What's on the Design Wall

I've got a lovely quilt coming along on the design wall. I'll share some pics as soon as I complete the top, but I wanted to snap and share a shot of the lovely fabrics before the sun set today!

I would have never dreamt up this subdued color scheme on my own, but I loved it as soon as I started getting the pieces up on the wall. Yay for custom orders :-)

Everything I've touched this year seems to take longer than I thought, so I'm super ready to see this in a finished quilt soon. I'll keep you posted!

Happy crafting this weekend!

Claire

WIP Wednesday: Rose Stars #40 & #41

Here's some of the handiwork I have to show from the Austin Modern Quilt Guild Sew-In Day at the Northwest Sewing Center in Austin this past weekend.

We had a spectacular time sewing and swapping tips, my favorite of which was that a butternut squash is easier to peel and cut if you put it in the oven whole for awhile first. Jackpot. Tried it for dinner today and worked like a charm.

These being blocks #40 and #41, I now have eight more whole rose star blocks and seven half rose star blocks to complete to fill in the pattern around the edges. I've got two more blocks cut, but I think I'll finish those and make mindful choices about the color schemes for the last whole blocks in an attempt to balance everything out.

I had to pull blocks off of the design wall so I could lay out pieces for a Marine Den quilt. More on that tomorrow!

Happy Crafting!

Claire

Marine Den Coloring Page

I've spent so much time working on the Marine Den quilt pattern, and I'm really excited about it!!!! I'm incorporating some TouchDraw diagrams that make the construction process a lot easier to understand. I created a coloring page to include with the pattern, so I thought I would make it available as a downloadable freebie :-)

As a bonus, you'll be ready with a color scheme when the pattern is finished. 

Happy Crafting!

Claire

26 Quilts and Counting!

Like the post title says, it recently came to my attention that I have made 26 quilts all told. Whoa.

I had no idea I had made so many until I started reorganizing my "Quilts" page. (See the tab below the blog header!) I created my blog to keep track of my sewing and to participate in the online sewing community. It's somewhat of a garden journal where I write down what works, what fails miserably, and where I ask you for help ;-)

I hadn't been doing a great job of documenting all of the quilts I made, especially during the Renegade Craft Fair, so I recently took the time to do it and was blown away. It's completely dizzying to think that I have made 25 of these quilts in the past 18 months.

I'm glad I took the time to write a little post about this, though. While writing, I realized that I was at 26 instead of 25. AND I remembered I had some home video footage of my first quilt top that I could screenshot to fill in for the lack of a good finished quilt photo. Yay! (I'll spare you the video. The only thing worse than home video footage of a quilt made in a dorm room is footage of an 18 year old quilter.)

Alright, I'm going to go back to enjoying Season 5, Episode 6 of Parks and Recreation, in which a quilt plays a key role :-)

Quilt On, Champions!

Claire

Wordless WIP Wednesday: Rose Star Update

Ok, almost Wordless Wednesday. Upon seeing the design wall, Mr. Pins said "How are there so many of them?! How is this making any money?" To which I replied "It's not. It's making a quilt :-)"

I can only assume he's thinking the Marine Den pattern should be done. I agree. It's coming!

Happy Crafting!

Claire

March 2013 Recap

March was a really productive month, so let's do a little wordless recap before I get completely intimidated by everything that needs to happen in April ;-)

Guest Hosting at Freshly Pieced

Lots of Rose Stars

Marine Den in Blues and White

do. Good Stitches Starburst Cross Quilt

Dinner Napkins with Mitered Corners

Marine Den Quilt in Dark Gray and Backyard Baby

I'm thrilled with my March progress, and I can't to see what everyone else has been creating!

Happy Crafting!

Claire

Finished: Marine Den in Dark Gray and Backyard Baby

Here's the second of three quilts that will come out of the Marine Den pattern writing process. I had fun using the same Backyard Baby prints as I did with the first Marine Den quilt, but I had to shift the position of the colors around a little bit to accommodate the fabric that I had left.

I swapped out the background fabric this time for a darker gray that went better with the color of the Curious Nature print on the back.

I stitched in the ditch between the pods with a YLI clear monofilament. It came highly recommended by Karen Kay Buckley in the class I took from her at Fall Quilt Festival. It was a nice way to hide my stitches without having to decide what thread color to use. Also, I didn't have to try putting one color thread in the bobbin and a different in the top and see how the tension worked out. It might have been fine on the Janome, but I just wasn't up to exploring the possibilities that day. Trying out the YLI sounded a lot more fun.

This particular quilt is off to a little boy. I'm about to start another quilt from my pattern draft so I can take some pictures to with the finished pattern. Yay! Get pumped :-D I know I am!

Quilty Stats:
Pre-wash dimensions: 56.75" x 37"
Post-wash dimensions:  58.25" x 38.75"
Batting: Warm & White from The Warm Company
Front Fabric: Assorted Kona and Cotton Couture Solids, Backyard Baby by Patty Sloniger
Back Fabric: Cocoons in Tin color from Curious Nature by David Butler for Free Spirit
Binding Fabric: Cotton Couture solid.
Quilting: Free Motion and Stitching in the Ditch with the Janome Horizon 8900 QCP.

Happy Crafting!

Claire