Making Preparations.

Today is all about making preparations for submitting two of my quilts to the Modern Quilt Guild Showcase at the International Quilt Festival. The link there will take you to the submissions forms; submissions are open until Friday!

Wally wrestling the quilt while it was on the rod for pictures.

This wasn't even on my radar until Sunday at our Chicago Modern Quilt Guild meeting. I'm really pushing myself to get some good pictures of the one quilt since being in a show is one of my quilting goals this year! The other quilt I'm submitting based on a photo that's alright. I think it's a more unique quilt than the other, but it's my mom's and I don't have it here presently to take any better photos. I'm chalking it up to experience if I don't get in - especially for my mom's quilt since the photo isn't what I'd like it to be. 

I spent all day today sewing a sleeve onto my {Sew}Beautiful quilt - that was trying... then after all that handstitching I realise I could have just pinned it with safety pins... duh. Next time. 

I used some horrible or awesome batik fabric for the sleeve since that's the only thing I had a large amount of on hand (I keep mostly small cuts of fabrics). The batik came from the bookstore... yes someone sold us 5+ yards of it with some quilt patterns and books last year. It went home with me for free and what can I say... lol. It's ugly or maybe ok? But I don't really use it. 

Now we're trying to contact my BIL so that he can come help Wally hold it up for the picture... but I'm going to try to get some pics of it with just Wally holding it now, since the sun is out and beautiful!

Update: Yes the sun is out... so is the wind! lol. After taking more than 45 pictures of wally holding that quilt I think I may have one that I can use.... but it's not nearly as "flat" as I'd like! I hope it's alright, and no, there are no fingers showing!

Another update: I am only submitting the one. I don't have a decent high resolution close-up of my mom's quilt, so it won't be submitted this time. 

Sew Beautiful - the second year!

Fabric bundles for {Sew} Beautiful Bee - Feb 2012!

As I may have mentioned... our {Sew} Beautiful Bee from last year was such a hit that we have all decided to stay on for another year! We are (for the most part) keeping the same months, so I'll have February as my month again this year. I've been prepping fabric and laying out measurements etc all week. Now all my instructions are written and my packages are all sealed up ready to ship! But before I get too far with that... let me show you what I'm working on!

Sorry for the super dark photo... it's about 2AM here... AKA the only time my
 kid sleeps long enough for me to get anything done!

My Bee quilt from last year! I can't believe that the top has been completely finished for months now (Christmas really took over didn't it?!). I pieced the back too - using lots of negative space (grey!) and blocks pieced with the leftovers. And of course our awesome label!! I had even had the back 1/2 way finished - I got stalled out there though because I rand out of grey! Now it's all together and basted. Ready to be quilted tomorrow (hopefully). I fear that there may be a wrinkle or two in the back once it's all done... but that's ok. There was some ginormous piecing going on back there - the final measurements thus far are something like 78" x 96" Yeah. It's a beast and it's going to live on my bed forever. Except for movie nights, when we'll all cuddle under it on the couch. :) Thanks bee ladies, you're pretty awesome. 

The prettiest quilt binding ever..

A year in the making and I'm still not finished. Last February I had the ladies from the {Sew} Beautiful Bee make me some pretty awesome giant drunk love blocks. I had them use my very favorite fabrics (AMH's Good Folks), and I used nearly every bit of them to make the quilt big enough to cover our king sized bed. Several months ago I'd finished the top and started piecing the back (using the scraps my bee friends sent back)... but ran out of Kona Coal and put it in the closet. It stayed there for ... a while. :)

As with everything else, Christmas and life happened and now that the craziness has died down I've pulled this one back out. Last night I finished piecing together the back and all I need to do is baste and quilt it. I even finished prepping the binding! Look how amazing it looks! Those are some hard to find fabrics right there. 

The moral of the story, put projects off for a while and sometimes you'll come across some cool fabric to include, such as my prized FQ of buttoned up in sea... and that fortune in zinna. :) 

Hopefully there will be some major progress on this quilt soon - and then it will live on my bed where I will lay awake at night staring at it's awesomeness.

More about this quilt here.

