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

quilts for cotton + steel

Posted on November 4, 2014

Believe me, when I was asked to create two quilts for upcoming Cotton + Steel collections, I was beyond thrilled. I loved all of their previous lines, and couldn’t wait to see what was next. Of course, the timing wasn’t ideal, being that it was smack in the middle of our move, but I really couldn’t say no. So in the midst of packing and all, I was busy planning quilts and cutting into these gorgeous new fabrics.

I immediately knew I wanted to play around with triangles with Alexia’s new Mesa line. I opted for a larger equilateral triangle design – alternating the Mesa prints with a double triangle design to feature a fun solid and corresponding neutral. I love this colorway – lots of blues and aquas and reds along with the fun Toy Boat solid by RJR.

I went through a number of ideas for Sarah Watt’s Tokyo Trainride (ah, the pressure!), and ultimately with a deadline looming, went with this design, which was a little less me, but fun nonetheless. I mixed many of the prints and basics in a quarter log cabin design, then bordered it with flying geese in a number of corresponding solids. I love the little extra it adds and it’s fun to see the secondary pattern that emerges when the blocks are put together.

It was so fun to have a chance to see them in person in Houston in the Cotton + Steel booth! I had sent them off as quilt tops, so it was exciting to see them finished (beautifully quilted by Gina Pina). As I walked through Houston I kept finding spots I was wishing I could use as a photo shoot, but since I wasn’t going to be able to smuggle them out of the convention center, these iphone photos will have to suffice!

A big thanks again to the ladies of Cotton + Steel for giving me the opportunity to make quilts out of your beautiful upcoming collections!

Posted in Fabric, Finished Quilts, Posts about Quilts | Tagged cotton + steel, handmade, mesa, quilt, quilting, tokyo trainride | 17 Comments

coming up roses…

Posted on October 31, 2014

One of the good things about moving is that sometimes you come across things long forgotten, like this great bundle of fabrics that I pulled together at the beginning of the year. I often pull fabrics only to return them to the shelves, but I really liked this one and put them all in a box (again, not labeled!) with the hope that they’d someday become a quilt.

I came across the box while unpacking and decided it should be my next project. I added in a few additional fabrics that fit the look and since then I’ve been sewing together half square triangles whenever I get a free moment.

My design wall is currently not on the wall, but instead is leaning against the wall right as you walk in the house. It serves a dual purpose of covering up an unattractive corner fireplace and also providing a fun spot of color when you come in the door. These cheery colors are certainly a welcome sight!

Posted in Fabric, Posts about Quilts | Tagged hst, Quilt Blocks | 8 Comments

long time!

Posted on October 23, 2014

My oh my! I had hoped to be back here before now, but as it turns out, moving is a lot more work than I imagined! (Previous moves were without kids and with significantly less stuff.) I incorrectly thought that the challenging part would be the part heading up to the move. Not so. Getting all the stuff out of the boxes has been far more work! Despite what I thought of as stellar labeling skills, I’ve managed to misplace many of our things – the bolts to the bed frame, a dining room chair, all of Hazel’s winter gear, which I just found today in a box labeled ‘Hazel – outgrown clothing, etc’. Note to self – ‘etc’ should probably not be used when labeling moving boxes.

But anyway, we’re mostly back to normal, and even though my sewing table had to live in the garage for a couple weeks, it’s now set up again and I’ve been doing a bit of sewing to make up for lost time.

I opted to work on this quilt, since it was the last packed and I was smart enough to pack all the fabrics along with the sections I had already sewn. (I labeled that box ‘sewing – last packed’, which is also not very descriptive…) Max has also been bugging me periodically about ‘his quilt’, and I’m certainly powerless to resist a three year old’s request for a new quilt!

I didn’t have much of a design wall set up, so I just decided to let it go and sew pieces together completely randomly. It came together quite quickly, as I used lots of solid white to create more of a minimalistic herringbone design. The prints are mostly Denyse Schmidt’s Hadley line, along with some Cotton + Steel basics.

The colors in this one lent themselves so well for a quintessential Vermont fall foliage photo, but the weather didn’t cooperate, or when it did, I found myself without any adults around to hold the quilt up. I’m hoping Max can brush up on his photography skills so he can start taking the photos for me!