fandom filled amy butler's daisy chain quilt

another major project that was a long time planned was this beast!
melissa & jared got engaged on october 1st of 2015 and then after much debate set their wedding date for a year later.  i instantly knew i wanted to make them something that would blend a variety of their fandoms together and give them the perfect quilt to kick off their marriage.  much like andrew's disney i-spy quilt, the fabrics for this one were hunted far and wide to get the perfect combo without being too in your face and chaotic.
the fabrics used combine their enthusiasm for star wars, star trek, dr. who, marvel (avengers), zelda (particularly jared on that one), disney, music and harry potter.  i picked a color scheme that was subtle, mostly black & white with blue and red touches in there to keep it all together.  each fandom has anywhere from 2-6 prints (star wars had a lot with the force awakens coming out recently) which made for a nice variety on the blocks.  i chose the amy butler pattern again, since i was familiar with it and knew it would be the perfect way to blend all these fabrics together without them looking too uniformed. one of my perfect little mishaps, where thor fit perfectly inside the triangle point. there is one of harry potter playing quidditch as well, but i couldn't find him when i was photographing the details. it's seriously like an unintentional i-spy game!
when i was putting this quilt together, i texted my cousin often, feeling like this quilt could either turn out cool, or a big hot mess.  thankfully, it turned out pretty cool in my opinion.
i chose the blue sparkle to keep one color consistent, and since this looked rather spacey it tied right in to all the fandom-ness. i think if i had gone to the red side, it would have looked WAY different and potentially even an eyesore. ha!
the solid backing worked perfectly, and allowed the quilting to pop out just enough.
i actually got to deliver this to them a few weeks ago and see them open it (and then immediately spread it out on their bed) which was so much fun to see their reaction.  seriously, that's the best part... see?
pardon the crummy cell phone photo, but clearly all worth it.
happy one month and 9 day anniversary, melissa & jared!

musical amy butler daisy chain 2.0

as mentioned last week, this quilt has "graduated" to week 2 of donner mine music camp this year after being last year's week 1 quilt(see it here).  lisa found this quilt initially years ago, and this will be the 4th time that i've made some variety of this quilt using this style of block.  once as a queen size wedding quilt, once as a baby quilt, and now twice as the size the pattern actually describes.  i hadn't actually looked back at last year's quilt before putting this post together, and wow, what a difference between the two!  just the differences in the border alone make all the difference to show while they are the same quilt, they look totally unique in their own.
i really love doing this quilt pattern, despite how LONG it takes to put the blocks together. pin 48 blocks, sew, iron, repeat a bajillion times. then trimming the blocks all before they can be sewn together. bah!  the fact that the strips are sewn to a foundation piece of fabric is awesome, since it really helps keep things in place.
the last few times i have done this quilt i left out the 5" strips, but for some reason this time i felt obligated to leave a few of them in.  kind of shook things up a little bit, that's for sure.  i also noticed i had a lot of one direction fabrics this time (in particular one with words all over it) so i had to keep more of an eye on which way the fabrics were going when i put the blocks together as a whole.
see? there are those treble clefs again!  i used them a bit within the blocks, but when i forgot to keep one of the fabrics in a big 2 yard chunk for the borders, i had to find whatever joann's had to offer.  and of course, there they were waiting for me at the store :)  i did use one of the music prints for the binding, which really popped.  i had originally planned that the treble clefs would be there, but hey, plans change it seems!
 i am also quite fond of the backing fabric i used.  you can hardly tell the seam runs straight down the middle to make the pieces large enough!  i was pretty proud of myself for getting this done within a week as well, as i spent the sunday of week 1 doing some of the binding in the car on the way to take the camp photo.  multitasking for the win!  (not multitasking by hand sewing and driving though... that sounds all bad)
this one was a little larger than week one's quilt this year, but definitely still a good size.
it seems this idea of doing a quilt raffle each week has been a successful fundraiser for the camp, and i'm excited that i get to keep being part of it.  now maybe next year i'll FINALLY get ahead of the game and not spend the last week of june and beginning of july in crunch time to get these done!  and as fun as it always is to do these, i am excited to take a break from staring at music fabrics for days on end :)