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Hello to Emily's blog world.  I (Michelle) am currently visiting and therefore had access to said blog.  I got to touch my fabric today.  

That is all.

Too close for comfort...

What is that you see? A container of yellow acrylic paint spilled just a mere inch away from my WIP pile!?!! I nearly had a heart attack. Right there staring at you is the finished quilt top for my {sew}Beautiful bee quilt (using my only bits of AMH's Good Folks), the nearly finished back of the quilt, all the extra fabric for that quilt, and numerous other unfinished works.

Is it bad that I was much more worried about this mess than the blue and red spilled on my carpet? Carpet can be replaced but hours of sewing and out of print fabric??!! AH! lol. See that little thread hanging there on the right? It had a dab of paint on it, otherwise nothing was touched by the yellow.

The funny part? I didn't even know that generic art tub on the bottom shelf had paint in it! Slowly my sewing room is becoming a sewing room, with an off site closet... annoying. Almost all the good stuff has been moved (bins with buttons and needles and pins... thread spools, generic art supplies, etc). I have to traipse around the house looking for things to sew!

I did manage to get most of the paint out of the carpet. We'll be making a run to the store soon for some white wine vinegar and baking soda. Hopefully some combination of those will clear up the rest of the stain. Never a dull moment with a three year old around!

Progress!

It's amazing what one can get done with a properly working sewing machine!

I've been working on the back of my {Sew} Beautiful Bee quilt. Before the move I'd pieced several random blocks using the leftovers that my bee buddies sent back. Now those blocks are in the process of being sewn together for the backing. I'm certainly going to need a couple (few) more yards of Kona Coal, but I'm making good progress.

This section is about the size of a crib quilt... and it's less than a quarter of the back!

It's so exciting to see this all come together. And I have new ideas about how to make the quilting go a bit smoother! With a little bit of work Nancy will fit inside the storage side of my table top - boosted by a book or two, she's at the right height. I think I may be able to talk my dad/uncles into cutting some particle board or whatever (hehe that's their area) to fit. We'll see. :)

Sew Beautiful - An Update

I showed some pictures of my Sew Beautiful Bee blocks in the trimming and layout process last week. Well I actually have made quite some progress since then. All the blocks are sewn together, awaiting a trip to the fabric store for some more Kona Coal for a border.

I've done quite a bit of work on the random piecing for the back. I'm not entirely sure where this is going, but I had a lot of fun playing with the scraps that my bee members sent back. I think I sent them enough fabric... these are entirely made from the scraps they sent back! I still have a couple small stacks of strips too! Some of these will be trimmed and given some borders. I think I'm going to piece them in with some solid greys and Kona grass green, and maybe some chunks of the fabrics I have remaining yardage of. I'm so happy to have all these bits on my design wall! Also, how amazing is that label??? SO COOL! It was made by Lee, who also had it printed for each of us (spoonflower rocks!). That safety pin border, totally necessary.

I've just finished the last blocks to supplement the blocks made by my bee members (Sew Beautiful Bee). I'm not sure if I want to sash in between them with grey or not. If I were to sash I'd use Kona Coal (the dark one used in the blocks) or Kona Ash (the light, nearly white one in the blocks).

Or I could just add a wide border around the outside edge (about an 8" border or so). I tend to do this on quilts. Or I could leave it plain, blocks right up against each other and no border.

What do you all think? Should I:

A) sash in between the blocks with Kona Coal (darker)

B) sash in between the blocks with Kona Ash (lighter)

C) don't sash, but do a wide border with Kona Coal

D) don't sash, but do a wide border with Kona Ash

E) Leave it without sashing/border.

I'd love any input you might have! :) Thanks!!

So much to write about!!

First of all today has been a great day - for once I actually had use of our one car and got a ton done! We went grocery shopping, to Target, and to JoAnn's. I got some great deals at Target, two plain decorative pillows for just over $5 each on clearance! And, two packs of cloth napkins (sets of 4) for just $1.50 each! Score! lol.

