For the Love of Solids, Round 2

This last week I finished this bag and pouch set for my secret partner in the For the Love of Solids Swap on Flickr.  It's currently making its way to to my partner, who will hopefully receive it very soon!  I hope she likes it.  I worked hard studying her favorites on Flickr to try to come up with something made-by-me that will "look like her!"  We shall see.  This is my second time participating in this particular swap, hosted and organized by Megan at Canoe Ridge Creations and Elizabeth at Don't Call Me Betsy.  In the first round, I sewed for Jessica, creating this and this. My partner, Sheetal, made me this lovely miniquilt, pincushion, and incredible embroidery of my website's mascot!

Megan and Elizabeth do a wonderful job running this great swap, and each time I have been amazed by the level of talent of the swap participants. It has been a great source of inspiration for future projects as well as stretched my skills as a designer and sewist. For this round, I began by pulling some fabrics: reds, orange-reds, browns, purples, and a little bit of earthy yellow.
While I loved this combination, I wanted to scale back a bit on the number of different colors. I also decided to use more of the true reds and leave out the orange-reds and dusty pinks to create a little more contrast overall.
Now it was time to think about a design. Usually in this phase of the design process I like to arrange and rearrange colors next to each other in various combinations before I start cutting. First off I started thinking about some curves:
 
I found myself going back and forth between a plan to patchwork and the desire to improvise. I liked the way the colors related to each other in a patchwork-square layout, sort of like this:
That was nice, but...I decided to go ahead with some improv. I cut angled strips, intending for them to create some gentle curves. I soon realized my strips were too narrow to create the design effect I had in mind. So back to the patchwork grid. And I came up with this:
I really wasn't sure if I liked it or hated it. I trusted the positive encouragement from my fellow swap mates and kept going. Somehow I kept gravitating back to my original idea of patchwork squares. Eventually, I sort of combined my two ideas, the patchwork and the improv piecing, to finally arrive at this:
 
What was really funny was that Dorie commented "looks like you made a fabric as much as a quilt." And this was in fact my plan! I used the patchwork "fabric" to create the front panel of the Go Anywhere Bag by Noodlehead. The main body of the bag is Essex linen in Putty.
 I lined it with Kona Stone. The back pocket is a solid red, and there is an interior pocket in a plummy purple.  (I forgot to snap a photo of the inside before I sent it off!)
 

The box pouch design is a tutorial from The Plaid Scottie. One side is made up of the remainder of the patchwork used on the Go Anywhere Bag, and the other half is the same purple as the bag's interior pocket.
 
All in all, I'm pretty happy with how these turned out. This was my second attempt at the Go Anywhere Bag, and I was very proud that I got it turned right side out on the first try the time! (The first time I got a little excited and got ahead of myself, sewing the straps inside and resulting in seam ripping it open once twice okay three times. :) Kaelin's box pouch tutorial worked out perfectly, it was very easy to follow and a lot of fun to make. So there you have it, For the Love of Solids. What have you made with solids? Do you also get too excited when sewing a new project and then find yourself having to go back and rip seams? Hope you had a great weekend! ~Anna

Stamp Collecting

I recently joined do. Good Stitches, a charity quilting bee on Flickr. Organized by Rachel of Stitched in Color, do. Good Stitches has grown to 15 circles, each comprised of 10 quilters and stitchers. Each circle creates unique quilts that are donated to a variety of different nonprofit organizations all over the U.S. and abroad.

I'm a quilter in the "Dream" circle. Each month we complete 2 small quilts to be donated to Project Night Night, a nonprofit organization that provides homeless children with a tote bag with comforting "night-time" essentials (book, stuffed animal, and blanket). I recently finished up December's quilts for my circle.

For these two quilts, I asked each member to construct 2 10.5" postage stamp blocks. Blocks were made up of 5 rows of 5 2.5" squares, in a mixture of solids and prints, in two different colorways.

The first palette contained red, yellow navy, royal, teal blue, white or white with black.

I used one of the extra blocks as a feature on the back, and bound it in yellow.  I quilted it with a diagonal grid using the 2.5" squares on the front as my guide.

The second quilt included plum, purple, pink, dark coral, gold, warm yellow, cream, and medium gray.

 

The second quilt was bound in gray.  The back has the same layout as the first, quilted with a series of overlapping boxes with 3 lines.  While I like the effect, I still need some practice with my machine quilting--turning the corners of the squares was difficult.

Working on these quilts was a lot of fun and I look forward to sending them on to Project Night Night where they will hopefully bring some sunshine to their new owners.  Huge thanks to the ladies of the do. good stitches Dream circle, I am so proud of how these turned out and couldn't have done it without you!

some handwork

handquilting the double wedding ring

Off the Grid: A Wedding Quilt

Off the Grid (2011)

T's sister Kari got married over Labor Day weekend.  Due to scheduling issues, we were not able to be there for the wedding, but flew out for a few days last week.

I brought Kari and Heath's wedding quilt with me on the plane and finished the last bit of the binding as we touched down in Montana!

I wanted to make a quilt large enough for them to share while watching TV on the couch--it ended up finishing at about 70" square.  This is the largest quilt I've made to date.  I wasn't quilt sure how I would get it through my little machine, but it worked!

I used a layer cake of Curio by BasicGrey for Moda, Kona Coal, and the binding is Cross Town in Mist from Hometown by Sweetwater for Moda.  Fabric from Pink Castle Fabrics.

I started out using KarrieLynne's "Boxed In Quilt" pattern, featured in the Moda Bake Shop here. 

