Throwback Thursday {Volume 11}

Hey everyone! Welcome to a (belated) Throwback Thursday @ A Quarter Inch from the Edge ! I postponed this month's installment in honour of my trip to Glamp Stitchalot (more on that another day).

This month's featured quilt is well and truly a throwback. Even the pics are vintage! It's the Under the Sea quilt made for a friend's baby. Said "baby" will be moving on to junior high next fall. Scary. Very scary!

 

I have fond memories of making this quilt. There were a variety of blocks presented in the pattern book and you could lay them out to create whatever sort of underwater world you desired. It was such fun creating all those little critters.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking of some sort of turtle inspired creation stemming from DT's current love of "tor-tells". But it wouldn't be these blocks. They seem so clunky to me now! And I clearly hadn't learned about turning my flash off and using natural light for my quilt pics!

I did my (at the time) best FMQ in the borders... the words to Dr. Seuss' One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish if my memory serves me correctly.... and wee fishies in the corners. I still have bits of that dark blue inner border!

 There are some wild and wacky prints in there!

 Now it's your turn!

An InLinkz Link-up

Make it a Flashback Friday, or a Sometime in the Past Saturday/Sunday... it's up to you! I look forward to seeing your creations! And seeing you back here on Thursday, July 7th for Throwback Thursday {Volume 12}. We're creeping up on TBT's 1st Birthday!

J

Stash Love!

Well, we're a month and a half into The Year of the Stash. Here's hoping you've resisted the siren's song of your LQS and gone shopping in your stash. As for me, I've made up two bundles for the Birthday Bonus Club without even a thought of going shopping.
One pile of solids...

 And another of rainbow goodness...

 I also fulfilled my January OMG goal with a drawstring bag for DT's toys.

 And then a few for Christmas presents down the road.

And then there's the mini mini for Q-D. Didn't take a lot of fabric, but it was all from my stash!

 Then there's my Quilter's Planner cover. It makes me happy just to look at it.

 There's something about making every day objects beautiful.

 And I used some of my ribbon stash as well. I always buy it but rarely use it!

Guess I did more than I thought with my hoard stash! How about you?Link up a blog post about your stash-based projects this year. Or if part of your Stash Manifesto was to organize, feel free to link up a post about that process!

An InLinkz Link-up

I've rediscovered the joy of scraps this month, so I'll be selecting a random winner from the blogs linked up to receive a custom scrap pack from my very own stash. The giveaway is open to international participants until Saturday, February 20th at midnight (Atlantic Time).


J

P.S. It's not too late to get in on the fun of the The Year of the Stash. Just write up a Stash Manifesto and link it up here. And then join us on March 14th to show off a project or two made with your treasures!

Best of 2015!

Cheryl @ Meadow Mist Designs (you might know her from the Mystery Quilt series she's done the past two years) is hosting a fun end of year link up - Best of 2015.

The link-up is designed to showcase a blogger's posts with the most views or comments, best tutorials or finishes, or even one's just plain favourites. Here's my Top Five Countdown!

#5. Meet Maritime Modern Blog Hop

Why a blog hop post? Well, this one was my brainchild and it allowed me to get to know some of my Maritime Modern Quilt Guild pals even better! If you're new to my blog, it's also a good post to get to know me a little better.

#4. Good Old Hockey Game

Even though I completed this quilt in 2014, I didn't manage to blog about it until July. To date, this is my blog post with the highest number of views... for all time! It was such fun to have my nephew, J-Boy, helping me with this quilty photo shoot.

#3. For the Love of Sewing

This finish represents an entire year of new skills and pushing my limits - appliqué, tiny pieces, a tonne of new FMQ patterns, and my first QAYG quilt. It's a doozy! My fingers are crossed that this year will see the Skill Builder 2015 BOM revived and that I'll have a Technicolor Galaxy finish to show off!

#2. ALYOF - September

Participating in A Lovely Year of Finishes has been a great motivator for me this year. I've set and achieved goals in all 12 months (this month's post is yet to come). If there's 2016 edition, I'm probably in!

And in the top position...
#1. Throwback Thursday

One of my quilty goals for this year was to start my own link-up. Up until now, it's been a private goal, but there's no harm in sharing it now. ☺ I made that goal a reality back in August, when I started Throwback Thursday - a celebration of quilts from our dark quilty pasts! It's been fun to revisit projects from my days before blogging. Perhaps you'll even join me for {Volume 6} on Thursday, January 7th.

