Announcing My Craftsy Class - Inset and Applique Circles by Machine

Do you remember my necklace inspired quilt? It is now finished and I can share it with you. I can also share with you the rather exciting reason I was making the quilt. 

I am thrilled to announce that I am now a Craftsy instructor! Have you heard about Craftsy? The fastest growing craft community on-line is full of courses from top instructors on everything from cake decorating to knitting, from costumes to quilting. My class - Inset and Applique Circles by Machine - is now available. Sign up now with a 25% discount!

The Craftsy platform is quite cool. Once you purchase the class it is available to you at any time forever. The HD video quality is great. They've filmed so many close-ups so you don't miss a thing. And you can take the classes from the comfort of your home - no lugging a machine across town or missing out because you can't find a local store or babysitter.

One of the best parts about a Craftsy class is the interactive forum. You can ask instructors questions, participate in class discussions with other students, and share your projects. I will be there the whole time, encouraging and helping you along the way. Stuck on a particular technique? You can ask for help and share the problem and we'll make sure you get it sorted.

And that necklace inspired quilt? It is a free pattern that comes with the class! Incorporating all the techniques learned in the class you can make this bold sampler. I've made it here with prints in colours pulled from the necklace itself and a mix of text prints for the background.

I do hope you'll join me over at Craftsy!

Austin Circle Sampler

76' by 96''

Quilted by Andrea Harris from Urban Quiltworks

I've got more that I want to share about my Craftsy experience. Look for that in the coming weeks. It has been an incredible experience so far. Now that the class  - Inset and Applique Circles by Machine - is available I'm looking forward to seeing circles pop up everywhere!

How Do You Finish Your Quilt Bindings?

Okay, I've got a question about binding. In between finishing up my daughter's quilt and some surfing I've been thinking about binding a lot the past few days. Plus, it was a nice distraction from the real world.

Machine Binding
- Can finish on the front or the back.
- Very fast.
- Clean look, but with a very visible seam.
- Great for quilts that live primarily for trunk shows.

Hand binding
- I actually enjoy hand finishing.
- It feels like a very personal touch on a quilt.
- More or less no seam line on a finished edge.
- It does take some time.


Personally, I've tried a few methods for finishing binding. My preference is for hand-finishing, but I've got nothing against a completely machine bound quilt. I do machine binding on quilts that are not gifts - class samples, trunk show quilts, even some book quilts. Hey, when faced with a looming deadline a girl does what a girl has to do!

Let me be clear. I do not feel guilty about machine binding, nor do I judge anyone's method for binding.

One thing I have noticed, however, is that for those who hand finish, stitches seem really far apart. I see these perfectly flat binding edges that are stitched down. It's one thing to not see any stitches because the quilter is just that good. And there are many, many techniques for hand stitching a binding. But people, you need to put a stitch closer than every half inch! When we quilt we call those big stitches in the quilting itself "toe catchers". On a binding I would call that a disaster. That is the place a quilt wears the most and having large, maybe loose stitches is asking for a finger to pull it out at the first chance it gets caught.

I'm perfectly willing to admit that I'm rather anal about my own hand finishing  - having my stitches come in between 1/4'' and 1/8'' apart. So yes, this takes me some time. But I've also never had a binding come loose. This is my most common method for finishing, but I've used the ladder stitch and been pleased with the results. And I recently tried switching up my needle in placement - through the binding instead of the quilt back and liked the look and stability of that.

What about you? How do you finish your bindings?

Girlie Quilt

Girlie

38'' by 38''

Just a simple, pretty, girlie quilt.

It started as an improv block, waiting for a home and some inspiration. I sent it off to a guild member for the next go at a round robin. She asked if I wanted to keep it all black and white or if I wanted any specific colour. I gave her free reign, waiting for the surprise at the end. Once everyone else did their thing. Can't say I imagined baby pink!

When it came back to me I decided I couldn't let it linger  - I'm all about finishing these days! I went back and forth on some options and this is where I landed. I basted it and then it sat... One quiet Saturday with no kids in the house it got quilted. A basic stipple in Aurifil 50wt in white took me an hour. So, why did I wait so long?

But now it is done, bound in a sunny yellow for contrast and to coordinate with the backing. It sits packed by the door, ready to send off to a cousin and his adorable baby girl.

Not before my baby girl snuck in for a snuggle and photo op!

It Got Bigger?!

