Quilting | Grannies Around the World

I made this quilt for my mom for Christmas. I have started many things for family members and not always gotten them finished. This one I crammed until Christmas Eve!

This is the first time I have tried anything fancy for a quilting motif. It is not an all over design and the batting is fairly puffy so I didn't want to quilt too dense. This quilt is wondrously heavy and snuggly at the same time. :) 

I was laughing with a new friend I made at my first quilt guild meeting, about being so bone tired and bleary-eyed trying to meet a deadline and how we keep going. Perseverance my friends, that is the stuff that quilters are made of.

My mom  helped me choose the sashing fabric and the widths for this quilt. I spent a lot of my childhood in my mom's sewing room playing with scraps of fabric and rummaging and admiring her stash.

I am pretty grateful to of had that experience and I will always cherish the 70's inspired fabrics and caftans that I subsequently stole and ruined as a teenager.


I owe my mom some crochet shawls too that I wore everywhere as an "outspoken fashion plate teen" I used to wear the craziest of stuff!


Where are all the freaks? Where are all my fearless brothers and sisters?






No matter; I am tamer but still not trusted to dress myself to "fit in" I do get the "you are wearing that?" or the "you cant come with me if you are wearing that!".

I think that shall be my new aim. more of that.

Here is a song that really perked me up today on CBC Radio Two this morning. I am going to try and keep this jive mojo through the day to inspire me.

Until next time friends, stay fearless.



Sarah




Linking to the following linky parties that are super fun!

Finish it up Friday    and:

Quilting | AHIQ Playing With Scale

Hi All, I have joined the 30 quilt designs by April challenge by mmmquilts! it really helped me get my ideas for the AHIQ playing with scale quilt moving along.

I have created several of the elements I want to put together in this quilt. I am getting pretty nervous to see if they do go together 

I knew what I wanted to do (mostly) and I had some bits started so I put them together in design entry #1

This past weekend I cut and sewed neutrals for the background with some vertical diamonds. And I resized all of the extra hexies to 3" hexies for the skirt. It was too hard to combine different sizes of hexies, that's an EPP game I am not ready to play yet.  

I can't wait to show you all of the pieces together. I think the next step will be drafting a paper pattern for the dress and body and hair. Hello, pencil and scotch tape!

Until next time stay hopeful my friends,

Sarah

Linking to

Quilting | AHIQ Challenge #29

I want to get in the game for Kaja's Improv Challange #29 so I have added it to my FAL list as # 6. This is a quilt I started last year but I got stuck and lost direction.

Can you see what I mean?




I'm trying and I almost see something coming together but it needs more elements...















My Inspirations when I began this piece are Global-Punk Circus with a sheen? yes, no? da? oui? hai!:











I love restrictions as they force my creativity, In the AHIQ Challange #29 the theme chosen was scale and I immediately thought of this piece I gaped at in awe a couple of years ago.




(I pinned this from  Pinterest. I am not sure who the creator is of it and if anyone knows please let me know as it is brilliant!)

Kaja does a great job of artfully choosing a direction that requires thought and creativity. I can't wait for this piece to come together and I look forward to sharing its progress!

Until then my friends stay inspired,

Sarah

Quilting | The Cabin Blanket

Hi, I finished a quilt. The name changed, the design changed, the purpose changed.... sigh, ART. It is now simple pretty and useful. How wonderful is that!

The cabin blanket that was I making a lot of scrappy HST's for; It is finished! This thing was going to be a duvet cover!?!! what was I thinking?! hahaha you can read about in the link above.

I was not sure If I was going to make it with a symmetrical border or not. I decided not and I worked fantastically! This snuggly cutie has been claimed by my fiance. lol. The blanket and me I guess.

It is so soft and snuggly

It has simple quilting that shows on the back and I love this one more than I planned. Most of the fabrics are from my mom's friend and the annual church fabric sale. 

 It has truly grown on me. Its funny how quilts do that



Linked to em's scrapbag http://emsscrapbag.blogspot.ca/

Quilting | A Rohen's Finish

I Finished It. It only took four months.... To get back on track

Rohens Quilt is reversible, with the large pieced stars on the one side and the patchwork improv on the back. And he totally loved it, a big genuine smile and a real tight hug. I love that guy :)

 The quilting was one of my favorite parts! this is one of my first quilts that I have quilted designs all over instead of stitching in the ditch!

I have been watching Angela Walters on the midnight quilt show. it is such a treat to see a new episode!

Angela and the Midnight Quilt show has inspired my quilting this summer see...... Thanks, Angela!

Here is the quilting of the star showing through onto the scrappy back

looking back it seems really amazing to see all of the pieces come together from smaller scraps. 

I am totally inspired to keep going! In fact, I have two more scrap quilts on the go. I am excited to show you next time.

Until then, stay scrappy my friends.

I am so happy to link with finished or not Friday!  It has been such a long time.

Quilting | Cabin HST the Duvet Cover Quilt

This is the Cabin HST. I think it needs to be bigger! lol.

