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goldfish squared baby quilts

admin — Wed, 26 May 2010 11:59:06 +0000

I showed you a few of these goldfish blocks recently and now I’m happy to show you the quilts they ended up in!

This Heather Ross goldfish fabric lends itself so well to fussy cutting, and I knew I wanted to use them as the centers of each block. So I cut them up into single goldfish and pairs of goldfish, framed each with a thin border and then surrounded that with other fun prints and solids.

Originally I wasn’t sure about adding the Kona Stone into the mix, but after using it in the twin strip quilts, I loved it so much that I wanted to use it in these twin quilts as well. I ended up using the same design I used for my munki martians quilt and my munki in the middle twin quilts (I must have a thing for twin quilts!), framing each individual block with white and sashing them in the Kona Stone. I love how the blocks pop off the neutral background.

I kept the backs pretty simple – more Kona Stone with a little pieced section to add a bit of fun -

I quilted it on the diagonal with double straight lines and since I loved them so much, used the same stripey bindings as on the previous quilts.

They each measure 33 1/2″ x 36 1/2″ and are listed in the shop!

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Oh, and of course (it goes without saying!) thanks so much for all the nice comments about my new table! I’ve been using it for a few days now and I must say that having this much space on a tabletop is fun, though I have to keep reminding myself that just because the space is there doesn’t mean I should fill it up!

To answer a few questions – the blue wall color in the den is Overcast by Glidden. The butterfly and crab framed paper art in this post was made following this tutorial. I don’t yet have a chair to use while sewing at the new table, but I’m thinking I’ll probably get a couple backless stools so that I can put them under the table when not in use. And speaking of sewing, my main machine is a Pfaff Expressions 2036. I also have a Pfaff Grand Quilter which I keep upstairs. Answers to other FAQs can be found in the FAQ discussion thread over in the FITF flickr group. (Did I get them all?!)

a quilt for blogger’s quilt festival

admin — Fri, 21 May 2010 13:39:18 +0000

Postcards from the Park!

There are many reasons why I love this quilt… Laurie’s gorgeous fabrics, the spring colors, and this fun wonky design! This quilt was inspired by a pillow I saw in a Crate and Barrel magazine a while back. I love the look of the wonky rectangles, but knew that the rectangles on the pillow were appliqued, which is not my forte. So instead I came up with a way to get a similar look without having to applique the rectangles.

What pleases me most about it is that it turned out almost exactly as I had pictured in my mind. (It’s always fun when that happens, right?!)

I also love it when one quilt inspires another for me. Laurie and I both liked this quilt so much that when it came time to create a quilt out of her newest fabrics for Robert Kaufman, I went back to this quilt and changed up the design a bit to create a new version. (You can take a peek at the quilts this quilt inspired over here. There will also be a free pattern for that quilt soon to be available through Robert Kaufman.)

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have fun browsing all the other fabulous quilts through the festival!

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The original post about this quilt can be found here.

patchwork, patchwork, patchwork…

admin — Thu, 06 May 2010 13:14:22 +0000

I hope I’m not boring you with all these Etsuko Furuya patchwork quilts. I know I’ve shown several of them in the past, but this is what I’ve been working on all week… lots of little squares, all rearranged into fun quilts!

I love how each one is just slightly different, depending on which prints and solids are selected. I’ll be really sad when I run out of these older Echino prints, though I do love the new line – how about you?

Here are the latest versions –

a boyish one in blue, green, red and mustard

pretty in pink (and aqua!)

and purple panthers and pigs…

The boyish red/green/mustard one is already spoken for, but the other two are listed in the shop!

a wonderfully wonky string quilt

ashley — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:38:24 +0000

Oh Anna Maria, how I love you and your gorgeous Little Folks fabrics!

I finally finished up my wonky string quilt and I’m so in love. I can’t even tell you how much I love it. So very much.

