The spoils of the day (and a little giveaway!) GIVEAWAY ENDED! check back again for more fun:)

I'm crushing hard on Anna Maria Horner. Okay, it's no secret that I always have. I've made a quilt or two from each and every line she's produced (except Chocolate Lollipop) and I still hoard all her old collections. So of course I've been waiting with baited breath for  her new Innocent Crush line to come out, and pouting that we have to wait until November. So imagine my surprise when I was cruising Etsy the other night while Mark was out of town (you know what they say - when the cat is away the mouse will shop!) and Whipstitch Fabrics had the whole entire line in stock! I had to contact them to make sure they hadn't forgotten to write "pre order" on the listings! But sure enough, they had magically gotten them that day and besides their in store customers I was the first person to get my greedy hands on them!

The gals there were wonderful to deal with and got my fabric to me in just two days! It arrived this afternoon and I am blown away once again by the beauty Anna Maria continues to create.

These are gorgeous and the colors are perfect for fall. I really have too many other WIPs going on right now but I have no idea how in the world I'll be able to keep myself from cutting in to these!

As if that wasn't enough to get my heart racing, a special package of gorgeous Nani Iro arrived today also! Matatabi was having a moving sale and how could I resist? A little double gauze to add to my collection and some of the linen from her vintage collection (a new clutch maybe?)

The best thing to arrive on my doorstep today though, was my sweet husband. He came home this afternoon from a trade show in NYC and came armed with gifts as he always does. This time he had to make it good to keep me from being too jealous of his visit to Mario Batali's new spot Eataly. He did good! The gals at Purl Soho were so helpful in choosing these gorgeous Habu yarns for the Color Change scarf I've been dreaming of, and some new Liberty lovelies to add to my long-term hexie quilt project.

And this is what we'll be up to (or into, rather) tonight......Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams. All I can say is YUM. After reading this Flickr thread the other night we recklessly ordered seven pints of this stuff against all dietary logic ( I mean, come on, I've been trying to lose 8 pounds since Lucy was born!) I'm blaming this all on you Chawne if I gain some more;) But really, this ice cream is crack and I'm sure it won't be the last box arriving on our doorstep. Mark wasn't in the door for 5 minutes before diving into the Black Coffee flavor and proclaiming it his favorite ice cream ever. (Insert sounds of our pant seams tearing).

And because I'm feeling like a big old spoiled brat, I want to spread the love around to you too! I picked up a couple of extra fat quarters of my favorite prints from the Innocent Crush line to give away to one of you. I have a million quilt pattern ideas rolling around in my head but not one of them is speaking to me with this line yet. Will you help me please? In order to enter for these little pretties, just leave a comment telling me what design or pattern you think would be lovely in Innocent Crush. I haven't decided yet if I'll draw this randomly or pick the idea I like the best so please give it a little thought! 

One comment per person please and I'll pick the winner Sunday at 5 PM Western time so I can pop these in the mail to the winner on Monday! Please make sure you leave me a way to contact you!!

Little Folks Quilt = Love

Just over six months in the making, my Little Folks quilt is finally finished. And I am happy to say it has won it's place as my most favorite quilt ever. 

Many of you have listened to me moan on and on about the troubles this one gave me, from piecing to basting to quilting, but in the end it was soooo worth it. The buttery softness and weight makes it the perfect summer quilt and all I want to do is wrap myself up in it and wear it around the house like a robe!

Even Mark has deemed it his favorite and is lamenting that I didn't make it king sized so we could use it on our bed. Well, I'll be using on it on our bed, anyways!

In case you haven't read my last posts on this quilt, I pieced the half square triangles of the voile with Robert Kaufman's Ultra Sateen in white, with I think texturally is really great with the voile. Piecing this was a total pain for me, but please don't let that discourage you from quilting with the voile - I have seen other beautiful quilts made from it where the quilter didn't report the same troubles. I am still pretty new at all this. I also used voile as the backing, and tried three times in succession to re-sandwich and machine quilt, but the back kept bunching on me. After cussing out my machine I decided to go ahead and hand quilt all 70x70 inches of it, and I'm not sorry I did. It really only took me a little over a week and now it has such a lovely, vintage-y look. (I used embroidery thread in white by Cosmo that my LQS carries - I love this stuff!)

