Sunny Side Up

Here we are at the end of September and the weather the last weekend just confirmed that summer is long gone in my corner of the world. The wind was blowing, the rain was back in full force and summer is just a sweet memory now. To celebrate the beautiful summer that was, earlier this month I decided to dive into all the yellow fabrics I picked up during summer vacation and got to cutting.

All the lovely yellows cut into 2 1/2" strips

I have had this quilt in mind for at least a couple of years. Here's the photo inspiration I've had tacked to my bulletin board for a while. It's an ad for a luxury hotel somewhere but there's something about the tile pattern that I am just really drawn to. What's not to love about a log cabin variation?

Design inspiration - hotel advertisement from a magazine

First, I tried using a solid yellow and solid white just like the tile in the picture but it didn't do anything for me. Disappointed, I put it in the closet and it's been sitting there for a couple of years. Fast forward to this summer and my yellow fabric shopping spree while on vacation. I wasn't ready to give up on this quilt. Like everything else, I figured it just needed to be "scrapped up" for more interest. Now I am loving it! Not content with a little reasonable wall hanging, I went all out and went full bed-size. Big surprise. Going big and going down hard! Here's a sneak peek:


Work in process

Now that the Crock-Pot is back into Fall dinner rotation, I'll have time to get my new summer bed quilt ready! I think I'm going to call it "Sunny Side Up".

Happy end-of-summer stitching,

Tonya

Quilt show weekend

Hi everyone! Just wanted to share some quilt show information if you're in my corner of the world. Today and tomorrow the members of Evergreen Quilters will be hosting their show in Bellingham. Here are the details and a pic of their lovely raffle quilt:

EverGreen Quilters
 2013 Quilt Show
Bountiful Baskets

     
    Friday,     September 13:  10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
    Saturday, September 14:  10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Birchwood Presbyterian Church
Family Life Center
400 Meadowbrook Court
Bellingham, WA  98226

Over 100 quilts by Evergreen Quilters Members,
Merchant tables
Boutique
Raffle Quilt
Raffle Basket
White Elephant Sale
Quilting Demonstration

Admission:  $6,00

If you go to their website, you can print a page with a $1 off coupon for admission. Lots of really talented ladies in this group and I'm sure the show will be great. I'm looking forward to it. Hope to see you there!

Happy stitching,

Tonya

On the Dot

My modern baby quilt goes retro! I call it "On the Dot" (because all babies arrive as expected, of course!)

"On the Dot"

The inspiration for this quilt design was actually from a silver tinsel Christmas tree my aunt had back in the 70's. It had a color light circle that rotated and reflected off the tinsel to turn your tree four different colors. Very groovy and fun! Did you have one of these? You never know where your going to get and idea for your next quilt.

The quilt and pattern is currently featured in Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting September/October 2013 issue that is available now. Believe it or not, there is no curved piecing in this quilt! I used a window-pane fusible applique technique and then sliced and diced my way to these mixed up circles of color. I love black and white checkerboards just about anywhere but I thought they would be a little too strong for a baby quilt so I opted for grey and whites instead. This was a quick and easy project and I had fun making it.

Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting September/October 2013
 

 Happy stitching,
Tonya

Golden State inspiration

We recently got back from a great vacation in Cali. Lots of sunshine, water, family and fun. I try to sneak in a visit to a couple of quilt shops during vacation and I like to find things that remind me of that trip. There weren't any shops close to where we were but I did talk my hubby into driving to Reno so I could visit at least one shop and I struck California gold! If you get a chance, check out Windy Moon Quilts in Reno. Big store, packed to the rafters with all kinds of goodies and really nice, helpful staff.

I was definitely in the mood for a little golden stash-enhancement!

 

I'm feeling a yellow quilt coming on!

a little Tahoe color inspiration

some garden inspiration?

I think there's some quilt-rule out there that says you should limit the yellow fabric in your quilt top to less than 5 % or some other miniscule amount but I'm not sure about that. Sounds like another rule meant to be broken!

