers.  PS, I <3 this machine.  Really.  And my new non stankin Fiskars cutting mat.  I know everyone loves Olfa but WOOF!  I can't deal with the off gassing chemicals.

slacker!!

Apparently I am terrible at blogging!  That's okay, I tend to get distracted and like to nibble away at a million projects at once.  A lot has been happening around here but let us start off appropriately.

You will see more of these as there are some fine baristas in my area that I really must visit…at least thrice weekly.

I have some finishes to share, and in the hustle and bustle didn't really get the best full size pics but hopefully you will get the idea.  This one is my first queen size quilt for my oldest friend, Jesse.  Many weeks of "Jesse's Quilt" sung to the tune of "Jesse's Girl" have been heard in my house.

fabby selection

pretty cut strips

george helping with the layout

pretty trimmed stack o blocks

oooh so pretty, let's see that again

finished quilt top

getting my FMQ on

werkin that quilty sammich

some blocks up close

dem berries

a bundle of cuddly watermelon

This is an Elizabeth Hartman pattern from her Practical Guide to Patchwork, one of the first books I got to assist me on my quilty odyssey.  I started with a smattering of bright JoAnn batik fat quarters, a gorgeous cream batik, and a vibrant floral on white.  I mixed in some pale batiks from other projects and also some prints from Spring House, Reminisce and Happy Go Lucky.  Somewhere along the way I decided to attempt an ombre with the sashing, which may not show well in the pictures, but I really liked how it worked out.  Binding is a Tula Pink print and after the quilt top was finished I asked Jesse: "Fancy some strawberries?" because who doesn't freakin love Briar Rose?  I mean, come on now.

I always think of Hank Azaria's character in The Birdcage, Agador, who says "you can't handle my Guatamalaness" which sounds like "you can't handle my watermelon-ness" and I have said that many times about this quilt.  It doesn't exactly match Jesse's bedspread although it speaks to it.  I was in the mood for something bright, and she really likes it anyway.

Pretty watermelony, no?

I will be bombing the blog in the coming days to catch it up on what's happening.

Too many quilts?

In about an hour I am due at a baby shower…procrastinator that I am, my little quilty gift is in the dryer along with the first quilt I ever made.  I don't know why I didn't handle this washing business sooner, but therein lies the mystery of procrastination.

Anyhoo, so the other day my friend invites me up to see the nursery…and what do I see there but two other baby quilts!!!  Which brings me to the title of this post: is there ever such a thing as too many quilts?  My thoughts--start 'em young!  The beautiful thing about it is how all three quilts are so very different.  All made with love.

Moving on, it may seem as if all I do is stack fabric and doodle around making nothing.  Many days that is the case, but I do actually make stuff, I swear!  Here are some updates on where my fabric stacking has led me.

my spin on the Moda Bakeshop Lovely Lattices pattern

my multiscrappi approach to Joelle Hoverson's log cabin quilt

the most important project: pet me NOW!!!

Annie Bananie

Fabspiration

I've been a tinkering…

My fabric has been looking at me…and I have been cutting into lots and lots of it, getting ready to start some new projects.  Wanted to share my fabric inspiration.

Here are some yummies:

a variety of upcoming projects

still cutting strips from this fabric pull

one of my helpers assessing the aforementioned fabric pull

something involving this and briar rose shall soon happen...

tequila sunrise anybody?

a time consuming pinwheel project on hold until i get better at pinwheels!

Hope everyone is off to a good week!

Make it work!

Every now and again I get a bug up my arse to purge and organize when my creative mojo is threatened by the clutter of life.  That being said I took a mid-quilt hiatus to reorganize my "studio" as it were.  This endeavor involved a bit of what I like to call "unfortunate husband duties" where my hunny is summoned to help me make it work.  This time it involved repurposing an item--a large solid wood shelf that was handmade by the previous owners of our home and formerly employed holding paint cans and gardening supplies in the garage.  It's a little bowed, but no matter as it was soon to go into retirement as a mostly fabric holding shelf.

Typically when I go through these phases, hunny and I will attempt to make use of something already lying around the house (there is a LOT of stuff lying around!), so this shelf was his idea in response to my frazzled text about the world ending, etc.  He spent a whole afternoon and many beers sanding every surface of it, which cleaned it up real nice!  I decided not to varnish or seal (lazy) and instead just wiped it down with a solution of water, lemon, baking soda and my favorite essential oil and let it dry in the sun.  This is my favorite treatment for old wooden things.

So I finished my quilt top and used my new machine for the first time today.  The week of purge/clean/organize was well worth it.

before

during

after

after

after

i love my little sidecar!  keeps all my junk tidy (:

A little bit about me...