Quilting Modern - weekend book party!

I'm so so happy to be a part of the Quilting Modern party this weekend! It's been book give away central over here on the blog recently, but this one is not to be missed! I'm lucky enough to count authors Jacquie and Katie among my friends (we've actually spent time together in person!) and their book is really wonderful.

For those people who know me, they'd probably agree when I say that I'm opinionated... ha. I am. And when it comes to modern quilting, I have a whole lotta opinions! I feel pretty strongly that it's a specifically definable aesthetic movement. I think that modern quilting is waaaay more about design than it is about using a specific a line of fabric or currently on trend color combos. And in my opinion, this book, is really and truly an example of modern quilting.

Let me give you a glimpse of a couple of beautiful quilts in the book:

And that's just two of many quilts and projects!

Another wonderful thing about the book is that its focus is on improvisational piecing.

Jacquie and Katie teach specific improv techniques, and readers are able to recreate the quilts, but no two will be identical. How inspiring!! I can only image how many people out there will pick up this book and be driven to come up with their own spins on these quilts - or entirely new designs altogether.

I'll bet that you want a copy of this book, huh? Well you're in luck since I'm giving one away! The good people over at Interweave have donated a copy. Leave a comment telling me what you love about modern quilting and a winner will be picked next week. Good luck!

And keep the Quilting Modern party going by checking out all of the other blogs taking part! Everyone is posting this weekend, so have fun clicking through now. A Stitch in Dye Fat Quarterly blog Film in the Fridge Generation Q Happy Zombie iheartlinen Oh Fransson One Shabby Chick Pink Chalk Studio Quilting is my Therapy Red Pepper Quilts Sew Mama Sew Sew Take a Hike West Coast Crafty Whip Up Wise Craft

Traveling Quilts and a winner!

I've been a part of a new "bee" recently. It's not really a bee in that it works differently... Each member started their quilt and each month it gets passed along to the next member who adds to it. And the best part? The last person to work on your top finishes the quilt for you - so at the end you receive a FINISHED quilt!

I'm desperately behind, but am going to catch up this week... meanwhile, John had started his top with the triangles on upper left, and Amber added the smaller blocks. I wanted to stick with triangles, but put on my own spin on it so I added the big ol' triangle.

Here's hoping the person who ends up putting this all together (it could be anyone along the way...) can make my big triangle work!

If you're interested, you can see all of the quilts in progress in the Traveling Quilts Flickr group.

Ok - and now on to a winner for Shape Workshop for Quilters! Out of the 218 comments, the random number generator picked number 29.  Congrats to Chandra D - look out for an email from me!

It's Fat Quarterly's Book! Shape Workshop for Quilters

Today's the day that is my stop on the book tour for this fun new book from the people over at Fat Quarterly!

When I get a new book to check out, I always try to think about what sets it apart from other books... For me, that's clear with this one.  More than a group of quilt patterns, this book teaches you a variety of different quilt blocks made with all different shapes.

From there, it's up to you to decide how you turn those blocks into a quilt top.  I love this idea of combining teaching with the reader's personal creativity.  It's so much fun to learn something and then put your own spin on it.  It leads to such a variety of interesting quilts, rather than a lot of exact duplicates!

But need a bit more guidance? There's also lots of cute finished projects included. The book is really just full of lots of ideas, inspiration and guidance.

And I'll admit it, I was pretty thrilled to see myself quoted on the back of the book!

Who would like to win a copy? Lark Books was generous enough to donate a copy to a reader so leave a comment here and I'll pick a random winner early next week.

Follow along with the rest of the tour:

5/29 In Color Order 5/31 Comfort Stitching 6/4 Generation Q 6/7 Sew Mama Sew 6/12 Pat Sloan 6/14 WhipUp 6/18 Sarah Fielke’s The Last Piece 6/22 Fat Quarter Shop 6/26 Diary of a Quilter 6/28 Amy’s Creative Side 7/3 A La Mode Fabric 7/6 It’s Sew Kiki! 7/10 Craft Buds! 7/12 Craft Foxes 7/16 {sew} Allegorical 7/18 Wrap-up Party at FatQuarterly.com!