Here is a peek into my little corner of the universe, where I spend the majority of my time. I love my side of the bed! I will spend the warmer months on top of the duvet and under this lovely light quilt, trying to keep Mark from stealing it from me in the middle of the night.

Before I go I want to show you the pillow I made for my Pillow Talk Swap partner. I used Heather's super simple Cathedral Window tutorial. If you've been wanting to try them out but think they look intimidating, I will tell you they are very time consuming and you have to like your iron, but really they're quite easy to do! The pillow is on it's way partner, and I hope you love it because obviously it looks great with my quilt!

WIP Wednesday, and another new quilt

I know. I can't believe I started another quilt. Mark looked at me like I was mad when I showed him my new test block. Not surprising as I was surrounded by piles and piles of fabric and triangles for my Spiderweb quilt, which I only began last week. 

Do any of you ever have a quilt that has been rolling around in your imagination for just too long and the urge to just dive in a cut is unstoppable? I guess I do often and this idea for what I'll call my "Kerchief Girl" quilt has been brewing for months. And when the baby is ready to be born, there is just no stopping it. So this is my first block of the twelve, maybe eighteen I have planned. More on this one later.

Here is my other all-consuming project, 

the Spiderweb. I'm using all three of Denyse Schmidt's fabric lines in this one. I've seen lots of beautiful quilts incorporating Flea Market Fancy and Katie Jump Rope together and I love the look. I wasn't too sure how I'd feel about adding in all the Hope Valley but I'm really loving it the combination so far. I'm planning this in a color wheel layout based on one of my most favorite quilts ever, Aneela's beautiful Watercolor Spiderweb. I just sat drooling into my coffee staring at that beauty and I knew I wanted to come up with my own quilt in a similar way.

Spiderwebs are fun! I sewed my first block all together this morning.

I'm also using up all my hand-stitching time (read: late nights in bed watching Frasier reruns while Mark is snoring) hand quilting all 72x72 square inches of my Little Folks quilt. My hand was forced to make this call after sandwiching this beast THREE times to try and get all the puckers out of the quilt. And it still bunched every time I tried machine quilting it. I'm blaming it all on the voile on this point. Spray adhesive may have solved the problem, but let's just say I'm trying not to inhale any contaminants right now:) Anyways, the hand quilting is going surprisingly fast and I'm already thrilled with the look of it. Just don't say I didn't warn you about backing a quilt with the voile! I've seen some people pull it off, but  I certainly don't have the answer. I am glad I did, though, because this is going to be the softest quilt ever.

Before I go, I wanted to tell you about a new flickr group I just joined, 60 Blocks of Summer. You have from today until September to make 60 blocks and track them in this group. I think it will be super fun to see everyone's progress and help to motivate me to finish all these quilts! You should hop on over and join too!

*sigh of relief* Little Folks Top Done

I can't even begin to express to you how relieved I am to finally have this quilt top finished. I've been working on it since JANUARY! And when I say working, I mean working. Although there have been a few times when I have just had to throw up my hands and walk away from it or else I'm sure it would have wound up in the garbage can or better yet, the fireplace!

I was supposed to be on a strict fabric diet after the first of the year, but after seeing the entire collection of Little Folks voile in my LQS I was seduced by its buttery softness and beautiful prints. And obviously I'm a big sucker for anything Anna Maria Horner. I left the shop that day with a big bag of eighteen prints and an empty checking account! I wasn't really sure what I had planned for them except for a couple of baby blankets, but then I saw this quilt and inspiration struck.

So, I proceded to start chopping up squares and found a solid with the perfect texture to match the voile, white RK Ultra Sateen (which now seems to be extinct from online shops?). As soon as I started piecing the triangles, I knew I was in over my head. I had a little experience with half square triangles on regular quilting cotton, but the voile, maybe due to it's slippery nature or thin weight, was a serious pain in the arse to piece with such accuracy.

As frustrating as it was, and as imperfect as many of the points turned out, I had to keep my eye on the prize. And even with all it's faults I still know this quilt is definitely going to be one of my favorites. After Lucy gets to bed tonight I am going to get started on the sandwiching.

