FITF: Film in the Fridge | modern quilts, clothing, fabric, and photos

weaving webs…

Posted on February 11, 2009

er, sewing webs… (or half webs, anyway.)

These two blocks are for Ashley, for the second month of the Block Party quilting bee. She decided to go with a spiderweb quilt, and I can already tell that it’s going to be a beautiful quilt! She picked some lovely linen for the center pieces, and a great mix of red and aqua fabrics. She did request that we add in a few pieces from our stashes, and I have done so, though not in too obvious a way. I really liked what she had picked, and didn’t want to take anything away from that, so I addd in smaller scraps of oranges, yellows and greens. (you may have to look closely to see them!)

As many others have said, the actual sewing of these blocks is really quite fun! They’re paper pieced, and I was glad I had practiced on this quilt first, though it’s really much easier than it seems. It really allows you to use teeny tiny scraps, and you know how I love scraps!

It’s a good thing we’re heading out of town soon, or I might find myself busy creating my own web!

Posted in Quilt Blocks | Tagged Block Party, blocks, handmade, Quilt Blocks, quilting, quilting bee, spiderweb quilt | 5 Comments

swapping is fun!

Posted on February 10, 2009

I love fabric. You already know that. I have many go-to favorites that I use often in quilting and then I also have some particular favorites that I just look at. Those are typically discontinued fabrics that I can no longer buy, or fabrics that I worked really hard to find. It seems as though these would only be appropriate for a really great project, and I haven’t come up with that yet!

When I posted recently about my quest for out of print fabrics, I heard from a lot of you who had similar feelings about discontinued prints. I also was pleased to hear from a few people who had some of the fabrics I had been seeking. This resulted in a couple little swaps (my first swaps, actually!).

First up, a little swap with JoJo, who happened to have some of the orange and yellow retro oval prints from Sandy Klop’s Peas & Carrots line. I had some of the red, which she was looking for, so we did a bit of a trade. I’m so pleased to add these colors to my collection! Now, I’m desperately seeking some of the green, so I can complete this set! Anyone?

The second swap was actually with someone in Vermont, strangely enough. Julie emailed me to let me know that she had some of the paint by number birds from Erin Michael’s discontinued Uptown line. She generously sent me some of both the pink and the green, and I’m so in love! (these might get added to the stack I’m afraid to cut into!) She indicated that she wanted to make a quilt using the pink birds, and requested some corresponding fabrics. I picked out several browns, golds, and greens which hopefully will work for her quilt. I should have taken a photo before I mailed it to her!

Don’t you just love these birds? Ah… I’m in fabric heaven!

Now I shall continue my search for some Heather Ross prints (but then again, it seems everyone’s looking for these fabrics, so I won’t hold my breath!). I’m hoping to find some of the mushrooms, and I’d love to find the gnomes on the yellow background…

And, as always, my never ending quest to own all of the flea market fancy ever produced (ok, that’s a (slight!) exaggeration!) Actually, I’m only seeking the blue sprouts. That one must have been the most popular, cause it’s awfully hard to find!

Posted in Fabric | Tagged designer fabric, discontinued, erin michael, Fabric, out of print, sandy klop, uptown | 11 Comments

A finished quilt (and some napkins too!)

Posted on February 9, 2009

You all wanted to see this one quilted, right? I couldn’t decide if I should branch out and try some other type of quilting, but ultimately went with the free motion stippling. There’s a lot going on on the front, so I didn’t want the quilting to be distracting. I think the all over stippling worked well because it’s nice and crinkly without taking anything away from the pattern.

I went for a very simple look for the back. I had this one piece of black and white Marimekko fabric in my stash and it just happened to be the exact size (and I mean exact… no room for error here!). Since it was the perfect size, I opted to use just that piece for the entire backing.

I used the solid green for the binding, and I think it really works to complete the pattern, plus, it looks nice with the black and white print on the back! Final measurement is 37″ x 45″.

And lest you think that I failed on my mission to make some napkins this weekend, here’s a completed stack. You’d think these would be fast to sew, but of course I decided to go with a decorative stitch for the hem, and it definitely takes longer than I expected! I have about a week left, so if I do a couple more each day, I should be good!