Wonky Log Cabin Love

It's so great to hear that, nearly a year after first posting them, my wonky log cabin block tutorials are still being used and referenced. I recently heard from Heather, who blogs at olive and ollie and serves as the president of the Cincinnati Modern Quilt Guild, and Twitter friend @tarabonistall that the guild recently had a sew-in and used my tutorials to make some wonky log cabin blocks.

Here are a few pics of the meeting from Heather's blog:

Great blocks, ladies! Big props to the CMQG. Looks like a fun time was had by all. Wish I could've been there to create with you guys!

How a damsel might carry her Kindle ...

I am not sure that I've adequately gushed about Lizzy House's new line Castle Peeps here on the ol' blog yet. It's just so much F-U-N to work with. No matter what it is that you're making, this line really brings it to life. Which is precisely why it was the perfect choice for this next project.

Let me go back for a minute to my time at quilt market. I met so many amazing people, one of the most amazing being Beth Dunn (who blogs at An Accomplished Young Lady). Beth is one of those rare, warm people who immediately upon meeting you feel as if you've known for a long time. In short, Beth Dunn = awesome. I had a great time getting to know her and subsequently keeping in touch via Twitter.

Beth celebrated a birthday recently and decided to treat herself to a Kindle. I immediately offered to make her a handmade Kindle holder because ... well, because I just really enjoy giving people gifts! And I've made a few Kindle holders before from the amazing Moda Bake Shop tutorial (see here, here, here and here).

Because Beth is a true Renaissance woman (like, literally) , a card-carrying member of Team Bronte, and a lover of all things Victorian, I thought a little bit of medieval fabric would be a nice choice to wrap her Kindle in with love. Enter Castle Peeps.

I let my creativity run a little bit wild with this one, and fussy cut some of the peeps to sew against a backdrop of castle towers.

I used the spear & shield print for the lining and bound it in a black & white polka dot fabric (still not 100% about that choice, but I think it turned out OK).

Here's a little surprise on the back of the holder: a prancing horse!

I can blog about this now because Beth received it this week, and you can read more about it on her blog here. I'm so glad you like it, Beth! I hope you get lots of good use out of it.

P.S. while writing this post, I realized that I never blogged about the last Kindle holder I made. Take a look at this one, made for one of my best friends who left in May to spend the summer as a student advisor for the Semester at Sea program:

I used some of my favorite Joel Dewberry fabrics in an effort to make it more of a masculine design.

If you or a loved one have a Kindle, I couldn't recommend this pattern enough. It comes together quickly and is a lot of fun to make.

Fashion Forward

OK, OK ... so I know I've been absent from this space for much of the summer. What can I say? Crazy awful full-time job, three little kids all out of school ... I am sure many of you can relate. With summer upon us in full swing, their bedtime seems to be getting later and later, at which point I am WAY too pooped to even think about working on a project. Hence, no sewing = no cool projects to share = no interesting blog posts.

Well, I do have a few things to work on. First is answering all of those awesome questions you guys asked me as part of my giveaway entry. I'm slowly but surely working on those. And oh yeah, I am sure you guys want to hear all about my fabric design class with Heather Ross in Portland a few weeks back. Working on that, too.

But in the meantime, PLEASE enjoy this:

How friggin' cool is that?! It was designed by my super awesome uber-talented swoon-worthy designer extraordinaire pal Melissa Averinos, she of yummygoods fame. And the best part? Yes, you too can have this emblazoned on the front of your very own t-shirt and be the envy of your cul-de-sac.

Read more about it and Melissa's other brilliant t-shirt designs here. I've also put it on my sidebar in case you want some flair for your blog ------>

More soon ... I promise!

And now ...

... some pictures of my kids. Just because.

Oh, and I can't forget the pup!

I'm blogging from Portland and the Heather Ross class is going GREAT! Can't wait to recap the weekend and share more.

Sanctuary

My week is off to an auspicious start. Though there are three full work days standing in my way, I have a big trip to Portland to look forward to later in the week.

Yes, it's finally here -- my trip to Portland to take Heather Ross' fabric design class at the PNCA. I am equal parts excited and nervous. But at this moment, I can only worry about getting through the end of the workday on Wednesday.

So there will be lots of exciting things to blog about in the coming weeks, but in the meantime I will leave you with a sneak peek of my project for the second issue of Fat Quarterly. I'm calling this pattern "Sanctuary". It's made from Valori Wells' new line, "Nest". And I LOVE it.

For the first time ever, I had this quilt professionally quilted by a long arm quilter. I am SO GLAD that I did. I think I am officially converted. If you're looking for a quilter, I can't say enough good things about Bethany Pease. She came highly recommended, and I would gladly pass along that recommendation. Check her out at her website, Bethany Quilts, and tell her that Quilt Dad said "hi"!

You can get our second issue (featuring this pattern and many others by the uber-talented FQ crew) on Tuesday, July 27th.

