Reports from the Field

Remember this cool little quilt?



Sorry for the bad photo, by the way.

So Jack's (recipient of aforementioned quilt) grandmother just moved to the area, and there were some family adventures this weekend. Apparently, Jack was hanging around all weekend playing on his quilt.

It was so nice to hear that the quilt is actually being used, which means the family liked their gift! I'm a nervous gift-giver, so this update was exactly the kind of reassurance that I needed.

My Awesome Friend

Did I ever tell you about my awesome friend Crystal?

She just sent me an email of something so extremely super-cool that I almost fell off the couch. Seriously! I was so amazed I had to reply to her in all caps.

It just so happens that she sent me a visual brainstorm of her part of a super top-secret project that we are working on together.

What's that? You want to see what she sent me? You want to know what the project is?

Well, you'll have to wait.

Patchwork!

It's been a little silent around here. I may not be blogging, but I am working on something!



This is the first time I've ever created half-square triangles. I didn't do any crazy methods, just did squares and sewed 1/4" from the middle line. Very simple.




Here's me taking the last stitches on the quilt top. Please ignore all that fuzz on my presser foot and shank. I promise I clean my machine.




Check out my finished quilt top. Even though the top seems so simple, it challenged me in many ways.

First, I struggled with the color scheme. Red is a very bold color and each time I looked at the pieces coming together I was felt sure that the red was taking over the entire quilt. I also don't love the khaki that I included. I feel that it's a little drab, and I'd rather have used an off white. I think it would look cleaner.

Layout also gave me some difficulty. I tried several different arrangements but none seemed quite right. However, when I moved the pieces to this current layout everything fell together. It was sort of like a magic eye puzzle. It finally looked right!

All fabrics are Kona cotton solids. Very nice to work with.

I'm not so sure how I like it. I think it's a bit manly looking, but also sort of fresh and modern. I'd rather have worked in softer colors, but this one isn't for me, so I chose fabrics according to the recipient's taste.

As I'm sitting here staring at it, it's kind of growing on me...

Lucky!

I received my swap quilt yesterday! My mystery partner was Jill. I felt so lucky when I opened the package to see the beautiful quilt that she had made me (plus all the goodies!).





This quilt is one that I had marked as a favorite in the group pool and truly hoped that it would be coming my way.



The strip of patchwork is so random and wonderful, and in fabrics from one of my favorite designers! She used that gray color that I have been secretly trying to work into every project, which makes me think that not only was she reading my blog but she was also reading my mind.

Not to mention the wonderful strip of embroidery...



Thank you, Jill! I appreciate all the work that you must have spent on this gorgeous quilt.

DQS7 Reveal!

My partner, Rhonda finally posted about the quilt that I made her, so now I can reveal it!





Each of these pictures was taken by my partner. Isn't it cute?

I really enjoyed making this quilt. In fact, I enjoyed the handwork aspect so much that I haven't moved on to any of my machine projects, yet. I'm still working only by hand.

The really cool thing? Rhonda recently started posting her Aunt Millie's Flower Garden blocks. They look amazing and they are inspiring me to work on my Aunt Millie's blocks. I'm only about a year behind on the block of the month-- shame on me-- but I've finished the first block and am working on the next, all because of her!

Still waiting to receive my quilt in the mail. Each day the mail box is woefully empty. No junk mail, no bills, no nothing. I keep hoping for one of those little slips that say I have a package, but alas. Nothing has come.

I've Arrived!

It's official. I've arrived!

The SwapMommas at the Doll Quilt Swap blog chose to showcase my swap quilt (in progress) on their blog! You can check out the post here.

First, I'd like to thank The Academy...

Halloween (again!)

I cruised by Martha Stewart's Halloween Central to find all sorts of awesome templates for crafts, including the best spiderweb templates ever (found in the Glittered Spiderweb Hurricanes How-To).

As usual, the photography of all the Halloween decorations is beautiful, and the projects Martha has created are just absolutely wonderful.

Palestrina stitch

Palestrina stitch
Originally uploaded by Bordados DaAna

Try it! You know you want to.

Tradition

So, I've been thinking. I've been thinking about quilting. I've been thinking about what drew me to quilting and what continues to draw me to quilting.

I love the use of geometry and color in a quilt. What continues to bring me back to quilting over and over is the slow transformations of shapes into a wide and general pattern. How can all those tiny pieces of fabric come together to make one large graphic piece? What pre-planning and spatial knowledge does it take to know what your final product will be?

All of these fascinations come directly from a love for traditional quilt blocks. I love to spot a quilt, to attempt to identify the block. To look at the patches and break them down and determine how the maker constructed the blocks and then the entire quilt top.

Sadly, traditional quilt blocks are not getting much face time right now. Improv quilting has really stolen the show, much to my chagrin. Modern quilting hasn't quite fallen by the wayside, but it is definitely living in the shadow of the wonky log cabin block.

What's a girl got to do to get traditional quilt blocks back in the game? And how many idioms am I going to use in this post?

Stay tuned for answers. I think I'm cooking something up.

Embroidery Again

All finished with Bareroots Little Stitchies #179 - October. The pumpkins are very cute and I got to try another new stitch.



I enjoyed this block, but I'm getting the feeling that something needs to be in the sky other than the moon and some smoke from the chimney. Next block, I might just add something in.

The pumpkin vines were created using the cast-on stitch I blogged about earlier. It took a little bit of practice, but I have gotten quite good at creating those little curlicues. The grassy hills were stitched with a square stitch. I did some couching to create the pumpkins and quite liked the look, as they now look like they have texture and thickness, the way a pumpkin rind does. As before, the tree trunk was filled using a satin stitch and the roof was done with feather stitch.

In case you were wondering, you can find all the patterns for this embroidery block of the month right here on the Bareroots website.

DQS7 Sneak Peek

It's been very quiet around these parts, hasn't it? It's not that I haven't been crafting (I totally have!), it's just that I've been doing other things, too.

For example, telling myself to get my butt off the computer.
Also, visiting Gloria at William & Mary.
Additionally, going to the beach with my girlfriends one last time.
Not to mention going back to work and thus back to school, making myself feel as if the past two months had never happened.

I've finished my DQS7 quilt and am ready to send it out (along with a few goodies). Want a sneak peek?






This is the tag I made using EQ Printable fabric. You can see that it's fraying a little there. I used too small of a stitch, and so when I turned the tag (I didn't want raw edges), it looks like it's coming apart. Hopefully my partner won't mind.






Here's a close up shot of one of my favorite birds on the quilt. I used the free City Birds applique pattern from Cherry House Quilts. I don't think the pattern is available online anymore, but if you email Cherri, I bet she'd give it to you.




Everything on this quilt is done by hand-- applique, embroidery, quilting, and binding. Of course, I did the first step in attaching the binding by machine (I had no idea how to do it otherwise), so I did cheat just a little.

Hopefully my partner likes it. I'll wait to reveal the entire quilt until after my partner has received the package and blogged. Stay tuned!