What Shade Am I?

I have been very quiet over the past few weeks because I have been working on my quilt for the RJR What Shade Are You? blog hop! I am so excited to finally debut it! This quilt features RJR's Cotton Supreme Solids.

When deciding what shade I was, I quickly came to the conclusion that I am no one shade (although I am rather partial to teal). I love color, all color, too much to describe myself as just one. So! They kindly gave me a spectrum of color to play with and this is what happened!

The solids I used were 311, 287, 280, 279, 292, 349, 348, 291, 209, 276, 326, 228, 32, and 33. I also used some Cotton and Steel Basics because they read so well as solids. As far as design goes, I tried to add in bits and pieces of my personality. While the construction is very uniform and linear, the placement of color creates a chaos that keeps it interesting.

I do love how it turned out! If you would like to see some other quilts from the blog hop, jump over to their Facebook Page.

As part of the RJR Blog Hop, they are kindly offering a bundle of the solids I used as a giveaway! Just leave a comment to win! (US and Canada only) I will pick the winner using the random number generator on Tuesday. Thanks again to RJR for having me on this fun blog hop!

Around the Color Wheel: Teal

My first of many Around the Color Wheel bundle from Marmalade Fabrics arrived yesterday. I was sooo excited that I almost tore into it before taking a picture of the fantastic packaging. Luckily, I regained some self control. I love the time and effort she puts in to her packages. How cute?!

 

November was teal, and I love teal. I mean, I LOVE teal. Tammy did a great job picking these Kona Solids. 

If you haven't signed up for Around the Color Wheel, you should check it out. It really is a great deal and a great way to build your stash. I am currently signed up just for the solids because that is where I have a big hole in my stash. But if you need prints, there are monthly print Around the Color Wheel bundles as well! These are good, quality, modern, relevant prints. Definitely things I would pick for myself.

And! If there was a month that you particularly liked, you can go in to the shop at any time and buy both the solid bundles and the print bundles. The last 8 months of bundles are all listed! I must now go pet my new beauties. They are waiting to be folded. :)

challenge of the Week

I haven't had anything new to post because I have been fighting with this wedding quilt alllll week. I have never tried to make a quilt with photos in it before. I got the special PFD (prepared for dye) fabric, made it printable by cutting it into 8.5 x 11 sheets and ironing it on to freezer paper, but I can't get the ink to stay locked on. I used an inkjet printer like the internet suggested, but it keeps rubbing or dusting off, even after a heat set attempt. And if you put water to it, poof, it's gone.

Printed photos before I destroyed them with the wash test

I did read about this stuff, Bubble Jet Set. Does anyone know if it works? It, I think, is going to be my next method of attack. Other than that, any suggestions? Since it will be a quilt and a wedding present, it has to be able to be washed. I would hate for it to be gifted and then one day have no pictures on it! Advice is welcome!

Here is the quilt I am making. Alyssa at Pile O' Fabric did such a beautiful job with the quilt. It absolutely stole my breath and I knew it would be perfect for a wedding present. I got these wonderful Kona solids at my local quilt store.

Kona Snow, Kona Ash, Kona Coal, Kona Medium Gray, and Kona Black. Lucky for me, I store carries every color Kona Cotton offered!

On another note, the ColorWheel swap filled up in what to me was record time! I am very excited to get started assigning colors and organizing the fabric as it comes in. I have two people who have agreed to be alternates, should someone drop or send fabric that gets disqualified. But, if anyone else would like an alternate spot, do not hesitate to message me. Thanks again everyone for signing up!

solids and the Color Card

In the last couple of years, I have noticed that quilts made completely of solids are popping up everywhere. I love the crisp look you get from using just solids. When I was much much younger, I wanted to make a quilt out of solids, and my mom said something like 'no no, it will be too flat. you need to use  fabric that reads as a solid but is not actually solid'. Well here we are years later and solids are all the rage! Denyse Schmidt has a way of using solids that is really inspiring for me. Here are a few of my favorites:

Recently, I was chatting with some people from my handstitched class and came to find out that some people don't know what a color card is. I can't imagine how one could go about buying solids online without one! A color card is made by the manufacturer of the solids (ie, Robert Kaufman Kona or Moda Bella) that has a small swatch of all the colors that they produce.

Not only does this allow you to match solids of the fabrics you already have in the house, but it provides the exact name and number of that color so that you don't have guess when you go to buy it! The biggest dilemma people face buying solids online is not knowing how true the picture is to the actual color of the fabric. This is true for all fabric, but it presents the most problem with solids.

