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

Pink Chowder: Bloggers Quilt Festival Quilt

Hello old and new friends! I am so happy you are here. Welcome.

I am re-sharing Pink Chowder today as my entry in the Bloggers Quilt Festival hosted by Amy's Creative Side. I decided to enter it as a large quilt.

This is my favorite quilt I have ever made. I finished it a couple of months ago and I still just stare at it sometimes thinking, "I made that" (picture a wondering look and an awed voice). 

This quilt is me. 

It was born from a late evening desire to start a new project, when I just started randomly grabbing some of my favorite and most precious fabrics. I brought that giant stack of fabric to a retreat with my best sewing people and then I met the Accuquilt die cutter and the, then brand new, clam die. I knew I had to learn to sew curves just so I could turn my stack of fabric into a clam quilt. 

The reasons this is my favorite quilt of all time:

1.) I learned so much sewing this quilt. These are my first curves ever. It was my first time using the Accuquilt.

2.) I used some of my most hoarded fabrics on this quilt. Now when I look at it I get so see little happy surprises everywhere. Reminding me to use my hoarded fabrics!

3.) Some of my best sewing people gave me scraps to use in this quilt. Now every time I see those clams, I think of them. 

4.) It is pink and aqua. 

5.) There are cats on it. 

6.) I did it. I felt like I was really starting to get this quilting thing while working on this quilt. The quilting looks so good, the clams came together so well, and the colors just make me smile. It gives me such a sense of accomplishment.

Thanks for stopping by! Thanks for being patient about seeing this quilt twice on here. I think you are the best. I love this community and this festival illustrates everything that is good about the online quilting world. I only just wish we were at a real quilt festival 'cause then we could meet. Maybe have a coffee? I would love to hear about your day. 

Pink Chowder Stats

Size: 72" by 72"

Pattern: I used the Accuquilt to cut my clams, but you check out The Quilt Engineer's pattern on Craftsy here. 

Fabric: Too many to list. Just so many bits of precious in this one. 

Quilting: Organic matchstick quilting with Aurifil Thread done by me on my home machine.

Finished: January 2014

Sewing People are the Best People. Creeper and Rainbow Dash Pillows.

I sat down to recap my past couple of weeks and then I started to feel a bit overwhelmed trying to remember everything and commit everything that has happened to pixels. What if I forget something important?

Then I realized, you won't know if I forget something. In fact, you may secretly be hoping I forget something so I just get on with this post already. I am not Tolstoy, we can keep this down to a quick read.

So here you go, I went to Austin, Texas.

I went to Austin to attend the Society for American Archaeology's annual meeting. At this meeting, my coworker and I were co-chairing a session (!!!!!). Writing about this I realize I have residual butterflies in my stomach. This is a sewing blog, so you all don't care that people came to my session or that it was well received. You may care to note that I did not vomit in the conference.

This post is not about a boring archaeology conference, it is about how sewing people are the best people. Before my conference, I spent two nights and approximately two days hanging with one of my bestest internet/real life sewing friends Amy. Amy and her two little boys picked me up from the airport, we ate lots of queso, drank some tequila drinks, I got to read a bedtime story (omg, the cuteness), we drank some beer, we ate some queso, went fabric shopping, did some sewing, did some hanging out, and ate some more.

Amy and her family really know how to show a girl a good time.

Before I left for Austin, I asked Amy what her boys liked. She told me they and just gotten bunk beds and we decided they could use new pillows. I had so much fun tailoring these pillows to each boy's taste.

Gus is five. He loves Rainbow Dash, sparkly things, and rainbows. I decided to make him a Rainbow Dash cutie mark pillow. I also fount this rainbow dash ribbon on Etsy. The rainbow lightning bolt is unfortunately something I sketched out and did not save my original. But, paper piecing for the win!

Bowie is eight. He love science, Minecraft, and paracord knot tying (????). I went with the creeper design I found through Amy's help and some google searches. I love this so much! Those patchwork pixels make me so happy.

