Where I Sew

Pink Chalk Studio is hosting "Where I Sew" month on the blog.  I know I love seeing others' sewing spaces and thought I'd join in the fun.  Mine isn't fancy (or even very neat right now), but it works for me.  It's in the smallest bedroom (we always called it the "little room", now it's just called my sewing room).  I've got a lot packed in there and thought I'd move into my daughter's former bedroom when I moved the longarm in there because it's bigger, but I like this room for a lot of reasons (and not just laziness at not wanting to move everything!)  This room is right off the top of the stairs (I live in a split level) and I can hear whatever's going on downstairs easily and just peek my head around the door to see what's going on.  I don't feel like I'm tucked away in this room.

From the doorway you look straight to my sewing table which houses my beloved Bernina with a small cutting mat to my left, a couple of baskets for this and that in the back and a selection of threads...

Thread, up close...

To my right is my "big board" ironing board and the big design wall.  Which is a kind of a pain to use because of the big board being in the way, but I deal with it.

 When you come in to the room to the left of the door are a set of plastic drawers that house catalogs, patterns, notebooks, rulers, gadgets, fusibles, freezer paper and what not.  The tray on top holds the rulers I use most....

There's a smaller design wall (piece of flannel tacked to the wall) on that wall.  Then on the side wall are 3 bookshelves that hold books. magazines, some stash, WIPS, threads, and a myriad of stuff...it looks messy but I know what's there...

In front of the bookcases is my cutting table.  Then tucked in the corner is a glass front cabinet holding yet more stash with my tv on top...I love catching up on all of my DVR'd (is that a word?) shows while I'm sewing (in fact, I use *TV Ears* so I can hear over the sewing machine!)...

(What the heck was I watching???)

So, this is where I sew.  And I love my space.

Busting Some Stash!

Red and White stash that is! 

My daughter was invited to a friend's wedding in September and, of course, I offered to make a quilt for her to give as a gift (because I'm always looking for an excuse to make another quilt, like I don't already have enough quilts in the queue I'm nice like that).


So I quiz her about style, colors, etc. and we determined modern and red & white. So, just like for the Green quilt, I pull all of the red and white stash off the shelves and lo and behold, I believe I have enough - LOL!

We (and by we, I mean me) decided a half-square triangle quilt in an off-set barn raising pattern would be just the ticket!  I figured a size of around 64" x 72" would be good.  I'm making the HST's 4" finished.  Using my mad math skillz (not!), I figure I'll need about 288.  So, I'm busy, busy, busy making HSTs....here's a few... 

1. 

With a cool quilting design, I think it will be crisp and modern!  And I'll get to say that I've finally made my own red and white quilt which is all the rage right now.  Plus, those piles really are going down!

This is why you should keep notes....

Or....How many yards of fabric do you have to buy before you get the right shade?  Answer - 9-1/2.

I decided I wanted to make a pieced back for this quilt to use up the rest of my Kumari Garden fabrics.

So I came up with this for this middle of the backing...

When I realized I didn't have enough of the leftover blue Quilter's Linen for the rest of the back, I got the number from the selvedge and proceeded to order another 3 yards.  I like this fabric alot and wanted to be able to use it in another quilt so I figured I'd get a bunch. 

So, I order it and this is what came....

 Looks right, doesn't it?  Nope, not so much.  In fact not even close!  Although the first 4 digits of the fabric number was right, apparently all of the Quilter's Linen blues have the same first 4 digits, but there is a 2 digit code after that is not on the selvedge.  I thought about sending it back, but it's a pretty nice blue so I'm sure I'll use so I decided to keep it.

So, back I go to the internet to search for the blue I need.  Ah, there's another blue, so I order 3 yards of it figuring it has to be right.

Waaaaay off.  Really?  I can't believe this!  I finally figured out that I must have originally ordered Aqua, not blue (because there were no other blues).  So, I nervously ordered a half yard of Aqua...

Bingo!  That was it!  But I only ordered 1/2 yard and it wasn't near enough to finish the whole back.  Luckily, this time I kept the receipt and just went and ordered 3 more yards.  And now I'm done.  And I have enough blue Quilter's Linen to last me for awhile.

Swoon...

While perusing some quilty blogs, I came across Swoon from Thimble Blossoms....

I love these large blocks (I think they are 24" or something like that).  I found  some great FQ bundles and this Meadowsweet floral/plaid for the binding from a new-to-me shop called Sew Fabulous Quilt Shop.  I'm using Moda Bella Gray for the background...

I love when fabric comes tied up in pretty ribbons (and you bet I'll be reusing them!)...

The bundles were made up of some Meadowsweet, some Lila Tueller, Lakehouse Drygoods, Sandi Henderson and more.... 