Last week my Mom asked me how I was doing with respect to my giant WIP/UFO list. I had to stop and think before I answered her. Rather, not answer her. I couldn't really recall if I'd finished much or at least moved on. Needless to say, I thought I better investigate and give an update. If not for you, Mom, then to keep me on track!

Before I delve into it, I want to go on record to say that I've been teaching and travelling A LOT lately. And my baby boy stopped napping in that special time while the girls are both in school. Honest, those aren't excuses. Just sayin'...

Quilt Tops Ready for Quilting

1. Cosmos Blocks - once I make a back for it I'm giving it to Andrea for quilting.
2. Improv Sampler - uh, nothing new to see here...
3. My version of Checkerboard from Sunday Morning Quilts - again, nothing to see here...
4. Slaveship Quilt - nope, nothing here either...
5. Old Amy Butler quilt top - still sitting there...

6. There is Peace in Pattern - top made, backing fabric purchased, waiting for basting.

Quilts, Basted and Ready for Quilting

7. Gum on Concrete - the quilting is almost done. Definitely my next finish, hopefully this week
8. Anniversary Quilt - It is the next one on the list for quilting.
9. Low Volume Circles - I'm plugging away on the hand quilting, slowly.

Works in Progress


10. Mid Mod Bee - Blocks to be assembled into a top
11. Giant Hexies from the Unscripted Bee - All blocks in, but I think I want to make more to size it up
12. Hand Pieced Diamonds - always ongoing
13. More Cosmic Burst blocks - I have a whole other set of blocks for a baby quilt
14. Voiles - Still cutting and piecing every now and then. And buying more voile...
15. Name quilt for my daughter - still haven't done anything since this post
16. Chandelier quilt - was so close, then discovered a big mistake and have never fixed it
17. Mountain Meadows - still have made no more blocks since
18. Liberty Circles - Almost done making the circles
19. Blue and green Christmas Tree quilt - I cut the pieces,then promptly put them away
20. The alternate pink/black/white blocks I started when working on the girlie quilt are finding a new home in an upcoming project...
21. Respite - a project started in a Bill Kerr design workshop
22. Pieced Stars - a BOM I started years ago when I wanted to do some precision piecing breaks when doing a lot of improv
23. Japanese Curves - Fell in love with a Japanese fabric and a curvy pattern, took a class, never finished it. I think this one has to be passed on to a more willing quilter...
24. The Water Quilt
25. My Denyse Schmidt Improv Workshop blocks - both mine and the extra class blocks
26. A travelling quilts project that just started. I've got the first round waiting for my input.


Class Samples (Pieces I work on while teaching, as examples)


27. A Shoeman's Puzzle/Slab quilt I started with some class samples

28. A values quilt in neutrals
29. Green/Yellow/Orange Improv blocks
30. Loads of circle blocks now that might turn into something...

Intentional Quilts

31. Sympatico and Organic solid stack
32. Lucky Penny Bike Path - I have a plan now and hope to start it next month
33. Some vintage feedsacks intended for Amanda's quilt from Fresh Fabric Treats
34. Turkey reds, blues, and whites for a striped project
35. A collection of screen printed and low-volume favourites that continues to grow
36. My other daughter's special Tiger Quilt has to be started now

And...

37. I know there is a box of 2000 2 1/2'' squares sitting in my garage somewhere. If the mice haven't got to it I'll have to tackle those when they are found.
38. and 39. I have two ongoing scrap/leader and ender projects. They aren't coming together as much yet, but I must admit to them.

Finished!!!!!

Wine Gums
Oh Canada
Girlie Quilt

Plus 1 more I can't share for another week or two and my daughter's quilt we made together (That's it waiting for binding up there.) Boy, and I was excited that I got two quilts finished this past week. Oy.

I think that's it. I think...

Improv and Intentions

One of the workshops at QuiltCon I was lucky to get into was Denyse Schmidt's Improv workshop. It was a hot commodity and I had just the right timing when doing my registration. To be honest, I took it out of curiosity more than anything. I'm quite comfortable with improv work, even teaching it myself! But I wanted to see how Denyse taught it and see how people responded.

Frankly, I really enjoyed the class. It may have been the opportunity of just free sewing/playtime after weeks of prep for my own classes at QuiltCon. But it was also a great environment. The other students ranged from improv virgins to the old hats at the technique like me. Denyse is a good teacher, clear on the approach, and extremely encouraging. For the students who'd never done improv it was a challenge at the beginning but they all seemed to really embrace things at the end.

