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.

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!

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!

Worthwhile diversions

     It is with much regret that I report that, for the first time in my adult life, I missed a deadline.  I dislike being late for anything.  I even had all three of my children early!  [Not on purpose- they all just decided to show up a few weeks earlier than expected.]  The Habitat Challenge is a different story altogether.  Here sits the quilt, hibernating on the hutch until I feel inspired to pick it up again:

I'll blog about the Habitat challenge in my next post... not feeling great about it at the moment.

    In the meantime, I'll post about something I do feel good about- helping others.  I came across a blog post where Kelsey of Kelsey Creates put out a call for help making blocks for a donation quilt.  The quilt will be made for an acquaintance of hers who not only lost his home last year in the San Bruno gas line explosion, but was recently involved in a car accident that put him in the hospital.  His wife is due to have a baby in December.  

    The block requested is a Mod Mosaic block, which I've been wanting to try.  I love it.  Here it is in the chosen color palette:

There's still time if anyone is interested in making a block.

     And because my family keep hounding me about finishing their quilts, of course I decided instead to answer Pat Bravo's call to make a charity quilt for Project Linus.  I received an email from her, and some of her beautiful studio scraps should be landing on my doorstep this week.  I'm looking forward to playing with her pretty fabric, and I hope to knock out a quilt before Christmas.