Fantastic quilt voyage

Traveling quilts are so much fun. I highly recommend starting or joining one, if you get the chance. I participated in my first with the wonky bee, and this amazing quilt was the result:

. This quilt hangs in our living room, and I love thinking of the wonky girls that helped make it (Sara, Melissa, Nicke, Amanda and Jessica).

So, late last year, I schemed with a few friends to start a new traveling quilt bee: the fantastic quilt voyage (and I may or may not have had the Coolio song in my brain when the name emerged).

A traveling quilt bee is very similar to a regular sewing bee. The main difference is that each person starts a quilt simultaneously, and each quilt progresses in a different order of participants. You get to pick your own palette and style, and the hopeful result is that each person gets a quilt top (or a pile of blocks) that makes them super happy.

I chose a bright and saturated palette for my FQV:

and I created this pinterest board for inspiration:
Follow Jacey's board Fantastic Quilt Voyage on Pinterest.

I can't wait to see how each friend contributes to this project!

I just finished my contribution for Holly's quilt.

Her colors are so soft and sophisticated. Holly encouraged an element of handmade fabric, so I tried my hand at some stenciling (my pieces are the mint green with triangles!). I just received Nicke's quilt, and I'm jazzed to make a little something fun for her next.

Around the World

You might have already seen Around the World posts in the blogosphere. I was invited by both Jessica and Elizabeth to join in (I'm a few days early for Elizabeth's tag, but I'm just going to post once!). Thanks for inviting me, friends! So, I'll jump right in with a few thoughts on sewing, and some photos that make me happy.

1. What quilting/sewing thing am I working on?

So, you may already know that I have many projects going on at the same time. I've tried to be monogamous, or monogamish, as C would say. I do tend to focus on a project with my whole head and heart, once I hit a certain point. Currently, the sewing project that has (most of) my attention is this curvy number.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

If I had to choose one word to describe my style, it would be scrappy. If I could pick a second word, I'd pick vibrant. I've been told that my pairing of colors or prints is unexpected, which I take as a compliment.

I think some people are afraid of making a daring choice, whether it be a print or color.

But quilting, as with any craft, should be about fun and expression. I like trying new blocks, new techniques, and new patterns. I like using every last bit of a fabric. Sorting scraps or pulling fabrics is lots of fun. Of course, having a well-rounded stash is part of that last bit.

3. Why do I write/create what I do?

Creating gives me such a sense of confidence.

No matter how crappy a day is, if I can get a little sewing or knitting in, it's not so bad. I never imagined crafting would provide me with so much calm.

And I love giving handmade gifts. making something special for a friend or family member warms my heart.

I tag: Claudia, Amanda-My Sewcial Hour and Amanda-The Craft Junky. I met all three of these wonderful ladies at sewing summit. Claudia lives in Germany, and I'm dying to make her star plus quilt, which she's about to release as a pattern.
Amanda-My Sewcial Hour lives just a few hours from me, and I've had the pleasure of spending long hours with her at retreats, soaking up her amazingness. And Amanda-The Craft Junky, well, I'm amazed by her drive. She recently sold her screenprinted wares at two conventions. I don't know how she pulled that off, but she is awesome. I love talking to her about current and future projects.

So, that's it! Claudia and the two Amandas will post next week!

Stash Bash recovery

Sorry I've been MIA for awhile. Last week, I drove with three of my HMQG buddies to the Stash Bash, hosted by Frecklemama.
It was a 13-hour drive, but pretty enjoyable, considering the distance.

I didn't get much sewing done, but I finally managed to assemble my Wonky Bee polaroid blocks! I've had these blocks for about a year. I just love them, and my procrastination paid off! Since I waited so long, 23 came out, which is perfect. I used the gray camera print to help assemble the blocks. (You can find it here and here).

I also started some fun new wonky star patchwork, just because.

I worked on a few other things, which I'll share soon!

Most importantly, there was the social aspect.
Meeting new people, seeing old friends, these are the most memorable parts of a retreat.

I got to spend time with my favoritest friend, Amanda. We had a blast together, and she was so sweet to share her screenprinting process with us. She also brought all of her screens and let us print anything we wanted.

I printed this fun shirt! I also printed a tote bag; I'll share that soon!

I was also thrilled to meet Beth, of Stash Fabrics. She lives in the Atlanta area, and was so kind to be one of the Stash Bash sponsors. We had a great time together, and I loved being able to tell her, in person, how much I appreciate her sponsorship of my blog. I hope to hang out with her again soon!

