Patchwork Pattern Maker

I found this incredible feature on the Victoria and Albert Museum's website thanks to Melanie Bowles over at makeitdigital. It's an online program that let's you upload an image and turns it into a pattern that you can use as a guide to cut out pieces for a quilt! It seems to work best for abstract images or bold geometrics. Here are a couple of my favorites from their gallery!

Young MC's Quilt!

A few weeks ago I posted an in-progress photo of a quilt I was working on. Well, I finished and mailed it off to two of my best friends, Scott and Sarah, who are expecting their first baby THIS MONTH!!! I kept it under wraps before they had a chance to actually see it for themselves because I wanted it to be a surprise...

A collection of random linen samples were used for the top, and an Alexander Henry fabric, Spotted Owls, for the backing. I found the backing fabric at Intown Quilters in Decatur. Actually, I should say that my husband found it - because he's the one who picked it out! I don't think I could have picked a better fabric myself!

I love the way this turned out... specifically the color palette. I am all about this color palette! But, I also like that it is fun and kid friendly with out being too cutesy or gender specific. They are having a little girl, but this way, if they have a boy in a few years they can continue using it. This is the first quilt that I have actually completely pieced, quilted, and bound from start to finish. Now, I want to do another!

Quilt sneak peek!

Here is another quilt (!!!) I have in progress. I had this project in mind for a stash of 8 x 8" linen samples that I acquired a few weeks back. I cut out all of the pieces and laid them out on another piece of fabric and pinned them so they wouldn't get all mixed up. When I hung the fabric up (because I hang up pretty much everything that I work on) it looked like this!

One of my favorite things to do when I'm working on projects is to take materials I already have and come up with a use for them. It's fun to see where your mind takes you when you have a very defined set of conditions to create with. I actually had to trim the squares I had down to smaller pieces to make them work for the quilt. So, now I have a slew of 1 x 7 or 8" strips of linen. I was looking at my stack of trimmings wondering how I could make use of them - and I was actually able to come up with a new project idea! I will probably test it out in the coming weeks... hopefully it will amount to something!

Also, I am overjoyed to celebrate the first sale in my Etsy shop this past weekend!!! It's definitely a momentous occasion, and I thought I'd toot my horn over in this corner, quietly....

Call me a quilter?

I wish I could say that I pieced this quilt myself, but I can't. My mother-in-law pulled my sister-in-law, Jan, and me to the side on Christmas Eve to show us her thrift find of the week: four vintage quilt tops for $50!

The three of us (Jan and I being the only sewists in the family) headed out to the fabric store that evening to pick out fabrics for the quilt backs. This one (which was my favorite) was given to me to complete. I picked out some solid green, brown, and a tiny navy and white houndstooth for the backing. I can't lie - I am not thrilled with the back. Not that I hate it - I just wish I had put more thought into the design. In my eagerness to begin the project, I didn't think it through as much as I should have. I am telling myself: "Who cares? it's the back!", and even though I don't really believe that, I am moving on...

I decided that I wanted to hand quilt mine rather than doing it by machine. Partly as a challenge to myself, but also because I feel some respect for the person who pieced the quilt together before me. (It is hand pieced). My mother-in-law told me that she was in complete disbelief when she found the quilt tops - and even more so when she was able to get them so cheaply. Even though it is sad to think about someone's hand work being discarded, I think that it is all for the best though. Now we can finish them off and they can have the opportunity to be used and loved for years - as they deserve!

I have (machine) pieced quilts before, but never made it through the entire process of quilting them. That would be a good goal to shoot for after I am finished with this! (Noted). I am really loving the front and the dimensional effect the quilting is giving the design. The stars (which I am leaving un-quilted) are really popping out against the surrounding blocks of color.

It's definitely not mindless work, but I'm finding that it offers the opportunity for zoning out a bit while you stitch. It's very relaxing. I enjoy knitting, but I find that if I don't focus on knitting alone I tend to go back and fourth from my work to the pattern trying to remember where I am and end up making mistakes no matter how much effort I put into the process.

This is the little kit that I have been carrying along with the in-progress work. It contains: good fabric scissors (I could probably go out and find some little thread snips for better portability), and a little box where I store my basting pins, a couple of extra needles, and a thimble. The purple band around the box is meant for protection from my two cats (Azzedine and Manito). I keep the spool of thread banded to the box while I'm working at home to ensure that they don't make off with it, or spill my pins all over the place. Oh, cats!