I made 11″ string blocks using a lime green solid for the center strings. To change it up a bit, I made these strings slightly wonky, sort of along the lines of Denyse Schmidt’s Any Way You Slice It quilt (I just added ‘wonk’ to my strings when sewing them to the paper, though Denyse has a pattern available in her book). All the fabrics aside from the center strings are voile fabrics from Anna Maria Horner’s Little Folks line. I think almost all of the patterns from the line are represented (I can think of one I’m missing…but maybe there are others? I’m not sure…).

I know I’ve said it before, but I’m so over the moon with the voile fabrics in a quilt. The resulting quilt is buttery soft and I want to just live my whole life surrounded by this quilt. Ok, a little crazy, but kind of true. (Perhaps I should just bite the bullet and make myself some clothes out of these fabrics instead…)

I had some minor snafus with this one – nothing serious, just a few things that made this take a bit longer than I expected. I had a little trouble with the backing — I ended up with a solid in a gold color, which is weird, since gold wouldn’t be my first pick. I made a pieced backing, got the quilt all pinned and then realized that I really disliked the gold more than I first thought. In fact, I disliked it so much that I ended up taking the whole thing apart so I could remake the backing.

Then I couldn’t decide how to quilt it, so it sat for a bit while I stared at it and considered various options. I knew I wanted to do a minimal amount of straight line quilting to keep it as soft as possible. I finally decided to go with straight lines on the diagonal, but made them wonky to keep with the wonky aspect of the front.

I bound it in the same green as the center strings (though not before I mistakenly made, and attached, a green binding that actually didn’t match!). But ah, it’s done, and I’ve already forgotten about those issues. In fact, I’m ready to make another! (and another and another!)

Somebody stop me. Seriously.

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Notes:

Tutorial for string blocks

Previous posts about this quilt can be found here and here.

Finished size: approximately 62″ x 72″

Other Little Folks quilts I’ve made – Playground patchwork & Moonlight in the Trees

Little Folks fabrics can still be found at Pink Chalk Fabrics, Hawthorne Threads, and Fabricworm. (It seems that some prints are on backorder, but apparently should be due back in in early May.)

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pull up a chair… for the stacked seating quilt

admin — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 13:27:52 +0000

I know you all already know how much I love Laurie Wisbrun’s wonderful fabric designs. I’ve had the opportunity to make a couple of quilts for Laurie in the past, and I was absolutely thrilled when she asked me to make a quilt out of her newest fabric line, Tufted Tweets. You’ve seen previews of the new line, right? (check that link if you haven’t — it’s gorgeous!) It’s being produced by Robert Kaufman and will be arriving in stores in the next couple of weeks. I’m particularly taken with this line, since it includes the birdies on chairs print, which is one of Laurie’s original prints that I absolutely fell in love with. Chairs on fabric? Love it! Sofas on fabric? Love that too! And especially in these bold and fun colors!

So anyway, after just admiring the fabrics for a while, I set to work trying to come up with a design to feature them. Laurie really liked the Postcards quilt, so I did a little spin on that one, this time going for longer vertical strips of wonky rectangles.

I made two versions – a crib sized quilt using the sorbet colorway, paired with some great solids in yellows, oranges and browns -

and the back…

and a larger throw, with the two remaining colorways, orchid and grass, paired with solids in shades of greens, blues, purples and grays -

and the back…

I’m absolutely thrilled to tell you that the larger quilt is headed for Quilt Market! (If any of you will be attending and might be able to snag me a photo, that would be much appreciated!). A huge thank you once again to Laurie for letting me create another fun quilt, and another huge thank you to the folks at Robert Kaufman for providing the fabrics, coordinating everything, and posting these quilts on their site. I couldn’t be happier to see them there!

The second fun piece of news is that a pattern is currently being written for this quilt and will soon be available as a free download through the Robert Kaufman site. (On their site it goes by the name ‘Unfurnished’, though I’ve thought of it as ‘Stacked Seating’ for so long that I can’t seem to make the switch!). I will be sure to let you know when it’s available! Available for download here!

And the last piece of fun news is fun for you. Do you love this fabric? Would you like to win some? Robert Kaufman has generously donated some of Laurie’s new Tufted Tweets fabric and Laurie is giving it away over on her blog. Head over here to enter for a chance to win some fantastic fabric!