While I didn't get much sleep, and am still slightly recovering, I always appreciate this kind of opportunity. I learn so much from my peers, and I can't express the kinship I feel after a weekend like this one.

Wonky Bee, Traveling Edition

I have lots to say about Quiltcon, but I'm still processing some things. I hope to share my thoughts in the next few days. I'm embarrassed to say that I took very few pictures. I have a few from my cell phone, at least. Luckily, there are lots of people that were better than I. It was a really wonderful experience.

Today, I wanted to show some progress on round three of the Wonky Bee. As you may remember, this is a traveling round. Along with basic guidelines or desires, you send a stack of fabric and a starter block(s) to the next person. It's been lots of fun so far! We are working on our third rotation.

I received Nicke's quilt first. Her block is on the top; I added two blocks below, and of course, some Dear Stella stars. I loved the embroidery, especially!

Melissa's quilt was next. Her project consists of (mostly) gradient strips at varying widths.

I just finished my first word for Jessica's quilt. I just love the scrappy neutral look. I hope to make another word, and assemble some of the blocks (since we're past the halfway point).

You may remember this stack of fabrics, which I selected for my quilt.

I started with these blocks, and both Sara and Amanda have added some fun things!

Amanda's progress, photo by Amanda

Sara's additions, photos by Sara

I'm excited to see how this quilt turns out!

Quilt Market favorites, part one

I just can't believe I was able to attend Quilt Market this year. It was such a wonderful experience, and I have a few things to share with you. I thought I'd share some of my favorite memories with you.

I met an Indie twin! Yes, there I am in my Painted Portrait Blouse, with a lovely gal wearing the same fabric. Only at quilt market is this a non-embarrassing event!
ETA: A commenter helped me identify this as Lauren, of Sew Modern! Sorry I didn't remember your name! (More FO shots of that blouse are soon to come!)

Sarah Watson

Holy geez, guys. Sarah Watson is one of Art Gallery's newest designers, and she.is.awesomesauce. She's funny, completely adorable, and a genius! I am in love with both her new line, Luxe in Bloom, and her upcoming one. She won best new exhibitor as well, which is no surprise. I loved seeing her sketches!

I also loved her scrappy quilt, using every little bit of her Luxe in Bloom scraps.

Melody Miller

Melody is so genuine and inspiring!

Her booth was perfection, and I loved the details she created. I have something else Melody-related to share with you soon!

As you can see, her booth was so comfortable. We ended up sitting and enjoying the view on our last day.

Carolyn Friedlander

Okay, I feel like this post is definitely one of enabling, but seriously, Architextures. Seriously. It's an amazing line of fabric, Carolyn's debut, and her patterns are so freaking good.

I expect we will see more from Carolyn in the years to come!

I met Jacquie Gering! She was so sweet, and it was cool to see her amazing bridges quilt in person!

Here's Patty Sloniger's booth, for her new line, Les Amis. Ack! The woodland cuteness is too much.

I also bought some colorful vintage ribbon, met tons of amazing people, and felt like a tourist in my own town.

Since this is a pretty long post, I'll save the remaining photos/memories for a second one.

I hope you enjoyed these little tidbits!

Nearly done!

So, first, I have to say, that I was blown away that my tote bag sold yesterday. I was having a pretty rough morning, and seeing that first sale email was amazing. I'm especially touched, that my good friend, Amy bought it. It means so much, Amy. Thank you!

So, today, a new day, I want to share a couple of photos I took last night. Since the photos, I have finished and washed the quilt. Photos soon!

I used a Dear Stella basketweave to make binding for the do.Good Stitches Citrus Improv quilt. Bella, of course, was happy to test out the quilt and make sure it's soft.

I'll share the finished quilt later this week.

xoxo

FO: Haven's Edge Wiksten

It happens to all of us. You finish something, and then a month later, you realize you still haven't taken a proper photo or shared it with your friends.

You may remember my first finished Wiksten tank, which I love on the hanger, but it's not very flattering to wear. That makes me sad, but it's flattening in some places and widening in others. I haven't given up on it yet, but this is why you haven't seen a modeled shot.

Shortly after I finished the first, though, I cut into some Tina Given's voile from her Haven's Edge collection.

This version fits much better. It drapes, it's flattering, and so comfortable. I'm glad I had the foresight to make sure those shapes were vertical rather than horizontal, or this one might be in that same widening category. I intend to give this pattern another go, and I'd like to add sleeves like this awesome version.

In the photo, you can also see some of the lovely mini quilts I've acquired from friends. From left to right, the Love one is from Tammy, The feather is from Amanda, the super scrappy is from Sara, the green one is from Shapemoth in the FTLOS swap, and the one on the end is from Jessica.