Denyse's technique involves true randomness. Three bags of fabric bits in different sizes. Close your eyes and reach in! At home I do almost the same thing, but I keep my eyes open. Denyse's goal is to get the students to see the beauty in the randomness; beauty in seemingly clashing bits of fabric and blocks that don't lay flat. And it is most definitely there.

After each exercise we reviewed all the blocks and discussed our responses. I loved this part as too often in classes we don't get see what other people make or hear about what people experienced as they worked. The last part was a big eyeopener as a teacher. Well worth the class for me.

In the morning we worked solely with Denyse's scraps. In the afternoon we got to add our own fabric and a randomly chosen solid (Confession: my solid may have been placed in my hand by my very awesome Aussie volunteer and friend). Having seen reports of this class before I chose my fabric to bring with great intention. The blocks from one of these classes can start to all look the same so I chose my fabric to stand out a bit. Plus, it is one of my all-time favourite fabrics.

I didn't expect to care much for my blocks, I prefer a bit more control in my colour schemes. But I LOVE my blocks. So much so that I've got plans for a lot more and a finished quilt. I think I lucked out  with the fabric I picked out of the bags and the colours that came up.  Or it was just all serendipity... In the end I took a handful of orphan blocks from the morning exercises and I have another plan for them too.

Again, I was totally reminded that we need to remain open to experiences. I went into the class all cocky about my improv ability and thinking I wouldn't learn anything. And I came out with a bit of a gut check, new ideas, and an appreciation for the approach of others. Plus some rather cool quilt blocks.

Friday Favourite: fast2clean Mini Microfiber Cleaners

*Giveaway is now closed*

The Missing U is one of my favourite quilts from Sunday Morning Quilts. It came together with Amanda Jean's contribution and really was the start of our collaboration on the book. Right now it is living on our bed, keeping me warm when I fall asleep and soaking up the almost spring sun's warmth during the day.

Because it is a favourite I was thrilled when C&T contacted me about using images of the quilt in a new product. The fast2clean Microfiber Cleaners are pretty cool. At first I thought it was kind of cheesy and pointless. But they arrived right around the time I started using a certain fruit based music device. Between my fingertips and the greasy fingers of my kidlets on the face of it, the thing was a mess. 

Then I pulled out my handy little microfiber cleaner. Through the wonders of static it sticks to the back of the device. Then I can pull it off and clean the face every time the grubby fingerprints get to be too much. It really works well for that. I've even used it for my computer monitor in a pinch!

And once I discovered that I can access Instagram through this device the whole thing gets used a lot more than for hard-core dance fests with the girls. The camera on this thing is only marginally better than my cell phone and I'm still trying to figure out even some of the potential, but feel free to follow me there for some snippets of daily life, and sneak peeks at projects that end up here.

The other quilt featured is by Kim Shaefer.

C&T very generously sent me extras of this product. So, if you can't find them in your LQS or don't want to order them on Amazon, try your hand at this little give-away!

Leave a comment on this post between now and Sunday 11:59 pm MST for your chance to win. Make sure I have a way to reach you by email through your profile or comment, I'm not going to chase down no-reply comments. Tell me your favourite colour to work with or live with. Or point me in the direction of some favourite photographs. Or just say hi.

I will pick 4 winners and and send out a pack of these little treats next week.

Big's Quilt - Part 1

A couple of months ago my little girl asked if we could make a quilt together. We usually have quiet mornings together a few times a week when her brother is napping and her sister is in school. Personally, I think it was more about playing on the design wall than the finished project. And that's just fine.

She spent a happy morning pulling every single bin of mine out of the closet to pick fabrics. The only thing I encouraged her to do was perhaps select a favourite fabric to start or a colour combination. Being the little girl that she is, the pinks and purples came out first. At the beginning it was going to be all pink, then purple was allowed in. Then yellow, then some green, and finally red. I'm pretty sure this fabric play took her a few mornings.

Once she'd settled on her fabrics I set to cutting them for her. She specifically requested squares all mixed up. I went with 6 1/2'' squares simply because it was an easy size to cut. As I cut she placed them on the design wall. And then she'd go harass her brother, come back, and change a square. This went on for a few weeks.

Her first layout was all the same fabrics grouped together, with a random interloper breaking things up. I let her sit on this, then encouraged her to play. She was hesitant at first, but I took a picture of what she had and promised to return to that layout if she hated it after we played. But we never went back.