I added sashing between the larger squares, and also made a couple of the squares out of the same fabric as the background fabric.  Once I pieced the squares, however, the top didn't feel finished yet.  Perhaps it was the way KarrieLynne's quilt was staged on an angle, but I kept seeing the design set on point instead of squared up.  I also remembered seeing this one by Ashley at Film in the Fridge:

In order to set it on point, I knew I needed a lot more background fabric.  I added a whole lot of Kona coal on two sides and ended up with this:

  
To give me an idea of what it would look like on point before I started cutting, I folded the corners under until it approximated the effect I was looking for.

From there, I used chalk, a tape measure and my ruler to mark off the portions I needed to cut off.  (Not gonna lie--this part made me nervous!) I then reattached the cut-off sections elsewhere to reach the final layout.  I quilted it in straight lines in a grid pattern outlining the squares, continuing the same lines onto the gray. I think it looks like the patterned squares "fell out" of the quilted areas on the solid gray.







On the back I stacked the squares cut from the middles of the large squares on the front.







Congratulations Kari and Heath!

Solids Swap -- finished!

For the Love of Solids Swap: It's in the mail and on it's way to you, partner.  I hope you enjoy it, because I sure had a lot of fun sewing for you! Big thanks to Elizabeth of Don't Call Me Betsy and Megan of Canoe Ridge Creations for organizing. They did a fabulous job!

This was my first swap and I had a lot of fun, especially seeing all of the different ideas everyone came up with.  Check out the flickr pool here.  I chose to sew a mini quilt, which turned out a bit larger than I had planned.  Hopefully that's OK with my partner.  I forgot to take final measurements but I think it's about 30"x32".  I used various Kona Solids, some Robert Kaufman Quilter's Linen, and a bit of Essex Linen, all from my friend Brenda's shop.

I brought it with me out to Montana this last week to get some glamour shots. Thanks for the photos, T!  Love that late afternoon summer sun.

Here's the front:


A close up of the piecing and quilting:


 And the back:


I'm waiting to show the small item I made until my partner has received it; don't want to give everything away! This was a lot of fun and I hope my partner enjoys the items as much as I enjoyed making them.

~Anna

Kona Challenge Winners!

I'm a member of the newly formed Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild. Back at our March meeting, each member received a charm pack of Robert Kaufman Kona Solids, in one of four colorways: classic, bright, dusty, or pastel. We then agreed on the following parameters for the challenge:

-Use at least 30 of the charms in the package (there were 41-46 in the packs, depending on the colorway)
-At least half of the charm must be used
-Overall circumference must equal at least 120"
-May use up to (3) additional Kona solids
-Entries must be bound, backed, and quilted (no quilt tops).
-If not all your own work (i.e. quilted by someone else), provide credit.

Submissions were due at our June meeting, where we were able to view and photograph all of the quilts. Then, prior to July's meeting, two winners were selected: a guild choice, chosen through the anonymous votes of our guild members; and a judges' choice, selected by Jill and Marny at Modern Quilt Relish. Jill and Marny were sent photos of all of the quilts, including full and close-up views, but did not know the names or identities of who completed them.

And now, our winners:

(l top and bottom): Judges' Choice winner Natalie and (r top and bottom): Guild Choice winner Jenna!

There were a lot of great entries.  Here are the others:

1. Emily 2. Ginia 3. LeeAnn 4. Kathy 5. Angie 6. Lucinda 7. Lisa 8. Debbie 9. Carol 10. Brenda 11. Ann

Unfortunately for me, my sewing machine decided to stop working the week before our quilts were due.  The good news is that it turned out to be an easy fix without a huge expense.  The bad news is that I was unable to finish my entry.  I am still planning to finish it--stay tuned for photos.

Be sure to check out the Flickr pool to see all of the other Kona solids challenge quilts from guilds everywhere.

Thanks to Jill and Marny of Modern Quilt Relish for judging; Brenda, our president, for organizing; Emily, for help with prize procurement; Debbie, for soliciting our fabulous guest judges; and of course, all of the guild members who entered. It was so much fun to see what everyone came up with!

Have a great weekend!

~Anna

A few Summer Quilt Alongs

There are a number of fun quilt-alongs happening in blogland lately, it has been hard to choose which ones to join! Or rather, how to limit myself to a reasonable number without going crazy. I've finally decided on two of them, and as for the rest, I'm enjoying reading about how the others are progressing. Here are a few to check out:

Summer Sampler Quilt Along
Farmer's Wife Quilt Along
Rockin' Robin Quilt Along
Warm Cool Quilt Along

Recently Completed but still worth a look--(instructions are posted on all of these sites, so you can still complete them on your own)
Bottled Rainbows Ticker Tape quilt-along
Supernova Quilt Along

So I have decided on two quilt along projects for the summer (for now...:). First, the Kaleidoscope Quilt Along with Don't Call Me Betsy, and, as a bit of a more long-term project, the Double Wedding Ring Quilt Along with The Plaid Scottie. My machine was in the shop for a few days, and then we were out of town last weekend, so I got a little behind on sewing. I'm trying to get caught up this week. For the DWR, I finished getting my arcs printed and cut out, and am now trying to decide on fabric. I'm considering using some of the new Joel Dewberry Heirloom line when it comes out, but I also have my eye on some Hope Valley my friend Brenda has in stock in her shop...

I'm a little further along with the Kaleidoscope QAL. I have the main fabric cut out with the kaleidoscopes sewn to the triangles. Next I need to cut out my background fabric and start piecing. I spent some time this morning working on possible layouts:

Option A: squares


Option B: stars


Option C: kaleidoscopes


Option D: scrappy


What do you think?