musical charm (and 10!) squares quilt

it is officially that time of year for the donner mine music camp quilts!  not too long ago, i posted the baby girl charm (and 10!) squares quilt, and mentioned you'd be seeing another version of that quilt again soon... well, here it is!
when i saw this quilt pattern had two different size options, i was very excited to play with it again and make it larger.  elizabeth hartman's pattern had a 5" baby quilt square pattern and a 10" square pattern which made a twin sized quilt.  i wanted it to be something inbetween, so i made my squares 8" which allowed the quilt to end up around lap sized which was exactly what i was looking for.
with all the fabric that we've gained over the past year or so, we had quite the mix to choose from. i decided to go with just the two tone black and white prints as to not make it TOO crazy all over. this helped save some more variety for the week 2 quilt as well, which was a plus!
i couldn't find the black on black print i was initially looking for, so instead i found this other one that had the feel of little music notes with the circles and lines.  i used it for the back as well, which worked perfectly.
the binding i used was the black on black trebel clefs i've become so fond of (and has found their way in to most if not all of the music quilts i've done for the camp)  this quilt came together so quickly, i had both this one and the baby version done within a week!  lisa asked me how i could do the same quilt patterns multiple times, and i think part of it is seeing how different they turn out with different fabrics.  while the layout is the same, the baby quilt and the music quilt look completely different and that's fantastic!  it will be interesting to see how next year's version of this quilt turns out, since that seems to be the tradition with these music quilts.  next year this will be week 2's quilt, and i'll have to find something new for week one.
on that note, be sure to come back next week to see week 2's (this week of camp) quilt this year.  as a hint, here's what it looked like last year during week one: music themed amy butler's daisy chain

music themed amy butler daisy chain

hello readers!
it's officially that time of year again :)
last friday wrapped up week 2 for donner mine music camp, and yet again we were at it with a donation quilt to raffle off for each week.  i say we, because the purchasing of the fabric is 75% my mom, 25% me depending on who is where and when.  we're still stashing fabric throughout the year (and have already begun on next year's stash.  ha!)  anyways, just as i did in previous years, i rolled week 1's quilt pattern to week 2 for this year, and then pulled a new pattern in for week one.  this year, i went with the amy butler daisy chain, which i have done twice before and LOVED, and think it turned out fantastic.  here's your first full look at it.
we had this fabric on the back laying around, probably purchased to do the back of the quilt in it's entirety.  alas, it was too short for one, and not wide enough for two, so i had to get a little creative with the backing and border it off to make the entire huge piece work for both quilts.  so this year, both quilts have a cozy flannel backing.
the front was crazy to piece, using scraps from last year, new pieces found throughout the year, and deciding which other pieces just didn't work.  i threw in a few black on black/white on whites from my pudge cat quilt, and that seemed to help break up the chaos of it all a little bit.  usually when i make a quilt with this pattern, i skip the 5" strips because it just seems too huge to take up that much space with one fabric.  as you can see in the above photo, that strip with the music instruments in a row would have TOTALLY not worked had it been chopped any smaller.  it totally made the quilt that much better (and helped use up more fabric.  ha!)
the actual pattern for this quilt calls for 3 borders of varying widths.  since this was intended to just be a lap quilt, i used scraps that were actually removed from a tshirt quilt my mom made for aileen last christmas.  the strips were the perfect width for a slight border to frame off all of this quilt.  i was looking for a different black print for the binding, but when i couldn't find it, this one worked perfectly.  it also reminded me a little bit of whole notes, adding in to the music theme.
tagged!
these quilts seem to have a great reaction once they go up to camp to be raffled off.
this year, the woman who won this quilt sent the camp director's wife a photo of it on their bed already, thanking them, my dad (he sells the raffle tickets at the concert) and i for the great quilt and camp experience.  always love to hear a happy winner :)

donner mine music camp week 2's quilt raffle prize - musical pinwheels

let the influx of new posts begin!
you saw the triangle musical quilt a little bit ago, and now it's time for week 2's quilt!  i had done this same quilt for last year's donation raffle, and since we still had bits and pieces left over, pulled another one together for week 2 this year.  it was fairly easy to pull together, and since i only had to make 3 more pinwheels, it happened like magic.
i switched up the quilting a bit this time around. last year my grandma just did a basic cross hatch all over, and so i broke it down to being different for the two different blocks. if it was a pinwheel block, i did a stitch in the ditch. for the printed blocks, i did a cross hatch within that block. both blocks were outlines around to frame the quilting. the border was also stitched in the ditch, and then once that was complete it was on to the binding.
as you can see, i didn't even bother removing cat fur...  but there you have it.
two musical quilts off to new homes, and a music camp who benefited from these generous, supportive individuals who send their kids off to camp.  until next year, donner mine!

