Roundabout

This little quilt is also making it's way into Fabri-Quilt's Quilt Market booth in Houston in a few weeks.  It's title is Roundabout.



This little quilt was a lot of fun to make.  I used the six-minute circle method to make all the dots you see.  They take me longer than six minutes, so don't feel bad if you try it and they don't go as quickly as you hoped.  I made each of the 25 circles on a separate block and stitched them together to make the quilt top's center.  It went pretty easy even if it took longer than 6 minutes for each block. 


I tried trapunto to puff up the circles.  The rest of the pink background was quilted in a simple stippling pattern on my domestic sewing machine.  I even stitched in the ditch along the blue and orange borders since my husband thinks I need to learn how to do it. 


I really like the way the cirlces bubble out from the background.  I think it turned out really bright and fun. 

Quilt stats:
Pattern Title: Roundabout
Designed by: Me
Pieced by: Me
Quilted by: Me
Size: 48"x48"
Fabric: Calypso by Paintbrush Studio

Square Dance

I just dropped this quilt off to Fabri-Quilt last week.


This little quilt is about 48"x48" and was made to head to Quilt Market in Houston in a few weeks.  I titled it Square Dance.  Doesn't it look like the geese in the center are dancing in a square?

I haven't done a lot of this sort of quilt before... there's only 4 blocks in the center.  The majority of this quilt is made from the borders.  I think it turned out pretty fun. 


I quilted it on my domestic sewing machine.  You can see a little of the quilting in the last photo.  I used orange thread and just did a random overlapping rectangle pattern.  It took way longer to quilt than I thought it would. 

Quilt stats:
Pattern Title: Square Dance
Designed by: Me
Pieced by: Me
Quilted by: Me
Size: 48"x48"
Fabric: Calypso by Paintbrush Studio

Boxed Breezes

This is another one of those quilts I made a while back and forgot to blog about. 



This one is titled Boxed Breezes.  It was made for Fabri-Quilt using Paintbrush Studio's Cape Cod fabric line.

I think this one turned out pretty cute.  I think this is basically a Bento Box pattern, but I'm not sure.  It was nice and easy to put together, but was rather time consuming to cut all of the parts and piece the top.

Quilt stats:
Pattern Title: Boxed Breezes
Designed by: Me
Pieced by: Me
Quilted by: Me
Size: 60"x60"
Fabric: Cape Cod by Paintbrush Studio

Seismic Shift

I made this quilt a while ago, but forgot to blog about it.



This quilt is titled Seismic Shift.  I made it for Fabri-Quilt from Paintbrush Studio's Color Explosion fabric line. 



The back of it turned out pretty cool.  I rented time at Jackie's shop and traced a pantograph.

Quilt stats:
Pattern Title: Seismic Shift
Designed by: Me
Pieced by: Me
Quilted by: Me
Size: 58"x58"
Fabric: Color Explosion by Paintbrush Studio

Quilt Market is coming.

I've been stitching up a storm.  I finished these pole covers up recently for Fabri-Quilt's booth.  That is 28 of them.  Know what else that translates to?  7 spools of green thread.



I traded the completed pole covers in for this pile of fabric.  Yep... 5 bolts of the same fabric to make curtains and more pole covers for their booth.



That's a lot of stitching.  I promised Meredith (my sewing machine) a tune-up while I'm at Quilt Market.  I'm hoping she'll go along with the plan and keep stitching smoothly until then.

What's your favorite bag pattern?

I'm working on another project for Fabri-Quilt and I would like some input from you all.  What is your favorite bag pattern?  I'm supposed to design a bag that's sort of a tote/handbag/diaper bag hybrid. I'm thinking a large bag with lots of pockets.

I'm looking for some inspiration for a design I'll be working on and I'm wondering what you guys like.  



That bag above is one I made a while back for taking gear to sewing classes.  It's big and has a ton of pockets.  The downfall in my opinion is that none of the pockets seal.  If it doesn't tip over in transport, everything is gravy.  It usually tips over though...  :(

So what do you look for in a bag? 
Do you like a certain kind of pockets?  Certain size?  Pockets that close?
What kind of straps do you prefer?
Any certain bag shape you like?

Thanks for your help!  I'm looking forward to hearing all your input. 

Quilt Market...

I've been seeing all sorts of updates from quilty people who get to go to market.  Tweets saying "Boarding the plane in 12 hours!"  "Will be tweeting from the market floor!"  "Waiting for my fabric swatches to take to market!"  I just can't stand it!  I want to join in all the fun.  Sadly, I don't get to go to Quilt Market this time around.  My market debut will take place in the Salt Lake City next May.  I can't wait! 

