...or a cushion depending on where you are from. I turned my Sewtopia Kansas Dugout blocks into my first pillow!
It took me a bit to decided how to quilt this. Ultimately I chose straight lines on all the color diagonals about a presser foot apart. I really didn't want to quilt in the white centers because, for me, leaving those unstitched was the whole point of the y-seams.
When I finished the quilting I had to decide how to finish the pillow. I got overwhelmed with the choices and spent waaaay too much time reading about them. Today Amanda Jean posted a finished pillow with an envelope back. I used her simple tutorial and now I have a finish to share, too!
The pictures are outside because it's a beautiful day and the lighting is better but this is definitely an indoor pillow! It will always remind me of my amazing weekend in Chicago, meeting Rita Hodge, and conquering y-seams! Thank you Rita!
Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday. Thank you Amanda Jean!
I've delved into the world of swapping...with caution that I don't get too over committed.
First up was the Rainbow Mini Swap held on Instagram. I made this mini:
My thought process: rainbows - Judy Garland - Wizard of Oz - tornadoes - swirling - circles.
So the outside triangles are tumbling into a (nearly) perfect of circle of geese. Do you see it? I used my walking foot for the spiral quilting and wool batting for the loft.
Then I added a few extras for my partner, some of her likes and some of mine, packaged it up and mailed it away to Maine where it was gratefully received.
Here is what I received:
I LOVE IT!!! I was made by a Navy wife currently serving in Japan. Check out all the Japanese extras she sent along!!!
Thank you Chantel @sewradandrosie!
Next
up was the voluntary swap at Sewtopia. I made this Bob Box.
Pattern by Quilt Jane and available here. I used fabric I won in the
Wallflowers QAL and filled the bobbins with thread I won from Aurifil and Pat Sloan last summer.
In return I received these bags made by Michele @chele53!
Aren't they great? They were filled with Michigan wine and chocolates which may have already been consumed. Hey, it's been two weeks - and I shared!
Finally, I made this mini Hazel Hedgehog pincushion for the annual A2MQG swap.
Pattern by Elizabeth Hartman and available here. I made the block 1/4 the original size. It took me three tries to get that face right. Those eyes finish at about 1/8th of an inch.
In return I received this from Anna @woollykat.
Look at all those tiny pieces. She included the ceramic berry box which I filled immediately, then started to empty.
So, three swaps, three successes, three finishes to link up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday.
About one month before Sewtopia, the Michael Miller fabric company sent each of the participants 6 fat quarters. We each received the same fabrics and were given a challenge to make something, anything, with them. The only rule was any fabric added must be a Michael Miller fabric. I made a quilt.
Inspired by Lee Heinrich's Sugar Snow Quilt from Vintage Quilt Revival (page 63) I made various sizes of flying geese and put them into "Migration Remix" blocks (from Love Patchwork and Quilting, issue 11). The remaining geese I sewed into rows.
I worked with graph paper to arrange the blocks into a 60 x 72 inch grid. And then the fun began!
I quilted this over about 3 days with lots of thread (Aurifil 2021) and had a blast. Not perfection...just fun!
I used a bit of each of the challenge fabrics in the otherwise white binding. I sewed a Michael Miller selvage, along with my label, into the binding. I used cotton batting from Pellon because they were a sponsor of Sewtopia. It drapes beautifully and I will use it again.
I'm calling this quilt Making Friends for two reasons:
- First - the obvious - I made lots of new friends at Sewtopia.
- Second - after 15 months I have finally made friends with my Handiquilter!
Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday. Have a great weekend!
I
It's Thursday and I'm finally catching up from the most amazing weekend. I am so pleased that I was able to attend Sewtopia in Chicago. Registration was last August and signing up was similar to that of a popular marathon. Set your alarm so you remember to be at your computer when it opens. Then type as fast as you can and hit enter. It took me about 20 minutes but I got in!
We started Thursday with a shop hop in and around Chicago. Here is our leader and one of the organizers of the weekend, Amy Newbold. She has got it goin' on!