If you have been jonesing for some Little Folks for yourself, go check out my friend Chris's super generous giveaway today for some Little Folks charm packs!

And of course with the wrapping up of all these projects, I had to start some new ones, right?

Making a little progress on the Bird Quilt......

and I just couldn't deny the sirens call of the Spiderweb Quilt. Check out these awesome ones that got me started down that path here and here and here.

One more thing: I am so incredibly flattered to have been "featured" yesterday on Jodi's Pleasant Home blog. What an ego boost! Thanks so much Jodi!

The Bohemian Fraternal Twins

I know there has been a lot of build up in revealing these two finished quilts to you - and thank you to all of you who have had to listen to all my moans and groans during this creative process! I am grateful to have received so much help and inspiration from all of my blog and flickr pals. They've been pretty much finished for awhile now but I needed some decent weather to take some photos to show you.

I'm still not happy with the pictures I took of the Drunken Bohemian, but here you go. It is definitely a wild and crazy quilt, but I think it is so much prettier and the colors are not as aggressive in real life. After all the hair pulling and headaches this one caused (see this post), I am thrilled with the end result.

My original plan for the quilting was an all-over stippling with spirals in all the full circles. Well, let's just say my free motion skills are not quite up to par yet to make perfect swirls. After the whole thing was done I ended up ripping out all the spirals (I'm really spending a lot of time with that seam ripper lately!) and decided to try my first hand quilting. I love the look of the stippling with the thicker texture of the hand quilted circles!

I sort of cheated for this post, as the hand quilting is going a little slowly, and I still need to finish a few of the outer circles. I bound the quilt with my favorite print of the Bohemian collection, chocolate brown with colorful paisleys.

The New Wave Bohemian came into being when I fell in love with Elizabeth's New Wave pattern, and decided to try for a double sided quilt. As it ended up, my measurements were off and backing the drunkard's path top with it would've resulted in either the front or the back being cut too short. So, two quilts were born.

This quilt has been gifted to our dear friends whose wedding we attended in Mexico last month. I was sad to see it go but I think they really love it so that makes me happy. To ensure that I would be able to part with it, I embroidered their name and wedding date and place on the back.

The sashing and backing are Kona cream which coordinates with the lighter prints. I did a simple line quilting to keep this one soft and cozy for the newly weds.

Here is the back of the Drunken Bohemian - just big leftover squares. I wasn't sure about this at first but now I love it.

And here are the twins in there last photo before being separated!

It feels good to have these all done. Now time to move on to the million other projects I have going!

Tuesday morning pick-me-up (and the Scrap Bag winner!)

Nothing too exciting to report in my world this Tuesday. Just a few new pretty fat quarters (from the Flora & Fauna and Hunky Dory collections - I see more of both of these in my future), a stitchy pattern book to give me some inspiration for this month's Bee-autiful Bee blocks and a new pattern. 

Has anyone used this boxer pattern yet? Mark has been begging me to sew him some boxers so I just picked this one up and I'm hoping it works well. He has requested Liberty tana lawn as his material of choice after browsing through my stash. That or perhaps some of my beloved Heather Ross goldfish. I guess the man has taste! I think I'll make some up in something less rare and precious first in case they don't fit to his liking.

Time to announce the recipient of the Bohemian scrap pack - it's Karen (badlandquilts)! (Does anyone know how to paste that random integer number thing to their blog??) The scraps grew quite a bit after cutting the pieces out for the back and there are a few nice, big swatches so I hope there's enough there for you to go crazy with!

And this is a little view of what I'm working on for the other side of the Bohemian quilt. I'm sure most of you have already seen this awesome free pattern from Oh!Fransson and I'll show you more as soon as I'm done.

It's been a busy week around here, just returning from a trip from Eastern Washington for Mark's grandfather's funeral (he was 88 and passed away very peacefully). Lucy did really well on her first road trip (thank you new Ipad and Yo Gabba Gabba!) but the fabric hunt proved disappointing. We hit three different shops and no treasures were found:( So much for my fantasy of finding some bolts of FMF hiding in some out of the way quilt shop! Just lots of batiks, ugly calicos and civil war prints!

