WIP Wednesday: DS charms

A few months ago, I received this beautiful pile of Denyse Schmidt Charms.  Finally this weekend, I started sewing them together :)

Sorry the pic is a little blurry, I cropped it out of another picture because I forgot to take on of the charms themselves...  I really need to remember to snap pictures BEFORE I start sewing :)  Anyway, you get the idea.

 I sewed all the charms up into 9-patch blocks, trying to alternate higher volume and lower volume prints.  This was also good practice getting the hang of my 1/4" seam!

See where I'm going here?

I sewed my whole stack of charms (minus the duplicates) and now I'm just waiting for Round 2 charms to get here.  Both rounds should give me a completed lap quilt at the very least.

 Since I had all of the blocks arranged on the floor between the couch and TV I kept looking at them during commercials.  Ryan asked me why I kept staring at my fabric, lol.  I told him I had to make sure there weren't too many "like" pieces of fabric together :)

In other news, the Penny Sampler class has officially begun!  Right now Rachel has only introduced the practice projects, but I am so excited to get started!  I think I may try my hand at the dogwood blossoms quilt practice project that way I can keep busy between making my Penny Sampler blocks :)

Linking up with WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced :)

Sunday Stash #4

Happy Sunday everyone!  Did you all have a good weekend?  It's pretty rainy around here today so I've been sewing instead of working outside.  For Sunday stash this week I have the ever popular line, Briar Rose by Heather Ross :)  Since I'm new to quilting, I have missed other HR lines, so I was very excited to see a new release from her.

This line is even more lovely in person, I love all the little touches of whimsy.  I pre-ordered a FQ bundle from Pink Castle fabrics back in May, and received it when it came out last month.  The plan is to make a twin sized quilt for my niece, who turned 2 in May.  She's not in a big-girl bed yet though, so I have some time to work on it :)

I've had this quilt as a favorite on Flickr for quite a while and then when I saw previews of Briar Rose I knew that was what I was going to use to make it.

Girly Star Quilt by Darci on Flickr

I plan to use fussy cuts for the center squares and solids for the backgrounds using Cluck Cluck Sew's tutorial.  Now I just need to pick the solids to use and order them.  My sister doesn't want the quilt to be too girly, so I'll probably minimize the pink solids.  After seeing Laura's post about her little girl's "soft blanket," I think I want to back it with green minky :)

I really want to get better at piecing consistently, so I think I will wait to start this quilt until after I finish the "precise piecing" portion of the Penny Sampler class.

One other stash related question -- I've been coveting Denyse Schmidt's new line, Florence, and Waterfront Park by Violet Craft...

Florence courtesy of Denyse Schmidt                                   Waterfront Park courtesy of Pink Chalk Studio

Right now there is a 10% off bundle sale at Stash Modern Fabric... ideally I'd really like to buy BOTH lines, but there's no way I can spend $150 on complete FQ bundles of both, and I really have no immediate plans for either.  But... I feel like I could use fabrics from both lines in my Penny Sampler.  Such a hard decision...  Which would you get?

TGIFF: bee blocks

I had every intention to participate in SarahQuilts "Show me Yours" stash link up, but holy cow, my life has exploded lately!  In personal news:  We have an official date for our move to our new Library building.  Things at work are in a complete tumult right now and it's really busy.  It's also unlikely that I'm going to be able to take any time off work for the next 3 months or so.

I'm really glad I finished all my August bee blocks early this month, because of how hectic things have been.

My first, and the bee I've been a member of the longest is the Newbee Quilters bee on Threadbias.  This month, our queen asked for rainbow Charming Stars blocks.  I love that this tutorial takes charm squares, because I have a HUGE pile of charms from different swaps.  I grabbed a rainbow of charms and this is what I came up with

 The blocks that others in the hive have posted have all been super cute.  I really need to make a rainbow quilt...

Next up are my do.Good.Stitches Grace Circle blocks.  Jenny wanted 12.5" Star Crossed blocks that feature pink, purple, or fuchsia.

This quilt is going to be so much fun, I can't wait to see it come together.  Last month's quilter just posted a picture of the Asterisk Flying Geese layout of our blocks from July, and it looks fabulous :)  I feel so lucky to be part of such a great group!