Unrelated (and possibly enabling), but have you seen these Riley Blake Ombre Dots?

I picked up this half yard in Orange (along with a few other stash enhancements, ahem!) from Stash Fabric. I really like the scale of these dots! I may have to acquire a few other colors... Speaking of dots, I'm pretty crazy about the new Tula Pink Birds and the Bees dots, too.

Home again, home again

Ah, it's good to be home. Although, hmmm. It seems I didn't really mention I was leaving! Well, this weekend, I felt like a lucky duck. I met up with new and old friends in Atlanta. Rachel organized a sewing weekend for some friends, and it was lots of fun. I'd already met Rachel, Holly and Amanda at Sewing Summit. It was great to hang out with them, as well as meeting Ara Jane, Nicke, Jessica, and Maureen!

I'll share more pictures this week, but I thought I'd start with a few from Whipstitch. We visited on Saturday, and enjoyed the shop immensely.

Oh, and I got to meet Ella! She lives in the Atlanta area, and was able to come by Whipstitch. We didn't get to visit for long, but it was awesome to meet her!

Deborah has created a very lovely shop! We all found some lovely fabrics for the stash. Here's my loot:

I picked up some Monsterz, Lush running stitch, Melody Miller flowers, Laura GUnn Painter's canvas, and Ellen Luckett-Baker's Quilt Blocks!

Yes, my bag was a little heavier on the return trip, but that's normal, right?

I'll be back soon to share more pictures!

Thoughts on selecting fabric

Raise your hand if picking fabric (or yarn, for that matter) is your favorite part of the project process.

I'm pretty sure if we were in a room together, there would be lots of raised hands right now. I certainly love other aspects of creating a project, but raw fabric has so much potential. I'm sure this is why stashing can easily get out of hand. When I look at fabric online (or very rarely, in a LQS), I immediately think something along these lines:

"what could I use this for?"
this would be great for x or y."
"ooh, what about using this for binding a quilt?"

This week, I was working on pulling a stack of fabrics for a little quilt-along I'm doing with my good pals Amanda and Nicke.
I'd thought about several different fabric combinations, but Monday night, I started with a single Lecien print, from the Fabulous Blooming collection.

Less than an hour later, I was staring at a lovely little bundle.

This print was not purchased with any specific purpose, and I've had it for months. I purchased it here at Superbuzzy, if you're interested!
So, my first step was to pull prints that matched the various colors in the Lecien print. I went through my stashed grays, black/whites, greens, blues and reds. I held up individual prints next to the Lecien one, to make sure the shades matched well.

It's good to be broad in this search, and you might end up with something unexpected. I chose twenty additional prints. The pattern size I'm making requires seventeen prints, so I then eliminated my least favorites.


I will be using this stack to make Cluck, Cluck, Sew's pow-wow pattern found here. I'm not crazy about the name, so I'm going to call it, "which way?" instead!
Some things to keep in mind when choosing fabrics:

• Keep the pattern piece size(s) and shape(s) in mind as you select fabrics. Most of the prints I chose are small or medium in scale, since larger prints could get lost in this type of piecing. 
• When starting with an inspirational print like I did here, be sure you consider how each print works with the group, as well as that first print. 
• Don't be afraid to try combinations you may not have previously considered.
• Consider value of the prints. In my stack here, I tried to choose prints of similar value, since there are so many colors involved. When you have only a couple of colors involved, it's easier to be free with the values.
• Having a varied stash certainly helps with this sort of exercise. In fact, this is a helpful way to identify missing colors/prints. As you can see, the lime/chartreuse green color is highly represented in my stash!

I'm going to speak to this process again when planning future projects, because I think it's interesting. I hope you do, too! If you have any questions, please let me know!
The girls and I will be starting the quilt soon.
Feel free to join in with us if you like!

A wedding quilt

I've been meaning to blog about this for just over three weeks now. Trouble is, I didn't get around to taking pictures, and I hadn't received the wedding photos. And this is the kind of thing you need pictures of, because words just aren't enough. So, first, a picture:

Each block in this quilt was made with different hands. It's a lengthy list, but I want to individually mention each person involved in this project:

Amanda
Amanda
Amy
Beth
Betty (my grandmother
Bryanna
Chawne
Chris
Cindy (my mom)
Fi
Freida
Gabriella
Jen
Jessica
Jill (my sister)
Jules
Kaelin
Liz
Maureen
Melissa
Nicke
Paula
Rachel
Robin
Safieh
Sally
Sam
Sara
Tammy

I cannot thank you all enough for making this quilt for us!
It's so beautiful, and when I opened it at the wedding, I was shocked, touched, and overwhelmed.

