Capture It, Remember It

Early in my time at the museum I set a precedent in making a mini quilt/block for staff members who retired/moved/etc. so they had a quilty remembrance of their time with us. However, it also means these have a rapid turnaround time once we find out!

This time, one of my dear friends was leaving for a new job opportunity so I wanted to make something really good. E was running our social media which meant taking lots of pictures around the museum so I went on a search for camera blocks to start. 

Found this paper pieced camera from Whims and Fancies shop on Craftsy and knew it was perfect!

It came together fairly quick, and the hardest part was getting everyone to sign it without E knowing - not an easy feat. We gifted it last week and she loved it. So here's to your next adventures and a reminder to Capture Memories - Love you!

Linking up with CrazyMomQuilts for Finish it Up Friday!

Ultraviolet Lightning

Well, yesterday was a Good day friends!

Had a fun group of elementary students in for a tour at work, managed a 10 mile bike ride on the greenway trail, stopped for frozen yogurt on the way home because it feels like summer, the Capitals won their first game against Tampa & I made the mini quilt I'm sharing today! So. Good.

Each year when the Pantone Quilt Challenge has been announced, I start thinking how much I wish I had a good idea or plan to make something to enter. I did manage a quilt top for the Marsala challenge (read more about that here), but was excited about the color for this year: Ultraviolet.

It brings to mind black lights & crime shows & light spectrums, but nothing that prompted a quilt design in my brain. Until last night. Seriously - last night, as in the final hours for the challenge. There's nothing like last minute ideas & the threat of a deadline, am I right?!

In anticipation of the Eastern Conference Finals hockey game >Go CAPS!< it finally hit me - a lightning strike! Seeing as it was the Tampa Bay Lightning of course. I searched some storm photos on Google for inspiration, dug through my purple drawer of fabrics and started cutting. It was fun to work fast on this one - it meant I had little time to agonize over the fabrics or my freehand cloud-making skills.

I call it: Lightning Crashes

I free-cut & pieced the background and the clouds and main lightning bolt are fused, raw edge applique. I used my walking foot to make it rain during this storm, then switched to free motion quilting for the rest. Some field-like texture in the black, outlines in the clouds for added stability, swirling clouds at the very top and then outlining the bolt and adding in more lightning tendrils. I used coordinating Aurifil threads #1240, 2535, 2692 & 3840- a variegated purple.

Again, I matched the binding on this mini - that's been a trend for several of my recent minis - which was done fast as the deadline loomed.  I managed some quick photos and posted to Instagram (go follow me there!) so I could link up at No Hats In The House with 10 minutes to spare. whew! It measures 19" x 16.5" and all I need to add is a sleeve so I can hang it up on my wall. 

Certainly a fun challenge and a fast finish for me this week - all told I think this took 4 hours.  I do love it & am happy with how it turned out to be the exclamation point on a Good day!  Linking up with CrazyMomQuilts for Finish It Up Friday as well.

Darth

Happy Star Wars Day rebels! Seeing as I had to work today I couldn't be too obvious about it being May the Fourth - so I wore appropriate accessories instead. 

I was happy to hear a couple months ago that @justjoshinkids was hosting a third round of the mini quilt swap for Star Wars this year and I had to sign-up!  Couldn't miss this round after having such fun and seeing so many awesome quilts in the last two versions! Check it out on instagram for more: #maythe4thmqs3

My partner was a fan of Darth Vader and paper piecing so I was happy to find this sweet pattern on Fandom In Stitches. I wanted to make it fun and decided to make him in color for a little pizazz. It came together quickly and was fun to quilt the mask to be most impressive. Even managed to stitch in my bumblebee so he blends in on the front, but is visible on the back!

I also used @quietplay patterns for these coasters. Really thought the tiny pieces would be super tricky, but they were easy to work with and they were quick to piece & quilt. Always a plus with paper piecing! 

My partner loved the quilt and I'm glad it has a happy home!

Here's what I received in the swap - my very own Ewok! A stuffed one and a quilted one.  :)  I love it & can't wait to get it onto my mini quilt wall!  Linking up with CrazyMomQuilts for Finish It Up Friday. Also at Finished or Not Friday.

Hope you enjoyed your day rebels & watch out for tomorrow -> Revenge of the Fifth!

Reindeer Dash

A quick catch-up share today with a mini quilt I made for a Christmas gift. Momm has been eyeing up this geometric reindeer pattern for awhile. Bought the pattern from Quiet Play and started collecting up red scraps on the sly.  ;)

Momm wondered what I was doing with those scraps, but I managed to stay elusive and not give anything away!  Phew. Originally, this was intended to be a birthday gift, but I got behind and it turned into a Christmas gift instead. I know I'm not the only one this happens too!

