Madrona Road!

Oh dear. The blogging fell by the wayside again. There have been quite a few finishes between the last one I posted here and this one but I am going to write about this instead.

Because it has donkey fabric.

The Modern Quilt Guild and Michael Miller Fabric sponsored the guilds of several cities to come up with a project from Violet Craft's Madrona Road fabric collection. The line tells a detailed story...go here to check it out (http://blog.violetcraft.com/2012/04/memoir-of-madrona-road.html). I loved the way that the story tied in with the line and fell in love with the text print several months ago when I saw it at Crimson Tate. In fact, I liked it so much I bought a half yard just to gaze at and that became the basis for the quilt.

It is hard to get good pictures during a snowstorm in January in Indiana so these aren't the best, but you get the jist. I wanted to make the text the focus, but still show off some of the other prints. This was my first time doing freezer paper applique and it was a good technique to get the curves I wanted without torturing myself.

The wonky stars worked with the magical nature of the story. And I love wonky stars.

I don't usually do a backing fabric from a single print but I was kind of obsessed with this. It has donkeys!

For the quilting I chose to follow the lines made by the road. I have to admit that quilting it so closely kind of made me question my sanity, but it was worth it because of the way it turned out. On the back print it looks like plowed fields which pleases me to no end.

This was a great challenge. I have to admit that when I got the fabric bundle I was very unsure of what to do. These aren't colors I usually work with and are not what I would have picked but I ended up stretching myself and making something that I love.

Summer recap

I thought that summer would give me more time to blog...unfortunately I managed to spend more time creating and less time blogging about it. I am alright with that but it has meant that I have dreaded getting back to this. I felt overwhelmed and decided to deal with it by doing nothing at all (which seems to be my default method of dealing with things). So here is a picture post to catch back up!

Travelling

We spend time this summer enjoying the freedom of me not being in school. Along with several small road trips, John and I went to England for two weeks to see family and friends. I took the never-ending-hexi-project with me and sat and stitched on the plane. Pretty sure people thought I was nuts. Thankfully small scissors are now allowed in carry-on luggage or me biting at threads would have proved they were right. 

The-never-ending-hexi-project takes a road trip...

Sewing circle with my Adrian in England. Subtitle: Hexis Abroad

I may have bought some fabric in England. Perhaps.

Sewing

One of the best things I did this summer was become more disciplined with my sewing. I started forcing myself to sew every day that I wasn't at work, even if it was only for an hour. Of course I found myself in the sewing room for much longer than that and I feel like I got so much done! Jack, Apples for Isia and Sydney's dress have already been blogged. Several quilts got done that are gifts for babies to come so those won't be displayed until they are given but here are a few others...

Bella Blue - lap sized quilt made with my beautiful winnings from The French Seam

The back of Bella. The fabric is Summersville and it matches the Lotta Jansdotter so well.

Back to Front - crib sized indecision quilt

Asher's Quilt - made for a future England fan

Indianapolis Modern Quilt Guild

We had a big event this summer! The wonderful store Crimson Tate: Modern Quiltmaker held a first Friday event on Mass Ave in downtown Indy. First Friday is a monthly event where the galleries stay open late and people come out and enjoy local art. IMQG strung modern quilts down the street and hoped people would be interested in coming out to see them. And they did! It was a great evening and I was so proud of all the amazing women that I have found through this group.

First Friday downtown - so many modern quilts on display!

Amy (thecutelifesmiles.blogspot.com) and her husband check it out

Quilt details from the show - these ladies keep me inspired...

Sorry for the photo heavy post, hopefully now I am caught up I will be blogging a bit more!

Apples for Isia

I have been promising a post with this quilt for a while, this was actually finished before Jack but I couldn't wait to give it away so I didn't take any pictures of it. Once it reached it's destination, Mama Cass snapped some beauties though.

I am totally in love with Aneela Hoey's fabrics. She does beautiful prints that are cute without being cutesy - not an easy trick. I have been visiting The French Seam in Indianapolis and snapping up little pieces of Little Apples as I could afford them, a yard here and a half yard there. The problem was that I gathered them up and put them in my stash closet and there they sat. They needed to go to someone who could love them.

Who better than my little friend Isia?

Cassie (www.freshlyplanted.blogspot.com) and I have been friends since college and she is one of the most caring and creative people I will ever know. Her daughter, Isia, is a joy. She is a bright, funny, stubborn little person who holds some pretty firm opinions, even for a three year old. Watching Cass manage Isia gives me a whole new perspective on someone I have been friends with for ten years!

Isia recently moved into a big girl bed and I thought that this would be a great chance for me to let my Apples go. I wanted to make something for her that was fun and colorful but also allowed spaces for the eye to rest and had big blocks so that the patterns could be enjoyed and talked about.

I am beyond pleased with how it turned out. This was my first big wonky star quilt and I think they add a lot to the overall look.

I handquilted around the stars with red embroidery floss and (although it took much longer than I thought it would) it really set them off beautifully.