Here is the exciting part. Fat Quarter Shop has kindly offered to sponsor the giveaway of two Kona color cards and two Bella color cards! I will pick winners on Friday (since I will be working in the field all week...boo) and all you have to do is comment about solids to enter! I use my color cards religiously and they are truly a great tool to have in your sewing arsenel. You can also find them on Fat Quarter Shop here and here.

Kona solids are the trusted, turn to line of solids that everyone knows and loves. They have quite an expansive range of colors (over 230!) and are carried by most fabric stores. I have recently, however, fallen in love with the Bella solids. The are more of a newcomer in the last couple of years, but they have some fantastic colors. They are winning right now as my favorites. Oddly enough, very few colors repeat between these two lines. If you have both color cards, there is almost no color that is lacking. I have both tacked to my wall (because I think they are beautiful, haha) and I consult them on a daily basis.

I hope this helps if you have been struggling to find the perfect solid online! I know that the fabric stores near me don't carry very many solids, so I have had to start buying mine online as well. If you buy solids online regularly, a color card is a must have!

Single Girl

First, I want to acknowledge just how amazingly amazing this online quilting community is. I have met some of the nicest, most generous people from all across the world. People I have never met before have reached out to see if I needed help or advice with my move. One sweet, wonderful girl in one of my bees named Heather is sending me a piece of a Good Folks print that I am missing that she happened to have. For real!?!?!? I almost fainted. Being part of this community has really restored my faith in the goodness of people and has made the world feel so small. I LOVE it, and I love all of the people who contribute to it.

Back to sewing. I pulled my single girl out of the closet today. It was such a challenge to piece, when I was finally done, I was totally over it. When I pulled it out today, I was surprised to see that is so much prettier than I remember!

 

I now appreciate the work that I put into it. I would have taken it outside for some gorgeous pictures on this sunny day, but there is so much white in it that I was totally afraid it would get dirty.

So what to do with this thing? It is huge. I mean HUGE. Like 85 x 85 huge. I am completely intimidated at the thought of quilting it on my little Pfaff. I don't think even half of it would fit through the machine all rolled up sandwich like. I am soooo tempted to send it to my mom (who is a long arm quilter) and let her do the deed. Ugh decisions.

On another note, anyone who lives in or around the Raleigh area, where are the best quilt shops? I have no idea. I need a good modern one, and I don't know if there is one in the area. Also, now that I have a disgusting amount of free time, I have decided to see how many calories I can ingest. I actually have time to cook! Anyone have any fabulous recipes?

In my last post I mentioned that there was something fun in the works. Well, we got the green light to go ahead!! I am not going to say what it is yet, but we are ironing out the details as I type. Look out for the announcement in the near future! I am soo excited!!!

Strips Galore

I have been traveling so much for work that I have barely had any time to even turn on my machine. I hate weeks like that. Since it is rainy and gross here, this weekend will be largely dedicated to getting in my fabric fix that I so missed out on this week.

I finally got my design wall cleaned off and ready for something new. This meant that I had to finish cutting the rest of my solid 6 inch strip sets into 2 inch strips. Not sure what I was thinking when I started this one! I knew going into it that this quilt was going to involve tons of cutting, but it definitely doesn't hit you until you are actually doing it. Nevertheless, it is fun and challenging, and the end product is so pretty. I am really looking forward to meeting it.

The giant pile I posted before was only about half of them. Man, talk about no end in sight. I did, however, finish last night, and as you can see, I should have picked a bigger bowl. Haha. I am so happy to have them done that it has completely reinvigorated be love for this quilt. I can't wait to start piecing and get this show on the road.

I got some of them up on the design wall just so I could get a glimpse of how it will turn out. There was really no point to putting them all up since the process is much more scrappy than organized. Plus, every few I put up, the cats took back down. They thought it was the best game ever invented! This at least will hopefully give you an idea of the direction that these strips will be taking. You will have to excuse the wonkiness (word?) of the rows. Apparently I can't stick things up there in straight lines.

 

The rows will be getting strips of Kona Snow in between them as sashing. I had to stick them pretty close together on the wall to get all 20 rows up there, but you get the idea I hope. 

  

Sorry about these pictures. I did the best I could with the lighting. As I mentioned, it is a rather gross morning. Haha. Anyway, time to get started on piecing the rows. Also! I got block assignments from the February Queen Bees in both of my Bees so I will have some great blocks to show you shortly! Thankfully it is the weekend, and hopefully everyone will enjoy theirs as much as I plan to enjoy mine!