WIP Wednesday: Contemporary Twist

The sub-heading for this post should read "and a lesson learned!"

Can you see why? The lower left seam  doesn't line up. It's not that I cut the dark purple too short. The fabric shrank when I pressed it using steam!

I love the colors in this fabric (American Made Brand) so much I bought a half-yard of every color in the collection (thanks, Nancy, for all that cutting!) at Ruth's Stitchery. Now, I've said many times I'm a "don't pre-wash" quilter. On the rare occasion I do pre-wash, it's because someone reported a problem with the colors running.

But I've never had a cotton fabric shrink this much! That's nearly 1/4" shrinkage on a 7 1/2" strip! I'm glad I always make a sample block before I cut the fabric for the entire quilt. I'll wash the rest of the fabric before I cut it.

BTW, the pattern is "Twist" by Beth Lohnquist at Ruth's Stitchery. It's for the "Contemporary Quilts" class.

Have you commented on yesterday's post for a chance to win 
my 600 Posts giveaway?


From the desk of your

Bag It: A New Bag from Sew Sweetness

I get a vicarious thrill from "test sewing" patterns for talented designers. One of my favorites is Sara Lawson of "Sew Sweetness."

Sara designs the best bags! My most recent "test sew" for Sara is the Tudor Bag.

This is a good-sized bag, about 13" by 15".  Sara included instructions for both regular handles and an adjustable shoulder strap. I found the perfect webbing for the straps at Snappy Quilts when I bought the Cotton + Steel canvas for the bag.

There is one zipper pocket on the outside, and four big pockets inside.

Believe it or not, this is the first time I've made a bag with the recessed zipper on top. And of course, I installed the zipper upside-down! Rather than struggle to open the zipper from inside the bag, I removed the zipper panels and re-attached them. I'll pay more attention to the part that reads "with the zipper facing down" next time!

I failed to take a photo of the metal "feet" attached to the bottom of the bag. This little detail really makes a professional finish to a bag. I added a shoulder strap pad, copied from the Vera Bradley Weekender bag. I don't usually use a shoulder strap, but if the bag is filled to capacity it will be heavy. So the padded strap is a good idea, I think.

This is not my favorite of Sara's bags (that would be the adorable mini train case I made last summer!) but it will make the perfect winter knitting bag.

Go to Sew Sweetness to see the bags made by Sara's other testers.

Thank you, Sara, for allowing me to test sew this bag for you!

From the desk of your

Bag It!

I love test-sewing for designers. I get such a kick out of seeing patterns before they are released!

One of my favorite designers is Sara Lawson, of Sew Sweetness.

I recently test-sewed her new bag design, Crimson & Clover.  This bag is a takeoff of the classic "train case." How I wish I had my mother's old Samsonite train case!

The bag comes in three sizes. I chose to make the smallest size. I modified the interior to make it a nail polish bag (no surprise there!).

I photographed it on my 6.5" ruler so you can see the "real" size!

Of course, I inserted a "My Aunt Marti Made It" and "PeaceLoveandHappiness" label in the back seam.

I also added a tiny little zipper trinket, just for fun!

The pattern calls for fabric pockets inside. Instead, I used decorative elastic and stitched it down at 1.25" increments to hold bottles of nail polish.

The smallest size of Sephora's Instant Nail Polish Remover fits perfectly in the middle. [As an aside, this is the best polish remover for traveling. It has a sponge inside, and you stick your finger in the bottle and wiggle it around -- polish comes off super fast!]

 

This little cutie holds enough polish for a two-week trip to Oregon and California (as me how I know) even for a polish addict like me!  Go to Sara's blog to see more photos of this great bag. I plan to make one of the larger sizes next.

Thanks, Sara, for the chance to test-sew this adorable bag!

From the desk of your

WIP Wednesday Shhh it's a Secret!

I can't show you all of what is on my design wall today because it's a pattern test. But I can show you my colors!

Here is my "inspiration" photo It's from Design Seeds, ages ago. It was buried in my "solids" bin, and when I went searching for fabric for this new test quilt, it leapt out and shouted, "Choose me!"

Without a light box, it's really hard to get a photo of the true colors of the fabrics, but this is close:

The block needs to be 16" finished, and I didn't have enough of the cacti fabric. So I pieced together some cacti and some sagebrush, with the khaki background. The prints are from an old Northcott collection of state flowers fabrics. Sagebrush is the state flower of Nevada, and the Saguaro Cactus is the state flower of Arizona.

