the Portland Peel listing is finally live!

Phew - after a whirlwind of writing up materials and documents I finally have the listing for the "Portland Peel" template set up in my shop.

What is the "Portland Peel"?  It's an easy way to make an orange peel block, or many variations thereof. Check out the PDF ideabook available on my sidebar. Print some pages out and color them in - maybe you'll catch the Peel fever too!

I can't stop cutting and making these blocks, they're just too damn easy to sew up - 2 seams per peel, simple. It's an easy curve, so "advanced beginner" sewists can do this in a snap. As long and you can sew a 1/4" seem pretty consistently, you can make this block.

So, all you local Portlandians - Did you know that Modern Domestic is doing a curves 101 class featuring this 'pattern'?  AND they'll be carrying the template sets there starting this Tuesday I believe, so save shipping and buy local!

Complications

 

I haven't sewn in weeks, maybe even a month.  First my machine had to be repaired and was gone for 2 weeks. Then I had a really bad day and ended up in the ER with a kidney stone (that's a first for me - uh, ouch!), then the doc that I saw a few days after my problem passed told me a need a procedure 'right away' because there were some big stones left in my kidneys. He assured me it was easy and I'd be fine by the same evening. Not so much.  So a couple weeks later, a week long visit from my Mom :)  and a big round of stomach flus rotating through the house and here I am. Needless to say I wasn't able to keep up with my Etsy shop over the last couple weeks, I have a LONG list of convos that I'm trying to catch up on now (so sorry), and I'm hoping to re-open tomorrow.

The PMQG's April meeting is next week, and we're all supposed to bring in a challenge block using the Michael Miller Cotton Couture Solids that we got at the last meeting. So this afternoon I spent my first available healthy timeslot in awhile and sewed. It felt great! But it had me thinking the whole time - why do I always make things so damn complicated and hard for myself? I think this translates in to more areas of my life than sewing. Going to work on that...  and I'm going to steam the heck out of that block.  Cheers all!

I'm Going, Are You?

I just bought my ticket. Anyone else going? I heard the first 50 tickets sold out in less than 5 minutes...

I had a really great time there last year, and know I will have a blast again this year.

The list of teachers looks pretty cool so far!

So how about it - join me?

WINNERS!!!

We have 3 winners for the Retro Flowers QAL giveaway!

#4 Sonya R  who said:
Mar 22, 2012 05:03 AM

So excited for this QAL! I have the templates but ther are more that you have that I am certain I need!

#41 Jessica E who said:
Mar 22, 2012 02:57 PM

Thanks for the chance! I can't wait to get started on this, so excited for the QAL! :)

# 90 Julie who said:

Mar 24, 2012 08:22 AM

I am really excited about thsi QAL. Thanks for the chance.

Thank you all for playing! I'm super excited to see what you all come up with in this QAL!!

Loving the flickr page, keep those pics coming! Thanks! -Jill

Retro Flowers quilt-a-long!

I'm sure by now you've all seen pictures of Christina's beautiful quilt and design called "Retro Flowers".

Well, I'm excited to announce that Megan of City Stitches and Bianca of Sweet Diesel Designs are hosting a Retro Flowers Quilt A Long!  (read all about it here)

I've been very excited to have been given permission to sell acrylic templates for this design, and you can find those in my shop.

So the big news is that I'm giving away 3 sets of these templates for all you QAL'ers!  Just leave a comment on this post (one entry per person) and make sure I can find you if you're a "no-reply blogger".  I'll leave this giveaway open until Sunday evening, so enter now and tell your friends.

Don't fret if you've already purchased a set, if I have your name on my 'sold' list you can pick a different product from the shop as a substitute.

I hope you're all as excited as me about this quilt a long!

(Oh, and check out the flickr group while you're at it!)

in Bloom

It's a quilt!  I designed this back in December in hopes of entering it in a local quilt show at The Oregon Garden.  It turned out that I didn't have time to even start it before the deadline.

Then fast forward a couple of months, and I was able to attend a half day of the PMQG's monthly all day sew. I decided not to even bring my machine, I just brought the fabrics, my templates, and a rotary cutter.

I was able to cut all of the pieces for the 6 blocks out in that one session. After that, every time I sat at the machine I tried to chain sew a few pieces together. The curves got way easier and I'm getting pretty fast at it.

I don't know what it is about this silly circle block, but I kind of love it, and I've decided to explore it a bit more. My first project with it is here, and the second is here. I'm thinking it'll probably pop up in a few more of my projects before I move on.

I think I need my own personal photographer. And nanny. And house cleaner.... OK, these are all things I'm really not good at. Some work on my photography skills would probably take me farther in life than house cleaning skills :) So there's a good 2012 goal.

I'm sure you've all heard about the MQG's showcase at The International Quilt Festival. I really wanted to enter something, but nothing I had was right. With a bit of scrambling, I was just able to get this in under the wire. It's kind of small, so I don't have high hopes. But I honestly can say I love this quilt, so if it gets in or not, it's still pretty meaningful to me (and I already have a place picked out for it to hang on my wall).

Cheers all!

Have You Heard about...

...the QUILTCON block challenge?

I love a challenge! This one sounds like so much fun, and the best part? It's just a block. One block (or up to 3), but even a busy Mom can manage to make 1 block before August.  The thing that really drew me in though? The color palette...it's kind of right up my alley. So I pulled some fabrics that seem to work with their scheme, trying to keep each fabric pretty monochromatic (except for that lovely glass tile one). I guess I'm seriously lacking in the "tangerine" category though. Well, at least I know what to buy at my next quilt club meeting.

Look here to see a helpful post on choosing colors for this challenge.

Now to design a block, or two, or three....

Anyone else planning on giving this a try?

Seeds?

