moda holliberry alexandra tote

i'm in love with this bag, but i'm not going to lie... it has a funny backstory.my boss asked me one friday night if i had any plans after work.  being the year 2020, obviously not...  my only plan was to sew, but i was intrigued to hear what the offer was.  tayva asked me if i would be up for sewing a new sample bag to go with some sew by number battings we had in stock for our live show that weekend.  with a handful of jelly rolls to select from, and a quilt shop at my fingertips, i selected moda's holliberry jellyroll for my exterior and a cut of grunge for my bag lining.  my apologies now, i forgot to write down which shade of grunge it was...
but let me tell you, it was fabulous.
the hardest part of this bag was deciding the layout of the strips.  overall, it used about half of a jelly roll, which allowed for a lot of variation between the two sides of the bag.  i started with one consistent middle red strip, and worked the rest of the colorways out from there.  when it came to the other diagonal on the bag, i tried to keep them matching the best that i could so it would be cohesive on both sides.the process of sewing the bag was super easy.  spray baste the lining to the solid side of the batting.  then, once that is flat and good to go, select your strips and lay them in the numbered rectangle.  sew, and then repeat.  apparently i wasn't supposed to iron it until the very end, but you know... rules are meant to be broken sometimes.  no quilt police were called on me either, so that's a plus.speaking of breaking rules...

i totally didn't understand how the pattern wanted me to do the straps, nor did i end up with 2 matching jelly roll strips to do it the way i thought it was saying.  so i flubbed it.
i pieced together the straps from some of the lining/binding fabric (grunge) with one of the jelly roll strips i really liked but didn't have enough for two straps.  i then folded it around the batting strip as well as the webbing that was included and stitched down the center to close up all the seams.  i also did a top stitch on both edges to help finish it off and really hold it together.
it may not have been what the pattern said to do, but i love it.given that this was a question that was posed before i left the shop, i didn't really have time to analyze what color of thread i would need, since the inner quilting would be visible.  i did not have the right shade of gray AT ALL, so i decided the next best thing would be a bold, contrasting red.  and i was right!  it adds a little bit of festive-ness to the inside and really helps the binding on the edge pop.  the pattern also says that you can leave the inside edges raw or zig zag them, but after talking to tayva about how she did her batik sample, i went ahead and made a sort of binding for that as well.  i much prefer the clean (yet slightly wonky) look that it gives without having white batting peep out against the gray.

go figure, i don't have any photos of that though...

i really enjoyed how quick this project was, and the instant gratification that came from finishing it in about an hour or so!  i can't remember if i had a show or movie playing, or if i ended up listening to a podcast... but it didn't take long at all.

this would be a great project for beginners, since it gives you all the numbers of what way to sew the strips on and everything.  

would i do another one?  absolutely.

i've already oogled halloween rolls and thought about how cool they would look, or even some of the other fun june taylor bag patterns caliquiltco carries.  wouldn't it be a super fun gift bag?  or trick or treat bag?  i was also thinking of how cool it would be for a baby shower gift, filled with diapers or other necessities.

virtual baby showers & christmas quilts

two things that make super sense together, am i right?

but these two disjointed things are what i spent the better half of last week doing.
last sunday we had our guild sew day, and i got a good start on the norweigan woods christmas quilt for caliquiltco.  i finished the top up, and when i brought it in to the shop on friday, tayva asked me if i would be able to have it quilted by the following week for our holiday themed live show.

give me a deadline, i'll make it happen.
so that's where i'll be this afternoon!

jumping over to the baby shower side of things, this was a first (as many things are in 2020)
since we're in lockdown and my bff is in texas, i couldn't exactly throw her a baby shower like i did four year ago for jackson.
when i wasn't sewing this week, i was cutting stencils and painting onesies for this music themed ensemble (plus a little disney magic) but more on those later.
i ordered special cookies from my cousin (fanciful sweets), put together some games in a facebook group and scheduled a zoom hangout for yesterday afternoon.  everything went off without a hitch, despite not being able to hang out and chat and snack with each other.  played a riveting game of "the price is right" and just chatted.

