Muchos Pluses Completo

I've almost finished the top of my Plus (pronounced "ploos") Quilt . :)  And I loove it!  I still need to add borders, which means a potentially dangerous trip to Peapod.

Warning: blurry photo... but you get the idea. 

D said, "I hate to say it, but they're not symmetrical..." Oh, silly D... I think he was kind of kidding, maybe.

The sashing phase of this quilt was tedious, but not too miserable.  I finished it in an evening.  My favorite parts are the couple pieces of off-white linen I sneaked into the sashing.   See that little middle square?   Cute-a!

One day, I will show you the completed, non-blurry version of this quilt.  I hope that day is soon.  I may opt to professionally quilt this sucker.  I'm just not in the mood.

Accidental Gee's Bend-ish Quilt

Many moons ago, I started this quilt.  The intention was to make a queen-sized quilt.  But then I got bored and put it away (surprise!).  I picked it up again in efforts to minimize unfinished business before moving, and here's what happened!  I just love it!

 

I loved how I didn't use any rulers, or rules for that matter, and the lines are a bit squiggly.  I just snipped, stitched, and assembled.  Now it's a fun and easy crib-sized quilt.  I felt like such an original...

...But then I noticed this - sitting right above me on my inspiration board is the very inspiration (albeit subliminal)!

How funny is that?  I swear, I didn't even realize it was there!  Somewhere in the depths of my mind, I must have channeled the Gee's Bend quilters. Wait, what am I saying?? I can't believe I even dared to compare myself to them, because the women of Gee's Bend are waaaaaay more amazing than I'll ever be - true, hard core quilters - using what was available (jeans, mattress ticking, floursacks, old clothing) instead of us modern quilters who take perfectly good pieces of fabric and cut them up only to reassemble them!  So silly, we are....if you really think about it.  I suppose we quilt for art rather than necessity nowadays, but still...

This quilt still needs the perfect backing.  Ideas??  Maybe I'll wait until I have the right recipient in mind.  Can someone please make a baby? JK

I Went With Red

I went with 2 different reds, in fact, and I'm glad I did.  The Liberty of London just threw it all off.  I kept the orange, and although it looks a little rainbow-y, I think I really like it.

Now how to attach them all....

Things ARE Happening Around Here

Well, I know I've been quiet in the posting department, but things are going on around here.  We're actually in the process of buying a house (!), so that's been consuming much of my time, energy, and adrenaline.

In anticipation of having to move (shoot me now!), I thought I would "consolidate" and start using up some of these fabrics.  Some old, some new. Also, it is very like me to embark on a big project when there are one meelion other more important, more pressing action items to tackle.

This is an (as usual) exceptional evening-time photo of what I've been working on (soon there will be good lighting at the new house!).  We'll have some guest beds to make, so I'm going to make this one a twin-size.  Inspired by this a-dor-a-ble quilt, it's mostly blues and greens, but I'm not sure about the orange on mine.  Maybe the orange will look better if I omit the Liberty of London (for Target) print. I need one more color - what do you color theorists out there suggest?  Would a little bit of red work?  Hmm....  I will sash it with white.

These crosses come together really quickly and require very little ruler action. The more un-straight (I refuse to use the word "wonky"... aw, crap. I just did!), the better.  Anyhow, hopefully you'll see a finished product before too long.

And do get back to me on those color recommendations!

Easter Un-Candy

Who says an Easter basket has to be filled with candy? Growing up, my favorite non-candy treats OUR Easter Bunny put in our baskets was Aveda Shampure. Such a luxury back then! I think I once found an artichoke in my Easter basket, which I also thought was the greatest.

[Ok, but Cadbury Mini-Eggs and peanut M&Ms are also compulsory...]

Anyhow... say you want to give an Easter gift to a little friend who doesn't eat much candy? How about these Springy reminiscent-of-Easter-eggs bean bags? Great for juggling (or pelting). Also, they can be heated for a few seconds in the microwave and serve a little hand-warmers! So cute & so easy!



I made these using 5x5 squares and filled them with flax seeds. I tried making them egg-shaped, but it didn't work so well. If you want to be really awesome, you could make 12 of them and present them in an egg carton.

I'm pleased as punch. I feel like juggling.

