Avignon by Emily Taylor for Riley Blake Designs

This collection is new in the shop, and it is just lovely.  There's a nice blend of crisp blues, yellows, greens, reds, and oranges -- my favorite is probably the houndstooth.  You can find all 18 prints in the shop.
The folks at Riley Blake also created this very pretty churndash pattern to highlight the Avignon collection. Again -- churndashes -- my favorite! The pattern is free, and you can download your own copy here.

 

Scrappy Hunter's Star in Origins by Basic Gray

Do you remember this quilt top?  It languished for two years, but it's finally finished.  Well, here it is, all quilted and bound!

These are not my usual colors, but I do like the overall effect of fading from dark to light with the multi-color hunter's stars.  The fabric is called Origins by Basic Gray for Moda.  This quilt was made using a layer cake and a jellyroll -- the only yardage require was for the border -- from a pattern from A Baker's Dozen.

The quilting is an all-over simple feather pattern, which I think worked well with this relatively busy pattern.


Here is a close-up of the quilting.  I used a 50-weight Aurifil Mako cotton in yellow.  If I were to do it over again, I would choose a variegated thread with some greens and browns.



It's somewhat difficult to see, but this is the hunter star pattern that emerges from the blocks:

 

 The backing is a print called Blossom from Picnic by Jenean Morrison. I'm not sure when this collection came out, but it was in the super reduced section of my LQS.

Finally, I found these care labels too -- not that I haven't thrown quilts in just the regular wash and dry cycles before.

9/24 - I'm up at Manic Monday Linky Party at SewHappyGeek! Go check it out!

A Day at the NW Quilt Expo

The NW Quilt Expo is running all weekend in Portland, and I had a chance to go this morning. Wow. There is a lot of very talented quilters out there. The Portland Modern Quilt Guild had its own display of quilts. These were two of my favorites.

























This one with the seahorse won a blue ribbon for computerized quilting.  It was pretty amazing, but I wasn't sure what they meant by computerized quilting, as it seemed more like a top-stitch applique to me.  I wished the little cards next to the quilt had more detail  about the process.

This one won a blue ribbon for best free hand quilting. The detailed work was pretty amazing up close. Unfortunately, as with the other pictures, I only brought my i-phone so couldn't get very good shots.

Finally, there was a display of about a dozen Farmer's Wife quilts.  That was pretty impressive too.  I can't even begin to imagine the amount of time that went into all of these quilts.

WIP Wednesday - Hello, Pilgrim

In progress, a toddler sized quilt that will finish at 40" x 48". I'm using the ubiquitous HST chevron layout -- it's a classic, and I think I'll never get tired of it. I'm linking up to Lee's WIP Wednesday linky party!  Go check it out for some outstanding work.

Giant Vintage Modern Churdash - A Finished Quilt!

Oh, how I love this quilt. It feels so crisp, looks so clean. It's just as well we are still in the midst of late summer hot weather, lest I give into temptation to snuggle up in it. 


 
Here it is, all rolled up and ready to be shipped off to a new home.  Like I've mentioned before, it's like having the best of both worlds, stripes and polka dots in one print!

 

You can find the tutorials for this quilt here and here.  Drop me a note if you decide to make the quilt -- I'd love to see pictures when you are done!

On to my next project, a quick (hopefully) baby quilt for #2's teacher who is expecting her first baby in December.

WIP Wednesday - Of Bindings, Bee Blocks, and More

Is it nerdy to gush about FMQ goddess Angela Walters and how awesome she is?   Her book, Free-Motion Quilting with Angela Walters, was the source of inspiration for the quilting on my Giant Vintage Modern Churndash Quilt.



Angela's philosophy struck well with me -- it seemed to be that you should go with the organic rhythm of the quilting and not stress so much about reaching perfection.  Despite repeating that mantra to myself, I did experience moments when I despaired that I could ever make a circle -- it's actually kinda tough to make a round circle.  At times, my circles/swirls felt more like squares with rounded corners.



Nevertheless, Angela was right.  At the end of the day, after I trimmed the excess backing and batting, I was immensely pleased with how this quilt turned out.

All this quilt needs now is the binding.  I was thinking that I would send it to my cousin who lives in Berlin, as a thank you gift for hosting us this summer.  I have to admit, however, that I'm so loving this top right now that it might be difficult to part with it.

I will post the finished quilt with binding later this week, hopefully.  I chose a cream and red striped binding WITH POLKA DOTS.  How awesome is that, stripes and polka dots in one print?  Pure genius, I think.

The next piece of news I have is that I finally joined a sewing bee, called the Stash Bee!  This is my first foray into any type of sewing bee.  This one happens to be virtual and seems to be relatively low key.  Each person is assigned a month where they are "Queen Bee."  The Queen Bee posts a tutorial of a block she wants the rest of the hive (20 participants in each hive) to make for her, using personal stash fabric.

This block is for Anneliese, who lives in Galway, Ireland. You can find her tutorial for this block called "converging corners" here.  The fabric is from a collection called "Just Wing It," by MoMa for Moda Fabrics.  Although the block looks relatively simple, it can be a little tricky.  I wasted some fabric and did some ripping until I finally figured out the dimensions.



Finally, here is my latest crush. This is Chicopee, by Denyse Schmidt. I love the mixture of modern and retro that is evoked by the prints and colors in this collection. You can get the entire collection (26 prints, 2 colorways) here.

I'm linking up to these blogs today! Have fun sewing, everyone!
 

Toys For Me

The results of my adventures yesterday: Denyse Schmidt Quilters Quarters (ingenious!!), Mary Ellen's Best Press, Reliable iron, and ironing board.