Deconstructed Lonestar - Blogger's Quilt Festival

If you're visiting from the Blogger's Quilt Festival, hello... and thanks for stopping by!

This is my Deconstructed Lonestar quilt. I'm not going to say much about it here, because you can read all about the process and inspiration behind it in this previous post. I will say that I'm very proud of this quilt and immensly flattered that it won a second place award at this year's QuiltCon show in the Modern Traditionalism category. I completed the quilt in November of 2014, just in time to enter it in the QuiltCon show.

Here's a detail view of the spiral quilting. You might also notice that many of the gray background fabrics have been overdyed. Do you recognize any of them as originally black-on-white prints?! Dyeing quilting fabrics was a first for me, and something I really enjoyed experimenting with.

Be sure to check out all the quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side.  I'm entering this one in the Small Quilts category.

Bright Lights - Bloggers Quilt Festival

If you're visiting from the Blogger's Quilt Festival, hello... and thanks for stopping by!

I'm entering my Bright Lights quilt in the festival, and realized I hadn't yet shared it here on the blog. This is the second quilt I've made. Ever. That's right. I made a quilted table runner in 2012-13 (It took a while!), and then this one, so it was very much a learning process for me.  Which, really, every quilt is!

© leiyagami

The design was inspired and made for a 'Modern in the City' challenge organized for the International Quilt Festival show in Chicago last year.  It's loosely based on this photo I found through a Google image search: a blurry image of a city street at night. (Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything more to credit the artist/photographer, other than the copyright info above.) I blocked out some general shapes/sections based on the one-point perspective of the photo, then improvised the piecing using different width strips.

I pieced the top while at a retreat with the the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild in March 2014, just a few days before the deadline. Then I quilted it to emphasize the perspective lines. The fabrics were all from my stash. I didn't really know what I was doing, which made it a fun challenge. I just put it together without thinking about it too much; it felt a little like painting! This was also the first time I needed to bury threads, since my only other quilt was a narrow table runner that I quilted so all the stitching ended at the binding edges. And I attached the binding by machine because I worried I wouldn't finish it in time otherwise. Since then, I've come to love binding by hand, and wouldn't dream of doing it otherwise!

It was fun to see it in the IQF show, along with other quilts created by members of both the Chicago and Naperville Modern Quilt Guilds.  I hope you enjoy seeing it (and all the other quilts!) in the Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side.  I'm entering it in the Original Designs category.

A quilt collaboration

Last Spring I joined the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild in order to meet like-minded creative people and to be inspired.  As it turns out... it worked!  I've met some great people who are doing similar, and also different, things than myself.  And now I'm actually working on a quilt (in fact, I'm working on two at the moment)!!

Pictured here is about one quarter of a charity quilt that I'm collaborating on with three other CMQG members.  It's made up of scrappy log cabin blocks cut into quarters and then randomly re-pieced -- very similar to the Scrapper's Delight pattern from Sunday Morning Quilts.

I'm also finally putting the binding on my quilted Mondrian table runner which has been a work-in-progress for an embarrassing long time!  Since I volunteered to put the binding on our charity quilt and... ahem... haven't actually bound a quilt before... you know, where I have to turn corners and stuff... I decided I should practice!  I machine stitched the binding to the front of the quilt and am enjoying the somewhat meditative process of hand-stitching it to the back.  I'll post photos soon of that finished quilt.

In the meantime, I'm plotting a bit of selfish sewing this week.  This seriously could not be happening at a better time.  I've been pretty overwhelmed with a new, big volunteer job I've taken on at my kids' school this year.  I've been feeling absolutely sewing-deprived... and, now, the perfect excuse to sew (for myself, no less!) has come along.  Here's a peek at some of the fabrics I recently splurged on in anticipation of sewing for myself.  Yes, sewing... for me.  I won't feel guilty.  Nope, not at all.  Okay, maybe a little.  But I'll get over it when I put on my brand new sewn-by-me duds!

Quilt plans... and a pouch received!

I did not go to QuiltCon, but my mother-in-law did.  She just happened to be visiting a friend in Austin (who happens to be a quilter) and happened to plan the trip for the week of Quilt Con.  True story.  I'm not being sarcastic here.  She told me she was going to Austin and that there was some sort of quilt show going on then that her friend was planning to take her to.  I'm not (yet) a quilter, but I am completely inspired by the modern quilt movement (see my modern quilt inspiration board on Pinterest) and I would have loved to take some of the amazing classes that were offered at QuiltCon, as well as see the fabulous quilts on display.  I wasn't able to go with my mother-in-law, though, so, of course, I sent her on a mission for fabric!

I specifically asked for a couple of fabric lines that had not yet been released in stores.  In particular, I was interested in this line:  Comma, by Zen Chic (aka Brigitte Heitland) for Moda.  I love the bold graphics and the color palette.  Happily (for me!), she was able to bring me a charm pack.  (Yay for nice mother-in-law's!)  As soon as I had the chance, I started laying out the squares to see what I could do with them.