I put their first initials on the back. Each pillow measures approximately 19" to fit in a 20" pillow form. They are all quilted with Aurifil thread and mostly pieced with Kona solids.

If anyone here has kids (or is around kids) you know presents are hit and miss. Let's be real and say at five or eight I might have thought a pillow was a totally lame present. As Amy put it, you just never know when they will forget their manners. But that was totally not the case with Bowie and Gus! They loved the pillows! They were bringing them all over the house with them while I was there and they slept with them at night! Bowie even played a game of Minecraft on his Minecraft pillow, just because he loved it. It made me happy (As a side note, they were also super polite and well-mannered).

This post is long enough. I will stop here, happy boys, happy Sarah. Amy is a rock star. Sewing people are the best people.

Love you all.

Hugs and kisses.

Hey Baby, You are a Star

I wanted to subtitle this blog post, "Whoa, just calm down life"

I have literally spent a week at home in the last month (and yes, I am using the term literally correctly).  I actually dreamed about my sewing machine. Cat litter commercials made me sad, because I missed my little fuzz.

I was in Georgia (twice), Florida, Tennessee, and Western North Carolina. Some for fun, some for super fun work. I am spent.

You see, when I get tired and stressed out I feel the need to make something new. This is totally counterintuitive. It actually adds to my pile of things to do, but I find zen in the creative process. The excitement of sketching, choosing fabrics, testing blocks... Just writing this is making me want to go create something new! 

Fortunately, during my trips to Georgia I visited with some very dear friends who are expecting a little girl this summer. I had alway been planning on making this little girl a quilt, but spending time around my friends inspired me. When I got home and the stress creativity kicked in, I channeled that creativity into this little baby quilt. 

This quilt is loud. 

It is for a little baby girl, but I made something that I would love as a grown-up. I think linen is timeless and ageless. 

These blocks are super traditional, they are a variation on a block called the millennium (although I am sure there are ton of other names out there) that I resized and modified. 

I just want this quilt to say, "hey baby, welcome to this world, we are happy to have you." 

Don't all babies deserve that?

Thanks for stopping by, this has been nice!

Quilt Stats:

Name: Hey Baby, You are a Star

Size: 40" x 40"

Pattern: Millenium Star Blocks

Fabric: Assorted Pink and Purple Scraps and Essex Natural Linen/Cotton Blend, backed with a Liberty Lifestyle print and Heather Ross Briar Rose Strawberries

Quilting: Swirly free motion flowers with Aurifil thread, done on my home machine

Finished: April 2014

Winter Blues. Notes from the road.

Hey there! How are you doing?

Are you warm, cold.... so sick of winter you want to scream, wrap yourself in a quilt and hibernate? I am in Atlanta right now, sitting on my hotel room bed. Tomorrow is a new exciting day of work.

I am feeling pretty dang good right now. I just got back from Florida. I have a tan/sunburn, I slept about 10 hours every night in Florida. We also had an ice storm in North Carolina this morning.

Lest you hate me, I will tell you I left for my first of three work trips starting today and I will likely be home for no more than two nights in a row for the next month. Those trips are not vacations and they typically involve driving long distances, eating gross fast food, and time away from my sewing machine (and husband and cat)...

No sense in worrying about things you can't change!

I am feeling a titch overwhelmed with sewing projects, so I thought I would write out a list. It is aspirational, somewhat deadlined, some sort of pie in the sky projects. In no particular order.

1.) Finish the binding on my cousin's quilt. This was a group project with some of my Aunts and cousins, and it is going to another cousin. My job was quilting and binding. Now I need to finish it, I have had this way too long! This needs to get done, like next week.

2.) Finish secret bag project. This super tote is all cut out and ready to piece, which is good because it needs to be gifted next weekend. It should wrap up quickly though.

3.) Handmade Birthday Club March Gifts. I have two to make for this month. No biggie, these will be fun and quick finishes.

