Illuminated Tiles

Illuminated Tiles was published in Quilt Now magazine issue 21

Singing Squares - Quilt Now issue 15!

This month's issue of Quilt Now magazine includes my Singing Squares quilt and pillow. This is probably one of my very favorite quilts I've made in a long time. It's no surprise that I adore Anna Maria Horner's fabrics, and her Folk Song line is one of the best fabric lines in a long time. It speaks to me. Much more than just that, the line of fabric splits so easily into warm / cool stacks. That was my inspiration for this quilt - playing with scale and negative space, warm and cool. I also wanted to make this quilt very charm square friendly. I have already used my stack of AMH charms (so sweetly gifted to me by a friend who participated in the AMH Charm Swap a few years back), but I know so many people still have those charms and are waiting for the perfect project to use them! This project is the one! 

This quilt comes together quickly, it uses about half a FQ bundle (or a bunch of charms / scraps), and paired with linen the colors really pop!

The pillow was a bit of an extra - and I backed it with some scraps of Anna Maria Horner's velveteen. It's so cozy! 

If you make a quilt using this pattern I would love to see it.

Dreaming Geese

I just love seeing my quilts professionally photographed. I think that maybe that's one of the very best parts of having my work published in magazines. The photography is always so stunning! 

Dreaming Geese by Emily Lang Quilt Now Magazine Issue 12

Quilt photography is something that I'm only ok at. I can take close ups, and I can take a decent shot here or there, but I always struggle with getting the shot I actually want. 

This was the shot I wanted. The pretty, draped, handsome shot.

Check it out in issue 12 of Quilt Now Magazine! 

Shades Quilt

Another publication! This baby quilt was included in Quilt Now Magazine, issue 8. I am quite proud of this quilt - it is my first actual quilt to be published in a magazine (all the previous magazine projects were pouches, pillows, and small things). 

I started with a general idea of color saturation and low volume fabrics, and it turned out just how I had envisioned it! The fabrics are from Art Gallery fabrics, and they were perfect. I picked them all by looking at the Art Gallery website - it's always a bit of a gamble when picking fabrics based on the small pictures online - but this time it worked just right! 

Priscilla's Quilt - Quilt-In-A-Weekend style.

These fabrics are so hard to photograph! The green looks too lime here, but not lime enough below! Also, shadows... Chicago fall/winter is the worst for photos!

So life keeps moving forward. People are always having babies. This time I'm pretty ok with it. My cousin Jordan's girlfriend is pregnant - and due right after Christmas. The baby is a girl, and she will be named Priscilla. I got it into my head that I'd make her a quick little quilt. 

I pulled the fabrics from my stash - based on the colors they have picked out for the nursery, green, teal, and orange. I think the colors are just great! 

This is Priscilla's room - thanks to Facebook it's easy to keep in touch!

I went straight to my pinterest boards for some quick inspiration -- knowing I wanted to do the wonky cross block - very minimal but lots of fun color. I pieced the wonky cross section in about an hour or so - on my day off, while Allie was at school. It took one stop at the quilt shop for some lime green linen (they were out of Kona Grass green), then it was finished in no time! I love quick little quilts like this. 

There are prayers and my signature tucked under the binding. Wrapped in love!

My dimensions were based on the package of crib quilt batting I had on hand. Finishing at about 40" x 40"

I sure hope Priscilla enjoys it - but first I'll need to mail it out to them. Sometimes it's hard living two states away!  

I actually remembered to use one of my quilt labels! I used Wonder Under to fuse it onto the back and stitched around the sides.

Project Night Night - String Quilt

This winter my guild has set to work making quilts and stuffed animals for an organization called Project Night Night. Project night night gives tote bags filled with a quilt, a stuffed animal, and a story book to children as they enter homeless shelters. Their hope is to provide some consistency and comfort for these kids. 

Emily and I with our donation quilts.

Our guild managed to fill nearly 50 tote bags for Project Night Night!! 

I pulled out this old (OLD) quilt top to finish up for Project Night Night. I doubt anyone remembers this quilt from the blog (read about it here) Hello, project started in January of 2010! LOL! Well it was going to be a big quilt but I lost interest. I'm glad I took the excuse of this service project to pull it out and give it a fulfilling life in the arms of a child!

