Oh, Fransson!

Sewing for Fun

As a child, I used to bug my mother to let me use a sheet from her big pad of Strathmore drawing paper. The pad of drawing paper just seemed so much more glamorous and official than whatever surface I might have been drawing on instead. She relented on at least one occasion, but only if I agreed that I was going to do "a serious drawing." 

As an adult, I certainly don't begrudge my mother for not wanting to give a grade-schooler sheets of expensive paper. In fact, I'm surprised she gave me that one I can remember! Still, I often find myself in a similar position of wanting to save certain fabric for "a serious project."

These Radiance (silk/cotton blend, yum!) solids, and the Melody Miller Ruby Star Spring fabric at the top of this post are good examples. I've had both for a while, but I've hesitated to cut into them, because I don't have some kind of master plan.

And I've resolved to just let it go. I need to just do some sewing for fun. I need to approach some new projects without feeling like I have to design a new pattern for them first. I might even (gasp!) make something other than quilts with some of this. After all, those handmade zip bags and potholders and pillows and all those other little projects are so nice to have around! 

One project that is a) a quilt, and b) something I have a plan for is a replacement for my Tokyo Subway Map quilt. (I gave the original away.) I totally lucked out and found some of this older Echino print, which is one of my all-time favorites. I'm going to make all the "lines" with different solids and the "stops" with fussy-cut pieces of the Echino.

So here's to sewing for fun! I'm going to have the house to myself for the next few days and plan on using some of this beautiful fabric.

By the way, if you like that Melody Miller fabric, you might want to check out this video about how to use the giant bee fabric to make a cute skirt.

Fabric Love: Greenfield Hill

I am in love with Denyse Schmidt's new Greenfield Hill fabric.  My first impression upon seeing this collection was that it made me think of Alice in Wonderland, and I'm planning a quilt for it with that in mind. 

Here are the reds.  (The three left-most prints in the bottom row are voile.)

Here are the greens. 

 
And here are the blues. 

I probably won't get to start working on this quilt for a couple of weeks, but I'm looking forward to it!

Fun with Ruby Star Rising

Melody Miller's new Ruby Star Rising collection for Kokka was my favorite from Fall Market, and I felt honored and ridiculously excited when Melody herself sent me some of it to play with. 

This is cotton/linen blend fabric (much like Echino) giving it a really nice weight and texture.

This is my favorite!  I just love these retro catalog ladies and want to cut the little pictures up for a fussy quilt.

Here's a sneak peek at what I'm working on with the fabric right now.  I hope to have more to show you shortly!

Quilts for Birch Fabrics and Quilt Scene Magazine

Here's a picture of one of the quilts I made for Birch Fabrics' booth at Fall Market.  It's the Kitchen Window pattern from my book and features Marine, which will be available in January 2011.

Besides the Marine prints, I used Kona White for sashing and Kona Glacier for the frames.  The windows also include Kona School Bus and Orange and Blue Quilter's Linen.

Here's a shot of the blocks for the Marine quilt (not in their final order) on my design wall.

This is a quilt I made feauring the Circa 60 collection, also upcoming from Birch in January 2011.  The frames on this quilt are pieced similarly to the quilt back blocks in my Picture Day pattern.  The background fabric is Kona Stone.

You can check here to see what shops will be carrying Marine and Circa 60.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take pictures of the finished quilts before they left my house, but here's a detail shot of the Circa 60 quilt top.  The Circa 60 prints feature fun images like tents, campers, and ukeleles that look like they might have come from a 1960's beach vacation.

Since I'm talking about quilts made with Birch Fabrics, I also want to mention that the 2010 International Quilt Festival Quilt Scene magazine includes a pattern for the patchwork tree quilt that I made for Spring Market.  I feel like we've been going a little nuts with the giveaways during the past week, but I do have an extra copy and would love to send it to a randomly-selected commenter on this post.  To enter, comment on this post before midnight Wednesday.

Psst. . . Quilt Scene also includes patterns from Alissa Haight Carlton, Ashley Newcomb, Malka Dubrawsky, Cindy Wiens, and Denyse Schmidt.

Another Planetarium Quilt and Two Giveaways

In my last post, I showed pictures of my Planetarium Quilt.  Here's another version that features some bold contrast, but is overall more subdued color-wise.

In this quilt, the difference between the warm and cool blocks is much more subtle, with the warm blocks including lots of brown and the cool blocks being primarily gray and black. 

The frames around the blocks are Robert Kaufman Quilter's Linen.

The back features large areas of Kona Khaki and Kona Ash.  The white sashing is Kona Snow.  (If you look closely at the above photo, you can totally tell that I inadvertantly used two different dye lots of Snow.  That's apparently what I get for piecing in the middle of the night!) 

I quilted this one in a blocky meander, making little boxes instead of curves.  It's hard to tell in the photos, but it gives the quilt a really fantastic texture -- almost like cross-hatching.   

But I'm sure you want to hear about the giveaway part, right?

