short and sweet... but probably a little long winded.

so i had intentions for a longer post, but between last week and this one, i've got a whole heck of a lot going on at work to get ready for.

plus, i totally meant to get another christmas quilt blogged last week... but clearly that didn't happen and set my schedule back a bit.  oops.

last week was block party number 2, and i feel like it went quite a bit better than the first week.  i demonstrated how to make the hexi muggy ruggy using the creative grids hexagon trim tool, and they turned out pretty cute.  i didn't get a chance to take a good photo with my camera... and i think i failed to post on instagram as well.

i also made the full table runner as a sample to go with week 1's leaf block, and it turned out AWESOME.  i quilted it up and finished it up for saturday's live show (for my show it was only the top) and look forward to hearing how well it sold.
which this also means that a finshed project means another blog post in the works. i already informed my family it would be on the table for thanksgiving, so it will get used before fall is gone.

this week i'm demo-ing another creative grids ruler to make some placemats as well as show how else you can use the block if you don't want to make all the placemats or the table runner.  that's what this blog post's main photo is of, so you can tune in for more about that soon :)
block party is at 9:30am PST every wednesday over on facebook at cali quilt co
if you are one of my few blog followers and haven't met me in real life, shout out in the comments when you watch.  i'd love to know what kind of traffic i get here!

friday i FINALLY quilted my christmas quilt.  i also tested out my new video camera that i bought over the quarantine summer, and it worked okay-ish, but i think the battery died or it got bored before i finished.  maybe it ran out of memory card space?  i'm not sure.  but i also learned that if i'm going to free motion and record it, don't put the camera to my right...  whole lot of my backside in view.  
my plan is to get the quilt bound this week so it is all ready to go by december 1st.

but that should be interesting with block party planning, black friday working, a dentist appointment today AND thanksgiving happening.

plus all the HSTs i still need to make for the all star quilt.

i should probably set a goal for that to make a certain amount a day.

100?  is that realistic?
there are 54 squares of each color... so if i make a full set a day, then i'll be game.

maybe i'll just HST marathon on thanksgiving.  its not like i am useful for any of that cooking process.

i also need to clean up my sewing table a bit...
i put my laundry away FINALLY... which ate in to a lot of my sewing time.

stupid adulting.

plus, my computer keeps shouting at me about running out of space.

ACK.

i've retreated and returned with progress

this past weekend was our first ever retreat for the sacramento modern quilt guild.

it was a short, but very eventful weekend that was well worth it, and a well needed escape.
friday morning, i packed everything up (don't be surprised i waited that long...) and then grabbed lunch and a quick stop at wal mart before beginning my voyage.
i picked up one of my guild members that lives just down the road from me, and after a quick stop at the shop to get ironing boards and wool mats, we were on our way.  our ETA started off at 3pm, but the change in weather quickly pushed that back past 4pm.
driving in snow for the first time can be checked off my list.  that's also why i borrowed my dad's car instead of mine.  thank you, all wheel drive.

once we finally made it, we checked in and got our machines unloaded before locating our cabin.

we did a lap around the area, thanks to the confusing map, and then we found our home...
are you ready for this??

see that TINY little window up at the top? that's where i stayed with three other guild members.

that is our room inside (my bed was the back right one) and even while we had the hike up the stairs... and more stairs... we were thankful we at least had a bathroom on our floor!  after putting our stuff in the room and gathering what we needed, it was back to the parking lot, and then the hike down the next set of stairs before settling in to get going for the evening.

as you can see, we each had our own little island for sewing, and remained masked up unless we were on our island.  after a few welcome notes, an ice breaker game and dinner, we were sewing away for the rest of the night.  well, i was trimming, trying to get all my current HSTs ready to go for the morning.  and i got almost all of them done.
we left around midnight the first night, and then had to hike up the INSANE stairs.
the four of us realized quickly how out of shape we were, and probably spent at least 5 minutes trying to regain our regular breathing once we got back inside our cabin.
oh... and i'm not just talking about the cabin stairs...i'm also talking about THESE stairs!

we went down them each day, and that first night was easily the worst, since they still had remnants of snow and ice on them.  SUPER fun.

saturday was all day sewing!