Sew, Mama, Sew! Modern Block of the Month - May

Here it is! Only one more to go after this!

And the random number generator picked a winner of We Love Color! #128 who was Flavia. Congrats and keep an eye out for an email from me!

We Love Color

I was lucky enough to be asked to make a quilt for this great book awhile back...

It's filled with wonderful quilts made by Elizabeth Hartman, Jacquie Gering, Kajsa Wikman, Malka Dubrawsky, Cherri House, Kathy Mack, Week Ringle & Bill Kerr, Valori Wells, Emily Cier, Lisa Call, Betz White, Amy Ellis, Jean Wells, Rita Hodge and Jennifer Sampou. Along with an interview with Denyse Schmidt. I'm pretty thrilled to be in such amazing company!

This is the one I made... had I know what the title of the book would be I might have used more, um, color but oh well! Ha.

So, who wants a copy?? Comment here and I'll pick a winner on Monday!!

And in other news, I though I'd post a photo of just how pregnant I am these days.

Hence the major slow down in quilting! The job I'm working right now doesn't help either... that will end soon, but then the lil' guy comes so I guess it's good I'm getting used to not having as much sewing time, huh??

Quick Little Quilt

Sometimes you're working full time and you're eight months pregnant and you're working on QuiltCon, and you know what happens? You have very little time to sew!

I managed to finish up this little baby girl quilt that's a gift. Very simple, very quick!

Happy Monday everyone - hope you're finding more sewing machine time than I am!!

Sew, Mama, Sew! Modern Block of the Month - April

Check it out over at Sew, Mama, Sew!

Brrr! Giveaway

I know I said I'd let you all know who the winner was on Friday but sometimes life just gets too busy, huh? Anyhow - here we go! Out of 311 comments, the random number generator picked number 117!

Congrats to Judy - keep any eye out for an email from me.

Also, a few people asked what the background fabric is and it's Robert Kaufman’s Yarn Dyed Essex Linen, Flax. It really reads just like linen in person but is great to work with because it's a cotton blend. I can't recommend it enough!

Brrr! quilt top and a giveaway

This weekend I got a quick little quilt top sewn up using the Brrr! fabric by Laurie Wisburn. The wind would not cooperate with me at all while I was taking this photo, but you get the idea...

You all know that I'm not one to use a ton of patterned fabrics but I felt that a little went a long way with this adorable line. Even my husband thinks it's really cute. Guess we'll be keeping this one for the lil' guy on the way!

Oh but hey! There's something for you too!

How about fat quarters of the whole line? Drop me a comment and I'll be picking a winner at random on Friday the 6th. Good luck!

Sew, Mama, Sew! Modern Block of the Month - March

The next block is now up!

Check it out here.

Intersections

I finished up this quilt last week. I'd been working on it for quite a bit of time... It's basically the quilt version of these placemats that are in Quilt Scene. The quilting took me forever and I have to admit - while I love the results, it's hard to stay motivated to get this dense straight line quilting done. But now it's finished and I couldn't be happier with it!

The orange is a shot cotton and in person really adds to the quilt - those shot cottons are so pretty with the depth of color they have.

Here's a detail of the back... always easier to see the quilting on the back!

Brrr!

A bit ago I was lucky enough to be sent some of Laurie Wisburn's latest fabric line Brrr! It's so cute!

I pulled some grays (because let's be honest, when do I not??) and added what is fast becoming one of my favorite neutral fabrics, Robert Kaufman's Yarn Dyed Essex Linen, Flax. It reads like a linen but is easier to work with since it's a cotton blend. It's gonna go so well with these lil' polar bears!

I made the first few cuts into the fabric this weekend and look forward to putting together a little (boy) baby quilt!

