Pre-Planning 2019 Projects Pt. 4

Man I've done lots of posts in the last week. I am going to try to keep this up for a while instead of falling off for over a year. This one is another quilt out or the Modern Patchwork magazine from June 2017. It's the quilt featured on the cover. It's so neat looking on the cover display. It's called Shape within a Shape by AGF Studio. When I was looking at the fabric requirements I found the number of different fabrics they used is very daunting. They have 17 different fabrics.

I scoured my stash and probably could have kept looking since I didn't go through everything. Several I picked are from my New Orleans trip and some that Karen gave me. A few I had from local stores. This may change when I sit down to actually start this quilt. I want to try to do a quilt as I go with the large squares so hopefully I won't have one that I'm tugging and pulling through the machine.

I want to have large finished quilts but sometimes the work going into them is intimidating. I still face this challenge head on.

The photo on the right is right next to the window so it's hard to see the fabrics. I'm going to post a few close up shots. The black with the street cars, martini glasses, the brown shifting stripe and the large shifting square fabric is from New Orleans and Pensacola.

Tea today is going to be another find from my local asian grocery store. Master Kong Teas are imported from China and to be honest some of them are expired in the store. I have never had any problems after drinking them but to be fair I didn't notice they were expired till after I drank them. They make all kinds of flavors. I love the Jasmine fruit tea. It is a sweetened tea so I shouldn't be getting much of it but it does have a nice peachy flavor. They will sometimes spot light pop stars or actors.

WIP - Rose for My Boyfriend

Mom said the photo doesn't due it justice.

Current work in progress is another pattern I pulled from Simple Moderne Magazine. Issue # 15 this time. It wasn't even the pattern I bought the magazine for but it became my next project. The pattern is called A Rose for My Boyfriend by Ennsoo Kang. This one is a twin size quilt and let me tell you. They are a bitch to quilt on a small domestic machine. But damn it I'm doing it.

The fabrics were mostly stuff I had purchased before and didn't know what to do with them. I pulled the black with the swirly white print from my scrap pile. I still have to do a post where I show all the quilt tops I've got together one day. I can't remember where I originally used that fabric.

The piecing was started actually in December. I had the whole thing done by New Year's eve. It only took me a weekend. The pattern uses 4 different sizes of blocks that I cut quickly. I don't think I did anything else that weekend but cut and sew fabric. I posted it on one of my facebook groups and someone was surprised at how fast I got that done. I think that's due to staying up til 3 am and trying to keep from getting distracted by youtube videos while I work.

Trying to pin it from the wrong side.

Currently I'm still quilting and it's slow going on that because I'm working on a part I don't feel too excited about plus I have so many ideas swimming in my head for my next project I'm trying to force myself to finish this one first. Maybe if I keep focused I can get a WIP done each month. And maybe that's too optimistic.

My bottle didn't have Big Bang on it.

Tea for Today is actually a grapefruit green tea I got at the local asian grocery store. I'm treating myself with this one. It's very refreshing and has a light and citrus flavor.

Pre-Planning 2019 Projects Pt. 3

The next project that is a must is to use the cute Foodland samples I got from Mountain Creek Quilt Shop. I have gone through various ideas with this one to a table runner or table topper or another wall hanging. I want to use a pattern I saw in Modern Patchwork from June 2017. It's called City Planner by Heather Black. I plan on not making it as big as theirs and probably change the design a bit. on the upper and left side. The pattern will be a good basis to get what I want and use the variety of squares. The changes will only make is smaller and not really alter the fact it is her design.

The accent fabrics mostly come from my stash. With the solids and neutrals as the back ground. I was trying to pull another pink fabric in because one of the samples has a pink back ground but I may leave that out and put it with something else. I want to see how big this over all design ends up being. If I don't use all the Foodland pieces I know I can add them to another project.

To complement the fabric I'm sharing a tea I got last summer also. My local Barnes & Nobles sells the Harney & Sons teas. I picked up one of their limited stock tins. Now it's still available on the website if you want it. It's just not usually carried in my local store all year round. I love this White Peach Matcha. It's got a really good peach flavor that's I think pairs very nicely to the matcha. The bags have matcha powder in them so when you pull them out of the tin it can get on your fingers if you're not careful. I only have a few bags left so I plan on ordering this one online when I run out.

Pre- Planning 2019 Projects Pt. 2

My friend Karen gets lots of great fabrics from thrift stores for me. I would say a good chunk of my stash is actually from her. A few years ago she sent me lots of bits of asian print fabrics. Many of them small cuts. Lots of them are from people who have passed away and the family has donated them to the thrift shop.

Thanks to my bing watching of YouTube videos about Nippori Fabric town I decided to look through the fabrics recently. I found several panels that I want to make into wall hangings. The accent pieces come from this stash along with a recent purchase from my shop hop post.