Happy summer stitching,
Tonya

Wacky Jack

Are you ready for a little Wacky Jack? No, it's not illegal or even the slightest bit inebriating, but it is very scrappy and a whole lot of fun!


“Used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine. ©2013 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.”

 This project was percolating for a while. I had won a small bundle of Halloween FQ's in a raffle at quilt retreat a while ago and they had been sitting on my shelf staring at me every time I would open the door just begging to be used in something. Of course, I probably had enough initially to make a table runner but once this bug bit there was no going back. The final quilt measures 60"x72" and was so fun to make.


“Used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine. ©2013 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.”

 One of the best parts of this project is definitely the quilting done by Tracey. If there was ever a quilt that could handle neon orange and acid green spider webs this is it! She did an amazing job and I love it. I will work on some close-up shots soon so you can fully appreciate her creative spirit on this project.

Well, if you're in my area you can see this little lovely at the fair in August. If not, you can enjoy it on the pages of American Patchwork & Quilting, the October 2013 edition that should be on newsstands or in your favorite quilt shop any day now. Even though we are still enjoying these last beautiful days of summer, I hope it will inspire you to pull out those purples/oranges/greens and create a little Wacky Jack yourself.

Happy stitching,

Tonya

Christmas in July and a new pattern

I really wonder sometimes why I feel like working on different projects at odd times of the year. Halloween quilt in February, sure. Red, white and blue in April, yep. Christmas in July, you bet! This project actually had some other deadlines attached so that may explain part of it but I am thrilled to show you my first pattern design!

It's a Christmas tree skirt pattern called "All I Want for Christmas" and it's in stores locally now and available nationally through QuiltWoman.com for retail and wholesale distribution (Pattern #TA-101). Here's a link to Fabric-Etc's blog post about it with a picture of the sample that Tracey made for the shop and to help me test the pattern. (Thanks Tracey!) Check out my pattern page for more info on where you can find it.

It was a really fun project to work on although I have to admit that I procrastinated on actually finally making it! My sister had asked for a tree skirt (about five years ago...) and I hemmed and hawed until the idea came together. Like most of my designs, the idea comes first and then I have to figure out how to make it work!

I tackled this project like eating a pie - one slice at a time! It's broken down into 8 wedges that you piece and quilt individually and then sash them together at the end. It's pretty big - measures 60" in diameter for the very simple reason that we have really big Christmas trees in our family! Also, I figure if I'm going to make such a cool tree skirt I want to be able to see it, not have it shoved all the way under the tree!

If you're new to paper piecing or free motion quilting, this may be just the project for you. The paper foundation piecing is very basic and suitable for a beginner. Also, it lends itself to experimentation with FMQ because you are always working with very manageable sized sections - and let's face it, this will end up under a tree on the floor so cut yourself some slack and have fun!

Happy stitching,

Tonya

Borders, backs and basting, oh my!

My completion list is kind of short so far this summer because I've been doing a whole lot of this...

and not much of this...

But I have been making headway. Mostly on things that seem to take a lot more time than I think they are going to. I spent many hours working on borders for a guild project. The two hours I thought it would take turned into six and at the end I still don't know why it took so long! Backs are the same way. Last weekend I spent some time piecing three quilt backs that I had been procrastinating on (mainly because they are my least favorite part of the process.) Again, took way longer than they ever should. I like to spend my time up to my eyeballs in fabric, zipping through piecing and have a whole lot of blocks to show for it as my reward.

Then this weekend, I decided to go completely old-school and thread baste a quilt that I am planning on taking to the lake with me to work on hand quilting. Yes, thread baste. By hand. Never happens.

 

 

But it was strangely relaxing and rewarding. Something about this quilt that makes me want to spend more time with it before it's done. Maybe this quilting-thing is teaching me something about patience along the way. Who knew?

Happy stitching,

Tonya