I'm off to pack up now for a trip out of town again. Mark is whisking me off for a fun-filled birthday weekend in Portland and the Willamette Valley wine country! I'm so excited! Lucy is staying with her grandmas and we are going to hit up some fabric stores on the I-5 corridor and Portland, drink lots of Oregon Pinot Noir and eat at some of my favorite restaurants in the country, including Le Pigeon for my birthday night! We'll be back Saturday to open our tasting room so I'll give you a full report of my fabric hunting when I return!

The (drunken) Bohemian quilt top

Yee haw! I finished the Bohemian quilt top today! Doesn't it look like a bunch of yummy Skittles candy here?

The sun visited us this afternoon so I got a chance to have an assistant hold it up for some sunshine love...

I really don't think I have ever been so close to hating a thing and then loving it in such a short time. But I really DO love it now. Even Mark has come around to liking it (although he is super glad it is off the "design wall" aka dining room wall now).

I really have a lot of this fabric left. And I am still really wanting to go with the Plan B quilt I was mulling over when I hated how the Drunkard's Path was shaping up. And let's face it, I really don't need two Bohemian quilts. So, it looks like this quilt is going to be double-sided. I'll show you what I'm up to just as soon as I get a little further.

Yes it's bright, and yes it may even be a bit obnoxious, but I'm smitten. And I think it looks a lot better in person. Thank you so much to all of you who offered your compliments and encouragement to keep me going on this. It really was almost completely frogged!

And for all of you out there who have been wanting to try your hand at curves, but are a bit intimidated, take it from the very non-expert who is me: it's super easy.

Just a few things to know:

1. Go slowly. Really slowly. This requires patience.

2. Do not consume any wine before embarking on this task. Coffee may be the preferred beverage of choice.

3. Just three pins worked best for me. One down far enough from the edge you'll begin sewing on to allow room for your foot, one at the very bottom edge and one smack in the middle. Line the two points up as seen below so the needle points to the points of the fabric. Does that make sense?

4. Use the needle down position frequently to check your work and move the excess fabric behind you. DO NOT PULL as the bias cut fabric will stretch and distort easily.

5. The first few ones may not turn out perfectly, but I assure you a little practice makes perfect. If I can do it, so can you. And may I just say, investing in a brand new seam ripper is one of life's small luxuries. I had no idea how dull my old one was and this new one sure make's ripping out mistakes a lot less painful.

Sewing curves is actually fun once you get the hang of it. I hope those tips might inspire some of you to give it a go!

So because I have a lot of this fabric left over and really don't need these scraps, would anyone fancy a big zip-lock of Bohemian scraps? There are a few bigger ones, but mostly pretty small but would make a nice string pillow top. Just leave me a comment here and I'll pick someone on Monday to send it off to. The only thing I ask is, please only leave me your comment for it if you really do think you can use them. I know I won't so I would love for them to find someone who can.

We are off for the weekend to Eastern Washington so I'm hoping to hit up a couple of small-town quilt shops to find some hidden out of print gems. Wish me luck, and you all have a great weekend!

You guys rock

I just wanted to say thank you for all your kind comments and encouraging advice concerning my Bohemian mess the other day.  I hope you don't all think I am some kind of fickle emotional freak, but I must say that now with a little distance and a new perspective, I think I actually like it!  

I took your advice and put up a piece of batting for a make-shift design wall and it really did make all the difference. Plus, it is so fun playing around with all the pieces, sort of like a jigsaw puzzle. Sure, it's aggressively bright and wild, but I am a big fan of color and I'm hoping once it's all done and quilted I'll love it to pieces. I am still toying with the idea of adding some solid neutral. And I have big plans for the back, to make it double sided quilt.

I've really been enjoying all your comments and enthusiasm for the giveaway! And I've realized I'm still going to have lots of this fabric left over, so I have decided to sweeten the deal a little. In addition to the grand prize fat quarter stack, I'm also going to throw in a couple of charm packs for two runner ups. I'm going to draw the winners this weekend so I promise to let you know Monday who are the lucky ducks!

I thought I would leave you with a glimpse of what my poor husband has to put up with on a daily basis-

This is our dining room/kitchen table, and yes, all my fabric and notions are pushed just to the side so we could enjoy this lovely dinner he prepared (garlic rosemary lamb chops, grilled onions, broccoli and Oregon Pinot Noir) while I fussed over this sewing dilemma. Oh, and here is a quote from him when asked his opinion on the pattern: "Yes, it's a bit busy, but I like the circles. But Mrs. Roper called and she's looking for her wardrobe." Funny guy.

