I committed to pebble quilting the queen size hexagons...
I'm gonna be at this for a long, long time. Otherwise, my sewing space is in the middle of a complete overhaul. Can't wait to get it all organized again and show you all pictures!
Oh and there is a bunch of interest in a Los Angeles Modern Quilting Guild! 20 people or so already! I'm working on organizing it along with Latifah, so more progress on it soon...
Hope that you all had great weekends!
Just a quick note (no sewing time these days!) to remind you all to watch Project Runway tonight at 10PM on Lifetime!!
Independently of my personal involvement, it's just such a quality show about people with amazing skills. We all can sew, but these people can SEW!
What's this??
It's a finished quilt top and back! Now basting has to happen and on a quilt this big it involves moving furniture in my living room. Not going to be fun but I'm so eager to quilt this one. Will tackle it soon!
On another note - what do you LA locals think about the idea of starting an modern quilting guild? I was contacted about the idea so I though I'd see if there's any interest? Let me know what you think!
Happy Monday!
Denyse Schmidt's new fabric line!! I'll can't wait to see it in person but so far I like what I see... the small scale patterns are so to my tastes. What do you think?
Like coming home to a huge box of batting.
Oh batting! You have such potential...
Or actually having a little something going on on the design wall...
Progress on blocks for one of the bees I'm in.
On a completely different topic.... A couple of you have mentioned Project Runway so I thought I would clarify. This season that's about to start airing on the 20th is not the one that I cast. Season 6 got all caught up in a legal battle when the show switched to Lifetime and now it's finally airing. It's gonna be the same great show so please do watch! And then... watch again next season when you'll see all of my hard work!
for all of your nice comments about my last post. I'm feeling much better about it all. I think that I just needed to get it off my chest and now I'm going to not to let it get to me. I think that Jacquie put it best... I'm going to try to "blog without obligation." Plus I had a nice full day of sewing yesterday! I made major progress on the hexagons. It's been so long since I've made a queen sized quilt that I'd forgotten how much longer it takes to get a big top finished up.
You know what I need? A much bigger design wall. But not having one has forced sorting out some organization systems or else I loose track of all the hexagons!
Just have to sew the columns together and add a white border to either side, trim the top & bottom and it will be done! It's nice and big. It will be 91" x 93" once I add the borders.
Maybe it's time to start pulling fabrics for the next quilt...
That's a bit how I'm feeling these days. Having started this new job, I am having a tough time transitioning away from my sewing machine. I love blogging - I really love it. But I also put pressure on myself about it. I hate that I don't have any new sewing to show you right now. I feel like I have to sew. Not to enjoy myself, but so that I have something to blog about! Crazy, right? It started the other way around...
So I apologize that it might slow down around here for a bit, but I need to let myself off of the blogging hook 'cause I'm driving myself nuts about it.
I know that I'm not alone in this. Do you deal with this too?
For today, just a pretty photo of fabric I sent off for the Sew Connected 2 quilting bee.
Thanks so much for all of your kind comments. It makes me so happy that you are all out there and enjoying. Having this blog has been so wonderful and that's because you are all so nice! So without further ado... the winner of the little stack of fabrics is...
from the random number generator...
Congrats Nicole!! I've emailed you for your mailing address. I'll pop these fabrics in the mail to you in the next few days!
I have been blogging for one year! Well, I'm fudging a little... tomorrow it will be one year - but close enough! In celebration, I'm having a little fabric giveaway!
A bunch of Wonderland charm squares and some fat quarters!!
Just leave me a comment and I'll use the random number generator to pick a winner on Monday morning.
Hope you all have wonderful weekends!
Hey LA people... Let's all go see this! I might not be all wrapped up in the traditional quilting community (yet!) but the Indie Craft scene is a different story. It was how I found my way to quilting so I'm all about supporting this film.
You can snag tickets here! Just scroll down a bit...
Thanks so much for your comments on my last post about the Long Beach Quilt Festival! Modern quilting's place in the overall quilting world (industry, really...) is an interesting conversation. From all of the comments, I have deduced the following:
We all shop almost exclusively online so therefore when fabric we like is in quilting shops, it doesn't sell. As a result, the shops decide not to carry it the next time around. This leads to a vicious cycle and it keeps us online and isolated from the quilting world at large.
So, I've decide that any time I'm in a quilting shop I'm going to make a point of spending my money there. Unfortunately I don't get to them often as I live in L.A., 10 minutes from a huge fabric (but not quilting) store that carries a lot of what I like. I know that my few dollars here and there won't make a difference, but I'm going to do it on principle. Also, I'm going to consider submitting my quilts to shows & festivals. I can't complain about not being represented if I haven't tried to be that representation myself, right?
Maybe if we all do this, it will make a difference over time?
Oh and the best thing about the festival? I met Jamie, Julie, and Beth! Oh, and I tried out a long arm for the first time... my sister had to hold me up I was so weak at the knees... I seriously covet a machine with a frame.
In quilting news, I've decided that the big hexagons are going to be a queen sized quilt. So I've been cutting!