a few games thrown in here and there, like a fat quarter swap/steal and the kona/aurifil challenge.

i'm please to say i got the most right out of each set.

all the konas that i've had to pull in the last few weeks has really paid off in more ways than one.  ha!

what can i say?
i might get a little competitive when prizes are involved...
and i did feel a little guilty for constantly winning thing.  oh well!

we got a cool collection of swag from olfa, omnigrids, the mqg and cali quilt co, including a cuddle scarf a few guild members sewed that night.  i ALMOST sewed mine as well, just to say i've sewed minky, but i was too in the zone with making my star blocks.  we also battled technology and got the saturday night facebook live show up on the big screen to watch and see what they decided to sell while tayva was out of town.

saturday night i stayed until about 11:45 and was part of the last three to go.  i lucked out and was able to hitch a ride back to the cabin instead of taking those stairs in the dark all by myself.  at that point, i had managed to get 31 of my 120 blocks done, which was perfectly okay with me, since it meant i had less than 100 to go.

sunday morning we had to pack up, and get everything out and clean before check out.  we had to be out of the cabins by 11 and out of the main hall by 12.  i pretty much threw everything in my suitcase haphazardly, since it was only going to come out when i got home.  i managed to sew and get a total of 36 blocks done (4 color sets of 9) which was fabulous in my book.

loaded up the car, and after cleaning we were out of there and hit the road around 1130.

stopped by the shop to drop off the boards, and then dropped off my fellow guildmate before heading to take my dad back his car.

all in all it was a great little escape to have some solid sew time in a nice, scenic environment.

i'm totally looking forward to next year, in hopes we get one more day at the site, and our fingers are crossed we will be able to stay in the dorms.  the cabins were cute and nice, but man would having everything in one place AND get fed be amazing!

i ended up working yesterday to make up for some of the time off, and catch up on some of my impending work projects as well.  some great kits are coming together for shows, and my sewjo is still holding up strong.  be prepared... block party is looking like it is going to be pretty awesome tomorrow!  

norweigan woods christmas quilt

it's time to meet my first shop sample quilt!

working at a quilt shop has been AWESOME, and making quilts to have on display has been one of the perks of the job.  quilting for work, and then having an awesome project in the end?  don't mind if i do!

tayva showed me a handful of quilt patterns and asked if i was interested in making any of them, and when i saw this quilt with trees made out of triangles, i fell in love.  originally, i had another line of fabric in mind, but when that quickly sold out on a live show, i found the farmhouse christmas line of fabric from northcott and fell in love with the cute little candy canes and gingham prints.

i had to add some extra emily to it, by creating the star out of moda grunge as well as the entire background.  silver grunge is probably my favorite shade of gray to use.  it is perfectly perfect! 

i debated doing a white star, since i wasn't sure how the yellow would blend with the other fabrics, but after some convincing, lemon drop yellow grunge was there to stay on top of the trees

piecing the triangle trees was incredibly easy.  i actually did most of them at a sew day with the sacramento modern quilt guild.  the templates are included for all the triangle shapes as well as the stars.  there were a few pattern corrections, but it was just the labeling of pieces.  no measurement changes or anything. i just love these little trees!

i was pretty certain i was going to gift this quilt to someone (not that i had any idea who at the time) but i'm pretty sure i might keep it...  even though i still have my own planned christmas quilt to finsh up... which i finally bought thread for too!

i didn't use the red snowflakes in the trees, so i thought they would make the perfect binding.

and they did.

i have been talking about binding options with a lot of people lately, given my job, and i've come to find that i'm all for a bolder binding that really frames up the quilts.  if it is lighter or more subdued, its great and all... but boy do i love that red against the gray!

alright now this quilting...

i had planned to go in and just free motion woodgrain all over it, but once i saw this holly berry/poinsettia pantograph, i couldn't NOT use it.  it went so well with the prints in the fabric, and added a great all over texture to the quilt as well.  the way it popped out over the darker colors, but blended in with the rest... perfection.

and i loved the candy canes so much, i couldn't help but use them for the backing.

i'm not one that devours candy canes by the package during the holiday season, but they are probably one of my favorite festive prints to have in fabric.  plus the holly berries and snowflakes just make it that much cuter!