The quilt finished at about 36" x 45" and I quilted it with a meandering stipple (with a few hearts and stars included). I used Pellon Legacy Batting in 100% Polyester (left over from a little project). This was my first time free motion quilting using poly batting. It was pretty interesting! I had no problems with the batting at all, but it was surprising as I quilted because it's poofy-er than the cotton. Considering the poofyness added with all those bias seams on the string blocks I expected to have more issues with quilting it - but it really was no big deal. :) I quilted it using Aurifil - that spool of thread lasted SO LONG! 

I'm glad this little one has made it out of my WIP pile of shame and into the arms of a kid in need!

For a bit more about the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild's meeting check out my post over on the guild blog!

Bohemian Friendship - My Precious QAL Finished!

It's finished!! 

I'm so in love with this quilt! It's been hanging on my design board for months... waiting for me to be sure about what size I wanted it. I had decided on this size (about 37" x 37") but was frustrated since it's not quite  small enough to hang on the wall (I have no room for it!), and it's not quite big enough to use.

Last night I bit the bullet and left it this size. This is the size my drawings worked out to be - the size the quilt wanted to be. Emily came over last night to sew and talk about QuiltCon. We decided that it's a "Knee Quilt" it will lay over your knees as you're sitting in a chair. Perfect for admiring, not so perfect for warming. :)

I love it either way! It is backed in some lovely super-soft light weight fabric that I received in a swap from Shruti (DQS10? or 11? I can't remember now). And it's bound with some beloved Dobby Dots Pastry Line. Yum it's so soft and lightweight! 

Oh and I quilted it without my walking foot (which I had previously broken by going full Juki speed - apparently that's a no-no for walking feet!). I didn't have very much shifting at all. 

If you're wondering about the quilt's name? The prints in this quilt are all from Anna Maria Horner's first line of fabric "Bohemian" There's at least a partial star of each and every fabric from that line. How'd I manage that? By the generosity of sweet friends on flickr who shared the love! :) Thus "Bohemian Friendship." You can read more about the story here and here. Oh or you could read about the same generousity that Anna Maria herself witnessed - from one of the same sweet flickr friends! Thanks ladies for making this quilt possible!!

Instructions for those receiving a handmade quilt:

1) Put baby on it.

2) Take a picture to send to me.

3) Repeat daily.

I can't say this enough - my quilts are made to be used! Thanks Ruthie for really letting Chloe get some use out of this one! 

(more info about Chloe's bubble quilt here)

AAQI Sold!!!!

My Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative quilt has sold!! I don't know who purchased it (it wasn't my mom), but I sure hope they really love it! I'd love to hear from them too - if it was one of you! 

Feeling sad that you didn't swipe it up first? Go on over and check out the other quilts made by my guild. There are some fantastic quilts there! My favorite one has already sold --- to another guild member Sue! :) 

Please, if you have the money to spare, find it in your heart to purchase one of these sweet little minis! The money goes to fund Alzheimer's research - which is much needed! 

Thanks again to whoever bought my quilt!!

Sometimes it pays off to listen to the teacher.

Last night I was working on the most fabulous quilt, Emily's {Modern} Robin, and at this point in our projects (the last round we'll do on each other's quilt) it means we have to add some pretty long borders and still keep things square/not wavy.

(Note to self - take straighter pictures!)
Top border = wavy
Bottom border = not wavy
(the rest = bad picture taking/wind)

Can you guess who doesn't like to measure and pin her borders?

Well, last night I realized (for real) that I really need to measure and attach those borders properly! I was halfway through the first of three pieced borders I'm adding on this turn. And... they weren't at the level of flatness that I was expecting - a little wavy, no biggie... well yes it could end up bad. And there's still quite a bit of piecing going onto this quilt - so it's time to do it right! 

What? You don't know what I'm talking about? Go on over to my friend Ebony's page - she talks about trying to long-arm quilt a quilt with wavy borders. What a hassle! As a matter of fact this (crazy) experience with wavy borders inspired Ebony to post some basics for adding non-wavy borders. Go read about it there. No really, go read it. Someday you'll need to know. 

I went back and did a little fixing. I left two sides as is -- I'll perfect it the next border. 