you don't realize how long it has been since you last saw someone until these big events start coming around.  i last saw erika in texas because of being there for quiltcon, and it is so crazy how much time has flown but not at the same time.  i so badly wish i could have been there with her, but you know... covid and stuff.

i can't wait to meet the little princess coming their way, and YIKES i still have a baby quilt to figure out!  once i wrap up this christmas tree quilt, it will be back to babyland for me to complete my 2 october baby quilts as well as one pattern test i agreed to do AND lorelai's tweenager quilt... which has to be done before she turns in to a real life teenager.  AHHHH.

happy monday!

neverland themed take heart baby quilt

 okay, so clearly 2020 quarantine has gotten to me, since this is the SECOND curves quilt i've done ever, and it was just a few months after i finished the winnie the pooh parallel path quilt.  i see you curves, i don't fear you anymore.  well, at least in small doses.

angela pingel, the designer of this quilt (you may remember the hidden agenda quilt i made my mom.  same awesome designer), posted early on in june that she was selling her "take heart" pattern for $10, with all proceeds going towards black artists+designers guild.  i fell in love with the pattern, so while feeling like a small fish in a huge pond during the black lives matter movement, i purchased the pattern in hopes that my contribution would help in some way.  after purchasing the pattern, it sat for awhile waiting to be created. that is, until i saw this great neverland line of fabric at caliquiltco.

my dear friend and fellow benny and the jets member andrea was expecting her first little one.  when she first announced she was pregnant, i was going to take a hard left in to a muppets themed quilt for her, but as her pregnancy progressed and the decor for the nursery started being shared by her and her husband... well, i knew i had to save that muppet idea for another day.  they are going to be having a sweet baby girl next month, and the colors in this line of michael miller fabric was just perfect.

i selected 4 prints in each color (i tried to vary the pink from the green, but the boats were just too cute) and then selected 4 various blenders to go with it - 2 dear stella, bedrock and ombre confetti dots.  The hardest part was spreading out the prints and colors to be away from each other... but as you can tell, that got a little harder as things went on.   yet again, these curves were SO much easier than i expected!

i anticipated them to be difficult, but i only used the paper template provided with the pattern and had no issues at all piecing them together.  plus, i had my super awesome design wall hung up, which really helped keep these blocks organized and ready to go when it became time to sew them all together.

i'm a little obsessed... there are lots of photos of this quilt... i chose the blue print to use as the front, since i feel like it didn't get to showcase all of the cuteness in the small squares.  it features mermaids, wendy, tiger lily and fairies surrounded by other neverland inspired items.  this particular print in the line is called "girls are much to clever" which i felt like was the perfect for this clever girl that was coming in to their family.  (fact: andrea's husband is a MAJOR jurassic park fan... i totally meant to make them a "clever girl" onesie as well).  since i don't like to piece things together and look at them not lining up, i used some of the blue dear stella fabric to create a space between them in my usual offset pieced back style.and get this... this quilt was the first one with my...new quilt tags!

i'd been wanting new ones for awhile, and my supply of what i've been using had finally dwindled down to there it was reasonable to buy new ones.  so i did just that!

i hired a family friend (shout out to holly ellis) as a graphic designer (who is also a cat lover) to come up with something new, and she knocked it out of the park.  so much so, that there were two versions that she did...i loved them both... so you'll have to wait and see what the other one looks like.  i promise, it should pop up soon in one of my projects that still need quilted (or actually... all 3 of them!)

quilt tags ordered from border city quilts

i'm so happy that despite quarantine and everything, i did get to see andrea and drop this quilt off to her curbside for her drive by baby shower.  i hadn't seen her since march, which was oh so long ago.  i long for the day we have our next french toast friday... but i am so excited there will be a new little one to join us at the party!

pattern info: take heart by angela pingel

quilt count: 140

double disney i spy quilts

 alright everyone, today we're going for a double header!
these quilts were so similar, and both stashbust quilts, it is only appropriate they live together in a blog post.

when i made andrew's disney ispy quilt a few years ago, i was left with LOTS of scraps.  i bought a quarter of a yard to cut ONE 6" square from... so yeah, LOTS of scraps.  since then, along with other disney fabric purchases (since it has been 4 years... oy!) i decided it was time to make some other quilts and send them on their way.  i cut, sorted and piled about a year ago (i remember a baby spud cat being involved in sorting) and came up with about 4 more disney ispy quilts in varying sizes.  this first one was about a row each way short of andrew's original quilt size, but still so bright, fun and colorful!

