Twin Quilts

I wasn't the only one of my LAMQG friends to have a baby last year. There was a bit of a baby epidemic in the Guild, but a few of my friends who were planning new additions to their families breathed a huge sigh of relief when I announced I was having twins. They thought that I took the bullet for the guild. So imagine her surprise when, Alissa, one of my best friends in the LAMQG had an ultrasound revealing identical twins. What are the chances? Two sets of spontaneous identical twins, in the same guild born pretty much exactly six months apart to extremely close friends!

Alissa has been working on this amazing twin sized, EPP Hexie quilt for her older daughter. It's still a WIP but it's intended for her daughter's "Big Girl" bed. She's been working on it a long while and it's amazing, but she, admittedly doesn't have the desire to replicate the process twice more for the twins. We knew that she would be getting a lot of baby quilts at her shower, so Liberty, Latifah and I banded together to make her two matching (but not identical) twin sized quilts for the twins. 

One morning, when my boys were still wee ones, we took a trip down to Anaheim to visit M and L Fabrics. I had not been introduced to this Fabric Wonderland until I was pregnant (thank you Liberty!) and it was then that we started a tradition we continued to honor on this shopping trip. Both Liberty and I spent a few years living in Chicago, and there is a Portillos in Anaheim, so we start out our shopping trip with lunch at this Chicago institution so we can muster up enough energy for our M and L excursion.

This particular trip was dedicated to buying fabrics for both of Alissa's quilts, including backing and binding. We decided on a bright, cheery color scheme focusing on hot pink and orange. We also raided our home stashes and then divided up the fabric three ways, between herself, Latifah and myself. The quilt Liberty finished was a wonky house quilt. We fussy cut "eye spy" doorways. Mine was a wonky log cabin quilt with fussy cut eye spy centers. The three of us shared fabrics and made blocks, Latifah made the labels and Liberty and I quilted and bound our respective quilts.

Liberty had her quilt finished in time for Alissa's baby shower. Since my boys were still very small at the time, and mu sewing time was limited I only had the top done, but we were able to present them to her. After the shower, I put the quilt to the side for a while. My basting space, aka dining room, was now the boys play room and I just had limited sewing time. I figured she didn't need the quilt right away. But finally, I was able to get it sandwiched, quilted, bound and home to my future daughter-in-laws. (Ha ha!)

I intended to stipple this quilt on my machine at home, but it's so heavy, my quilting table is small and I am out of practice so I ended up ripping out my first attempt and decided to straight-line quilt it instead.

If you know me, you know that I'm not partial to the color pink, but I do like hot pink. I actually ended up falling in love with this quilt. It's so bright and cheerful. I love the hot pink and orange combo. I think I might have to work with these colors again sometime soon.

Caught Up on Bee Blocks

Well, while the Virtual Quilt Show was running I was actually getting a lot of sewing done. Right after QuiltCon I actually wrapped up my latest project for work and I out myself on a personal hiatus. I am actually trying to take a whole six months off. I know that's what I said last time, and my friends and family have bets out on if I'll actually be able to make it the full six months, but nearly one month in and I am loving the time off. 

I spent the first week or so just cleaning out my studio space and trying to get it into workable order. And I've spent (most) of the rest of the month trying to play catch up on UFOs and bee blocks so I could clear my plate and start to focus on the stuff I really want to focus on for me. And I am happy to say that I am now completely caught up on bee blocks. The first ones I tackled were the last ones I owed for the Bee a Lone Star(burst) Bee because those blocks for Candy were embarrassingly late. Her month was November. But Now they're done and that bee has been laid to rest. No more paper piecing bees for me. At least for a while. I do love these blocks and you can find the template here, but four a month was more than a little aggressive.

Then I started catching up on my blocks for the Hope Circle. In January Janet asked us to make Quatrefoil Blocks using only brightly colored solids. I love these blocks. In fact I asked a bee to make them for me a few years back. And each time I make them I get a little better with giving enough seam allowance so the points of the petals don't get lost in the seams. 

