Fabric, Selvage, and Bunnies!

Don't you just love this fabric?  Who wouldn't love tumbling owls! This is being used as a border in a baby dedication quilt for a couple locally.  It's sort of a compilation quilt with three of us getting it completed.  My part is done and I've passed it along to the next lucky quilter.

Other than making the top for the dedication quilt, I've spent the last weeks working on Lollypops which I won't bore you with.  Suffice it to say that all 36 of the small border blocks are glued down (not appliquéd!) and 11 large blocks are laid out and ready to be glued.  Yippee!  This is slow going -- much like watching paint dry.

During all the 'fun' of creating, I was notified by Lee at Freshly Pieced Modern Quilts (one of the blogs that I follow and periodically link to) that I had won a $25 gift certificate to Pink Chalk Fabrics.  If you have never checked out Lee's blog, it's worth your time.  She is creative, posts frequently, and loves fabric.  Check her out.  Often.

Who doesn't like hearing that they have won free stuff -- particularly at an online fabric shop.  Now, in reality, I had never heard of Pink Chalk Fabrics but I had loads of fun deciding how to spend my money.  You know the drill -- notions?  blenders?  sale fabric?  something really special?  All very important questions.  By all means, if you haven't shopped at Pink Chalk Fabrics, it's worth a look.  Great fabrics.  Good prices.  Good selection.

I finally decided on two cuts of children's fabric that I can use in my baby quilts for the local hospital. To maximize my spend, I went with good fabrics that were in the sale section.  I adore them.  Check out this fabric --

This is a Moda from Japan with the absolutely cutest selvage I have ever seen. Look at those little bunnies.  Tell me you have seen anything cuter in a selvage!

I am happy to say that I have not gotten on the selvage bandwagon.  I regularly admire the art created by those who are selvage lovers.  It's one of the few quilting bandwagons that I haven't jumped on and I remain committed to staying away from it.  But, these little selvages are too cute to throw away.  So, if you are a selvage lover and would like a set of "bunnies" -- I'm happy to tear an inch down the side and send a set to the first three folks who send me an email at iquiltforfun@gmail.com.   They are just too sweet not to be put to good use or at least admired by someone who loves selvages.

I hope you are finding fabric that makes you happy!

Jan

A Finish and Fun!

Finally!  Have you ever had one of those "holy moly" moments when you realized that a gift quilt is going to be needed sooner than you expected?

Meet the quilt top for Baby C who is coming in August.  I'm not sure why I hadn't focused on the fact that August is around the corner and I will need a gift in July.  Seriously....it comes at the same time every year.  I had my "holy moly" moment two weeks ago and started looking for fabric that would work with this pattern.

Luckily, I remembered I had been hoarding this Moda Three Sisters  fabric for a baby quilt and had more than enough to make a quilt for Baby C.  And, there was diversity in patterns -- different scaled florals, fabrics that read as solids, stripes, polka dots, paisley.  All in all, I decided it should work.  These fabrics were those that I bought in an absolute panic to make a quilt for a young woman who was diagnosed with bone cancer while in medical school.  She was in the same high school class as my son, we were in Chicago and feeling very far away, and I knew I had to do something.  So -- I wanted to make a quilt that was peaceful.  This fabric fit the bill!  I was very busy at work and impulsively ordered a 50 fat quarter pack so that I didn't have to spend time searching!  I have also used this fabric for my Oak Park Beauty.  And I had some left over which was sequestered for another project.

So, Baby C will have a lovely feminine baby quilt and I'll continue to look for the right nursery fabrics for a later quilt.

This pattern is from Cozy Modern Quilts by Kim Schaeffer and is not the first baby quilt I've made from her book.  As you can see from this post, I made two at once by resizing the block and improving (I think) the construction process.  The Mahalo quilt was also made from this pattern. So, it's tried and true and fast!

Making this quilt top should have taken less than a week but it ended up taking a bit more than two weeks.  But I have a very good excuse!  One of the kind and generous quilters from our little church group loaned me her Accu-Cut Studio cutter.  Oh, how fun!  And efficient! This shelf of men's shirts was attacked in full force.  The smaller cuts that you see here are sleeves and they are awkward to cut with a rotary cutter.  With the 2.5" die in place, they all were cut and scraps thrown in the scrap bag!  Great improvement in the shelf.