Jumping the Gun

Here is the big, hot mess that graces my kitchen table this morning. And while I have all of your rapt attention, I thought I'd whine about it to someone who might care - or at least sympathize.

I was so inspired and excited by all your comments I decided to give a go to a pattern I had been contemplating for the Bohemian for a long time now, the Drunkard's Path. I used the template for the Joel Dewberry Deer Valley pattern found on the Free Spirit website. I'd seen so many other great circle quilts like these ones here and here that I thought it would look great with these big, bold prints.

Well guess what? I hate it.

I got pretty excited that I was able to pull off these curves fairly successfully my first time and made this test block. It wasn't near as difficult as I had feared! So I got a little rotary blade-happy. By the time I started laying some things out I was totally frustrated. So much so that Mark ordered me to go relax with the New Moon DVD he brought home for me and my knitting (which I also screwed up).

So what to do? I have a plan, I think. I do want to do a circular quilt at some time, but not with these prints. I am thinking a more calming pattern will take some of the busyness away and a nice neutral solid (linen?) will bring it all together. I am a bit heartbroken I wasted the only fat eighth of red circle dots I had, but I think it is time to just let go of this debaucle and move forward.

After all, there are more important things in the world to lose sleep over, right? I guess if this is my biggest worry of the day I am one lucky girl:).

And if anyone has a similar story to share I'd love to hear it!

Bohemian Madness Giveaway!

I am finally getting ready to cut into my hard fought stash of one of my most favorite line of fabrics ever: Anna Maria Horner's long out of print Bohemian. I now have every print in the line (with the exception of one, which I think will soon be on it's way to me from another Bohemian fanatic). Thank you Miss Sarah!

Yes, I know I've shown you these before but the last photos I took were really awful and I wanted to capture these before the slicing commences! Not that these pics are great by any means, but I am working really hard on taking better images. Mark got us a really nice Nikon when Lucy was born, which helps, but I really struggle with photography. Maybe add those lessons to the long list of knitting, crocheting, yoga, sushi making.....the list goes on and on.

OK, back to business. Here's a close up of this yummy goodness:

Cathedral circles, vines, paisleys oh my! Just looking at these brings me to my happy place. 

Do you love these too? Would you cry rivers of joy if you could get your hands on these? It seems like Bohemian madness has hit the fabric loving community and these are all to hard to source, so I want to share! I will be giving away a fat quarter stack of each of the prints below!

 I have a pretty good idea of the quilt I would like these to become (I'm thinking something hexy or circular), but I'd love to hear all your ideas too! So in order to enter the running for a fat quarter of each of these 15 prints, please leave me a comment on the type of quilt you'd like to see this collection made into. If you become a new follower, you get a second chance to enter, and if you are already one you get a third (Please remember to leave a comment for each entry you are eligible for).

I will close the comments for the giveaway on Friday, April 2nd at 5 PM Western time. Good luck and Happy Sunday!!

Good Folks Disappearing Nine Patch

Finally she is done! I started this quilt waaaaay back in September and just finished the hand binding last Friday. It was originally intended for a friend's wedding gift but I was talked out of that idea. I am actually glad because now I love it and it looks pretty good on our new sofa.

We have been enjoying some beautiful, sunny weather up here in Seattle so I took this quilt down to our neighborhood park for a photo shoot. I love the little crocuses in the background. We usually get a little flirt of spring here this time of year, but by the time March is in full swing the weather turns downright nasty again. So we take full advantage of the sun while we can!

This is the first quilt I have done on my new Bernina QE440. I chose a little swirly design to compliment the squarish angles of the pattern and used a mauvish/wine colored thread by Mettler that looks great with both the cool and warm colors of the Good Folks prints. It was so much fun to use the BSR stitch regulator but I clearly need TONS of practice to get it right. 

The disappearing nine patch is a fun pattern, and if you are looking for a good tutorial, I used the one from P.S. I Quilt, found here .

I just did a simple pieced patchwork out of leftover scraps with the Filigree print in plum for the back.