spud cat... always in the way.
with the new shop open, plus the grand opening this weekend, i was able to make a few kits of this pattern for customers to buy.  many had been asking for awhile, and since the fabric had come and (almost) gone, i was able to get 9 kits put together.  it was pretty awesome seeing people buy them, since that meant they really liked my choices!

now that this quilt kit has had such success, i cannot wait to see how well the dinosaur kits do.  which is totally on my list of things to get together soon, so stay tuned if you shop our live shows!

pattern information: norweigan woods by abbey lane quilts

quilt count: 144

boxed up beauty and the beast quilt

i'm in LOVE with this quilt!
for being a (huge) baby quilt, it couldn't have turned out any better.
and the best part?  it went to live at my best friend's house for her sweet baby girl.when erika was pregnant with jackson, figuring out the fabric for that quilt was a breeze.  (see it here!)  but when it came to this little one, i was at a complete loss of what to do.  do i do another winnie the pooh one?  do i do something simple and basic?  do i make it match her nursery?  WHAT DO I DO???
so the plan just sat.
and sat and sat and sat.  until one day, someone posted a thread in a quilting group i'm in asking what fabric lines everyone is drooling over.  then, someone in the comments shared the riley blake beauty and the beast fabric line, and as soon as i saw it, i was putting a fat quarter bundle in my cart and calling it a day. i don't think i quite had an exact plan right off the bat, except that this fabric needed to happen.

i knew cluck cluck sew had easy, awesome, fat quarter friendly patterns, so i cruised through their selection and decided on the boxed up quilt.  this pattern featured the fun prints in a great way, without chopping them up and eliminating everything that was cute about them.  once the fabric arrived, it was then time to decide on a background color.

i could have easily done white, but that would have been asking for danger with a baby quilt.  my first instinct was green, then i started to second guess it... i tried some pinks, i looked at dear stella moonscape dots, but my eyes and my heart came back to the konas.  i landed on kona asparagus, which was the perfect shade of green to go with the leaves in the rose prints.  i also decided that more fabrics needed to be featured in this quilt.  the crib size only needed 7 fat quarters, and well... i just bought a full set of 18...
so what did i do?i went ahead and made the lap size version of the quilt!
sure, she's just a tiny baby right now, but now she can use it for years and years!  i also went ahead and used 15 of the fat quarters and changed up the ratio used in the quilt (3 sets of each when it was 10, down to 2 sets of each at 15).  i took out the three brown fat quarters, since they stood out SO MUCH.  i used my design wall to figure out the layout of the large blocks, but that part was actually the hardest.

the blue/yellow/pink ratios were a little mismatched, so it was harder to create a balance of everything when creating the final layout.  i had to fussy cut some of the smaller pieces for the sashing type strips, because i knew it would drive me CRAZY to have sideways prints.

i used a day at my parents to get the little strips thrown together and then sew together the complete quilt top.  once those little bits were all laid out, things went together pretty quickly.  minus the occasional cat laying in the middle of the project, but such is life.

i quilted it using a rose garden pantograph that i used on a previous quilt, because when you're doing beauty and the beast, it OBVIOUSLY has to be roses!  the backing and binding are out of the same rose print from the line, because as soon as i saw it, i couldn't imagine anything else to frame up the quilt.  the colors were perfect.

i mean cmon, just look at how cute that little beast guy is! erika was originally due on october 6th, but after little baby gemma decided to turn herself in the wrong way, she was induced at the end of september.  

that sure kicked finishing this quilt in to high gear, and i was sewing the binding on the day that she was born.  it took a little bit longer to get mailed out to her, due to finding a package the right size to fit it in... because poly mailers are MIA right now, like no other.  but i did receive word when it arrived, and that it is already well loved!this quilt turned out better than i could have imagined!
well, given that it started off with nothing imagined, i couldn't be more thankful to have stumbled across that riley blake line by way of the facebook group.