More Baggies

You sick of these yet? Well, I use mine every day and love them! But I promise to curb my display of them soon.




These were all made with scraps, so each bag is a little different in size. Most of them went home with my mom and sister, so I suppose I'll have to make more :)

Stash-Busting Snack Bags

I've been home sick the past day and a half and one can only take so many 3-hour naps! I mustered some energy to go through my scraps and put together some reusable snack baggies.

While I prefer a more uniform process (hello, Virgo!), using scraps forced me to make them all different sizes. These range in size from 6.75x6.25 to 5x4.75. I have a whole stack of scraps lined up and destined to become snack baggies.

I must have gone through an orange phase, because I sure do have a lot of orange fabrics! I'll try to mix it up next go around.

p.s. Check out my friend's new blog: PeepThread ...she is so cool.

Mug Rug

I'm late on the whole "mug rug" bandwagon, which was so 2009... but whatever.


I made this one in just a few minutes (well, the top anyhow) with some scraps from my scrap bin and I used my favorite old-school bias tape for the binding. I literally just plopped the scraps on white backing and stitched them on one-by-one, freehand. This was an exercise in whimsy.

[sidenote: I'm so sad that I'm officially out of that woodgrain fabric!! I can't find it anywhere! If you spot it, buy me a yard or two and I'll totally pay you back. Must be a supply-demand thing that makes me want it so badly!]

p.s. a "mug rug" is like a cross between a coaster and a place mat - with just enough space for your coffee cup and a pastry :)

Advent Calendar Revamp

It was really bugging me that my Advent calendar had one too many days. As I learned, December 1st through 24th mark the days of Advent (duh). And December 25th marks the start of the 12 days of Christmas, which end on January 6th, Epiphany.

Plus, D didn't think it looked particularly "Christmassy." Bah Humbug! So anyhow, I had to do something about it.


It's crooked, isn't it? Ok, I'll redo it again...

Advent Calendar

I am well ahead of schedule on this one! Yay! I wanted to mark our first Christmas as a married couple with something special. An advent calendar!


I was too excited that I couldn't wait until daylight to take photos... I'm love the fact that this was 100% made with pieces from my scrap bin. I really didn't have a plan in place, I just started going for it one night (bee-in-my-bonnet fashion). Luckily it all worked out.

I'm realizing that maybe advent calendars don't have a "25" - oh well, this one does!

So what goes in the tiny pockets?

Love notes?

Gift cards?

Chocolate? Yes, perfect size for chocolate...and diamond earrings...anyway! Just kidding.

I've also seen advent calendars that have a little "object" that you transfer from pocket to pocket as you count down to Christmas (like this one). Maybe I'll make a little gnome or something... but I sure do like the chocolate idea! :)

In the Works

I've got my Christmas music going already and am working on a holiday project - made 100% of materials from my scrap bin - including Fray Check & the batting! This kind of project makes me want to high kick!! And I just might.

Here's a preview:

Hint: It needs to be completed by 12/1

Final project posted soon (hopefully).

Buried Treasure

I'm in use-it-up mode right now, trying to simplify my life/home. I found some leftover quilt squares from this quilt hiding in one of my "crap baskets." And lookie - enough to make a little bitty baby quilt!



I pieced the batting , backed with natural/grayish linen, quilted horizontally, and bound with the fabric originally included in the quilt kit (but never used). Everything was already in my stash. Nothing was purchased. Yay!

This quilt kit was so extra awesome because there was enough leftover fabric to also make 2 of these quilts! (I gave one as a baby gift, and now he calls it his "Sara Cano blankie" - it's pretty much the kind of thing I live for).

I think this quilt kit is oficially dead. I'm OK with that. We had a good run.

So, now instead of quilt squares in a ziploc baggie hanging around the house, I have a whole quilt hanging around instead :)

F Pillow

I had a more creative (read: racy) title for this post, but I'll keep it clean...

Almost a year ago, I made these pillows to match our then-new sofa. I had a third pillow form that I've been hemming and hawing about since then. I made the top earlier in the year, but couldn't figure out what to back it with (not enough blue corduroy). I would bring out the top, get frustrated, and then put it away.