this variation has a flannel backing, meander quilting and even a hidden mickey stitched in it as well!  there were enough blocks to keep it borderless, but still have it be a nice large quilt for a child, or a perfect lap size for the kid at heart.this one was done earlier on, but still a pretty decent job at machine binding if you ask me.
i'm definitely glad that is a skill i've learned and worked on.  sure beats sitting on the couch under a quilt sweating in the summer! now on to the second quilt!for this quilt, the blocks were a little fewer in quantity, particularly to eliminate any repeats throughout the quilt.  with it being smaller in size, i went ahead and added a double border, which really brought out the mickey mouse vibes. i went ahead and quilted this one with the same meander style all over, keeping the focus on the fun disney characters, and the quilting there as an added texture.  of course, to keep with disney style, i threw in another hidden mickey, just for a little more ispy fun!while this quilt was also a "stash bust" project, the real struggle came when it was time to get binding.  i shopped for the binding "peak quarantine" so to speak, and was hitting up the local joann stores and guess what... as you would expect, they were WIPED OUT.  i managed to find this polka dot print at one, and it was the perfect mickey & minnie style print to frame it all up.  i bought the backing pre-quarantine, and thank goodness i did!  i originally planned it for the borders, but it was just too distracting from the blocks, but it made a perfect backing (and yes, you also saw it become 4 masks back in july)  this quilt isn't quite child at heart size, but it is absolutely a great toddler size!once i get through my next big boom of gift quilts (ALL october babies) then i think i'll finally be able to get back to finishing the other sets of blocks for these disney quilts.

as simple as they are, they make me so happy to look at... and that also might be aided right now in the fact that disneyland is still a no go.

5 months... 5 months with no disneyland... can you believe it?

quilt count: 138 & 139

august update

i'm going to try something new this time.
instead of giving you a weekly run down, i'm just going to update you on things that are happening right here, right now.

okay, maybe not "right now" since i don't know what time you'll be reading this, or what i'll actually be doing.  but here's the rundown of things that are crafty all up in hurrrr...

quilts in progress
in the bullet journal photo above, you'll see my key for a sample quilt i'm working on for caliquiltco.  yesterday, we had a social distance sew day with some members of the sacmqg, and i was able to knock out a whole bunch of tree parts for this quilt!
i love how it looks, and while i have to redo the star tree toppers this week, it is turning out to be such a great quilt.  i might have a hard time letting this one go!  i'm using the northcott farmhouse christmas line with moda grunge for the background and the star on top.

i also shopped for another quilt in progress (well, in progress in my brain) and that was an event of it's own doing.  shoutout to the joann's employee who helped us search bolts of kona white for two pieces that add up to 7 yards.  HUGE appreciation to how our shop doesn't layer chunks on to the same bolt.  super rude and super deceptive!

i'm also in talks to do a memorial quilt for my dear friend of clothes from her late momma as a sort of "hug from grandma" quilt.  i super appreciate the trust she's putting in my hands, and its going to be a labor of love, so i'm super excited (and nervous) to get my hands on it.

speaking of bullet journal...
as you can see, i'm really trying my hand at incorporating it more in to my daily life.  i bought rad & happy's planner last year, and happily dated it through 2020... well, that went down the "bad egg" chute, much like veruca salt...  so using this bullet journal style more to keep track of things i'm working on, quilt layouts and whatnot will hopefully help me stay organized and on top of things. 
i especially say that, because i got to sew day and searched through my pattern envelope for my quilt layout key... and it WASN'T THERE.  clearly, it stayed home... so the sketch you see above is the one that i drew while at sew day.  

video attempts... still coming
i was totally going to do a vlog post start to finish about the next quilt i did... which would have been this christmas one if i got my act together... but i forgot until i was already done cutting fabric. we still aren't in our new shop yet either, and might not be until some point next month...  so in the meantime, i might come up with a bit more content somehow... someway...
riddle me this...
what kinds of things would you want to see video posts on?
i'm intrigued to hear your thoughts!

