Quiltcon fabric challenge - Tumbling Triangles

 I'll be honest, I haven't participated in the Modern Quilt Guild's fabric challenges in recent years. Often the fabrics they use just don't speak to me. This year was a different story. When I saw the Wyndham Artisan Cottons they were offering up I hurried to sign up. In addition to the fat eighth bundle I received from the MQG, I ordered 2 yards of one of the "neutrals" allowed, the black gray. I had no plan. So, I started making an assortment of triangle blocks, using the neutral as the background. 

After mulling them over and moving them around on the design wall, I came up with a plan. Since I had controlled the block sizes, no real puzzling was required and the blocks fit together nicely.

I added a skinny silver border to contain my triangles and then added some big stitch triangles just for fun. Quilted it on my domestic machine with my walking foot. 

Big stitched binding seemed like the perfect finishing touch. Now fingers crossed it gets to hang at Quiltcon next year!

variations on Geo Pop

 When my friend Jayne, over at Twiggy and Opal started sharing her Geo Pop pattern in different variations, I decided to see how small I could make one! I pulled out some of my solid scraps and made this citrussy version...

Each block is 1 1/2" finished so the mini finished at 9"x12". pretty small but, of course, Jayne made a smaller one hahaha, which you can check out on her instagram.

Our Improv small group is doing a placemat swap. In August I needed to make a placemat for my friend Anne who had chosen pink and green. I enjoyed making the Geo Pop so much I decided to do a variation of it for Anne...

This one measures 12"x18".  Anne brought me this placemat (my chosen colors are black and white)

I love it! It will be fun to collect different placemats from my friends over the next few months.

Of course I didn't stop there with the Geo Pop quilts. A new great niece was on the way (she has since arrived and her quilt has been delivered). I thought a pink baby sized quilt was in order.

I quilted it with a simple grid on my domestic machine. 

Can you tell I really love this pattern? Jayne really hit it out of the park with this one!

Denim shirt remix

Years ago, hubby bought me this cute denim shirt from the Biltmore in Asheville, NC. I wore it a lot at first, but for a long time it's just been hanging in my closet. I decided to revamp it into something fresh and new.

A quick trip into the local quilt store and I had some gorgeous Ruby Star Society fabric and a couple of spools of 8 weight thread in coordinating colors.

In a jiffy i had this cute tunic all done! I added a gathered "skirt" with the fabric and embroidered flowers above the front pocket and on the back .

 Now I can't wait for fall so I can wear it! We've been having lots of 100+ degree days here in Texas, not exactly conducive to long sleeved denim shirts! For now it's safely tucked back in my closet.

Positively Spring

My friend Jayne, from Twiggy and Opal, recently designed a beautiful table runner for Modern by the Yard called Positively  Spring. When she posted her second version, made exclusively in Peppered Cottons, I fell instantly in love and knew I needed to make one too!

I have to back this up a bit and tell you a story..... more than a year ago, at Quiltcon 2019 in Nashville, Jayne and I finally got to meet face to face. We had a great time chatting and getting to know each other better. On the final day, Sunday, I was sitting on a window sill outside the vendor hall, resting my weary feet when Jayne came dashing out of the door in front of me, a huge stack of beautiful Peppered Cottons, in all of the bright and cheery colors. Now, I had been a fan of Peppered Cottons for a while, love the woven texture, the soft hand.... all of it!  It was all I could do not to tackle Jayne right then and there and run off with her stack!

When I admired her purchase (ok, maybe I coveted it a bit?) Jayne told me that one of the vendors (gosh I wish I could remember which one!) had marked them all more than 50% off! Jayne pointed me in the right direction and settled herself into my seat on the window sill and off I went! You don't have to tell me twice!

Minutes later, I returned with my own yummy stack of Peppered Cottons, which have been displayed on my studio shelf ever since. I've been waiting for the perfect project  to entice me to cut into them, and this was it! 

I will tell you that Jayne's pattern is flawless..... clearly written and easy to follow. Also, Jayne has a link on her post where you can get the pattern for free! Score! I had the top together in a matter of hours (honestly the hardest part was choosing colors and creating my layout!).  Before it could disappear into my stack of "things I really need to quilt but am afraid of ruining" I stuck that baby under the needle of my Janome and began straight line quilting. 

I'm getting better at the quilting, but I still have a long way to go. 

Now all I need is an excuse to clear off the table and display my new runner. Also, don't be surprised if I make another one of these. or two?

what to wear Wednesday, McCalls 7751

One of my goals for 2018 was to sew more garments. I've kind of gone in spurts with this throughout the year. Most recently garment sewing has stalled. Until last week! I had bought these Cotton & Steel lovelies when I was in NYC last month and wasn't sure what I planned to do with them.

I had three yards of the large print, clearly thinking it would be a great garment. Only one yard of the small print. It had not dawned on me when I purchased them that I might use the two together. Then I saw this pattern...

and I loved it. I didn't have quite enough of the large print to do the whole blouse, but that was fine with me. I used the small print for the collar, collar band and the side insets and I must say I am quite pleased with the results.

I love the asymmetry of the hem especially. The only alteration I made was to leave off the sleeve "cuffs". It seemed like a fussy detail that was unnecessary to me.

Look! It even has a faux button placket up the back. So cute.

you might be seeing me in this top a lot in the near future. maybe. Also, I think perhaps I'll make a couple more!

