Finished: "Have A Hoot" Vintage Owl Embroidered Cushion

Part of the 2nd Quarter FAL. My original post is here.

You may remember my little vintage embroidered owl that I designed and stitched a while back. Well I decided that the best way to finish this little guy was to sew him into a quilted cushion cover using some of my vintage sheet collection plus a couple new prints that feel kind of retro. I wanted to get this project finished in time to enter the Stumbles and Stitches Feather Your Nest Contest, so yesterday I buckled down and finished the quilting, final construction, and binding. I have to say that after making both my Hello Spring! cushion (which I also entered into the contest) and this project, I am starting to see how making pillows could become pretty addictive. ;)

  

For the front of the cushion, I used a simple sawtooth block made up of HSTs to bracket the hand stitched portion. The blue floral print comes from a vintage sheet that I thrifted. I wasn't exactly sure how well it would sew-up considering that it's a high thread-count, cotton-poly mix; but the fiber content actually ended up not being an issue at all. It sewed and pressed beautifully! Since I don't think I will be washing this too often (and if I do it will be by hand), I am not too terrible concerned with uneven shrinking due to the different fiber compositions of the fabrics I used, but I do wonder if this has ever been an issue for anyone else? Do you sew with vintage sheets and have you used/ would you use cotton-poly mixes with regular quilting cottons?

 

For the back, I made a simple envelope enclosure using the vintage sheet fabric plus a couple of stripes of my favorite herringbone print from Modern Meadow. I really lucked out that the green in the herringbone matches the green in the vintage sheet perfectly. Thanks Mr. Dewberry!

      

The yellow binding is also the same Heather Bailey print that I used for the star points on the front. It's just such a sunny, bright color that I couldn't resist using it for the binding as well!

Here's a closer shot of the embroidery (and quilting). I am currently working on a pattern for both the embroidery design and the cushion project, so hopefully I will have more to share on that soon. :)

UPDATE: Popular voting in the contest has started. If you feel so inclined, hop over here to Stumbles and Stitches to place your vote. My entries are numbers 43 & 35, but feel free to vote for your favorites. Thanks!

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Help Me Choose

Lately, I have been doing a little online fabric shopping over at Pink Chalk for the upcoming Orange / Aqua / Grey Mystery Charm Swap. I have 28 yards (!) of fabric to choose, so as I have been happily perusing page after page of lovely prints and solids, I have been thinking, "Why should I have all the fun?" 

I really shouldn't, ;) so I am going to share the joy and ask you (yes you my dear!) to help give me a hand and let me know what you would choose for the swap. Just head on over to Pink Chalk Fabrics if you like, take a look at all of the gorgeous options (hint you can search by color too!), and come back here to let me know your favorite pick(s) that fit in with the orange / aqua / grey theme. I will be reading your comments carefully and adding some of your favorites to my shopping list, so thanks ahead of time for giving me your input and go have fun!

Quilt Top Finish: Sunglow in Loulouthi

Part of the 2nd Quarter FAL. My original post is here.

My Loulouthi HST quilt top is finished, and not a day too soon to make the entry deadline for the Festival of Half Square Triangles at Canoe Ridge Creations. Actually I finished the quilt top last Wednesday night, but I haven't had a chance to take photos of it until today. Thankfully the weather cooperated nicely!

  

I am calling this new quilt design Sunglow. The gradual shifting of light to dark from the center of the quilt outward reminds me of that moment during a sunset when the sun sits just above the horizon and becomes glowing and ember-like. I think that the rainbow of colors in the Loulouthi line really lends itself well to capturing the range of hues in a spectacular sunset.

I designed this quilt to use only two charm packs, one extra yard of one print (summer totem), and a couple yards of quilter's linen since my precious stash of Loulouthi was quite small. I really like how the negative space interplays with the printed fabrics and feels integrated into the design, while also helping to stretch the mileage of the charm packs.

And just because I couldn't resist, here is an photo with the sun shining through the back. :)

I also made this quilt top in conjunction with the My Precious Quilt Along and the Sew Lux April Stitch and Share Challenge.

    

WIP Wednesday: A New Project

I have been working on a select number of projects this week, mainly a new quilt top that I designed using a couple of prized charm packs of Loulouthi, a little bit of extra yardage, and some quilter's linen in place of a solid. This top is made up almost entirely of half-square triangles, but because I was working with charms, I wasn't able to use my favorite method of making HSTs. Instead I ended up making all 132 of these using the traditional hand-drawn method. I drew lines and pinned during an evening of movie watching, which passed the time quite pleasantly. 