winnie the pooh parallel path quilt

the sweet little recipient of this quilt made their debut about a month ago, so it is only fitting that it finally gets shared!  this quilt was a first of its kind for me, and i am SO happy with how it turned out!

my cousin and his wife were expecting their first baby this summer (which made it the first grandkid on that side of the family) so i knew i wanted to do something fun.

last christmas, sarah got a lot of winnie the pooh themed things, so with baby coming, i knew i wanted to include that in the quilt.  after going to quiltcon and seeing this great pattern by sewbrainy designs, i wanted to use it, but i just wasn't quite sure how.  then, peak quarantine, i saw some of the scraps from the baby quilt i made for jackson FOUR YEARS AGO...  and the fabrics were just perfect.  after a little bit of stashbusting and a little bit of shopping, this cute little quilt was created! this quilt officially became my first project with curves, and i am OBSESSED.

it was a whole heck of a lot easier to do than i expected, and i didn't even use a glue stick to baste the curves like i had planned.  i actually put off doing it quite a bit solely for wanting to find a glue stick for it.  but i didn't.  and i lived to tell the tale.having the curves just be on one corner or another really helped ease in the concept without having to create a full circle.  i love the shape that it gave the quilt, and how it took off the rigidness of having a harsh sharp corner on all the blocks. i used the same quilting pantograph that i did on their wedding quilt (boardwalk wedding quilt) and not only was it fun to tie in to that connection, but the flow of the stitches went really well with the motion and movement of the blocks.  after completing the quilt top, i realized the yellow just stuck out a but too much and looked lonely, so the quilting is done in yellow along with the binding to frame it up.  i think it was the perfect amount of yellow that was needed for this quilt!

the best part of stashbusting was that after i made the front, i had just the right amount of winnie the pooh hexi fabric to piece the back together with a little splash of fabric from the front to offset the backing a little bit. despite all the chaos and shelter in place, i was able to give the quilt to jacob and sarah in person, which was such a fun thing to do!  2020 has been a royal mess, and i cannot wait for the day when it is safe to meet this little one that i've only been able to see teeny tiny phone photos of.

do i love this pattern?  absolutely!

i still plan to use it with my charley harper cats & raccs bundle that i bought at quiltcon.

just gotta get through my current "to do" list of baby quilt o' rama!

pattern info: parallel path by sewbrainy designs

quilt count: 137

stashbust jelly roll race - the finale

here we are, at the end of the jelly roll race road.

can you believe it?

there were time i thought we'd never make it... especially when it came to getting this blog post done!

sadly, my binding video didn't span out as expected (you'll see that at the bottom of this post) but nonetheless, the quilt is done and donated!

so here it all is!

i have to say these jelly roll race quilts turn out to be a great lap/couch size, and are the perfect quick quilt gift if you don't want to spend a whole lot of time chopping up pieces, and instead just want a cozy "look what i can do!" project.  and you don't even have to take the time to long arm it.<this having been my second jelly roll race quilt to do, i had a better idea of what to do vs. what not to do... i threw myself in the deep end by doing an orange batik one first.  and BOY was that an adventure!  as a refresher, my time on this one was about an hour to piece the top (minus pressing, since i did that at the very end) which was about the same time it took to do the batik one.  that one i had to seam rip, this one i was sweating to death... oops!i still love how the daisies look on this, and will absolutely use this pantograph again and again. i've got some baby girl quilts coming up soon, so they might just be the right match for it!in the end, even the binding came from my stash, which means nothing was spent on this beyond the time it took to rent on the long arm.  i cleared out some of my fabrics, which was nice (especially prior to our guild meeting with nadia arbach, professional declutterer).  now having done this, and having her lecture run in my head from time to time, i now feel a little more prepared to PURGE THAT FABRIC.

so fingers crossed for more stashbust creations along with the freedom to just let go of the dang fabric.  *cue elsa and the ice castle*

below you'll find the long waited final video, so hopefully it doesn't disappoint!  below that, you'll find the links to the other posts about this jelly roll race, since that will put the final pretty bow on this particular quilt and it can then officially be added to the quilt count!

stashbust jelly roll race - quilt top

stashbust jelly roll race - long arm quilting

quilt count: 136