She would come in every morning and rearrange a few blocks. I snapped this photo when I realized her  PJs matched her quilt. So maybe she did have an inspiration after all?!

Then the blocks sat. I got busy with other projects and she had more playdates than quiet with Mama. I kept asking her to sew with me but she wanted to play catch instead. No amount of urging from me and pleas from her sister (who wants the design wall for her own quilt) could get her motivated.

With it being spring break this week and my need for the design wall I simply told her we were going to start. She didn't have to help, but I did sew a good portion of the quilt with her on my lap.

One last rearrangement before I took all the columns down and set to sewing. I changed nothing in her layout. Of course, as we were sewing she changed her mind on some blocks. So it ended up with a little more improv. The only thing I did was make sure we had no two blocks the same next to each other.

This has been a glorious experience for me. I've watched her excitement over the fabric and layout. She got such a kick out of making HER quilt layout just the right way. It took a lot of my energy to stand back and let it all happen. A lot. Sure, I did the heavy lifting, but this will most certainly be her quilt.

(The top is together and she's picked the backing fabric, but she asks that we wait for a big reveal!)

Cut First

 Look at me! Cutting all in advance of sewing. That is a seriously big deal, folks. The vast majority of work that I do starts with me sewing, not planning. Even my book quilts generally start with a little bit of sewing before I stop and figure out what I'm actually doing. But this time I drew the pattern and cut everything before I sewed a stitch.

This is what is becoming of the necklace inspired fabric pull. It has a destination and pattern that will be available in not too long.  Pretty excited to share it with you. It's a rather cool quilt with a really awesome final destination. Soon.

What about you? Are you a cut everything first quilter? Or would you rather start then sew a little?

Just Sit Down

There are times in life when we need to push ourselves, when the teacher becomes a student, when the one who can't top talking needs to shut up and sew. This pillow serves a reminder to me to do all of that.

After my two days of teaching at QuiltCon I had the pleasure to take some classes. The pillow is the end result of my class with Yoshiko Jinjenzi. I jumped at the chance to take a class with her, even though I wasn't thrilled about making a pillow with sheer fabric. Whatever, it was Yoshiko Jinjenzi.

Turns out we were making a project from her book, Quilting Line and Color. I have the book, I constantly pull it out and drool, but I've never been inclined to make anything. The instructions seem fussy and overly complex. Well, this pillow was actually dead easy to make. We had a total of 5 minutes of instruction from Yoshiko and then we set to making.

As our first step we got to go and dig through scraps to create our own bits and bobs to highlight on the pillow. Every single person in the class had to resist the urge to squirrel away extra fabric. We were cutting little bits so it was quite fun to think about this fabrics on a very small scale.

After we picked our fabric, cut them to whatever size and shape we wanted, and laid them out on this gold fabric she provided we layered it with a sheer gauze. Some basting stitches to hold everything in place then we set to quilting the heck out of that sandwich.

That is, when we weren't crowded around her fondling the quilts she shared. It was half pillow class, half trunk show. But it was when she was showing her quilts that you saw the potential of this layering technique. Something I was quite easily dismissing at the beginning of the class suddenly provided inspiration. Of course, the intricacy of her work and the extreme attention to finishing details might have also had something to do with it.

In the end, I did get my pillow almost done. Despite the distractions of the quilts and my neighbours Marianne and Leanne and my SIL (way to represent Alberta in Austin!) All but the actually turning it into a pillow. Just as soon as I could I turned it into a finished project, minus the tassels. I knew that if I let it sit it would never get done.

This pillow is so far removed from anything I would normally make, from something I would likely every make again. Gold? Sheer? A Pillow? But it serves as a good reminder for me to just shut and sew sometimes. And for that reason it will keep a place of honour in my heart, if not my room.

Friday Favourites: Kate Inglis

There was a day, a few years ago that I came across this beautiful blog. Full of honesty and light and pain and creativity. Captivation at first blush. Fast forward a few years later and that loverly lady is in my house, threatening to steal my baby and chasing my girls with screams of zombie underpants. And I was totally okay with that because she was also taking pictures for my book. Ethereal and beautiful pictures of the projects, of kids, of my family. I can forgive almost anything for her beauty.

Kate Inglis is a writer, photographer, Mama, teacher, and more. She is a quiet, reflective soul who has a different set of eyes in her head for seeing the world. We love her first novel, The Dread Crew, in this house. I love her boys and all their energy. When we get together we can get lost in tangents about whiners who claim they have no inspiration to creative expression to Lego to old windows. Then there is the work.