Have you noticed I've been a little absent lately?  Well, sorry about that...  I have a lot of things to share with you!  I just pulled 1,053 (not joking) photos off my camera and am ready to spread the love.  So, what's been keeping me so busy lately?  Sewing!

Fabri-Quilt has been keeping me super busy sewing things for them to take to market.  How cool is that?  Stuff I've made is going to be there.  It's almost like sending a foot or something... maybe?  Maybe I'm sort of there?  Anyway... here's the fabricy goodness:



From Paintbrush Studio's fabric line titled "Frenzy" we have this men's shirt and swim trunks. 





The pattern for both of these pieces is KWIK-SEW 3421.

I have a fabulous husband who I can sucker into doing things like this: modeling the shirt for me. Don't ya think he looks pretty fly?






I think this turned out really cute.  It's a dress made from Butterick B5313 using Paintbrush Studio's "Oasis" fabric line.



I named the model Judy.  Don't you think she looks like a Judy?


Out of all the things I sewed for Fabri-Quilt's market booths, these are my favorites.  I love aprons!  They are all from McCall's pattern M5825.

The first two aprons are from "Farmer John's Market II", another Paintbrush Studios fabric line. 


I made an oven mitt to go with this one.  And don't you like these photos of me?  I think they have an Anthropologie look to them.  Kind of drab coloring.  It was so windy and cloudy on the only day I had to take these.  Why does that always happen?



P.S.  I took these myself because the hubs was at work.  Don't judge them too much.  :)





This one is from Paintbrush Studio's "Astral Summer" fabric line. 




And this is from Fabri-Quilt's "Flower Power" fabric line.  When I dropped off these aprons, they named this the June Cleaver pattern.  I like this pattern the best. 




They liked it so much, they sent me home with fabric from Paintbrush Studio's "State Flowers" fabric line to make another "June Cleaver". 





I might have to make myself a new apron out of something fabulous in this pattern.  I think it's cute and fits me well.  Maybe I need a gingerbread competition apron?  We'll see...



I didn't take photos of EVERYTHING I sewed.  Seriously... I have thirteen empty bolts from stuff I've sewn over the past month or so.  I also made curtains to hang in the booths, chair covers, and pole covers.  That stuff just isn't as fun to share. 

I had a little helper throughout all of these projects.  When I was sewing the curtains, I'd do them in batches according to thread color.  I'd have mounds of fabric that I'd do one seam on and put into a new pile.  Lily thought these mounds were the perfect napping spots for her. 


Don't worry, I ironed and lint rolled them all before I turned them in.  :)

Sliced Circuit

Hi readers, thanks for not abandoning me.  I've been keeping super busy with more projects I hope to share with you soon!

Here's one that's finished up and ready to be shared with you. 



I designed this quilt for Fabri-Quilt using their fabric line titled "Savannah."  I also wrote a project sheet that will be available here soon. 

I spoke to one of the ladies at Fabri-Quilt recently and she said this project is being very well received.  She's been taking it with her to boost the fabric line and it's going over very well.  Neat, eh?  I have quilt designs and project sheets out in the world! 

Flower Power!

The Flower Power Quilt is made from the Flower Power! fabric line by Fabri-Quilt.  It's not out yet, but look for it soon.  It's absolutely adorable.  I think the main print would make a very pretty skirt. 

Once again, I recommend wearing winter gloves with the grippy fingers and palms while quilting.  Makes it so great to move fabric around!


What do ya think?  It's about 5'x5'.  I think it turned out pretty fun.  This one is pretty easy to do.  I used fusible web for the applique and zig-zagged around all the edges to keep them down. 


The back is a nice pink paisley from another of Fabri-Quilt's fabric lines.  I love paisley.

This one will be joining the Astral Summer quilt in the show in Las Vegas.  The project sheet for this design will be up here soon.

Astral Summer

I mentioned recently in my post Hello.  Goodbye. that I was super busy.  Remember when I told you that I was working on a few different projects for Fabri-Quilt?  Well... they're all done and ready to head to a show in Las Vegas very soon.  I thought you'd probably like to see a few photos of what I've been working on. 


You know how you can buy quilting gloves?  Well, I raided my closet and pulled out these gloves with rubbery snowflakes on the bottom.  They worked beautifully for gripping the fabric as I quilted.  I'm not sure which is dorkier... have specific quilting gloves or wearing my red winter gloves when I quilt. 

