Bacon Punk

I had trouble putting words on this screen to talk about this quilt. 

It is everything I love about a quilt. It is everything I love about quilting. 

Recently, I have been trying to shift my quilting focus towards trying all the hard things. I want to look at patterns and designs and feel empowered instead of scared. I want sewing and quilting to feel like a journey. Personally, I believe that perfecting my craft is part of the fun and that you have to know the rules in order to break them. I am proud to consider myself a quilter within the tradition and I embrace my quilty forebears. Someday, we can sit down with a cup of coffee and I will share my opinion on all the divisions quilting (modern, traditional, art, oh my). For now I will just say, we are all quilters.

When I first saw Jen Kingwell's Steam Punk quilt, I loved it. But then, the little voice inside my head told me that I could not make that. It was too hard. Templates. Curves. Appliqué. 

On a whim, I went for it. I ordered the pattern, I ordered some acrylic templates. I opened my scrap bins. I combed through my stash.

Each block was an adventure. I didn't have a plan. I just started making blocks. There was some intense fussy cutting and a large number of cats (honestly because I have a lot of cat fabric in my stash, no particular design plan). 

Because rainbows. 

Then, all of a sudden, I had all of the blocks. 

Over a couple of work trips, I hand appliquéd. It seemed to go fast.

Scraps on the back. I guess we could call this improv?

It is not perfect, I could probably point out all the mistakes. It is mine and I am so proud of it.

Quilt Stats:

Name: Bacon Punk

Size: approximately 71" x 71"

Pattern: Steam Punk by Jen Kingwell

Quilting: Shell free motion quilting with Aurifil white thread

Finished: April 2015

Cat Ladies Unite.

Hey friends!

I have some fun facts to share today.

1. I went to my besties cabin this weekend. We share everything, she even gave me her strep throat. I did get a ton done. I will talk about my project here soon.

2. I am in Charleston right now. Archaeology waits for no person or virus.

3. Antibiotics are my friend.

4. I have a finished quilt I have not photographed yet. Now I will have to wash it again, because the kitten loves it.

5. Speaking of cats, I have finished my cat lady quilt (first discussed here). End of list.

The cat quilt is the first quilt I quilted on my new Juki 2010q and I decided to go big and matchstick quilt this business. It was a dream on the Juki (I named her Juju).

The fabrics were pulled from my stash and this awesome bundle from Sew Lux (curated by me!!!).

Max approves of this quilt. There is something really awesome about cat on cats.

He also loves feathers. We don't even buy cat toys, just bags of feathers from the craft aisle. Not as awesome as birds would be, but a good second (this cat has never met a bird, but he has hopes). 

Quilt Stats:
Name: Cat Lady
Size: 57"x 57"
Pattern: From my head, inspired by Aneela Hoey and Elizabeth Hartman
Fabric: Many things, bundle from Sew Lux, some pearl bracelets, Mama Said Sew, and some Japanese cat prints (surely I forgot something).
Quilting: Matchstick lines with Aurifil thread
Finished: January 2014

PS - Meow love.

Cat Lady (Meow) Quilt.

Today is a big day. I worked my last day before Christmas. I get a week off now. I have an unbelievably huge pile of sewing projects and Christmas cookies.

Meow.

I also get to show you my finished Cat Lady quilt top. Meow. For the Ladies Night Challenge.

This quilt was inspired by my Ladies Night bundle (still available at Sew Lux).

Meow.

It was also inspired by some amazing Elizabeth Hartman and Aneela Hoey cat quilts.  I elected to paper piece mine (because meow I hate measuring) and the sizing is totally different. If you are interested I could probably share my techniques. Let me know.

Finally, while I am talking about inspiration, I would like to thank Max the cat. He is the fuzziest meow cat in the world (sorry other cats) and provides the ultimate inspiration.

Each block measures 11.5 inches finished and the quilt is about 58 inches by 58 inches. It is now meow basted and ready to quilt.

In other news, we decided to extend the deadline for the challenge to December 31st. Now is the time friends! Sew something wonderful for yourself. Enter the drawing. There are fabulous prizes!

I love you all. Merry Christmas Eve Eve.

PS - Meow.

