Monday, December 31, 2012

Sewing for fun

Before the holidays I created a list of sewing projects to complete by the end of the year, mostly Christmas decorations or gifts. I was actually pretty disciplined about this, and crossed almost everything off the list. So, to reward myself, I started a few new projects purely for fun-no real agenda in mind.



The first is a baby quilt top I created using left over 2.5" squares from another quilt I'm working on (I'm hand quilting the original project...may not be blogging about that one for awhile!). I love the bright, saturated colors in this. I think the white frames each block quite nicely. I enjoyed playing with these squares and watching the blocks come together.


These blocks are for another baby quilt, more girly this time. The block is from  Fat Quarterly Shape Workshop for Quilters and the quilt came to be out of a desire to use this color combination-deep purples, fuchsia and lighter pinks, golds, orange. I like it so far, but I'm toying with the idea of mixing another block in.



My MIL gave me these beautiful African Violets for Christmas, and in such a sweet pot. I just hope I can keep it alive!!

Happy New Year!

Friday, December 28, 2012

Pillowcases for Newtown

Christmas is over already-I can't believe how fast it goes! We had a truly wonderful time with our family-baking, playing games, singing Christmas carols at church, and watching movies. It was so nice to spend time relaxing with family, I'm so blessed that my family is safe and healthy. There are so many that can't say the same thing.

Our hearts have been heavy thinking of all the families in Newtown hurting and missing their loved ones. So on Christmas day my mom, sister, and I made pillowcases to send to the Newtown families. It's just a small gesture, hopefully that lends some comfort and reminds those in Newtown that they are cared for.



More information on the pillowcase drive can be found here. I'm so thankful for those that are coordinating and spreading the word about this and efforts like this. It's great to see people caring for each other!

Friday, December 21, 2012

Pillows and Snow


Pillow covers have been all over the blogging community, and I can see why-they're fun and relatively quick! I wanted to have these out for Christmas, and I got them done with time to spare.


The fabric is a mix of Connecting Threads and my scraps. I used the wonky star tutorial by Cathy Blueberry Patch-I love how it turned out!


We had a pretty epic blizzard yesterday-with 9" total snowfall in our area and 30mph winds! It reminded me of growing up in the UP-this wasn't quite as crazy though!



It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

...Happy Holidays!

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Red & White.


I love red and white quilts. There's something about the simplicity of just two very contrasting colors that is beautiful to me. I also love this color combination around Christmas, it's Christmasy without being too Christmasy...if that makes sense.


I had a hard time deciding on a block/overall design, but finally landed on the Ohio Star. A traditional and, I think, timeless block. As is common with my quilts, this one morphed during the process. It was not in my original plan to set the blocks on point, or alternate between red and white stars, but I really like how it turned out. I didn't enjoy piecing this quilt very much. I think because I most enjoy working with a wider array of colors. But the end result was worth it.


Off to eat chili fries and watch movies with Mr. HardcoreQuilts!

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Advent Quilt.

I get a little excited about Christmas. OK, a lot. So naturally I had to make some things to decorate our house for Christmas-on the top of the list was an Advent quilt.







It's inspired by one made by Sweetwater, and the iron-on labels came from their Etsy store. I love how it turned out, simple, modern, classic. With pockets just big enough for a chocolate-yes, I look forward to my chocolate each day! I hope this becomes a treasured family tradition.

And here's to yummy breakfast foods-it was a Monkey bread kind of morning.



Watching Elf right now-love that movie! [SANTA!!! I know him!]

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Evolving.

A good friend of mine first introduced me to quilting. I was babysitting her adorable son a few times a week and noticing all of these beautiful and inspiring sewing projects she was working on. I bought a few books on quilting, and my friend was so generous in sharing her time and materials to show me techniques like how to make and attach binding. She gave me bits of fabric, magazines and other fun things to fuel this new hobby. I am so thankful to her for introducing me to quilting, and for being such a wonderful friend.

When I first started quilting all I knew was the more traditional style, and I loved it, I still do. I love the history that comes with so many blocks, and how certain colors and patterns have trended and evolved over time. But it didn't hold my interest for long. Enter my first contemporary quilt.


I finished this quilt in January 2012, I saw a photo of something similar online and thought it would be easy enough to make. I tend to just dive into projects without a lot of planning, so I cut lots of rectangles of various sizes and started sewing them together. I knew I wanted white in between to make the colors pop, not realizing how popular white negative space had become in the modern quilting world. And I loved every part of piecing this quilt!


This is the largest quilt I've made, it fits nicely over a double bed. I quilted it all myself, using a technique shared by a speaker at my guild. The batting is cut into thirds, then that third is sandwiched and quilted, then the next third of the batting is added (whip stitched) and so on. It worked very nicely!

I discovered how much I love working with bright colors and simple but impactful patterns. So I'm starting to define my quilting style, but I think it will continue to evolve.


Friday, December 7, 2012

Here we go.

I've been reading quilting and sewing blogs for about a year now, and have been so inspired. So it seemed like time to start my own, not that anyone would necessarily want to read it, but so that I have an outlet for my hobby that I'm very passionate about...quilting and sewing. I'm part of the local guild, but it's very traditional in style and the online quilty world has been the only place I feel at home...where I've found kindred spirits (know that reference?!)...even though I don't personally know any of the creative people whose blogs I've faithfully stalked for months. So here goes.


I made this quilt for good friends that just had a sweet little boy. The block is taken from Fat Quarterly Shape Workshop for Quilters and I love the simplicity of it-showcasing the fabrics really well. The fabric is all from Connecting Threads, and I LOVE the cool, clean colors. It's quilted with wavy lines that I think reflect the nautical theme nicely.


Photographed outside, on a nice autumn day...not sure I'm ready for winter yet!