Broken Plaid

I finished up this quilt!

Lots of dense straight line quilting that fills in the piecing pattern and then continues across the rest of the quilt.

Here's a detail of the quilting on the back... All that stopping and starting with the straight lines takes a lot of time, but it's so worth the end results!

Happy weekend to all of you!

Modern Minimal book signing

I hope that all of you in the Los Angeles area can make it out to my book signing next Saturday the 3rd!

Sew, Mama, Sew! Modern Block of the Month - February

It's now up!!

QuiltCon!

Did you see?? The Modern Quilt Guild is organizing QuiltCon! Its first international convention and quilt show!

Very exiting stuff!  It's happening Feb. 21st-24th, 2013 so there's loads of time to plan ahead and make sure you're there!  Check out all of the details and information at www.quiltcon.com!!

New Flea Market Fancy!

Look at what I was lucky enough to get a bit of from Westminster in the mail!

How exciting that they are reprinting Denyse Schmidt's great line! I even scored and got some of the beloved gray seeds!

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend.  By the way, there's BIG news coming from The Modern Quilt Guild on Monday so keep your eyes open for it!

List of Boy Sewing Resources!

Ok - here they all are.  There were so many replies to my post that they had to be organized and listed!  Thank you everyone for your input. What a great resource to have all in one place.  If you'd like anything added to the list, just leave me a comment here and I'll add it to the post. Free tutorials:

The jackpot is really the Celebrate the Boy archives:

Made by Rae Made

From there...

Kids Small Messenger Bag Hoodie into Cowl Neck Pullover Halloween Jack-O-Lantern Shirt Stencils

Print: Ottobre Magazine Handmade Beginnings by Anna Maria Horner Simple Sewing for Baby by Lotta Jansdotter Little Stitches for Little Ones by Amy Butler Sewing for Boys by Shelly Figueroa and Karin LePage

Patterns: Oliver + S Wee Wonderfuls Space Boy and Robot

Online resources/Blogs with lots of boy stuff: All for the Boys Love in the Mommyhood Handmade Crafts for Boys flickr group The Brothers Trimm Sew Liberated The Boy Trifecta I Am Momma Hear Me Roar

Happy surfing!!

Busy!

First thank you so much for all of your congrats on the fact that I'm having a boy! And your feedback on boy sewing patterns was so great. So many replies that I'll be certain to put together a list and post it in the next few days. Other people must want that info too! It's been a busy week over here! The LAMQG's retreat was a ball.

Aside from doing loads and loads of quilting, I made teeny tiny pants!

I used the quick change trousers pattern from Anna Maria Horner's book "Handmade Beginnings." They sewed up so quickly and are so cute with little yoke on the butt.

And it worked out well that it was Anna Maria's pattern I was sewing with because she came to speak to the LAMQG early this week.

What an inspirational woman she is! So filled with passion, talent and a love for what she does. And she does so much! It was very motivating and encouraging to see someone who clearly loves her work and is so driven. Plus she's just downright nice.

I'm back to my day job on Monday. The new schedule is going to take some getting used to but I'm certainly going to try to keep up with the sewing and blogging.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Boy!

So! I found out that we're having a boy! I'll admit that I was thrown for a serious loop because for a number of reasons I've had nothing but girls on the brain the whole time I've been pregnant. But the surprise made finding out much more exciting than I'd expected it to be. I was just (stupidly) pretty certain it was a girl so it really was a huge surprise! Of course I instantly had to pull some fabric for a baby quilt for MY baby!

I'm off the the 2nd annual LAMQG retreat today (four days of sewing with friends! What could be better??) and I hope to get something started. I've got lots of other projects to work on too...

And otherwise, I did some blog/pinterest/google searching and there just aren't that many cute boy tutorials out there, are there? I've heard this from lots of moms but hadn't experienced it first hand. So tell me, what's your favorite pattern or tutorial for boy stuff? I wanna make this kid more than quilts!