donner mine music camp week 1's quilt raffle prize - triangle quilt along

this is another quilt that i'm super excited to share!  after last year's two quilts raised a decent amount for the donner mine music camp, i was asked again to do another two quilts this year.  we still had pieces and parts left over from one of the quilts that could be repeated, but the second quilt still had to be decided.  i stumbled across a cute little quilt using just triangles called "alphabet blues" by waggonswest on craftster, and i had to run with the idea.  initially, i had a different color scheme in mind, but after a trip to beverley's in rocklin and mom cruising through their fat quarter collection combined with other fabric chunks we had in the great stash pile that is our house, we formed about 10 or so different prints.
the pattern used was from the "triangle quilt along" put on by the sassy quilter.  granted, i didn't do this with them in true quilt along style, but it was still a great set of directions that was super simple to follow.  6" wide strips, then cut down to 60 degree angles with a 1/2" trimmed off one tip to help with lining up the pieces.  204 triangles later, it was game time.
17 triangles across, 12 rows down.  the trickiest part was laying them all out in various ways to keep certain prints away from repeating to give more of the "scattered" look i was hoping for.  and then keeping them in that same order as i sewed them together row by row.  i ended up taking a picture from my phone and printing it out full page to have as a visual, then crossing each row off as i finished things.  i only had to redo a few pairings, so that was pretty exciting.
i tried something a smidge different for the quilting versus what i have usually done.  it was the same way waggonswest quilted her "alphabet blues" and i just loved it.  i aligned my foot with the diagonal seam and just sewed down the row.  then, i aligned it with the opposite side of the foot, and did the second side.  i love how it looks versus stitching in the ditch for this one.
to keep with the overall look of the quilt, i did a scrappy binding of the fabrics used.  which was a good choice, since it really helped me get the fullest out of each of the fat quarters purchased.  as you heard in one of my weekend wips posts, i spent the time in reno really busting out a good portion of the binding on this quilt while kicking back and relaxing.  win, win, win situation.  i finished this quilt in it's entirety late tuesday night with minutes to spare before midnight... you can't really tell in these pictures, but i swear i de-furred quite a bit of it.  between our house of cats and amy's house of dogs & cats, this black backed quilt was doomed.
pretty sure velcro is partially to blame...
he's pretty much failing as an assistant.
i just love detail photos... it makes me swoon. the cat fur is just the bonus gift for the recipient.
and there's that official tag meaning it's done!  it's become my officially unofficial tradition to post "tag" photos the moment i finish sewing them to the quilt on my instagram feed.  which is always entertaining since it acts as a sort of time stamp for people to see that i'm crafting at all sorts of obscure hours of the night.
this quilt was for week one of camp, which ended last friday night and got raffled off.  not sure how well it did, but apparently someone from the camp wants to pay me in cookies in order to have me make a quilt like this for her.  i might just make that happen... i do love chocolate chip cookies!

two music themed donation quilts

finally at the end of catching up, and now i should hopefully convince myself to start sewing the next project that has been cut out for days!  this year, my mom came up with the idea for the music camp my siblings have attended forever to have a quilt raffle in order to help raise money for the camp.  i did a music themed quilt for the high school a few years ago (quilt here) and this time had to bust out some quilts in a matter of days before the final day of camp each week.
these two quilts fall under the stash bust category since we had the fabric laying around, but did also have to purchase some filler fabric as well as the backing pieces in order to complete the quilts.  the first quilt (on the left) is based off of "pinwheel play" (link below) and pieced together easily.  the pinwheels are 10" finished, with a stashing in between.  i really like the colors on this quilt a whole lot.  a little more punch to them than the others i have done for music donations.  and we still have fabric left over to do another one for next year!
quilt 2 on the right is using the same "just can't cut it" pattern as the donation quilt done a few years back.  we had a LOT of black & white fat quarters that were managed to work in with this pattern.  this quilt pattern is a great one for a new quilter.  the blocks are easy to piece together, no tiny pieces, and everything goes together super quick.  i was able to put both of these quilt tops together in one afternoon, and send off to quilt within a few days after that.
due to the quick finish time and need for them to get sent off to camp, i didn't get a chance to photograph these quite like i usually do. so alas, this isn't a very picture filled post.  but there you have it, two more quilts done and out of here!
quilt 1: based off of pinwheel play by julie weaver in quilts for babies & kids
quilt 2: "just can't cut it" by all washed up
total stash busting quilts/quilt tops combined: 12

day 25:30 - 30 day challenge

>day 25: put your ipod on shuffle.  first 10 songs are...
oh how i love music.  and these "put your ipod on shuffle" questions always end up entertaining.  my ipod has so much random stuff on it.  like, 2916 songs of random.  i'm a music hoarder, what can i say?  i will preface things by saying that if one of my songs for work come up (i.e. ballet warm ups, boogie walk, freeze dance, etc) i will skip it and move on to something else.  those will be the only skips i will allow myself, and i will note them if it happens.
1. The Queen & I - Gym Class Heroes
2. Woody's Been Stolen - Randy Newman (Toy Story 2 Soundtrack)
3. Like a Virgin - Glee Cast
4. Keep Holding On - Avril Lavigne
5. The Future Freaks Me Out - Motion City Soundtrack
6. Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner (Demo) - Fall Out Boy
7. The Great Pretender - The Platters
8. Mary Poppins - Mark Salling
9. Let Your Heart Do All The Talking - A*Teens
10. Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Work - Elton John & Ray Charles
whoop whoop, nothing was skipped!  and now as you can see, music from when i was like 12 still remains on my ipod.  and then some.  haha.  each time i do one of these questions, my music variety that comes up is always do different.  what band do i have the most music from on my ipod?  well, technically the cast of glee with 332 songs of their 500+ musical numbers.  after that, it's fall out boy with 144 songs.  it used to be me first & the gimmie gimmies for awhile, but that spot has been well shot past.