Also, that's my new studio I'm working in.  I'm hoping to find some different furniture for in there this weekend.  The old stuff I've been using doesn't work the best in the new room.


This is the quilt that I finished up after somebody else had started it.  It's from a pattern by Jame Crow called "Daisies Do Tell".  I would totally make this pattern again.  It was easy to do.  The most time consuming part was cutting out all the petals. 

All of the fabric with the exception of the backing is from Fabri-Quilt's "Astral Summer" line.  The colors are rich and the patterns are gorgeous.


You can see how I quilted this one.  I used my walking foot and guide to follow different parts of the green background.


And just because I love quilt photos from fun angles...


The back is really simple.  Kind of a khaki color with a brown binding from the fabric line.

This quilt will be shown in Las Vegas pretty soon. 

Check back over the next few days to see photos of the other two quilts I did for them as well as photos of our new house!

Hello. Goodbye.

Sorry I haven't been around much lately.  I've been EXTREMELY BUSY! 
I haven't mentioned it much on here, but Jason and I are buying a house.  We close tomorrow; we move Saturday.  So, our world looks a lot like this:


Empty shelves where fabric once sat.


Boxes stacked where we once had a dining room.

Don't let me fool you... moving isn't all I have going on.  I am still working on a few projects for myself.


My design wall is more bare than usual.


I tried blue thread with an orange bobbin, didn't work, ripped it out.  I tried orange thread with an orange bobbin, didn't like it.  Ripping out orange thread and have a new method for getting the blue thread to work.  Will like it most definitely.


This is a (really late) father's day gift for my dad.  It's just waiting to be trimmed and bound.  I've entered it into the AIAKC's Art x Architects at the end of the month.  Hope you don't mind too much that it's really late, Dad.


Lily and I have been working on some cool projects for Fabri-Quilt lately.  We're (mostly she naps, so pretty much just me working) working on 2 quilts for them from start to finish.  That means for two different fabric lines, I'm designing a full quilt, making a project sheet, and then making the physical quilt. The two fabric lines I'm making these from are Urban Garden and another line called Flower Power! that isn't on their website yet.  I must say... the two quilts of mine they've given me the go-ahead on are really fun. 

I'm also working on a quilt from another fabric line that somebody else started but won't get to finish. 

All three of these quilts are supposed to be finished by August 23rd.  Since they know that's not going to happen, I can have them finished by August 30th and they'll take them to Las Vegas in a suitcase.  Why won't the 23rd happen?  Well, they just got in touch with me about this project last week. 

I picked up EQ7 and got to work really quickly learning the program as I designed several quilts to send to the nice people at Fabri-Quilt.  They picked a quilt for each of the fabric lines yesterday, so I should get the fabric to get started on these pretty soon. 

See?  I wasn't lying when I said I was really busy.  Forgive me if I'm not around much until next month.

Fabri-Quilt

Yesterday was possibly the best Monday I've ever had.  I met with a couple of wonderful ladies at Fabri-Quilt in North Kansas City, Missouri.  They contacted me a while back and wanted to "pick my brain".  I got to chat with them about projects, blogs, the KC Modern Quilt Guild, and their business.  I was also given a tour of their huge space and got to see a LOT of awesome fabric.  If any shop owners are out there reading my blog, I think you should check out some of the new stuff Fabri-Quilt has coming out.  I'm in love with a lot of the fabric they sell. 

Sadly, only 2 shops (as far as I can tell) in my area carry Fabri-Quilt fabrics:

• Cornerstone Fabric in Smithville, MO
• Missouri River Quilt Company in Weston, MO

If you don't live in the Kansas City area, go here to see if there is a retailer in your area. 

They sent me home with some goodies to play with.  How cool is that?  I love goodies!  2 fat quarter packs, a tote bag, and a big chunk of some white sateen quilt backing (not pictured).


Isn't this tote bag adorable?  It's super sturdy, too!  Want your own?  Go here.


This is the Antique Treasures fat quarter pack they gave me.  It's available from Fabri-Quilt here.


This is the Spice of Life fat quarter pack available here from Fabri-Quilt.

I'm not sure how much I can tell you about what we discussed, but I think there is a Quilt Market for me in the near future.  :)

Also, be on the lookout for some of my patterns here.  I'm not exactly sure what kind of time frame we're talking, but be watching.... there will surely be some good stuff!

In other news:
Jason and I also had our offer on a house accepted.  If all goes well, we should close in the middle of next month.  Yippee!  I can't wait to make the change.  I'm so ready to move from our current place.