Tangelo It.

As I write this, I am sitting on a bumpy plane. I am jetting off to Oklahoma to celebrate my Grandmother’s 85^th birthday. My Grandmother is an amazing person (I am sure your grandmother is too). This lady grew up in the middle of nowhere, rode a horse to elementary school and then boarded in town for high school.  She mothered five boys and one girl, who are six of the best Uncles, Aunt, and Dad a girl could ask for (Hi Aunt Barbara!). She has made to every grandchild’s wedding so far to be the best cheerleader ever, also, in the case of my wedding, help make some amazing pies. It has been getting harder for her to travel, so this weekend we travel to her. It is her turn to get celebrated and it is going to be a shindig! This woman has over 20 grandchildren and I have lost count of the great-grandchildren. I cannot wait. Rest assured that I made her a snuggly lap quilt for her armchair. I can’t wait to show you pictures.

Now that I have blathered on about one of my favorite people and inspiration, I am going to show you an unrelated finish.

Drumroll please….

My Tangelo!

Some of you (maybe all of you) may know, I am a huge fan of Carolyn Friedlander.  She is an amazing fabric and pattern designer and just one of the best people a girl could hope to know. Her patterns inspire me to combine color and texture. They make my heart sing in their striking, complex simplicity (it is a thing).

I have made it a personal resolution recently to make quilts for me and to try hard things. Now, when I say quilts for me… I do not actually mean I am going to keep them all, I mean when I quilt, I want to express myself just a little, even if it is for someone else. It is the way this is fun for me.

The Tangelo is for me. Blue is my favorite color. I love metallic.

This was also a hard thing. It took me nearly six months (not working constantly, but still). I worked on this quilt during two sewing weekends with my ladies. Then, I quilted this quilt all over with custom free motion quilting and used wool batting to make that quilting stand out. Also, it made this quilt super substantial and comfy). I had to piece the backing with geese, because a front this complex just needed a little something on the back.

I matched my Aurifil thread to each solid color. Yes, maybe a little obsessive? But, I need to do what I need to do. I don’t make money at this, we don’t need any more quilts to physically keep us warm in our home. What I NEED is to see the picture of colors and patterns I have in my head come alive.

Welcome to my living room Tangelo. I think I am going to like seeing you there.

Quilt Stats:

Name: Tangelo by Carolyn Friedlander

Fabric: Whites are from Architextures and Botanics both designed by Carolyn Friedlander for Robert Kaufman and Dear Stella Confetti Dots. The blues are assorted Robert Kaufman Kona cottons and Moda Bella solids. The backing is widescreen in gray by Robert Kaufman with Botanics and scraps from the front.

Quilting: Custom straight line with my free motion quilting foot with about six shades of Aurifil thread.

Batting: Quilters Dream Wool

Size: 68" x 72" 

P.S. - I got to introduce Carolyn to my Tangelo when she came to North Carolina to teach. This was a high point.

P.P.S. – The quilt is not quite straight in any of these pictures, but I must defend my quilt holder, this quilt is large and heavy. It far exceeded his wingspan and he is tall guy… I think I need a new photo set-up for big quilts.

Orange. February.

Do you ever have one of those days/weeks/months/years where you completely overcommit yourself?

Then you freak out, run around, write lists, neglect your husband, forget to call your mom, leave your teeth unbrushed, and eat lots of chocolate?

Yes? No? Maybe? Sometimes? Yesterday?

I think I left my head in December. Perhaps my sanity was left in Tennessee when I went there in January?



When I get super crazy I need to appreciate the little things. The small victories if you will.

Today we are cerebrating the fact that I finished my Riley Blake Challenge project on time. I mean seriously, we could say it is early because it is not due until TOMORROW!

I had the idea for this quilt when I was listening to this TED talk by Chip Kidd (graphic designer). In the talk, Kidd talked about how when you are designing something you need to show but not tell or tell but not show. You shouldn't do both. Then he sort of offhandedly brought up that it might be interesting to show and tell different things.



I have been thinking about this idea for months. I knew I needed to make it into a quilt.

When I got my Riley Blake Challenge fabrics at the Triangle Modern Quilt Guild meeting I fell in love with the orange fabric. I knew I needed to show orange and the opposite of orange is blue. The paper cranes are just pretty. I did not use all of the fabrics, I knew I had to trust my gut and follow  my inspiration.... It is not that I did not love the fabrics sent to us from Riley Blake. It is just that sometimes it is about what is not included. Less can occasionally be more.

The pattern for the cranes is here from Kitten's Mittens and I got the text pattern here from Quiet Play.

