A flower Garden Quilt

This was another epic quilting journey.  My dear friend Amanda had her daughter Ivy this past October.  That is right, OCTOBER.  I was pretty sick right before her baby shower and so wasn't able to quilt the baby blanket I made her in time.  So I brought ti along and showed it to her , then promptly took it back to finish.  Then my beloved machine broke on me and it was months - months! until I got a chance to bring it in to get fixed.

I had tried finishing it on my older machine.  And while it did an 'ok' job on the small applique part i gave it... it wasn't stellar.  I decided to wait.

You can't see a close up of the 'ok' applique part because... well because.  maybe Amanda wont' notice. Or maybe she will and just think it ads to the charm....

However, I will show you a close up of the boarder fabric. Which I just had in my stash and I have no idea where it came from and this saddens me because I LOVE it.  And yes I want more. (did you read that all in a breathless panicky voice?, Good) If you recognize this fabric please let me know the designer or better yet just mail me a bolt of it. Okay? Thank you. Moving on.

The finished Quilt measure 31 X 31 inches and I have to say it is charming.  I could now go into detail about the Sunday I spent finishing it with Elizabeth and about all the things that went wrong with doing the binding and the dangers of leaving a quilt untouched for months on end without finishing it. But I won't bore you with that.  You can thank me at any time.  I'll instead show you a picture of the finished product shall I?!

Ta-Da!!!

Now the quilt is sitting on my desk at work waiting to finally present it to Amanda.  

Sweet Pillow Dreams

On Sunday I worked on a cute little pillow to match the Log Cabin quilt on the guestroom bed.  I think it came out really pretty. Here are some artsy photos that I took when I put it up on the bed.  I know I know, I've surprised you with my mad photography skills.

Okay I can't lie, I was just to lazy to shut the blinds and figured it was a nice change :).








What I learned:

• Putting together one log cabin block is allot easier then putting together a quilts worth

• Free-motion quilting through very tightly woven fabric is pure hell (for lack of a better term).  This was the white fabric on the pillow.  It took me about 4 times as long to quilt this pillow because of all the hangups that occurred.   

 ....... OH and i love (love LOVE) making pillows.

 I was a little short on the material for the back so I ended up striping in a couple of other colors, and in the end it made the pillow all that much better if I do say so myself.

I had a bunch of the fabric cut for the block already as when we cut the pieces for the quilt we way over estimated on the size.  Luckily little OCD me separated all the little pieces out into their own Ziploc baggies and labeled them (no you cannot see this picture).  Thus I was able to just take out the baggies and grab two strips of each size to make the block.  Hopefully this is something I do again as wow, how nice.  Anyway, when picking out the strip pieces I tried to choose the "Purplest" of the bunch as I thought this would make the pillow stand out against the quilt better as the quilt as a whole kinda reads more 'Blue'.  But in the end I'm not sure it worked out that way. But whatever, still pretty.

Okay last picture!   I love it!


Last thought.  Since I plan on spending more time quilting and following other creative endeavors I might be changing my blogs name. I have a couple of ideas I just need to pin it down.  Then I will hopefully be opening an Etsey Shop under the same name.

SEW, stay tuned for more and be sure to 'like' or 'friend' my blog on Facebook!  There should be a little link over to the right of the blog to easily allow you to do this.

posts

So I now have three, that's right 3, draft posts written. They just need editing and some pictures and they are good to go.  So hang in there with me, I haven't forgotten my little blog :)

As a side note, I gave notice at work yesterday.  I can't believe As of February 1st I will be gainfully unemployed.  I'm in a bit of shock.  But this is what needed to be done, so there we go.

Fingers crossed that I don't replace "work stress" with "I-can't-believe-i-don't-have-a-paycheck-anymore" stress

My First Design Challange

So I think I have come up with the perfect deign for me to do for the Project Modern Challenge.  This would be the first composition or challenge I've ever done so I think careful planning is in order.  My design would come out a bit bigger then the 45" X 45" minimum for a quilt but I don't think it would be excessively big and thus impossible to finish before the due date.  .. i think...i hope...
I need to double check my drawing and have Patrick run the numbers to make sure.

I also need to buy purple fabric which will be a struggle for me...ha!!!  As, I think my first challenge like this should utilize my signature color don't you?

No pictures yet as I don't want to give away too much.  But here is the link to the challenge.  http://themodernquiltguild.com/2011/01/05/project-modern-challenge-2/

...Once I get some fabric I'll maybe post a little tidbit of my idea, maybe.

