Back in action!

No resolutions about fabric purchasing!

Got away on some vacations - a family trip to Boston and upstate New York and a Girl Guide adventure to Oregon (of all places!) Naturally, since I don't do much in the way of hand-stitching, not a lot of quilting happened. I dropped in to a few quilt shops in New England. Not to mention four different Marden's while in Maine. If you've never been to a Marden's, nothing I say can really prepare you. They're pretty sketchy looking, but there are fabric deals to be had for those unafraid to navigate through the other departments. On my first trip in March 2012, I found Amy Butler fabrics for 5$ a metre! Unheard of!

There's been a lot of sewing this week though... I finished up a little something I've been working on for a new member of our family. He's been here for a couple months, but I wanted his first quilt-y to be just right! This one makes me particularly happy - I don't know if it's the colour combination (I love teal & orange!) or the fact that I made it without any instructions from something I pinned - but it's gonna be a tough one to send to it's new home. I quilted it a little differently for me and did some wiggly vertical lines - inspired by  a quilt on Jeni Baker's Flickr stream. 

I've also been pinning a lot of items with rainbow colour pathways since the spring. I fell in love with this one over at Hooked on Needles and just had to make it... no particular reason. Often the quilts I most enjoy creating are just because. Every one of those fabrics is unique and all came from my scrap stash. It's been in progress for a while, but I quilted like a maniac this week and finished it up.

There's just one week left in my official summer... wonder what I'll create this week?

Thanks for reading!

J

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