Tickled Pink Update

Hi all,

I've been scrambling to catch up on everything since I was playing hookey earlier this week and was away at a quilt retreat with a lovely bunch of crazy ladies! I'm sure a lot of people think we're crazy simply because we would want to spend that much time sewing! It was great fun, good food and I got a lot done while having a great time.

Just before I left town, I found out my quilt Tickled Pink hit the newsstands in McCall's Quilting July/August 2013 I blogged about it quickly before I left but then McCall's sent me some more links and photos for me to use so I thought I would give you a better view.

My favorite thing about this pattern is that it's made with only one block of 9 half-square triangles! I love that something so simple can come together like this - and make a bit of a dent in my scrap bin. There are lots of different methods for making HST's but for this project I used Laundry Basket Quilts 2" HST paper. I had a lot of mis-matched fat quarters in my stash that I wanted to clear out and the cuts you use for the HST paper work perfectly with fat quarters. I actually picked out the border fabric after the center was completed. Usually I have some kind of idea of the border before or during but not this time.

If you squint really hard and stand on your head, you can see the quilt on the COVER! Yes, it's on the bottom of the pile and yes, there is only about one square inch poking out but I'm going to go ahead and consider this my first cover shot, what do you think?!

**Event info: If your in my neighborhood this Saturday, June 15th,  I'd love to see you at Fabric Etc. in Bellingham. We're having a little quilt celebration - and cookies!

This quilt coming out the same week as my quilt retreat was kind of full circle. I was actually working on this quilt this time last year at the same retreat. That's one lucky charm of a group and I hope I can spend many more days on the lake with them!

Happy stitching,

Tonya

Double quilt bonus week!

Double quilt bonus this week! Hot on the heels of Fons & Porter Scrap Quilts Spring 2013, McCall's Quilting July/August 2013 edition just hit the stands and it features my quilt "Tickled Pink". Thanks to Karen O., one of my quilt-peeps for letting me know it was even out there ;) Here's a sneak peak!

"Tickled Pink"

Needless to say, after a waiting a year, I am definitely "Tickled Pink" to see these in print! Hope you enjoy!

Happy stitching,

Tonya

QOV - Memorial Day

Just in the nick of time for Memorial Day, a finish  to share(or should I say, a finally finished...) Thought you might like to see the finished Quilt of Valor quilt after the plan I had sketched out and shared a few weeks ago. The quilt's been done and hanging but the blogging has been a bit behind!

Here was the original plan...

and here's my finished quilt...(mine's on the left and my friend Rommie's is on the right.)

It's currently hanging at the Ferndale Public Library for the month along with others that were made by local quilters and will be donated to wounded servicemen and women through the Quilts of Valor program. If you can't make it in to see them, check out my friend Karen's blog for some nice pics  (including this one - thanks Karen!)of all the quilts.

Today, and everyday, thank a veteran in your life.

Happy stitching,

Tonya

Great news from my little old sewing room!

Super excited to share some great news with you today - I have my first two quilts being featured in the Spring 2013 edition of Fons and Porter Scrap Quilts hitting the newsstands at the end of this month! Well, not my first two quilts, but my first two in print. One is called "Carrie Nation Baby" and looks a little like this:

The quilt is made of a single traditional block named "Carrie Nation" which was actually a symbol of the women's temperance movement in the 1800's. For an interesting history on the block, check out Grandmother's Choice. Pretty heavy history for a sweet little baby quilt!


Carrie Nation Baby work in progress

 the second one is called "Kaffe's Garden at Night" (named for my favorite fabric designer/artist/quilt guru)and here's it's glamour shot:



Kaffe's Garden at Night work in progress

I absolutely can't wait to see the full spread. I have not considered a tattoo before now but I may reconsider...(just kidding honey!) If anyone's looking for me in the next few weeks, you can scrape me off the ceiling!

Happy, happy stitching,

Tonya

Happy Easter!

Hope you all enjoyed a beautiful Easter Sunday! We had gorgeous weather in our corner of the world.  Love these little chickens on their nests of selvages. Can you see their "eggs"? Cute huh? This was on a quilt by Judy Irish I saw at the QA show in Monroe. Fun and creative.
Happy spring stitching,
Tonya

Quilts of Valor

Hope you are all enjoying President's Day weekend and fitting in a little sewing time. It definitely feels like the right time for a patriotic quilt. I'm a little late to this party but have just recently agreed to do a quilt for the Quilts of Valor program. We had a lovely local quilter come to one of my quilt groups and share about the program and put out a call for quilts to be displayed the month of May at our local library and then be donated to the program. There are lots of great opportunities for us as quilters to share what we love to do with others and QOV is a great example. Quilts are made and donated to wounded servicemen and women as they return home to heal and to move on with their lives - no small task to be sure. QOV has given out over 80,000 quilts since 2004. That is A LOT of wounded veterans.

The quilts are made and given anonymously so I have no idea who my quilt will be going to. Patriotic themes and colors are popular among the recipients so that is the direction I am going. I have to decide on a quilt design though and could use some help. Here are my two current ideas, scrappy, of course! (Please
excuse my very low-tech design mechanism - that's just how I roll!) I'd like some help deciding. Any input?

Here's Plan A...

Or Plan B...

I am proud to say we have several veterans in our family and I am even more blessed and thankful to say that they all came home safely from their time in service. There is a lot to be said for that. If you are looking for somewhere to donate your next quilt, I hope you'll consider these fine men and women through the QOV program.

Happy stitching,

Tonya

Seeing Red

I am definitely seeing RED lately. I have so many different red projects going right now it's hard to say exactly how far I am behind but let's just say it's more than a couple and less than a lot! It's a good thing it's my favorite color.

This is a pattern called "Double Hearts" and it's done using the Hawaiian style of applique. This is my first try at this technique but it's really fun. It's like making big fabric snowflakes and then using needle-turn applique to stitch them down. If I really get my act together I will put up an easy tutorial for the technique.

I am starting to see a glimpse of the finish line on this one. There are 18 blocks and I have 14 done and 4 left to go. I started this around Valentine's Day last year when all the gorgeous red and white fabrics were out tempting me in the quilt shops. It's based on a quilt originally done around 1850 that I saw in the book called "Treasury of American Quilts" by Nelson and Houck. I scaled down the pattern a bit to be able to use a bunch of fat quarters that I had. The original pattern calls for 20" blocks and mine measure at 18". Plenty big enough and here's how it's looking so far:

Hard to tell in the pics but the reds are all different and the background blocks are all different red on white prints. The finished thing will have sashing (haven't picked that yet) and partial blocks for the setting squares. With only four more blocks to applique, the end is in sight! My Red Resolution is to finish and possibly get the top pieced by this Valentine's Day. We'll see....

Happy stitching,

Tonya