Fabricworm is, once again, offering a fabulous fat quarter bundle to one lucky commenter.  Maybe it's just because I'm one of the weirdos looking forward to the approaching cold weather, but this group of fabrics makes me very happy about staying inside and quilting during the Fall and Winter!

I will also be giving away three signed copies of my book.

To enter, simply comment on this post prior to midnight Thursday, telling me what colors you're looking forward to working with this Fall.

This finished Planetarium Quilt is 68" x 68".  The pattern uses charm squares to make the hourglass shapes.  You can use precut squares or, as I did, cut your own.  Please refer to this post for more on cutting your own charm squares.

Introducing the Snapshots Quilt

This is one of the quilts from my book.  It's called Snapshots, and it's one of the simpler quilts in the book -- great for a beginner.

ETA: Thank you all for your kind words about the book!  I am also eagerly anticipating its arrival.  From what I understand, places like quilt shops will get the books first, and that should happen in mid October (the exact date will depend upon when the books are shipped by the printer which is, unfortunately, not a fixed date).  Amazon should receive them near the beginning of November.  I will keep you posted as I learn more and, of course, when I receive my box of books, I'll have a little giveaway on the blog. 

The front of the quilt is all squares and the back has two stacks of rectangles (or coins, if you prefer).  It's all strip-pieced to make things more efficient.  That solid on the back is Kona Thistle.

Look, there it is in the book!

I'm showing you pictures of the Snapshots quilt from the book, because I just started making another one.  This time, using Forest Friends organic flannel, which Michelle very generously sent me.

I can't tell you how much I love those owls!  Michelle has compiled some great information about using flannel here.  Having used flannel in quilts before, I couldn't agree with her more about using simple piecing, which is why I thought the Snapshots pattern would be a good fit.  I'm going to stick with 1/4 inch seam allowances though (her post recommends 1/2 inch).  Because I plan to quilt in a tight, allover pattern, I think this is less risky than it otherwise might be.

Here are my strips, all ready to go!  In addition to the Forest Friends, I added a mocha and a butter yellow flannel, as well as some olive and some chocolate corduroy.  I can't wait to see how it all turns out!

Simple Math Quilts

This is one of two quilts I made for Robert Kaufman earlier this year, featuring the Betty Dear collection of reproduction 1940's housedress prints.  You can check out the collection here.  (Psst!  A free pattern will be available for download shortly.)

I think the purple/orange/chocolate colorway is my favorite!

Here's the second quilt.

Betty Dear will be out next month, but I have a fat quarter bundle you can win in the meantime.  Just comment on this post to be entered in the giveaway.  I'll select a winner on Monday.

Monaluna Fabric Giveaway

It seems to be taking an inordinate amount of time to get my sewing room back in order.  In the meantime, let's look at some fun new fabric!

Did you know that Jennifer Moore of Monaluna is producing her own organic fabric collection, Monaco?  I think the big loops on chocolate brown are my favorite!

 

I have two fat quarter bundles (one of each colorway) to give away.  If you'd like to enter, please comment on this post.  Comments will be open until Saturday morning and I'll announce a winner on Sunday.

Step One (of Many)

My sewing room has been completely dismantled during the past few weeks, as I get ready to paint and make a number of improvements.  The first (which I wanted to do before painting in order to get all the fabric out of the way) was to install some new shelving in my closet. 

For the time being, all my fabric is nicely organized in bins according to color.  I have separate sets of bins for solids and prints.

 
Of course, cleaning out all of my fabric meant that I had to deal with my scraps.  I have been diligently saving small scraps during the past few months and, as you can see from the photo above, I've accumulated quite a few.  The problem is that I have no plan for them.  I just think they're really pretty!

Now, before you think that I'm crazy, I should tell you that the above scraps are the "after" piles.  I did go through and save most anything that I didn't have or couldn't get more of. 

A lot of the pieces here are extras that were cut for now-finished projects.  A lot of them are pieces that I cut for projects that didn't end up happening.  A lot of them are just regular leftovers.  There are a few weirdly-shaped pieces but almost everything here is square or rectangle with a clean rotary-cut edge. 

 

They're just so pretty aren't they?  It makes me wish that I had a project for them, but I don't.

Can you use them?  I would love to send them to someone who can.  Unfortunately, because this is a BIG box of fabric, it's going to have to go to someone in the US.   

So, if you have a use for these scraps, please tell me about it in the comments.  I'll select a winner on Saturday morning!

Bee Block for Jacquie

I finally put Jacquie's June Block in the mail today.

 
Jacquie sent two solids and a bold IKEA print and asked that we make rectangular blocks.

I made mine using the same basic pattern that I used for these pillows and was happy with the way it turned out.  Hopefully Jacquie will like it too!

While I'm talking about stuff made with IKEA fabric, I'd like to show off two great prints that I found last week (both regular mid-weight cottons).  Here's one with giant houses all over it. 

 
And here's one with giant birds.  I'm not sure yet what I'm going to make with these (especially since they're so big!) but I love the prints.