Last, but certainly not least, I am so thrilled to be part of another bee that formed out of the New Blogger's Blog Hop -- the Scrap-Bee-Licious bee.  If you couldn't tell from the bee name, the purpose is to choose a block that is scrap friendly.  These ladies are so talented and I can't wait to have a quilt from this group.  Our inaugural queen is Ashley from Wasn't Quilt in a Day and she requested Converging Corners blocks with white center squares.  This quilt is so cool, I don't know how I hadn't seen these before!

 Ashley and I share a Denyse Schmidt fetish, so I knew I had to include some DS fabrics in her blocks :)

 If you want to follow along with the lovely ladies in the bee, here's the schedule for our little bee:

• August: Ashley @ Wasn’t Quilt in a Day
• September: Gwendellyn @ The Rainbow Revolts
• October: Cath @ Wombat Quilts
• November: Alyce @ Wonderland by Alyce
• December: Nicole @  Modern Handcraft
• January: Rachel @ Let’s Begin Sewing
• February: Nanette @  Yeah, I Made That
• March: Liz @ beadqueene’s bits and baubles
• April: Robin Sue @  RobinSue Quilts
• May: Stephanie H @ Simple Sewendipity
• June: Stephanie A @ Quarter Incher
• July: Michelle @ Factotum of Arts
• August: Laura @ Little and Lots 

Thanks for stopping by!  Do you participate in any quilting bees?

Giveaway Winner

The winner of the FMF hotpad and a little surprise, is....

Caroline!

Thank you all for your lovely comments, I'll be responding to them soon :)  I didn't want to mess up the comments number before I plugged them into the RNG.  Caroline, I'll be in touch later today to get your mailing information.  I hope everyone is having a great start to their weeks!

TGIFF & Giveaway

Well, I did it... I finished my first large project :)  I actually finished sewing the binding on July 19 (so it's been done for a few weeks) I just haven't had time or weather to get a nice picture until this weekend.  excuse the shabby landscaping, I took the picture before I pruned the hydrenga :p

It turned out 72" long, 14" wide.  I am so pleased with how it turned out. And I love the Metro Living rings as the binding.  here are a couple close-up shots so you can see the binding and quilting better.

I decided to just do a random strip backing.  Each fabric is showcased at least once, with a few duplicates.  It's a little crooked, but it's hard to tell from a distance ::wink::

Action shots guest starring my mom's dining room table (since mine looks like a fabric store explosion at the moment!)

So to celebrate my first sizable finish.  I'm having a little giveaway.  I grabbed my scraps and made a cute herringbone hot pad complete with insulbrite batting so it's safe to use with hot things; it's 10x10" a great size for Dutch Ovens :)

I backed it with the turquoise bouquet print and it's bound in the same Metro Living rings.  The winner will get the hot pad, and a little surprise.

To enter, just leave me a comment and the RNG will choose a winner on Monday 8/12 around noon.  One entry per person please.  If you're a no-reply blogger, please leave an email address where I can contact you.  The giveaway is closed, thank you for your lovely comments :)

Linking up with TGIFF hosted @ Bedtime Quilting this week.  Thanks for celebrating my first finish with me!

Penny Sampler!

Well here is my exciting (to me) news.  A few weeks ago I registered for Rachel @ Stitched in Color's Penny Sampler class.

Courtesy of Rachel @ Stitched in Color

I'm excited because:

a) Rachel (as always) has designed the most beautiful quilt, I couldn't resist after seeing the pictures and block previews

b) I get to learn lots of new things and hopefully better the meager skills I already have
c) I learned that some of my New Blogger blog hop friends are also taking the class!

After looking at Rachel's fabric suggestions, and perusing online fabric stores for days, I decided that the Alexander Henry Mecca for Moderns, Urban Garden print would be my "inspiration" fabric.  Coincidentally I visited Joann's this weekend and discovered that some of the fabrics in Juliana Horner's new fabric linematch my color scheme perfectly.  I also ordered a slew of solids, and took a trip to a modern quilt shop today.  All the quilt shops in my area specialize in Civil War reproduction fabrics, so I have to travel down the road to get things that are more my taste... Plus we needed things at Trader Joe's and Penzey's, so I convinced Ryan that the quilt shop was right there so I may as well go ::wink::

So here's my "stack" for the Penny Sampler.  I am really happy with how it looks so far!  I think I might have to buy some more solids, but I think this should at least get me off to a good start with the blocks.