there is a secondary pattern that was also included in this, and i cannot wait to take a look at that and give it a go.  truth be told, i have SO many patterns i have purchased, i don't even know where to begin on some things!  i really just need to pull out all the ones i've done and work my way through them, even if it is just as a charity quilt to work through my stash (which i'm sure i've mentioned is way excessive and a bit overwhelming most of the time)

so here's to winding down the rest of 2020 with wrapping up current projects before blowing the roof of with the plans i have for 2021.  but first...
i'm really just itching to meet the little one that got this quilt and snuggle her.
texas is so far away though... :(

pattern information: boxed up by cluck cluck sew

quilt count: 143

it's been a grand (and exhausting) week

another week, another collection of updates!

we made it through halloween last week, kicked off november, and had a tuesday that seemed to never end.  but we've made it, and here we are at another monday!
but a whole heck of a lot happened in between.

i trimmed a lot of half square triangles.

and when i say a lot, i mean a LOT.

also last week... ya girl turned the big 32.

i celebrated by going to work.  sounds pretty typical, right?

a year ago, or even 6 months ago, i had plans to go big for this birthday.  angelina had told me once about having a second annual sweet 16 when she turned 32, but that idea got forgotten.  i was SO determined to do it up big, but well... thanks to COVID, my celebration couldn't happen as planned.
i've already started to envision plans for next year's 33... so keep those fingers crossed.

thursday i had mexican food and friday i had pizza at godfathers.  all in all, a pretty well fed birthday.

also this week was the big grand opening at cali quilt co, and boy was it BUSY.  

friday and saturday were very consistent with people in the shop, and we STILL ran our live show on saturday night.  sunday was my day off, but i headed down to the shop to get a few more ombre fabrics to fully stock what i need for my all star quilt.  plus i got some of the dino prints i had been eyeballing... because everyone (me) needs astronaut dinosaurs and super hero dinosaurs.  but now, i need to head back to reality and just need to keep chopping, sewing, trimming, and repeating until all 720 sets are made.  our guild retreat begins on friday, so i'd like to have as many HSTs done as i can so i can make blocks there instead of just HST all day err day.also coming this week is my first live show!

while i've been the hands and voice behind the camera on our shop's saturday night live shows, starting this week, i'll be doing my own "block party" every wednesday at 9:30am PST.  we also have a monday live video called "miek's mondays" with our shop manager annemieke that starts today!  

i made this week's block as a practice round yesterday, and it is honestly so cute, i cannot wait to make more of them.  you'll be able to purchase the kits and all the goodies we share through the show and then be able to make it with us when you rewatch the videos.  cool, right??

be sure to "like" cali quilt co by clicking here to go to their facebook page :)

happy monday!

one month (and three days) in

 i've officially made it one month as a full time employee.

can you believe it?
one thing i have already noticed is that it has REALLY helped my eating out habits.
when i did the split shift, i worked in the morning from 7-12:30, and after eating something for lunch, worked from 1-5:30 or so, which left me hungry and lazy once i got off work.
but now, i work from 7-3:30, bring my lunch with me each day, and then remind myself it is WAY too early for dinner.
so now, i maybe eat out once or twice a week if i'm out running errands or something?

moral of the story: more money for fabric.  

oh, and i did a thing last week too :)

being that blonde for a hot second was weird, but the end result was exactly what i was hoping for.
still getting used to seeing the teal hair i've been wanting for years (but couldn't because of my teaching job) and the fact that it isn't just going to wash out after one rinse... ha.
but do i anticipate this being a long time thing?  absolutely!

otherwise, this week has been mildly productive quilty wise.
purchased some black on black fabric for my first project planned for 2021, so with that started (i already printed the pattern as well) then it relieves a little bit of the chaos of kicking off the year with something new.  plus, i usually marathon sew on new year's eve, and since i don't anticipate any parties happening, i'll for sure be sewing away to get things going.

speaking of "parties"...

i saw my friends for the first time this weekend since april, if not longer.  the last time we "gathered" was for jared's drive by birthday, and that was all of 15 minutes tops.
it was a well missed experience.
clearly, i had no costume plans for this, and when it was planned to be outside, i borrowed my dad's rosco onesie, made a mask and called it a day.

