Travel Fabric

My husband and I recently traveled to Berkeley, CA for my husband to present a paper at the Western Literature Association's annual conference.  While we were there, we visited a quilt shop - New Pieces Quilt Store and Gallery.  It was a really nice shop with a large selection of fabrics.  The shop staff was also very nice and friendly.  (I know that I drive quilt shop staff everywhere crazy because I wander around the store 3 or 4 times before I even pick anything up, but they are always great about it!)

Above is a picture of the fabric that I bought while I was there.  I bought 1-1/2 yards of the fabric on the left (from Abbey's Garden by Eugene Textiles).  The fabrics on the left I just bought in fat quarters (top - from Serenity by Cheri Strole for Northcott, bottom - from Autumn Bouquet by Denise Urban for Quilting Treasures).  Those were the fabrics that I just kept coming back to as I wandered the store.  They are not for a specific project, and most likely won't get used together, but they are my mementos of fun trip to Berkeley.

More from Missouri Star

I've done it again.  I ordered more fabric from Missouri Star Quilt Company.  Earlier in the month I ordered an Ellie Ann charm pack and layer cake to make a twin bed sized quilt.  My local quilt shop doesn't carry any of the Ellie Ann line, but I needed some yardage for the borders (the Ellie Ann Petit rose China Blue and Ellie Ann Twilight Cobalt yardage above).  And if you are ordering something, you might as well get the deal of the day (the Snowmen Gatherings Charm Pack).  And if you order $100 worth or more you get free shipping so you might as well get something else, especially if it's on sale too (the Tea House Plum layer cake).  So, you know, it all makes sense if you think about it, right?

Cat Fabric!!!

I just got this new fabric in the mail yesterday and I absolutely love it.  The little kitty cats make me so happy.  I ordered it from Feline Drive on Thursday, July 11 and received it yesterday (Monday, July 15).  I had never ordered from her before, but I'm sure I will again in the future.  The fabric is good quality, the prices are reasonable, and the service was great. 

The Christmas fabric with the kittens on it is for a Christmas quilt that I am planning to make using the Saratoga pattern.  I'm planning to use this fabric for the larger patches - all or some of them, I'm not sure yet.  The other fabric, all or some of it, will probably end up in a scrappy 1930s style quilt that I've been thinking about, and collecting fabric for, for several years now.

Shopping

I'm currently working on another row for my guild's row swap.  The theme for the quilt that I am working on right now is traditional quilt blocks in traditional fabrics.  At this point, all three rows in the quilt are made from French General fabrics.  On Tuesday morning, I sat down with the fabrics that I had and the fabrics that were included with the rows.  I had picked out an Ohio Star block for my pattern and had decided which French General fabrics I wanted to buy to complete the design as I had envisioned it.  I drove down to the quilt shop and found that she didn't have any of the fabrics I wanted for my design (apparently she had just a had a big sale and much of her stock of French General had sold out).  Once I got there, I realized that I had left the rows at home too, and the quilt shop is a 35 minute drive from my house.  I looked at the French General that was available, didn't see anything that seemed like it would work with my light and dark Ohio Star design idea, and then just decided to turn around and head home empty handed.  Tuesday was not my day.

That evening after dinner, I went back to the drawing board, literally, and drew out the Ohio Star blocks in a row to see how I liked the design as a simple row of six 6" blocks.  I decided that I wasn't thrilled with that design and dropped back to a different block I had previously considered, the Dutchman's Puzzle block.  After sketching out a row of Dutchman's Puzzle blocks I decided that I liked that design better anyway. 

On Wednesday afternoon, I drove back down to the quilt shop to find fabric in line with my new design idea.  I looked at the French General, but still wasn't feeling it for my design.  I called the person whose quilt I was working on, and asked if it had to be French General, and she said that it didn't.  So, after a lot of searching through the shop and with a great deal of help from Cindy at the shop, I finally decided on these 4 fabrics.  Each fabric will be one pair of flying geese in the block.

This is the focus fabric for the quilt.

 And these are the existing rows for the quilt.

She said she thought it needed some darker fabrics brought in, and she specifically mentioned black and green, so hopefully she will be happy with it.  I'll post pics of the row once I get it done.  Hopefully there will be no more changes to the design going forward.

Fluttering Free

This is my latest finished project.



It is a baby quilt that I made for one of my husband's colleagues who just had a baby. It was her first. She decided to decorate the nursery in pinks and browns. At first I wasn't sure how to approach a pink a brown quilt, but with a lot of help from Melanie at the Front Porch Quilt Shoppe, we came up with a pattern and some great fabrics. After I finished sewing the pieced part of the quilt I thought that it needed a little something more, so I decided to add the butterfly applique.

I was having trouble deciding how to quilt it once the top was all finished. My husband suggested the diamond pattern and I thought that would be just perfect. I didn't quilt the straight lines through the butterfly, though. I quilted up to the butterfly and then quilted all the way around it. The quilting really shows up well in the picture, too.

I hope the new mom likes it.