I'd name all the fabrics, but I don't know them all off the top of my head and I'm too lazy to look them all up!  I'm sure you can see all the DS prints in there because I'm totally obsessed.  I will probably add some prints from Florence when it comes out later this month.  I also need a print for the panel under the diamonds on the right bottom half... is this orange print from Heirloom too much orange?  

The solids are (top to bottom) Essex in Slate, Kona Glacier, Cotton Couture in Slate, Kona Aqua, Plum, Flesh, Medium Gray and Iron.  There's also a fat quarter of Free Spirit Tan in the neutrals row too.  I'm still debating whether I like it or not.  Not pictured are Kona Snow and Ash, since the cuts I have of those are >2 yards each and they don't fold well enough to fit in the picture.  I think I'm going to add Essex in Putty too 

In case you haven't seen the Penny Sampler in all of its glory, here's the full picture

Courtesy of Rachel @ Stitched in Color

I believe there is still space in the class if you're interested in joining the fun... the registration information is over here, and you can follow along with everyone's progress at the Stitched in Color Flickr Group!

(pic heavy!) Four County Quilt Show

So I didn't write up a Sunday Stash yesterday, but I have a good reason :)  My friend, Abigail and I went to the Four County Quilt Show at the Frederick Fairgrounds yesterday.  It's not a modern quilt guild, but I was still able to find a lot of inspiration in the hundreds of quilts that were exhibited.  The show even almost made me a Batik convert.

Here are a few of the quilts that I really liked.  The uncaptioned pictures are quilts that I either forgot to snap a picture of the label, or the label was blurry and I couldn't make out the name.  If you see your quilt and would like me to add your name, or if you would like me to take down the picture please let me know.

Medium and Large Quilts

by Laura Schwartz

Laura Schwartz embroidery detail

Laura Schwartz quilting detail

The quilt by Laura Schwartz was one of the first quilts we saw.  Each block featured a different quilting style and the whole quilt had lovely machine embroidery pieces.

by Sharon Harris

by Cindy Leonard

Cindy Leonard quilting detail

Ms. Leonard had several quilts entered in the show, and each one was quilted beautifully with hand quilting.

zig-zag quilt

zig-zag quilt detail

Sorry I neglected to snap a pic of the tag on this one.  I love the effect of the monochromatic zig-zags!

Celtic design

great scrap buster

This awesome scrap buster was made out of 1.5" strips.  I remember the tag saying that she still had a bin full of leftovers.  It was a lot of fun picking out all the novelty scraps in the quilt :)

by Laura O'Neal

This quilt was HUGE.  I believe the tag says 90"x107".  The ladies who made these Civil War reproduction quilts hosted a 4 patch block swap, so there were 5 or 6 of the same block quilts on display.  This was by far the largest, and my favorite layout.  Also, I think this is a block we'll be making in the Penny Sampler class, so I am excited that I may be able to make a quilt like this in the future!

9 patch quilt

This last large quilt was my favorite (I voted for it to win best in show).  It's made of 9 patch blocks set on point.  I don't even think the picture does it justice, it was absolutely gorgeous, I'm sad that I can't make out the artists name on the tag :(

Lap, Mini and Art Quilts

by Susan McDavid

by Joan Watkins

paper pieced teapots

I think I'm having a love affair with 30s and 30s reproduction fabrics.  A lot of the vendors had 30s repros for sale.  I'm proud of myself for having good willpower and not buying any!

by Joan Watkins

by Cindy Leonard

Another beautiful example of hand quilting!

by Olga Schnde

As a gardener, I loved this one.  It even had little ladybug beads, and there was a lovely glistening spiderweb under the beet leaves!  I wish I would have taken some more shots of the details!

by Etta Stewart

Etta Stewart quilting detail

This Zentangle^TM, quilt was awesome, I especially loved the Zentangle^TM quilting.  

The awesome art quilt wall

by Libbi Driggers

This last quilt (which was actually the first quilt in the exhibit when you walked in) shows all that is "famous" about Frederick, MD.  If you've never been there it's a really great place to visit.  Also, if you watch Top Chef, it's where season 6 and Top Chef masters contestant Bryan Voltaggio's restaurant is ;)

This was the first quilt show I had the opportunity to attend.  It was definitely worth it, and it definitely won't be the last!  I even got to play with the Cadillac of embroidery machines.  There is no way I'd ever  be able to afford a $5,000 machine, but it was neat to see everything it could do.  A girl can dream right?!  One final little funny to wrap up the experience.  This was a sign at one of the vendor booths: