Crazy Good, Crazy Quilt

I would like to start this blog post with some congratulations to myself. I writing a blog post, which is a win. I only found one tick on myself at work today and we saw no snakes.  I am awake and alive.

Life is awesome.

Today in this awesome successful blog post I am going to discuss a quilt I finished several weeks ago.  

It is a bigger, badder version of this quilt.

My friend Lauren asked me to make her a quilt. Normally, I do not make other people quilts on request. My fellow quilters may or may not agree with me, but quilts are a lot of work and gifting them is not something I do lightly. But something about Lauren's  quilt stuck with me and she allowed me complete creative control and no deadline. Plus she is awesome.

Her only request was green. I think I nailed it.

It only took me a year.

But she loves it.

What do you need to congratulate yourself for today?

Quilt Stats: 
Name: Crazy Good
Size: Approximately 60" x 60"
Fabrics: Scraps! with Ikea fabric on the back
Pattern: Roughly based on Crazy Star (from Denyse Schmidt: Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration)
Quilting: Figure eight loops with Aurifil thread
Finished: May 2014

Star Finisher

I finished this quilt. Then I gave it away.

It was always for Meredith and Eric. A present to celebrate the love story of two dear friends.

Want to hear about their love story? Of course you do (PS - Meredith reads this blog from time to time, so, hey friend!).

Meredith became my friend when we were introduced at a party couple of years ago. It was basically friendship at first sight for me. I had to do some work to convince her. Well, as in I had maybe one too many cocktails and told her I thought we should be friends while we were talking. She thought I was loony. But, we were right for each other. Fast forward a couple of years and we are still friends (heart you, girl).

Meredith is the one who made me the quilty egg (and inspired me to make an egg-y quilt, see story here).

Meredith met this boy (Eric) and they were sort of friends. Then they took an intensive French class together and sparks flew or something like that. They knew it was right.

Then Derek and I started hanging out with the two of them. They were adorable. As a friend, sometimes you have a gut feeling about a guy your friend is dating, sometimes this is bad…. sometimes it is warm and fuzzy (you ALL know what I mean). Derek and I both had fuzzy feelings about these two.

The thing is Meredith and Eric knew this thing they had was special. They decided that they were going to get married. That spring (2013). Approximately one year after they started dating.

I immediately knew I was going to make them a quilt.

So, I asked the ladies from my Make it Modern Bee to help me make blocks (you know, so it would go faster). I received all of their gorgeous blocks right on time last summer and promptly did not finish the quilt until November (2013). If you didn't want to do the math that is about 7-8 months after the wedding.

Something about a quilt made out of love to celebrate love makes this special.

xoxo.

Quilt Stats:
Size: Big (75"+ x 75"+)
Block: Lone Starburst (by Six White Horses)
Bee Mates/Block Makers: Me! and the ladies from the Make it Modern Bee (Kelie, Samantha, Renae, Kelleigh, Becky, Karen, Jennifer, Jen, Audrey, Licet, and Jamie)
Fabric: Boy I wish I could tell you… the funky print on the back is from Ikea, the solids are all Kona.
Quilted: By me on my home sewing machine in a classic infinity loop with Aurifil Thread.

It's the Confetti Baby.

A month or so ago Elizabeth Dackson (over at Don't Call Me Betsy) put a call out for pattern testers. I practically jumped out of my chair I was so excited.

Elizabeth is a super star. Her paper piecing patterns are amazing. Have you seen the Lucky Star Block of the Month? You can still sign up here. 

I felt like I had won the lottery when Elizabeth asked me to test her Confetti Stars pattern. This quilt pattern can be made in baby through king sized and she has instructions for a "modern" quilt with lots of negative space and a "traditional" quilt with more stars. That is like getting at least two patterns!

My cousin just had a little boy, so I figured I would make her little boy a confetti quilt (for the record this is a traditional layout baby sized from the pattern). I am not going to give you any sort of pattern review here, 1.) I was testing the pattern and 2.) It is a superb pattern, you should all just make this quilt. No paper piecing experience necessary, she walks you through the whole thing.

Can I make a secret confession? 

I love my cousin; she is awesome sauce. She got married in October and we couldn't make it to the wedding... I thought I might just send her a baby quilt out of the blue (98% sure she does not read this blog). 