So, while I was looking for fabric for a different project, I came upon the red/pink and knew instantly that it was the one (I'm talking like I found true love or something of actual importance)! It tied in perfectly with the other two pillows. Plus, it matches my inspiration board that also hangs in the room (inconspicuously). And it happened to be the perfect amount of fabric required.

F stands for Fiore (our last name)

the back

I feel like it needs a little red accent on the front, like a little appliqued heart. But then D reminded me that I'm not big on hearts. Oh yeah.

Super high kicks for this project. I love it, I love it, I love it!

Another Bib

I simply couldn't let those blue polka-dot scraps go to waste, could I? I love this bib. So much so, it makes me want to start drooling and eating pureed peas.

Kidding.

The colors are a bit distorted, but trust me, it's a good one. I also used leftover scraps from the backing & binding of this quilt.

See how it matches the burp cloth I made? A little gift set!

And my favorite part of all is the binding. I bought it last year at the SF Quilt Show for $.50. I hadn't used it since this post, but I knew it would come in handy. Turns right into binding with my handy little bias tape maker.

Wee!

Manly Baby Bib

More free time + giant scrap bin =

back:

My favorite part is that the blue bit is corduroy! Can you stand it? And someday it will be crusted with rice cereal or something pureed like that...But I'm OK with it.

By the way, there is no "baby"...in case you were wondering...
I just like small projects, that's all. Making a bib for a grown man is just too big an undertaking.

Burp Cloth Factory

Remember the 12 girls at work who are pregnant/have had babies in June, July, and August? Well, the burp cloth factory is officially open.

I tried my very hardest to use fabrics I already had in my stash - and I think I did pretty well (yay for using up stash, and there was actually some pretty great stuff in there - glad I looked!). However, I couldn't resist the Jay McCarroll tomato print for the I'm-not-sure-what-we're-having crowd. I think it's pretty gender neutral. Also, I might have accidentally purchased too much of the blue dots (woops!), so I had to use that too. Most of the girls are having baby boys, so that works out.

I'm going camping for a few days, so the factory will have to close for now. Don't worry, camping = time to think up new projects. Mwahahah.

Lemonade Quilt Complete

Here is the finished product, and me gusta mucho!


I big-zig-zagged all the seams, as an experiment. And while I like the way it looks on top, it looks even way cooler on the back against the charcoal linen.


Speaking of which...I used the lightweight linen on the back as an experiment also. Peapod was closed all week, so I had no choice (well, ok) but to use what I had on hand, and the linen was the only thing I had that was wide enough and that "worked" for me and this quilt. It would have been the perfect size, except for the large rectangular chunk I cut out of it for another project. No problemo - and so the birth of this patchy little surprise on the back. In fact, it would have looked lame without it - so everything's worked out in the end.


I've busted some stash, kept myself busy, maybe made some wedding decor (who knows?), and I'm feelin' satisfied.

Now I need a real lemonade.

Pillow Revision

These pillows are much better than my original attempt/vision. Well, these don't even really look like my 2nd vision either. I start out with one idea and the end product is usually quite a bit different. I banned rulers (a challenge for me) and pinning (not so much) from the initial piecing process.



I think I got the reddish/rust color right this time. I found it in some napkins I intended on embellishing from Crate & Barrel 100 years ago (they were never actually embellished).

I love how they turned out! I feel so Gee's Bend about the whole thing - using a mix of already-have (red, chocolate, linen, and teal corduroy) and new (white linen/cotton). I hope she likes them too!

Cinnamony-ish

This was intended to be a gift, but I got the color wrong - too much brown, not enough red. I'll make another with the right color. But since I don't know where this is going, I can't decide on a backing. Hmmm...I'll probably just let it sit in my UFO pile for a few months.

My favorite part is the two different whites - kona cotton and some linen from, you guessed it, the Anthro bedskirt. What?! I just keep finding pieces of it!

Home Stretch

I think basting a quilt is my least favorite part. Probably because I lack the space to properly lay it out. I also realized I don't have enough pins (and now I have puckers on the back). This is the biggest quilt I've tackled on my own (somewhere between a full and queen) and because I'm using a linen/cotton blend, this sucker is heavy!

I'm keeping the quilting simple with horizontal stripes at different intervals. I hope to have it complete by the weekend. Yay!