Then for February, Suzy asked us to make these awesome (and easy) Stash Buster Blocks using an alternating Cool and Warm palate. I got a little overzealous and ended up making her eight blocks instead of four. Oops! Well at least that's a happy accident.

And for March in the same bee, Muriël asked Woven Blocks in greens and blues suitable for a boy, since boys don't get as many quilt donations as girls. I can't wait to see how these three quilts turn out. And April is my month so I need to start thinking about what kind of quilt I want the bee to make this time around.

Then I had to catch up in the Sewn Together Bee. In January Mary sent us some gorgeous fabric and requested Potager Blocks from the book "Modern Blocks - 99 Quilt Blocks". I love the colors she's using in this quilt. After all, gray is my favorite neutral. 

Then in February Rick asked us to help him make a quilt for his brother. His brother loves to fish so he sent us some fish fabric and colorful batiks for the strips. I think his brother is just going to love this quilt when it comes together. Phew, I made it through the bee blocks owed and now I'm up-to-date. No more lagging behind for me. Work got really intense last year, so I'm hoping the time off will get me back on my game. 

Marathon Quilt: Month Nine

It's a couple days late, but I promised a nine month check in on the Marathon Quilt. (I almost could have had a baby in the amount of time I've already put into this quilt!) I was traveling a lot for work in January, so that meant a lot of time on airplanes with time to hand sew. And I got a lot done, but I was a complete idiot when I was laying out pieces so the work I accomplished didn't necessarily help me properly this month. 

I've been laying out pieces for my rings and then stringing them together in order so I can just work semi-brainlessly when I'm traveling. Well, you know me and my blonde moments. I do have them quite often it seems. In my haste, as I was laying out the pieces for the next five blocks I ended up laying out extra in between rows. I didn't notice my error until I was almost all the way finished with them, so when I started piecing them with the centers I started to notice that my rings weren't flowing right. I know, it's scrappy so it shouldn't bother me, but it does. I was able to fudge a couple of them, and I know I'll be the only one who will ever notice the inconsistencies, but ugh! So I have a few leftover rounds that I know will find homes later, but I just couldn't bring myself to pick them a part. Instead, I just made new ones. 

So, there are more homeless pieces this month. After that pile had dwindled to almost nothing. But I'm excited that I have pretty much used all of the little ring pieces that I pre-pieced so long ago. Now, I'm working from scraps and enjoying the basting in between the sewing. And I did get five new blocks pieced... almost. Even though they're not joined to the main body of the quilt yet. This little project keeps growing every month. I'm not anticipating much growth this month, though you may see me working on it a bit at QuiltCon. Less than two weeks away! I am so excited!

Marathon Quilt: Month Eight

It's been a little silent around here because the husband and I took a little trip over the holidays. I had ten days off from work so we headed up to Alaska. Neither of us had been and we got an amazing last-minute deal so we just went north. We had an agenda for the trip, which is totally unlike us, but the weather thwarted almost all of our plans. It was unseasonably warm while we were there, but we still had a blast. I did had a cold that I couldn't seem to shake the entire trip so I spent most of the days sleeping in, skiing half day and then retiring back to the room to rest before dinner. 

I did manage to get some sewing done during my rest periods. So, I actually made a lot of headway on my Marathon Quilt. Last month I only had 9 blocks fully completely, but only six of those blocks were actually sewn together. I went to town on making blocks during the plane rides and rest time in the hotel. In fact, I now have 15 blocks completed AND they're all joined together. 

Unfortunately this cold lingered and turned nasty as soon as I got home on New Years so today is actually the first day I was able to drag myself out of bed. I felt like I really needed to make an appearance at work this morning because on Sunday I'm back on another plane and will be gone on business for the next ten days. Ugh. I really hope I can shake this thing and fast.

While lying in bed the past couple days I did also manage to plan out the next four blocks (block 5 is complete spare for the middle). I'm planning to take this project with me on my business trip, so I anticipate making even more headway this month. Slowly but surely it's coming along. And Mercedes was very interested in my little photo shoot this morning. She kept trying to eat the pieces. Silly chicken. Happy New Year to all of you and yours!

Bee Blocks Almost Done

I didn't get nearly as much as I wanted to get done this weekend, but I'm okay with that. Saturday I only left the house once, and spent the rest of the day curled up on the couch, with a fire and the dog catching up on my TV shows and doing some hand sewing. There was so much sewing I actually had to do, but I opted to laze on the couch instead. Yesterday I had a holiday brunch with my friends in the early part of the day any by the time I got home in the mid afternoon I resolved not to leave the house again. This time I did get some face time with Hepburn to catch up on some bee blocks to get me through to the end of the year. 

I've got next week off work so we're taking a little trip (to Alaska! I'm so excited!) so my sewing time between now and the New Year will be virtually nonexistent. I was behind on some blocks for November so I wanted to power through and get them off my plate. For the Hope Circle, Janet asked for some Garden Lattice blocks in Tangerine using this tutorial. 

Then, Flaun asked us to paper piece some amazing solid blocks in the Sewn Together Bee. We used the pattern "It's a Stretch" found in the book "Modern Blocks". I am so excited about these. I absolutely cannot wait to see this quilt completed. It is going to be absolutely amazing. 

My last block ever for the Sew Fun Bee was a low volume, traditional block for Dolores. She wanted each of us to use modern, low volume fabrics but do a different traditional block. I picked the Quatrefoil block because I love it so much. I really need to make a low volume quilt for myself someday soon.

I'm really going to miss sewing with that group, but at least that's one bee off my plate. I still have two outstanding bee obligations to finish out the year, one for November for the Bee a Lone Star(burst) and one for the December Hope Circle. Speaking of the Hope Circle, we're looking for two Stitchers to join our circle in the new year. If you're interested in joining us to make charity quilts for Threading Hope with do. Good Stitches, please contact me. We'd love to have you!

do. Good Stitches October Blocks

I am getting so excited. I can't wait for Thursday. This weekend is the annual LAMQG Retreat. I should have spent the time I had to sew this weekend prepping for the retreat, instead I caught up on the last of my tardy bee blocks. As of now, I am all caught up. I only have November blocks in the queue. Yippee!

Robyn asked the Hope Circle to make two 12.5" unfinished Patchwork Wheel Blocks using this tutorial. She also selected an autumn palate for us to use. I struggled with this palate, I have to say. It's not that I didn't have autumnal fabrics in my stash, I do, granted not a lot, but I'm just not as comfortable with this palate, I suppose. 

I think I need to get more comfortable with it, though, because my husband loved these blocks and colors. He never usually comments on the blocks I make for bees but these struck him. I think I need need to work with these colors more often. 

I actually made 4 blocks since we had a member drop out of the circle and I didn't want Robyn to have to pick up the slack. Remember, if you want to do some good too. You can always sign up to join in a do. Good Stitches Circle. And Rachel is also hosting a celebration of do. Good Stitches and anyone can join in by stitching up a quilt for charity. 

Celebrate Good Stitches

I've been hosting the Hope Circle for do. Good Stitches for over two years now. And while I have fallen behind on quilts in the past, I never fell behind on blocks until September when my work trip screwed everything up. So I was frantic to catch up on blocks for Suzy last week. She asked for Herringbone blocks using Holly's tutorial, but she wanted us to send the halves separate, so four half blocks instead of two 12.5" finished blocks. 

Things were going along just fine until I realized that I didn't read the tutorial all the way through before starting and I got ahead of myself and realized that I made all four halves going in the same direction. Ugh. Well, as it turns out, we unfortunately lost a Stitcher. I thought she had made her blocks for Suzy and I was just going to pick up her blocks for October while I tried to (successfully, I might add) woo Natalie back into the bee. (Doing the Happy Dance!) Then I discovered that she was unable to complete September as well so my unfortunate mistake turned into a happy accident. I made four more halves in the opposite direction and sent all four blocks off to Suzy. 

