Birthday Giveaway!

hey guys!

guess what?

it was my birthday yesterday!


last year i did a pretty big giveaway, with lots of goodies, and Hadley was the lucky winner.

this year i wasn't nearly as coordinated, so it's a smaller giveaway, but MORE people can win!





i made up 5 little journal covers in some of my current favourite fabrics, and i hope you like them too! i've matched them all to keychains, since i currently have six-gabillion keychains...




don't they look pretty stacked up like that?





the first journal on the stack is made using Cut & Sew, designed by Cynthia Frenette



it has a Kona solid back, and a matching keychain.



the second journal is made using Sew Stitchy, designed by Aneela Hoey, with a fabulous sketchy pink, and has a matching keychain.



the third journal is made using a fabric that i'm not familiar with, but i had a scrap that was crying out "use me! i'm pretty!". and then i saw the same fabric at Spool of Thread yesterday, so now i know what it is! it's Cabana Blooms, by Melissa Ybarra for Iza Pearl Design.



the back is a solid Kona again. because this was a scrap, i don't have a perfectly matching keychain, so i've paired it with one that coordinates.



the fourth journal is probably familiar to you! i'm totally in love with these fabrics together, and i can't stop using them. you might remember the combo from my paperpieced gnome, or from my first attempt at a gift card holder.



the centre fabric is Sun Dials Amethyst from Field Study by Anna Maria Horner and the Nordic Diamond from Heaven and Helsinki, designed by Patty Young.



the last journal uses two fabrics that come from the same fabric line, Madrona Road by Violet Craft. aren't they yummy together?



which one's your favourite? leave me a comment for a chance to win one! i'll leave the giveaway open until midnight PST on December 30th. if you share the giveaway, come back and leave me a link for a second (or third, or fourth, however many places you share it with!) chance to win!

Unscripted Bee Blocks

gosh, i'm awfully behind with posting!

the majority of these blocks were made or completed in august, after the map was finished. i'd gotten a bit behind for july blocks, but in addition to that, several folks from the Unscripted Bee sent out their fabric at the same time, so i had a nice little stack of projects waiting for me.



Cynthia's block was finished it earlier in the summer, but of course, i haven't blogged it yet.

Cynthia's a huge fan of Paris (she's even designed fabric inspired by it!), so she asked us to use Elizabeth Hartman's Mod Mosaic tutorial to make blocks that looked like a map of Paris, with the white strips standing in as "streets", jutting out in all directions. She'd been collecting Paris themed fabric for awhile, so she sent us all some scraps of it, along with coordinating prints.



aren't the fabrics she chose fun? i LOVE the buttons piece on the upper right! my block ended up fairly straight, without many angles in it - so i guess it doesn't look that much like a map of Paris, the streets there look like a nightmare! unsurprisingly, i was worried about running out of fabric, and i didn't want to waste fabric by cutting it wonky.

Cynthia also asked us to make a small improv block for the back of her quilt, so i used my last little pieces for the following -



see that eensy bit of white in the top right corner? that was ALL i had left!



Jody's block was a fairly simple improv block, perfect for getting back into the swing of things after the map quilt! Jody sent out a selection of solids in blues, greens, greys and white, and asked us to make a block using Bumble Beans Inc (Victoria Findlay Wolfe)'s "Waverunner Quilt" tutorial.



as usual, i ran out of fabric. i was supposed to make a block 10"x20", and i ALMOST made it! i think it ended up being 19" long or so. i really really love how the block turned out, and i think it's going to be a stunning quilt, but i totally didn't find it as easy as the tutorial led me to believe!

the tutorial tells you to cut your strips with wavy edges, then line them up to sew them regardless of matching curves. you're supposed to be able to press them flat if you use steam. i don't know if my curves weren't slight enough or what, but there were several spots where it didn't matter how much i steamed the block, it just wasn't going to flatten. i worked it out by going back in and sewing along the fold line, where the fabric wanted the seam to be, so it wasn't a big deal, but it was interesting. i also really love the little bits of scraps that i used to bring the block closer to size, similar to what the original quilt uses.



and finally, Nicole's blocks! i started these so long ago... i ran out of background fabric for these, and then i totally lost steam while waiting for more to arrive. i eventually finished up the words, but i was so stalled on the additional improv blocks to go along with them, it took me forever to get everything finished up and sent out.

