Dead Simple QAL

I really have a ton of projects that need to be done by Christmas, but I couldn't resist joining in with Lynne's latest QAL.

The Dead Simple QAL is all about the palette.  Try a color combination outside of your usual.  Some folks found their palette at Design Seeds.  I was hesitant at first because I thought it was a solids project and as much as I like solids, I didn't want to do a completely solids project right now.  Then I saw that people were using prints as well.  Heck, I needed a good fall wall hanging.  My living room is blue and brown, but I wanted to incorporate fall colors, orange and greens.  I couldn't find a palette that had all the colors I wanted, so surprise, surprise I made my own.  I did what I usually do and found a fabric I liked that had all my colors and worked from there. 

This is my inspiration fabric,  Remix.

I spent a lot of time working out the correct kona solids, but then I realized I could use prints too.  I went to Hawthorne Threads, who have a color grid that you can use to search their inventory.  It's the best idea ever.  I don't know why more places don't do it.  It gives you a reliable way of judging the color of fabrics on line.  I started adding fabrics to my shopping cart and I realized, "hey, I think I have some of that already...and that one... and that one... Crap!  I already own every single fabric I need for this project."  I might even have had multiple cuts of a few of them.  (Hangs head in shame)

So here is my selection.

 I'm not totally sure about my yellow and my tan.  I included two possibilities for each.  I want this to read orange and brown with pops of green and blue, so I might adjust the concentrations as I'm working.  I'm aiming for a wall hanging so I'm not going to follow the sizes Lynne gives directions for.  I'm also not totally sure about the white.  I can't decide if I want to do charm squares or 2.5 inch squares.  I'm thinking 3 feet by 4 feet, so 2.5 inches square would be doable.  I can always cut charm squares and then cut them into little squares if I need the challenge.

I love picking fabrics.

You know it's an illness when...

The back to school supply list says beach towel and you think quilt.  The Wee Monsieur was supposed to bring a beach towel to use as a rest mat, so I made him a quilt.  Earlier in the summer I had picked up a panel at Joann's that had a word map on it.  It was sort of an awkward long rectangular shape, but I knew I had to get it.  The kids like maps and I like to use every opportunity for them to learn something.  When I started thinking about the rest mat, the world map panel seemed a perfect fit.

I took the panel and put a border on it to bring it up to size and give myself a place to embroider his name.

I love how the blue framingon the panel worked with the tan border I added.  That tan is the same burlap print I used on my MIL's quilt back.

I went back to find something dark for the backing and found a great indigo blue map print.  I sold it to the boy by pointing out the pirate ships in the corners.

I quilted this following the printed latitude and longitude lines on the map panel and then did a few echo lines in the border.

I used a soft grey thread to quilt with because I didn't want to go buy more thread and I thought it would blend best if I occasionally didn't hit the printed line perfectly.

Here is the boy with his quilt/rest mat.

He says he loves it because it has his name on it.  I love that I'm able to make my loved ones unique quilts that make them feel special and loved.

Something I've always wanted to say...

I've been working on a secret project.  Hee Hee!!  I've always wanted to write that on my blog.  I'm going to do my first tutorial in a little bit.  I had to make some prototypes to take pictures for the tutorial.  I might even do a give away.  I know, a giveaway, craziness!

We're entering my favorite season, Fall.  I have a bunch of projects lined up for the next few months and I'm hoping to make a bunch of Christmas presents, plus Halloween costumes, plus a mini craft fair.  It's a good thing both kids are in school, even though it's only 2 hours for Baby Girl.  Truth be told, I'm not quite sure what to do with Baby Girl all afternoon while big brother is in kindergarten.  We've been at loose ends the last week.  I've been letting her watch too much TV, while I sew.  I need to figure out things for us to do in the afternoon.  I'm just used to the two of them entertaining each other all afternoon.  That's why I had two kids in the first place.

In the midst of all the other projects in the pipeline, I finally got some inspiration for these stacks of fabric.