Quilting this up in ripple circles was a fun choice and really makes the reindeer soar. Momm hung it up on the wall right away so that counts as a gifting-win. Enjoy it Momm!
Linking up with CrazyMomQuilts for another Finish It Up Friday - check out all the great links!

Bean

My last finish of 2017 was a fun project! I made this quilt for J as a thank you for big computer help. She has a cat, named Bean, who was the perfect inspiration to use for a quilt. I found the Hipster Cat pattern by Shwin & Shwin exactly right for the plan.

To make a more lap sized version, I modified the pattern a little so it would be more proportional. Bean has a stubby tail and bright green-yellow eyes and a little white patch of fur on his chest so it was easy to personalize. The pieces went together quickly with machine applique. I ordered the Maryland flag fabric from Spoonflower to use for the bow tie & put the extra into the backing. 

This went home with me for Christmas where I got to play with Momm's new longarm. :D Quite fun to use and boy - quilts up fast! I did some spiky quilting inside the cat to look like fur, and then some swirls in the background.

This went to J a few weeks ago and she loved it! Isn't that the greatest feeling when gifting a quilt? She was shocked and happily surprised to see it was Bean, and it seems pretty obvious Bean loves it too.  :) 

Linking up with Finish it Up Friday at CrazyMomQuilts this week.

Project Zebra - Complete!

Another finished quilt to share with you dear readers! Project Zebra was the code name I assigned since this was a secret surprise quilt for the recipient.

Two weeks ago, we found out a coworker was retiring and a couple of us decided we'd make a quilt for her as we've done for other staff members that have moved or retired or had a baby. S has been with the Quilt Museum since we opened almost 27 year ago so it was clear to me that she deserved a full-sized quilt and not just a small wall piece.

I modified block 1755 : Prairie Flower : from Barbara Brackman's book and decided on black and grey fabric for the background. Then I rounded up each staff member to choose a fabric to be the center of the block (flower) and pulled several staff to help cut and draw lines for making stitch 'n flip corners.

This was a lot of fun to piece and see how fabrics chosen by 25 different people can look amazing in the same quilt! It measure about 60"x 72" and I call it Stained Glass.

I quilted it on Gilbert - my trusty Janome. Using a variety of Aurifil threads to echo inside the center flowers and then in black thread to stipple in the black background fabric. Stitching black on black was a little tricky to follow, especially in the evening with less natural light - but I had a tight deadline and made it work.

We gifted it to S today and she loved it! :D  There's a piece of all of us in it to remember her many years of dedication to the Museum and I know she'll love it forever. Gifting quilts is the best!
Linking up::
Needle and Thread Thursday - at My Quilt Infatuation
 TGIFF - Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday - at Celtic Thistle Stitches
Finished or Not Friday -at Busy Hands Quilts
Finish It Up Friday - at CrazyMomQuilts

Story of a Quilt

We all know every quilt has a story, right? This story begins in 2015 with the Pantone color of the Year Challenge. The color chosen: Marsala.  I wasn't completely thrilled with this color choice on first glance, but that makes the challenge more exciting.  I doodled some designs and scrolled my Pinterest images for inspiration. 

 The color of the year is part of a color line for that season so I used those colors as my basis for pulling fabrics from my stash to go with all of the marsala fabrics I had on hand. Everything came from stash in this quilt, always nice to do! I free cut the curves, and machine appliqued the two triangles. The size of the quilt was partially determined by the contest, and the size of the pieces of my fabrics.

The top was completed in time and I was all ready to enter it into the contest. Sadly, I goofed on this one and missed the deadline accidentally by a couple of days. :( Read the original post here.

So the top sat and sat and showed up in my Finish Along lists quarter after quarter until I decided to just finish it already. It was a good top to use for playing with quilting designs and I used a variety of Aurifil threads - mostly 50 wt and a few 40 wt. colors too.

It measure 30"x42" and I dug out some scraps of the fabrics to use in the binding - managed to get a little of every fabric into it! Now all I need is to label it and come up with a good name - any suggestions readers?

Linking up at Finish It Up Friday with CrazyMomQuilts!

mini quilts reveal

Sometime back this Sring or Summer, Momm & decided to do a mini quilt swap between ourselves. We've participated in several hosted by other people for various designs/patterns/etc., and thought hey, we know each other well enough so a plan was born.

