{Quilt} Modern Baby Boy Coins

     Recently I have been loving the modern quilt movement, and the strong influence of white sashing contrasted against vibrant colors. I decided to make a little baby boy quilt, so I could showcase some fabrics in the store and make another pattern while I am at it. I also wanted to try putting a few of our new Kona solids on the back, mixed in with scraps from the font. (We ordered ALL of the Kona solids, yes all 221 solids in every color one can think of!) I couldn't wait to see the end result and I am so glad this little boy quilt is done. Its just SO modern and fabulous.

I chose to all over meander the quilt on the HQ Avante' which made the quilting go rather quickly, and I echoed the wool applique on the back. The elephant is just so precious. 

I have been working on so many little projects right now, so it feels good to check one more off the list. 

Other more recent finished projects:

Lugg's Dog Bed. (Mitchell's Yellow Lab) I had to go with corduroy this time from our sunday trip to SR Harris. This is the 3rd and final bed I am making him. Ugh, Puppies! He's such a lucky boy, with his name embroidered on it and everything! (sorry for the over exposure..)

Anna Maria Horner Socialite Dress, made with her Volumes home dec fabric. (Pictures to come!)

Inked (tattoo girls) frame up quilt with large home dec border. (Pictures to come!)

Still in the works:

Stepping stones table runner made with Heather Bailey Pop Garden fabric

Carolina Patchworks Uptown Girl Quilt (Finished 3 1/2" pieced blocks! I am doing at least 1 per day.) Made with Moda Whimsey fabrics so cute!

Whimsey Sunggle Flower Applique quilt

Camera Bag from Sew Liberated with caribbean corduroy and good folks fabric

Fresh Cut String quilt, well two exactly the same quilt tops for my best friend and I (graduation gift)

Anna Maria Horner Evening Empire Dress made with her voiles (I can't wait!)

     Whew! There has to be more that I am missing, it seems like I always have a ton going! After Spring Quilt Market this past weekend I have a ton more I want to sew, thats the bad part about buying patterns right then and there! I have a ton of picture to post from market, great booths, new patterns, cute ideas and much more. I'll compile those asap and post them in the next few days. 

xx Happy Stitching

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{Fabric} When I die...can I live here?

     After the wedding this weekend I got a chance to swing into SR Harris Fabric Outlet. It's heaven, no bliss! There is nothing like it when you get to spend a few hours in a place like this:

The place is lined with about everything you can think of. Trims galore!

Denim from designers like 7 for all Mankind, Ellen Tracy and others. 

Ultrasuede, Drapery Linings, Heavy Upholstery, Barkcloth, it never ends!  

Light, Mid and Heavy weight upholstery fabrics, about everything you can think of!

Aisles are so full they are blocked off in certain places!

     Mitch even found corduroy for dog beds with embroidered miniature pheasants and labs. Perfect for the those muddy pooches! He also cut swatches for re-upholstering his '56 Pontiac. That will be a whole new project to tackle!

     I found a plaid wool for my new sewing pattern with grey and mustard. I paired this with a dark teal corduroy. (new hooded scarf!)  The lighter corduroy is for a camera bag from the Sew Liberated: 20 stylish projects for the modern sewist book. I'll pair it with prints from Anna Maria's Good Folks fabric. The Caribbean blue is perfect for it!

We had such a great time at the warehouse. A mini Sunday afternoon date, the best I ever had!

Happy Stitching xx

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{Patchwork} Deer Valley Wedding Quilt

     I finally can write about a quilt I've been working on with my man for my cousin Katrinas wedding gift. Her and her fiance' Scotty Jaeger definitely needed a warm lap quilt to cuddle up with together on those cold nights. I decided on Joel Dewberry's line Deer Valley, since she had mentioned she had liked the line at our annual family quilting weekend. Flannel was the choice for the backing, a Maywood Studio Woolie flannel print in light yellow with a small cream dot. Mitch helped me with this one the whole way through it. I cut and sewed the blocks as he generously ironed them all to perfection. He helped with the layout on the flannel wall and he was my energizer bunny those nights after work when I needed motivation. He was the one who sewed the backing together, almost a perfect straight line! Finally he helped me quilt it on the HQ Avante', what a dear! He is always so supportive and helpful when it comes to my sewing. From helping with the ironing, always being there when I ask for an opinion, to constantly being asked to help with photo shoots he always does it with a smile. I love him for that! xx This is what we made:

     We picked the small outer border to softly finish the quilt. We was almost leaning towards putting the main teal print as a larger, stronger outer border, but it was too heavy. Trina is elegant, with a classic style and a love for all pastels especially sage! So we decided just to leave the soft brown border, it fits her perfectly! 

We quilted large loops in the center and small tight flowers on the border in a soft taupe King Tut thread. We also quilted in:

          May 15th, 2010 - Their wedding date

          Jaegers - The newlyweds' last name

          Trina and Scotty - Their names

          Love - What they have for each other

          Finally, Love Steffani and Mitchell

The newlyweds opened their quilt this am, as absolutely loved it! I wanted them to take it with up to the north shore for the week, a mini honeymoon. I was so excited they liked it as much as they do! Congratulations Jaegers! xx Much love!

Happy Stitching xx

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{Fabric} Freshcut and Oh so fabulous!

