Mariner's Compass on the Design Wall

So, I'm still working on finishing up long arming some customer quilts so I can get a little in front and get a few of my own quilts going on the machine!  These Quilt Smart products are keeping me entertained at the moment!  They are so fast and fun to make!  Seriously!  This Mariner's Compass was planned in my mind when Ayumi contacted me to let me know that she was able to get some of the Suzuko Koseki Floor Plans that I have wanted for so long!  Ayumi is so helpful in locating special fabrics for fellow fabric addicts!  So, the fabric selection for this quilt started out with the brown Floor Plans and worked itself out from there.  I will use brown posies as my background fabric.  I'm still not sure whether I will make this a twin size or queen--more than likely a twin size so it can be for one of the boys...  I want to make another one already!!

Good Folks For the My Precious Quilt Along

Ok, so I just threw a few blocks of what I am making for the My Precious Quilt Along onto my design wall for a quick photo to post at least one progress shot.  In reality, today I am trying to catch up with my Bee commitments, mailing commitments and long arm commitments.  I should probably not sign up for bees/swaps because I tend to do things in my own time in spits and spurts and have never been really good at doing personal work on a schedule.  I try and then I get all stressed out about it and am in general all over the place.  Sorry, if you haven't already noticed, I'm like that with comments and emails too.  I want to be that person that responds to everyone in a timely fashion, but often it has to do with me trying to over think a response and then I end up not responding.  Yep, my tendency in life is to either do things in absolute full measure or somehow fail to do anything at all!  I'm going to improve on this in future...

So, this is where I am at with my precious Good Folks fabrics that I have been hoarding for a while.  I decided on using another QuiltSmart pattern called "Pumpkin Seeds".  It is made also using the fusible interfacing but in a different method.  It is made by sewing the fabric onto the opposite side of the fusible interfacing, trimmed and then turning it inside out so that the gluey part of the fusible can then be ironed onto the background.  Once it is pressed on you applique stitch around each one in your preferred method.  I chose to try out a clear monofilament thread using a zigzag stitch.  It is my first time using a clear thread for applique.  The reason I have avoided it in past was because it sort of intimidated me for some reason.  Not sure why, but also I avoided it because I have been told that it can damage your sewing machine.  Well, I have since found out that that is true only according to older monofilaments made of nylon.  They used to be brittle, had a low melting point and would wear your machine parts by cutting into them with use.  Newer products (I have recently discovered the superiority of Superior Threads) are made of polyester--not nylon.  I am using one by Superior called MonoPoly.  Although I had a rough start using it--I was having trouble winding it onto the bobbin--I think it is working very well now and will use this technique much more in future now.

April's Rainbow in Progress

So, this is my first time making a Lone Star Quilt.  Sorry I wasn't able to get all of the star in the photo.  This is photographed on my design board and I can only stand a few feet back from it.  Not really the best placement for a design  board, but I can always check things out from a distance by going outside and looking through the window!  It's interesting to me how a stack of fabrics can translate so differently into a quilt depending upon the design that is chosen.

So what do you think of my first attempts at a Lone Star?  Do you think my points are matching up well enough??  Ha ha, ok, I'll let you in on a little secret.  I made this using a product called Quiltsmart which uses fusible interfacing and clever techniques to help build more complicated quilts faster and more accurately.  I am going to be working on examples of different Quiltsmart products over the next while.  I am so excited about the products that my plan is to trial selling them in my Etsy shop (to Australians) for a while.

I'm deciding on the background color today.  I'm thinking of going with Kona coal...

A Rainbow Resolution

So, just to let you know why I haven't posted this past week it's because we've all come down with the flu.  I've included a photo of the boys sick, miserable and cuddling each other for warmth in the chair.  It's actually been cold enough to light the fire and of course with the colder temperatures comes the seasonal
flu.  Oh well, you get that.  Just hoping that we can manage to avoid the doctor's office.

Anyway, I never posted about what I gave and received in the For the Love of Solids Round Two swap.  For my partner Annabella, who is all about the water and water colors, I made a mini using Oakshott cottons.  I did an art binding on it because I thought a traditional border would take away from its free form.

What I received back was the adorable rainbow mini in the second picture from Katherine.  What was so serendipitous about this was the fact that I had only just recently decided that my New Year's resolution (I decided this in March) was that 2012 would be the year of the rainbow for me.  I didn't ask for rainbows, I just asked that my partner be inspired by nature and she came up with rainbow.  Too funny!

Why did I decide in March that this should be the year of the "rainbow" for me?  Well, it's no secret that where we live has been in drought for many years and that since last year we have finally been seeing the hope at the end of the rainbow.  We've had rain!!  We've seen more rainbows and are very thankful for their presence.  Also, it hasn't only been that.  I do feel that 2012 is a special year, it feels like the end of one era and the beginning of a new one (for me--turning 40 this month!!).  I'm not just talking about the ending of the Mayan calendar.  I'm feeling something in the air, something different ahead of us.  Wasn't the rainbow God's promise to Noah?  I feel like there is something ahead...  I have been seeing rainbows everywhere in quilting these past couple years, but they do seem to be popping up more and more often.  We are moving towards color, towards a bright hope for something...   Not sure what I'm on about, but I can taste it in the air.

So, anyway, my personal New Year's resolution is to make a rainbow quilt for every month of 2012.  I will write a post to show you where I am up to soon.  In the meantime, you can see in the third picture down the fabrics I have picked out for April's rainbow quilt...

Swell Sweet Pinwheel Quilt Finished

This quilt is one that has been a long time in the making...  I originally started with a Moda Swell bundle and let it sit and sit trying to decide what to make with it.  Then Moda came out with Sweet, another line by Urban Chiks and I decided I would make something combining the two fabric lines.  Pinwheels just seemed so fitting for these fabrics.  Well, adding the white to the two bundles made for one gigantic quilt.  I can't believe I tried adding a border to this as well.  I wanted something to contain all the whiteness, but in the end after I put the border on, took it off because it was wavy, pinned it, put it on again and then let it sit for a while again.  The border looked terrible and made it way too large, so I took it off again.  Hahaha.

Anyway, I quilted this using an Anne Bright pattern called "Rose Bouquet" because this quilt is going to a gardener friend of mine who happens to love roses.  I hope she likes the quilt as much as I do...