A simple Quilt with a taste of Tree a 9 patch block composition

I happen to love the 9 patch block. I adore that I can showcase fabrics, use up scraps and put them together in a myriad of ways to create a fascinating variety of pieces. It's simplicity can be used to accent a more complex block or it can be used in conjunction with a solid color or accent fabric block to give a piece more interest. I could go on and on about this block process, and no doubt I will in another post when I create again :) But for now I'd like to introduce to you a quilt I made for my mother as a housewarming gift last Thanksgiving 2009.

I chose fabrics in various fall colors and stripes and used this amazingly soft green fabric that I had in my stash and have no idea from whence it came unfortunately as I would otherwise rush out for more.

Here is a picture of the quilt laid out on my bed as I was basting the layers together.

... I should note here that this was at my last house and I'm not proud at how messy my bedside tables are or that I never found the 'right' picture to hang over the bed there.  So ignore all that and focus on the pretty please :)







One detail you can't tell from the full size pictures very well is that I had fussy-cut and appliquéd  tiny leaves to the tree branch.  I had played with the idea of having some drift down like they were falling but opted not to (this time) because I wanted this quilt to be able to be viewed horizontally or vertically depending on whichever way my mother decided suited her.

This turned out to be a wise choice as she ended up hanging it on the wall horizontally and if I had appliquéd the leaves as falling I would have done so from the vertical position thus defying the laws of gravity and thus endangering my marriage as Patrick feels very strongly about such things (wink)!

The end result, after I quilted and bound it was amazing. And I am happy to say my mother and Linda LOVED it.  I asked them to pretty pretty please let me have a picture of them holding it.  And then I amended that request to ask them to be silly in said picture.  This is the result, I love that my mom went all out for that photo and Linda obviously had no clue she was doing so!

Cabin Raising - A Log Cabin Quilt Story

Once upon a time a community of LeClair's got together to make a log cabin quilt.

The quilt was cut and started at house₁ in Alabama. Brought to South Dakota for more work. Then mailed to house₂ in Alabama to be admired, used and displayed.

 "PURPLE GOES WITH EVERYTHING!"

"A touch of purple 

in quilts that you sew 

make everything special

as you already know!"

 "Pieced by Christine, Patrick

and Fay LeClair" 

"Quilted by Fay LeClair 2010"

The quilt has so much blue and purple in it that while there are plenty of other color strips I think of this as primarily a blue log cabin quilt. That being said the Pink totally stands out in the pictures doesn't it?! The log cabin quilt block has a long and varied history. The most traditional blocks have the center square being red to symbolize the hearth fire in the cabin and one side of the block being dark fabrics and the other light to symbolize the night and day, or good and bad of life. I've even read stories of the center block being made black as a way to help slaves searching for freedom during Americas Under Ground Railroad days. Here is one of the many many fascinating articles out there regarding quilting history and the log cabin block in particular: http://www.womenfolk.com/quilt_pattern_history/logcabin.htm

Back to my quilt (smile)

One of the aspects that drew me to this pattern, and gave Fay pause as teaching me how to make this quilt would be time consuming for her, was that the blocks are pieced together at the diagonal with smaller cabin blocks along the edge.

We've placed the quilt into our guest room and are eagerly awaiting our first guests to come sleep under it. Which should be in about an hour :) The bedroom set in that room comes from Patrick's maternal Grandparents and dates back to the 40's maybe. Thus my modern take on the log cabin quilt fits well in our little suite.

Do you think our quests will find sleeping under the quilt an inspiring experience? Perhaps they will have dreams of working the underground railroad. At the very least I think our dear quests will find themselves having a cozy nights sleep.

... lastly I think I will be making a pillow shame for that little white pillow someday soon. I'm thinking a cabin block on an angle framed by lots of white ... But we'll see!






Finally, here's another one of the squares close up:

A Proposal

December 2006 found Patrick and I in SD visiting his family.  As most of you might know, my MIL Fay is the person who introduced me to quilting and has been a wonderful mentor and source of inspiration.  Well, in Dec. 2006 during that visit Fay showed be how to make a flannel quilt where you basically quilted as you went along.   The end result is a quilt that is ever so cuddly and warm. (Instructions can be found here  for the general idea if not pattern of my quilt).

Anyway, on December 27th Patrick and his sister Cassandra decided they were going to go to Panera Bread to get some work done (both college professors) and I and Fay were going to stay at the house to work on the quilt.  WELL, the sneaky devil decided that while they were out he'd take Cassandra with him as he went to get me an engagement ring (squee!!).

So picture this with me. I'm set up sewing at Fay's machine. I'm wearing sweat pants and a t shirt and my hair is a mess, and Patrick comes in sooner then I expected and asks me to marry him without any preamble. Now Patrick and I had been together for sometime now so I thought he was speaking in a more general way. I don't look up from sewing and said 'sure' (sure?).