Ladies Night: Show me Yours

Hey Friends!

It is December 11th. I am officially freaking out about Christmas. I really only have two gifts left to make, but it seems like I am facing a never ending battle.

I feel like an elf in a sweatshop.

Good news everyone! (name that show?) I am done traveling until 2014!

Other piece of good news! It is time to show off (or start on) your Ladies Night Challenge projects. My challenge is coming along swimingly. For challenge info check out this super informative post.

Seriously, it is a little bit of pink and teal sanity. I am calling it my cat lady quilt. I will fill in the details when I finish the top. Clearly, it is epic.

Today is the first day to link up finished projects. You have until December 23rd (time that I clearly need).

If you have a finished project (quilt top must be finished top and anything else should just be finished) made from one of the three color choices, just head over here and enter in your linky info. Remember, you don't need a blog to enter! One entry per color way. If you need help with anything (including tough love or tender encouragement) drop me a line.

I promise mine will be finished by December 23rd.

Also, today I tell you what nifty things you could win if you link it up! We will be selecting three winners by random from anyone who has finished a project.

One winner will get a custom wonky triangle pouch made by me especially for them (first noted here). It will be pencil sized and made from a color of your choice with a first name of your choice. This is super limited edition (as in, I don't sell them and only my bestest friends get them, do you want to be my bestest friend?).

Another winner will get a set of three patterns from May Chappell, a super talented and amazing designer, quilter, and friend. The patterns will include her Lazy Sunday, Designer Star, and Fantastically Fussy. This would be an awesome score!

The last lucky winner will get a $30 gift certificate to Sew Lux Fabrics. Chrissy has some amazing stuff. I am trying really hard to not click on this and go shopping right now. It is that good.

So link up! Win something! See the other awesome makes. Make friend.

Love you,
Sarah

PS - I have actual FINISHED quilts to show off someday. When I have time. When the sweatshop closes for the season?

A Happy Interlude with a Fuzzy Cat

Max can not resist a good quilt. In fact, he is the worst photo bomber. 

When I heard about Lily Pad Quilting's Pets on Quilts Show (direct link here), I knew I would have tons of entry options. This is my pick for the Cats on Quilts category.

Obviously, I had to choose the one where he managed to lay on the MOST quilts! Extra points for that?

There are at least three quilts in this photo. 

So cozy and cute. I could not resist adding more. 

True confession. Derek bribed me to get me to move across the country to live with him in North Carolina. He told me we could get a cat (we also got engaged).

It worked.

I had kitten Max picked out via shady internet connections while I was working in Belize and Ecuador the summer before I moved (if you know South American internet cafes, you understand what a commitment this was). We picked Max up 5 days after pulling my Penske truck up to our North Carolina apartment.

I have not regretted it once. Not the move or the Fuzz (as he is affectionately known).

Even when he wakes me up at 6 am by jumping on my face. I don't even regret him then.

I have never regretted Derek (and he has never jumped on my face at 6 am).

Thanks for visiting to see the cat love! I can't wait to check out all of the cuteness.

P.S. - I am going to have a super exciting announcement on Monday. Come back, bring your friends. Do not miss it! I wish I could tell you more. The excitement is figuratively killing me!

Welcome to my Giveaway!

Hello new visitors and friends!

I want to start this by telling new people a bit about myself.

I am in my late 20s and I live with my husband and cat in North Carolina. I make my living doing archaeology and spend a great deal of time traveling all over the Southeastern United States.

When I am not working and traveling, I am happiest at home sewing.

I would consider myself a pretty modern quilter. In terms of sewing I love bright colors, paper piecing, solid fabrics, and making it work.

Okay, giveaway time.

I decided to give away a little prize pack of some of my favorite things. 'Cause I like you.

I am including 10 comic book boards. I have recently become addicted to using these to store fabric and I figured this would be a nice way for someone who has not tried this yet to give it a test drive.

My stash, all organized (okay, only part of my stash).

An issue of Generation Q. There are some great things in this one.

A Frixxon pen.

A tiny charm pack of Lario,  by Moda. These adorable charms make me smile, everything small is cute.

A fat eight of this cute flower fabric (I think it is DS quilts) and 2 half yards of these green prints from Joel Dewberry's Notting Hill line.