Then I decided to use all of my thread to quilt this one with super close together organic lines. It took an entire day. I totally had time for that. I also totally had time to make this wall hanging. I totally do not have a wall available to hang this on. Strong work.

Now back to the list. Maybe someday I will even blog about something else besides a finish, I miss this blog.

I love you all. I miss you.

Quilt Stats:
Name: Orange
Size: 40 x 40"
Fabrics: Assorted Kona solids and Riley Blake basics, background is Kona Snow
Quilting: Organic matchstick lines with Aurifil white thread
Finished: February 2014

I am a Wonky Triangle in a Right Angles World

Sometimes when I name my blog posts I just write things in the title that make no sense. Then I decide it is a metaphor or it has a double meaning and I leave it there. This is how I imagine poets write. The good ones. Make your own meaning.

I am feeling a bit punchy tonight. I had a terrible case of poison ivy this week. It was totally my fault. I was working and I saw the poison ivy, but I couldn't avoid it. I have been regretting that day of work ever since. I look terrible, I just want to take my skin off. Today I went to the magical doctor's office and she gave me things to make the itch go away. They are also steroids, with which I have a great deal of experience due to my freakish meat allergy. Steroids always make me a bit punchy.

Also, that was a long story. Maybe not that long...

Oh right, this is a sewing blog. The point of this post is to reveal a super fun project I made to forget my itches. Sorry if you are new to my blog. I promise story time does not happen too often.

Nancy over at Owen's Olivia made this awesome paper piecing pattern (etsy or craftsy, pick your poison), and I tested it for her.

It is pretty much cool.

The pattern consists of long strips of wonky triangles, and you just paper piece them out until you are done, making something as long or as short as you like. I think she has three different sizes of wonky triangle strips for your sewing convenience.


I decided I would be convenienced (not a word) by the small triangles. I would make a little pouch for my epi pen and pencils (I know incredibly unsafe, but the epi pen is in a case already, I don't have kids, and it is a pen...sort of ). Besides the epi was looking ugly in my pretty new purse. We can't have that.

I pulled out my scrap bins and went to town. This pattern loves scraps. It's also fun to play with the fabric's volume on this one.

Blue is my favorite color. It matches my eyes. Throw in some hand stitching and a little fancy stamping.  Done.

Rewarding. Beautiful.

Go support Nancy (etsy or craftsy), this is basically a steal at $1.99. This is her first pattern and it is boss, I think we should expect great things. Plus, I think she is giving away free stuff on her blog.

Hugs from the giant series of blisters that is me,
Sarah

PS - Good chance I will not be able to sleep tonight due to the 'roids. Well, that is awesome.

PPS - You may have noticed the lack of poison ivy photos. You're welcome.

*I received this pattern for free in exchange for my testing services, all opinions are my own. Bacon's honor.*

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. 

And I Will Use All of the Colors [now in technicolor]

The inspiration for this quilt came to me suddenly. I was trying to think of a block to assign for my month of the Simply Solids Bee (Gamboge group, woot!) and this just HAD to happen. Prepare yourself for some serious photos.

I wanted to use all of the colors. I wanted to not care about complementary or contrasting, to just let it go. It is unbelievably freeing to just improv the color selection.

I wrote a tutorial on how to make this block, which I call the wonky diamond. The finished blocks all came back beautiful, like little rainbow envelopes from my bee mates.

Then I made a quilt top (posted about here). There is not a whole lot else to say, except I love it. Incidentally, my husband informed me from the start that this is his least favorite quilt I have ever made.   He is not being mean, but the colors are just not his speed (honestly, not everyone has to like everything right?).

The back is pieced from more bright strips, an extra block, and one little Umbrella print heart. 'Cause I heart this quilt.

Happy Rainbow friends (I have to add a photo of myself, quilters have to get in front of the camera sometime).

These photos were taken in an alleyway near my house. This little gopher (?) is known as Saxapahaw Sam and he is a favorite of some unknown (to me at least) graffiti artist. The photos were taken by me or my loving husband.

This wall happens to have a bar on the other side. Therefore, we adjourned to the bar for some refreshments following the shoot. Boom.

I have a lot of projects wrapping up right now, so I am hoping to show off some more finished quilts soon. Stay tuned!

Quilt Stats:
Size: 50" x 60"
Fabrics: Assorted Kona Solids (I did not actually use all of the colors, just some of them) on a Kona Snow background. I think the solid diamond and binding are Steel. Back is from Ikea. There is one tiny little umbrella print on the back too.
Pieced: with help from the Gamboge group of the Simply Solids bee
Quilting: Infinity symbol quilted by me on my home machine with my trusty Aurifil thread.
Finished: July 6, 2013

PS - Be sure to come back for my Christmas in July post on Wednesday!

