Let's Get Acquainted - Week 1

I am very excited to be part of the 2013 Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop over at Plum and June. There are a whole bunch of new(ish) modern quilt bloggers just waiting to meet you; I'll post a list of their names and the links to their blogs at the bottom of this post.

We've been having a great discussion about what we like in blogs, what we don't like in blogs, and overall just encouraging each other in writing and sharing about what we love (my favourite part!). So many people have said "hey, I know how to do that, I can help you!" when it comes to technical stuff - I have already followed some of the links to some helpful tutorials - good stuff!

I think every single one of us has said there has to be a photo with each post. So here's mine:

Pattern:  Small Plates, from The Practical Guide to Patchwork
Designer: Elizabeth Hartman of Oh, Fransson!
Fabric: Origins, by Basic Grey for Moda
Size: 68" x 85"
Quilting: Machine quilted by a local quilter in an all-over swirl pattern
Backstory: Made for my daughter's friend who got married awhile back; the girls studied environmental science together at college, hence all the green!

And now, here is the list of everyone participating in this year's Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop. I encourage you to visit these blogs and say hello - some encouraging words would also be really great! The first posts went up yesterday and as I read through them, I am so honoured and humbled to be part of this group:

Friday, June 7th

Nancy @ Owen's Olivia

Amy @ 13 Spools

Ashley @ Wasn't Quilt In A Day

Casey @ The Studiolo 

Nanette @ Yeah, I Made That

Ange @ Heart Of Charnwood

Kim @ Robot Mom Sews

Erica @ Kitchen Table Quilting

Friday, June 14

Julie @ Jolie Maxtin

Melissa @ Melia Mae Quilting

Adrianne @ On The Windy Side

Molli @ Molli Sparkles

Laura @ Little And Lots

Sarah @ Duck Egg Threads

Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation

Cari @ There's A Thread

Valerie @ Between Quilts

Friday, June 21

Leigh Anne @ Ella's Cottage

Stacy @ The Tilted Quilt

Sarah @ Quilt Candy

Jackie @ NW Patchwork

Liz @ Beadqueene's Bits And Baubles

Erica @ Happy Fabric

Stephanie @ Simple Sewendipity

Lauren @ Seraphym

Amy @ Cloud CouCou Crafts

Friday, June 28

Green @ So Sew Green

Gwendellyn @ The Rainbow Revolts

Jessica @ Stitched In Thyme

Amira @ Little Mushroom Cap

Kathy @ Kayak Quilting

Michelle @ Factotum Of Arts

Paula @ The Sassy Quilter

Kris @ Sew Sunshine

Camilla @ Faffling

Friday, July 5

Christa @ Christa Quilts!

Alyce @ Wonderland By Alyce

Anna @ The Crooked Banana

Rachel @ Sew Happily Ever After 

Stephanie @ Quarter Incher

Kristy & Shayla @ Sassafras Lane Designs

Caroline @ Carolines Craftiness

Lisa @ Hilltop House Creative Works

Friday, July 12

Leona @ Leona's Quilting Adventure

Karen @ Karen, {Novice} Quilter

Anne @ PlayCrafts

Rachel @ Let's Begin Sewing...

Jan @ Sew And Sow Farm

Anna @ Quilting Along The Grain

Cath @ Wombat Quilts

Sarah @ {No} Hats In The House

Friday, July 19

Karen @ Little Birdie Quilting Studio

Kathy @ Kwilty Pleasures

Katie @ Snuggle Up With A Dish From Karma 

Alison @ Making Happyness

Sarah @ Sowing Stitches

Ella and Nesta @ Ella & Nesta's Little Room

Adrienne @ Chezzetcook Modern Quilts

Nicole @ Modern Handcraft

Aylin @ AyliN-Nilya

Friday, July 26

Vicki @ A Quilter's Mission

RobinSue @ RobinSue Quilts

Elisa Lea @ Lovelea Designs

Elizabeth @ In The Boondocks

Jenny @ A Note To Follow Sew

Lorna @ Sew Fresh Quilts

Sonia @ Fabric & Flowers

Emily @ Sew E.T.

Em @ Sewing by Moonlight

Have a great weekend, everyone.

e.

4, 5, and 6

More blocks for the TP City Sampler quilt along. They are not nearly as wonky as they look - they are hanging over the edge of our deck railing because that is where I had the best light when I went to take the photos. They are fun to make, and I'm still happy with how they are coming along but realize I need to add some more fabrics into the mix. The book suggests 40 (or somewhere suggests 40 - now I'm not sure) and I have 27, which seems like a lot but...I feel like I keep using the same ones over and over (I maybe be a little bit ahead of the QAL).

Linking up to the quilt along here.

Happy hump day!

e.

For Linda...

I have a lovely friend in Indiana named Linda. We met in person all the way back in 2005 at a wonderful quilt retreat in Hutchinson, MN. We were part of the same online group at Yahoo, a group built around our mutual love of Thimbleberries patterns and fabrics. The shop in Minnesota used to put on a retreat every year in late September. I was able to go three years in a row, and then they stopped holding them. But my first year was probably the best and it is the year I met my good friend - we were actually roommates!

Linda loves and pieces the most beautiful Civil War quilts - she is very talented - but when I literally woke up morning all switched on about modern quilts and fabrics, I think she figured I had finally (officially) lost my marbles.

So this photo is especially for her.