I want to think of it as random act of craftiness. Can you imagine getting a package one day unexpectedly and finding this quilt neatly wrapped up? 

The quilting is not perfect and I had some basting issues, but this is real life and a baby is going to be playing on this, so imperfections are part of the love. Also, Tessa at The Sewing Chick taught me her method for machine binding up in the mountains. Y'all we need to peer pressure her into writing a tutorial. This method changed my life (well, my quilt finishes). 

Are you reading this, Tessa? I love you, friend.

xoxo, 

Sarah

Quilt Stats:

Size: 36" x 36"

Pattern: Confetti Stars by Elizabeth Dackson (to be released in mid-August)

Fabric (the ones I can remember easily): Pearl Bracelets, Madrona Road Haystack, Lotta Jansdotter, Happy Go Lucky by Bonnie and Camille, some random cross weaves, and some Kona. 

Quilting: Free motion infinity, pieced and quilted with Aurifil thread.

Finished: July 2013

P.S. - For the record, I tested this pattern free of charge because I liked it. I just got a copy of the pattern from Elizabeth and gave her my notes. All opinions of awesomeness come from my heart. 

A New List.

Guess what friends? I am back in another hotel room.

Shocking.

This time I am in Charlotte, North Carolina and it is a quick trip. I think I am going to be at home all week next week. A whole week (maybe longer?).

Do you think my husband will get sick of me?

I am updating my list, it has totally been awhile. Maybe I will get some sewing done while I am in town?

June/July List: 

1. Bee Blocks. I have finished my bee blocks for June.

For Make it Modern, I had a churn dash and a patchwork wheel. They were super fun to make. This wraps up the Make it Modern Bee.

For Simply Solids Gamboge group, we made stepping stones blocks. Hope this is not TOO bright. I just love color.

Still have July's bee block.

2. Meredith and Eric's wedding quilt. The blocks are sashed and now I just need to put it all together, make a backing (buy some fabric?), and quilt it. No biggie. They only got married a couple of months ago.

I love the way it looks so far!

3. Whitewashed Quilt. Remember this? I barely do... I have not even touched this! Ha!

4. Wonky Rainbow Quilt. This one needs to be quilted and bound. I can do it! This quilt is for me and I can't wait to snuggle under it.

5. Drunkard's Medallion Along. I am working on Christen's top right now and I think I get Paige's next. I love getting into the spirit of each medallion and playing with new techniques. I can't show pictures here because we decided these were going to be a secret, so I will just tell you that we will all need shades for Christen's quilt!

6. Baby Quilts. In my crazy world I decided I have three baby quilts to make this summer. No big deal right? I need to pick some easier patterns I think.

7. Block of the Month Blocks. I have June's Lucky Star to make and then June and July's Lucky Star and Hop, Skip, and Jump block. I am loving these block of the month's I can not wait to make them into gorgeous quilts.

8. MIL Quilt (better name to come). I decided to make my Mother-in-law a quilt. Here is my fabric pull so far, it feels so soothing. I think I am going to do some simple patchwork.

There will be other projects. I just can't say no to starting something fun and I love it! No complaining here!

I know I need to make some pillows with animals on them for our couch. Derek is getting a new laptop, so he is naturally going to need a case, he is currently trying to decide what animal he wants on his case (right now raptor is winning, who knows how to paper piece a raptor? oh dear...)

I am linking up to WiP Wednesday. Happy Day Friends! You are all beautiful! Sorry for the epic post.

My Stars Align for the Blogger's Quilt Festival

I spent a long time thinking about what I was going to enter in the blogger's quilt festival.

In the end, I decided to enter the quilt I am most proud of in my quilt-ography.

I designed My Stars Align using an Ukrainian painted egg my friend made. There is more on that in the original post I wrote about this quilt here. I began cutting it right around Christmas time and it took me a month (or so) to complete the quilt. It was a true labor of love for me. I can honestly say, this quilt represents me.

The colors, the design, the prints, they all sing to me. I wanted this little piece of me to go to the festival.

The design is mostly half-squared triangles with a lattice grid around them. I wrote a little tutorial if you are interested.