Ugh I hate to pin though! :) 

It's worth it. Someone hold me accountable - if it's over 25" on each side of the piece, then I need to use pins to add a border. 

The end. 

PS: Please feel free to ignore the teacher and the quilt police too on most everything else.  

A Flight of Hope: Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative

My AAQI quilt has been listed! Quick - go see if you can beat my mom to buying it!

I'm so happy to see it listed. I came to make this little quilt because our Chicago Modern Quilt Guild decided to  work on them at a meeting and send them all in as a group. Truthfully I had only heard of the organization in passing prior to that. I'm so glad that I know of them now! You see all around me there are people suffering from Alzheimer's or similar ailments (my Grandma for one, but also my MIL has spent years working with Alzheimer's and dementia patients). AAQI is raising money to fund research to find a cure. 

Go on over and have a browse at the little quilts they have up for sale and auction. You'll find the CMQG quilts listed here (ok they're not listed as a group yet - I'll update when they are). Mine is here. There are some really cute quilts to be had. Most of them have "fast finish triangles" which means they're easily hung with a small nail and a straw or chopstick. I'm sure you could even put them in a frame too. 

If anyone is interested in making a quilt to be sold or auctioned on AAQI check it out - it's really easy to submit a quilt! 

Here's a little bit about my quilt and my inspiration for making it: 

The title, "A Flight of Hope", describes not only the flying geese quilt block, but also the desire to fly away from the troubles caused by Alzheimer's. Around the center panel I quilted inspiring words, including the word "Hope." We have hope that one day we'll have a cure for Alzheimer's. 

Now go buy my quilt! :) 

{Modern} Robin

Here we are, swapping again! Can you believe how much our quilts have grown?? If you're new here, or don't remember, Emily and I each created a quilt block, then swapped - we each added a border (or two) to the other's piece, then we swapped again, and then again. We've got one more border to go then they'll return to the original maker to be finished.

This has been a really fun project. I can't believe how well they've come together so far! And... it gives Emily and I an excuse to get together to sew once a month!

Today we sewed for just a couple hours... er... we talked through most of the time, but I got most of a bee block finished. lol. It's a wonder that we get anything done when we sew together! 

So for the next and final round - I don't know what I'm going to add... but I'll do a tiny friendship star in one of the corners... (it is a friendship quilt right? - that was actually Emily's idea, I can't pretend it was mine). I'm thinking teeny -- 3" or so... embedded in a border. 

I'm really happy with how this is turning out - so much fun! But, the only really challenging part? Blogging about a project shared with someone who has my same name. lol. In my head I'm imagining my readers thinking "which Emily was that?" lol.

Thanks for following our little journey here. :) 

Finally! A finished Swoon!

You may remember that I was making this swoon for my MIL, Linda... for CHRISTMAS! lol. Oops! It took me a while to get up the desire to hand sew that binding! The whole thing is pretty fabulous!!

I'm so glad to have this one finished - it's off my table and into the home of my MIL already! (just an hour after pulling it out of the dryer it was gifted!). Linda loves it - which wasn't a surprise since she had seen it at every step of the way! I'm so glad.

A funny thing is that this picture above is the closest thing I've gotten to a "full" shot of this quilt! It's big and Wally gets frustrated holding it. The wind was not on our side today so perhaps sometime later we'll have to take a pic at Linda's house. Even funnier than that, is that while we were taking pictures of it (in the back yard) our landlord yelled down, out the second floor window, telling me how beautiful it is! :) hehe.

So there you have it. Swoon finished. The end. I followed a pattern. I still hate following patterns. I've already set up a flickr swap to get rid of the Swoon pattern. Designed by me quilts only from now on! :) Don't get me wrong, I love the outcome of following this pattern, but it would be so much more "me" if I had drawn them out and sized them down to a more me size. I would have bordered them out with some cool colors and backed them in curry instead of white. Who knows? Well, either way Linda loves it! :) Happy Swooning!!

More about this quilt can be found here.
Linked up with Fabric Tuesday.

Quilts in the Smokies.

You may have noticed that I haven't been here all week. Yep, we went on a big grand family vacation. 14 of us (including four children) in one big cabin near Gatlinburg Tennessee. It was really a great time! 