I've been wanting to make a spread for our king sized bed.  I've been intimidated by the shear size of the undertaking.  Usually, I decide upon the design I want to tackle next and then I pick the fabric.  If I have the fabric first, before the design, I have trouble deciding what to do.  I wanted a design that would feature the large scale prints from the Aviary II bundle I bought, but I didn't want to do just a large patchwork.  I also wanted a design that might lend itself to a quilt as you go project.  I've sort of used up my long arm quilter budget for the year.  Add to that, I've thinking about doing more of a bed spread and less of a quilt.  I want something pretty to throw over our bed, not so much something to keep us warm.  That's a long way of saying that there were a lot of requirements.

I started cutting on Friday and I have to say I'm really pleased with the way it's turning out.  I'm keeping it simple with lots of wof strips sewn together horizontally.  I'm currently trying to decide if I should add a few perpendicular strips to mix things up.  I'm thinking yes.  I really enjoy these projects where I have a vague notion of where I'd like to end up, but where I let the fabric dictate how we get there.  The giant courthouse step quilts were like that and now this strip quilt is the same.  As an added bonus, Hubby says he really likes what I've shown him so far.  As soon as I find a spot to layout my progress I'll take some pictures.  I'm planning on about 120 inches square and it's hard to find a piece of bare floor that big.  I wish I had a big design wall.

This evening, I think I figured out how to assemble this monster just using my little Janome.  The secret will be that I'm not using any batting.  I'm going to quilt the top directly to the flannel back.  If I don't assemble the back until I've quilted the center panel, then I should only ever have less than one wof piece rolled up in the neck of the machine.  I think this will work!

DSMMQG

Today the Des Moines Modern Quilt Guild is meeting at the West Des Moines public library at 6:30.  I wish I could be there with you tonight.  If you are in the Des Moines area, go check it out tonight!

First day of school and some other summer fun

The Wee Monsieur started kindergarten today.  He rode the bus and I only cried a bit.

Earlier in the week I made jam.  Our strawberries all came ripe right before we left for vacation, so I froze them all.  I finally got around to pulling them out and making jam.  I threw in a frozen bag of kiwis for fun. The kids call this Super Strawberry Jam.  I use a cheapo emersion blender to smush up the chunks.  It works great on soups and sauces too.  I've already got these three earmarked for teacher gifts at Christmas.

Baby Girl has been playing with these little nesting boxes from Ikea for the last week.  She keeps leaving them in interesting patterns, so I've been snapping pictures.  It gives me a hankering to make a quilt with circles.  I wish someone would send me one of those Go! Baby cutters.

Those are the boxes on the left and the lids on the right.  She's really good at getting them in just the right order. Have I mentioned she likes to play with buttons at the store, which annoys the sales women, except that Baby Girl always outs the buttons back in the right spot.  It's amazing how she's able to always get the button back on the correct post, even in Joann's button aisle.

WIP: All WIP as good as done

I finished up two big quilt tops that had been lingering and am taking them to the long arm quilter tomorrow.  That's as good as done in my book.  That means I have no works in progress.  That is such a liberating thought.  I have a bunch of stacks of fabric for projects, but I haven't cut into them, so they aren't WIP yet.

I present B's Bento Box.  It is always windy where I live, so forgive the slightly ripples, it was the best shot I got.

It's 80 x 100 and queen sized.  I made my own bento box pattern.  The back is just pieced from yardage of 4 different fabrics.

Here is the rainbow quilt for my mom.

 I had stopped working on it in the spring because I ran out of fabric to do a square Boston Commons, as my mom had requested.  She's been visiting the last week and  we worked out a solution.  We made it a rectangle and then framed it with the navy and yellow batiques.  I wish I had gotten a picture pre border because the border really changed the way it looked.  The navy and yellow border is really electric.  I was not a fan of this design at the start.  It's not my usual style.  But that can be a good thing.  I've ended up LOVING this quilt.  My mom is going to hang it in her stairwell, so the long narrow shape will work well.

Love those colors!  It's made from a rainbow batique jelly roll.

I won!!!

I won my first ever giveaway.  I'm so excited.  I never win ANYTHING.  There's this giveaway and I think a stuffed pumpkin I won in the first grade.  That's it!

The lovely ladies, Jill and Marny, from Modern Quilt Relish are sending me a jelly roll of "Wee Woodland" and 4 of their new patterns.

I originally learned about the Des Moines Modern Quilt Guild starting up from their blog, so that's two things I have to thank them for.  Maybe I'll start entering more giveaways if my luck has turned like this. I'll go back to my happy dance now.