I was, and still am, blown away by the work done for A Month of Sundays. Seriously folks, the photos are incredible. For a sneak peek head over to her blog.

The 5 days Kate and I spent together photographing the book were INTENSE. In between downloads and nursing sessions and breaks for cookies and lunch that my Mom made us we lived those projects. We drank wine at the the end of the day to just take a moment to breathe. Kate made friends with all my friends. I don't think I could convince her to leave her lovely home on the East Coast, but I'm thankful that she has family here and a potential excuse to visit beyond me kidnapping her.

Necklace Inspired Fabric Pull

One of the most exciting parts of quilting for me is the fabric play. It is one of the excuses I maintain for having a ridiculously large stash - shopping at home. It really is lovely to be able to just open the closet, rummage through my bins and bins of fabric, and come up with something pretty to play with.

Here I am playing with fabric from the latest inspiration. This quilt is for a deadline, so once I found my inspiration I dove right in! Above is the initial fabric pull.

Below is the final fabric pull. I decided to edit out the fabrics to reflect the inspiration necklace in direct proportion. It remains to be seen which fabrics actually end up in the final quilt, I'm not sure I have enough of each of these for the planned pattern. We'll just have to see!

Oh Canada

Oh Canada

72" by 48"

The Maple Leaf quilt is finally done! (Sorry, it's been done for months but it took me forever to get photos I liked.)

Made in complete proportion to the real Maple Leaf Canadian flag. All the coloured sections are made from slabs - scraps pieced together to make fabric. The technique is in our book, Sunday Morning Quilts. I wanted to show that the slabs can be used for more than straight blocks. I also wanted to share a little patriotism to show the Brits that the Union Jack isn't the only flag worth making into a quilt.

How awesomely Canadian of me to snap the photos on Lake Louise as we skated on a snowy days. Hockey skates, fires, mountain, snow... Damn, I love where I live!

Seriously, I do love where I live. Even when I have to pay my taxes and deal with dumb politicians (but those are everywhere, right?). I love our spaces, our vistas, our social leanings, our multi-culturalism, our healthcare (even when flawed), our cities, our variety in everything. I even love my accent. And that's PROgress if you know me.

For the quilting on this I used a combination of Aurifil 50w in white - to densely quilt the white sections with a lot of texture - and Presencia in coordinating colours for each flag section. There were a lot of threads to bury at the end, but it was so worth it.

I will be developing this into a pattern, I promise. Hopefully before Canada Day. I'll keep you posted.

Wine Gums

Winegums

40'' by 55''

Look, I finished something!

This is my version of Amanda's quilt from our book, Sunday Morning Quilts. Such a fun piece. Little scraps, some raw edge appliqué, and really casual quilting. And look at that Washi fabric from Rashida on the back! Because of that I went with a grey and white dotty binding, instead of a harsher contrast with black and white.

I started this quilt off on the wrong foot, when I didn't read Amanda's actual pattern in the book. That left me to come up with a different way to stabilize my little pieces. It wasn't a big deal and I'd happily use glue again. But I did follow her directions for quilting the piece. One straight stitch underneath each row to keep it all in place and make the rest of the quilting easier. Then free motion stitching following each arc - over, back, and over again. If you don't love little frayed edges after washing then this might be a challenge to your sensibilities, but it is worth it. Think of it as another layer of texture.

Pre-washing above, post-washing below.

There is a part of me that wishes I had made it bigger, like my original plan. That will just have to be another quilt. I'm sure I'll have scraps enough!

Considering that I never made my son a baby quilt I think he may lay claim on this one, if he ever stops his commando crawl long enough to savour it.

(PS Sorry about those top two photos, they get all blurry when I put them here... working on it.)

Quilting Magazines (Weekend Reads)

There is no denying that I have a bit of a magazine problem. I LOVE reading magazines. At one point in my life I subscribed to at least a half dozen, faithfully reading and mentally indexing issues. Then I was broke, then I had kids. Magazine reading fell away. There was also that storage issue. Lately, however, I've been flipping the pages again.

These two quilting magazines are some recent favourites. I enjoy quilting magazines that are heavier on the articles relative to the patterns. Quilty is a fresh face on the scene, run by the effervescent Mary Fons. And look, that's Amanda's quilt on the cover of one of the latest issues! And starting soon you'll find me in there. I'm writing regularly for the magazine and I'm thrilled to be part of the team.