How about you? If you're a regular reader, I'd love to hear about a post you enjoyed that didn't make my Top Five! And if you're a blogger, do you have a Top Five posts of 2015? Why not collect them up and link-up with Best of 2015 @ Meadow Mist Designs?

J

Throwback Thursday {Volume 5}

Welcome to Throwback Thursday @ A Quarter Inch from the Edge! On the first Thursday of each month, we have a visit from the Ghosts of Quilt Projects Past!

 

Now the 1st of December has come and gone, I'm feeling like Christmas-y-ness is fully legit. Bring on the lights! Crack open those Advent Calendars! Hand me a candy cane hot chocolate from Tim's! I can still do without the creepy little elf on the shelf or the schmaltzy holiday pop music at the grocery store, but I digress.

On with the Christmas themed TBT! I love pulling out that red and green Rubbermaid tote from the storage area and putting up the "Early Decorations." This wall hanging is one of those. I like to hang early in December so I can enjoy it for as long as possible!

I made this paper-pieced beauty back in 2010. One of the nicest things about Christmas decor is that it doesn't have to be fresh and modern every year. Traditional is in!
I attempted not to repeat fabrics in the trees in the manner of my Q-Squared pal, Q-D. She's kind of known for that. In fact, she was the one who brought this pattern into our little group. I think we've all made one now. Well, except for Anja @ Anja Quilts. She doesn't do paper piecing!

I loved making the trees, but when it came to that border, there was no way I wasn't repeating fabrics. Honestly, the border nearly killed me. So many skinny little triangles. It went on forever!

That feeling was exacerbated by the fact that I made not one, but two of these lovelies. The second one was a Christmas gift for my mom. I should threaten to take it back unless she throws away the sad little cardinal wall hanging I made her early in my quilting obsession. No pics of that. Ugh.

As you can see, these were made well before the advent of process pics or a design wall. The design floor had to suffice. As I haven't yet unpacked the "Early Decorations", I went with vintage pics. Yes, vintage. That's what we're calling poor lighting and badly cropped pics these days. Just go with it! ☺ I'd love to make this again (sans border). I'm thinking Cotton + Steel Sprinkle as the background. Heck, maybe the whole thing in C+S.  Reimagining projects is one of my favourite parts of Throwback Thursday.

Now it's your turn! Link up a Christmas/Hanukah/Kwanzaa/Solstice/International Day of Glitter project from your dark quilty past. We've got another sweet giveaway up for grabs from Fabric Please!

That'll go a long way toward stuffing your own Christmas stocking! How to win? There are three ways.

1. Link-up a blog post telling all about a quilt from your past. Don't forget to link to A Quarter Inch from the Edge in your post or grab the Throwback Thursday button for your sidebar.
2. Leave a comment on this post telling me about your favourite childhood Christmas present (mine was a dollhouse kit that my dad and I spent the months of January and February building!)
3. Leave me a comment telling me how you follow Fabric Please (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram)

The giveaway is open to International participants until Sunday, December 6th at 11:59 Atlantic Time.

An InLinkz Link-up

Thank you to everyone for supporting this little link-up for the past 5 months. I've still got lots of Throwback projects to blog about so we'll see you back here on January 7th, 2016!

J

True Confessions of a Selvage Junkie

Here's the thing: I tend to work on selvage projects when I don't have anything else on the go. Not so much the case lately! I didn't manage any new projects... even though I had lovely, luxurious weeks to get on the bandwagon.  So I thought I'd share some of my past selvage shenanigans... including the one that started it all.

Someone showed up at a guild meeting with a bag like this and I was all in! I had to make one of my own. I scrimped and pinched and begged selvages from friends (they all save for themselves now). I still love to pull this out as a summertime purse!

 

Once I finished that purse, I was truly hooked. I went on to make some simple zipper pouches. Sometimes it's those every day items that can bring one the most enjoyment. You get to admire those little selvages every time you pull it out of your purse!

Then I stumbled onto selvages as spools of thread... couldn't resist that idea either! Thankfully, Tallgrass Prairie Studios has a lovely tutorial for them! This was one of my first forays into an improv style of piecing and definitely an early use of Kona Ash. Sadly, it's never made it to a studio wall (except for this pic!)

This one did make it to the wall though... and sometimes doubles as an extra bulletin board when the other one gets too full!

Once upon a time, a bee mate requested an improv star block with selvages. This one, using Dominique @ The Running Thimble's tutorial, ticked all the boxes!

