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.

No Prints Allowed.

In one of the KCMQG meetings a while back, everyone who wanted to participate was given a charm pack of one of the Robert Kaufman Kona Solids color palettes.  I chose the dusty palette.  I didn't feel sorry for it like some other members mentioned.  I was drawn to it.  The muted, yet vibrant colors just called me. 

Our challenge was to use each and every color in the pack to make a quilt of some sort.  We could add any fabric we wanted; as long as it was a solid color.  Easy enough, right?  I decided I didn't want to add another charm pack to my scheme and I didn't want a lot of another color.  I also wanted it to be big enough for a smallish person like myself to snuggle under.  That's where things got tricky.

To accomplish the not adding another charm pack, I figured I had to cut into the charm squares as little as possible.  Well that simplifies things, doesn't it?  I even decided to keep it super simple and not mess with the color order of the palette.  I just sewed the pack one square next to the other in the order they came!


I was thinking a grey or a black for my "neutral background" color, but when I got the store to buy that fabric, I spotted this plum. Doesn't it just sing?


This is definitely my most modern quilt yet and it accomplishes everything I wanted it to: big enough for me to snuggle under, one charm pack, minimal neutral fabric.  Now, I just need to figure out what to do on the backside and how to quilt it.

Thanks Robert Kaufman for providing the KCMQG with Kona charm packs for our challenge.

KC Scrappy Bee Block for Carla.

Last month was Carla's month to be the hostess for the KC Scrappy Bee.  She had each of us make this awesome "X" block for her out of a really fun red/pink/aqua/grey color scheme. 



This is the block I gave to her.  Fun, right?

Spring is here.

The second daffodil  in my yard bloomed sometime overnight.  Isn't it pretty?  Daffodils just kind of make me smile.



Because it's springtime, I obviously needed a new purse.  I took Jaime's Amy Butler bag making workshop at Bernina a few weekends ago and started this bag there.

I chose the Sweet Harmony Handbag pattern and some fun springtime fabric from JoAnn.  This was my first Amy Butler pattern and I wasn't completely impressed.  I love the Amy Butler style, but thought the pattern was lacking in a few ways.  First, I'm pretty sure the dimension for installing a zippered pocket was wrong.  It could have been my mistake somewhere along the line, but I tried it several times and the dimensions given were not the same as the dimensions I ended up with when I lined it up myself.  Second, where are the diagrams?  Maybe trade in some of the words for some pictures? 

Those are my thoughts from the pattern.  I really like the bag and am happy to carry it and am really happy spring is here.  I totally have spring fever and want to get out and play every chance I get.

Sewing, sewing, sewing...

I just finished up a batch of sewing for Fabri-Quilt and am ready to share it with you. 


I did two of these fun little panel quilts.  I did both of them on the long arm.  I chose a snowflake pantograph to trace in gold thread.  I think they turned out fun. 



This apron is a panel that they gave me to do.  Don't I have the best model?



I think he's the best at least.  Perhaps he is pouting because I made him put on this less-than-manly apron. 



This turned out pretty cool.  I made it using Diane Tomlinson's Christmas Memories pattern from Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting, November/December 2010 issue.


I traced the letters in Merry Christmas with red thread.  See how it looks almost embossed?  I thought it was cool. 

So, that's what I've been up to lately.  How about you?

For Angela in the KC Scrappy Bee

This is the block I made for Angela in last month's edition of the KC Scrappy Bee. 


She requested a square-in-a-square block using only the fabrics she provided.  I loved the colors she chose to put together for this batch.  I ran into an "uh-oh-how-am-i-going-to-finish-this?" moment towards the end when I started to run low on fabric.  I used very close to every single inch I was given, thus the different colored corner on this block.  Funny how things sometimes just seem to work, eh?