Framed… a mini spring quilt

admin — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 13:50:37 +0000

A spring quilt for a nice spring day!

The inspiration for this little quilt is from my favorite picture frames. I love the oversized matting with the little tiny picture in the center. We have one in our kitchen and every time I look at it I see a quilt. In fact, I was considering going with this idea for my month for the Bee Imaginative quilting bee (which is why these fabrics will look very familiar to my bee members!). At the last minute I went with something else, but decided to finish up this quilt as a little sample.

I made two tiny wonky log cabin blocks and two wonky striped blocks (though I think it would be fun to make one where each center block was a different block style, scaled down to a mini size). Each of these little blocks were surrounded by a sea of white and then framed with a solid (or a solid/print combo, as is the case for that one block!)

My big dilemma was how to quilt it. Since there’s so much solid white space, I wanted the quilting to add some interest. I decided to go with straight lines surrounding the center blocks. I think it fills the white space nicely, and I love the patterns where the lines cross.

The back is simple – some white and some purple, with one little extra block for interest. It measures about 30″ square. I don’t have a plan for this one yet – it might end up on one of our walls, or it might show up in the shop!

postcards from the park

admin — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:24:14 +0000

Another favorite!

This one’s been done for quite some time, and in fact has been living with Laurie for several weeks now. It was hard to give this one up, though I’m happy because I think I can say that she loves it just as much as I do.

Remember these fun fabrics? They’re part of Laurie’s new Modern Whimsy line – so perfectly spring-y, especially in the Park colorway, which is shown here.

The design for this quilt was actually inspired by a pillow I saw several months ago in a Crate & Barrel catalog. I was immediately drawn to the simple rectangle shapes, made extra special by the way they were all angled differently. I thought something similar would be just perfect to show off Laurie’s designs.

I really love the slight wonky aspect of this quilt. It has a bit of a brick pattern, but the addition of the thin white and the wonkiness really makes me happy. The blocks on the C&B inspiration pillow are appliqued, which I knew I did not want (trust me when I tell you that applique is not my forte!), so instead I added thin strips of white to the blocks and then added the wonkiness when I trimmed them down to size. I’m very happy with the final pieced look, even though it took some time to get it all right!

The backing is primarily Kona Coal, with a little extra purple and a couple tiny scraps of Laurie’s fabrics I had left over. The binding is pieced out of a few of the turquoise solids and prints I had left.

Laurie’s shop is currently on vacation mode, but she’s due back soon in case you want to order any of these fabrics. In light of the recent fading experienced with one of Heather Ross’s fabrics printed by Spoonflower, a few of you have asked me what I’ve experienced with Laurie’s fabrics. I’ve made two quilts with her fabrics now and I’ve washed each of them only once before mailing them off to her. I did experience some slight fading, but it was in line with what I expected to see. Based on the way the fabrics are printed, I knew that they wouldn’t wash and wear in the same way I’m used to with commercially produced fabrics. In my mind, I’m ok with a little fading if it means I can get some fabulously unique fabrics like these. It is something to consider though, and if you’re interested, there’s a great thread about this fading issue, including some information straight from Stephen and Kim at Spoonflower about the printing process and what to expect in terms of fading.

Speaking of Laurie and her unique fabrics… you might recall that she had a line picked up by Robert Kaufman called Tufted Tweets and it will be out this Spring. Laurie’s posted the first photos of the new line over on her blog, and can I just say WOW! I’ve been waiting to see the line, and it certainly did not disappoint!

(photo by Laurie Wisbrun)

That orchid… all mine! I’m picturing not only one or more purple quilts, but also curtains, pillows, and I’ll probably have to copy Laurie’s idea for some PJ pants! I’m anxiously patiently waiting until I can see it in person!

the start of the flying farfalle quilt

admin — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:04:11 +0000

This one is named as such because Morgan thinks it looks like flying pieces of bowtie pasta. I think that makes it sound a bit circus-like, but so be it. I like the circus, and I really like this quilt, so I guess all’s well.

