In the works

The Bay Area is in the midst of a late spring heat wave.  It's 93˚ as we speak.  My poor tomato plants have wilted, causing an emergency run to the nursery for row cover.  Thankfully, the house stays pretty cool, thanks to many mature trees in the yard providing shade.  Luckily, the forecast shows temperatures cooling off by the end of the week.

My do. Good Stitches quilt has sat basted and ready for quilting since Friday.  The thought of handling a quilt in this heat is unbearable, so I've kept myself busy working on quilt blocks.  Aren't those japanese x+ blocks (tutorial at Badskirt Amy) all over blogland, flickr and instagram so cute?  They've been on my to-make list since I first made a trio of them for Ara Jane's do. Good Stitches quilt.

I'm finally getting around to making my own quilt based around those ubiquitous blocks!  Jennifer and I decided to join the Friendship x and + Swap party (albeit really late).  We are using only Art Gallery fabrics in our friendship quilt, which is fitting since we first bonded over Art Gallery fabric a couple of years ago.

Here is the first block:

Doubles are made so one can be kept, the other exchanged.  Two down, six more to go for this month's blocks.  Maybe more if we decide to accelerate the block-making process so that we can finish the quilt tops in September along with the other members of the Friendship x and + Swap.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.  Head on over there to check out some really inspirational projects in the making! 

Mission Accomplished

Martina threw me for a loop earlier in the week when she told me she had nothing to wear to the Father/Daughter Dance, which is this evening.  Determined to save money, I scoured the interwebs for a relatively easy dress pattern.  I found it in the Marissa Dress (according to reviews by others who had used it). 

The theme of the dance is Alice in Wonderland, so I dove into my stash to pull a print that might be appropriate for a garden tea party.  I came up with an Amy Butler print, but Martina nixed it (though she has designated that fabric as a future skirt).  She chose, instead, a couple of Art Gallery Fabrics prints.

I've had this Spellbound print for a couple of years and haven't known what to do with it.  I think Martina made the perfect choice for the Alice garden party theme.  She's wise beyond her (nine) years.  Here's a close-up of the cummerbund:

   
I absolutely adore Floral Elements.  I have about ten colors sitting in my stash waiting to be turned into something beautiful. 

I'm really pleased with the pattern.  It looks complicated, but the instructions are very clear and easy-to-follow, complete with pictures (or images) of each step.  The only trouble I had is with the zipper installation, but that's user error and no fault with the pattern.  I may purchase the Jamie Dress pattern (the grown-up version of this dress) and make one for myself!

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

All play and no work

Okay... all play and a little work.  The family and I had a nice little getaway on the northern California coast to play among giants last weekend. 

There were seriously awe-inspiring sights along the Redwood Coast.

Black sand beach at Shelter Cove

Coastal redwood forest in northern California

And great hiking, too:

Fern Canyon, where scenes from Jurassic Park 2 were filmed

These trees are huge!

Then it was home again, where this lovely mix of fabric swaps and web orders awaited me.

 The rest of the week was spent giving my sister and her family a tour of the Bay Area coast.  I've only just gotten back to the sewing table this weekend.

I meant to take a project bag on the trip but accidentally left it behind.  Jennifer, a quilting buddy, and I were inspired by this blanket to cut into our precious Modernology collection from Art Gallery Fabrics.  We joined up with the Fusion Blanket Crochet-Along hosted by Little Miss Shabby and friends to help motivate us (though, to her credit, Jen is pretty self-motivated and finishes projects rather more quickly than I). 

There were only a handful of squares ready to be hand-stitched shut before the family jaunt to the redwoods.  I spent the last couple of nights sewing up squares while watching the broadcast of the 2012 Summer Olympics.  Here they are, ready for blanket stitches to be added to the edges. 

I'm planning to make progress on these beauties while watching the rest of the Olympic games.  Go Team USA!

Sewing marathon

I've finally recovered from BA Modern Quilt Guild's Charity Sew Day, and I mean that in a good way.  Who knew putting on one of these events could be so exhausting!  And it was pretty low-key, at that.  It must have been all the prep leading up to it that did me in.   That, or the ten hours sitting on my posterior sewing like a fiend.

A cheerful and productive group showed up, churning out a plethora of quilt blocks, cat beds and quilt tops.  We started off with a fun Art Gallery Fabric challenge.  Jen and I had prepared a stack of 5" pre-pieced blocks and 5" charms from Art Gallery Fabric scraps and bolt ends.  After a quick tutorial on this NinePatch Remix block, a variation of a disappearing nine patch, our fearless sewers hit the ground running.

After about an hour, we had enough challenge blocks to piece our first quilt top:

The top is sashed with Pure Elements in Ash.  Because we deviated a little tutorial, our blocks came out to 13.5" (or thereabouts) rather than 9.5".

The challenge was a hit, with enough blocks pieced for 5 quilt tops.  We managed to piece a second top by day's end, and will finish piecing the remaining 3 quilt tops before the next guild meeting.  Below is quilt top #2, with Jen's hand attempting to cover my sashing mistake (a seam faces front on the left side):

The final tally at the end of the evening was 94 blocks, 11 cat beds and a total of 6 finished quilt tops.  I wrote a post about the event, which you can read about in the next day or so at the BA Modern Quilt Guild blog.