Quilt Stats

Category. Favorite Throw Quilt

Size. 65"x65"
Pattern. My Stars Align (by me, I think?)
Fabric. Kona Snow and Steel for the white and gray, Star points were Bella in New Turquoise, Architextures, some Amy Butler, some Fiesta from Hope Valley, and oh dear, your guess is probably better than mine about the rest.
Piecing. 50wt Aurifil Thread
Quilting. Free motion quilted on my home machine, dogwood pattern by Elizabeth Hartman with 50wt Aurifil Thread

The back is pretty special to me too. By the time I got around to making the back, I knew this quilt was part of me and was never leaving our little family, thus, I included little bits of fabrics that I felt represented me. There is some special Heather Ross and Architextures. The main print is Bella by Lana Jansdotter.

I still cuddle under this quilt nearly every day. Isn't it funny how some projects tip toe into your life? Maybe they started with some impromptu experimentation? Maybe 2 months later they feel like a precious family member...

I truly love this quilt.

Check out more festive, beautiful quilts at Amy's Creative Side.

A tiny bit of crazy and my month for the Make it Modern Bee

I know I whined a bunch about getting everything finished last time I posted.

Well, guess what? I spent all weekend sewing (well, the time I was not socializing/hosting a batchelorette party) and I am doing great. I am not going to talk about my April goal progress now. That will come later this week along with a whole bunch of pictures. For now I give you this outtake.

I was off on Thursday and Friday (because I spent all last weekend working) and I just made some quilty goodness. By Saturday, I could work on (more) fun stuff.

My design wall was looking lonely so I pulled this stuff out of my WIP box.

Color! Glorious crazy colors! These are so much fun!

Most importantly, May is my month in the Make it Modern Bee. 

Directions for my Bee Mates:

I have chosen the Lone Starburst Block. It is a free PDF paper pieced star designed by Six White Horses. You can click on the link to download the templates.

It finishes at 12.5"x 12.5".

I would like you to do your star in either blue or green fabric on a gray background. I am not picky about the shades of blue or green (really anything from turquoise to lime green, to true blue, anything...). I also do not care what color gray you choose, just use something from your stash. I would ask that you make the narrow band of the star a coordinating solid and the two star colors separate coordinating prints (as in my example below). 

This block is paper pieced. Rather than writing out a tutorial, I thought I would just walk through some tricks I used to make this block, give you a (rough) cutting chart, and direct you to some awesome paper piecing tutorials. If you are a pro at paper piecing just ignore this (better yet, read them and tell me if there is something I can learn).

Tips:

- You need to print 4 copies of the pattern. I start by using paper scissors to roughly cut each star section out (for a total of 8), be sure to not to trim off the gray seam allowance.  Make sure your printer scaling is set to 100% and that you check the scale on the paper to make sure that it printed correctly. The next thing I do is use a pencil to label where I am going to put each fabric (ie. gray, solid, print 1, print 2).

- Adjust your machine's stitch length to 1.

- I start by cutting all of my fabrics for the whole block. I am going to pass on my cutting dimensions, but I warn you they are a tiny bit generous, because I find it easier that way and I want to make this beginner friendly.

Cut: 
8 - 4.5"x 3"- center print (number 1)
16 -1.25"x 5"- coordinating solid (blue or green) (numbers 2 and 3)*
8 - 4"x 1.5" - outside print (Number 4)
8 - 5"x 1.5"- outside print (Number 5)
8 - 4"x 3.5"- gray solid (Number 6)
8 - 5"x 5"- gray solid (Number 7)

*this has been updated to 1.25" wide to make it easier to position.
 
- If you have never paper pieced before here are two tutorials. They are both very good and offer directions.  I am sure there are also tutorials on you tube or elsewhere on the internet. Whatever works for you.

• Fresh Lemons tutorial

• Six White Horses tutorial (I pretty much use this method, except I use a washable clear glue stick to attach the first piece of fabric instead of a pin).

- I use a washable (clear) glue stick to stick my first piece of fabric to the paper and trim as I go using an add-a-quarter ruler (but any ruler will do).

- I leave the paper on until I get half of the star all sewn together. Then I rip off the paper before I sew the two halves together. I have encountered different opinions on this, but I have found this helps me get the seams matching at the end.

- I use lots of pins when I sew together any of the segments to make sure all of the points align. 

Ignore the dirty ironing board... it is gross. Sorry...

- I press the seams with a hot iron and no steam as I am assembling the segments. Then, right before I remove the papers, I add steam and a spritz of Best Press (a spray starch alternative, but I think starch would work the same). This is probably also controversial, but it works for me.