I also made my April block for Stash Bee and I just had share this one with you guys. The design of the block is a faux-Cathedral window, which gives the fabric a little bit of dimension. I didn't have a lot of time (or really any extra fabric in these colors) to play around with the construction, so this is my first attempt, but I am thinking I might make another for myself at a later time and sew it into a pillow. I hope CeLynn likes this!

New Projects
- None

Ongoing Projects

- Loulouthi HST quilt

Completed Tops Awaiting Quilting
- Parterre Jardin (Prince Charming) Quilt
- Made in Cherry (Echo) quilt 

- Rainbow Pop bow-tie blocks quilt

No Progress
- Craftsy BOM (March and April)

- Vintage Owl Embroidered Cushion

This Week's Stats
Completed projects - 1
New projects - 0
Currently in progress - 6

Mystery Charm Swap Confirmations

I just wanted to post a quick note to let everyone know who signed-up for the Orange / Aqua / Grey Mystery Charm Swap that I will be sending out confirmation e-mails to everyone in the swap tomorrow. Sorry to leave anyone on a cliff-hanger (I know how excited I would be to find out too!), but this will give Sunni and I time to coordinate. Thanks so much for your patience and your overwhelming interest in this swap. We are so excited to get started!

Introducing the Orange / Aqua / Grey Mystery Charm Swap!

I am very excited to announce open sign-ups for the Orange / Aqua / Grey Mystery Charm Swap! From my recent poll, out of the four color palette options, this was the clear crowd favorite; so thank you very much for voting!

I am also happy to announce that Sunni, from Love Affair With My Brother (and my partner in crime), ;) is also hosting a joint mystery charm swap over on her blog. Her theme...Polka Dots! Feel free to hop over there starting today to sign-up if you are interested. P.S. If you want to do both swaps, go ahead and sign-up for both! :) 

Sunni and I are delighted that we will both be partnering with Pink Chalk Fabrics to make these swaps happen! I will be in fabric heaven over the next couple weeks selecting some great prints (and maybe a few lovely solids) from Pink Chalk's amazing online inventory to create your mystery charm packs. Here is a sneak preview of some prints I have in mind:

So now that you have seen a sample of what the charm pack might include, here are the details of the swap. Please read through carefully before signing up:

1. There are 27 open spots in this swap and they will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.
2. I will select the fabrics from Pink Chalk's online inventory based on the Orange / Aqua / Grey theme.
3. I will cut, sort, and mail your charm pack all under the utmost security. ;) The actual fabric choices will remain a mystery until the charm pack arrives.
4. Each 5 inch charm pack will consist of 56 charms. There will be two charms of each fabric.
5. This swap is open to international participants.
6. Participants will buy-in via PayPal. (I will send you an invoice through e-mail.)
7. Sign-ups begin today, Monday, April 16th and will run through April 30th at the latest. Full payment for the swap must be received by May 7th or an alternate may be selected.
8. I will post here once the swap is filled.
9. Charms will be shipped before the end of May. 

Costs of the swap (including all shipping costs):

• $15 - U.S. residents
• $16 - Canada
• $20 - International

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Thank you! The swap is now full. :)

WIP Wednesday: FAL recap and 2nd Quarter goals

The first quarter of the year has come and gone and I can hardly believe where the time went. Spring is in full bloom here in the Pac NW and we've had almost 5 days straight of sunshine which has been glorious. While I haven't been sewing a ton lately as I have been spending as much time as possible outside, I did finish a number of projects on my list over the last three months for Rhonda's 2012 FAL series at Quilter in the Gap. I was lucky enough to also win a prize from the last quarter linky party, so make sure if you are interested in playing along to get your second quarter list linked up for the next round.

   

1. Just Wing It (Embroidery 101) quilt, 2. Rainbow Pop quilt top, 3. Secret Garden table runner, 

4. Kitty toys, 5. Voile and flannel figure-8 scarves

And here is my new list of projects to work on and hopefully finish by the end of the second quarter in June:

 

Parterre Jardin (Prince Charming) Quilt - make backing, quilt, and bind
This was also on my list for last quarter, but I didn't finish it as I hoped. I did get the top sewn together, so this quarter I hope to finally complete it.

Rainbow Pop Quilt - make backing, quilt, and bind
The top was sewn last quarter. I am now planning to finish it.

AMH HST quilt - make quilt top
This will be a completely new project.

Hope Valley Swoon quilt - make quilt top
This will be a completely new project.

Vintage Owl Embroidery - make into a cushion cover
The embroidery is finished, I just need to design a cushion cover and sew it together.

