Wrap Up

I think it's so fun to see all the mosaics popping up with projects for the year.  It's really satisfying/amazing to see what has been created this year.  I've come down with a nasty stomach bug and am pretty well stuck on the couch, so what better time to put this year end post together.  We definitely won't be partying this evening.  Currently saltines and gatorade are the only things that sound good.

All my quilts for the year, including a few of my favorite quilt backs.

1. World of Goo Quilt Front, 2. World of Goo Quilt Back, 3. A Day at the Aquarium Front, 4. Innocent Crush Diamonds Front, 5. Innocent Crush Diamonds Back, 6. Stargate Quilt Front, 7. Central Park Baby Quilt Front, 8. Stash Quilt Side A, 9. Stash Quilt Side B, 10. Hexagon Quilt Front, 11. Hexagon Quilt Back, 12. Argyle Baby Quilt Front, 13. Pixelated Color Wheel Quilt, 14. Dresden Baby Quilt, 15. Autumn Argyle Quilt, 16. Autumn Argyle Quilt Back, 17. A Memory Quilt, 18. Print Gallery Quilt, 19. Bee Quilt, 20. Farmers Wife Quilt 1

Other sewing projects and bee blocks I put together this year.

1. IMG_6689, 2. Jane Market Bag 2, 3. IMG_6679, 4. Lee's block for Sew Beautiful, 5. Krista's block for Stash Trad, 6. Amber's block, 7. Bee block for Angela, 8. Bee Block for Katie, 9. IMG_5884, 10. Jane Market Tote 1, 11. Color Wheel Swap Fabrics, 12. Mug Rug Madness, 13. Block for Brooke, 14. 4x5 blocks all together, 15. Churn dash pillow front, 16. Bee block for Megan, 17. A new pillow for our bed, 18. IMG_3714, 19. Bee Block for Angela 1, 20. IMG_3111, 21. Goodie Bag Swap 2, 22. IMG_3017, 23. Elephant Family, 24. Doll Quilt Front, 25. IMG_2453, 26. IMG_2327, 27. IMG_2328, 28. Central Park HST Pillow 1, 29. Kitchenaid Mixer Cover 2, 30. Table topper for UHG Swap, 31. UHG Swap_coin purse, 32. Valentine's Pillow Front, 33. Block for Cherie, 34. New kitchen towel 2, 35. Dresden Trial Run, 36. 60-minute skirt

A Finished Bee Quilt

This is my last finish of the year.  These blocks have been sitting in the box for months and needed to become a quilt.  I was trying to figure out some fabulous quilt back, but decided just to take the easy route and used minky instead. 

These blocks were made by the wonderful ladies in our {Sew} Beautiful Bee.  Elizabeth organized our bee a year ago and we're gearing up to start a new round in January--all 11 members are sticking around.  I consider this a quilt from my friends.  I had a chance to meet most of the women in our group at Sewing Summit.  I'm so excited to see what the next year has in store for us.

Lee made this great label for each of us.  It includes names and hometowns (which I blurred).

I asked each member to make a wonky/improv style log cabin block between 12"-16".  I sent everyone an assortment of black and white prints, along with prints from one color.  I am so happy with how they all turned out.  I sashed the blocks in white for a finished size of 18".  The final quilt size is 54" x 72".  I chose to do random straight-line quilting in grey thread.

I detailed who made each block below so I can document and remember.  Thanks so much to each of these great ladies.  I loved putting this together. 

Katie from Katie's Korner

Elizabeth at Don't Call Me Betsy

Brooke from Pitter Putter Stitch

Cara from Me a Mom?

Anne Marie from Gen X Quilters

Cherie from Sew and So Quilts

Lee from Freshly Pieced

Megan from Canoe Ridge Creations

Angela from My Three Sons

Emily from Mommy's Nap Time

My block

My block

Farmer's Wife Baby Quilt--Finished

This little quilt has been basted for a few months just sitting on the pile.  There was no rush to finish it so other projects took priority.  Just two days before Christmas, after all the gifts were finished and while the twins were napping (a rarity around here now days), I decided to pull this quilt out and finish it up.  I love quilting baby quilts.  I had it done in less time than it took Miss C to watch Cinderella.

The quilt is made entirely from the Bliss line from Moda.  I now regret this a bit as I look at the quilt.  There just isn't enough contrast to let the blocks really pop.  It was great practice, but I'm really glad I stopped at 18 blocks and made this into a baby quilt instead of a twin like I originally planned.  I'd like to try another sampler in the coming year, but will definitely go scrappy next time.

The back is flannel from the Bliss line as well.  Final size is about 42" x 52". 

Print Gallery Quilt

I love great picture frame arrangements for a large wall space such as these.  As I was glancing through framing ideas one day I realized these would make a fabulous quilt with large scale prints.  Within a day the sketch for this quilt was born.

I love these prints from the Heirloom line by Joel Dewberry.  The problem was I had a hard time deciding what to do with them because you lose so much by cutting them up.  This quilt preserves the prints.  I added the borders to frame the arrangement.  The sashing is Kona bone which has become a new favorite.  The final quilt size is 80"x80".  The blocks are all standard photo print/frame sizes-- 5"x7", 8" x 10", 12" x12" and 11" x 14". 

