{un}Bound

As the end of September rolls in, so does the end of Art Gallery's 30 Days of Sewing with AGF. I had the immense pleasure of being able to participate. After finally getting unpacked and settled in the new house, I really needed something to kickstart my mojo. April Rhodes Bound fabric was more than enough to do the trick.

While staring at my Bound fat quarter bundle, I really wanted to create something that felt free, away from the typical lines we stick to. Triangles aren't all that different, but my process was. I started cutting without a firm final vision, and let the quilt design itself. Here is the final product.

Everything about these colors was very soothing and natural to me. They also spoke of the southwest. It was that desert influence that led my triangles to become little peaks and valleys.

Here she is in all her glory. Being over 80" long, she was very very hard to photograph.

I tried to capture the quilting the best I could, but it is so hard to show quilting on white. I was thrilled with how it turned out. There are two triangles, one from the top and one from the bottom, that overlap to create  a diamond. The rest of the lines echo from those triangles. I think the quilting really brought the feel of the quilt together. 

As fall rolls in in most states, it is still sort of summer here in SC. It's what we consider fall, but I'm not sure 70 degrees is what most people consider fall. Thank you Art Gallery for having me on your tour! I look forward to seeing all of your fabulous fall lines as they continue to debut!

Happy sewing!

Stash Fabric Kona Blog Tour

Hello neglected blog, I have missed you. Glad to know blogger hasn't changed enough that I can't figure out how to post. I had the pleasure of making a quilt on the Blog Tour to celebrate Stash Fabrics having all 303 Kona colors in stock!! I actually had a panic because I thought I was supposed to post yesterday, and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get my photos.

Luckily I did! Here is my quilt. It is made up of 10 Kona colors and a couple Cotton and Steel prints that mimic the color scheme. Guess what? You can get my bundle and all of the other bundles curated by the blog tour participants at Stash Fabrics. Beth has even been so kind to offer a 10% discount when you use coupon code WOW303 through September 6.

If you haven't seen the other quilts on the tour, check them out! Here is the schedule:

July 17 – Darcy @ Modern Cozy
July 23 – Jacey  @ Jacey Craft

July 30 - Kelly @ Kelby Sews
August 3 – Nancy @ Owen’s Olivia
August 6 – Jodi @ Tales of Cloth
August 10 – Megan @ City Stitches
August 12 – Rita @ Red Pepper Quilts
August 17 – Elizabeth @ Andpins Handmade
August 19 – Tara @ Rad and Happy
August 21 – Sharon @ Color Girl Quilts
August 24 – Allison @ Allison Sews
August 27 – Kristi @ Schnitzel and Boo

August 31 - Jessee @ Art School Dropout

Another great thing that you really don't want to miss! Beth is starting a Kona Club that can help you build an amazing collection of solids if yours is not well rounded. Since they stock every color of Kona, the club will set you up to have the colors you need for almost every project! It is a fantastic way to build your solid stash without having to wonder if you are picking a good variety of colors.

If you are on instagram, you know that just because I haven't been blogging, doesn't mean I am not sewing. Like most bloggers, I hope to return to full time blogging, but instagram is so fast and easy! Come join us over there if you want to see my work more regularly! Happy sewing!!

Steam Punk Grief

If you've ever allowed yourself to love unconditionally, you know that losing that thing is hard. I love Gus so fully it's ridiculous, probably because he is not human. He never judges, doesn't challenge my opinion, and is fully accepting of everything about me. He loves me unconditionally.

                     

On Easter morning (we think), he went missing. It was utterly devastating. For the first few days, everyone said that he would be back, but my cat-mom gut knew something was wrong. It's been two weeks, and we still don't know where he is. I've called every vet and shelter, posted flyers, put his picture on Facebook, and talked to all the neighbors. We haven't seen any signs of him, dead or alive. We have had a few false alarms, so I am having a hard time finding any closure. Some part of me is clinging to the hope that he will be found. If you've never loved an animal so fully, I cannot explain how painful it is. 

I have been sewing my grief into my Steam Punk, as I'm sure you can see in my color scheme. 

                       

                       

                                    

                        

So for now, I'll keep sewing and hoping. 

Party Time!

It has been quite a while since I have published a pattern, so I am so happy to introduce Party Streamer! You can purchase it here.

I am rather smitten with the quilt and with how to photos turned out. I have been hoping to shoot in this spot for a while, but I wasn't sure if it was allowed or considered trespassing. Yesterday morning, I got up the guts and we dashed out there, probably looking rather sketchy. It was worth it!

I had a lot of fun quilting this quilt because I really felt inspired to step outside the box. I chose to only quilt the negative space and use a design to echo the shape created with the color. What do you think?

And of course, none of these pictures would ever be possible without the best helper ever. I confess, I often orient the quilt the wrong way, or the sun is interfering, or a myriad of other things. The photos that Adham stages always turn out significantly better than mine. I am so grateful for his help, even though it is not his favorite task. 