Nicole asked everyone to make a block with their favourite word in it. she sent us all different bundles of fabric, but we all had the same background fabric, and a small piece of the Kaffe Fassett fabric that inspired her overall colour scheme for the quilt. she told us to make the blocks any size we wanted, but to please include the Kaffe Fassett fabric in our word somewhere.

i was super excited about her blocks, because i'd been doing a lot of pieced lettering at the time (no, of course i haven't blogged that yet...). i gave Nicole a list of favourite words, including some 20s slang that i adore, and she chose the word kerfuffle.

i started working on the block, but fairly early on i realized that a) i didn't like the K that i'd made, especially with the other letters, and b) the orange fabrics weren't melding with the pinks and creams very well, and since i was using one print per letter, it was VERY obvious!

so then that led to me making two word blocks....






(final size of the block - 38" x 10.5")


and then in the orange fabrics,


(final size of the block - 21" x 9")

it actually worked out perfectly, because we've been using the word "keen" a lot in the bee - some members of the bee are total keeners, getting their blocks done super quick!

and as for the improv blocks that messed me up - i made three, one of which i turned into a signature block. i love the fabric combination on the largest block, but i like the technique i used on the orange one, it was fun to do. i also had the improv block that Lysa made, because she didn't like how it turned out, but i wasn't inspired by it either. i ended up sending it to Nicole as-is, i'm sorry Lysa!




and that is the end of the Unscripted Bee blocks!


except, of course, my blocks.... which is a whole other post!

Fab Bee Blocks

thanks for all the love for my map quilt guys!


i'm really happy that i finally blogged it, cause i got to show you all the awesome photos, but also because i have SO MANY THINGS to blog, i need to start getting caught up!


such as bee blocks! i have so many to blog about!


first up, the Fab Bee, which is mostly made up of local people that i knew before the bee started, but also includes a few further away who i've gotten to know since.


Holly was the queen bee for May, and she stuck with neutrals for her block, which i surprised myself by loving! she sent us each a bundle of seven neutral fabrics, along with a teensy bit of solid coloured fabric, one colour for each of us. she also made a pinterest board of neutral quilts that inspired her - i'm sure they'll inspire you too!

remember the "It's Not About Age, It's About Attitude" tote that i made awhile ago? i made it right after i made Holly's block, you can totally see the similarities.





Holly even sent along embroidery floss that matched the accent colour in each of her blocks! she's so amazingly organized! i am less organized though, and didn't manage to get a picture of my signature block after i finished the embroidery...


Barb and Holly were apparently thinking alike, because she planned to do neutrals in June as well! for her block she wanted us to work with stripes, and asked us not to use a ruler for cutting, to just use our scissors. i think some of us were scared!



though most of the fabric that Barb sent were dyed solids, one of them was a neutral print, and i reversed some pieces of it to add a little bit more visual interest to my blocks.



after i finished the one big block, i sewed together all of my leftovers to make her a few littler blocks as well.


Darlene went back and forth, but eventually decided to have us make Stacked Book Blocks, cause they're her favourite. she made a pinterest board full of blocks that she loved (along with a few of her other options), and sent us a big bundle of fabrics that just screamed DARLENE as soon as you opened them!



can you guess which fabrics i added? there were two!

her block felt so simple compared to the others i've done for this bee (such as Cynthia's heart blocks!), so i decided to add a little bit of embroidery as a secret little message for her. i put it on the very top piece of the block, so that she could remove it and put it somewhere else if she liked.



it's very tiny! i used two strands of 50wt(ish) sewing thread to embroider it.



i used a Pilot FriXion pen to draw on my letters, so you can kind of see the white marks it left under my embroidery, hopefully that'll wash out after Darlene finishes the quilt.



