Saturday, January 25, 2014

Celebrity

 Today was a big first for me. I stepped out of my regular hermit shell and decided to go to a quilt guild meeting!! It all started with a comment I made to a girl I follow on Instagram ... most of you probably know @carolynfriedlander, and she was kind enough to invite me to her trunk show at the Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild.

Well, needless to say I was intrigued ... and nervous ... and feeling very much like it was my first day at junior high. Seriously. I was not sure what to expect and tried to talk myself out of it a few times, but I decided to go .... and it was GREAT! Carolyn Friedlander is an incredibly creative and talented girl! Every single thing she did was absolutely jaw dropping and she was kind and friendly too! A wonderful first quilt world celebrity to meet! She had brought some of her patterns with her to sell, and I picked up one called Aerial and sent a picture of it to son #2 who has been trying to figure out what he wants for his quilt and he texted back, (and I quote) "SWEET!!! That is AWESOME!!"  ... so I bought it ... and now I get to learn how to paper piece :)



I should also say that the girls in the guild were wonderfully welcoming and easy to get to know. I was so relieved! It's never easy to be the new girl but I already feel like I have some new friends. And so great to have other girls who like quilting as much as I do ... even though I think I am WAY out of my league with the talent that was there. I'm excited to get to know them all better and learn from their expertise!

And on another note... we got this wonderful 30's reproduction fabric in the shoppe ... it will definitely be made into one of my 14 quilts!!


Friday, January 24, 2014

Sweet Nothings

Quilt 2 was a blur!! It was made from a kit I bought in 2011 from a local quilt shop (Quilters Haven) on sale for half off! The fabric and pattern are Riley Blake designs, the fabric is Sweet Nothings by Zoe Pearn Designs (and as far as I can tell, it is out of print). When I bought it, I remember loving the brightness of the colors and the happy feel of the patterns, but then I set it on a shelf ......

Quilt 2 was supposed to be for my second son, but he was having a hard time deciding what pattern he wanted to use so in the meantime, I pulled this kit back out and re-fell in love with this fabric! I was able to get it cut out in about an hour and then pieced more than half of it that same night!!

Today I finished up the piecing and prepped the sashing and binding.

Then I packed up my supplies and headed to the Shoppe for a machine quilting class. The class was WONDERFUL and so full of information!! It was taught by Renae Allen and she taught her Skill Builder book. I learned so much! From how to properly stretch and pin baste to how to free motion quilt! Here's my very first attempt!! I obviously need practice. Lots and lots of practice. But it was really fun and I can't wait to learn more.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Making Progress

 I got this cute little valentine SPROCKET PILLOW finished and I love it!! I think I'll make one for each holiday.

Then a few days ago when I picked up the mail this little wonderful bundle was waiting for me from Fort Worth Fabric Studio .... every bit of this darling fabric was on sale and I can't wait to work it into one of my 14!!

And speaking about my 14 .... here's all the blocks of #1 stacked and ready to lay out ....

 ... and here they are on the living room floor ready for piecing. What I really want to get is a vinyl tablecloth with the felty backside .... a customer came into the shop with one that she used for her design wall. It was such a good idea! The squares all stick to the felty side and you can fold it up to move it around without messing up your layout. Definitely looking for one of those at my next trip to Walmart!!

And I'm working on designing one of the 14 ... We got some of the cutest 30's reproduction fabric in the shoppe the other day and I think this will be the pattern I use with it .... maybe some of you can give me ideas of where I could find genuine 30's quilt patterns!

And one last thing .... Take a look at this AMAZING hand quilting!!! This quilt is on display in the shoppe from one of our local quilters and it just absolutely amazes me!! So much talent!


Tuesday, January 14, 2014

For The Love of Quilting

 Fourteen quilts is my goal for 2014. I would like to make 14 quilts this year to improve and test my skills and because quilting makes me happy. This blog will be a place where I share what I'm doing, and hopefully post all the tips and tricks I learn along the way. I am a self taught quilter and am hoping to learn all that good quilty (I just added the word quilty to my dictionary) stuff I would have learned if I would have had an incredibly talented Amish quilting grandmother. :)

I'd love to have you follow along with me, share ideas and thoughts you have and especially make new friends in this awesome quilting world!

For starters ... this pillow I made with my craft group with the most amazing technique! I had seen it a tutorial for it just a few days before our group met and was excited to try it out.... it was so easy and I loved how it turned out .... I foresee doing and entire scrappy quilt this way... Oh, and I found a tutorial for it here at SewMamaSew

Here's my first two tips that I learned in a Quilt Academy class I just started at my quilt shoppe ...
Tip#1: Get a third yard of army duck to put on your iron. It absorbs the steam and helps press your blocks flatter! Love it!!

Tip #2: A thread catcher ... this to me was MIND BLOWING!! All it is is a bit of selvage that you run through your machine before chain sewing ... then at the end of your chain you sew a second one through, that you leave, just like this, on your machine. Why? Because it keeps you from having long threads at the end of your blocks!! And if your machine is like mine, it keeps the thread from pulling out of the needle in between sewings! I LOVED this tip!!

Anyhoo ... here is quilt #1 in progress. As of now, I'm ready to lay it out and get it pieced. I'm excited about it because I've loved this fun little line since the day it arrived in the shoppe. If you're local (Kaysville, Utah) you can get it at K&H Quilt Shoppe or if you're not you can find it at Pink Castle Fabrics here. The pattern I'm using is by one of my favorite pattern makers and quilters, Allison Harris of CluckCluckSew ... seriously ... I love every one of her patterns and am sure that many of my 14 quilts will be hers. It's called Chain Reaction and you can order it here. I actually am making it almost double the size (I like big snuggly quilts) and I can't wait to see it all together (hopefully tomorrow!!)

Thanks so much for stopping by!!