I simply adore the color scheme she requested we use for this quilt. Suzy wanted us to work in blues and grays with one red or orange strip in each half. It doesn't hurt that these are favorite colors of mine and I am currently obsessed with the herringbone pattern. You'll be seeing more of this pattern and, coincidentally, color scheme again very soon. I am already swooning over this quilt. 

 

And if you haven't heard yet, Rachel is planning a fabulous end of the year celebration for do. Good Stitches, But you don't have to be a member of the bee to participate in the fun! Just complete one quilt for a charity of your choosing and you can be entered to win some fabulous prizes. Hop on over to her blog for more details and to join in the fun!

Blocks for Francine

First of all, my thoughts go out to my friends and family back on the East Coast. I am so glad you are all safe and I'm sending big hugs your way. I was actually supposed to be on a flight to NYC yesterday morning for work, but Frankenstorm Sandy changed all of that. My trip was rescheduled for today but since there is no power where we are supposed to be shooting, the trip will have to be rescheduled entirely. In anticipation of another week away from home, I tried to blow through some more bee blocks this weekend. 

October was supposed to be my month in the Sewn Together Bee, but when things got hairy with work and traveling I asked if anyone was willing to swap months with me and, thankfully, Francine offered. When I finally arrived back home I expected her fabric to be waiting for me, and I even asked my husband if there was a package for me, but there wasn't. So I got worried and told Francine that it hadn't arrived. She was at the ready and sent me more fabric almost instantly. The very next day, my husband came home and sheepishly admitted that he accidentally took some of my mail to his office. Lo and Behold Francine's original package was there, thankfully not lost. Since she had already sent the second package of fabric I decided to make her five blocks. Well, okay, four and a half. I ran out of enough fabric to complete the fifth.

Francine cut into her precious Silent Cinema Fat Quarter bundle for these blocks and also included some solids in the mix and asked us to make her some Drunk Love inspired blocks. Slightly wonky is okay - super wonky is not. 

Every time I make these blocks I fall in love with them a little more and I feel compelled to make my own Drunk Love inspired quilt. One of these days I swear I will. Just put one more thing on my (Want) To Do List. What are some of the things on your own (Want) To Do Lists? And Happy Halloween to everyone! It's my favorite holiday of the year, but for the first time ever I don't have a costume this year. So Sad!

Comfort Quilt

There was a secret project I was working on over the summer. I couldn't share it until now. I've been running the Sewn Together Bee for over two years now. As we neared the end of the last round of the bee one of our members experienced a tragedy in her life. Her mother passed away and her grief was consuming. Unfortunately, she also missed out on her month in the bee after working so hard on all of our blocks. 

So we did a little stalking and came up with a color scheme and a plan and got to work. It seemed like she gravitated towards blues and greens and also pinwheels. So the members of the Sewn Together Bee started creating pinwheel blocks for her and sent them to me to finish. 

I ended up sashing the blocks that came in small. We made them any size or pattern we desired. With sashing they all ended up 12.5" unfinished. Time was of the essence, since I spent much of the summer gathering the blocks from all corners of the globe. I went with simple straight line quilting on the diagonal to accent the movement of the pinwheels. 

The backing is one Michael Miller print that I picked up thinking the yellows and oranges would contrast nicely with the greens and blues on the front. And I bound it in a simple Kona Olive, then wrapped it in love with a note on behalf of the entire bee. 

Then, one day, unexpectedly I received a beautiful note in my mailbox. It brought tears to my eyes. I rarely have time to sew anything for myself these days. Sometimes I get frustrated and convince myself I'm not joining any more bees or swaps, ever. And then there are days like this, when I am reminded why I do so much sewing for and with others. The reward is much sweeter. I would rather brighten someone else's day over making myself a new dress any day.