I think this will make a great picnic blanket!

Mama's got a brand new bag (and scarf)

Can you believe we actually got some sun up here in Seattle this weekend? It is turning out to be an El Nino winter up here, which is a nice change of pace from the constant rain and cold we are usually experiencing up here this time of year. Mark even got outside and grilled some prime New York steaks and asparagus (grilling while smoking a fine cigar could be one of his favorite past times).

The sun allowed me to get outside and take some photos of my new finished projects. This made me happy since I really am trying to get used to our new camera and all the grey days have not been very conducive to photography. So here they are in a bright little spot of green lawn:

My new Noro Striped Scarf!

and my completed Multitasker Tote!

I'm really loving both of my new accessories. I've been trying to get back into my knitting groove and this was the perfect no-brainer project - 1x1 ribbing in the beautiful Noro Silk Garden self striping yarn. I just love how this yarn feels and the way it does all the work to bring such a simple pattern to follow. The pattern for the Noro Striped Scarf by Jared Flood can be found for free here. It does take four skeins of yarn so it is by no means an inexpensive project but very worth it for me.

I bought the Anna Maria Horner Multitasker Tote pattern awhile back and just knew I needed to make it using fabric from the new Echino line! If you have constructed a bag from a pattern before this should be pretty easy for you to follow. And it was speedy! I finished it up in about four hours, which is fast for slow little me. I love the size and the big outside pockets. This one will be getting lots of use.

I finished quilting my Good Folks quilt last night! Now just the binding. With so many unfinished projects lying around, it feels really good to finish a few things.

Little Folks Voile Love

I am in love with this fabric line - I think I have mentioned that before (Ok, I love everything Anna Maria makes)! I also fell madly in love with this quilt made by Megan (philistine made). Well, I jumped in and eagerly started cutting my half triangle squares. I think I was in a bit of denial that the voile might possibly be a little tougher to work in such a precise pattern - it is a bit more slippery than regular quilting weight fabric. And accuracy is not exactly my strong suit.

Needless to say, I have spent a little bit of time with my seam ripper and my husband asked me to step away from the project the other night - that's when you really know it's time to take a break (and a glass of wine!) So I woke up that night (morning) at 4 AM lying there and just had to get up and sew. I think I just needed to slow down and now things are going a bit better. I also remembered that I had some spray starch and I really think it made a huge difference. I just love this pattern with these fabrics and would be pretty heartbroken if I had to scrap the project. It will probably be pretty slow going but here are my first couple of blocks.

By the way, the solid is Robert Kaufman Ultra Sateen which I thought was a better choice than the Kona to match with the voile. Also I prewashed all the fabrics first - I think just out of paranoia of working with the voile. 

I have a couple of other things I am working on I hope to show you soon. It has just been a little tough around here lately because Lucy is in full force teething mode and my normally happy girl is a little fussy  at the moment. OK back to the sewing while she is napping soundly!

Welcome Home New Baby!

Soooo, I made a rather large unexpected purchase this week. Here she is - the Bernina 440 QE! I really wasn't planning on this right now, after quilting my last two quilts it became painfully apparent that I really needed a new machine. My old Brother just wasn't gonna cut it anymore. Listening to it moan and groan and practically overheat during quilting was pretty pathetic. So I just went to investigate at my LQS who is also a Bernina dealer and all I had to do was touch this thing and I was sold. I'm easy, I know, but this foot pedal free stitch regulator is truly amazing (plus they were offering a deal and 12 month no interest financing!) So far I am absolutely thrilled with this machine.

I have had this Good Folks quilt top done since September so I have been using it to play around with the quilting function. It should be all finished up this week so I'll show it to you soon!

I have also joined Doll Quilt Swap 8 - my first time joining this popular swap. I have been hemming and hawing on what to do for my partner, who seems really sweet and easy to please, and I've been wanting to try dresden plates for a long time now, so here is a sneak peek:

My partner seems to like blue and dresdens so I hope this will be a good fit for her. I am totally frightened to stitch it on so I hope I can figure it out. Alright, I am going to go relax with the husband with a pizza delivery (diet breaker tonight, but a reward for the 7 pounds I have finally dropped this month!), some wine and my knitting project. I hope everyone is having a relaxing, crafty weekend!