April, May, and June Bee Blocks

It's been kind of quiet on the sewing front. I'm chalking it up to it just being a busy summer with the kids, the new puppy, the on-again / off-again moving saga and, oh yeah, the full-time job. I actually have made something pretty major -- my new pattern for the next issue of Fat Quarterly, coming in just a little over a week.

More on that project soon, but in the meantime I thought it was a great time for a long-overdue recap of quilting bee blocks.

Here's the block I made for Sara / sames05 for the Buzz Cuts bee back in April. Sara asked for monochromatic blocks made up of squares, rectangles, strips or triangles from fabrics from our stash. My color was brown. Here's what I came up with:

April was Ashley's month over in {Bee} Imaginative. She requested square-in-square blocks in the style of Denyse Schmidt's popular Drunk Love pattern. Here are the two blocks I made from her lovely lilac, green and gray fabrics:

April was our final month over in the bee inspired group. I made these two square and rectangle blocks for Lisa / lharsma:

Moving on to May ...

This beast of a block is 16.5" and was made for Adrienne / Arnden's Space for the Buzz Cuts bee. She requested blocks made from this tutorial (scroll down) in shades of blue & green, made entirely with fabrics from our stash:

May was Amanda / sasikirana's month in {Bee} Inspired. She sent a whimsical selection of prints along with a lemon yellow shot cotton and asked for any design that featured flying geese. After deciding to do some fussy cutting, here is what I came up with:

Another bee that's wrapping up is my own SewConnected 2. Our final swapper was Kristen / kirbyloulou . She sent an assortment of "upcycled" blue and white pattern shirts and asked for blocks in the Gee's Bend / strip style. This was a fun challenge, and I loved working with the non-traditional materials! Here's what I came up with:

And now, June ...

Over in {Bee} Imaginative, Jacquie of Tallgrass Prairie Studio asked for rectangular blocks in the modern / improv style. She sent two solids -- an aqua and a charcoal gray -- as well as a patterned IKEA print. Here's my interpretation of Jacquie's theme:

And finally, for Jennie / sunflowerquilt's month in Buzz Cuts, she requested a scrappy block made from this tutorial using our own scraps and a black & gray dotted print that she sent. Here's what I made for Jennie:

Another great scrap-busting pattern!

I hope you enjoyed this round-up of bee blocks. Have a wonderful week!

Pillow Talk {Swap} 3

Another round of the Pillow Talk {Swap} wrapped up a few weeks back. This swap has quickly become one of my favorites. Besides the fact that it is expertly run by swap divas Heather & Kerri, the swap pulls together an amazing group of crafters that continue to amaze me with their creativity and craftsmanship.

Case in point: just take a look at the pillow I received from the awesome Ariel:

(By the way, these pictures are all pulled from Ariel's blog. Her pictures are so much better than the ones I was able to take before my daughter snatched this pillow up. BTW, she's been sleeping with it ever since!)

Anyway, I just love this pillow. It's a smaller pillow -- 12" x 16" or so, I think -- but I love the different and unique size. Ariel, as always, did a great job of pulling together fabrics that create a palette that is very, very me. The blue & brown with touches of orange is a wonderful combination, and I spy some of my favorite prints from the Lotus, Arcadia and Lush lines.

Plus, there are hexagons on this quilt! How cool is that? I know hexies are all the rage right now in the Flickrverse but, having tried one hexagon project rather unsuccessfully, I'm just not that into them. Making them, that is. But to receive them? FABULOUS!

And here's the BEST part:

Ariel is a talented and accomplished fabric designer, and she designed and printed (via Spoonflower) some fabric especially for me! Check out her depiction of our new puppy, Tula, in the middle of the hexie flowers. Isn't that just the most thoughtful, special, personal touch?

You can see more of Ariel's designs in her adorable Etsy shop, Pocketful of Pinwheels.

Thanks so much, Ariel! We love our new pillow ... best evidenced by my daughter's unwillingness to give it back to me! I've been a lucky, lucky boy in all 3 rounds of this swap so far. Can't wait for round 4!

Here's a shot of the pillow I made for my partner, the lovely Nanette:

I also chose to make an unusually-shaped pillow. This rectangular pillow measures 14" x 28", and it's my absolute favorite size and shape for throw pillows. I think it looks great on beds, couches, benches, and chairs.

I decided on a fairly simple rail fence-like pattern using a stash of honey bun strips from the Wonderland collection by MoMo left over from my "Off the Grid" quilt.

Photo from Nanette's photostream

This was a pretty simple pillow to make. Want to make your own? Well, since the dimensions of the pillow are a nice multiple of 7", I pieced together the honeybun strips in groups of 7. Since the strips are 1.5" wide each, that leaves you with a pieced strip 7.5" wide, from which you can cut 7.5" squares. I pieced enough strips to yield 8 7.5" squares, which I then pieced in a 4x2 grid layout with alternating strip directions. Pretty easy, no?

As with all my pillows, I layered the quilt top with a layer of quilt batting and free quilted a meandering pattern over the whole pillow top. I made a no-frills envelope back and I was done!

Pretty soon, my whole house will be filled with beautiful little quilted pillows from all of my Flickr friends!