Since then, I've come up with a design for a very simple cross quilt (inspired by this quilt top) which uses the charm squares themselves (no cutting!) as the pieces.  This will be a new throw quilt (54" x 72") to keep on/near our sofa (along with the beautiful house quilt my mom made for us years ago).  My goal is to keep this simple so I can piece it quickly, then get to the quilting of the thing and actually finish it!  It will be my first real quilt (as opposed to a quilted project), and I want to be able to get it done, rather than leave it sitting around, half finished, or barely started... not that I ever do anything like that!  Ha!

I sketched it all out, and then ordered six more charm packs and the extra fabric I need for the backing and border.  The additional fabric came in the mail yesterday, and I plan to get started as soon as I finish up my projects for the Covert Robin and Handprinted Fabric swaps.

Another package came in the mail last week.  (I love packages in the mail!!)  This one came all the way from Malaysia!  I actually danced around the house, I was so excited.  I knew it was my pouch from the sweet pouch swap, but I had no idea it would be coming all the way from Malaysia (since the swap senders were meant to be secret!).

Suziana made this cute pouch for me, owls and all!  She must have been peeking at my blog, because she also got the color palette just right.  And there was yummy chocolate.  Mmmmm.  Thank you so much, Suziana!!

I think the back is as cute as the front with the fun patchwork and quilting.

What new (or not so new) fabric lines are inspiring you today?

sweet pouch finished!

It's all packaged up and ready to ship first thing Monday morning.

Here's the pouch I made for the Sweet Pouch Swap, hosted by Ros of Sew Delicious.  I can't say who my swap partner is yet (it's a secret!), but I sure hope she likes it!

For all the sewing I do, I don't really quilt much (okay, almost never).  So I thought I'd like to work on new skills and try a quilty type pouch.  I followed the boxed pouch tutorial from Terrabyte Farm.  I've been eyeing this pouch for a while now.  I followed the tutorial pretty precisely, with the exception of the quilting, which I did differently, to reinforced the grid of patchwork.

Look, Ma!  I quilted!  And the little patchwork corners even line up!  Really, folks, my mom makes beautiful quilts and even quilts them by hand -- she enjoys it -- so I think she'll be proud of me.  I did not hand quilt, but pulled out my walking foot (for maybe the third time ever) and quilted this little bugger by hand.  It is so amazing to see the way it all comes together with the quilted stitching, and I feel like I'm getting closer to making an actual, real, full sized quilt.

Here's one more pic of the pouch (to show the lining), plus a photo of the patchwork key chain I made to go along with it.  For both pouch and key chain, I used a charm square pack of Freshcut fabrics from Heather Bailey with baby pink and mint green, since my swap partner said she likes those colors.

Soon, these goodies will be flying across the Atlantic!

Also, be sure to check out the Sweet Pouch Swap Inspiration board on Pinterest for lots of great pouch ideas and tutorials.

Happy weekend.

A few things.

It's already the 5th day of Sew Mama Sew's Handmade Holiday series.  If you're unfamiliar with this fantastic collection of DIY sewing (and other) tutorials, please.  Go.  Check.  It.  Out.  It's full of really great gifty type ideas for everyone on your list.  And it runs throughout the month of November.  It's one of my favorite things about November.  Seriously.

Have you heard about the Makerie's Sewing retreat?  It sounds really amazing!  Great teachers, two whole days of sewing and learning, plus hiking, yoga, and yummy healthy food.  I would be there in a heartbeat if I could.

This is not exactly new, but I love this "scrappy X and +" quilt block tutorial from Amy at Badskirt.  And (more new-ish)  these house quilt blocks by Retro Mama and Noodlehead.

Oh, and because I can't post without a picture (plus I just want to show you!), here's that zipper pouch I was working on when I was supposed to be doing other stuff.  Finished.  I call it the "Rainy-Day-Fund Pouch."  Clever, huh?  I'll be making a bunch more for the holiday shows I have coming up.

ode to a mug

It's such a simple thing.  It's also a respite, a comfort, and something I look forward to each day... I even think about it some evenings before drifting off to sleep.  I'm guessing I'm not the only person who feels this way about their morning cup of coffee... or tea... or, in my case, a homemade latte.  And what makes it even better for me is to drink it from just the right mug.  I like one that's a bit on the large size -- big enough to comfortably wrap both hands around.

Yes, I love this mug.  It makes me happy.  (And I bought it for only about $3 at my local Target!)  The cheerful colors... the slightly wonky design... it's perfect for my morning coffee.  Perhaps my first quilt will be an ode to this mug -- it would be lovely to work with these colors.

What ordinary object do you love?