Ellen (who doesn't have a blog, amazingly) left her month super open, just asking us to make blocks with an owl, however we wanted. she sent us a bundle of prints along with a navy blue solid for the background, and let us do our own thing. i was originally thinking that i'd paperpiece an owl, perhaps using Sonja's Easy Peeping Owl pattern that i sewed a long time ago, but then Sonja went and did a talk at the August FVMQG meeting, along with her patterns, and a few other people dibsed her owls first!

after i learned that, i thought about drafting my owl paperpiecing pattern, but i let it mull around in my brain for a little bit. then i had a brainstorm! i made up a sample to test my idea (which i'll blog separately, cause i LOVE it!) and then went full force into owl-mania.



after i made the first one, i couldn't stop, and i still had fabric that i hadn't used, so i made two smaller owls as well.


(i used a ton of starch on the eyes, but that'll wash out! that's why they look like they have marks on them, etc)

the owls use a whole list of techniques, which makes me super happy for some reason. they've got half square triangles (HSTs), 3D flying geese, improv curves, a prairie point (also known as a burr or a pinecone), and applique circles. i'm already planning more!



i'm all caught up with this bee, thank goodness, and i received the fabric for the September block from Berene last week. i'm very excited to get going on it!

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Whale Love!

hi! welcome!


i'm amy dame.

(there are lots of amys in quilty blog land, aren't there?)

this is the second time i've posted for the Blogger's Quilt Festival, and the quilt that i'm sharing this time around is a little mini quilt that i made for one of my guildie friends. i haven't blogged this before, so i'm including more info than i would just for the quilt festival, so feel free to skim.


if you'd like to know more about me, i'll direct you over to the excessively long about me page, but the basics that that seem to either repel or attract folks are these - i hate capitalization, i swear a lot and babble just as much, i'm a bleeding heart lefty who's hella opinionated, i get distracted kinda easily, and i often get so excited that i bounce up and down and clap my hands like a 6 year old. (if you like me, you might find it endearing, otherwise, it's probably just annoying!)


and most importantly, i love quilting! i'm the secretary of the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild, and i'm a member of the Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild. my guilds are amazing. not only are they full of incredibly TALENTED people, they're also full of incredibly AWESOME people!


do you know Sonja? she's pretty much the queen of paperpiecing. her patterns are all super fun, both the ones that she sells in her shop, and the ones that have been published. i've stitched up a few of her blocks, and recently she drafted up a pattern based on our guild logo, and i sewed that one up too.

she's also a fabulous photographer, and takes pictures at all of the VMQG meetings. a few months ago, some of us decided to submit quilts for the Modern Quilt Guild Showcase at the International Quilt Festival, and Sonja very helpfully took pictures of our quilts for us. at the time, i kind of spaced on thanking her properly, so i had it in my head that i should make her a little something. i was thinking pincushion, or needlebook, or pouch, but somehow it turned into an actual quilt!





ever since Sonja updated her blog, Artisania, with a new header, i've been in love with the little whale on it. i think it's part of a future pattern idea of hers (she's too busy designing patterns for books and magazines to finish the ones she's started!), but i just think he's the cutest thing. inspired by the mini-quilt that she made of her freaking adorable fox pattern, i thought two whales would be fun. a friend would keep one from getting lonely, right?

so i drafted up a pattern and sewed up the two whales, and added a little patchwork border around them. i embroidered their faces (twice actually, cause i hated my first attempt and ripped it out, i'd used too many strands of floss) and the little hearts between them. aren't they sweet?





i'm so happy with the water!! i was so proud of myself when it occurred to me how i was going to show the waves like Sonja's header does, without resorting to raw edge applique. when i showed this at guild last week, i said that it was a variation on cathedral windows, but i'm not sure anyone knew what the hell i was talking about.

basically, you start with strip of fabric that's got the top folded over by an inch or two. you tack the fabric down in multiple spots, and then curve the fabric between each spot down, pulling the fold into a wave shape. with cathedral windows, you're tacking down the corners, and then curving the fabric between them, right? so therefore this is a variation of cathedral windows.

