Arrowheads and Triangles

It's been over the requisite 3 months between posts, about time I let anyone who comes here (which is absolutely no one...don't worry, I don't feel bad about it) know what's going on in my quilty life. 

I stumbled upon the Arrowhead quilt by Initial K Studio and fell in love immediately. I swooned over the clean lines, negative space, and color graduation. So I bought the pattern and have made two lap quilt tops, with plans to make a couple of baby quilts. 

 I gotta figure out how to quilt these. Straight lines for everyone!

I also crushed over this Magnolia line by Alisse Courter. I've never done an isosceles triangle quilt before and thought it'd look good in that. Normally I mix lines pretty well, but in an effort to use the fabric right away and not stash it forever, I just cut it up and stuck it on the wall. 

 I think it's about time I actually use my "design wall" for its intended purpose and put up some more "design wall".  It's looking a bit like my body...

I'll check back in 5ish months-

Jenn

Blogger's Quilt Festival: Spring 2015-Facing East

So I decided to enter Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival this year. I've always loved reading about the entries, but I've never entered myself. Kinda nervous about it....

This is my entry for the modern category, and my most favorite quilt of all time! I made it for my dear friend who was going through stage 3 ovarian cancer (she's all good now), and despite how much I love her, I still had a hard time handing it over.

It's Carolyn Friedlander's pattern 'Facing East' from her book 'Savor Each Stich'. The pattern was perfect for my friend and challenging for me because I had never paper-pieced before (crazy, I know).

I loved adding little details and fabric scraps that were meaningful to my friend. It was such a pleasure to make!

My quilt holder really wanted a picture with our local sasquatch....

Thanks for checking it out! You guys are awesome!

Finishes and WIP's

I finally finished the binding on the Emmy Grace quilt, along with some mini's. The Emmy Grace quilt I was making specifically as a baby quilt, but it didn't quite turn out the way I hoping. We'll have to wait much longer for our baby. Oh well, what are ya gonna do? 

I have been waiting for this Lizzy House Natural History line for SO LONG! I had preordered a half yard bundle, which was also going to become baby stuff.... But I love it so much that it will become lots of kid stuff and maybe just stuff for me :)

This has been an exercise in pure frustration. I LOVE this DIY constellation quilt kit idea, but the execution leaves much to be desired. It proves quite difficult to embroider on tearaway stabilizer, at least if you're a perfectionist. Your stitches punch through the stabilizer, but then your stitches are hidden by the stabilizer. Frustrating, I tell you. 

Here are my first two minis ever! They don't go together at all, but I don't really care!

Super Kids

Apparently it's just me doing this now, so that's gonna be fun. Where Mindy and Jenni went? I dunno.

I decided it was about time I take a picture of the quilt I made for my niece Zoey. I mean, it's only been finished for 7 months. Too bad she'll have to wait to get it until she comes to visit me, which will be in another 4 months. My sister requested Super Kids by Anne Kelle. Which is darling fabric, but kinda hard to figure out what to do with.

We're currently under attack. The exterior of our home has been over run with flies. Mating. Ugh. It's so gross. And I don't know what to do about it. I think they're attracted to the flowering pear trees that are very close to the house, but short of cutting those down.... They are on everything. The truck outside, the tractor, the house, the railing, the windows, the picnic table, the deck, the trees, the patio furniture, the trashcan, the doghouse, the roof, everything. Everything. Everywhere. So. Gross.

And that's it. Ya'll have a good one while I fight it out with flies.

Emily's Quilt

I'm currently doing anything to get out of folding the MOUNTAIN of laundry that has strewn itself all over my bedroom and laundry room. I already vacuumed all the rooms in my house, steam-mopped every square inch of tile available, washed the dishes, polished my counters, cleaned out my sinks, and cleaned three out of four bathrooms in my house (I'm not touching my 15 yo's), and dusted. I also spent some quality time on IG, FB, and Pinterest. The laundry hasn't gone anywhere, so I thought maybe since it's been like, 2 1/2 months, I'd update the blog. Surely by the time I'm done with this, I'll be ready to tackle that laundry pile....

I got my first commissioned quilt last month. She paid me 65 bucks for 3 hours and 45 minutes of work. Not bad. It's only 45"x45" and had I known it was to be a wall hanging, I would've quilted it more densely. Oh well. It's also my first finish of the year. Yay! 

She requested the backing be solid white, so that was helpful in hiding my binding lines, which I'm not fantastic at yet. In fact, I still really hate binding. Like, a lot. I also don't know what's up with that picture. My carpet is NOT that color. 

My second finish of the year I absolutely LOVE. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, lovelovelovelovelove! And it is going to be so very hard to hand it over to the person I made it for. I suppose it's a good thing I love her more than the quilt :) No one knows if she is cancer free, since she can't have an MRI because of her cochlear implants, but they think they got all the cancer in the first surgery. She's doing really, pretty well. Which we are quite thankful for! Unfortunately, it seems like many people I know have been diagnosed with cancer, my grandmother included. But I supposed when you're 81, something like that is bound to happen :( 

Since I'm really hoping this quilt will get a lot of use, I didn't quilt it densely. I want it to be soft and snugly. I also love the tessellation that occurs with the "sunlight" spreading out, which would (if there was space) continue to infinitely cross and create more patterns. 

 I have to make this pattern again! Carolyn Friedlander is a genius! There is so much detail to this quilt! I absolutely adore it!

 We drive by this Sasquatch everyday after I pick my son up from Track. And everyday my 15 yo son asks if we can buy him. And everyday I day "No, I'm not buying a $500 cast iron Sasquatch". Then he asks if we can buy one of the smaller ones. No. No weird things in my yard. So I appeased him slightly by taking a picture with it :)