Saturday, October 27, 2012

The Washi Baby quilt

Remember the baby quilt I shared with you recently?


Last weekend, at the BAMQG sew day, I finished this cute quilt up.  Since I sewed up the original top a couple of months ago, it has gotten its name (Thanks to Julie!)--It's the Washi Baby Quilt!  Julie (and a few other members of the guild) felt that the quilt looked like I'd randomly placed washi tape on the grey squares.  This was my first foray into wonky piecing, which was quite the challenge for my very linear mind.  I used spare jelly roll strips (Thanks Ruth!) with a grey solid that I had brought from home, just because I didn't want to learn wonky piecing on good fabric. :)



Here's the finished product.   I thought for quite a while on how to quilt this, and finally settled on my favorite spiral quilting.  With the Wonderland fabric, the spiral appeared to fit well.


For the back, I chose two pieces of patterned fabric from the line, with a grey stripe between them. Another Wonderland print for the binding finishes out the quilt.

This one, as stated before, is headed for the local NICU, where I hope it brightens a family's day when they are struggling.

I'm linking this one up for the Blogger's Quilt Festival, because it's been one of my favorite finishes for the year.

Blogger's Quilt Festival Stats:


  • Quilt Measurements-- 32 inches x 32 inches
  • Special Techniques used, if any--Slice and insert piecing, spiral quilting
Quilted by…--ME!


  • Best category--Favorite baby quilt, favorite home machine quilted quilt

Friday, October 19, 2012

PIQF and happenings

So, as some of you know, I'm in the SF Bay area.  And, every fall, the second weekend of October, there is an AMAZING quilt show known as the Pacific International Quilt Festival.  The quilts are good, the classes are good, but... If you know me, you know that I totally go for the shopping.  Last year, I purchased a few little things, but wasn't too keen on anything.  This year, I knew differently.  I initially told myself that I'd only buy what I needed.  That lasted about 10 minutes once I got into the marketplace.  Then, I set a financial limit, and that one seemed to stick.  Wanna see what I got?  Of course you do.


This was actually the last thing I purchased, but the shop owner was amazing.  She was based out of Mesa, AZ and she knew her Tula.  When she found out I knew my Tula as well, she pulled out all of her fat quarters and half-yards and started pulling out Hushabye and Flutterby for me.  She was SO nice!  If you ever go to Mesa, AZ (and are a card carrying member of the Tula Troops), go visit her shop--Elkhorn Quilts.  She put this kit together and, honestly, I didn't want the Prince Charming line until I saw it.  I found the backing at another booth for half price, so that was a fantastic find too!


Here are some of my other Tula finds from other booths at the festival.  I was shocked by what I could find! I mean, Nest and Flutterby have been out of print for years, but I could walk up and purchase them for less than $3 for a FQ.  Etsy can't even beat that!

And, in case you wanted a close up of the far right of the picture...


Yup, those are the famed Flutterby ladybugs.  They are so sweet!


These two babies were hiding in a booth in the back corner of the marketplace (literally!).  Since I completely missed out on FFA1 and FFA2, I had to have them.  I mean, let's face it--


How can you resist this face?



The next place I visited had these cute bags for purchasing customers.  I can't resist a good polka dot, and red...?  Forget it!  Don't worry though, I did buy something worth having.

My bestie and I have been obsessing over this quilt since it hit Pinterest this summer.  When I saw the kit, I knew I had to have it.  Admittedly, it was pricier than I expected, but... Love is love, right?

Well, after I spent so much at the festival... I decided to go find one of the new local shops in town that I discovered at the festival.  Because that's how I roll. I picked the store with Nest and Flutterby FQs and off I went last Saturday.  I'm refusing to divulge my secret store, because, let's face it, what I found was AMAZING.


These were all fun finds on the shelves.  Let's be honest--I would've never guessed I would or could find Neptune on the shelves anywhere, but there it was!  These weren't even the real find either...


YUP!  Full Moon Forest!  I almost fell over when I found these on the shelf.  I mean, it came out in 2007, so what were the odds?!  I did buy out one of the fabrics (the aqua trees), but the rest still had at least 2-3 yards on the bolts.  I was (and still am!) so stoked!

Lest you think all I did was buy fabric last weekend (which I did, but that's not the point), I also have a finish to share.  Remember this stack?



This weekend, it became something awesome!


Have any of you been following the Tula Pink sew-along hosted by Sarah at Sew Sweetness?  My friend Lorelei introduced me to it.  It has been so fun watching everyone's creations and it gave me the push to finish the Sparkling Cider Plume top that I had envisioned.  Apologies for the poor picture quality, but I can't get another at this time--it's already en route to Sarah for a quilting treatment!  It's 80 x 80, so just a bit too big for my wussy machine, but I do love it!  The back is almost as amazing, but its big reveal will have to wait until I finish the quilt up.  I just got some Anna Marie Horner pastry line voile for the binding, so I'm super excited to get it together!

Will blog more soon--I'm working on a ton of projects for Christmas and will post them soon!