Improv Quilt and Book Reviews

 A Quilt!  If you watched Episode 305 of Quilty you saw me making some cool improv log cabin blocks and this is what they became.  So ya step outs were kinda a stretch for me since I had to make a bunch of the sameish thing...not so improv but being on the show was AWESOME. 

 When I finished the episode I had all these blocks in various stages of finish and I was NOT going to finish them all the same so I just jerry-rigged them all together into this little quilt for the CMQG's charity efforts for Project Night Night.  I like the way it finished and it is only 28.5"x40" so a baby size. 

I used whatever solids I had on hand and even a shot cotton I got at the Needle Shop (ok I guess I also used a stripe on the back and binding).  The quilting is also kinda improvised with my walking foot squareish and whaddoya know it holds all the layers together!

Aaaand, today my friend Sara's blog has a couple of book reviews that I wrote for her about some crafty books, check it out!

Palooza of Miscellany!

So I have a lot of projects that I have been working on and I have not been sharing...that ends NOW!  SO lets get on with it!  

This Awesome little mini quilt is all rainbowy and fun and I made it on a whim out of scraps from a big quilt that I have been working on for almost 3 years.  I love to improv piece and I mainly used this as bubble quilting practice, not too shabby eh?

This little Bubble Dress (pattern by Oliver and S)  was made for my cousin Lea's first little girl Ava.  The fabric is one of my favorite old sheets from Pottery Barn but they wore out so now the good bits can be made into cute sewn items that are oh so soft!

Isabel so deserves a pinafore so I made her one from the Blossoms and Bloomers pattern.  I really liked this pattern it has great proportions and it just hits the spot for a super easy turn it out, reversible, cutie of a dress.  

I made it in a purple solid and a Lizzy House print from I think 1001 Peeps, and I even included some ball fringe that I had laying around FOREVER for an extra dose of fun!

Next up is a cute little doll dress for my friend's little girl Poppy.  Well I guess it is for her doll but you know what I mean.  The pattern is from Oliver and S's book Little Things to Sew, and of course as always I love their patterns I love them and it is cute, so there.

Of COURSE  I had to make something for Tyler's 6th Birthday!  Per his request he got 2 pairs of Bedtime Story pj pants and he even helped sew the inseam on one pair!

His little brother Dylan loves getting his picture taken too and umm he also likes playing with my pincushion...ya that happened but everyone is FINE!

Another goofy one for good measure ;)

Final random thing for this post is this quilted bib.  A new baby will be coming soon, a first for my cousin and they are not yet sure of the gender but I could not resist whipping up a little bib, with some of my handprinted spikey fabric too!

Alright, I have 6 more dresses and a quilt that have not even been mentioned above...within the week I will finish sharing at least those so get ready for more!

Spring/Summer Fabric Giveaway!

Wahoo!  It's Giveaway Day!  On offer are these two stacks of fabrics that I will cut into fat eighths for two LUCKY winners!

Spring

Is it a little weird that I was super excited about having a blog so I could do giveaways?  I love them so!  I also LOVE putting together stacks of pretty colors...I betcha can tell!

Summer

To win one of these AWESOME stacks of Fat Eighths leave me a comment telling me which one you like best and what color you are totally into right now...mine is still Kona Papaya but I am also digging Neon Pink :)

Ok so for all the business...the winners will be chosen at random (one for Spring, one for Summer).  I will ship internationally!  The giveaway is open until May 10th at 7pm Central Standard Time.  If I can't e-mail you then I will pick someone else and you will miss out, sorry.  And finally, go on over to Sew Mama Sew to enter more giveaways!

*Giveaway Closed!*  Tyler Picked the winners for me via a scroll and point so here they are!

Spring winner is Binks who said:  "I love the Spring pack color caombo. This season I find that I'm liking a sherberty orange color. Not sure how..."

Summer winner is ircabbit who said: "I am so feeling the summer color scheme!  I have been buying mustard colors lately...yellows are generally not my favorite on their own, but i have been learning that i really adore some colors in combination that I don't care about on their own."

I sent an e-mail your way!  Thanks to everyone who entered. :)

CAKE!...and the CMQG Spring Retreat

The Chicago Modern Quilt Guild goes on retreat twice a year and so far I haven't missed it!  I am known for always bringing some kinda baked good, this time 2 cakes to celebrate Jen and Rachel's Birthdays!  Retreat is such a fun time to get to know people in the guild better and get some sewing done!

The first thing I did upon arrival at retreat was finish making all these zip pouches.

Ya...lets just say some of these should have been done before the retreat cause they were being given away at retreat but hey, I finished them on Friday after we got there!

Here are some shots of the room we are in at the Siena Center...I swear no tornado passed through, we just unpacked a bit.  A few supplies.  And fabric.  And machines...

Ah!  Beautiful people and lots of sewing just what we all needed!

My room all made up, you can't beat the charm.  I never get too much accomplished at retreat, too many people to talk to, but I will share later what I did finish, from the doll dress to the quilt!

Quilty and Me in Print!

So I thought I better share this with you before they come out with the NEXT issue of Quilty Magazine...

A thingy, in the March/April issue of Quilty, a...a list of steps for how to Improvisationally piece...in Quilty, by me!  Yay!!!!  So check it out...on newsstands or shelves or some kinda rack thingy near you...NOW!

Handprinted: a fabric swap

Leslie over at Maze and Vale hosts an awesome swap called Handprinted: a fabric swap.  This is the third round of the swap and the first time I relief printed instead of screen printed.  Note above my fun studio company, Hi Precious!!!

