A Friday Finish

All three things on my "March Deadline" list are finished!  Wheee!!

The first finish was my contribution to a Round Robin Row quilt for a friend from Idaho quilt camp.  So no photos of that one!

But the next is the May Jelly Roll Party sample:

The pattern is "Grandma Mary's Five Patch."  Jelly roll is "Terrain" by Kate Spain for Moda.  If the pattern isn't available at your LQS, here is a link to SweetJane's etsy shop:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/sweetjane We'll be making this quilt May 3 at Ruth's Stitchery in Colorado Springs.  If you're in the area, some join us!

The third, and the big, finish is my 2010 Colorado Memories Shop Hop quilt.

There were seven shops participating in the shop, each designed a unique block.  Since the quilt has 14 blocks, about halfway through I decided not to make duplicates.  So some of the blocks are from Marti Michell's Encyclopedia of Patchwork Blocks.

If you click on the photo, you can see the background fabric has images of Colorado.  The state Capitol building, Garden of the Gods, miners, mountain goats, the "Welcome to Colorado" sign and a hot air balloon! How to quilt this one will be a challenge --- I don't want to distract from the Colorado scenes.

Oh!  These are quilts #11 and #12 for 2013!

Linking up to Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday at Sew, Love, Live, and Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Speaking of finishing -- have you finished commenting on my most recent giveaway?  Go here for a chance to win Gudrun Erle's "Table Talk" book!


From the desk of your

WIP Wednesday Giveaway

Do you recognize this table runner?

If you shop at Ruth's Stitchery, odds are you do.  Ruth's has sold more than 1400 (that's one thousand four hundred) copies of this pattern from Gudrun Erle!  (photo from Gudrun's etsy shop)

We were lucky that Gudrun agreed to stop off in Colorado Springs on her way to Quiltmaker's Block Party in Portland this week.  She taught two of her newest patterns, Slivers and Peek-a-Boo.

  

Look at the fun we had!

Barb made the large size "Slivers" in Christmas colors:

And I made the smaller sized one in Autumn scraps:

Neither of us finished our table runners in class, but I bet Barb's is finished today!

Gudrun graciously signed a copy of her book, Table Talk.

Which I am offering to one of you!  This book has lots of table runners and table topper patterns, as well as some of Gudrun's favorite recipes.

If you'd like this book for your own, please comment on this post and tell me a favorite dinner table conversation starter.  My favorite is "What did you learn today that you didn't know yesterday?" Giveaway ends Tuesday, March 26 at noon MDT.  Remember, if you're a no-reply commenter, be sure to include your contact information.

So, today I learned that it's worth buying the right tool for the job!



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

Sunday Scraps Score

Whew!  See this?  It's a completely empty scrap bin!  Score!

An entire day of cutting, cutting, cutting, and here is the yield:

I cut a 12" high stack of 5" squares; two 8" high stacks of 2 1/2" strips; a 6" stack of 2 1/2" squares; 4 1/2" squares; 3 1/2" squares; 2" squares; 1 1/2" squares and 1 1/2" strips.  I also cut some 5 1/2" and matching 2 1/2" squares to make a specific scrap quilt (photos to follow next week).

Plus, a big ol' bin of "strings!"  Strings are strips that are narrower than 2", but not long enough to be useful as 1 1/2" strips.  I used "strings" last summer to make this quilt:

I think it's my favorite of all the quilts I've ever made.  Now I have enough strings to make at least one more just like it!

Tomorrow is "Design Wall Monday," hope you'll come by to see what's on on my wall this week.


From the desk of your

Happy Worldwide Quilting Day!

Yes, it's our day -- quilters, that is.  It's Worldwide Quilting Day!

To celebrate, I did a little stash enhancement.  Crafty Laine in Monument had an incredible sale, plus they offer a discount to Front Range Modern Quilt Guild members on our meeting day.  What's not to love?

I think I was quite restrained, I only bought one piece of fabric.  (OK, and some more magnets to make another Petrillo bag. And a pattern.  And a fat quarter bundle.  But still!)

This is "Period" from the Comma collection by Zen Chic.  I also bought the pattern to make the X & + quilt. I bought the jelly roll in February from High Prairie Quilts in Parker.  Now that I look at the pattern more closely, I see that it calls for fat eighth cuts, not a jelly roll.  Lucky for me, I happen to know that my fav etsy shop, FreshSqueezedFabrics has the Comma collection!

This is my last Pink Castle Fabrics Stash Stack Club.  I had to cancel my membership when my credit card was compromised.  I'm so glad I got the purple stack, because my next Scrap Squad quilt will be made with scrappy purples!  (BTW, Wells Fargo called me when only  two very small purchases were made on my card. Guess they knew I wasn't in London!)