Measure, Cut, Repeat

The better part of this afternoon was spent prepping fabric for BA Modern Quilt Guild's upcoming Charity Sew Day.  Thank goodness for rotary cutters- I can't imagine the tedium of cutting 5" charms with scissors.  It was fairly tedious making umpteen 5" charms even while armed with a rotary cutter!  Leftover scraps were cut in varying widths to be pieced into 5" blocks. 

Art Gallery Fabric studio scraps were generously supplied by Pat Bravo and the AGF team, as well as by Julie at The Intrepid Thread.  I still have quite a bit of fabric left to cut up, but I'm giving my poor rotary cutter a break.  Plus, the blade needs to be replaced, or at the very least sharpened.

Jen and I have some fun things planned for Charity Sew Day this Saturday.  The Art Gallery Fabric charms are part of a block challenge in which we hope to complete at least one, maybe even two, AGF quilt tops before the day is over.  We've also sprung for some cool prizes (at least we think they are, anyway) to keep the momentum going once the charity sewing commences.

We'll also continue to work on the current quarter's block- string blocks.  Quilts made by the guild this quarter will be donated to Project Night Night. 

Hello Summer!

Tomorrow, another school year comes to an end.  My little 3rd and 4th graders will advance to 4th and 5th next year *sniff sniff*.  One of the teachers has had my children 3 years in a row, and they just adore her.  I've spent part of the afternoon preparing gifts for their teachers, principal and the school secretary (who is so much more than that!).

Of course the gifts had to be sewn.  Just sayin'.  The kids and I had an idea to make them coasters for their desks.  I first set out to make some quilted ones, but then I remembered these reversible wipe-clean coasters I had bookmarked quite some time ago.  I had even bought a whole yard of 16-gauge vinyl thinking I would churn out a stack to have at-the-ready for hostess gifts.  And then the vinyl sat rolled up in the corner of my bedroom, sadly collecting dust for a year or so.

Last week I received Art Gallery Fabric studio scraps from the lovely Pat Bravo and AGF team.  So pretty, and I thought they'd be perfect for the teacher gifts.  So I pulled out the vinyl, had the kids peruse the AGF scraps and got to it this afternoon.  Why have I never made these coasters before?

 

 

The making of them was quite easy.  I just had to flatten the vinyl by cutting 6" squares and pressing them straight under a stack of heavy books for the better part of a day.  The only mod to the tutorial I made was to cut the fabric into 5" rather than 4" squares so the recipient can use it for a cup of tea or a bowl of soup. 

If you decide to make these, definitely follow Allison's advice to do a test run to get the tension right, and utilize the paper that comes with the vinyl to keep things moving smoothly.

Now I'm off to plan stay-at-home summer camp for the kids.  Along with the academics, I think I'll throw a little "home ec" into the curriculum.  Time to teach them the fine art of cooking, sewing and, most importantly, housekeeping!

The happy campers return

Mother's Day weekend was spent camping with Martina's Girl Scout troop.  It was the first time Martina and I had ever been camping, and it was great fun.  I love the outdoors, but when all's said and done, I like to be safe from bears and other wild animals, have access to running water, flushing toilets and such.  The trip to Live Earth Farm in Watsonville, CA was the perfect way to ease non-campers, such as Martina and myself, into communing with nature.

The previous weekend was the monthly meeting of the Bay Area Modern quilt guild, which I always leave feeling so inspired.  Afterwards, I felt the burning need to buy fabric, start a new project, and organize my stash.

The urge to buy fabric actually came before Saturday's meeting.  An hour before, to be exact.  I carpool with Julie of the Intrepid Thread, and I met her at her shop.  I purposely did not bring money in a paltry attempt to avoid buying fabric.  While we were waiting for the third person in our carpool to arrive, I saw Rhapsodia from Art Gallery Fabrics.  I fell hard. After the meeting, back at the shop, I found myself telling Julie "Paypal me, please."  I left with the beautiful bundle below.

I feel compelled to admit I had no intention of buying Rhapsodia.  I'm a huge Art Gallery Fabrics fan, but I thought I'd wait for the release of Indie for my next major fabric spree.  A SAHM has to carefully consider her purchases.  When I saw Rhapsodia face-to-face though, it was over.  This collection is gorgeous, and the photos online just don't do it justice.  I bought 1/2 yards of my favorite prints from the collection, plus enough yardage of this print to make myself a summer dress.

Last Sunday afternoon, I started cutting fabric.  Not Rhapsodia, which needs to be petted and admired for a while first, but Poetica.  (Remember this post?)  Martina bought a FQ bundle as soon as it was released.  This quilt at the BAM quilt guild meeting, made with Bespoken, was the push I needed to start her quilt.  Poetica has been petted and admired long enough.  Here's a sneak peek at what it will become:

Half of the blocks are done, and the remaining will be done in coordinating colors of Pure Elements.  Fingers crossed that I'll have the quilt top done by next month's guild meeting. 

As for the stash organization, that fell to the wayside.  Sleeping bags, flashlights, mess kits and a tent had to be acquired for the big camping trip.  Maybe this week.  Maybe.