Japanese Taupe

I really love Asian textiles and artwork. The colors and textures, the attention to detail. It’s awe inspiring.

I remember being at the Houston Quilt Market in the fall of 2009 and staring at the quilts in the Hanamomen booth (maybe it was Lecien, or Kokka….I don’t remember but the quilts at the Japanese fabric booths are always incredible).  Really, really unbelievable!

Recently I was in New York visiting my sister and I ran across Susan Briscoe’s book Japanese Taupe: 125 Blocks in Calm and Neutral Colors. HOLY COW! I just HAD to have it and, while I could have waited to get it from my local quilt shop, I wasn’t willing to wait. And I needed reading material for the return trip, right?

I did, of course, buy some fabric, too.

I have collected a few more from my favorite local quilt shop and  have been digging through my stash.

And now I’m busy planning my next quilt using this book. Just. Can’t. Wait!

From Blah to Ta-dah! a Bedroom Makeover

When husband and I bought our house we agreed that the last room we’d decorate would be the master bedroom. Little did I know it would take nine years. I mean, come on! Nine whole stinking years! The room came close to being fully decorated a few times but never quite what I wanted. It turns out it was worth the wait. At least it was to me. The story goes like this…..

Husband and I were finally ready to make the master bedroom our little sanctuary. We chose a paint color for the walls, bought some fabric and new draperies (store bought- yikes!) and had a great general plan. Or so I thought.

Then the seat cushion of our living room armchair got a rip. A bad one. On both sides of the cushion. grr. And it was beyond repair (think 6 plus inch tears). Fabric wasn’t available to fix the cushion and neither was a replacement chair. I did a little research and found that it would cost just as much to buy a new sofa as it was to reupholster what we had. And we wouldn’t be without living room furniture for a month and a half. It helped that we’d actually be purchasing a decent sofa this go round. Mid-May delivery and I can’t wait! But I digress.

So my plan to paint our bedroom became a plan to paint the entire house. Husband and I knew there was no possible way for me to paint our entire house. I painted our house before we had kids and felt confident that I could handle painting one room with our two kids floating around. But not the whole house. We hired a professional to paint and it was worth. every. last. cent.

The house was mad for about a week. Stuff was everywhere but I’m really pleased with the results.

Here’s our bedroom before:

Here’s our bedroom during:

And after:

What I did:

1. painted Sherwin Williams Destiny -it’s grey with a touch of red, making it kind of an orchid color – it’s fabulous!

2. replaced curtains

3. re-purposed tiles over sofa into a new headboard (there’s a third over the master bath tub)

4. removed quilt from wall (I never liked it there) and replaced with photography – from our wedding, no less

5. added some candles

6. covered cords on wall sconces (I hate cords)

7. made new pillows from some beautiful silk and velveteen fabrics*

7. recovering cushion on the bench with brown twill I already have (woot!) to match large chair in bay window

I have to say I now LOVE our bedroom. It’s my new favorite place!

* I was really nervous to cut into these fabrics. The fabric was expensive and I did not want to make any mistakes. Turns out luck was on my side.

Big Stitch Baby Quilt – update

I continue to work on Q Man’s quilt. I’m using perle cotton and hand quilting it. In order to make the quilt more visually interesting I am NOT marking the quilting lines. I’m just doing the best I can to quilt straight lines. Some are, some aren’t, some sort of slant but I’m very pleased with the results thus far.

I have been drawing a crude circle in the middle. Again, it’s not perfect but that adds dimension to an otherwise very linear quilt. My ultimate goal would be to have the quilt finished by the East Cobb Quilt Guild fall show so I can enter it, but I feel fairly certain that goal isn’t attainable at this point. I just don’t have that kind of time, or heck, energy. That’s alright. I can enter the quilt in two more years and spend the fall and winter bundled up while quilting it.