I don't know why Northcott didn't use the sagebrush in bloom, but here is a close up:

This is going to be a fun quilt, I can't wait to show you the finish!

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Arizona is sounding pretty good today, it was -10 degrees when I woke up this morning!

Keep warm and come back on Friday to see the newest Jelly Roll Party finish.

From the desk of your

A Friday Finish Sneak Peek

I am having so much fun with the other "Scrappers" on Quiltmaker magazine's "Scrap Squad."

I can't show you my finished quilt today, because it will be "revealed" on the Quilty Pleasures blog later this month.  But here are some close-ups:

Ann did a stand-up job of quilting this giant in a hurry!

And of course, I applied the binding using Susie's Magic Binding technique!

And I added one of my "PeaceLoveandHappiness" GutenTags!

You can see the original quilt on page 58 of the May/June Quiltmaker magazine.

Linking up to Thank Goodness it's Finished Friday at Quokka Quilts.

And don't forget to enter my giveaway of the newest issue of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks magazine, along with your choice of one of the blocks I tested!  Go here to comment and enter.




From the desk of your

100 Blocks Vol. 7

I love being "ahead of the game."  Twice now, I've tested blocks for 100 Blocks magazine.  The next issue, Vol. 7, hits newsstands May 7.

My group of testers sewed 13 blocks.  The blocks were made in a variety of techniques, including piecing, applique, and foundation piecing.  It's so fun to see the new magazine and say, "I tested that block!"

Before the magazine is published, Quiltmaker will host a Blog Tour on their blog to showcase some of the block designers.  Go to Quilty Pleasures blog to see a preview of some of the 100 blocks, beginning April 29.

I've had some trouble with links since I changed over to Bloglovin.  If this happens to you, the Quiltmaker blog url is:

http://www.quiltmaker.com/blogs/quiltypleasures/

Although I'm not "officially" part of the blog tour, I'll post photos of the blocks I tested. And of course, I'll again offer a giveaway of some of the blocks I made.

Come back on Monday, April 29 for the Blog Tour kickoff!


From the desk of your

Design Wall Monday

My March "Quilt To-Do List" is almost complete!  I have only to sew the blocks together for my March UFO and I'll be free to sew whatever I want for the rest of the month!

Here's what's on the design wall today:

It's the Colorado Shop Hop quilt from 2010.  The background fabric was custom-printed for the shop hop, and it highlights scenes of Colorado.  You can probably pick out the State Capitol building.  Do you see the "Welcome to Colorful Colorado" sign?  I drive past it every time I come back from Idaho.  There is also a hot-air balloon, reminiscent of the Labor Day Balloon Festival.  And do you see the Sculptured House, which featured in the 1973 Woody Allen movie, Sleeper?"  DH and I saw that move at a midnight Woody Allen festival in 1976.  The tickets cost 99 cents, and we paid in pennies harvested from our penny jar!

The May Jelly Roll Party Quilt is "Grandma Mary's Five Patch."  I chose this one for May because in the US, Mother's Day is the second Sunday in May.  And my mother's name is Mary.

As I put this quilt together, I realized it is the third one I've made from Kate Spain's "Terrain" collection.  Must be my favorite, huh?

I also finished test-sewing another bag for Sara of Sew Sweetness today. Come back Wednesday to see the new bag, and enter the giveaway for one of Sara's patterns!

From the desk of your

Bag It! Giveaway

I recently test sewed a bag for Sara Lawson of "Sew Sweetness."  This is a great bag, with a unique closure that twists to lock.  Hence, Sara calls it the "Locked and Loaded" bag.

Here is the photo of my sample bag:

Sara shows photos of several other sample bags on her blog post here.

I love that she included an adjustable strap.  I don't like to carry a shoulder bag -- they always make my back hurt.  Do you have that problem?

Sara recommends "ByAnnie's" Soft and Stable interfacing.  This type of interfacing looks like very thin foam rubber with fine knit fabric on each side.  It really makes the bag stand up nice, without being heavy.

The Locked and Loaded bag also has a zipper pocket inside.  If you've never put a zipper pocket in a bag, Sara's instructions make it easy peasy!  Of course, I hope she has amended the pattern to remind the maker to put the zipper against the BACK side of the bag, rather than the front.  We'll just pretend I meant to do that.

This bag is larger than a purse I would normally carry, but it will make a terrific knitting bag!

You say I mentioned a Giveaway?  Right-o.  How about a pattern of your choice from Sara's collection of bag patterns?