The colors are, of course, PERFECT! And the stars. oh. the stars. I love that each quilter shared a little piece of themselves in this quilt.

Nicke organized this endeavor, and quilted it! We've had so much fun enjoying each block.

Jules made the binding, and Nicke shipped it to Amy, who surprised me with it. Kaelin has devilishly named it, "The Babymaker". My mom especially loved that!

Thank you, friends! It means so much that you would do this for us, and give us good wishes for our marriage.

One last photo: this is CJ, Elliott's adorable dog, who is living with his parents for the time being. Since we will be living at my townhome (with no yard), he can't stay with us. We'll be visiting him often, though!

Wedding Shower pics

I finally sat down to pick out my favorite pictures from the wedding shower, given by my sister, mom and good friends. The party was fun, with lots of good fun, fun people and only one game. I'm not big on shower games. My friends really did an amazing job putting together a super fun day!

You can see all of these photos in my flickr photostream.

The center picture is the inside cover of the recipe book that they compiled for me. My friend Julie did all of the graphics and editing. It's such a special book, with lots of family/friend recipes to enjoy for years to come.

I also wanted to share the pillowcases my mom made for me.

My mom HAND-embroidered these beauties! She did an amazing job, and I just love them.

After the wedding, I'll be sure to share more pictures of the recipe book!

From Ayumi

We are in the final countdown for the wedding!
Elliott and I had a very productive weekend, but still managed to find some fun.

And I had some very fun mail arrive to get the weekend started!

A couple of weeks ago, I was perusing etsy, and found myself in Ayumi's shop. I saw the cutest little pincushion, and truly couldn't resist, so I bought it.

I didn't realize, but I guess it hadn't been in her shop for long, so I really lucked out!

It arrived, and look! It's just so fun. I love Ayumi's style, and of course, I covet her stash! She packed so many gorgeous scraps into this little cushion.

So, the package seemed a little heavy for just a pincushion, and that's because Ayumi made us a wedding present!

Look! It is so freaking cute! Ayumi used the new pattern from Sew-ichigo, a venture by Penny and Kerry. I'm not sure I'm quite up to the challenge of this pattern, but I'm going to give it a try soon!

I love Ayumi's gift. It's so fun, and I love that she even made the mixer match mine! The stamping is my favorite little detail, though!

Thanks again, Ayumi!

I have a few things to share this week, and I hope I can find the time to make that happen! <3

From Rue and Rachel

When you are regularly order things online (for a wedding and maybe some occasional fabric), it's hard to keep up with what packages you should be getting. The other day I got one in a small flat rate priority mail box, that puzzled me upon arrival.

It was something from Chicago. Then I recognized the name and was even more puzzled.

Rue and I had already completed our swap, so what was she sending me?

Apparently, Rue and Rachel conspired to surprise me with a wedding gift.

A handmade shawl, to be exact.

Not only did they share knitting duties on this gorgeous shawl, but the yarn is handspun, by Rue.

Incredible.

I wish I could really show you the depth of this color, but the yarn is a gray with subtle flecks of blue, green, pink.
And soft. So soft.

The sneaky girls perused my ravelry favorites and saw that I enjoyed the Citron shawl, but I haven't knitted the pattern.

I love this shawl, because it was knit with love and hope.

I hope the wedding venue is chilly enough that I can wear this that day, and remember how each stitch was knit by my friends, Rachel and Rue.

Thank you both. You are incredible!
As soon as I can, I'll share a picture of me wearing it.

Hopefully, it will be from the wedding, which is less than three. weeks. away!

FO: Stripe Study

It only took four months. In all fairness, it sat in the closet for at least two of those months. Back in December, I shared about my participation in a little impromptu knit-along with some fun peeps. I may be the last to cross the finish line, but I finished!

Using nearly eight hundred yards of sock yarn, this shawl is hearty.

You can see an Olias silhouette in the window.

I love the asymmetrical shape, and I LOVED knitting it. LOVED.
The stripes and short rows made the majority of this shawl go very quickly.
As you can see, I got ten stripes. I didn't think I had enough of the Hazel Knits Artisan Sock (in Beach Glass) for an eleventh stripe, so I have a small amount of that left over.

The brown yarn (I love the semi-solid shade!) is Sundara Sock yarn in Ancient Place. It was part of a holiday gift bag I purchased at Christmas 2010. I bound off with a size US 8 needle, to make sure the bind-off was nice and loose.

Raveled here

P.S. Did you see Rachel's version?