no major projects or quilt tops completed this week, but i finally convinced myself to start working more on my big sister/little sister quilt combo.
i'm super stoked with the projects i chose, but making over a thousand HSTs is daunting!
sunday night i got 4 sets of colors sewn and trimmed while marathoning episodes of new girl on my phone.  yesterday, i got those pressed, and i had hoped to trim them as well... but man that was a chore just to press them.  now it is back to drawing guide likes on the next set of while squares to line up my 

i bought the planner i was debating about last week, and i think it is really going to help keep me on track for all of my 2021 personal quilting plans as well as work tasks and such.  
sure, i plan to still use my bullet journal tracker and such as well, but having a calendar i don't have to draw myself will also be nice.

what's on the agenda for this week?
sewing
sewing
birthday dinner
birthday pizza
more sewing

that's right, everyone.
november is officially birthday month.  well, it is easy to make it last when you're used to celebrating your birthday either in october or thanksgiving at grandma's house.
it's a hard tradition to break, especially when grandma's furniture is in my living room now ;)

christmas village bold blocks quilt

 

today is the day! bold blocks quilt is available and ready for a sew along!  head on over to allisonramsing.com for more details about getting the pattern, timeline and more on that straight from the designer allison herself :)

once the kapow! quilt pattern test was over, i was totally on board to test another (and clearly put off all my own projects even more).  i saw the "better not pout" line of fabric while cutting orders one day at the shop and couldn't help but fall in love with these cute houses and need to find something to make with this.  allison sent out a call for pattern testers, and once i was chosen, i KNEW i had to incorporate them.  I picked a wintery/festive variety to include, and then BOOM.  it came to life!

the simplicity of these blocks and the way the layout makes them look askew without being overly chaotic.  i stuck closely to the pattern this time, and didn't get too fancy with adding more colors to the quilt at all.  i purchased exactly what the pattern called for, and while my cutting instructions changed from the recommendations Allison gave, i still had enough fabric to use (both the blue blocks as well as the yellow background fabric were cut directionally) i considered doing the same poinsettia quilting i had done on previous christmas quilts (which you'll FINALLY get to see sprinkled through this month) but the more i thought about it, the more i wanted the prints and the quilt's layout to be the focus and not be overwhelmed by the quilting.  i used one of my favorite pantographs "loop the loop" with jade green glide thread and i'm SO happy with the results.

i decided to use glide in particular because it was new in our shop and i had been getting a lot of questions about it from customers.  i was able to use a mini spool for the quilting (plus winding three gamill bobbins for it)  and still had plenty of thread to spare in the end.  i have also heard it is good for piecing, so i will have to give that a shot sometime as well!  my current projects are far from jade green, so i'll have to find something soon to give it a go with :)

i went with blue grunge 108 for the backing, since it was a perfect "solid" tie in without having to add even more print to the back.  after talking with customers and hearing about how "nobody wants to cuddle up with a cotton backed quilt, they want minky" i ALMOST took the plunge, but at the same time... i don't know if i'm ready to jump in to that quite yet.  maaaaybe soon.

i also had a huge struggle trying to decide on binding.  i asked instagram, and got a lot of responses.  i wanted to steer clear of red to keep this more "wintery christmas" instead of IN YOUR FACE obvious christmas.  that way, it isn't awful if it stays out just a little bit longer beyond christmas.  i even purchased a stripe from this same line of fabric, but when i got it home and next to the quilt... i hated it.

so back i went the next day to get a bit more of the holly leaves to finish up the quilt, and it is perfect.

someday i won't feel like i have to include a quilt tag photo on each and every post...
but today is not that day.  i'm still pretty obsessed with them.  and i also managed to remember to fold this one out of the way when i was top stitching so that it wouldn't have a green line through it.  it's the little things, guys.  mentioning green lines, i DID sew on my binding with the glide thread, and it worked like a breeze for that as well.  nothing wigged out at all beyond the weird spots my machine occasionally catches ALL thread, so there was nothing specific to glide that i had to grumble about.  and now that you've made it to the bottom of the post, rosco is here to remind you the quilt along starts TODAY!  go get yourself that pattern (it's on sale through my birthday, even!) and join in the fun.  allison has some great prizes in store, and i'll be rummaging through my stash to see what i might come up with for my very own quilt along version.  this holiday one has a home already, but the recipient doesn't quite know it yet.  will it be you?
guess you'll just have to keep checking your front porch every so often this month!

pattern information: bold blocks by allison ramsing

quilt count: 142