Before my credit card bit the dust, I tried out the Moda Club from Sew Lux Fabrics & Gifts in Durham, NC.  I couldn't resist stashing the Seascapes collection for a future Sailor's quilt.  That pattern is the design for the next Fat Quarter Fun class at Ruth's Stitchery.

Last Saturday I took an all-day EQ7 class from Barb Gardner at First Stitches in Canon City.  If you ever get a chance to take a class with Barb, go for it!  We learned so much, I can pretty much design a quilt using Electric Quilt now!

Oh, and the shop had a fabric collection that was new to me, Silvia's Garden by Silvia Vassileva Studio for P&B Textiles.  I found another shop in Colorado that ordered the entire collection, so that is on my next shop hop list.

I'm in love with this new book by Emily Cier of Carolina Patchworks:

Emily is a master of modern quilts -- the book also has a companion workbook:

(photos from Emily's blog)

My best purchase of 2013 is a new camera strap.  Custom made by Crafty Coley, it's my favorite color, and it makes using my camera so much more comfortable.  Coley has an etsy shop as well as a Facebook presence, and she sells lots of custom-made items -- check it out here.

Tune in tomorrow for "Sunday is for Scraps."  I've been cutting scraps into usable sizes and shapes all week, come celebrate my progress with me!

From the desk of your

Bag It! Again!

I'm becoming addicted to sewing bags!  Sara of Sew Sweetness had a new bag on the street, and yep, I test-sewed it for her.

Introducing the Petrillo  Bag:

Here is my version:

I used my favorite Sweetwater fabric, "Reunion" in deco weight, with matching polka dot handles.  The gathered flap is Reunion in red quilting weight.

Of course, I made a few modifications.  This is a largish-bag, more of a tote, or even weekender bag than a purse. (The finished size is 12" long X 15 1/2" tall.)

So I added some outside pockets.  First, a flat outside pocket to hold my phone, sunglasses and keys.

On the opposite side, I added a pocket gathered at the top with elastic.  Perfect for a water bottle, eh?

Most of Sara's bags have an inside zipper pocket.  I admit, the first bag  I tested for her, I had trouble understanding the zipper directions.  Probably thanks to my numerous questions, she has rewritten that part of the instructions so now it makes sense to me!  I love having a zipper pocket in a tote bag to hold change and my airplane ticket when traveling.

See the little label?  It reads "Made Especially for you by Aunt Marti."

My favorite feature of this bag is the padded pocket for my e-reader (or iPad, if I had one!):

The outside flap and the padded pocket close with magnets.  I used two magnets on the outside flap, although the pattern calls for only one.  I copied a computer case my DH has, and I think it keeps the bag closed more securely.

This is the brand of magnets I used, available at JoAnn.  Angie at Crafty Laine has ordered me some more from Checker Distributors.  I imagine they are stronger, but I had to finish the bag for my deadline, so Dritz it was!

The snaps are applied to the Soft and Stable lining.  That tape dispenser is there to show that I taped the magnets in place before sewing.  You can sew right over the tape, then tear it away when you're done. (Works well for sewing on buttons by machine also!)  You might think it would be difficult to sew through the rubber cover surrounding the magnets, but I had no problem doing so.

Go to Sara's post here to see all the bags other testers made.



From the desk of your

Sunday Scraps and Giveaway Winner

The scrap bin is overflowing -- to the extent I bought another one, which is now filled to overflowing!

Top level of scrap bin:

Scrap bin 2:

 Two more scrap bins!

I decided to set my trusty kitchen timer to 23 minutes and cut scraps for that length of time.  After two 23-minute sessions, I haven't made a dent in the scrap bin!

I cut my scraps into 5", 4.5", 3.5", 2.5", 2", and 1.5" squares, and 2.5" and 1.5" strips.  I know some people sort their scraps by color, but I find I rarely make a scrap quilt of a specific color.  So I sort mine by size.

Today, however, I am keeping the purple scraps aside.  My next Scrap Squad quilt will be purple!

Since no 52 Quilts blog post is complete without a photo of a quilt, here is one from way back -- the 14th quilt I pieced in 2010.  It's called "Line Art," by Brenda Henning.

Are you waiting patiently to discover the winner of the "Dishcloth Diva" book?

The Random Number Generator chose commenter #15:

Who is another Debra, who wrote:

Since Debra's email has a return email addy, I can send her the PDF immediately.  Congratulations, Debra!

I hope you'll come back tomorrow and see my (I hope) big pile o' scraps that I cut today!


From the desk of your