Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Simply create

Exciting times! My Instagram friend Katy is opening a fabric shop this month!! She's living the dream of all quilters and I couldn't be more happy for her. What's it called, you ask? Beetle and Fred. How clever is that?!

I wanted to make her something to mark the great occasion, and Quiet Play's Create pattern seemed perfect. Especially in an Alison Glass rainbow!


I knew right away I wanted to do rainbow quilting, but dithered a bit on how to do it. I didn't want to detract from the letters and thought my usual straight-line quilting might be a bit much with the crosshatch background. So I went wavy! I love how it turned out.

I can never resist a picture with pretty matching threads ...


And a just-finished quilting shot with a thread beard in all its glory ...


The quilting went pretty fast despite having to change the spool for each line. Thankfully it wasn't too big since I did it pretty densely. I hope soon I can visit the shop in person, and meet Katy for the first time in person! Maybe I'll spot this mini decorating the wall.



Monday, November 7, 2016

Little bit of everything weekend

What a glorious fall weekend! And I was pretty busy with a bunch of things. Saturday started with a quilt shop hop with my mom, who I have to thank/blame for getting me into this costly hobby of sewing. I picked up a few things along the way, but mostly I'm proud to say it was fabric for other people! No lie.

My sewjo was a bit off and it seemed I made one bonehead mistake after another. But I forged ahead and finished this pillow featuring 32 different Tula prints, which look lovely next to the Kona silver background.


I kept the quilting pretty simple, echoing the lines of the stars.


All that I needed to do this weekend was put on the envelope back and binding, but I managed to stuff those simple tasks up in a variety of ways. But in the end it turned out just lovely. I adore the cheery bunny fabric on the back.


I also finished paper piecing these letters. So little, so frustrating. I got through a 12-piece section, only to realize I forgot the third piece. Sigh. I don't imagine I will ever enjoy the process of paper piecing, but I keep doing it because the results are always cool. You can find the free pattern by Quiet Play here.


The weather was also quite sunny and mild, so I was able to enjoy a bike ride both Saturday and Sunday - and the fading glory of the fall colours along the way.


This wasn't from the weekend, but I'll throw it in here. I made this Magic 8 Ball block for my friend Amy, who requested it for her turn as queen bee. I'm not in her group, but I wanted to make one as part of a thank you package for the amazing quilt she sent me out of the blue. Gotta love those burly beavers!