A Wonky Rainbow. A Quilt Top.

I got back from Tennessee last Thursday and I get to be home for 10 whole days (archaeology is so glamorous)! I came home with a serious obsession.

You know when you need to finish a project? I think it is like when you are reading a suspenseful novel and you just need to know who the killer is? I am actually just guessing about this because I am a huge wuss and I can't read suspenseful novels without getting nightmares (okay, back off this tangent, sorry friends).

I designed this block for my month of the Simply Solids Bee (Gamboge group represent!). I even wrote a tutorial, if you want to make your own. I mailed out long strings of super bright colors with some Kona Snow.

It was pretty wonderful to come home from work all April to happy rainbow blocks in the mail.

Then, they all arrived and I had to decide what to do...

So, I did what any rational person would do, and asked Instagram. I can't remember who had the offset idea, but it was perfect.

To give the eye a place to rest, I added the gray diamond. Or we could say it is some sort of artistic commentary? Bonus, this way I get to use one leftover block on the back.

So far this is just a quilt top, but the obsession is not over, and I suspect I am going to be quilting this week!

Okay, I am entering this in Rachel's Festival of Strings over at Stitched in Color. You should go get inspired, I totally am.

Ducks in a Row.

I went to my first grown up baby shower on Saturday.

Before you make some comment about how that is odd for a grown woman, remember I am an archaeologist, I work with all men who are 10 years older than me (minimum), and I live in a college town with a whole bunch of friends who are not having babies.

Remember all of those things.

As I child, I dimly recall being escorted to baby showers by my mother. I remember cheezy games and advice that confused me.

This baby shower was for the wife of a coworker, whom I actually know on a personal level. They are having a much anticipated first baby. It was an all female thing (I guess this is normal?), so I, awkwardly, felt I needed to represent the men. Seriously, I talked about my (male) coworker (the father) and I think I ate more than anyone else there. I was also messier.

The advice still confuses me.

Because I am me and I honestly did not even know people set up registries for baby showers (was someone supposed to tell me that? is that in the handbook I forgot to read?), I made them a quilt.

I am calling it Ducks in a Row. Because that is what you do before a baby is born. I guess. Get your ducks in a row.

The nursery colors are blue, green, and orange. I played with half square triangle papers for this one and I guess it made HSTs faster, but I still had to trim them, and then they still needed to be sewn together. So maybe worth it if you get them from the free table at Sew South (where I got them)? You can buy rolls of the papers at the Fat Quarter Shop. Clearly, they are not paying for this endorsement.

Each of the finished triangles is 3.5 inches. Honestly, that is the size of the papers I had. I would have made them bigger if I was just making half square triangles normally.

I ended up quilting with a large loop. I was totally going to do straight lines on the diagonal. All my IG buddies suggested that. I made the quilt assuming that was how I would quilt it. Then I did three rows, and it looked terrible. I am happy with these somewhat random loops. Plus the finished quilt it super soft and snuggly. I bound it by machine (another first for me) for durability, using this tutorial. I need a bit more practice, but this attempt was acceptable.

I was the only homemade gift giver at the shower. But, I think they loved it.

Quilt Stats:
Ducks in a Row. Baby Quilt

Size: 45"x50"
Fabrics: Assorted Kona grays, some Summersville, the ducks are from Birch, and the foxes are Aneela Hoey, I have no idea what that robot print is called.
Binding: Another random Kona gray
Pattern: My own (if you can call it a pattern)
Finished: May 3, 2013

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

Back from Sew South

Hi friends!

I just got back from Sew South here in North Carolina. I am going to write a blog post (or two) about this weekend, but I am still digesting it now. I am not even sure I could write about this weekend now.

It. was. amazing.

For now, I give you this picture... That happened. No fingers were harmed.

I am also staking a claim on this blog in Bloglovin.

R.I.P. Google Reader, it's been real.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

A Finished Hedgehog.

This winter I got a precious new laptop. It is beautiful and sleek and light and fast and everything a laptop should be.

Now, a new laptop needs a new case. Clearly.

This case based on a pattern by Elizabeth Hartman on the Sew Mama Sew website. Can I say how much I like the tutorials from Sew Mama Sew? You guys are rock stars. The pattern is super easy to modify for any laptop (or tablet presumably).

I got the free paper piecing pattern pattern from Artisania. The fabric is an assortment of low volume scraps from my stash and solids. The main body is yarn-dyed essex. Obviously, I had to give him a little eye with a french knot.

I am in love. Swoon.