After designing the quilt in Photoshop, I started cutting.  It wasn't until I was actually laying the quilt out on my design wall, that I realized this wasn't going to be super easy to piece together.  I started to get worried.  I had to piece this in large sections and then sew about six 90-degree corners (which, by the way, are easier than piecing 60-degree angles with hexagons) to piece everything together.  Sometimes I just jump full-on into a project without actually thinking of how it would all come together.  Luckily, it worked out just fine.

The back is super simple.  I used several colors from the Art Gallery Pure Elements line.

I used grey thread and quilted it on my machine--start to finish-- at our November sewing Saturday.  I also spray basted this guy, which is my new favorite as well.  

This was a Christmas gift for my sister and her hubs.

 

While she was opening the quilt, her hubs was showing Little Dude the wonders of cell phones.  

I think he wants one of his own.

Brrr!

What do you do when one of your favorite fabric designers emails and asks if she can send you an oh-so-fun stack of fabric to play with?!!  Do a little happy dance!  A couple weeks ago Laurie Wisbrun emailed me and asked if I would create something fun with her new fabric line due out in June 2012.  I was so excited.  I love Laurie's style and the fun, unique designs she creates.  Brrr is no different.

I fell in love with Laurie's fabric way back when I first started quilting.  I saw her work in this quilt created by Ashley over at Film in the Fridge.  I've been following Laurie's blog ever since.  I honestly remember thinking when I saw that quilt how cool it would be to be asked by a designer to create something with their fabric.  I was so flattered when Laurie asked. 

When I was redoing my blue chair, which this blog is named for, I used Laurie's Tufted Tweets to recover the seat.

So, I was thrilled when a nice heavy box from Robert Kaufman was delivered to my door Friday afternoon.

Brrr is a winter line that will ship next year sometime in June.  I love it!  I love the colors, the polar bears, the flowers and those fabulous doily-like snowflakes. 

Time for me to get busy!  I already have a couple fun ideas.

This little guy is sitting on my shelf as well.  Stick around!  In a month or two we'll do a giveaway to see who gets to give this fun fat quarter stack a new home!

Adventures in Sushi Making

It's not always about sewing around here.

The hubs and I had a date at home and made sushi.  You see, I think his love of sushi is bordering on addiction.  He used to travel frequently in his old position at work and went out for sushi on pretty much every trip. He knew he had to eat it away from home because I wasn't willing to go out to sushi with him.  Times have changed.  I'm not addicted like he is, but I am a willing participant.  I even tried raw tuna.

We had our Christmas early.  This has become a tradition since having kids.  It's nice to set aside a night and exchange gifts without the kids around and the craziness of Christmas morning.  He gave me tickets to Wicked, which I'm all sorts of excited about.  I gave him eight place settings and two serving platters to host sushi parties.  Never did I imagine I'd buy the hubs dishes for Christmas.  He loves them.  He also recently treated himself to a sushi class and is excited to try out all his new ideas.  Our Christmas Eve dinner plans consist of several sushi rolls, some scallops, and peel and eat shrimp.  (Right about now my mom is wishing she was spending Christmas with my sister who is probably cooking something normal like ham.) 

Tuna--He found a local place that sells sushi-grade fish. 

My contribution to dinner was Crab Rangoon.  My recipe needs some tweaking.

And sad little Pixel was following us around all evening.  We did let her have one shrimp.  Such a sad little, hungry face.

Dinner.  We ended up with a lot of food.  The hubs was thrilled with the results.  

Back to sewing next week.  I have a really fun pile of fabric that Mr FedEx delivered today.  I'm super excited to show it next week.  Have a great weekend!

My Personal Bag Week: Day 4

Bag for today: Buttercup bag from Made by Rae

I've made this bag multiple times before.  Miss C already has her own version.  The problem lately is that her little sister likes to "borrow" Miss C's purse.  I decided Miss A needed one of her own.  She readily agreed.  This bag is a perfect little girl bag.  It's a nice small size for a little body to carry plus it fits a sippy, toy cat, dolly, and other misc toys without missing a beat.

The cutest thing ever-- Every 10 minutes she comes up to me with her purse over her shoulder and says, "Bye, bye Mommy.  I'm going to the store." or "See you later.  I'm  going to see the animals at the zoo." 

Not to be outdone, Little Dude insisted I take pictures of him with his monkey.   Don't you love the after-naptime hair?

All these pictures were taken right after nap time.  If you look, you'll notice the embroidery floss tied to their zippers.  Yep, I sew my kids into their jammies for nap time and bedtime.  Just one more step in necessary extreme-babyproofing around here.

My personal bag week: Day 3

Day 3 of bag week: Noodlehead's Gather Clutch

I've wanted to try my hand at making zipper pouches for a while.  I've always loved the look of this particular one.  At Sewing Summit I received a swag bag put together by Jennifer from Ellison Lane Quilts for a bloggers' dinner one evening.  One of the items in the bag was a cute little zipper and zipper pull from ZipIt.  I decided to give the shop a try and ordered a big batch of zippers.

I ordered an assortment of 10" zippers.  Jennie has so many great colors!

And turned those cute, colorful zippers into these:

Being my first round of zipper pouches I've made, there was a bit of a learning curve.  My first few zippers didn't turn out exactly as I hoped, but I did get the hang of it and made a few adjustments.

A couple of these have already reached there recipients.  Others are destined for some friends and Miss C's Preschool Teachers.  Pouches are a bit addicting.  It was fun to pull fabrics that have been sitting on my shelf for a while.  I'm already thinking of other fabrics that would make cute pouches.