I plan on doing two as of right now and I have another panel I need to plan out also. These two I'm actually going to use similar fabrics and a lay out. One is a panel of two ladies walking and the other is two panels of a beautiful kimono.  I found a nice pattern call Side Lights from Mountainpeek Creations I want to use. I plan on giving one to Karen when I get done with this.

Tea today has been a Lemon Zest Tea by Browne & Ashley. I got this in a tea collection for Christmas. This is the second time I've ever gotten this collection and the tea's are good. This one doesn't have much of a lemon flavor but it is a nice green tea. I like keeping the tins to use for sewing notions and pins.

Pre Planning 2019 Projects Pt 1.

On my trip to New Orleans last year I picked up some of the Gustav Klimt fabrics. I got two panels and two of the other fabrics to use as accent pieces. This was a 35 fabric line and there was a lot to choose from.

Of the panels there was one hanging on the wall as a completed project at Uptown Needle but they had already sold out of that. In fact the panel I did get from there I took from the wall as a display of the fabric. It was the last one. The other panel I got from A & E Fabrics. I decided to accent this project with a solid black back ground and a tan fabric I had in my stash. The tan has threads of gold which will pull all the gold from the panels. 

Sample Project for Kaufman's Website

I plan on making two wall hangings out of this project. Robert Kaufman's website had lots of free projects using this line and there are several on there that I'm considering. I don't really want to get too complicated or big with the piecing of these one because I think the fabrics shine for themselves. The two panels I got were always my favorite of his paintings so I'm thrilled to get to work with them.

2018 Quilt Review Pt 3: Love Quilt

Another 2018 project that was finished is a small lap quilt/ wall hanging. This one hangs in my office cubical. The original pattern I got from Simple Modern Magazine # 13.  The quilt designed by Sandra Johnson titled Love Forever. I did not follow the pattern exactly but it's close enough I'm going to say it's from her pattern. The Kanji in the center stands for love which is why I call this my love quilt.

I used purely scraps at putting the background together. This was a great scrap buster for me. I think I cut what I had at the time in half. I did buy the black fabric I use for the applique and the binding new but I decided on that after I had it all together.

I did improve blocks with the blue and purple fabrics and tried to get a sort of ombre look when I laid them out. This one was suppose to go into another fair but I never got the application out in time so it just decorates my wall and reminds me of Love. 

For the tea I would have to spotlight here is some of my favorite Sunflower Jasmine Tea. There's a local asian grocery store that gets lots of different things and some at good prices. It's a pretty big store and has everything from fresh meats and vegetables to frozen and instant foods. The tea I like to get is in a tin with an extra stopper in the lid to keep the tea fresh. It's imported by Fujian Tea. I've repurchased this one several times. I sometimes buy extra jasmine blooms and mix it in with it for a stronger floral taste.

2018 Quilt Review Pt 2 Epp and New Orleans

2012 at Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop

This is a post I could take forever at making so I am going to try to keep it short. in May of 2018 I went on a week long trip with my mom and two friends to New Orleans. This is my second trip and if I compare the two it shows just how different a person I am versus my first trip.

My first had been in April 2012 with just my friend Karen (who went on both trips). We had spent all our time exploring most of down town and went to the Aquarium and Zoo. I had fallen and hurt myself so I hadn't really picked a lot of places extra to go due to avoiding too much walking. We did go on a ghost walk cemetery tour and even a fabulous park all with lots of sitting and breaks while my friend took lots of photos. My leg has never been the same but it also never locked up on me. The trip was still fabulous and forever shapes my memories of New Orleans.

Quilt Block tile at welcome center. 2018

My second trip I still insisted the people I was with pick stuff to do because this was their vacation as much as mine, but it is shaped by having my mom with us. That is not a negative both of us have lots of things in common and share a love for quilting. We went to a quilt shop and explored areas outside of down town more. We stayed in a hotel across the river and it was so much hotter because the weather did a major change between end end of April and the beginning of May. These factors meant leaving downtown by rush hour to get to the hotel and cool off before dinner.

The four of us at the Zoo. 2018

The quilt shop we went to was Uptown Needle. They had a fantastic quilt on display that was a Nola 300 special pattern of the map of New Orleans. I picked up several fabrics from there and was awed at their cute little shop. Apparently as of now they have closed and are going to relocate. I'm so sad.They had a nice article about them in the Louisiana edition of Quilt Folk if you ever get to read it.

EPP in Progress

This trip I also got to go to the A& E fabric store in Pensacola. Karen lives in Pensacola so we took a few extra days to visit the beach. That store is huge and has lots of great finds.