Just go here and look over her patterns.  Then come back and leave a comment telling me which is your favorite.  If you're the winner, Sara will email you a PDF copy of the pattern of your choice!

Giveaway ends Sunday, March 3 at noon MDT.  If you're a no-reply commenter (or anonymous) please be sure to include your email address in your comment.  Of course, international entries are welcome!

Linking up to "Weekending" at 1/4" mark.

Only three more days to finish your February UFO.  Send in those photos by Thursday to be included in the 13 in 2013 Parade!


From the desk of your

WIP - Thursday?

I'm sure there was a Wednesday this week -- but I missed it!  I've been working hard on quilting some of the 51 tops I've pieced so far in 2012.  My professional long-arm quilter and friend, Ann, teased me into committing to quilting 30 of my quilt tops by the end of the year.  My plan is to quilt on odd-numbered days and bind on even-numbered days.  If I get a quilt bound, as a reward, I get to piece the rest of that day!

So far, I'm right on schedule:

Here are the quilts I've quilted so far:

#1 is a mystery quilt I pieced early in the year.  It went to a friend who hooked up the new TV/DVD in my sewing room.  Phillip's daughter sent me a really cute photo of him sleeping under this quilt!

My Little Sailor (MLS) was the quilt-holder for this photo, and he persuaded Oliver to pose also!

#2 is a baby quilt for a friend of MLS.  She recently became a Grandma, and MLS did some of the quilting. This is our first attempt at quilting spirals!

Quilt #3 is for my neighbor who retired from teaching foreign languages at the nearby middle school.  I had fun deciding on the quilt design for the triangle blocks -- but when I got almost to the bottom, OOPS!

That red and white stripe is the leader on Meggie -- not the backing of the quilt.  The batting is too short!  I quilted as far as I could, then took the quilt off the longarm and added batting.  I quilted the border on my Juki.  It doesn't look as good as the rest of the quilting, but cotton batting and a good machine wash hide a multitude of quilterly mistakes!

Here is a closeup of my quilting design.  I need to learn how to quilt the sashing and the blocks without starting and stopping at each block --

Yesterday's quilt is one I test-sewed for the designer.  I experimented with Denyse Schmidt's signature quilting pattern, but it made the sashing curve unevenly.  Next time I will be more careful about keeping the edges taut while I'm quilting.

This pattern is not as easy to quilt as it looks!
 

Ann says the only way to get better at quilting on the long-arm is to quilt on the long arm!

Have you commented on my most recent giveaway post?  Go here to comment for a chance to win a copy of Quiltmaker 100 Blocks vol. 6 and one of my sample blocks!


From the desk of your

Sew Modern Monday

Just a quick shot this morning at my "Sew Modern Monday" entry.

This is "Deco Tumbler," by Helen Robinson.  Helen is sister to Jenny of Sew Kind of Wonderful, and has recently launched her own blog, HBMR Deco Quilting.  Helen asked for volunteers to test-sew some of her patterns, and I got to test "Deco Tumbler."

Here is my flimsy:

The prints are "Bryant Park" from Anthology Fabric.  The background is Bahama Blue Kona Cotton.



Helen has already finished, quilted and blogged her Deco Tumbler -- here.  I guess I was too slow to "test" the pattern, but I really like it!

Come back tomorrow and I'll show you Jenny's Quick Curve ruler on Tuesday Tool!

Oh!  Look!  Sew Modern Monday is back.  Linking up!

From the desk of your

Finish it up Friday - Quilt #23 for 2012

I recently had the fun of testing a new quilt pattern for Holly of Bijoux Lovely.  Holly wrote a really nice post featuring my sample quilt.

Holly's Colorblock Quilt  will make a great baby quilt or comfort quilt.

I used fabric from Valori Well's "Wrenly" collection.  It took me less than two hours to make -- would have been faster except I had to wash the center panel fabric!  Holly's directions are extremely well-written and illustrated.  I heartily recommend her pattern.

Keep an eye on Holly's blog, the pattern should be published soon.

Linking to Finish it up Friday on crazy mom quilts.



From the desk of your

Pezzy Print Pinwheels

How fun is this?  My half-square pinwheels out of Pezzy Print (get yours here) with a Michael Miller border print from High Country Quilts.  I'm re-stocking my stash of baby quilts, someone will love this one!

I think next time I will make the center row of pinwheels "spin" the opposite way.

Won't this make a darling backing? It's kind of hard to see in the photo, but I will piece in one row of border print.

Quilt #13 for 2012!