Quilt for a Smile: We have a quilt top!

As is par for the course around the holidays, things have been pretty busy around here.  Children's activities, meetings and my shoulder surgery have kept me away from the sewing machine more than I'd have liked.  But I did manage to eek out a quilt top.

 As I posted earlier, the generous Patricia Bravo sent fabric scraps from her studio to readers who volunteered to make a quilt for Project Linus.  I chose to make a Mod Mosaic quilt based on Elizabeth Hartman's Mod Mosaic floor pillow tutorial.  I absolutely love the Mod Mosaic block, but it is time consuming!  I think I'll keep to simpler blocks for charity quilts- the goal is to make them quickly so I can donate them quickly.

After watching me play around and make blocks with the scraps I received, Martina (my 8-year old) has become an ardent admirer of Patricia Bravo.  So much so that she has commissioned a Mod Mosaic quilt from me.  We went to Pat's blog and browsed though her fabric collections, where Martina chose the yet-to-be-released Poetica in the cool colorway for her quilt.  My parents gave her Christmas shopping money, and she decided to put aside some of that money to buy a 1/2 yard bundle of Poetica when it hits the shops in February.

The quilting of the Project Linus quilt will, unfortunately, have to wait until my shoulder completely heals.  This gives me a little time to decide how to quilt it.  Free motion quilting is out (never tried it), as is stitch in the ditch (which lines would I follow?).  Any suggestions?

Art Gallery Fabric/Project Linus Charity quilt

          Look what I found waiting in the mailbox after the wine weekend getaway:

The scrap bag from Patricia Bravo's studio had arrived!  She's one of my favorite designers- those gorgeous prints and solids!  Her generosity has just sent her to the top of my list!  Sending out studio scraps to benefit Project Linus- it's green (reduces waste), it benefits a wonderful cause, and I get to work with her beautiful fabric- what's not to love?

      I've spent the past couple of nights piecing like mad.  The Mod Mosaic block is perfect for the scraps I received- mostly small scraps, but almost a yard and a half of Pure Elements solid.  I LOVE how the blocks are shaping up.  Little momma watched me working on the blocks last night and lamented that they were not for her.

I am now fighting what will probably be a losing battle to buy a half yard bundle of Bespoken and some yardage of Pure Elements in Cabernet to make a Mod Mosaic quilt to keep!

Pajama pant fail

     I wanted to wear them.  I wanted to love them.  I wanted to lounge in them all day whilst my little one naps and plays.  I wanted to make a pair for every day of the week.  But McCall's 3019 does me no favors. :(
     What went wrong?  The waist was too high, the stride (a polite way of saying the crotch) a little  long, and too much fabric floating around the rear since I'm flat as a pancake.  The upshot of it all is the pants do not flatter.
     So it's back to quilting.  I've started Antonio's Urban Chic quilt.  He wanted a simple, modern design with a neutral palette- black, gray, yellow, white.  I threw in a little aqua to make it pop.

     I cut off the selvedges so I can't name all the fabrics.  There are a few Art Gallery fabrics, a Joel Dewberry, and a couple whose provenance I don't know.  The quilt will be a little bigger than called for (seven blocks across and seven down).  I'll need to buy a few more prints for the center pieces.
     I was hoping to find photos of Urban Chic quilts that others have made.  A Google search pretty much only turns up the quilts on the Artichoke Collection site.  Anyone out there have any links?