When we got home I made us yummy sandwhiches for lunch and Allie played around me as I did the Old Person's Yoga DVD for the first time (it's some dvd from PBS that we got in at work... for people of all ages - beginner friendly/ not intimidating). The Yoga was great. I must say that I must use some crazy muscles shelving books at work because I was able to do the "advanced" methods for all of them (no chair for stability). I guess I could have started with a regular yoga DVD. Cool.

Now the baby's napping and the mail came. It's a good mail day! Two more of my {Sew} Beautiful Bee blocks came in! I actually built up a pretend design wall yesterday (scraps of batting hanging over the "toy wardrobe" in the sewing/play room. Here it is. Seeing them all up there makes me so inspired to make more of them!! Which is a pretty good thing since I still have about a half a dozen to go! This is going to be one big quilt! 

I did quite a bit of sewing the last few nights but I'm going to go ahead and save those for a different post, since I'm already rambling. There may be a tutorial to be made. We'll see! Happy Friday!!

Mug rugs, and bee strips...

They're all over my sewing area!

I have nearly finished cutting fabrics for my month of {Sew} Beautiful Bee (February)... I didn't buy enough Kona Ash... so I'll have to return to the store first!

Today we recieved our partners for the Scrappy Mug Rug Swap 3. So I got right to work attempting some paper piecing which would have to be scaled down by about 200% ...

If my partner bites on it and leaves me a comment I'll continue...but I don't think it's my style enough for it to turn out amazingly. I may incorperate one tiny fishy in there... we'll see. Paper piceing is a little annoying - only since I am not very practiced at it! 

If my partner doesn't love it here are some of my other ideas:

{Sew} Beautiful Bee - February Preparations

I have February as my month for my first bee. I've been brainstorming ideas and fabrics. Santa brought me some fabric to match some that I already have. And today I sat down and cut the amount that I plan to send to each person, and tested out my blocks!

Two witdths of each fabric (3 prints, three greys) 1"-3" wide

They went together pretty smoothly. I am looking for 16" blocks (a little big I know) but anything around 14"-16" would be fine since I can always add another border to square them up the same size. 

This is the block that I'm asking everyone to make. I'm thinking that I'll send more of just two grey colors, since I didn't even use the third on this block. I'll also throw in the suggestion (for those who plan ahead) that if you'd like to have the final border all the same fabric, you should not use it elsewhere in the block (since it takes more fabric to make it all the way around). As it is, I don't mind either way. Feel free to mix things up a bit too. A border can be pieced or not, joined on a right angle (the grey with the black and white piece shown) or at an angle as the outer border. Really I'm requesting this block because while it is not that hard, it does take time and ability to be random. My best examples of these blocks are here and here.

Block B, optional. Made with leftover fabric.

Then I made a second block with my leftovers. If anyone would like to make two blocks they're welcome to. The second could be the same as the first, or in this style. This can really be as random as the sewer wants. I like this "matchstick" type block. I especially like the narrowness of that dark grey border. These don't have to be a full 16" since it'd be hard to get it there with the scraps depending on how you used the fabric for block A. (mine here is about 14"-15"). I can always add to finish the final border etc to square it up. Here are examples of thsi style block and creative variations. 

 

What do you guys think? Should I even include the second block at all (remember it's totally optional). Should I send the fabric cut into strips already, or just send a 6" or so chunk of fabric from each color? More variety of colors (with this plan each bee member will be getting a slightly different variation of colors).
Here are my initial sketches. 

Haha... lots of doodling going on there.

I like what I've got so far... now for those final decisions. Then I can cut and package it all up to send out!

{sew} beautiful - inspiration

My month for the {Sew} Beautiful Bee is February, so I figured I'd take advantage of the sale I just saw at the Creative Merchandise Ebay storefront. Seriously $3.90/yd for Good Folks fabric!! I've ordered from them before (that's where four of these from the mosaic came from) and the shipping and service was very prompt! I'm excited to get such a deal on the rest of them!! I'll be ordering the three additional yards tomorrow (need an invoice email for combined shipping!) and looking for that last fabric (Good Folks Fortune in Sea) to round it out. :) I can't wait to see the blocks made with this fabric!!! Check out my gallery if you'd like to see the rest of my inspiration!