The picture above shows the deck of our cabin (yes there was a hot tub out there!) ... with a nice view of three of the four made-by-me quilts that were brought on vacation by family members! Rosemarie's quilt was being used for a movie-time cuddle so it's not pictured. :) Such an awesome feeling to know that everyone loves their quilts so much. 

Here are some highlights of the trip in photo display... Cute cousins sharing a menu.

Crazy tons of family squishing together for a photo.

Girls sharing the experience of a visit to the aquarium.

The little ones helping Mimi (grandma) with breakfast.

And posing for a picture near a pretty stream. 

It's been a relaxing week -- but I can't lie... I'm pretty happy to have Internet again! :) Not that it wasn't fun trying to steal wi-fi from our neighbors in the rain, in my sister's car, at midnight.... lol. 

More cool things to follow!

A quilt received finally!

About a week ago I finally got around to sending out my Fish Baby Quilt to it's recipient. Baby Joseph. He is the son of one of my dear friends, Alexandra. Alexandra and I met while serving the children of the Fargo ND   area by leading Catechesis camps one summer. Her prayer life is an inspiration to all who know her, and I knew with her artistic background she'd appreciate the non-traditional baby colors of this quilt.

As you can see by the sweet boy cuddling there, they've received the quilt now and I can stop worrying about it in the mail (and it cost much less than I thought it would to ship!). I've actually already received a very sweet thank you note from Joseph's parents. Too cute. I hope to be able to visit them soon -- they're only a few hours away! 

Here are some details about the quilt. I've already blogged a little bit about this quilt here. But since that post I'd added a little bit of embroidery to two of the corners. One corner has Joseph's last name embroidered. The other corner has the bible verse: 1 Samuel 1: 27 which roughly translates to "I have prayed for this child and the Lord has heard and answered me." A verse that is very close to my heart. I'm glad that it'll be well loved and used! 

Swoon Newborn Quilt.

About a two weeks ago my friend/co-worker had a sweet little baby girl. I think there's something about a newborn that makes people who are trying to conceive able to forgive/stop being angsty about a friend having been pregnant. Since of course we all know newborns cry a lot, and nursing is hard those first weeks, and the poop a lot... so who could possibly hate the parents of a newborn? lol. Ok so maybe in my head this quilt was about being a peace offering after being angsty about this friend having been pregnant when I wasn't. But whatever. lol.

Just when we heard the news that baby Mina was born, I had gotten a FQ of this gorgeous out of print Good Folks fabric in the mail (which then made me order two more yards of it!!). I couldn't resist pairing it with some Kona Curry for a more modern baby look. 

It's a fairly simple quilt, just the one block with a big border of white. I found the perfect grey polka-dot for the binding and quilted it up in just an hour or two! Perfection!! 

I free motion quilted the label. I think it turned out pretty awesome. It's all washed up now and ready to be delivered! Hopefully I'll no longer be sick later this week so we can stop by to visit baby Mina! 

Bee {A little baby}!

I've kept my lips sealed about this for a while, and now it's time to share!

Credit: Michelle Click on the link to see who made each block

A few months ago Michelle of I like Orange Too contacted me on flickr to ask if I'd be interrested in helping to make a quilt for our mutual flickr friend's new baby. The friend, Jules (RelishAustralia) had no clue we were working on such a project - so it was a nice fun surprise!

Michelle requested sawtooth stars made with a certain palate in mind (I can't believe that so many of us got together and somehow we did actually achieve that color palate!). I made three stars, they're really addicting. And working on this project inspired my tiny quilt project.

I also remembered (at the last moment) to add in my little seam allowance prayer for the baby. Don't give me the credit here, I stole this idea from a friend who helped out with Rosemarie's quilt - it's an unexpected little joy to include. I try to add a seam allowance prayer in each of my quilted gifts.

The prayer? "I pray for a long happy life for the baby, and for a happy family always. Always know that you are blessed."

And now for the obligatory "baby on quilt pics!" Jules received the quilt a couple weeks ago and it was awesome to see her reaction to it! Here is Violet enjoying her quilt!!

Credit: Jules

Thanks Michelle, for including me in this awesome little project! And, thanks Jules for being an awesome Flickr swap buddy! 