well, in my head it is. that's amy-logic for you. i have just spent a ridiculous amount of time googling for faux cathedral windows quilts and haven't found what i'm looking for, or even as much info on the other kind of faux , cathedral windows, which is surprising, really. apparently i fail at google!

this is actually the closest i can find to explain what the hell i did - Tamiko at Patchwork Notes Hoo-Ha Pouch Tutorial, except that i just did one row, and i removed the straight lines of stitching. (as a sidenote, i just came across that pouch a week or two ago and damn, isn't it gorgeous? i'm slightly obsessed at the moment!)

i'm not quite as happy with my hearts. i was trying to make them look casual, freehand, less precise than i tend to do, but i think they might have just turned out a little bit wonky looking. hm.





i enjoyed echo quilting on the white, and really loved the contrast of the chevron like quilting around the whales with the curves around the hearts.

the water was quilted with four or five colours of blue thread, just freehand curves.

i used a synthetic batting, because it was the only pure white batting i had in my stash and i didn't want the cream colour of my cotton batting to show through the background. it was a bit puffier than the batting i usually use, so it added a bit more texture, which was fun.





the backing was this pretty print, and i included two hanging triangles in the upper corners. i didn't backstitch at all while i was quilting, because it would've shown a lot on a quilt this tiny, so i was VERY thankful for Krista's self-threading needle tutorial! this picture only shows the threads from when i went back in and added the quilting around the hearts, so you can imagine how many there were overall!


so! what do you think? it's a bit of a departure from the sorts of things i usually sew, but it was so much fun to do! i'm not sure if it's considered a wall hanging or a mini quilt for the new categories that have been added this time around. opinions? have you been keeping your list of quilts to nominate, as you've been surfing around?

i hope you've enjoyed the Blogger's Quilt Festival! as i click post, there are 28 minutes left to enter (i'm a master procrastinator), and 620 entries! that's amazing! be sure to pop over and say a huge THANK YOU to Amy for all of her hard work coordinating this!

Bee Love!

hi guys!

can you believe that it's been two weeks since i last posted? where did they go? i could've sworn it was only a few days ago!

however, i HAVE been accused of having "no concept of time" on multiple occasions. and i gotta tell ya, i'm starting to think it might be true (shh, don't tell!). considering the TWO parking tickets that i've gotten recently were both for misjudging how long i'd spend in a store buying crafty stuff....

seriously, who puts parking meters outside the craft store? that is simultaneously a bastardly thing to do and a brilliant fundraising scheme. unfortunately (for them), it's also a big deterrent for me. michaels is overpriced enough even without paying $2 per 20 minutes! $6 an hour! and it's not even downtown!

wait, where was i? i got distracted. this is just proving the point further, isn't it?


last week! so last week was partially about my inability to accurately judge how long things will take, but my propensity for procrastination definitely played a role as well. i got it into my head that i would get a ton of things done for the VMQG meeting, and that resulted in me having a whole bunch of things in progress, and basically nothing accomplished. i'm still planning on finishing the examples though, so watch for those.

(propensity for procrastination? that should totally be my new motto. truthful AND alliterative!)


in other news, i have bee blocks to show you!

these ones aren't from the Unscripted Bee that you've seen me talk about, but from a whole new bee. very exciting!!! a few months ago the amazing Cynthia asked me to be part of a bee that she was organizing. how could i resist, really? the new bee is called the Fab Bee, and it's full of incredibly talented folks. we're mostly all locals, either members of the FVMQG or the VMQG, but we have two members further away as well.



Cynthia's vision was an "awesome bee full of original styles of modern blocks- no patterns (other than your own) allowed." it's okay to be influenced by another quilter's work or ideas, but we must put our own original spin on it. the idea is super creative!

and to get the party started, Cynthia was our first queen bee! her theme was hearts, hearts and more hearts!

