Happy Independence Day!

Well, it's the Fourth of July! We have been having amazingly beautiful weather here and I must admit I have gotten absolutely NO sewing done to speak of! Usually, our summer weather officially arrives about July 5th but this year we have been lucky and are getting an early dose. After spending a beautiful day out on the bay soaking up some vitamin D and getting ready for fireworks, and no stitching to be seen anywhere, I'll have to go back a year for some patriotic eye candy.

This RWB scrappy tumbler quilt was made for one of my lovely aunts last summer. I tried out the AccuQuilt Go! fabric cutter at Fabric Etc. in Bellingham and used the 6" tumbler die for this. What a snap! I think it took about ten minutes to cut the whole top. It probably took me longer to cut the border fabric :) The other cool thing about the die cutter is that the dies cut a little notch in your pieces that you line up when you sew - perfect points! (a rarity in my sewing room, I must admit.)

That thing is pretty slick! It was fun to play with too and having it at the shop means I don't have to find room for it in the sewing room. Bonus!

Happy stitching and a very happy 4th,

Tonya

Color cousins

What a fun day! I was able to spend time with my good friend Pam and peek into the world of our color cousins at the Northwest Weavers Guild Conference. I'm not a weaver (or a spinner, or a knitter, for that matter!) but there was a lot to look at and enjoy while we got our color fix for the day. We spent some time in the market area and it's easy to see that these fiber artists are just as hooked on color and texture as quilters are! Here's some fun color eye candy to share:

Beginnings of a new stash????....

 

flying geese re-imagined?



String quilt possibilities???....

 

Felted wool! These adorable houses were about 3 feet high. The attention to detail was amazing.



Check out these adorable little felted wool cuties on the clothesline between the houses! Loving the poodle skirt!

Thanks Pam for a fun day!

Happy stitching,

Tonya

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