- I also press my segment joining seams open, cause I like the look. But, I am not picky about this.

Whew! If you got through that you deserve a medal. Seriously, thank you for helping me make these block. I am so in love with these stars! I really appreciate you all paper piecing for me.

Thank you.

PS - If you have any questions, email me, message me on Flickr, comment here, whatever works. I am sure I am incredibly unclear and I would be happy to explain.

xoxo

My Stars Align [The Tutorial]

Y'all. 

I am in Portland (Oregon) this week, visiting my parents. Portland is my home place! I may live in North Carolina right now, but I am a Pacific Northwesterner at heart. I grew up in this green part of the country and being here reminds me of all of those good times. 

We are skiing, eating, drinking, visiting old friends, and eating (we love food).

Anyway, I told you a long time ago I would pass on my techniques for making this little block. The quilt on my couch is still making me happy everyday. It might look hard or fussy, but trust me there are no fancy seams or funky rulers needed. I did it and I am a quilting wuss. 

Another tutorial! I am on fire. 

Stars Align Block

1/4" seams used throughout

Disclaimer: I have not seen this block floating around on the inter webs, but I am sure I did not invent it. I got inspired by those nordic sweaters and sketched out this block. Also, I am sure there are better ways to put this together, this is just how I did it. Let me know if you come up with a better method. 

For the purposes of this tutorial, I divided this block into three different components (types of blocks). There are the corner blocks, the half square triangles (HST) blocks, and lattice lines.

Supplies:

For the HST blocks-

4 - 4" x 4" squares of background fabric

4 - 4" x 4" squares of star color A

4 - 4" x 4" squares of star color B (for the stars, I tried to combine one low volume fabric with one more "noisy" fabric)

For the corner blocks- 

4 - 2.5" x 2.5" squares of background fabric

1 - Approximately 28" x 1.5" strip of the white fabric (choose a fabric that contrasts with other fabrics)

For the lattice lines-

Approximately 14.5" x 1.5" strip of white for the vertical lattice

Approximately 15.5" x 1.5 " strip of while for the horizontal lattice

Rotary cutter, ruler, scissors

Water or heat soluble marker

To make the HST block

I am going to run through this really quick, refer to this handy guide for details on making two HST out of squares of fabric. 

1. Pairs: - 2 square A's with square B's

- 2 square A's with background fabric

- 2 square B's with background fabric

2. Mark a diagonal line across one of the fabrics in each pair. 

3. Sew 1/4" on either side of the line. I chained pieced these like a boss. 

 

4. Cut along the line for each of the squares, magically making one square composed of two triangles. Press your seams open. 

5. Trim each HST down to 3.5" x 3.5". 

6. Now you have the blocks to make the pretty star. You could stop now and have a pretty basic HST block, but keep going and it is more special and stuff. 

To make the corner blocks

1. Line up the 2.5" x 2.5" squares of background fabric along your 28" strip of white fabric, with small gaps in between each square. Sew them all down as pictured (sorry it is blurry). You should have extra fabric for the next side of the corner. You totally do not need to strip piece these, it is just faster.

2. Press the seam open and cut the blocks apart so that each block is 2.5" wide by 3.5" tall. 

3. Line up these blocks on the remainder of the white strip and sew them down. 

4. Press open and trim. Each block should measure 3.5" x 3.5" and you will have four of them.

Bringing it all together

1. I like to layout all do my block so I know what goes where. Like this, you have 16 blocks.

2. Sew together pairs of blocks. Time to buddy up. I totally used pins at this point. You want your seams to line up. Press seams open. You should now have eight blocks.

3. Buddy up again, bring the pairs together, again, use pins to make sure your seams line up. Press seams open. Now there are four blocks.

4. Using your 14.5" x 1.5" white strip sew the upper and lower sets of blocks together, separated by the white strips to complete the vertical lattice. Trim the block and press the seams open. 

5. Sew the upper and lower halves together separated by your 15.5 " x 1.5" strip. Make sure you line up the vertical seams above and below the white strips and use pins. Press your seams open and trim the edges of the strips. 

Block complete. It should measure 13.5" x 13.5"

If you make this share it with me! Please! I want to see. 

xoxo 

Sarah