The back was patched from a few larger pieces and Kona Coal. Seriously - I need to lay off the Kona Coal - it is becoming an obsession.

She was so excited when I gave it to her that immediately it became the roof for a fort, then a tunnel, then a blanket for some pre-nap stories and then was taken up to be put on her bed. I want to make quilts that are used. Quilts that are stepped on, dragged around, hid under, snuggled with and loved. This one is.

Jack!

Big, big finish last week! Jack and I kissed and made up and I got quilting.

I am beyond thrilled with the way that this project turned out. It is hard to tell from this picture but this is a big mamajamma quilt. I wasn't sure what to do for the quilting. I wanted something that would work with the angles in the blocks but that wouldn't be too fiddly to work on. I decided to quilt in diamonds and I love the way it worked out. I moved the couch and coffee table to tape out the lines and after the taping was done it was surprisingly fast to do.

I used a plain Kona Coal grey for the back but laid in a row of blocks for interest. I loved this fabric but it made me crazy at the same time. It is the London Underground map, however it isn't accurate! 

The designers chose to make the map repeats flow together instead of have a clear definition so they have extended lines and moved stations. I am a little too purist for that so there was a lot of fussy cutting that happened to make it as close as possible to the authentic map.

The above photo makes me believe that my photography skills are improving too. Although even a blind pig finds an acorn sometimes.

Jack is now happily living on my Mum and Dad's spare bed, a thank you present for everything they do for John and me on a regular basis.

Finished projects and a win!

I have been working on several projects simultaneously, not my usual way of working, but it has been interesting. During my tantrum break from my Jack quilt I finished up a couple of other projects.

The first is my "Apples for Isia" quilt. I have been gathering pieces of Aneela Hoey's "Little Apples" line for months. I haven't had a clear plan for them, I just knew that they needed to come home with me. The problem with that was that they were just too sweet to leave in the closet. I felt guilty about the fact that I was the only one who could love on them and knew they needed a real home. A full post is coming later with pictures of where they ended up.

The next was a neat little project. I had been commissioned to make a little dress for a friend's little girl. I found a wonderful tutorial for a shirred twirly dress at From an Igloo's blog and decided this would be a perfect dress for Sydney.

I used some beautiful "Queen Street" fabric that I had and bought some pink for the ribbon and trim. She could not look sweeter in it and was so excited to put it on that as soon as she saw it she began taking off her clothes to change! 

Check out the tutorial here: http://fromanigloo.blogspot.com/2010/05/in-garden-shirred-twirly-dress.html

Also - the big news this week was that I won a bundle of Bella from the French Seam!!!! I picked it up on Wednesday before I went and got two cavities filled (good job I went to the store first - I was totally numb and drooling after). Look at the pretties!

I already have a plan for it. Of course.

Two weeks on

The productivity continued! It is incredible what I can get done when I am not in school. Two big projects got finished this fortnight and one got returned to.

First the return:

Jack and I had a little fight. It started out so beautifully, once I got the pattern figured out the blocks were large and came together easily. I worked on the blocks during the Indy Modern Quilt Guild retreat in March and got all but one of these done in a weekend. I was so flushed with accomplishment that I wanted to get the top done as fast as possible and whacked the sashing and borders on without pinning. That was a mistake. Fast = problems.

Ignore the bunny rabbit and focus on the border. It is so friendly that it just keeps waving. *#^@! 

So this happened.

And this.

*sigh*
Then there was lots of measuring, pinning and cursing at my stupidity. It does look so much better now and it was truly worth the time but this is not something I plan to make a habit of. I should get the quilting done this week but I am not going to hurry this time.

I have a tendency to want to get things done fast and feel like I am superwoman, but why should I hurry with something that I do for fun? I worry that I will hurry through life and forget to enjoy the moments - that I will always be looking for the next thing. I love a finished project, who doesn't, but that isn't why I do this. Sometimes it is good to be reminded.

Productivity...

Today was amazingly productive. As I worked 12s Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday of last week I have been off for the past 4 days. As always, I went into the stretch with grand plans that got pushed aside as other parts of my life moved in. That isn't really a bad thing and I am working on not beating myself up about it. After the semester a few days off time spent lounging was needed. I went shopping, drove to Cincinnati to watch the Reds lose and read for fun. I did spend time cleaning my sewing room (there was a floor under there!) and I think that helped me get back into the swing of creating.

Today I woke up with John - he taught an early class and so the alarm went off at 6:30 (note to self: you are much happier when you get up early - you don't think so at the time, but in the long run you are). The temptation to lay in bed was there, but I had promised breakfast burritos and so to the kitchen I went.  After John went to work I cleaned the house, sent some emails, went to Lowes and the grocery store, got some chai and a scone, chopped fruit for the week, made a bean salad and then it was noon!

My "Apples for Isia" quilt just waiting for some handstitching

That meant an afternoon in which I could work out, sew, spend time in the hammock, sew in the hammock, try not to fall asleep in the hammock, and of course think about things I could sew FOR the hammock without any guilt. Bliss.