 Patrick, somewhat with his thunder lost and somewhat amused by me.  Told me to look over and down. ....
I did and (!!!)
...he had a beautiful ring out and he was ACTUALLY asking me and not being rhetorical!


Thus I did stop sewing :) Said yes of course. Admonished him for not asking me in more of a romantic manner. And 4 years later a couple of days before our 'engagement-versity' I am more in love with him than ever before.

maybe I should have fixed that corner before I photoed this...

PLUS I have this wonderful flannel quilt (which i did finish) that I think of our engagement every time I look at it. IF there is a fire in the house, you can be sure I'll be grabbing that one as I flee.

3 Ladies wrapped in blankets

I know it isn't perfectly squared up.

And if I had a better photo, you could see that the feet are perhaps 'less' then what they should be.

But this was my first applique.

And perhaps that is why I easily look over its little defects and think instead these are what gives the piece personality.

I love the colors I chose. 

Purple!

I love that on the 'red' lady I got the stitching along the blanket trim to look frayed like a true blanket.

I love that the background fabric gives just the right feeling of sand.

I love that finally sucking up my fears regarding applique, that I sat down and just did it. Starting me on a journey that has really added to my quilting experience.

Personal growth, check! 

But perhaps the part of this applique I love the most?  Is the pleased look on my mothers face last Thanksgiving when I presented it to her as her birthday present.

As they say, priceless.

The Design Process

So I had 7 left over squares from another project that I haven't posed about yet.  And I love these squares. (love!) ...but I haven't enough fabric to make more(sad face) and for you non-quilter-readers out there, 7 does not a quilt make!

So there I sat this morning, playing with different layouts for them ... maybe making a couple pillows from them, played with adding strips or other blocks to make it a small quilt ... but none of it was (just) right.

Then I realized I should think about the blocks not as the central point of the quilt design, but instead as a part of the whole.  Duh, I know. I picked out two fabrics that are in the blocks and one other, a beautiful Kona Gray color that sets off all the other colors.

Steps:

1. First I got to drawing ... I started out by drawing a 5 X 7 grid. Then I picked 7 squares of the grid to subdivide and match the squares I had been playing with.
2. Then I took a red, gray and a blue pencil and I started to fill in the grid.  I wanted to challenge myself to not just immediately use lots of gray so I right away colored in a big block of red and a big block of blue.  ...that left me with a grid with a big red block and a big blue block and 7 multi colored blocks!
3. Finally, I had fun and mixed them around and ended up with this:

I love it.  Once it is sewn i may decide to make it bigger / more lap quilt size. Although this would be a good baby blanket size, and it has lots of stimulating contrast.

Here it is all laid out on my design wall.


What do you think?

I think ... I'm going to switch two of the upper right hand blocks (see picture to the left).

 Here's an updated picture with some of the blocks switched around to the right




This the beauty of the design wall fyi, I can play with the layout easily before I start sewing!

Three layers of magnet paint. Some super strong magnets.  And we have ordered some steel trim to put around it that will be even stronger so I can hang heavier items.

... to be continued...

My version of a Bear Claw Quilt

Perhaps the best quilt I've done to date!

So I started working on this quilt some time ago and as is my typical fashion I worked on it steadily with little sleep for a couple of days. Got the majority of it done. And then sat on it for a long time.

Then I finished piecing it together. picked out my back fabric.. and got frustrated again and sat on it some more.

Finlay I sent it to Fay when Patrick went for a visit and she sandwiched and quilted it ever so lovely and sent it back. WITH some binding started because she knows how I am :)

Then i sat on it some more because it was so pretty I was afraid I would ruin it when binding it.

Can you see the amazing quilting?

BUT last night I took the plunge.  Motivated by the fact that it is getting colder and my dear Patrick was shivering at night I thought to myself, perhaps I should just bite the bullet and finish the quilt So I did. and it is lovely.


Patrick helped by organizing my fabric for me which kept me staying at the machine.  I love that he is ocd about things like I am sometimes :) But not all the time :)

One thing i did on this quilt that I have not really done much before is I wrote a little quote along one edge.  Not sure how long it will last but I think it is a nice touch.




"Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake."

I did a strip of "meandering squares" at one end of the quilt with scraps of fabric left over. You can see them in the picture to the right there.  I can't decide if I like this strip better at the top or bottom when laying the quilt on the bed.  But I'm glad I added it as I think it adds a bit of a modern twist to the overall design. Plus I loved that fabric and how many different ways I cold combine it all together.

Oh, The quilt is a little larger then the standard queen size, but I folded it up a bit a the top cause I hate tucking in the quilt in the tiny space between our mattress and the foot board :)

Life is good, and our bed is warm. Pat has stopped shivering.

(Like the pillows?  Patrick brought them back from India some time ago, also the purple Sari hanging on the back wall.)