day 18:30 - 30 day challenge

day 18: something you regret
my regrets don't involve not doing that one thing, going that one place, not buying that one thing, or even dating/not dating that one guy.  instead, this one has to do with the piano, and my youthful lack of desire for it, sending me in to a spiral of inability to jam like schroeder from the peanuts gang.  yep.  another music related post folks.
when i was younger, along with all my siblings, i took piano lessons through a woman at our church in rio linda.  at one point, it would be all three of us back to back (aileen wasn't old enough yet) for an hour and a half combined.  it was a good experience, but i was at that age i just didn't want to do it anymore.  so i think i lasted MAYBE two years, and then called it done.  but alas, i find myself now kicking myself for doing so.
i'm sure it would have helped me out immensely through high school with the percussion parts i was given in concert band, and i'm sure it also would have helped me out a ton with my sight reading skills...  yes, i totally wrote the notes in on my sheet music all the way through high school.
i wish i had stuck with piano maybe a year longer... maybe two...  i don't know.  long enough to at least feel semi masterful at being able to play chords with one hand and a medley with the other.  long enough to play more than the annoying "here comes the band" song i remember - it was the last song i think i learned before i quit.  long enough to be better at sight reading... maybe even long enough to play a full length song from a musical.  you know, with the fancy pedal movements, changes in tempo, chords, and all that jazz. the kinds of music you see the five year old prodigy children bust out on america's got talent.
sure, i could retry teaching myself now.  bust out one of those fancy phantom of the opera jams... maybe one day soon(er or later) i will sit down and attempt a thing or two.  but right now, i'll just deal with it.  or at least i'll keep telling myself that.  it feels like so much stuff is happening right now, and boy would i NOT want an audience to witness that happening!  i can at least say i feel that i'm better at the piano at this very moment than ross geller...  i mean, i can bust out heart and soul... or the rugrats theme song.

day 15:30 - 30 day challenge

day 15: bible verse
i am a little stuck as far as today's post goes.  i don't have a photo for this one, and along with that i am by no means a scriptorian, that's for sure.  sure, i did four years of seminary every day in high school, but i really don't remember much from it.  and when it was at 5:40 in the morning, who really would?  anyways... though  i don't remember a whole lot from those four years, i do remember one verse (in chunks, so i had to google it) that particularly stuck out to me.  oddly enough, it's from my freshman year, and probably the first term of the year.
"for my soul delighteth in the song of the heart;  yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me,  and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads." this verse is from the doctrine & covenants, and is in chapter 25 verse 12.  at that point, emma smith was being instructed through revelation to put together some hymns for the church.  music was important then, and it still has a huge role in the church today.  now not specifically pertaining to churches and religion, this verse stuck out to me through high school simply because of the importance music & the arts played for me.  being involved in music programs regularly since 6th grade through 12th grade has had a huge impact on my life.  through music, i've made a lot of friends, build my talents, and rounded myself out as an individual.  i'm not a singer AT ALL so through band, as well as colorguard and dance performance programs, i have been able to express myself and create myself as an individual.
well, i'm sure i shocked and amazed you all by actually sticking with the prompt and not skimping out because it was a bible verse/churchy themed prompt.  i'm full of surprises.  gotta keep you all guessing!
edit to add:  i decided to throw in this old "girls camp" photo... because it was a church camp.  thus relating to the theme.

dohs marching band spectacular donation quilt

each year at the del oro band spectacular, they hold a quilt raffle in order to help raise money for the program. this year i was asked to do the quilt (my parents are pretty involved in the band supporters... go figure) and after finally deciding on a pattern was able to get it put together and everything in a matter of days. my grandma made the coordinating pillow to go along with the music theme. actually, it ended up being total coincidence that the fabric was the same, but hey, it makes it THAT much better. she also did the quilting for me... something i recently attempted on something of my own, but i'm SO glad she did it for me...
even though it was a pretty basic quilt pattern, i really like how it turned out. squares and rectangles totally make things a whole heck of a lot easier to deal with, that is for sure.
and check that binding out! SO much better than the pirate mouse binding. a whole heck of a lot of blind hem stitching though. nothing that a few friends dvds couldn't make easier to deal with.
so that's that! at least for this season's spectacular. i'm sure something will come up for next semester when we have the winter spectacular. at least i have a heads up and can get looking for some fun music fabric now. so now, go to del oro on saturday, buy some raffle tickets so you can take this matched set home with you :)