And for good measure, I cut a bunch of fabric that I had bought for baby charity quilts and finally had to force myself to stop cutting.  Otherwise, I was going to start pulling fabric "willy nilly" from the shelves to cut with no idea what the final purpose was.  I managed to cut 10.5" stack of 2.5" strips and came to be a believer in the Studio!  For those of you who have them, kudos to you!

I have to say, I'm feeling pretty productive and I have a lot of blocks leftover and believe I can make a quilt for a friend's daughter that will "fit the bill" as well.

I hope you have had a creative week -- productive or not.  

Jan

First Break All the Rules!

Seriously!

I love this quilt but it took every ounce of effort I had to "let go" and let it flow.  This is from Victoria at Bumblebeans and is her Waverunner quilt.  I fell in love with it when I first saw it and knew that I wanted to make one.  But I had no solids.  What's quilter to do?

Buy solids, of course! So when it was my turn to host a challenge for MacQuilts and Mom22smartchix, I bought nine different solids (Moda and Kona) and we each took 1/3 yard.  We could then add up to 4 different fabrics to the collection but you had to use every fabric in whatever quilt you chose.

 

Unfortunately, I cannot convey the look on MacQuilts face when she saw the solids--and especially the tan and dark brownish-burgundy.  She is a batik and Kaffe girl for the most part and it was priceless.  "Horror" is slightly overstated -- but not by much.  She added a great batik and made very modern quilted placemats which are used daily and the back has the scary fabrics on the back.  Clever!

Mom22smartchix made an incredible Amish themed quilt which still needs to be quilted and will also be spectacular when it's done.

For me -- this was hard.  I am pretty focused on good process and quality control so letting go and following the "waverunner way" took some getting used to.

Cut on a straight line?  Goodness no!
Press not iron?  Heck no -- steam the fire out of it!  Make it fit!

Measure twice and cut once?  Why would you do that?
If a block doesn't work, rip it out and redo?  Of course not. Add a strip!

1/4" seam allowance?  Sort of!
Square up blocks before sewing?  Well you could, but why bother?

Follow a pattern?  Why?  This is yours!
Same fabrics can't touch?  Are you nuts!  Who cares if yellow and cheddar are side by side!

Amidst the dogwood petals that are letting go this morning.  Alas....they were beautiful.

In the end -- this was a blast and I love the quilt.  It's bound in red and I smile every single time I see it.  I'm not exactly sure why I waited six months to bind it -- that was silly now that it's emerged again.   There are a few tucks in it and once I wash it, I believe that the crinkles of washing will really blend with the quilting.

This little gem will be entered in this spring's Bloggers Quilt Festival sponsored by Amy's Creative Side.  Have a go at it if you've never had a chance to see what she does. It's amazing and there is so much inspiration over there, it will make your head spin.  Seriously!

I hope you're having a wonderful day and following the rules if that makes you happy or making your own rules if that's even more fun.  I get it!  Jan

Over and over and over....again

 Another wedding quilt...but with a slightly different approach.

I learned very quickly in the making of this quilt that I am not cut out for 80 blocks of the same fabrics and same pattern.  I thought this would never end...

This pattern was selected after the mother-of-the-groom and I went on a great shopping trip for fabric.  She had never shopped for a quilt before but she knew exactly what colors she was looking for since the bride said she wanted to decorate her bedroom in brown and a deep rich red.  Easy to say until you get a in a great shop with lots of selection and then it's not so easy -- but it is such fun.

Ultimately -- she chose beautiful Moda fabrics in those colors (with a little bit of blue) and I used various creams from my stash.   And from there, I had to choose a pattern and then make 80 blocks!

No more!  The wedding quilt made out of scraps that I'm working on these days is much more satisfying.  I had always thought I'd make a two color quilt -- they are so elegant -- I no longer think that's likely to happen!

I hope you're finding time to piece!  Jan