I printed this well kinda triangley pink design on some Pearl Bracelet fabric when I was at Quilt Con in a workshop with Lizzy House.  If you wanna check out some pics from the workshop take a look at my Flickr set.  I had a great time at the workshop and it was so fun to meet Lizzy!

The next design was this cloud with ummm stuff coming out the bottom...lol I thought the designs were pretty fun and I love PINK and printing on top of Pearl Bracelets too :)

Switching it up I mixed some orange ink (and yes Charlotte I think of you every time I say the word "orange" now).

Out of the orange came these acidic looking clouds...

and this cool mountains and hills design.

Here are all four of the FQs I sent out!  Overall I am happy with the way they turned out and I used oil based ink BTW.

These beauties are what I received in the swap!  Aren't I a lucky duck?  Printed by hand clockwise from the top left: Keri, Kelley, Samantha, and Kristy.

I would without hesitation be a part of this swap again and again, it kicks my butt to print and I like it that way.  

Tyler is TONS of Awesome

Tyler being awesome with his library bag :)

Today's Sew Thinky Thursday question is:

Who do you like to sew for the most?

Well going with my gut tells me that I like to sew for Tyler the most.  Ty is GREAT!  He is my cousin Sarah's 5 year old boy and he is super sweet and appreciative.  I have sewn him a fabric bucket, snakes, many pairs of pajama pants, a library tote bag and even a vest!  He is always very happy to receive whatever I make him with a smile and I wouldn't have it any other way!  While I love to sew for TONS of people that I love in my life Ty takes the cake on this one and I am currently sewing him some more PJ pants. :)

Random pic of me and my awesome Monster Pillowcase!

Aaand...since I didn't post last week let me talk about last Thinky Thursday.  The question was: 

Bad sewing habits.  Do you have them? Share with us, what are your worst habits when it comes to sewing?

Umm ya I can safely say that I have many bad habits.  We will only list a few...leaving my rotary cutter open (only when I am alone!), leaving my iron on at all times (it is seriously plugged in all day, but it shuts off by itself), and well not cleaning my machine as often as I should.  There  a few like I promised. 

Now I have lots of fun stuff to be doing so I will be back another day!

Papaya the color...NOT the fruit

So today's Sew Thinky Thursday question is "What is your favorite color of Kona Cotton?  How much of it do you keep in your stash?  Is there a solid that you are always finding yourself running out of?"

Fun Quilt Block!

Ya, I thought less than a second about this one 'cause my favorite color at this point is Papaya(shown in the picture here as the big chunks of yellow-orange).  I love the vibrancy of this yellowy orange!  I try to keep a yard of it in my stash partially because I like to us it as a photo backdrop sometimes too.  

Even though it is not my favorite color I'm always running out of white!  I use it to line garments and to back the inside of pillows or for just about whatever, so I definitely buy it by the bolt! 

I liked the way that Emily put together a sampling of her favorite Kona Cotton Colors so here are mine...note seriously some of these do not look at all like the color I know and love so if you have a color card check out how awesome my picks are in person...if not enjoy a mosaic that makes it look like I hate yellow...which is untrue!

Linking up to Sew Thinky Thursday on Emily's Blog!

Casimir Pulaski Day: I Love Chicago...I HATE netting

Today's post is a picture post but let me say this before we begin...I dressed up for you...like I actually put on a real shirt and not pajamas, but I could not be bothered to do anything else, even take out a camera, hence I used my computer to take these pictures.  Oh and here in Chicago schools have off for Casimir Pulaski Day...look it up or just click on the link...lazy!   OK you know I love you, now down to it...here is my day off...trying to make the Chloe dress...

This is the pattern for the Chloe Dress

hemming chiffon sucks

gathering netting is impossible

tulle is ok

I like quilting cotton

chiffon is static-y

and so is tulle

I am NOT ripping out my hair because I had to put it in a bun to keep it away from the static

That is all! 

Friendly Influencers...dancing around a thinky question

Today's Sew Thinky Thursday Question over on Mommy's Naptime is...
"Tell us about your sewing friends.  Have your fabric tastes changed by having friends who like to sew?  Do you like the same things or are you completely opposite?"

My sewing friends are CrAzY AWESOME!  and I have more than one...just to name some that are in the CMQG: Sally, Elaine, Erika, Tricia, Robbi, ok 5 is enough and then I won't feel bad for accidentally forgetting someone if I try and name all the wonderful peeps in the guild.  I guess we share that fact that we have fun talking but in general we each have our own tastes and styles and I REALLY love love love that we have our own voices and views when it comes to the fabrics we purchase!

OK.  So if you take a look over at Emily's blog post today you will see that she thinks that I am a hard one to crack when choosing fabrics/palettes and such and I admit...this is true...I am particular...but hey...my name is Emily (this one not the other one) and I am particular. :)  

So back to the question.  Yes?  I have been slightly influenced by what my friends like because seeing a fabric used and in a great combo of colors and prints really sets the imagination aflame!  I would not say that my tastes are opposite of my friends' but I definitely have opinions on print and color that are different.  I actually find a lot of color inspiration from Pinterest.  I have a board just dedicated to COLOR and one even for Pattern and Design!  My friends' are amazing and seeing them do amazing things with fabric makes me look differently at my own choices and hey, maybe they influence me more than I give them credit for...forgive me gals? ;)

Linking up to Sew Thinky Thursday on Emily's Blog!