Sweet! (And I stacked them back up and retied the ribbons after I took these shots o:) )

Kenny's Flea Market Finds

It's summer and my hubby is back to his Saturday yard-sales buying junk stuff he plans to re-sell (but that doesn't happen much yet).  He did get some great bargains today though.  For $2 each he got...

4 yards of this Alexander Henry print...look at this explosion of color!  It will make a great quilt back...

This one I love - there are 2 yards of this gorgeous seashell print...I'm definitely making a quilt with this as a focus fabric...

And this has to be one of the greatest bargains of all time...8 yards of this fabulous neutral...

Thanks Hon!

Back in Central Park

I had to interrupt my Central Park marathon to do a few other quilty things, but now I'm back to it in earnest.  I am just itching to get my Postage Stamp quilt quilted, washed & crinkled and put to use!  I started quilting on Sunday - using the Daisy Swirl panto (I know I use this one a lot, but it's just so summery!)...

And since I can only stand at the longarm for so much time before my back starts to hurt (or maybe I like piecing better than quilting???), I'm also working on the "big" Carnival.  Here are the "right face" blocks all done...

And here are the pieces for the "left face" blocks cut out and ready to sew...

That was Monday.  Tonight, those blocks will be finished and I hope I can have this one all put together by the end of the weekend.  I'm also hoping to get the quilting and binding finished on Postage Stamp by the end of the weekend too and I can start next week with something fresh.  (I just love starting a new quilt!)

A Dot Party Party!

Last Saturday I spent the afternoon at The Village Quilter taking Julie's Dot Party class.

Such a fun afternoon and I got the whole quilt top finished!!  These blocks are addicting (as you'll see).

There were six of us in the class and I had a bad case of fabric envy.  Not that I didn't like my own fabrics - I think the Kumari Garden and blue quilter's linen looks great, but everyone else's looked great too.  This quilt looks good in anything!  There was a beautiful batik version and someone was using Pick a  Bunch.  Julie may have helped convince me I needed to do a Pick a Bunch version and Village Quilter just happened to have layer cakes of P-a-B and the Kona Snow solids just ready and waiting for me (so, yeah, I needed a lot of convincing - LOL). 

The class was great - the other ladies were lovely and Julie is always fun.  And, I love the atmosphere in The Village Quilter (I really wished I lived closer - maybe it's a good thing I don't - LOL!)  And, I figured out the trick to that ruler...

It was my left-handedness that was messing me up!  I realized I had to cut *backwards*, i.e., going from right to left - the way you'd naturally do it if you are right handed but just a tad awkward if you're left handed.  But it didn't take long to get the hang of it and my cuts came out perfectly!

Besides Kumari Garden and Pick a Bunch, there's at least one more Dot Party in the works.  This just came in...

Ann Kelle's Spring Urban Zoologie - I've been waiting for this for months!!  I am just enjoying looking at it.  I'm pairing it with the pink quilter's linen.  Some little girl is going to be very happy. o:)

A Night with Jay McCarroll

I want to report on our night with Jay McCarroll at our last Philly Modern Quilt Guild meeting.  What a fun night and what a nice guy Jay is! 

Jay brought his new fabric line, Habitat, and showed off some quilts and other items made from the line.  He talked about his background, his time on Project Runway and his design process for each of the fabrics in his new line.  It was fascinating to me to hear not only what inspired each piece, but how he physically did them.   Learning about the fabrics really brought the line "alive" for me and I have a greater appreciation for each of the pieces.  There's a  great interview with Jay (part one  part two) at True Up where he goes into some of the detail.  Jay was really funny too and was kind enough to take photos with all who wanted one.

Besides a few quilts made with his new line, Jay also showed these pillows made with each of the three colorways.  I love these pillows...

He also showed these chairs he recovered with his fabrics.  Are they cool or what?!

You know what, my photos stink.  Go to Andrew's blog to see some great photos of the night (Andrew's our designated guild photog - for a reason).

Jay also kicked off a new Modern Quilt Guild challenge at our meeting.  All participants were given a bag with each fabric in the line in one colorway plus two solids (you didn't know what you were getting, but I got the colorway I wanted - YAY!)  We have to make a 12" block to submit and Jay will pick three winners.  More blocks will be made in all the Modern Guilds and they ultimately will be made into quilts for charity.  I'm looking forward to helping put the charity quilts together.  I finished my block last night and sent it off.  I was pretty happy with how it turned out.  These were the fabrics I had to use.  In fact, I liked it so much, I'm thinking of snagging some more of this line to make a whole quilt!

 

[okay, why did I even show this - it looks like black and white.  The top fabric is an olive tone and the bottom is a light blue]

As soon as the contest is over, I'll show you my block.  Working with this line was fun, fun, fun!