WIP - Sea Side Sunset

This is from the deco daybreak quilt pattern found in the recent modern quilting magazine I previewed a few posts back. I decided tooled down my fabric selection to feature a bunch of fat eighths I got from the Heather Ross Mendocino collection that had been reprinted recently. I remember the first time I saw one of the designs that had been named swim sister's and scoured everywhere for the fabric. This was actually about a year after it's release so I sadly didn't find any.
The idea to fit the fabric with this pattern was because the design reminded me of fish scales. The leap from fish to mermaid wasn't a big one.

             

The layout is suppose to look like the sun setting over the ocean with the yellows in the center as the sun, the blues as the sea, and the pinks as the sky. I didn't make the half hexes as big as the pattern called for because I didn't want to do such a big quilt, but I am adding extra rows at the top and bottom to play with the sun setting element and get it as big as I want to.

This pattern calls for paper piecing the half hexes and I personally love paper piecing. It's a great way to get a perfect seam or point especially with difficult patterns. I have been going extra slow on this one because it's actually been a design as I go process.
I know I wanted to go from light to dark on all my blocks so I will lay them out radiating from the center of the row and try to pick what goes next from there. I haven't done much designing on paper for this one simply because of the layout already present in the magazine. I haven't needed much reference from it once I got the first few rows started, and I only redid one of my blocks because I thought the color change wasn't working.

On another note today's tea was made from brewing blueberry tea and pomegranate tea together. Both teas came from a sampler I got from disney. It is very good. The blueberry flavoring sticks out a lot in this tea. I would think it would be a great tea for the summer. The brand is only available at the disney parks. It makes a great souvenir because I always think of my time at the park when I go to make my tea, and I especially like their mad hatter tea party blend.

Quilting is in the blood.

I got my quilting habit from my grandmother and my mom. You have to admit it's a habit. I have several projects going constantly and plans for new ones. Like to the right here, I have the plans in the works for three of four ideas.

Both my mom and grandmother have been quilting for years. My grandmother has produced lots of quilts over the years. I own three that she has made for me. Like most quilters she doesn't sell hers, just gives them away for presents. And they get used. I use the quilts on my bed year round, sometimes two at once on a cold night. This one is one she's currently working on. It's actually a recreation of one she did a few years ago. (You can see it on her bed next to the loom) Everyone loves this one so I don't know who is getting the new one. (fingers crossed) She always quilts by hand. Her style is very indicative of the traditional quilter. You can see a close up detail of her quilting below.

My mom's style has gone from traditional to more modern. She normally does small projects and sewing. A full size quilt is not always something she has time or energy for. Right now she's working on pillow cases like the One Million pillow cases challenge. She has put some up for sale and has done a wide variety of pillowcases from whimsical and colorful. Currently up is the halloween themed pillow cases. I don't have many photos of stuff mom has currently worked on but I always enjoy sharing projects with her. We often go to shows and quilt shops together. So you can say this is always something special to bond with both of them over, just in different ways.

Also the first photo shows my tea of the day. It is a honey Jasmine Green tea made with mineral water I get from the local asian grocery store.

Pattern inspirations- Quilt magazine.

I love digging through quilt magazines for inspiration. I've spent several hours at a bookstore looking for the perfect idea. I have several quilts that were done as color variations of patterns found in magazines.

I had dug up a couple of examples of my quilts to show you but for the life of me I can't reference the magazines they come from because I can't find them. Usually my magazines go in a stack in my room or I will give them to my mom or grandmother to look at later. Most likely that is what happened to the ones I'm looking for.

The first one is a quilt done with a fun Alexander Henry fabric "A Ghastlie End". I fell in love with the fabric because it reminding me of the artistic style of Edward Gorey.

The second one is a pattern called "Equilibrium" it is either from the summer Modern Patchwork or Modern Quilts Unlimited (fall or summer?). It was done from their recent issues. They used solids and pastels in purple, pink with a peach background.

I used a recently purchased mermaid fabric from Alexander Henry and shopped my stash for the rest. I found a large print floral fabric, a beautiful turquoise and had some Kona solids left over from when I my row by row prize of 2015. All of this fell together very nicely and I'm quite happy with the results. The original (I wish I can find the magazine) flowed but blended with an analogous color scheme. I used a split complementary to spice things up a bit.

Now that I'm blogging I will have to remember to take photos of my fabrics before I start. It would be easier if I thought to do that. But good news is I'm working on choosing fabrics for my next project idea. I'll have a better shot of what I actually use. My newest project is coming from Modern Patchwork's fall 2016 issue with the Deco Daybreak quilt by Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill.