(i couldn't resist the link! that was 10 years ago dude! how did that happen? earlier point proven again!)

the finished quilt is for her hubby Norm, and he directed the fabric choices, and will lay out the finished quilt. we were asked to make scrappy hearts of any kind, with piecing methods, design, size, etc left up to us. the fabrics were all greys, greens and blacks with a bit of white, and we all received several "special" pieces of fabric - fabric designed by Cynthia herself!

i actually uploaded "hint" photos to show before Cynthia actually got the blocks, but... i didn't get around to blogging them. though they are good close ups! so how about i post them too? you can just pretend to be surprised as you scroll down, kay?

 

 


do you see how the fabric isn't white? grr!! i love Best Press, it's like magic, but the non-staining claims are not true!

 


and now for the actual blocks!



because i adore them, i was determined to make an anatomical heart! the heart is made up of 7 grey and black prints, and Cynthia's Doodle Hearts fabric. it's freezer paper appliqued, with lots and lots of very very tiny stitches holding it on to the background. i know that the finished quilt is going to be used and loved, so i was really conscious of securing it well! i forget how large i cut the grey background, but the heart itself is 5" tall and about 3.5" wide.


this one has a paperpieced background that i drafted out on copy paper, so it's 8.5"x8.5" square. the centre heart was freezer paper applique, using Cynthia's Doodle Words fabric. i hadn't intended for it to look like a union jack, but apparently it does anyway!


this is a HUGE block. holy crap! i was determined to use up all of the fabric scraps, so i just kept making hearts! after i ran out of the grey from Cynthia i added black and white from my stash for the backgrounds. i used several different techniques for the hearts, based on the size of each of the fabric scraps. the block includes both of Cynthia's Doodle fabrics, and even a little bit of her Paris Peonies. i wish i could tell you how large this is - i KNOW i wrote down the sizes of the blocks, but darned if i can find that slip of paper now! i'm thinking that Cynthia should use this one on the back, though i also told her to feel free to cut it up!


these were so much fun to do, and everyone in the bee has done fabulous work. this is going to be an INCREDIBLE quilt! i can't wait to see all of the blocks together!




(if you're wondering, hey amy, what's the dealio with that giveaway, i don't blame you at all! i haven't heard back from the winner! i'm going to try to contact her one more time, and then i'll redraw if necessary, cause i let it slide a little last week. don't fear, i'll post the winner soon!)

Cheerful Dresden Mini! - now with more pics!

i finished it! isn't it pretty?

this mini quilt measures 18.75" square and is my entry in the Modern Mini Challenge that Jennifer of Ellison Lane Quilts is organizing.



it's obviously a dresden plate quilt, and it includes a combination of hand embroidery and machine quilting. i used multiple threads for the embroidery, some of which were more fun than others (rayon is such a pain!). i used all of my favourite prints in this quilt, and it makes me happy to look at it. it's going up on my wall, so it can make me happy every day!

the dresden plate was made using the darlene zimmerman dresden ruler, which is easy-peasy. remember the skirt i made with it back in september?

while i was cutting the dresden blades, i cut a few extra little pieces of each print, and used them to create a border around the quilt. i sewed the pieces all in the same order in the border as they were in the dresden and then cut the long piece for the border pieces. at the last minute i decided to skew the border a bit, just for a bit of added interest.

it's bound with more kona, and i put 4 hanging sleeves on it - i couldn't decide which side was the top! i haven't hand stitched them all down yet, but they're there if i ever want them!


i have more pictures, and i'll post them later tonight, once they're edited. my computer is being very cranky, and i need a break from fighting with it!

wanna see more pics? here you go!



i originally sewed the dresden down, did the rows of echo machine quilting, and then started on the hand embroidery. part way through the hand embroidery, i realized that folding it up and carting it around with me was not working well for keeping the dresden and the batting smooth! i ended up ripping out my initial stitches, pressing the dresden plate well, and resewing it down after i'd finished all of the hand embroidery. this time i stitched along the sides of each wedge as well, and i'm soooo glad that i did! i think it looks so much better, and it'll shrink up much more evenly when i wash it.