Well, I finished that sample baby quilt. Here it is binding, fold lines and all.  I really think it's pretty cute, and a bit 'loud'.

It was really fun, easy and quick to make, and I already have an idea for a 'grown up' quilt using this same template set.

I kind of lame-ed out on the back and just used a panel, but it was from the same fabric line, and all cutesy, and perfect for a baby boy with a robot loving Mama.

I'll have this set available in my shop soon. Biggest hold up is coming up with a name for it.  Any ideas?  Rachel is the one who came to me with the design and worked with me to make it 'just perfect', and super user friendly. Not sure any of the names we've come up with between us is appropriate.  Is it a 'seed', or a 'Peter, Paul, and Mary', (cracking up), just don't know. Guess it doesn't really matter all that much.

My poor Janome stopped playing friendly and had to go to the shop. I won't have it around for awhile, and I possibly may not get it fixed if the problem is too expensive. I can't really be without a machine (well, I can, just don't want to be), may be looking for a good deal on a used low budget, simple machine soon.  Sniff, sniff...

Untitled

Why Untitled? Hmmmm, well that's just how my brain is working these days. Not a ton of creative juices flowing over here. Just finished up 2 weeks of passing around an illness in our house, and I was stuck with it last week. Haven't been sewing alot, (but I want to!). It just seems like every time I get a few moments to myself I determine that it would be better worth my time to clean the kitchen, or do laundry. I'm sure that's just my brain making excuses for being in a creative slump.

So here is the one thing I have worked on recently. It's going to be a baby quilt!
 

A good customer of mine had me make this template set for her, it was her idea, and she spent some time with me tweaking it so it would work just perfectly. Let me tell you, it's super, super easy to sew up. It's a very gentle curve, no pinning or gluing required. The 3 pieces sew up super fast to make 1 unit of the 4 unit block. In the pic above, the top 4 blocks are all sewn together, and it was about a total of an hour an a half invested, cutting and all. I'm hoping to get these templates listed in the shop in the next couple of weeks. I'm going to have the designer name the template set, and show us her lovely (way more awesome than mine) quilt top soon.

I love collaborations like these, they are especially helpful when I'm having a hard time coming up with my own designs. This is sort of a variation on the "Robbing Peter to pay Paul" traditional quilt block, the first antique quilt image I found of this is here. This is a bit different though, and way easier to sew. Really, it's hard to come up with a totally 'new' concept or quilt block, people have been doing this for 100s of years, it's almost all been done before in some form. That being said, it does take a lot of time and thought to go through the process of making these things geometrically perfect, and coming up with easier ways of putting the elements together. And testing, lots of testing. I really do love a math challenge though, and this one was fun to work on.

I haven't been doing nothing though, I've been hitting the gym pretty hard these days, and have made some major strength improvements. Like an 133 pound clean and jerk! (Oh, I love the names of Olympic lifts...)  Any other quilters out there doing Crossfit?  Initially I thought people at the gym would laugh at me about the quilting hobby, these are pretty hardcore peeps, right? Well, there a bunch of crafty types there, knitters, sewists, etc. Love that about Portlandia...   Cheers all

A Big Finish and the Tall Triangle

I finished a quilt - for reals!

This one has been in the works for awhile. I've been hoarding this Appleville fabric just waiting for someone I know to be having a baby girl. Back in November I got the news that I needed to start a baby girl quilt, yay! (Not for me - I'm done with that baby business.)

A friend had requested a triangle template to make a quilt that she had been thinking of, (I think similiar to this quilt). So I thought I'd test out the template while making this baby quilt, you know, two birds, one stone...

I came up with a bunch of patterns with tall skinny triangles, but eventually decided that I like this spikey one that has sort of a "Charlie Brown stripe" effect.  It's pretty bold and contrasty, should be interesting for a baby to look at. I hope.

Plus I LOVE the panels in this fabric line, so I made the back a feature too, it's pretty reversible.

I'm super happy with how it came out, and particularly love the woodgrain binding.  I can't wait to wash it and pass it on to it's new little owner this weekend.

I'm going to be listing this template in my shop today, on discount for a week to celebrate my first new template of the year!

Here's a drawing of the template, it's a 12" tall triangle with a top angle of 22.5 degrees. It'll be named the "tall triangle".  As I was trying to figure out how to use it to make this quilt, I came up with several ideas, here are a few.

 

I also used the template to make my PMQG holiday swap gift for Elizabeth.  I made an Ikea style bag for her to transport her quilts back and forth to her classes that she teaches and meetings and such.  I didn't get a pic of the finished bag (working until the last minute - you know how that goes) but here's a progress shot:

Anyway, I think it's a pretty versatile template, and hope some of you can find a use for it.  I have a couple more triangles ready to list soon as well, so keep and eye out.  Cheers!

Happy New Year!

I've been spending lots of time reflecting these past few weeks, do you all do that? I'm really looking forward to a new year with a brand new start. Let's just say 2011 hasn't been my favorite year, but I have high hopes for 2012 and a really bright outlook.

I've been doing more thinking and designing than sewing the last couple months, (and spending lots of time with my little beastlings).  I feel like I'm going into the new year with a fresh perspective.

My plan (for my shop - and my sewing habit hobby) is to introduce a bunch more useful templates, with beautiful examples of how to use them.  Afterall, design is my first love.  I'd like to have lots more giveaways, and host a contest or two.  Thanks so much for sticking with me this year! Cheers to you all and a wonderful BRAND NEW YEAR!!

sneak peek of my first finish of 2012

and first new template design

And the Winner is...

 

 #86

 

Amber said...

I'd love the hexagon templates.

December 13, 2011 12:28 PM

 

 

 

Congratulations Amber! I'll be sending you an email shortly!

 

Thank you all so much for entering, it was wonderful to read all of your lovely comments!!