I first saw this quilt made up way back in 2004 and loved it on the spot. My daughters (who were much younger, and not even teenagers then!) were with me. One of them fell for the design too and when I got the pattern, she determined I would be making it for her. Fast forward quite a few years and she had developed her own style and figured it was time for me to get my act together and get this made. So I started collecting fabrics to go with a piece of art she had purchased for her bedroom. It took me awhile to collect those fabrics, so long, in fact, that by time I had enough my daughter was engaged and declared this should be her wedding quilt.

It has actually been done for several months now, but the weather and lighting have not been cooperating or else I've been too busy (why does the sun come out while I'm at work??) to get over and get some pictures. Still not the best lighting, but you'll have to take my word it is a very pretty quilt. And she loves it. And her hubby does too (he gently reminds her "it is OUR quilt honey, not just yours"). It is enormous (nearly king size) so I really needed to take it outside to have enough room to try capture a picture.

So there you go, Linda, I still know how to work with more traditional fabrics. I hope you like it! I'll share the pattern with you, if you want!

But I am kind of thinking....I bet it would look really, really neat in modern prints and solids...

e.

Fresh Sewing Day

My schedule often feels a little backwards to the rest of quilting blog-land; just when it is summer and most people are winding down (a little) I generally find a bit more time to spend in the sewing room. As such, I am pretty excited to actually have a few things to pull together into a mosaic for this month.

It looks like my theme this month was "square" - as in pillows and TP City Sampler blocks. The pillow in the top, right corner is actually a TP City Sampler block tripled to be 18" finished (it worked great, and it was super easy!).

The sun is out and the sky is blue - a pleasant change from all the liquid sunshine we've been getting all week. I have some plans for the sewing room this weekend - maybe I'll even have something to show by time the weekend is finished.

Linking up to Fresh Sewing Day.

Happy weekend, everyone.

e.

#1, 2, 3...City Sampler!

It is an exciting week because it is time to post the first blocks for Sew Sweetness' Tula Pink City Sampler Sewalong (that's a lot of words!). I showed my palette last week and this week, I set about sewing my first blocks.

Let me introduce you to Block 1:

Here is Block 2. Now, I have to tell you, poor Block 2 is not nearly as hypoxic as it looks. It was a cloudy morning when I took these photos and the colour just didn't come out nicely. Those printed logs are actually a gorgeous Tula print and Joel's Dewberry's indigo Nap Sack. I promise, Block 2 is much nicer in person.

And Block 3:

The blocks are very simple to sew but they are little (finishing at 6 1/2") so they will look best with seams sewn as precisely as possible (so, maybe wait to sip that glass of Merlot until after your sewing session, just sayin').

Long ways to go to make 100 blocks, but I've enjoyed the process very much so far. Linking up to Sew Sweetness TP City Sampler Sewalong!

e.

And so it begins...

Today was a holiday here in Canada (Victoria Day) but I tackled a couple of work-related projects for the better part of the day; it felt good to get them done. I promised myself as a treat, I would pull my fabrics for the upcoming City Sampler Sew Along (check out the post at Sew Sweetness if you want to play along). One of my daughter's selected the indigo Prince Charming print as her favourite colour palette from the stack of goodies I placed in front of her, and she has been asking me to make her a quilt with blues and greens in it for awhile so...

...this will get me started. Today's post was about choosing fabrics. It was suggested 5 yards should be enough to make the blocks. If you do the math, it comes out to 40 fat eighths; I have 27 fabrics pulled so far, including a few other Tula Pink prints and a handful of solids. It was late by time I got these chosen and the sun was dropping ever so quickly but the picture still turned out pretty decent. The cream fabric second from the left is not a solid, but a tone-on-tone Sweetwater print. There are definitely places to use solids in this quilt, but I don't want to go overboard with them.

I'm ready for next Monday when we'll get our first post!

Thoughts and prayers going to Oklahoma tonight; my heart is heavy as I watch this evening's news about the storms. May God be with you all.

e.

Block 28

A few weeks back I saw Tula Pink's City Sampler book featured on her Facebook page. You could order the book, or you could order the book plus a set of fat eights to get you started on the project. It took me all of thirty seconds to succumb to that temptation...

The book is absolutely gorgeous. Each of the blocks is hand drawn and coloured in; it takes me back to a fresh package of newly sharpened pencil crayons at the start of a school year. Back when you use one, then put it ever so carefully back in the exact spot it came from. Anyway, the book is just lovely.

A City Sampler quilt along gets going on Monday (yay - Victoria Day holiday here in Canada!) but I really wanted to try something out before then.

So easy. And very fast. Oh, it's not a sampler block, but you probably figured that out already. I didn't quite have a vision, yet, of the quilt I wanted to create and didn't want to just make some random block, either. Fortunately for me, my daughters and daughter-in-law are all relatively newly married and happily feathering their little nests so throw pillows are a well-received item in these parts. Eldest daughter (by all of 6 minutes - it's very important to her for people to know that) chose the print from my bundle of fat eighths and I added in the solids. I tripled the block measurements to get an 18" finished block. The quilting inspiration comes straight from the book, slightly modified to match the scale of the pillow.

Since I had all my girls here over the weekend, I told them each to pick out a favourite print or palette form the bundle, so there are a few more pillows coming. Good thing. Work is super busy right now so having quick projects like this satisfies my urge to sew and be creative and works with the time I have. I've been thinking it would be neat to make a quilt top of 18" sampler blocks. I'm keeping that idea in the back of my mind!

And, my muse has spoken....I have my inspiration for the City Sampler quilt along, too. Looking forward to getting started next week. Come join us!

e.