Michael Miller fabric challenge

The modern quilt guild issued another fabric challenge and I jumped on board! First of all, free fabric, duh! and second, I really enjoy challenges. We received three colors of the hash dots fabric and peach solid cotton couture, a fat eighth of each. Since it is ok to add other Michael Miller solids, I ordered some of the Marine Cotton Couture, which matched one of the hash dots we received. And, like always, it sat on my cutting table for weeks waiting for me to be inspired.

Finally, I decided to do a variation on my Funky Dresden pattern which I designed and shared here on the blog almost 2 years ago (gasp! where does the time go?).

We were told to use at least 2 of the three hash dots provided and the peach solid. The funny thing is, once I got to designing and sewing, the hash dot I left out is the Marine that matched the solid I had bought! I inserted a narrow piece of the peach into the other hash dot dresden wedges and only used the one background fabric, not two like I had in my previous Funky Dresdens.

My finished mini quilt ended up 13" square. I quilted it on my domestic Janome 6600 and left the wedges and center unquilted so they pop. 

It's fun to see what others have come up with! Check out the #mqgfabricchallenge on instagram to see more!

what to wear Wednesday

It's been a while since I shared a what to wear Wednesday post. I've been sewing away but haven't made a garment lately. Until now! Last week I whipped up this fun t-shirt, with fabric I bought from Girl Charlee while I was at Quiltcon. This t-shirt knit is light weight and quite drapey, and worked perfectly with McCalls 7323 which I had in my pattern stash and had made once before.

I made view c and quickly realized that there was no real way to line up all of the stripes on the angle like they had done. I did line up my side seam stripes and matched my sleeves, so there's that! All in all I'm really pleased with how it turned out. This one will get lots of wear this summer.

What have you been sewing lately?

Japanese knock off tote bag

My friend Stephanie made an amazing Japanese knock off tote bag to use at Quiltcon.  I really loved it! She shared that it is a free tutorial from Sew Can She & I knew I would put it toward the top of my list of things to make after I got home. Because I clearly need more tote bags.

I decided to make my bag entirely of Cotton & Steel fabrics. Some I had in my stash, some I had just picked up at Quiltcon.

 I love that the bag is reversible! The patchwork "lining is really fun.

I also love the squirrel print. I got it in New York City last fall & had been saving it for just the right project.

I added one of my leather tags to the pocket binding.

This is a great tutorial! The only thing I changed was the handles. I made them longer and narrower than the ones suggested. Can't wait to put this to use!

Boho shirt (and a bonus tip!)

A while back I shared with you the Scout Tees I made, using a pattern I picked up at the cute shop, Needle in a Fabric Stash in California. Well here's the cool thing! The owner of the shop (Sue) designed an add on pattern for the Scout Tee, called the Boho Shirt, and I bought that too! You can pick up your own (along with the Scout Tee pattern) here. Once I knew I had the sizing right for the Scout Tee, I couldn't wait to jump in and try this variation.

I made mine a little longer than Sue's pattern called for (I like my tunics a little long) and I love the way it turned out! The big pockets are a huge plus. If you lengthen or shorten the "skirt"  piece, don't forget to reposition the pockets  My Boho Shirt is made from two Cotton and Steel fabrics.

Then I thought, hmmm, this would make an adorable summer dress! And indeed it does...

This fabric is inexpensive cotton from Joanns and I rather like it! I'd love to make another from a drapier fabric, maybe an Art Gallery which is softer. But this one is totally wearable! Again, I lengthened the "skirt" pieces (these are cut at 27" X width of fabric). 

And here's your bonus tip of the day. I always cut my garment pieces with a rotary cutter. I seem to have more control over that than scissors. Probably because, despite being left handed, I scissors cut right handed. The rotary cutter I can use with my left hand. Anyways.... when I sew my garments I finish all possible seams with french seams. Every now & then, however, there's a seam that cannot easily be done this way.  When this happens, I dig out my pinking shears and trim the seam allowance to prevent fraying.

The other day I bought a pinking blade to put on one of my rotary cutters. (Ally & I were cutting bandanas for the dogs, haha, another story for another day). Anyways, I thought to myself, why not cut my garment pieces out with the rotary blade and save a step later on? Brilliant!

This worked perfectly! I'll be using this trick on all my future garments. Why didn't I think of that sooner???

finish-a-long Q3 goals

I love linking up with the finish-a-long each quarter! It really nudges me to get things done. This quarter I'm going to start off with something that has needed to happen for a while now. My ironing surface is a mess! I need to make a new cover for it...

I bought this bright & pretty fabric yesterday and this WILL get done pronto!

I have two baby quilts that need making. Here's my fabric pull for Fancy Fox, which has been in my pattern stack for ages...

And these charms cut from my stash for another baby quilt...

Every quarter I debate whether to add this next WIP to my list. Well I'm going for it! I've been working on the New Hexagon quilt for more than 2 years and I need motivation to get this done! Thanks to encouragement from my friend Chantal, I have all of the hexies made and the joining process is well under way...

Good thing I laid them all out today, seems I made a mistake on that last row I joined! I need to remove the triangles on the left end and add another hexie to the right. Easily fixed...

So that's it. Four projects for Q3. I think I can, I think I can.....

Linking up here

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. 

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!