Handprint Christmas Tree Skirt

I worked my fingers to the bones. Okay, well, not to the bones, but I put in a lot of hours in on this tree skirt.  I figured out that I spent something like three or four minutes per yo-yo (making it, attaching the button then attaching to the tree skirt). And there were 100 yo-yo’s. That’s a lot of minutes. The tree skirt was a HUGE success though, and worth every minute I put into it.  The auction was a blast and the tree skirt sold for a pretty penny, which makes me happy. The tree skirt went to a friend of mine and I know it will be well loved for years to come. That’s the reward for me.

For anyone wondering, and on the off chance you want to make one, here are the instructions.

I began with nine fat quarters and, basically, made a gigantic nine patch. I started with an 18 1/2″ center. I decided that the tree skirt would look more symmetrical if the center was square. I added a fat quarter to each side of my green center,  then took three more fat quarters and stitched them together along the short side (the 18″ side) to make a side panel. I repeated this to make two side panels.  After the side panels were made I attached them to the center panel. Note that the side panels will be larger than the center panel since the center piece was cut smaller.

Then I assembled the back. I started with 1 2/3 yard of fabric. I cut off the selvedges and stitched a 10″ x 60″ strip to each side of the main fabric. I placed the top over the bottom, wrong sides together.

To make sure I accurately cut the center and opening of the tree skirt I found the center of the green square by drawing a line 9″ from each side.  I then used my blue chalk marker and drew an approximation of the circle size and opening I wanted. I made a few measurements then determined I should have a 4 1/2″ radius for the circle – meaning I marked a 4 1/2″ spot all the way around the center of the square to get a 9″ opening. You could also use a plate or other round object – this just worked for me. I drew the opening lines using a ruler.  I then decided to use a 23″ radius for the outer portion of the tree skirt and made those marks. Then pin, pin, pinned the heck out of the thing.

After the pinning madness I stay-stitched a quarter inch around the center opening (or something like that), along the sides and around the bottom of the skirt.  I didn’t want the tree skirt to stretch while I was sewing on the binding. Next steps- sew on the bias binding, attach the yo-yo’s and stitch down the handprints.

ps- Worth noting is that the buttons in the center of the yo-yo’s were a variety of sizes and colors. Blue, purple, turquoise and black buttons gave the tree skirt a little zip! Enjoy!

Auction project

I am making a Christmas tree skirt for Little Mister’s class auction project.

I started by cutting out 8″ squares of white on white fabric and putting them in a 9″ square in a manilla folder – secured on the back side with masking tape so the fabric wouldn’t bunch or move. Each folder was labeled with the child’s name so I couldn’t mess it all up. Genius, right?

I let the kids choose which hand to use (i.e. right or left) and they could choose from four green paint colors. I’m pleased that we’ve used left and right hands and all four of the paints. Variety is nice.

Each hand print has been bordered with a complimentary green fabric. The hand prints will get appliqued around the border of the skirt, along with yo-yo’s and stars. Well, maybe some stars. Each yo-yo has a button in the middle. The buttons are shades of green, red, black, white, gold; there are a few purple, blue and pink buttons for variety and to break up the monotony.  I might make a few blue and purple yo-yo’s too. I have about 50 yo-yo’s made so far. If I am calculating correctly I need about 100. The auction is March 4th. I need to start whipping those things out!

I “found” some time this weekend and was able to cut out the skirt (it started as a giant block of nine fat quarters) and I put on a red and white stripe binding. I used red ric-rac for the ties and I’m considering putting bells on the ends just for fun.

Here’s what I have thus far

I took this photo on Monday. I have a little more than half the binding sewn on as of this afternoon.

I used ric-rac for ties and really LOVE the bias binding so I’m showing it off here.

2011 Block of the Month – Intown style

I’m starting to feel like I am getting back in the saddle again. I’ve been good about making time for myself to sew, quilt, etc. and I’m going to start teaching classes at Intown in February. I’ll only be there one Saturday a month but being around other quilters is something I love whether I’m teaching or working (or let’s face it – just hanging out). The shop has been a place of refuge for me for years. And a source of some great friends, too.  Oh, and great fabric. Did I mention that before? Lots and lots of great fabric.