To enter all you have to do is tell me what homemade gift you like to give your friends and family? Do you make them all zippy pouches? Jam? Cookies? Quilts? You never make any gifts at all? I am looking for new ideas, tell me about your go-to present. Even better if you can link up to a tutorial or recipe. 

Rules (necessary):
One comment per person please. Do not just write a random comment, please answer the question. The giveaway is open only to addresses shipping in the United States. I am terribly sorry about this, but this is my first giveaway and I need to crawl before I walk.

The giveaway will be open until May 10th at midnight (eastern time). I will choose the winner randomly from the comments and announce the winner on May 11th. If you are a no-reply blogger please leave an email address in your comment (you can use the someone[at]whatever[dot]com format to discourage spammers). If there is no email address and no contact information I will choose another winner.

Thanks for visiting! You should stop around again sometime.

For now, go enter more giveaways!

Crazy Time Sewing

This weekend was full of crazy time sewing. We need to get our boxes in the mail full of Christmas presents.

I ran around like a crazy lady trying to get it all put together. I thought about showing you a picture of my messy sewing space. It was just too embarressing

This is just one example...

I decided I wanted to make a mini-quilt for Derek's grandparents and ended up having a couple of fits and starts with this project. I mean, seriously, I made this quilt three times.

I stared with these tulips. Then, they were taking too long! I love them though...

Then I put together these little flying geese. Except when the little quilt came together it did not look quite right. I could not put my finger on it, so I put the top on instagram (btw, follow me at stitchingandbacon). My friend Ashley defined it for me when she told me it looked like a cult flag. Yup. Sure does.

Scratch that idea.

I used the scraps from the "cult flag" to make this little pinwheel quilt. It came together super quickly and the quilting was really fun. I think that Gammie and Grandad will really love it.

Sorry for the instagram and iPhone photos! I did not have time for fancy camera pictures.

Back to work! I still have presents to make that need to be ready for Christmas. I know, I am down to the wire right now. Only zippy pouches left!

I am in the field this week, but I get to work from home. No sewing will get done, but I get to sleep in my bed every night. Wish me luck!

Work in Progress [Wednesday]

Today is Wednesday and I wanted to post something. Except. I am writing this from my hotel room bed watching Top Chef. I am in Knoxville. Now, I am sure Knoxville is a beautiful city full of wonderful people. I am just here to work, so I have been diving my time between sleeping and working. Physically, this project is super hard. So many hole have been dug (excavated?).

 

I did bring a little embroidery project to while away my waking hours after work and before bed (all two of them). I have barely worked on them. My hands are sore... This is my little sewing kit I bring with me while I am traveling for work. It is composed of happy little homemade bits. I love that rainbow pouch and kitty cat needle case. They are two things I actually mad because for myself just because, something I should do more often.

Oh right. The work in progress, I am working on a little label for a wedding quilt. It is going to have their wedding day at some point. Here we go, this needs to be done soon...

Also, for a laugh I saw these at a gas station at Tennessee. How can something that has everything good in it look so disgusting?

Happy Wednesday!

Work in Progress [Wednesday]

In the spirit of having way too many things going on, I started a new project this week. I decided to get better (read, learn how to) paper piecing. I printed this free pattern off the internet and went to town. Then our printer ran out of ink. But, this flower looks good right? Someday we will go get ink, then I am going to make two more and this will become a mini quilt that is going to good home for Christmas. 

I finished the stitching on the binding for this baby quilt. Then my fuzzy cat decided it was the best bed he had ever had. He slept here for about seven hours and I did not have the heart to move him. By the time he woke up, it was dark. Photos will come, someday, when it is light when I get home from work or this weekend.

I have been quilting this monster. Just a little bit everyday... I am so close to done.

I have made absolutely no progress on this project. I just wanted to show pictures of these blocks because they. are. adorable. My goodness, Elizabeth Hartman (Modern Patchwork), you are my hero. Someday these blocks are going to grow up into their own happy neighborhood quilt.

I also just found out I have to go to Tennessee next weekend for work, so we will see what sort of progress I make before leaving.... 

I am linking this up! So, if you are new to my blog (and you have made it this far) thanks!