Frost Bank Mini Quilt

I told you there were a lot of things going on this month. After I finished the Cascading quilt pattern, I've been sewing non-stop (between getting the dishwasher repaired and taking the bird to the emergency vet). I so hoped to get a block put together for the QuiltCon challenge, but I came up with something complicated. Then I had some sewing machine trouble and wasn't going to make it to the post office in time. I guess I could have gotten FedEx involved, but there was an Austin Modern Quilt Guild happy hour to attend ;-)

Anyway, there's this great building in downtown Austin occupied by Frost Bank and lots of other companies. Mr. Pins currently gets his work on in this building. It used to dominate the Austin skyline when I moved here in 2006, but there's been lots of development downtown since then. Regardless, I'm still partial to it. 

I crafted up a paper piecing template and just winged my way through this whole block assembly endeavor. Yikes.

Not everything lined up perfectly, but I can certainly live with it. I think blowing up the pattern bigger would make everything a little easier to work with. 

Ultimately, I just pieced the block into a background of charcoal and made it into a mini quilt. I didn't know what to do about the quilting, but I settled on some echoing, stitching in the ditch, and vertical lines. 

Quilty Stats:

Pre-wash dimensions: 18" x 23.5"

Post-wash dimensions: No washing for this mini quilt. There are some questionably small seam allowances.

Batting: Not sure. 1/4" batting.

Front Fabric: Moda Bella Solids in Egg Blue, Turquoise, Caribbean, and Charcoal

Back Fabric: Moda Bella Solid in Charcoal

Binding: Moda Bella Solid in Charcoal

Quilting: Straight line with walking foot on the Bernina 1630.

I've got two other quilts approaching the finish line along with a couple of blocks. I'm coming off of another productive weekend at the Wimberley Quilt Ranch, but I'm taking a trip out of town, and I'm told I have to have a birthday before the month is out. I can't wait to share these finished projects soon!

Happy Crafting!

Finished: Cascading Quilt Pattern, at long last!

Finally! After many quilts and months of work, the Cascading Quilt Pattern is live on the Craftsy Pattern Shop ready to be crafted into many more awesome iterations.

I made this quilt up several times in the spring. There was a pink one and a blue one for girl and boy cousins in Moda Cape Ann by Oliver + S.

Then, there was a beautiful version in pinks and purples with mostly prints from Kate Spain's Terrain line with Moda, but with a little help from some Moda Dogwood Trail Dogwood Sprigs in Petal, Moda Rick Rack by Me & My Sister in Pink, and some StudioE Ellie II Tonal Leaves in Purple by Sue Penn. That version belongs to a little girl.

Buy a pattern for instant download and craft yourself up a quilt! I'd love to feature your finished versions on the blog :-)

Happy Crafting!

I'm linking up with Keeping It Simple. 

Laminate Zipper Pouch with Lining

We had another great Austin Modern Quilt Guild Meeting last night, and the big event this time was a pouch swap. I jumped at the chance to participate, because I figured it was a good opportunity for me to get over some zipper fear. It turns out that fear just resulted in a lot of procrastination, because I didn't start on my pouch until yesterday.

Taadaa! Don't think this was the result on my first try, though. The first attempt was a raging disaster.

Not a pouch, more like an inside out cardboard folder.

The interfacing I picked was too stiff and I had all the wrong pieces sewn together. I'll pick it apart later and save all the parts.

Not bad. Functional with room for improvement.

For my second attempt, I followed Gina's tutorial. Thank goodness! I ended up with a baby pouch. The Pellon SP101 Interfacing didn't lend nearly the amount of structure and substance I was hoping for, though, and I didn't like how my zipper rounded off at both ends.

"This corner looks so good," she said after witnessing a miracle.

Queue this tutorial from Michelle at Michelle Patterns (formerly Keyka Lou). She demonstrates a little hand sewing one, two, punch! that helped my zipper-newb self make a beautiful pouch with greatly improved zipper corners.

Purple zipper. Yup, I buy only obnoxious colored zippers.

I wanted to make a giant pouch, so I used a 14" zipper. The laminate was pretty floppy, so I took Gina's suggestion and used canvas as interfacing. The lining was just a quilting cotton.

It's cavernous in there! IN THERE. In There. in there...

Thank goodness I was pleased with the result, because don't you know Gina ended up with my pouch in the swap! THE PRESSURE! Homegirl has probably only made about 10,000 pouches, purses, and assorted bags, meanwhile this is my first unsupervised foray into zipper wrangling. She remarked that you could tote a six-pack in this pouch, and to that I say, this pouch would be greatly honored ;-)

Happy zipper wrangling to all! I'm linking up with Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday (TGIFF).
  

English Paper Pieced Rose Star Block 14

Taadaa! This block was finished promptly thanks to all of that hand sewing I got done during the Olympic opening ceremonies during the Austin Modern Quilt Guild weekend sewing retreat.