Other than a 24"-ish size guideline, there were no rules! It was fun to send cryptic questions to suss out preferences or color choices and posting only a tiny peek at the progress without giving away the design! Our exchange was set for mid-September and now I can share what we made for our mom/daughter mini swap.

Cheers! made by me for Momm

 :Details::
Title: Cheers!
Fabrics from my stash
Glasses paper pieced pattern by During Quiet Play on Craftsy
Words are lyrics from Story of Tonight in Hamilton
All quilting is free motioned & done with Aurifil thread - both the words & background designs.
Inspiration: Our family enjoys toasting and celebrating both the small & big events/milestones/etc. So these clinking glasses was the perfect fit and I've bene wanting to use these lyrics for ages.

Here's what I received - this awesome retro TV block playing one of my favorites - Newsies! :)

Momm even made a couple extra fabric centers so that I can change the channel as desired! How cool is that?! Channels include: Star Wars, Tour de France, hockey & Doctor Who.

 Love it. Thanks Momm! Linking up with CrazyMomQuilts for Finish It Up Friday!

Pay It forward Handmade

Several months ago I was the happy recipient of this fantastic #payitforward handmade gift from @eileenpaints. 

For my part in paying it forward, I chose to make these 3 zipper bags using the Open Wide pattern from Anna over at Noodlehead. 

I've made a number of these since they are fun and pretty quick to put together. This time around I also added a handle to them using this tutorial over at busybean which was easy to follow. I like how the handle looks with the bag.

They'll be in the mail this week and continuing to #payitforward :handmade! What a great experience and way to meet some fellow crafters via instagram.

Linking up for Finish It Up Friday at CrazyMomQuilts today.  So nice to have a finish to share!

Shatterpoint

  

 Finished up the binding on Shatterpoint this week! Really happy with how this turned out in the finish- I used the same colors as the piecing in the binding so the design flows right off the edges.

     

Found a great new photo spot today in a nearby park & Momm was quilt holder extraordinaire for these pix- thx Momm! The sun angles really help to showcase the quilting texture. The curves against the angles of the piecing is just what I'd hoped.

 

Gratuitous magic light sparkles through the fountain that I couldn't resist.

  

A look at the pieced backing & the extra blocks used as my label. The quilt top was created in a class I took with Denyse Schmitt back in 2013 and I had Denyse sign that triangle in the square on the back. I really enjoyed this class and am happy to mark this one complete! 

I call it Shatterpoint and used Aurifil 2810 & 1125 for the quilting. So smooth. Measures 50" x 58"

It was one my Quarter 2 Finish along list found here, and am linking up at Charm About You for the 2017 Finish Along! Linking up with 2 finishes this week over at crazymomquilts for Finish it up Friday - don't miss my other post Mai tai. 

Mai Tai anyone?

...pineapples are in my head...                    *lyrics from song Pork Soda by Glass Animals*

This quilt uses blocks I received in the #pineappleblockswap through Instagram last Fall and it's a perfect Summer time finish. Found the perfect backdrop to photograph this quilt around town & show-off these technicolor pineapples!

The backing is a fun travel themed print that even has pineapples on it too! 

 

  

quilting detail

My signature bee made it into this quilt as well! 

I'm calling this quilt Mai Tai and it's already been promised to a friend who loves pineapples as much as I do. :)  

This was on my Quarter 2 Finish Along list (original post here)so I'll be linking up with Charm About You with the finish! Also linking to CrazyMomQuilts for Finish it up Friday - with two finishes this week so be sure to check out my other post: Shatterpoint!

Disco Done!

I managed one singular quilt finish off of my Q1 2017 listy: my disco quilt! It's been a long process with this quilt and I'm pleased with the end result & extra pleased that its ready to snuggle with on the couch for movie night or when its chilly.      
The pattern is Disco by Jaybird Quilts and uses a FQ bundle of Architextures, mixed with several prints from Botanics- both by Carolyn Friedlander.  I pulled a variety of coordinating Aurifil threads and took inspiration from gemstones & jewel facets for the quilting. 


Everything is FMQ, which made it much easier to wrangle the quilt through my machine because it is big! Final measurements: 67" x 78". I matched bobbin thread to the top as well which adds some color to the backing fabric- a Zen Chic Modern Backgrounds print.

 

For binding, I went with a blue crosshatch print and made bias binding as the pattern suggests to get around the pointed edges. I hand stitched the binding to finish and now all this quilt needs is a good name!
  

I'm linking up with the Q1 Finish Along over at Charm About You.  Joining in with CrazyMomQuilts for Finish it Friday!