And then there's the selvage block from last year's Skill Builder BOM.  It was such fun to match the selvages to the quilt colours... and to choose ones that might actually be book titles!

Here's the most recent of my selvage projects, a pillow for the Maritime Modern Quilt Guild's swap with the Edmonton Modern Quilt Guild.

You can read more about it's creation here.
 

I'm linking up with Final Link-Up for the Selvage Along over at Quilty Habit & Quilts of a Feather!

 

Thanks so much to both of these lovely bloggers for organizing a laid-back link-up. I loved the pops of selvage-y inspiration every week or so. So nice not to feel like I was on hamster wheel style-along where one can't possibly catch up or participate!

J

Oh how I love a Selv-EDGE!

It's check in day at the Selvage Along @ Quilt Habit and Quilts of a Feather. I can't say that I've set my mind on a particular project, but that's okay since the Selvage Along doesn't finish up until September 21. That's loads of time... says the procrastinator!

Whenever I just feel like sewing and don't know what, I make selvage blocks. I don't worry much about what they're going to become. I'm just making them and I'll see what they turn into down the road!

 

Now you can see why my selvage bin is organized the way it is. These blocks are foundation pieced on muslin. I mark a 45° line on the corner and use it as a guide for topstitching the selvages. I keep a bunch of foundations prepped for whenever I feel like stitching up a block.

I also have a lot of teal fabric in my stash which means a lot of teal selvages. ☺

Lately, I've been thinking about cutting these 8 inch squares down to 4 inch and putting them together into something... but what?!

 

I'm linking up today with Quilty Habit & Quilts of a Feather. I love the pace of this quilt along. The way the tutorials are spaced out, you have a chance to make something. Unless you haven't been saving selvages... then you're in trouble!

 

J 

Livin on the Selv-EDGE!

I've been studiously ignoring all the fabulous Alongs popping up all over the blogosphere, but I just couldn't resist this one!

 

I mean, it's selvages (or selvedges... depending on where you live!). You can pop on over to Quilty Habit and see what's coming up. For today, I'm showing off my selvage stash.

I keep a little bowl handy on my sewing space to hold selvages as they come along. As much as I love a good selvage, I don't let myself cut them off fabric until I actually use the fabric for a project.

There's something about the blue glaze on this little bowl that makes me smile!

When the little bowl gets too full to hold more treasures, I open up this nondescript container. In our house, we call them fish boxes!

All these lovelies live inside... organized roughly by colour. Keeping them sorted makes it easier to use them in my projects.

I also have separate bags for black/white/grey selvages as well as tan/brown.

And then there are the Christmas selvages. Maybe one of these days I'll have enough for a Christmas... something. Who knows?

 There's even a bag for my precious Amy Butler selvages!

I'm linking up with Quilty Habit... and I'll be popping over to see what the other selvage hoarders have got on the go! I'm hopping to link up again at the end of the Selvage Along with a few of my selvage projects!

J

4x7 Challenge - Week 3

Ahh... another week of forced sewing. It's like hard labour, people. Just kidding! Making time for 30 minutes of sewing each day (14 hours of sewing total) is not such a hardship!

 

So here's the day by day blow by blow....

Day 15 - Finished this Haphazard Chevron pillow that's been hanging out on the design wall for a few weeks. Pillows are so danged satisfying!

Day 16 -Quilted the iron & sewing machine blocks from 2014 Skill Builder

Just showing you sneaky peeks on these ones... big reveal to come in the next few days when I link up with ALYOF 2015

Day 17 -Quilted the triangle quilt block from 2014 Skill Builder. Again, just a sneaky peak for you!

Day 18 - I'm enacting rollover minutes... I sewed way more than 30 minutes on previous days!
Day 19 - Got around to ironing all that fabric I've been buying!

 

Day 20 -Whipped up an iPad case for Himself!

Day 21 - Sewed up some HSTs for a project in the QPPP (Quilting Project Protection Program). I'd tell you more, but well.... it's secret!

I get a little down on myself when I commit to a challenge like this and don't get in the 30 minutes of sewing each and every day. And then I remember that it's not about beating yourself up, but celebrating what you did accomplish! A lovely pillow, an iPad case, some blocks that have been staring me down for months. You know, that's not too shabby! I'm linking up today with Barn Berry Designs. Pop on over and see what others accomplished this week - or jump on the bandwagon for our final week, Week 4. It's not too late!

J