it was so nice to have an excuse to play with the embroidery. i've sorely neglected my handwork since quilting has taken over my life! i used a variety of threads, and mixed up the stitches as well. i repeated a few stitches, but with varying threads, so none of the rows look exactly the same. i wanted to stick with narrow stitches, to maintain the thin rows of embroidery, so i avoided fun but wide stitches like an open chain or chevron stitch.


the first row of embroidery is a very very tight chain stitch. it was kind of hellish! ha! i used a rayon/viscose thread much like this dmc thread, but made by a german company, i think. i picked it up when my local stitchery store closed. i used very short lengths of the floss, which required a lot of ends to be lost inside the quilt, but i LOVE the pop of the satin thread.

the second row of embroidery, lime, was backstitch, using a standard 6 strand cotton floss. i lost the wrapper of this colour, so i don't know if it was dmc or anchor.. and i want to buy more, i love this colour! i'm guessing dmc because it's a bit duller than other brands.

the third row, pink, used a standard 6 strand cotton floss, anchor #57. apparently i used two different stitches for this row, though i just learned that! i didn't know that stem stitch and outline stitch are actually two different stitches, with the thread kept below the needle for stem stitch and above the needle for outline stitch. i think i usually do stem stitch, but for this row, i had alternated at each corner, switching back and forth. you learn something new every day!

for the fourth row, dark teal, i got smarter! i used the german viscose satin thread again, but this time i chose a stitch that wouldn't require me to sew the rayon thread through the quilt. i did an interlaced running stitch, and used cotton floss (anchor #189) for the running stitch, and wove the rayon thread through it. much easier!

the fifth row, pale blue, used cotton floss (dmc #3846) and a neat stitch called a scroll stitch.



the sixth row, purple, used two threads again, the rayon thread and a cotton floss, and the couching stitch. couching is such an easy stitch, and such a great way to use difficult threads!

the seventh row, light pink, uses thread common to modern quilters, pearl cotton. this was actually the first time that i'd used it, and i just did the simple running stitch. i think i need to pick up a pack of chenille needles, as the largest embroidery needles were a bit of a tight fit!

the eighth row, light blue, was stitched using a "cotton lace yarn" sold for crochet. it says that it's an egyptian cotton, but it also says "made in turkey". ha! i did a stem stitch for this row - stem stitch only, not alternating with the outline stitch! these stitches are bigger than they were in row three, but it's also a thicker thread, and i quite like the details created in the corners by the stitch formation.

the nineth row, bright blue, is cotton floss (anchor #1089), and i did a split stitch. i rarely use this stitch, and i'm not sure why... it lends itself well to sewing-style embroidery, which i prefer, so you would think that i'd use it often! maybe because i really like stem stitch, and they're used for similar effects. hm.

the tenth row, lime green, uses pearl cotton again, but you don't really see much of it, because i did a whipped running stitch, combining it with the rayon satin thread.



because the dresden is offset, some corners of the mini-quilt have more rows than others. the eleventh and twelfth rows are only in two corners, and the thirteenth row is just in one.

the eleventh row is pink (dmc #3804) cotton embroidery floss, and i've done a chain stitch again, cause i like it.

the twelfth row, light teal, is cotton embroidery floss (dmc #3812) as well, and i was loosing my creativity by this point, i suppose, so it's just basic backstitch again.

and the thirteenth row, the final row! this row was stitched in cotton embroidery floss (dmc #3809), and is one of my favourite stitches - french knots! as much as i love the look of them, i knew that i'd get bored doing very many of them, so i saved this stitch for one of the outer rows, that only showed at one or two corners!



and that's my modern mini dresden! that was a lot more detail than you were expecting, wasn't it?





**random note - everytime i think "modern mini" it turns into "thoroughly modern millie", which is a terribly wonderful julie andrews musical. i wonder if i could find it online, i haven't seen it in years.....**



EDIT! since i finished this quilt in 2012 and it's made using SCRAPS of my favourite fabrics, i'm entering it in Stitched in Color's Festival of Scrappiness. there are currently 300 entries!