WIP - Patio Pavers Quilt

Still can't remember the magazine I got this out of. As of right now I'm about halfway through.
I have two of the long panels quilted and am starting on the third. It's been a slow process because of distractions and also how much I'm quilting it on my domestic machine. Once I'm done I can put together the panes and do a binding.
I'm planning on going for the same grey as the background color because with the amount of pattern and colors in the quilt already it doesn't need anything else competing with what's there.

Today's tea is a Jasmine Green Milk Tea. I haven't had this brand before. It was one I ran across in the asian grocery store and decided to give it a try. It's very good. Adding milk kinda defuses the flavor of the tea so I imagine it would have to be brewed stronger to get the same richness. I swear I don't always buy teas from there but my favorite is Jasmine green tea, and the hint of orange tea from Petros would be my second favorite.

UFO weekend project- Patio Pavers Quilt

So if you remember my last Harry Potter quilt post you will have seen this stack of unfinished quilt tops.
On the top there is three pieces that are actually part of a single quilt. It was done in panels so I can do a quilt as you go method with it.

The original quilt pattern came out of a quilting magazine I got a few years ago. I can't even remember which one it was, but I thought it was a fabulous way to bust up some of my scraps. I put it together in 5 panel pieces and decided to use one of the panels as the backing for another one.
I had enough batting but ran out of the solid grey I wanted to use as a backing for the other three panels I wanted to do. I decided to start on the one I had pinned and ready to go and had an unfortunate color choice for my thread.

The quilt goes from one brilliant color to another in a nice rainbow effect and I originally thought a bright colored graduating thread would look fabulous with it. Once I got have my panel done I decided I hated the color choice in the thread. With that the project got put down for later when I can get more material and my interest immediately jumped to something else and the quilt was sent to the unfinished project pile. Things get lost there, so almost two years later I decided to pull it out and give this a go again.

I have some solid grey fabric from a recent purchase and just need to get my panels up and running again. First thing is to pull the thread out with the unfortunate color choice and then start quilting with a grey thread I found that worked better. It doesn't compete with the bright color fabrics as the other thread did.
Sorry the lighting in that last picture is terrible. Once I finish quilting I will begin connecting the panels and hopefully see an over all finished quilt.

AQS Quilt Week 2016 in Chattanooga

Wednesday was my birthday so I took the day off to go to Chattanooga and see the show. I have been to Padukah's quilt week but not the one in Chattanooga. Usually I don't have the money for a trip so soon after Dragon*con but I figured I can stretch it this time.
It was fun. Mom and I spent the day running around playing Pokemon Go and it's big brother Ingress as well as oohing and Aching over all the quilts. I got some fabric and ideas for new quilts. I always see things I want to try or that looks so fun. The quilt to the right was done by the ladies of Spool. You can find them at the Badass Quilter's Society. I've got a couple of my favorites from the show below. I did catch the name tags in the photos. I'm sorry it they're too small to read.

They had a few special showings like one with a theme of the Lion King and another with the them of unusual materials. There were quilts made out of chicken wire, duct tape(below), tin cans and more. Over all a blast was had and it was a fabulous birthday.

Harry Potter quilt complete!

So I'm thrilled to have another actual project done. I mean if you have seen my quilting habits you'd be thrilled also. I'm terrible about doing a quilt top then getting tired of looking at it so I put it away for a while. That while can be over a year on average. So when I get motivated to actually complete a project I'm thrilled.

I wanted to make sure I finished this quilt in time to go to the AQS show in chattanooga so I can show it off to the ladies at Spool. They were the ones to design the castle pattern I just worked it all into a lap quilt. It's almost a twin size so it can be used on the bed, but it's just a little short. I didn't manage to get the binding on it in time but the quilting was complete. I actually finished putting the binding on today.

Now to grab another one out of my to do pile. I've a few patterns and new fabrics to play with from the show (which that will be a different post), but I think I need to do at least one other before I start a new top. We'll see how my momentum is going. Sad to say my to do pile is still so much larger then my done pile. You can see below the two piles. I have 11 unfinished quilt tops waiting to be done and in possession of only 4 finished ones. I have done more quilts but most of those were given away to family and friends as presents.