A couple of you asked how big they are... I made myself a 9" template! It's going to sew up quickly once I find a minute to tackle it.
Guess what's happening on Friday? A giveaway! It's gonna be my one year blog-o-versary!
I went down to the Quilt Festival in Long Beach on Saturday.
I had a great time, but I have to say... we modern quilters are just not in the least represented there. At least not in what's for sale... 450 booths and I spotted ONE YARD of Heather Ross. IN THE WHOLE PLACE! And it was HUGE.
Forgive the lousy photo but you're looking at a convention center full of fabric - with only one yard of Heather Ross mixed in.
What do you all think? Do they not know we exist? Do we not go to these events enough for it to be financially worth it to vendors who do sell our style of stuff? This is an interesting topic for me seeing as clearly we are the next generation of quilters. Why aren't they trying to appeal to us more? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
But I shouldn't complain because I still scored with the loot and had a blast digging through all the bins and bins and bins of fabric! I got a lot that I've never seen before. There are pros to being exposed to the enormous quilting world you don't know (read: the non-internet based one!). And there were deals to be had... prices varied a lot, but overall, after searching through the place forever, I found some beautiful stuff.
Fat quarters:
Yup! A bit of Flea Market Fancy!
The half yard and up bits:
The red Mingle was the only colorway I didn't have and wanted. And while you would think the fabric crazed ladies would be fighting me for it at $7.00 a yard... nope! That was one of the good things about no one else in the place having my taste!
And I mean lil' cowboys?!? How could I not...
Aside from the frenzied fabric shopping, there were some really beautiful quilts on display. Mostly very traditional, but also some that weren't at all. I apologize for these horrid photos but I just had my little not so great camera... I linked to the artist's site if I could find one.
Castle Wall by Trudy Kleinstein. My close ups of this came out fuzzy (found one here) but every tiny little "stone" you see is appliqued on there!! Amazing!
Leaves of Grass by Betty Amador - One of the handful of improv. pieced quilts.
Hospital Rising by Ginny Eckley
Red Owls by Karen Peirce
Overall I had a great time, but it sure did make me feel like they don't know that all of us modern quilters are out here... Here's hopin' that changes soon!
But this time they are gonna be biiiig!
So much faster this way. I'm certain to be sewing these together this weekend. Oh and is anyone going to the Long Beach Quilt festival? I might - depending on if I can pull myself away from the sewing machine....
Now normally I don't just post kitties shots, but we had a particularly good photo shoot yesterday...
And because this is a quilting blog after all... Another little coin quilt in the sun.
I'm starting a new job today. That means my obsessive quilting will slow down. Some!
My coffee is brewing so I'm taking the time to show you my latest finished quilt. The red & aqua is all done!
It's much like my usual quilts - lots of white and wonky log cabins and as a result, I love it!
One of my usual pieced backs:
I used some of the precious Paint by Number birds fabric. It's too beautiful to hoard! It needs to be put in quilts.
It's 40" x 50" and for sale in my shop!
All done!
It measures 40" x 40" - perfect for a baby quilt.
I think that it works well on a really simple quilt pattern, like this one, but would overwhelm a quilt top that is more involved. I do love it though and I'm certain to do it more on other quilts that I think it'll work on.
Boy does it use a lot of thread... 11 bobbins for this little baby quilt!
Just finished it up!
Clearly my obsession with exploration of wonky log cabins & white space continues!
I never tire of this color combo.
First off, thanks so much for all of your comments and kindness about my Hexagon quilt top!! Makes me so happy to hear that others like what I'm up to! My mom's been in town and it's not very sociable to sit in front of your sewing machine all day, is it? As a result I've only worked on it a bit more and am about half way through quilting it.
At first I wasn't sure if I was improving or ruining my quilt top - but when you take a step back and look at the big picture, this "pebble" quilting is great. Hope to have more to show you in a couple of days!
I said I was gonna dive back into the red & aqua quilt but I couldn't bring myself to sew another wonky log cabin block. I know! I was shocked too! I've actually hit my limit. I'm sure not for long - I'm certain to be back to my beloved soon enough but meanwhile I've been seeing these half hex quilts all over the place and I've been wanting to futz with one. I struggle with finding most traditional quilt patterns too "old fashion-y", but that's part of the challenge right? How do you take something tradition and modern it up? That sentiment, plus my love of white space led me to this!
I technically did it "wrong." The rows of hexs are not matched up, but I like the look. It was fun to mess with all those little cut out peices until I found the layout I liked best.
You can find the info to get the template here.
I'm really excited to get quilting on this one. I think I'm gonna try something new! Can you tell I'm trying to break out of my stippled log cabin quilt rut??
Have a great weekend everyone!
I've been getting lots of sewing details out of the way recently. I made a cute sample quilt for my class later this month.
It's little - 24" x 36" and makes me realize I need to branch out in my quilting more. I love the texture all these straight lines give it.
Also stitching up labels... I like that these fill my TV time along with binding stitching.
And bees! I'm all caught up on all of my bees! Just need to pop all of these into the mail...
Now I need to dive back into a this quilt...
