Tuesday, April 26, 2011

one bright day

apparently philadelphia would like to go from winter straight to summer. i guess i should't complain, as i am not a winter girl, but it's still a little weird. take it is stride, and go wash your bike! that's what i say.

after said bike washing i grabbed the pooch and headed to the park!


i can rarely get a picture of the boy looking at me, he is always on the hunt. beagles. we wanted to get some pictures done for the blog and my new pattern. rather, i should say i wanted to do that. fred, well, he wanted to sniff stuff.

sadly even with the wonderful weather i was not able to get a lot of good photography. wind. lots and lots of wind...


that's ok though, it's still a sweet quilt. but what is great is that i think i have the cover ready for my first pattern, new photo, new name...


i am very excited about it. i will have my etsy shop up soon and this boy will be available to buy, sew, and love. i just adore it. the entire project is based on one simple cut, cause who wants to spend all afternoon cutting when you could be sewing, right? right.

so it's a bright day, and alfie and i are exhausted, but as a final note, alf wanted me to post this picture of him, looking the right way...

tah!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

happy easter

so it's kinda late, wow, it's actually easter now, as it's so late on saturday, and right before bed i thought, hey, let me check some of my favorite blogs real quick. then i saw this...

{photos by Teri Lyn Fisher, styling by Emily Henson, from the Oh Joy! blog, tah!)

how... vibrant? beautiful? super duper awesome? heck yeah! yay colored eggs and chocolate bunnies! happy easter!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

the best colors

so spring is coming and i am thinking about color more than ever! i just got a new batch of students in my beginning quilting class. in the first class it's the beginning of color designing in the project, and it's always a lot of, "hmmm, i dunno, what do you think?" "what do you think", "i'm not sure"... etc, etc. but thats good! i love it! so many choices, who wouldn't be happy! i say it again and again, and boy do i mean it, more is more! yay!

today's love, call it seafoam, call it mint, call it honeydew, i don't care, just call it me!

my beautiful bike...
my newest favorite-est photo... c/o Pay No Mind
plimsols!
 rock n roll...

my sweet, sweet janome...

ahhhh....minty!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

i love log cabins

i love log cabins, and not just the lincoln log kind, though those are cool, but i also love the quilty log cabin style. it's probably my fave. i don't know exactly why, i guess it's that round and round sensibility. i feel quite round and round all the time, so i suppose it fits. i was reading on trueup the other day about susan beal and her new book of modern log cabins, and a month of two ago martha had an article about them in living. i wonder if the log cabin is becoming cool? still, i have to remind myself that when i tell people i quilt, most of them think of heinous old school amish junk. (not that there's anything wrong with the amish... wait, i can say whatever i want about them, how would they know, if they know what i said, they are soooo cheating.)

anyway, so yeah log cabins rule. i just wish there was a cooler way to refer to them. i find that all my favorite styles sound so old bitty. well, to curb that, i wish to introduce my newest friend, raleigh...


he is a log cabin, and he is happy about it!!!


it's a kind of off the cuff cabin, i mean, structurally i wouldn't base any actual cabins off him, as each wall is a different size, but i love the way it came out. i started with a 4 1/2 inch block as the center and worked my way out without any real plan originally, just what looked good. of course i had to use some kaffe and jay mccarroll, seriously cannot get enough of habitat, and i finished it off with a clean white border.


i think the palette is more in the girl realm, so i am finishing up a second one now with more boy friendly colors. i also think i will be making this into a pattern, so check back for it soon. my etsy shop is hopefully going to be up in two weeks. i was hoping for mid april, but it looks more like first week of may. no problem though, i am very excited. everything in it's time, and now's the time for log cabins!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

experimenting with babies

ok, i'm  not actually experimenting with babies, but with baby stuff. i had been thinking about doing a baby bib for my site as i do make so many baby quilts. i just love making baby things! funny, don't have a baby... not really a baby person... it's probably the cuteness of cute little cutey cute things! that's gotta be it... so without any further ado, the experimental baby bib...


it's a mix of scraps for my newest quilt, which i will have completed by tomorrow... it's some kaffe, some mccarroll, and some cuteness! for the back i used a pink plaid...


i think in the future i am going to use terry cloth, the perfect fabric for babies. i did not add any snaps either as i don't have any. (simple enough.) but i thought, hey scrappy, make something new today, and so i did. i think for a first run it is very cute. now on to make a hundred more!

by the way, i said cute seven times... cute! (eight)

Sunday, April 10, 2011

whale on

so yesterday i finished the top of a very beautiful quilt. it's another variation on a log cabin, one of my faves, in case someone hadn't noticed, and i love it. problem is, i am out of quilter's dream in the right size. all i have left is a craft size and i need me a crib. so alas, i have put it aside...

so, i finished that beauty, folded it and set it aside, and then i sat. and sat. and thought. what shall i do next? funny how sometimes you have stacks of fabric laying around, but you can't think what to do with them. so what to do?!? bah.

the answer? a whale. yes, i whale. i drew a little whale on a piece of paper a year ago with the idea that i would make a whale, and applique the boy on a quilt. that never happened... until now...


now mind you, he will not live on that background, i just needed something light to look at him on, but i think he is pretty cute. he's gonna be maybe a 36 inch quilt appliqued with a cute sunny eye to boot. maybe i will do a slew of animals... or maybe i will never applique again... guess we'll have to see! wish me luck!

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

you better run...

so the london runner is complete! yay! check it out!


do you love it? i love it. it started out with my homage to solids. the original london style was a quilt, done in two color palettes, sea and sun...


it's kind of a departure for me, since i am the queen of more is more. solids don't usually fall into that category, but how about over 300 individual blocks on the quilt size!?! but don't be deterred, there is no triumph without work, and it works baby.

i came up with the runner idea when i was in the process of making the sunset palette. i had attached maybe 5 or 6 rows, and it was dangling over the edges of a desk as i applied each new layer. at about 20 inches into the length i thought, how cute as a runner, and ta dah! the spring day palette was born!


it's a light cream, sunshine yellow, minty green and ocean and aqua. very sweet. i, for one, cannot live without these colors in my life. constantly. aqua and mint? oh baby.

this palette would also be beautiful for a baby boy's room, and you can use the runner for so many things... your table, of course, but what about as a wall hanging behind the crib in a baby's room, or as a cover for your craft table? there are so many possibilities!


the london runner is to be my second pattern in the collection that will be out on etsy later this month! i have it set for two options, both as a runner at 20x68 and as a throw size quilt at 60x68. i think it's a great pattern for even a beginner, the instructions are simple, and the design is classic. i love it.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

flirting with anna

have you seen the super cute free anna maria horner skirt pattern, flirting the issue? did i mention super cute?  i did? well, who cares, it's super cute!

a while back, i added some great lawn aqua gingham to my collection, like 2 or 3 yards. i know i wanted to make something to wear out of it, but i never got around to it. when i saw this skirt, it was perfect. flirty, bright, and fun.


so it's kinda like martha stewart meets anna maria. sigh. alfie likes it too, can't get the boy out of my hair for more than a second...


it's so very simple, basically two rectangles sewn together, and then a set of sewn channels to include elastic cording. isn't anna smart?!?

by the way, edward took these pictures, he just wants the world to know.

back to quilts!