The fiance wants me to make more scrappy HST's to fill it out.


I have a confession: I laid out the design and stacked the squares, numbered them, sewed them together in rows and sewed the rows together... in the wrong order. :/


I think I am going to leave it.

And I am thinking something different than more HST's around the edges. Something that mimics the placement on the bed if you know what I am meaning.

Yes, that is my side of the bed, I am alway freezing cold at night and pile on the blankets... on my side. 

It may be ok to leave it this size so it can just cover me on my side of the bed. 

But, it would be nice to create a cover for that duvet though. That counts as quilting right? a duvet cover quilt?  

In the meantime, I am just going to make some more of these with my 1" - 1.5" scraps and sort through my epic church sale fabric score! (post and pics to come) 

Stay thrifty my friends, until next time,

Sarah

Linking with
Move it along Monday and Monday Making

Quilting | I Had A Dream

I have a vision! I really want it to come to fruition. It is the darker side of me, the sinister side even.

First I need your help though. I can't decide chaos or order?  I have recently been intrigued by the  Milliefor La Passacaglia quilts. I am not sure if that is something I will ever be able to do or not. I do like the stack n whack technique where you layer prints and cut a multiple of the same print to create a kaleidoscope type design. I don't have too many scraps that can meet this criterion though. So I have a bit of a dilemma, this is the trick with scrappy thrift fabric.  Chaos or order?

I am trying to create a fabric for another element of the quilt. So the design created by the hexies will not be throughout the whole quilt but cover a large portion of it. I think that I like the order made by the hexies of the same size together. I may not have enough of the same size, because...

I hate wasting fabric, and I feel that the hexies and fussy cutting are wasting a lot. The problem just might be me being a noob with the cutting though. My solution... is to cut EVEry SiZe of hexies! (said while throwing my hands up in the air and crossing my eyes)... It may be a mistake...

I have been saving my black pieces which vary in size and values. Most of my fabric has been given to me from my mom's friend, pieces of clothing, sheets or sometimes scraps from Etsy.

The Story of the Angry German
Duvet covers offer a fantastic yardage for the price in thrift shops. Once I was scoping out fabric at a thrift store, and an Amish girl beside me was talking on her cellphone angrily in German.We had both checked out the same black duvet cover, but she was too distracted to be shopping, and the wonderful yardage became mine. * that made her even angrier though, so I got out of there faster than my automatic needle threader on three cups of coffee. ( not funny I know, I tried, I will work on it ) but seriously, I was kind of, a little bit scared.

I can't wait to share this vision that is taking place! This one is full of challenges, and I love the ride.

until next time: Stay challenged my friends

Sarah

Linked with

Quilting | FAL Q2 Proposed Finishes

Hi! I am participating in the 2017 Finish Along Hosted by She Can Quilt . It has really been helping me to stay organized with my projects and hold me a little bit accountable. The first quarter went pretty good, but the second quarter is going to be even better! Below is a list of my projects for this quarter. Have a look, hope you enjoy!

1. Kimono - I started this for Jen's birthday. It just needs the trim and maybe an adjustment around the arms; It fits funny

2. Rohen's Improv - I need some quality time with this one to try out some different arrangements to balance it out.

3. Rohen's a Big Star - I need to find a backing and batting and deliver to my lovely nephew.

3. Scona 2016 Championships or 2017 season - I have the lion motif cut out and the complementing fabrics, this one shouldn't take too long

7. Star Map: aka Matthews constellation quilt - I have printed out the pattern and will get it on the top for some hand quilting

8. Cabin HST - I think I have all of the triangles cut out and sewn together in squares. Now for the placement and piecing them together. I am sure I can finish this one in this quarter.

I am so excited about this quarters finishes now that I know how this all works! 

Have fun friends and enjoy the process

Sarah

I am linking to she can quilts #2017FALQ2

Quilting | Rohen's Improv Battle Cry!

I am working on this fantastic improv back piece for Rohen's star quilt. All of the fabric that went into the top is used up on the back, along with scraps and general treasures from my stash.



My son said that it could use some brighter pieces, so I pulled some scraps from my stash and sewed together in mostly stacks. This quilt was begun during the AHIQ Chinese coins challenge and the improv backing is my tribute to that tradition.


































Improv quilting is hard! You would think that it would be easy to just pull a color pallet and start putting all your squares and motif tricks together to build a quilt. Hmmm. Not so easy for this beginner.



I need to rearrange these blocks/pieces. It makes me a bit crazy looking at it. like I need to reach in a move things around!





I did contemplate just doing a simple backing for Rohen's quilt because I think it would be more comfortable to snuggle under.





It looks like this will become a top of its own! Back to the design wall! Back to the Backings! Quick find some Batting! Hear the battle cry of a quilters charge! (hahah, my mom would be proud she likes battle cries)



I am linking with Sew Slowly's AHIQ and Moving it Forward Monday.