The small colored fabric triangles are the scraps from my Anna Maria Horner voile string quilt. I couldn’t bear to throw them out, and you all had great suggestions about what I could do with them. Many of you voted for Amanda Jean’s ticker tape quilt, which is definitely on my list, but not for these scraps. Instead, I went with this design, which I spotted in Gwen Marston’s Liberated Quiltmaking II book. The book simply shows a photo of a finished quilt, though I’m led to believe that there’s more information about the block (called the Exquisite block) in her first book, Liberated Quiltmaking (which unfortunately no longer seems to be available for a decent price…).

I love this design for its simplicity, for the way it uses up scraps I can’t bear to throw away, and also for the speed in which it all comes together!

The solid white fabric in this one is an Ikea twin sheet. Amanda Jean posted about this idea here, and one very lovely reader offered to pick me up a sheet when she last visited Ikea (no Ikeas in VT… ) (Lisa, you’re the best!) I really loved using the sheet as the white solid. As Amanda Jean says, you get about 4.5 yards of fabric for under $5, which makes it the cheapest white I’ve used yet. It’s a nice creamy white color and after washing, it has a bit of texture, which I kind of like. I’ve read lots of places that you shouldn’t use sheets for quilting, but I thought it worked out quite well. I guess it’s a matter of personal preference! So if you’re looking for white fabric, you just might want to try this out and see what you think!

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A huge thank you to everyone who commented with great suggestions on things to do and see around San Diego! I’ve never been, so I really appreciate all the suggestions – thank you, thank you!!

spotted squares quilt… in a twin size

admin — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:51:44 +0000

You might recall that I had a request to recreate my original Spotted Squares quilt in a twin sized version. It’s taken a little while to get this finished (twin sized quilts are larger than I realized!), but I’m pleased to say that it’s finally done!

There are a total of 108 blocks in this quilt, and the printed fabrics are each some form of a polka dot (a very loose interpretation of a polka dot, just to make it a bit more interesting!). I’ve always loved this design, and I think this quilt is another winner… and it’s fun to see it in a larger version!

For the backing, I went with a lovely shade of blue – a Moda Bella solid in Mist, to be exact – and I added in fun strip of blocks outlined in white.

The binding is Kona Coal, with a tiny pieced section using Amy Butler’s Sunspots in green. I really love the dark binding – I think it makes the colors on the front really pop, and of course I just love how it looks with the solid blue backing.

After washing, it shrunk down to a near perfect twin sized quilt – measuring about 65″ x 87″ or so. It’s all packaged up and it’s been mailed off to meet it’s new owner, a little girl just moving into her big girl bed. I certainly hope she will love it for years to come!

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Previous post about this quilt can be found here.

Blocks are 8.25″ square. I did 9 blocks across by 12 blocks, for a total of 108 blocks. This worked out to a nearly perfect twin sized quilt.

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Unrelated, but maybe you can help?… I’ll be going out to California soon (San Diego area) and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for cool places to visit (or maybe great fabric shops I shouldn’t pass up!). I’d also love to take some time to drive along the coast and maybe see a few other cities/towns… anyone know of any great spots or cool places to stay? Thanks!!

an Anna Maria Horner string quilt, in voile

admin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:48:22 +0000

You know my love of string quilts, right? Well, despite having one in progress (one which may never be finished!), I decided to start another one. I just couldn’t resist using all of the Anna Maria Horner voile fabrics together in one string quilt.

I used green for the center string this time. It’s the same green I used for the binding on the last AMH little folks voile quilt I made. And just to change this up a bit, on this version I combined a regular string quilt with a bit of the Denyse Schmidt ‘Any Way You Slice It’ look (pattern available in the Denyse Schmidt Quilts book) . I’m not sure if you can really see it in these photos, but the inside strings are decidedly wonky, and I think it’s quite fun!

Notes:

String quilt tutorial can be found here. For this quilt I’m using 10″ squares.

Fabrics are Anna Maria Horner Little Folks voile, as well as the voile solids and dobby dots. Purchased from Fabricworm and Hawthorne Threads.