Farmer's Wife Quilted Box (part 2) - make the leftover block into another storage box
I planned to make two quilted boxes when I originally made this block for the Farmer's Wife in Your Life Series, but I only got around to making one. I now plan to finish the second box this quarter.

And now for this week's stats:

New Projects
- AMH HST quilt (new design)

Ongoing Projects

- None

Completed Tops Awaiting Quilting
- Parterre Jardin (Prince Charming) Quilt
- Made in Cherry (Echo) quilt 

- Rainbow Pop bow-tie blocks quilt

No Progress
- Craftsy BOM (March and April)

- Vintage Owl Embroidered Cushion

This Week's Stats
Completed projects - 1
New projects - 0
Currently in progress - 6

I did remove a couple of knit projects from my line-up this week as I am officially retiring them until next fall. ;) I didn't really make any progress on them this past winter so they will store nicely until the weather gets chiller again.

 

Chose A Color Combo, Any Color Combo

Sunni at Love Affair With My Brother and I have been working on an idea to run two simultaneous "mystery" charm swaps this spring. Basically there will be a preselected theme (such as a specific color combo or polka dot) for each swap. We will select the fabrics, cut them into charms, and send them out to you; keeping the actual fabric choices a surprise until they arrive in your hands. :)We are both super excited about this idea and think that it will be an especially fun and fresh take on the traditional swap! Right now we are figuring out the details, so I can't really share much more at the moment, but I can tell you that for mine, I am considering doing a charm swap in one of the three color triads below or as a rainbow swap:

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I am wondering what is your favorite color option that you would like to see chosen for the upcoming charm swap? Feel free to vote below on the four palettes I have put together, or share your own color ideas and thoughts in the comments section.

Favorite Charm Swap Color Option

I'll be posting more info soon as we work out the details, so make if you are interested in participating, to check back here over the next week. Thanks for voting and for sharing your comments! I really hope you will have the chance to join us for a swap or two. :)


EDIT: I almost forgot, but if you would like to head over to Love Affair With My Brother, you can check out Sunni's poll and cast your vote there for whichever type of swap you would be interested in (she has a wider variety of options to choose from). It will help to give us a better idea of which direction to go in, so thank you for voting!

Traveling Stash Winner!

The winner of the traveling stash is comment #15:

Angie from Sew Scrappy Quilts, my fellow Stash Bee mate (although we are in different hives)! Congrats Angie! This time the traveling stash did not elude you. :) 

I wanted to say thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway! I really enjoyed reading your comments about your favorite Springtime/ Easter traditions. :)  If you would like another chance at winning the traveling stash in the near future, make sure to head over and stalk follow Angie's blog for the next giveaway. She sure has some gorgeous eye-candy to drool over too! 

Quilt Finish / Just Wing It (Embroidery 101)

Part of the 1st Quarter FAL. My original post is here.

Earlier tonight, I finished hand sewing the last bit of binding on this quilt and had the opportunity to take some photos (in clear weather, yay!) before the sun set. This finish has been a long time coming and is actually my first full-size quilt to be completed. I started this quilt last summer as part of Jennie and Clara's Embroidery 101 Stitch and Quilt Along over at Clover and Violet. I finished the quilt top with all of the embroidery on schedule last fall, but decided to wait a bit before quilting and binding it so that I could practice on some smaller projects first. 

 

I ended up straight line quilting this to echo the shape of the concentric boxes created by the individual blocks on the front. In order to work with the bulk of the quilt on my smaller machine, I quilted all of the vertical lines first and then the horizontal ones, breaking the thread at each of the corners of the boxes. 

  

 

While I probably wouldn't repeat this method of quilting again since it was incredibly time-consuming to knot and bury all of those threads, I do really like the overall effect of the quilting (especially on the back). There may actually be an easier way to quilt boxes like this that doesn't involve breaking the thread or turning the quilt to make the corners, but I wasn't able to locate any advice on how to do this online (do let me know in the comments if you happen to know a better way to achieve the same sort of quilting). :)

For the backing, I chose to do a stripe of scrappy strips at the top using some left over prints. I paired that with some larger strips of some smaller print fabrics from the same collection. The larger aqua colored piece, which reads as a solid in the photos, is actually a subtle mini-stripe print, also from Just Wing It.

 

  

For the binding, I used another mini-stripe print, this time in tomato red. I like the way the red adds a subtle pop of color to the outer frame of the quilt, especially against the white sashing. 

Finished Quilt Stats

Name: Just Wing It (Embroidery 101)

Pattern: Embroidery 101 blocks created by Jennie of Clover and Violet

Size: 60" x 80" 

Fabrics: Just Wing It by Momo and Moda Bella Solids White
Batting: Warm and Natural

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