Geese on the brain

I'm finally working on my flying geese quilt again. Most of these blocks came from my month in the Sew Buzzy bee.  (Here is another process post about this quilt.)

 I asked my bee members to make any size and any number of blocks they wanted.  So sashing this quilt has been an undertaking.  I also want to balance the colors throughout the quilt so I don't get big patches of yellow poking me in the eye every time I look at the finished product.  . 

I took the scraps that were sent back and made tiny geese 

and tucked them into the sashing, too.

A big part of the reason I started working on this quilt again (and took any photos of it) is that grommet that you see at the top of the next photo. My design wall used to be a tacked up, much-too-large quilt batting in my dark basement sewing studio. These squares were up on that 

and the excess batting was spilling on to the floor and the sewing table. 

I liked the square placement, but the wall set up was unmanageable.  Then Felicity gave me the idea of using a picnic tablecloth as a design space. I bought three tablecloths, installed hooks on the wall and punched grommets into the table cloths. Now I have THREE design walls and they are portable for photography or for sorting colors in daylight. I'm a much happier crafter now :)

And now I don't worry about the batting on the floor.  I can focus on geese, geese and more geese.

Are there any studio organization tips that have transformed your crafting lately?

Another Quilt Finish

I'm especially excited for this one. It is another quilt that will be headed to the Pine Ridge Reservation. This one is made almost entirely of vintage sheet fabrics. I'm just so excited about the springy colors and the improv piecing in the quilt top I had my sheet scraps cut up and I just started throwing them together and making all decisions based on instinct. I felt like a driven woman for two days while I looked up close, then stepped up on a chair to get some distance, while I turned things clockwise and counterclockwise, while I added strips and took some away.   

My brain grabbed onto this idea and wouldn't let go.

Once the top was done, I did step away for a short time. Then I rented time on a long arm quilting machine to freehand quilt.  I tend to gravitate toward a loopy meandering quilting pattern, so non-crossing, non-loopy meandering was a big challenge for me. A big enough challenge that my curves are HUGE on this, but I don't mind.

I bound this in Hooty Dots from Riley Blake.  

The color is just a bit too bright a lime green, but I think I like it that way. 

The back is another vintage sheet.

Even on a super gray day, this quilt seems to brighten everything up

The hard part about giving this away is that I wish I could see a baby snuggled up in this one. 

I'll just have to use my imagination, though :)

Bright Return

I was a quilter back in college.  My first quilt was one I made from three fabrics and I traced a boxed cake mix to make the "squares."  I made another five quilts after that and then I just...stopped.  I lost the inspiration and I started focusing on making more pottery and then knitting.

Anyway, 9 years later I was pregnant with Henry and nesting and I had an intense need to make him a quilt.  I designed and pieced about half of the quilt top, and then neglected it in favor of other nesting projects.

This was my return to quilting, and it is the first baby quilt that I'll be sending to charity.  It will go to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.  If you are on ravelry, there is a group there called Bundles of Joy.  They knit blankets, hats, sweaters, booties, and other items for the babies born at the Pine Ridge Hospital OB Ward.  I'll be sending this quilt to the same place.

This is the first quilt that I did freehand on the long arm machine.  

I had a lot of fun making a meandering loopy pattern.  

This quilt was the gateway to my current sewing madness.  

I hope it will keep a new little one warm and happy.

Swaptastic 3

My last mid-May deadline was for the Pretty Little Pouch swap.  

I was inspired by this book and my partner's colors.

front

back

I should have taken a photo of the inside of the pouch.  Since both sides are quilted before constructing them into a pouch, the seams on the inside are covered with binding.  I found the corners to be difficult to deal with.  And hand stitching the binding took some time, but I'm happy with the final result.  I do love the quilting and the gusset. 

.........................

Swaps are such a great way to stretch your abilities, try new techniques and find new inspiration. But now I'm looking forward to finishing up a couple of my own projects that have been on hold. I hope not to sign up for any new swaps for awhile. We'll see how long that lasts....

Swaptastic 2

For the seventh round of the Potholder Pass Swap, there was an option to make a shopping bag rather than another set of potholders. I chose the Wrap it up bag pattern from Penny of sewtakeahike.  I used a bottom weight brown fabric and home decor weight County Fair from Denyse Schmidt.

(Sidenote: this pattern is great.  It calls for quilting weight cottons which are much lighter than the fabrics I chose.  I struggled with turning it right side out and with getting the strap to fit to snap it up.  That was all because of my fabric choices and not the bag pattern.  Word to the wise: do as the pattern says and not as I do.)

Then I wasn't sure what to send as a package extra.  My partner did have quite a few tree quilts in her favorites, so I thought I'd try one out.  I originally planned on making a mug rug, but it ended up too big for that.  At around 7 x 14" it counts as a small wall quilt. 

I hope she likes it.

Have you ever participated in a secret swap? 

It is a challenge to make something that inspires me but that also fits in the tastes of my partner. 

And, having never met my partner in person, am I getting the right "read" on her? Do you ever get nervous when you send out a swap package? Or any other handmade gift for that matter?

Swaptastic

I had deadlines for three swaps in mid-May.  The first one is part of the 3x6 Bee.  In that bee, the participants are split up into groups of seven with one caretaker and six others.  You then make six of the same block in each person's preferred colors and you receive six different blocks in your colors.  The people in that bee get shuffled around each quarter but the caretakers never get blocks from the other caretakers.  So, this is the first quarter that the caretakers are making one special block for another caretaker.  I pondered the design for a month.  And Penny taught me the skills at her workshop in April.  So, here it is:

I also sent some fabric scraps in my partner's preferred colors.

And.....you'll have to be patient to see the other two swap packages :)