     I have been looking through my old stash, trying to clean out the fabrics that I have lost the lust for and donating them to Quilts of Valor Foundation. A quilt of valor is a wartime quilt made to honor our war wounded, and it's a tangible way to say Thank You for your service, sacrifice and valor for our country. We are involved at our shop heavily with the foundation, offering our classroom as a workshop every other Tuesday, accepting donations and we are also a pick-up and drop-off point. To see these ladies donate so much of their time to helping the wounded is inspiring! I want to donate some of my scraps, because they are more girly and fun than most of what we get donated. There are women in the army and they deserve girly quilts too! This got me into my old stash and got me back into Freshcut by Heather Bailey. I really love the fabric, its one of my all time favorites along with Denyse Schmidt's Flea Market Fancy (which is NOWHERE to be found on the internet)! I had to get more added to my stash and they all came in yesterday, aren't they just great?

     Since we've been rainy and icky here in northern MN for almost a week, I am more drawn to warm, comfort colors. The color way 3 is the perfect combination of fresh warm red/pinks/yellows and cool brown/green and turquoise (2010 color of the year!) I decided I wanted to foundation piece various strips on large blocks for an all over scrappy, yet organized look. I went home last night, ready to sew sew sew! This is how far I got:

     I think I am going to make it 5 blocks by 6 blocks, however I realize this presents a problem with the pattern. This will leave me with half a diamond on one edge. I might have to add another column and 2 rows to end up with an even pattern. This will take my quilt from 70"x84" to 84"x112" which is getting a little big for its intended purpose. It's not for my bed, it's actually for my couch or maybe even the screen porch. I still love it so much, especially the warm, mushy colors. I have half my foundation pieced blocks made, unless I decided to 'supersize' it!

 Love the blocks? You can find the tutorial here.    

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{Sewing} Liverpool Tunic

    Just a quick note on my new Liverpool Tunic. The pattern is one of Amy Butler's newest and it turned out just great. I am not the best at garments, so my mother made this for me and for a shop sample. (All I had to do was sew the button holes and buttons!) I love it so much and wish I could wear it everyday!

     She did a great job matching the pattern, as always and the sewing is impeccable! I decided on vintage blue shimmery buttons to add a little extra touch. I had it on the other day at work with a pair of jeans and boots, so cute!

I'll HAVE to do another of this top for summer...maybe something in the pastel palette...or maybe something bright that screams summer. I'll post some pictures of it actually on as soon as the sun decides to shine, it's been a cloudy, rainy 2 weeks here in Minnesota. Think Summer!

Happy Stitching xx

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{Handwork} Satin Flannel Cuddle Blankie

     I have been absent the last week, at least in my projects, but there is a good reason. One, I am working on a wedding quilt I can't show until after the ceremony. You'll get pictures of that soon. We've been busy around the store with our 11th annual shop hop and I've been hand sewing at night to calm and relax after hectic days. This is my first go at hand sewing, and I think I am liking the 'Big Stitch' better than the normal small sewing.

     I picked out two of Anna Maria's Folksy Flannels prints to go with my teal satin binding I love so much. I decided to follow the geo print on the back so at least I'd have straight lines to follow! I picked out a teal perle cotton as well as a purple and yellow. I wanted there to be contrast since I was doing such a big stitch. I think I might go back and put a 2nd row of yellow on the satin binding just to hold it in place a little better and to add an extra touch.

    
   Although my stitching is not perfect (I am a perfectionist!) it got better towards the end. I found it a lot easier to use my hoop, even though the overall size is about 32" square. It was just easier to handle when I had it hooped. My stitched were better when I had it in there as well. So I think for now, at least until I get more practice, I am going to be using my hoop more often.

     I'll be practicing my hand stitching more now that I found something I like to do. Big stitches! 

Happy Stitching xx

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{fabric} Mirror Ball Dot Love

     I wrote about The Great Mirror Ball Dot search a few months ago. I was on a national search to find all 40 prints, which have been out of production for about 3 years. I came across a store down south who could help me out...I think know I am obsessed.

    Recently, I opened up two large boxes in the store just to find these. The store was willing to ship us everything they had in stock! Oh they are just stunning...and I can't wait to show them to all our customers. I made sure I finished my 1/2 collection before wrapping them all on empty bolt cores. Now they sit in the store, in gradient color of course, just waiting for their next new home. So many great ideas....I can't wait.

Fat Quarter Kits are still available! You can find them here. 

Happy Stitching xx

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{Patchwork} Fat Quarter Frolic

     I fell in love with a fabric line a while back. Yes, fell in love. It was Arcadia by Sanae for moda fabrics. For some reason the yellow/green tones with the grey/blues and browns caught my eye. Before I even got to cutting my mother told me she had a quilt top, already cut out (lucky me!) and I could have it. She had picked Fat Quarter Frolic by Larisa Key Designs. The beauty of this quilt is it's made from fat quarters, but the pattern is not 'chunky' like most fat quarter quilts. The piecing is intricate, yet still a breeze.

     This one turned out rather large 120" x 110" but thats why I love it. I chose to put Shannon Minkee on the back, in white. I normally don't do white, but it was the perfect compliment to the fabrics. 

      I quilted it on the new HQ Avante, and the 12' studio frame. I love the new track system on the Avante so it was fun to get to use it for some time. A quilt this large takes a couple hours to quilt, even with an all over meander. I always put the date and skburton designs as well in there somewhere. 

     This one has been done for some time, but has been at a loving home. It's returned and taking its place in my couch. I probably won't do a quilt this big for a while, but I love the way this one turned out.

Happy Stitching xx 

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