Finished Flamingo EPP

With fabrics from both of these places I dived into my first EPP project. I had never done english paper pricing before and with a few videos from Mr Domestic I got a clue and started. I was very happy with the finished project. It's a table topper size or small wall hanging. I find these easier to quilt on my little Machine then a full size quilt.

I also entered it into the local fair and won a 3rd place ribbon! This one was a new learning experience with me. I want to do more EPP's in the future.



Since this post is mostly about my New Orleans trip I want to continue with stuff I got from there. But alas, I did not get an appropriate tea picture to share.I will share one of my drinks from New Orleans. It's only fitting.

Bloody Mary in the French Quarter near the French Market.

Shop Hop Saturday

Big Pile of fabric

JoAnn's haul

Last weekend I did a bit of a shop hop with my mom. It wasn't anything strictly planned but that's what it turned into. Mom and I actually started it with a stop at Tuesday Morning and Joann's on Friday. I got a pinwheel by Benartix for half off at Tuesday Morning and a few fun fabrics from JoAnn's. They had a Van Gogh panel for 30% off and I got a cute sushi fabric.

Mountain Creek Quilt Shop haul

Saturday's quest actually started with my recent obsession at searching online for Japanese fabrics. I'd been researching Nippori Fabric town and have been watching too many YouTube videos about it (way too many click the links). I plan to go one day. The main plan was to go to Mountain Creek shop in Greenback because they have a bin of salesmen samples. They fill it up every once in a while and will have Japanese import fabrics. I got some pieces from Food Land by Leicen. They're small but enough to use as accent pieces for a table topper or lap quilt. Sorry the photos blurry but I got a few fat eights and some cute frog and mushroom fabric. I have so many ideas for this I don't know where to start. I also got a cute pair of scissors that is pen shaped. I saw someone using it in a journaling video and was so happy to find it.

Twisted Sister's Haul

Since Maryville is so close and it's been awhile since we went to the shop there we decided to visit Twisted Sisters. They have moved to a new space since I was last there and it's huge in comparison. It's like they have a labyrinth of quilting fabric. The parking situation is so much better also. I wasn't terrified of running into things on the narrow area they had before. Here I got a panel from the Cat-i-tude collection which I just saw in a magazine the night before. Panels had been 20% off so I scored a deal. Also ransacked their clearance section for fantastic deals. I got some Art Gallery Fabrics that I had passed up before because of their price. If you're ever in the area I suggest going just to see how big this shop is.

Gina's Haul

So Much Fabric

The final stop after lunch was also a why not. Mom lives in Knoxville close to Gina's Bernina. I love this shop. It's always got something new and surprising. They also had a sale going on. Surprise! For all the sales we hit I had no clue any of them were going on. I got only a few things from this shop because well I had a big stack already. I did get a cool USA panel in black and white. I also had a package of fat quarters from Missouri Star when I got home.

With all this fabric I've got a few projects thought out. I am going to do some pre-plans soon and sort my existing stash.

2018 Quilt Review Part 1. East Tennessee Quilt

I haven't been posting in a long while but I still have been quilting. I have several tops that I finished but have not gotten around to quilting. I finished a quilt that I had started a while back for my brother. I had designed the top to reflect local East Tennessee landmarks and aesthetics.

I call it my East Tennessee quilt. The top is suppose to represent the Great Smokey Mountains that shape a very large part of this area and heritage. The section below is suppose to be the mountain's reflections in the rivers and streams. I used an orange for the mountains to show the fall colors in the leaves but green for the reflection to show how it is in the summer. The bottom checker board area represents the fall leaves and more of the color that can be seen in the area. The surrounding border actually represents the roads through the mountains.

I also have sewn on patches from the national park to show case many of the walking trail. The large patch in the center was an antique boy scouts patch that my cousin had earned. My grandmother found it and had no clue where it came from. She gave it to me to use since she knew I was doing this quilt. When my cousin came to visit I showed the quilt to him and he told me where it came from. I had asked at the time if he wanted it back because I had not started the quilting process but he said to keep it.

The quilt is actually a couple of years in the making. It took me about 2 weeks to do the piecing and another several weeks to find all the patches and sew them on. I did this part in 2017 around September. The only reason it got finished in 2018 was because I decided to finally quilt it. I started hand quilting in February because my wrists were hurting too much when I tried to pull it through my machine. I'm slow at this process so it was a 3 month journey getting it finished. It was suppose to be my brother's birthday present in 2017 but he got it in March of 2018. He has been very happy with it finding new things about it that he loves.

And finally before I forget this post is brought to you by Harney & Son's Paris Tea. I found a tin in World Market and added to my rather large collection. I love this one it smells so good like a citrus vanilla. I took several bags to work and everyone wanted one to use as an air freshener!