4.) Quilt Boy Quilt. This is a charity quilt for my dear friend Val. The top is all pieced and pressed. It just needs to be quilted and bound. It will be super fast once I get it basted. I need to get it done because there is an orphan out there who will be stoked to receive this!

5.) Derek Quilt. The dearest husband in the whole wide world is getting his very own quilt as soon as I can get time to piece it. It is all cut and waiting. I am pretty excited about this (Derek's quilt is actually to the left, ignore the cranes and text).

6.) Parent's Anniversary Quilt. Parent's wedding anniversary is in June. I want to make them a queen sized bed quilt. They have been warned it will be late.

7.) Hop Skip Jump BOM. I am two blocks behind on this BOM, but that is no biggie. This will take but a tiny bit of time to catch up on.

8.) Club Medallion. I am a million borders behind (slight exaggeration). Working on this would be a dream.

9.) Sparkly love Tangelo. I so want to work on this. Realistically, this is not a priority, but because I want to I will move it up on my list.

10.) Backbone quilt. I want to make one, so I suspect I will.

That is super long. I think I will stop there, although I can already think of things to add. I will be focusing on the first couple of items this weekend and then begin to tackle the rest. I think I will be traveling with my machine a bit this spring, which is a prime piecing opportunity. It is also possible that I will travel with a cutting mat and get some piecing set up.

I love you all! Thanks for being there. Thanks for being awesome.

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

Pink Chowder during a Cold Dark Winter

Sometimes quilts are born, not designed. It just seems like they spring out of your head fully formed.

This quilt was born when in a fit of indecision I pulled fabrics from my shelves to take to a retreat with my SURMA sisters (incidentally, this is the fabric pull that inspired the Ladies Night Bundle). I knew I would probably want to start sometime new on the retreat (because that is how I roll), but I had no idea what I would do.

Then we got to the mountains and I met the Accuquilt for the first time. You see my friend Lee (May Chappell) is an Accuquilt all-star and she had just received these new clamshell dies. I had never sewn a single curve, so naturally I decided I was going to use my fabric stack for an 8" clamshell quilt. As you do. As an aside, I now want all dies… I may or may not have a hexagon quilt in the works.

I got to cutting. Because the Accuquilt is amazing, I got this whole quilt cut in a morning.

Full disclosure here, because we are all friends, at that time I had never seen (or did not remember seeing) Latifah's clam famous Glam Clam quilt. I did not have her awesome directions or her videos to watch (but honestly, they are awesome you should check them out). Lee helped me out and we read some stuff from our phones, then we made it work. I had no idea how many clams I even needed… I just started sewing them together when it looked like I had cut enough.

One last awesome thing about this quilt, is that my friends donated little bits of fabric to be made into clams (when I realized my stack was not big enough). Every time I look at this quilt I see bit of some of my favorite people. Thanks Xandi, Chrissy, Lee, and Holli! I love having you here to snuggle with me.

Okay, I am obsessed. There is no such thing as too many pictures, right?

These organic super close together straight lines seemed essential for this quilt, totally inspired by the original Glam Clam.

I think this is my favorite quilt I have ever made. I look at it and I am so proud of my curves and I used some of my most hoarded fabrics.

Thanks for letting my ramble on. This quilt remains in my possession and will, probably, forever.

Quilt Stats:
Name: Pink Chowder
Size: Approximately 72"x72" (Can't measure right now, I have a cat on my lap)
Fabric: So many fabrics, there is really a little bit of everything here, from Bonnie and Camille to Lizzy House, Waterfront Park, Collage, Riley Blake, Comma, Quilters linen from Moda, Mama Said Sew, I think the cats are Kokka. If you see something I did not mention and you need to know, message me and and I will look it up. Binding is from Botanics by Carolyn Friedlander and backing is also from that line and Ikea.
Quilting: Organic matchsticks (can that be a thing?) with Aurifil Thread
Finished: January 2014