May 17, 2012

Do Things Happen in Threes?

Mr. Starfish's grandmother says things "happen in threes". Unfortunately, it's usually about something bad that's happened but does it work for good things? 'Cause I won another giveaway!

I won a fat quarter bundle of Riley Blake Chevrons from Faith at Fresh Lemon Quilts sponsored by Westwood Acres!

Thanks Faith! I love this print and I love the colors. The thing is, I haven't seen many quilts featuring these fabrics. I've seen them mostly used as accents or stash builders. So.... what should I make with them?

In other news.... I finished a simple patchwork quilt with the Goin' Coastal bundle I bought a long time ago.

It's about 39"x44" and backed with a royal blue Kona solid.

May 7, 2012

My Favorite Things....

Actually my favorite scraps.... a lot of them are in this quilt top. Mendocino, Flea Market Fancy, Tufted Tweets, Prince Charming...

It's a good sized kid quilt, about 46"x48" and uses up most of my aqua scraps. It's based on a quilt I saw in the book Sunday Morning Quilts.

Another of my favorite things right now are these guys:

They're so big! Those four guys are not going to fit in that little nest much longer!

April 29, 2012

Spring Babies and a New Hobby!

Yes, it's been very spring-like off and on weather-wise but now it really feels like spring because we have our first babies:

Can you see those little beaks peeking up? So sweet!

I think I mentioned that I went to a local guild's quilt show a few weeks ago and fell in love with some hand appliqued quilts. I've admired Kathleen Baden's work before but this put me over the edge so when she offered me a class at a local shop, I jumped.

This is the project she had me start with and so far Im in love with the process. It's entirely done by hand so I'm pretty proud of myself. I need another leaf and then three berries before I'm finished with the applique part!

What do you think? Does anyone out there do applique. I'm looking for a pattern to start after this!

April 25, 2012

Winner, WInner, Chicken Dinner!

As an avid blog reader, I enter my fair share of giveaways. Last week, I won! Randi from Fresh Squeezed Fabric has a giveaway every Tuesday for a fat 1/8 bundle. Check this out:

Some of my favorites are in there. Pearl Bracelets, Flea Market Fancy, polka dots!

I'm not affiliated with this shop in any way but I wanted to mention it because I've shopped there and had a great experience. Randi sold me a custom bundle several months ago that was exactly what I wanted!

April 23, 2012

Color Lovers - 3KCBWDAY1

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Hello Knitting and Crochet Blog Weekers! I don't know that I'll get something posted every day for this but I thought today's topic was interesting. When I look through my stash (both used on Ravelry and waiting to be used) I see a lot of reds, plums, fuschias, wines.... I knit some for me and lots for others and I gravitate towards buying, spinning and knitting these colors.

What's really interesting is that I wouldn't call these colors my favorites at all. I don't dress in these colors. I tend to focus on neutrals: browns, black, khaki, etc. when I buy clothes.

What about you? Do you buy yarns in predominantly one color family or do you buy in rainbows? In quilting and fabrics I think I branch out much more color-wise.

April 13, 2012

A Whole (Retro) Flower!

I did this last weekend but I guess it's taken me a while to post it! The Retro Flower came together nicely. It was slow though. Slow. The pattern as written calls for 16 flowers. More curves this weekend!

And a blast from the past... remember spinning?

The picture isn't the best (taken with my phone) but we're doing an economics unit in class and studying a local fiber artist so I thought I'd bring in my wheel for my students to see. I'm spinning a gorgeous blend with a bit of bamboo. Hope to have this done this weekend!

April 7, 2012

Test Petal

I'm in love with the Retro Flowers Quilt pattern. Me and hundreds of other quilters! The quiltalong on Flickr has 140 members so far. I've been looking for something great to do with my Flea Market Fancy reprints.

And *ahem, cough, cough* yes, that stack has grown since I first shopped for a little bit of Flea Market Fancy.

I've never sewn curves. And in case you haven't noticed there are a lot of curves in the Retro Flowers Quilt!

The only thing to do was jump in. I bought the acrylic templates to make sure my cutting was perfect. I did a test petal with some Aunt Edna fabric that fits in quite well with Flea Market Fancy and voila:

I think it came out pretty darn great! I was kind of giddy about it. It seemed like such an accomplishment to have it come out with matching seams and no crazy bunching on the curves. The problem is it. took. forever. And this is only one petal of one flower. I have 63 more of those to do. Yikes!

March 27, 2012

Three out of Four

Swoon blocks that is:

The end is in sight and I continue to be sure about my decision for four Swoon block instead of nine. ;) I do love how they are looking together though!

The pictures aren't the best. I finished the block this weekend and all day Sunday was raining and dark. Yesterday was the start of a new week which means I get home around 4pm with two kids who want to play, snack, need baths, etc. So these will have to do!

Spring Break starts Friday at 3pm. Not that I'm counting or anything...

March 22, 2012

I'm Sailing! is finished

And I love it!

It's an old block that's been floating around forever but these colors and this layout have been seen on Flickr and Pinterest done by a few different people.

This is such a great boy quilt and measures about 43" square. As usual, I love the meandering quilt stitches and the crinkle that comes with it. I'm also very much in love with the black and white binding.

The backing is a solid Kona with some plaid by DS Quilts. I think it's the Aunt Edna line? Does that sound right to you quilty friends?

March 14, 2012

Out From Under Wraps

We have this Terrain pillow:

I made it for a guild swap a long time ago but haven't gotten to exchange with my partner yet. I missed the February meeting and she missed the March meeting last night. Oh well. Maybe the third time will be the charm! Here is the back:

The only requests or preferences she made were bright colors with white. I think Terrain fits the bill!

Swoon block #3 is cut and ready to be pieced. Maybe tonight?