Last November I approached Sarah about teaching a Block of the Month this year. I’ve done it in years past but I knew having a new person at home would put a cramp in my style. While at Fall Quilt Market in Houston, Sarah, Taffy and Mary decided to participate and offer the Michael Miller Clubhouse Block of the Month at Intown. The quilt is a bit of a different style for the shop, but different isn’t always bad. It’s fresh, though there is a lot of white, but that seems to be the new “thing” these days.

Because we are the way we are, Taffy decided to put a spin on the quilt. She pieced the center block, the baskets and some of the pieced triangles. Then she broke her wrist. ick. So I grabbed all the parts and assembled the center.

In addition to the center block being pieced, and it having a green border instead of pink, I changed out the four corners to a pieced block. In all honesty we weren’t huge fans of the bird fabric. I used the lighter pink that’s already used in the center and made the same block on the four points that’s in the border of the quilt. I know it doesn’t make sense now but it will once you see the completed top. The borders are entirely pieced and I’m certain it’ll take me a while to complete. Unlike the center of the quilt, I’m not rushed for time.

Class starts Saturday, February 12th at 10 am. Spaces are filling fast! Hope to see you there!

I won, I won, I won!!!

I worked at a high end photography studio for six years. It worked well because I had a creative outlet but didn’t want to shoot, though I have always loved photography. I learned a lot while I worked there – lighting, composition, settings, printing, editing and so forth. I’m grateful that I learned so much because it turns out to be a pretty cool thing for me.

During the great snowpocalypse a friend of mine sent me a message about entering one of my photos in a contest at a local photo and video store. When I worked at the studio we would go there for ink, paper, film (yes, back in the dark ages), advice, cleanings, you name it. So I entered a photo. And I won a free 11×14 gallerie wrap print. How cool?

Here’s the photo

Wrapped

I’ve been busy making some Christmas gifts* that I can whip up on days that both kids are napping.

Scarves for the boys down the street, and of course, for Little Mister, too.

And a voile wrap for my mother-in-law.

It’s the size of a pashmina and made from one of Anna Maria Horner’s lovely voile fabrics. Detail stitching about 1/8″ around all sides to add a nice detail and voile-a! (lol)

The voiles have a beautiful hand once washed. I’d love to make a spring skirt for myself using one of these fabrics.

I hope everyone likes their gifts!

* couldn’t post this until after Christmas. Didn’t want to spoil the gifts.

Piece

I’ve been trying to clean my sewing, er craft, room*. It’s a giant disaster. I ran across this quilt I designed and made for an advanced paper piecing class at my local quilt shop. I hope to get that class back on the schedule early next spring.

I really love this quilt and it was great fun to make! It is square, and does lie flat even though it looks a little wonky in the photo. It’s been folded up for a while and I was too lazy to press it.

Detail

I also managed to get Q man’s quilt out of my sewing, er, craft room and basted! Whoo-hoo! I spent a little over an hour on my kitchen floor yesterday basting and  had just enough time to get it finished while both kids napped.  I have an assortment of perle cotton thread ready to go – some variegated, some solid-  so I can start quilting it. I need to start working on a different project anyhow and see nothing wrong with working on three hand quilted pieces. It’s been so  darn cold here that I might just finish one or two of them before spring.

* We now have a craft room. This room was once solely dedicated to my sewing adventures then husband decided he wanted some space to build model ships. I lost a third of my space but do enjoy it when I have company in our small room. We can contain our messes here and close the door so no one will see.

Indigo

I love Oriental fabrics. I mean really, really love them and I make a lot of quilts with Oriental fabrics. So when I was at market in fall 2009 and four months pregnant with Quinn I didn’t feel badly when I dropped a chunk of change on some indigo fabrics. I knew I wouldn’t be back to any market for a good while and I’d been eyeing the fabrics for ages. Seriously, like for three or four years at. every. market.

Now I can’t figure out what to do with them. I pulled the fat quarters down the other day – I think I have something like fifty- and it just escapes me. I’ve doodled and googled for inspiration but no luck yet. I’m baffled.

Because I promised to write more about my design process I thought I’d post this as my starting point.  I’d like to get further than this, though.

Hopefully soon.