As always, than you for supporting CityStitches! We couldn't do it without you!

Spring had Sprung

I am on a mission in 2015 to finish all the half finished quilts in my closet. This one was high on my list. I love it, but I just never got around to joining the blocks. Or pulling off the stabilizer. Much like the paper used in paper piecing, I hate having to pull things off of the back of quilt blocks.

I actually joined the blocks a little differently than the pattern calls for. Rather than put sashing between all the blocks, I offset the flowers in each row a little differently. I like the end effect. Now I just need to get a turn on mom's long arm to quilt it.

I was able to use the time I spent confined to a car for work to pull the stabilizer from both this quilt and the paper from another. I was that bored. I am not sure I would have ever gotten it done if it had not literally been the ONLY thing to do.

We also have been getting used to having this guy back. He is quite the hunter....and often I am the prey. Good thing I love him so much.

3 years in the Making

Oh this quilt. It has been sitting in my WIP pile for THREE YEARS. I made it in early 2012 when I was just beginning to learn how much quilting meant to me. It is/was for one of my best friends of all time. I had finished it by his birthday, revealed it via skype, and then told him it just needed binding. And for three years, it. just. needed. binding. Can you say worst friend ever?

So for his birthday, three years later, it is in the mail and should arrive on his doorstep. The color choices in the quilt were meant to represent the southwest landscape and sky. He loves it there. The pattern is by Fresh Lemon Quilts.

It is very weird to finish a quilt from so long ago. My skills have changed so much since then. To see my piecing and quilting from when I was relatively new years later gives such a weird perspective on how much you have learned. 

I hope Yeager, his girlfriend, and their dog get lots of snuggles out of this quilt. I hope it goes with them on all of their adventures, and I hope it gets to see the world. Happy Birthday friend!

Gigi's Birthday Quilt

Remember my Liberty Churn Dash? Although I love the Liberty prints, the colors weren't anything that fit in around the house. Plus, I hate purple. So I hung it in the closet and thought about who in my life would appreciate it most. I am not sure why I didn't see it immediately, but the color scheme include all of my Grandma's favorite colors. Like exactly. Sooooo, I hung on to it and saved it for her 92nd birthday which was Feburary 6th. Her ninety second birthday! I can only hope those genes run through me.

I didn't have any yardage at the house for a back, so I pieced one out of, again, her favorite colors. Purple makes me nauseous, but she loves it, along with teal and pink. I was excited to gift her a quilt because it has become my version of 'art'. She not only passed down the artistic genes, but made sure we had a ton of art exposure as kids. I rather love having her in my life. Being among the youngest of the grandkids, I feel so lucky to have had nearly 30 years with her.

My mom did the gorgeous quilting, naturally. I can't wait to learn to use the long arm!

The "sorry I crashed your motorcycle" quilt

I had every intention of returning to blogging full force in 2015, and then life intervened. Seems to happen that way. On the third day of the new year, I got a call at 3am that my boyfriend had been in an accident and was being flown to the nearest trauma hospital. Excuse me, say what?!? Naturally, I jumped in the car and got my ass up to North Myrtle Beach (an hour away). All in all, for the nature of the accident, he was fine. A couple facial fractures and some road rash. He had crashed a friend's motorcycle. It could have been so much worse. So in the days following, we both agreed that his friend (who constantly harassed me about how he could get a quilt) probably deserved a quilt. I quickly got to work.

I generally do not make quilts in man colors, like ever. But these guys are firefighters, and I just don't think AMH was going to fly. I used Doe as my springboard, as it had just arrived, and happened to be incredibly gender neutral. Here is the resulting quilt!

I love it. Like bleeping love it. I honestly thought it was going to be incredibly hard to sew because the colors are so foreign to me.

What was hard was gifting it. I didn't expect parting with it to be such a challenge. The pattern is Bonnie Hunter's free Scrappy Trip. If you recall, it was crazy popular about two years ago. It goes together surprisingly fast. I backed it in Cotton and Steel Netorious in Teal. Something about the cotton used for the Cotton and Steel fabrics is luxuriously soft when washed. You can't help but snuggle with it.

I quilted it following the diagonals in the blocks, much like my first Scrappy Trip. It is bound using a gorgeous blue from Doe called Trellis. It had juuuuuust arrived in the mail. If I had had anything else that looked nearly as good as a binding, I would have hoarded it with all the others due to my current Doe love affair.

So today, I said goodbye. She is with her new owner, who I think loves her very much. I have only ever gifted quilts to my family, knowing I would see them many more times.

Parting with this one was oddly emotional. Not in a crying sort of way, but in a tugged at my heart sort of way. However, if I keep too many more quilts, Adham may start peddling them behind my back. We are sort of at max quilt capacity over here.

So here's to kicking off 2015 on a unique foot. I am almost nervous to see what else it has in store for us!