WIP - Harry Potter part 2

So I have finally finished quilting the first half of my Harry Potter quilt. Sad to say it's not that big but I was distracted. Dragon*Con is labor day weekend and I went to that. Had a blast and saw lots of great costumes but I'm off to finishing this quilt. My goal is to have it done by the 14th and I'm almost there. I keep getting distracted.
The second side features the row by row license plate from spool and a mirrored reverse of Hogwarts from the last row. The background to the castle isn't as colorful because I didn't have any more of that fabric but I think the goes well with the fact that this one is on the slytherins side of the quilt.

And for some more non quilting stuff:Today's tea is Chrysanthemum tea. It is a light tea made with just the chrysanthemum flowers and water. This version is sweetened. There is a large asian grocery store nearby and I can get this easily.
I like this one but it's not my absolute favorite so I don't buy it that much. It's a nice treat. I was watching a videos about asian drinks and this was on it. I'm going to share the video below because it's got some of my other favorites in it, and some I hadn't tried before.

WIP Color Wheel hanging

So the idea for this started from a complement on my color choices for fabrics and bloomed into an artistic hanging that highlights some ideas in color theory. I plan to write up a pattern for this but I wanted to show off what I've been working on.

It started off with me raiding my scrap pile for colors and sorting them in red, green, blue, orange, yellow and purple.

I then cut them into and sewn them together strips to highlight value from light to dark. I actually pulled enough to make two different color wheels. For this project I decided to use my Hex N More ruler from Jay Bird. I've had the thing for a year now and haven't pulled it out. I even got the Gravity pattern, which I still plan on doing eventually. I just haven't cracked the thing out to do anything yet. I also got the regular sidekick ruler. I've managed to use that one some but until now not much.

The final part was to sew coordinating strips on the sides for the different color schemes. I plan on using each side as a backing to the other so that it is reversible. This has been a good exercise and a fun way to use up some scrap.

WIP Wednesday Harry Potter quilt

I spent the morning at Atomic Fibers working on getting the binding done. I don't have much space to spread out at home to do the binding process. I appreciate the girls over there letting me take up some room and giving me pointers. I'm going to start machine quilting this one this afternoon.

This quilt features Spool's row design of 'Harry's Home' and their plate for this years row by row. I then took scraps to flush out four giant sections of color for the house colors. The back is pieced with a mirroring pattern of the 4 house color sections. I'm planning on going to chattanooga for the AQS show and hope I have this done in time to stop by Spool and show it off there.

Today's tea was Pure Leaf the unsweetened Green Tea. I stopped at a local Oak Ridge mom and pop place called Hot Bagel for breakfast. I love this place it's all made in house and the desserts available change day by day. I picked up some apple turnovers for an afternoon treat before I tackle some sewing.

Row By Row 2016

To show off one of my recent creations I'm going with the Row by Row quilt I completed for this year's Row by Row contest. I was able to finish my quilt mid July so this one's been done for a little bit. I took it to Sew Unique in Clinton. That's the shop I live near, but alas my work schedule doesn't let me get out there as much as I do when going to the Atomic Fibers shop in Oak Ridge.

This years them was "home sweet home". I actually started my gathering in Alabama where I was visiting with family friends. I got from Huntsville Sew and Vac, and Patches ands Stitches in Huntsville, AL; and 3 Hens & A Chick Quilt Shop in Athens, AL. I stopped by Sew Notions in Jasper, TN shop and Spool in Chattanooga, TN on my way home. I actually got two patterns from Spool but the other one I'm using in a different quilt that I plan to show off soon. The final three rows come from Sew Unique in Clinton, TN; Atomic Fibers in Oak Ridge, TN; and Gina's Bernina Sewing Center in Knoxville, TN.

This is my second year at doing the row by row experience. I hope next year is just as fun. Both times has been a learning experience for me because of attempting new techniques and meeting new people. The time to collect rows ends Sept 9th, but if anyone else is doing a quilt for this contest they still have to Oct. 31st. I know there are lots of shops participating and the Clinton shop I went to this year said I was her first winner ever. I still grab a pattern when I go by shops I've not been to and some are selling kits from previous years rows. I may get a quilt of orphaned rows together one day.

Welcome

Hello,

So I decided to start a blog showing off my adventures in quilting. I've placed photos of my quilts all over the web but I've never combined it together. Here you get to see my mania and watch me learn to grow as a quilter. I've been quilting for about 15 years now. The first few was a little project here and a little project there. I've managed to do a lot of growth in the last 5 years and still have a lot left to go.

So here I go sitting down with my snack for the day, (Lemon Zest Tea and Chocolate Banana Pocky) and let the madness begin.