My favorite stop was The Needle Shop in Arlington Heights. This sweet little shop reminded me so much of The Cloth House in London. Really beautiful displays, fabrics, trims and notions. Can you see all the tiny drawers in the counter? They were full of all sorts of unique buttons. We had fun opening many of them.
Can you believe I'm shopping with Latifah Saafir?
Can you believe I'm in class with Rita Hodge? (She used my pins to show us how she bastes her quilts!!!)
I conquered curves with Latifah and Y-seams with Rita. I'll share more about these projects as I finish them.
Not only did I get to take classes from Rita and Latifah, but also in class with me were the first bloggers I ever followed. These women introduced me to modern/fresh quilting and it was so exciting to meet them. Here are Lee, Faith, and Angela catching up after a long day.
I took their books and got autographs!
So many "sewlebrities" this weekend. Everyone delightful. This is one amazing community and I'm so happy to be part of it.
Thumbs up to:
Bernina USA for supplying us with very nice sewing machines and 3 helpful reps.
The Drake for beautiful accommodations.
Mega Bus for clean, timely, and affordable travel.
I really enjoy online quilt alongs. The #ElephantParadeQAL has been no exception.
The free pattern is by Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts and available here.
My elephants turned out to be quite bashful. It seems they do not like to be photographed! I have been trying almost two weeks now but just can't seem to capture how cute this quilt is.
We tried parading down the street but it's been just a bit too dark - even with daylight savings time.
I was hoping to parade through a neighbor's naturalized crocus patch but it just won't warm up enough for them to open.
Oh well. Here a few close-ups of the darling participants.
I used some favorite prints from favorite designers including:
- Flea Market Fancy Eyelet by Denyse Schmidt
- Squared Elements from Art Gallery
- Crosshatch by Carolyn Friedlander
- Dottie from Cotton & Steel
- Bike Path by Alison Glass
- And my first ever cut into Liberty Tana Lawn for those pretty blue flowers.
The back is a large piece of Flea Market Fancy by Denyse Schmidt. With an extra strip of Dottie just to break things up (and hide the seam!)
The white background is Plank from the new Doe line by Carolyn Friedlander. I'm sorry you can't see
it in the photos. I tried to quilt this with long narrow planks to match. It
turned out looking more like a mosaic but I like it.
Marching out of March into (hopefully) warm spring showers...Left. Left. Left, right, left...
Linking up with others at Sew Fresh Quilts. Thanks for hosting all the fun, Lorna!
And thanks to Sandy at Upstairs Hobby Room for bring this quilt along to my attention.
Editing to add a Finish it up Friday link with Crazy Mom Quilts.
I made a Totem baby quilt!
I've mentioned before that I had the pleasure of meeting Carolyn Friedlander last fall. Prior to Camp Stitchalot I attended her trunk show at Pink Castle Fabrics. I've always admired Carolyn's work and seeing it in person was amazing. When she shared her Totem quilt I knew I had to make it. I bought (and she signed!) the pattern that night.
It's a paper pieced pattern and very straight forward. I had planned to add other colors and made several other blocks but this first quilt just begged to be orange! So I obliged.
The side panels are from Carolyn's Botanics line. Those tigers are Cotton and Steel. I copied Carolyn with the quilting - well I tried to. I think this is the first time I did not unpick one quilting stitch. It's far from perfection but I love it!
The back is unbelievably soft Shannon cuddle fabric in teal. I just love how the quilting looks on the back, too.
And with the leftover blocks you can be sure there are more Totem quilts to come...
I made a cargo duffle! Pattern by Noodlehead and available here.
The map fabric is a printed linen from The Cloth House in London. I bought it while shopping with my daughter last fall. I love it.
The inside is a Hobby Lobby canvas leftover from a few years ago. I was only using it for thickness and had originally planned to make a lining. But I like how it goes with the map and travel theme so I followed the pattern and just bound the edges. I also added an inside divided pocket. I like pockets!
I took it one step at a time and took my time. I'm so happy with this finish.