Yay! I have another block basted and ready to be sewn together as well. Once I get that one done, I promise to lay them all out and take a picture so you can see where I stand. Maybe I'll even make a decision about background fabric at that point. Don't get too excited. The background fabric could easily end up being Kona White. You know how I am ;-)

Remember, if you need some hand sewing to keep you from chewing your fingernails off during Olympic competitions, check out Clare's tutorial on selfsewn.

Happy crafting!

Summer Sampler Series: Terrain Lucky Pieces & Minnesota

I'm recapping all the fun I had sewing last weekend at the Austin Modern Quilt Guild's sewing retreat. My goal was to knock out some Summer Sampler Series blocks in Terrain fabric. 

After finishing a Mosaic block on Friday and Star and Arkansas Traveler blocks during the day on Saturday, I decided to burn the midnight oil and work on a Lucky Pieces block.

My inner night owl took over and I got this block knocked out in the wee hours of the morning. I started feeling the pinch of the layer cake, though. I had to use the pink Lichen print in Berry to make the star part, because I didn't have enough of my first choice print. Never send a layer cake to do a fat quarter bundle's job, I guess ;-)

There are a lot of pieces to square up in the Lucky Pieces block, so it was late when I finally went to bed. I crawled out of bed ready to sew on Sunday, though. I had been pondering the teal colors of the Terrain prints as I went to sleep, so I started picking out colors first thing. 

This Minnesota block wasn't my favorite of the Summer Sampler Series, because I felt like the hourglass shapes were distracting. Since I was limited by my available fabric, I decided to go scrappy. 

Now I love this block! Of course I had to fussy cut some of the Stonecrop print in the Foliage color for this block. I think it would look even cooler if you could separate the values to make a slightly lighter diamond with those inner triangles. That's a sewing experiment for another time, though.

I'm thrilled with the amount of sewing I got done in 48 hours. I went from five blocks to ten blocks over the course of a weekend. Hooray!

P.S. I love my new DIY clothesline!

I hope you have a productive weekend of sewing ahead of you!

Summer Sampler Series: Terrain Arkansas Traveler

I've shared some of the work I got done last Friday at the Austin Modern Quilt Guild Sewing Retreat at the Quilt Ranch in Wimberley. Well, when I woke up that Saturday morning, I jumped right back in it.

To familiarize myself with all of the beautiful Terrain prints, I pulled out all of the layer cake squares and arranged them on the design wall in color order.

With the Arkansas Traveler block in mind, I went for a scrappy approach and pulled out colors for each piece in the block.

Planning helps me avoid mistakes, but it doesn't always save me. If you've ever made this block before, you know the white background fabric is supposed to be oriented the other way such that the Seedpod prints would be on the outside. Oops.

I wanted my Seedpod prints on the inside, so I just said "Screw it" and sewed it together this way.

Am I crazy, or does it actually look cooler with the background fabric in this arrangement? Of course you won't even notice it when it's quilted, but it's fun right now.

I love this block, and I love that I was able to incorporate so many different prints into it. I'm happy I sacrificed valuable fabric for it early on in the layer cake destruction process ;-)

There will be more Summer Sampler Series blocks to see tomorrow! I'm linking up with Somewhat Simple.

July 2012 Recap & WIP Wednesday

July is a thing of the past, and August is going to bring lots of quilts this way!

AMQG Donation Quilt Top & Back

I just dropped the back I pieced on Friday off at Remnants for quilting today! (I also picked up some fat quarters of the QuiltCon colors to make a challenge block.) The back was a pain to piece in The Clubhouse. That may have been because it was a raging disaster in there. In the end, I don't love the back, but I love the layout for the front, and I can't wait to see it quilted. I should probably start thinking about binding ;-)

X Marks the Spot Block

This is my contribution for the inaugural Cheer circle of the do. Good Stitches quilting bee. I'm the host for our circle and the quilter for July. It's been fun to watch the other blocks come in the mail. This block is from a tutorial on SewCraftyJess. The addition of the borders means these blocks finish at 16.5." I look forward making this quilt in August!

Rose Star Blocks

I only finished three of these hand pieced blocks in June, and I lamented that I should have finished one per week. I made up for it this month by knocking out blocks 10 through 13. Plus, thanks to some hand sewing during primetime Olympics, I'm in a good position to have a great month of English paper piecing in August as well. If you need some hand sewing, check out the tutorial on selfsewn.

Terrain Summer Sampler Series Blocks

This will be a quilt for me in the end, and I'm so happy to be up to ten Summer Sampler Series blocks after an intense 48 hours of sewing (and even a little sleeping) at the Austin Modern Quilt Guild retreat last weekend. Now I just have to decide if I'm stopping at 12 blocks or if I'll throw in the Solstice Series blocks for good measure.

Ruby Star Rising Ironing Board Cover

Woohoo! My ironing board looks so much better now! The before was bleak and upping the ugly factor in The Clubhouse. These Viewfinders from Ruby Star Rising are amazing!

August is happening, apparently. Are you ready?

      

I'm linking up with Lily's Quilts Fresh Sewing Day, Freshly Pieced, Sew Much Ado, Someday Crafts, Rae Gun Ramblings, and SNAP.