Ready for September!

Just in time for the September bee blocks to arrive, I finished my MidMod Bee August block.  Jess's idea was only one color and white per block.  My color was a rusty tone on tone floral.  I hope she likes it!

Things have been kind of quiet around here on the sewing front.  I decided that our house needed some serious attention this month and that sewing would have to take a back seat.  We have managed to get quite a few major jobs accomplished.  We:

• cleaned out the basement
• painted the dining room
• got a new rug for the dining room
• ordered a new chair for the living room
• made progress on getting our couch reupholstered
• both the girls cleaned their rooms thoroughly
• reorganized my younger daughter's closet and put new shelves in
• she painted inside her closet

There is plenty more to do - especially on the outside which is still suffering from the addition earlier this year.  But, it feels so good to go into the basement and see clear space and organized shelves.  The amount of stuff we gave to charity was crazy!  The picture is only about a third of it.  Part of me thinks we all ought to move every five or ten years just to get rid of the stuff we accumulate. 

School starts for my girls next Tuesday and even though they wouldn't admit it, I think they are looking forward to getting back into the routine of things.  Me too!

Bee's Knees August for Leanne

Believe it or not!  I finished Leanne's blocks for the Bee's Knees August VQB in August with a few days to spare.

I have never made either of these blocks before.  The scrapbuster block (top) was a lot of fun and I enjoyed making it - although I really had to keep my eye on my quarter inch seam!  I'm not sure that I could make a whole quilt of these blocks - cutting all those little squares could be a bit tiresome.  I guess I'd have to cut a few at a time and make it a longer term project.  Making the string block reminded me of many of the stitch and flip projects I made a few years ago.

I have to say that I am not normally a fan of quilts made from a single fabric line, BUT this fabric line is so vibrant I think it will do well on its own with a fair bit of white to give the eye somewhere to rest!  The colors are beautiful and the prints are varied.  The line is Glam Garden by Robert Kaufman.

I've already made a good start on my MidMod Bee block for August.  Jess sent us one color and one white piece of fabric.   You can read more about her idea here.

Randomness or the Lack Thereof

I finished these stacked blocks for Jen in the Bee's Knees Bee yesterday.  I have seen some of these quilts around the web and I love them.  I love the colors with the simple, solid backgrounds and I love the randomness of them.

Most people probably make these blocks in an improv fashion, but I am not a leave it to chance kind of person.  Since I like designing things and hate ripping things out, I plan before I stitch.  I know I should loosen up and learn to trust myself and I always swear I'll do that - next time!  Besides, as I said, I LIKE to design things.  Here is the plan I made for these blocks.  
 Now, lest you think I am totally compulsive, I do feel free to depart from my plan if I decide changes are needed.  In this case, it being such a simple plan, I didn't.

I hope you like them, Jen!

MidMod Quilt Bee

I was lucky enough to be asked to participate in a VQB focused on mid-century modern design.  Rossie of Fresh Modern Quilts on Flickr and Cheryl of Naptime Quilter were the instigators of this fun project. 

We started in July (or should I say "they" - I'm a little late) and the first month was Rossie's.  Her idea was a series of strips of her wonderful hand-dyed fabrics and some "kelp" shapes.  You can read more about it here.

This is my contribution.  I can't wait to see all the lovely strips together!  November is my month - I have some ideas, but they need a little more work yet.

Giveaway Winners!

The winners of my first giveaway are mjb and HighwayCottage!  I have sent each of you a message requesting your address.  Mjb chose Prairie and Highway Cottage chose Shadow Boxes.  These were the two most chosen patterns.

Thanks to everyone who entered the contest!

Also, thanks to Rossie and pklaw who encouraged me to try Google Reader instead of bookmarks.  I am taking their advice and moving into the 21st century!  When I first learned about RSS feeds several years ago, I was only following about ten blogs, so I decided to stick with bookmarks and clicking on each one every day to see if there was something new.  These days, I follow many more blogs than that, so Google Reader will save me much time and keep me better updated.  I guess if there is an upside to a virus, it is trying and learning something new!  I have a tendency to feel like I am too busy with other things to take the time to slow down and learn a new way of doing something.  Thanks!

Prairie Kit and Giveaway!

I feel like I have been away for a while.  In reality, my laptop was attacked by a fake virus protection software virus two weeks ago.  It took eleven days to get it back - with a new hard drive and nothing else left!  Luckily for me, I had backed up the really important stuff a day or two before the virus hit.  But I lost all my bookmarks and have been out of touch that way.  I'm slowly starting to rebuild the places I love to visit!

In addition, my husband and I did sneak away for a few days to belatedly celebrate our anniversary.  We went to Saugatuck, MI and enjoyed some relaxing gallery hopping, listening to music and site seeing.  I was so relaxed I didn't even take any pictures!

Anyway - on to more exciting things!

For your one-stop shopping convenience :), I now have Prairie kits in my Etsy shop.  This is a new thing for me and I love the idea of people being able to get the pattern and fabric in the original colors all at once.

It's about time I had a giveaway!  So, leave a comment telling me which of my patterns you would like to win.  You can see them all here.  I'll select two lucky winners who leave a comment before Thursday, Aug 19 at 5pm EST.  Good luck!

Introducing Prairie!

Prairie is my newest quilt.  I love the abstract version of nature and the simplicity of the design!  I was inspired by the many simply shaped versions of flowers and leaves I have seen in so many places over the past few years (including some of my own daisy quilts here and here).  Some of you may remember seeing this as a work-in-progress using the Authentic fabric line.  That quilt top is finished, but not yet quilted.

This time, I wanted to make something smaller than a bed sized quilt.  Prairie would be a large table runner at about 19" x 58" but I love it on my dining room wall!  In fact, I am painting the dining room with one pumpkiny (pumpkin pie, not pumpkin on the vine) wall and three grey walls.  I don't remember which color scheme came first dining room or quilt, but they will both look great when I am finished painting.

The fabrics in this quilt are Kona cottons in coal, medium grey and snow.  The pattern is for sale in my Etsy shop and I will have some kits available next week too.

Also, check back next week for my first blog giveaway!

Quilt show wrap up

The Greater Ann Arbor Quilt Guild Quilt Show is over for another two years.  There were nearly three hundred beautiful quilts on display.  I had a great time in my booth and talked with so many wonderful quilters.  This picture of my booth was taken at set up on Friday afternoon. 

Some of you may recognize the design of the quilt at the back of my booth.  It is called "Migration" and is another version of "Traffic Pattern."  The picture doesn't really do justice to the wonderful background fabric which is like tree branches.  "Traffic Pattern" was on display at the quilt show.  Popular opinion preferred "Migration" to "Traffic Pattern" overwhelmingly.  They are very different quilts and I love them both!  No favorite children here today!

You can just see two versions of "Evergreen Bias" at the edge of the shot facing to the left.  Thanks SO MUCH to everyone who stopped to chat and buy patterns.  It felt really good to hear such enthusiasm for my designs.  I'd love to do it all again soon!