A Quilter's Dream!

 Two things happened this weekend that would certainly fall under this title. 

First this happened: 

Three quilts in a row. Wally's quilt, my quilt, and Rosemarie's quilt
(Which she brought with her!)

My family was in town this weekend and There were air mattresses all around. On top of each one? A quilt!! All but one of them was made by me, and one of them was made by my Aunt Kathy (given to me when I was about 10). 

In the other room two more! My first ever quilt (t-shirt quilt), and one made by Aunt Kathy.
(Crumpled on the unmade bed? Allie's quilt)

Pretty amazing right? I love the thought that my quilts kept them warm all weekend! :) 

Second: 

This evening before dinner, Wally called me in to the kitchen to see what Allie was playing. To our surprise she was playing "fabric store" with the paper towels (strange enough to have them in the house!). She rolled out a few lengths of towel, then used her two fingers in s scissor motion to "cut" (rip) them apart. Too cute! She kept talking about cutting fabric.... adorable! 

CMQG meeting, etc...

Sunday was a busy sewing day! We had our July meeting of the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild. It was a sew-in which was pretty nice since most of us had hand work with us to do - it ended up being almost all of us around one table chatting and sewing. Sweet!

At the meeting we got to see everyone's mug rugs from the swap - it was pretty impressive! It was nice to get feedback about mine too. I'm always amazed when these ladies like my stuff... my style is much different than some of theirs and they've been at it for much longer than I. Such a great group! 

I decided to give away my "fish baby" quilt. My friend Alexandra is pregnant and due in a couple months... they're having a boy and that quilt is so cool and really boy-ish (as boy-ish as my quilts get). I did some bits of embroidery on it to make it a little bit more special for them.

At the meeting I had help from the other Emily - in choosing a binding fabric for my DQS11 quilt. Yes, I'm ready to bind it already! After the meeting I added a couple little borders of hand stitching too. I love it! :)

On a whim this evening (about...11:00pm?) my husband informed me that he accidentally told a friend that I was making their baby a quilt (I had made a little tag blanket and toy... but not a quilt...yet). So I decided to see what I could come up with on short notice (I don't really have a fabric stash... meaning I don't have many fabrics that I have even a full half yard of... let alone boy fabrics!). So I went with it. Thanks to my pinterest board for baby quilts I didn't have to think much before deciding on one to make. I finished the quilt top a bit ago... (took maybe an hour or so?).

One more point of business. I purchased some fabrics from our sale table at the guild meeting (everyone brings their cast offs and then we purchase fabrics that others didn't want - the proceeds go to the guild fund).. The fabrics were maybe considered "scraps" but I saw a use for them... I've bundled up part of them to be a little fat eighths bundle for you (a giveaway) and the rest are bundled for my niece for her birthday! More on that later - stay tuned!

Fish Baby Quilt - Finished!

I've finally finished this one... it has been a fun little project, but unfortunately one that nearly killed my sewing machine (you can get the whole store here and here.) I followed the tutorial from Sew Mama Sew; it came together perfectly (minus my machine issues). I fell for the quilt as soon as I saw the tutorial - I love square in square blocks! It was really a quick finish if you don't include the down time machine wise, and the fact that I procrastinated with the binding. 

See, I thought I might send this away to a beloved friend (who is -surprise surprise - pregnant all my friends are right?). I think she'd appreciate the colors and the coolness of this quilt, but at the same time I want to make something beautiful and intricate as I know she'd appreciate it. She doesn't know if it's a boy or a girl so these colors work well. But... I've pretty much fallen in love with the quilt, and I don't know that I can give it up. I have no use for it though since it's tiny (about 38" square if I recall correctly). I may keep it just because I love it. We'll see. I'd really like to have a baby to wrap up in it (have I mentioned that before?). lol. 

I am pretty lucky too, since this quilt was nearly free - the top is pieced almost entirely from the FQ bundle I won earlier this year from Michelle at I Like Orange, Too! (thanks Michelle!!!) I've been really lucky in the giveaway department this year! The solids are made by Free Spirit and they're lovely! I am pretty impressed with them.

That's about it... I'm a little too tired to be typing this up tonight... I may revise it tomorrow. 

Linking up for Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory!