Thursday, June 29, 2017

Improv bridges

It happened again. I woke up Monday morning with an idea in my head and had to set right to work! Inspired by these two pictures I took in San Francisco, one of the Golden Gate Bridge and one of the Bay Bridge, I wanted to try my hand at improv piecing and recreate them in a quilt.
I had some scraps of my hand dyed fabric leftover from my Hashtag quilt, and thought they would work perfectly. I didn't measure anything, I just started cutting and piecing.
My first bridge came out pretty good, so I did another from the same photo
Then two of the Bay bridge. Never did get a solo shot of the fourth block!
I trimmed the blocks so they were all the same height (7 inches) and squared them up to different widths. Added sashing strips in between and ended up with a 13" square topper.

Since I was already stretching myself, I decided to do some wavy line quilting with my walking foot (also outside of my box!) and I'm so glad I did! Bound in the same steel gray I used in my hashtag quilt and this baby is done! I learned a lot and feel really good about my first real foray into unguided improv quilting. 








Sunday, June 25, 2017

Second Quarter Finish-along finishes

I did it! I finished all of my second quarter finishes for the finish-along! Just to review....
Placemats have been finished and gifted.
Liberty baby quilt is all done.

as is my Liberty dainty tote.

and finally, my hand dyed hashtag quilt. whew!
I'm linking up here!

Friday, June 16, 2017

Scout tee

Hubby and I snuck away for a fun vacation in California last week. The main focus of our trip was baseball (we saw games at 3 of the 5 MLB parks in CA), but I did manage to sneak in one quilt shop. Driving from San Diego to LA, we stopped at Needle in a Fabric Stash in Temecula. This adorable little shop is jam packed full of goodies, lots of modern fabrics (I picked up some Cotton & Steel basics for my stash), and fun patterns. The staff and the owner were super friendly and knowledgeable. The shop is featured in the latest issue of Quilt Sampler, so I'm sure they'll be busy for a long time!

I have been eyeing up Grainline Studio's Scout Tee pattern for quite a while. When I saw it at the shop, I decided to grab one... along with an add on variation pattern that the shop owner designed. I can't wait to play with that! For now, I decided to make up the pattern as is, to make sure the fit was right. What a great pattern! In one day I made not one, but TWO Scout Tees!
Both fabrics are inexpensive cotton from Joanns but the finished tops are totally wearable! The black print top is made exactly following the pattern directions (which are great).
And it fits perfectly!
The blue one, I added a coral contrast facing in the neckline and at the sleeve hems. I also took the time to do french seams, so all of the edges are neatly encased.

Hubby was so sweet to take about a hundred pictures of me wearing them, so that at least 2 would come out good!

I have tons of variations of this tee in my head... can't wait to try them all out. My new uniform for summer.... I highly recommend the Scout Tee!

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

hand dyed hashtag quilt

Remember way back last fall when I hand dyed these beautiful fabrics?
I had great intentions of making them up into a quilt for ME right away... and then, well, life happened. Factor in a knee replacement, holidays and vacations... you get it, right?

Also I had a very hard time deciding what to make. There was lots of searching on Pinterest. Lots of internal debating. And finally, I settled on hashtag blocks. I put it on my second quarter finish along list because I knew that would push me to get it done. Low and behold....
I finished it! And I love it!

Each block os 12 inches, so the finished quilt is 60" X 72". The background is Kona Steel Gray and I think it really makes the hand dyed fabrics pop.

The amazing quilting was done by my buddy Diann. 

And so, I am finished with my second quarter list! Whew!