Dot Couture quilt top finished

I took these photos on Monday before leaving for my business trip to Barcelona in hopes that I'd have time to post one day this week - even a brief one to show the progress on a quilt/sewing project.

This is my "Dot Couture" quilt - made from Urban Couture by Basic Grey using the "Dot Party" pattern that was published in Quilts and More (now available as individual pattern from Jaybird Quilts. Actually I think the pattern name in the magazine may be different. But I'm 99% sure the actual pattern is the same, but without options for other sizes figured out for you. 

I used a Kona Ash for the background fabric and one Layer Cake of the Urban Couture - pretty fast and easy if you use the circle ruler and tiny rotary cutter recommended. I'm sure I'll make good use of those tools again in the future.

This is a nice look - I am happy with the Ash background fabric.  I bought some Brown Basic Grunge fabric for the backing, and some green for the binding. 

Summer 2010 issues of Quilts and more in case anyone wants to look through their stash of magazines rather than paying again for a pattern.

I'm going to attempt to link up to Sarah's Whoop Whoop! party  and also at TGIFF hosted this week by The Peony Teacup!

Too late for the Heather Ross QAL...but these blocks are for ME!

edited to link up to "Stash Project of the Month", since this is such an impromptu stash project and I'm so happy with how it's going!



A few months ago, there was a Quilt-a-long at Sew Sweetness - the Heather Ross Quilt-a-long.  I wanted to join it because I LOVE Heather Ross prints...but I'd used up most of mine in Angela's quilt and Megan's quilt. Then I won a giveaway of Heather Ross fat eights from Angela at Fussy Cut...and I went through my scraps to salvage whatever I could find that I had left, and then I bought a couple of additional pieces off of Etsy.  Then I ordered some FQ stacks of solids from a couple of different places. I really wanted to make a reasonably sized quilt for me - one that I could curl up under and admire close up.

But everything has just been sitting in piles in my crafty corner under other piles and projects for some time.

This past week I needed some basic OCD free-form creative activity. So I first cleaned off my sewing table, and then pulled out all the Heather Ross cuts and scraps I had pulled together and the solid FQs I've been collecting for the past few months and set out to work mixing and matching.  I am not using a pattern of any type or even a well thought out plan with a sketch or anything - I thought I'd use a basic "boxed in" and/or simple log cabin approach for the blocks with some wonky-ness and scrappy-ness allowed as needed or desired.  I plan to have 10-11 different solids (or maybe 12) with about 3 blocks using each color as the outside border to get at least 30 blocks. They are cut to 11", so will finish at 10.5" each - so I think a 5x6 arrangement with either sashing or borders will give me a big enough quilt for a decent lap-size. 42 blocks would be better especially since I've been leaving borders off my quilts for the most part, but I just don't think I have enough of the prints to cut it (punny - hehe). We'll see how it goes as I move along.

So here's the WIP from the past week or so. I've got 17 blocks so far and they are just as cheerful and happy as I had hoped they would be. This quilt won't be chock full of prints like the other two I've done with these Heather Ross lines, but showcasing the prints with solid borders really feels like it will make more of a story stimulating piece.

some of the blocks are more scrappy...

...and some are quite basic boxed in layouts.

I'm off for a business trip this week, but I'll be working on a new sweater for Wild Thing on the plane and during my insomniac wee hours, so perhaps I'll have a new knitted FO to post soon!

By the way - Sara's Heather Ross quilt at Sew Sweetness turned out absolutely fabulous!! wow - go check it out!

WIP it good!

I don't have anything finished to post as of late.  I'm thinking about taking the "process pledge" that I've seen on so many quilty blogs...it would be a good excuse to post something even if you are not finished with it and won't be for who knows how long.

My little crafty corner is a total zoo!  Luckily, Teen Wonder installed Photoshop Elements on our computer, so I can wrap it in plastic and make it look more artsy and crafty, and less just plain messy.

But also I wanted to link up to a blog I follow called Confessions of a Fabric Addict that does a Friday linky party called Can I get a Whoop Whoop?  Which sounds like just the right amount of silly for a Friday. Of course, I don't get around to posting until late into the evening, if at all. ever. So I should almost wait until next week. But that's what I said last week. So here's what I've been working on...

Both of these projects are or were intended for the Fat Quarterly Reader Competition, which is a crazy idea for me to begin with because it comes with a deadline that is fast approaching...

First up, the "small item" category - an insane patchwork project involving hundreds of little 1 inch squares of fabric, and something called "Quilter's Grid" with is a fusible interfacing with a little grid on it 1in by 1in. So you cut a million squares like these: 

Then you lay them out on the grid and press them down.  This layout step alone took me something like 3 evenings to complete. Remember my friends that I only have the after 9pm time slot to work with most of the time. (what a friggin' nut)

Now I need to seam along each of the lines of the grid (80 seams. or maybe 70 if I was clever and did some math. I can't remember at the moment). Each seem has to be trimmed and then pressed. I bought a little craft iron just for this project... (nut!)

Oh yeah, then there's still the actual piecing and construction of the pillow this is meant to become. 

Okay, moving along. 

Here is the second project, which was the first one in the beginning, but then I ran out of bobbin thread one night and instead of picking up and finishing the quilt top I started the other project instead.  This is in the "quilt" category of the contest. I took forever modifying the color scheme and this also required a lot of cutting (I think I showed stacks of pieces in some previous post).  

Here's some of it partially put together draped over my serger (which you can't even see anymore):

And here's the rest of the strips waiting patiently on the back of my chair. Notice at the end there, where I ran out of bobbin thread on, I am not joking, the very last of the flying geese to pieced into strips:

So there you have it. I could finish the top this weekend I think, but since it's a pretty good size quilt (cuz why would I be smart and go for the crib size?) I'm certain I won't have time to quilt it before the contest deadline. I have a business trip coming up and won't even be home next weekend. Maybe I can get it professionally quilted in time...hmmm.  But the pillow too?  

I think I'm going to give up on the contest idea and spare myself the anxiety of an impossible deadline.  My chances of winning one of the runner-up prizes (which is what I wanted because it's like bushels of fabric or something rather than a fancy quilting software I wouldn't have time to use or a bundle of craft porn books that I probably already bought myself because I am a craft porn book addict) where extremely slim anyway.

But! check out the linky party while you're surfing - 

There aren't too many this week, but they are fun to check out - and last week there were dozens of the most beautiful blog post links you'd ever care to see!

Have a great weekend!!