From the stash

This week saw me working from my fabric stash and studiously avoiding a trip to my local fabric store! Before you ask... no, I haven't added another resolution for 2012. I'm just anticipating a fair bit of fabric being purchased next week on a road trip!

I made some placemats from a collection of fat quarters... Pumpkin & Spice by Moda. I loved them when I bought them, but they're not the usual colours I work with. They hung out in my stash, as impulse purchases often do!

I whipped these up from a tutorial over at Pink Penguin... I can see me making more for gifts or when my quilt guild sends out it's annual call for holiday placemats for Meals on Wheels. I kept the quilting simple... straight(ish) lines alternating between 1/4 and a 1/2 apart.

The next project was also made from a fat quarter collection... one bought by my mom... hence, the colours that also aren't typical for me. It's Haru Kaze from In the Beginning - a pink and pastel-y asian print collection.

The pattern's from Karla Alexander's book Colour Shuffle... it's a cut and shuffle technqiue that makes for one of a kind blocks. Just had to throw in some Kona solids to stretch out those fat quarters. I'm not sure yet how to quilt... gotta branch out from straight quilting on the diagonal.

With any luck, I'll have some fabric purchases to report on next time!

Thanks for reading!

J

New Year's Resolutions

The date and title of this post don't seem to go together, do they? At the dawn of 2012, some six months ago, I made two New Year's resolutions. Firstly, to buy no quilting magazines or books for a year. No, I am not single-handedly trying to bring down the publishing industry. Let me give you a visual on this...

Can you see why?

Can you see why now?

The personal library is pretty big... not to mention that I have access to the  libraries of the quilters in my Bee(s). I'd also been finding a lot of great inspiration on-line as well. Oh,Pinterest! but that's a resolution for 2013! 

I'm at the halfway point of this resolution and it hasn't been so bad. I waver slightly whenever I see an issue of Quilts and More, but making things from my Pinterest boards and completing projects from my UFO list (more about that another time!) has been really satisfying.

One of the projects I've made in 2012  - Selvage Spools -Inspiration from Tallgrass Prairie Studios

And, though I sometimes have to wait a while, my local library provides me with new, free, quilt-y books. Even if I do have to give them back three weeks later!

Secondly, I've wanted to start a blog... I've been reading a lot of them. There are so many quilters and crafters making cool stuff. I make cool stuff... why shouldn't I blog about it? I can be all artsy about it and say I want to explain my process. I guess that's a part of it.

Resolution #1 - Well underway!

Resolution #2 - You're reading it!

J