The other magazine in this week's stack in A Quilt Life, a Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson creation, published by American Quilter's Society. I have to say that I really, really like this magazine. And I'm not just saying that because Amanda and I are in the latest issue. This is a quilt magazine that you actually read. Full of profiles of quilters, with the stories behind the creations, behind the creativity. Even the patterns include quilter's stories.

Speaking of patterns, the one we've got in this issue marked the opportunity for Amanda and I to work together again. It had been a while and it was so much fun! This is another scrappy project, completely inspired by our recent renos (hers and mine). Amanda pieced the quilt just from the concept of a Paint Chip, then she sent the quilt to me and I quilted and bound it. It is an easy and fun pattern, and you could go crazy picking colours to match your own reno.

Friday Favourites: Q-Snap Frame

A hand quilter by nature I am not. I don't mind it, especially the methodical nature of doing it, but I don't love it.

That being said, I've had this project lingering and it is time to get it done. (Oh, those UFOs!)  Besides, it is winter and there  is some good TV on. Now I feel productive while watching Finding Bigfoot with the family.

I love my Q-Snap frame for hand-quilting. I'm a stabber, as opposed to a rocker, with my hand quilting, so keeping the fabric taut is important. Armed with my frame and my over the shoulder mentor in Barb I am set. This winter I will finish this quilt.

Peace

Peace.

Both a complex and simple thing. We all know we need it and it is about the hardest thing to create.

As a quilter, a creative soul, I find peace when I see, cut, play, sew, and even fold my fabric. I get inspired by the creations of the designers or other quilters. And when I get those moments - whether they are stolen in the early mornings, between naps and loads of laundry or I am luxuriating in an entire morning of hot tea and a pile of fabric - I find my peace.

Sure, there are many among us who love and adore solid fabrics and revel in the quiet energy they reveal in a quilt. I am not one of them. I love exploring the patterns and concepts that designers put out there. I love playing with the patterns, mixing it up and seeing who plays nicely together. I like creating order from that potential playground catastrophe.

there is peace in pattern

My jumping point for the fabric selection, and the inspiration for this piece definitely comes from this stack of Architextures from Carolyn Friedlander and a strong compulsion to create.

Free pieced letters, a la Unruly Quilter. Slabs upon slabs as we outline in Sunday Morning Quilts. A design wall to bring it together.

And there was peace.

Making Progress

I promised myself that I wouldn't start anything new, nothing at all, until at least two things on that massive WIP list got done. Two steps forward, one step back is the story of my life after all. Seeing as I'm desperate to play with some new fabric, need to make a couple or three stockings, and there are pillows needed for our new sofa I thought I better get going on getting things done.

So here is an update:

- Anniversary Quilt is now basted, thanks to Lee, her big family room floor, and her daughter keeping my littles entertained.
- Maple Leaves is quilted and waiting for its binding later today.
- Wine Gums is half quilted, binding already picked out.
- Gum on Concrete is also basted.

It must also be stated that I picked out the fabric for the pillows for the new sofa (and bought the pillow forms) as well as drafted my plan for the Architextures fabric.

Oh, and while helping Lee baste a charm quilt yesterday I remembered that I have 2000+ charms for a Y2K charm swap I did 13 years ago! The box is somewhere in the garage, hopefully not being used as a nest for mice. I think that might win for my oldest UFO.

Two steps forward, one step back.

Thirty Three

You know when you move or at least do a major clean you uncover a wicked amount of crap... er, stuff? Yeah that.

Yesterday two of my local quilty friends, Andrea and Lee, came over to help me get prepped and start moving my scattered quilting stuff to my new space in the basement. It isn't quite done yet, hopefully by the end of the week. But the closets are in and were ready to be loaded. So load and fold and inventory we did.

I love my fabric, but I must finally admit that I do indeed have enough. I've really got to use more before I buy more. Or find it a new home. But I've known that for a while. What was more.shocking to me was the amount of quilt tops, WIPs, and intentional quilts that I had.

O   M   G

Instead of burying it all back in bins and ignoring that I might perhaps have a problem with starting and not finishing quilts I decided to actually inventory all those piles. And because I believe in full disclosure of my faults here is a full listing of all the projects awaiting my attention. I've numbered them for full effect.

Quilt Tops - Ready for Quilting

1. Anniversary Quilt
2. Cosmos Blocks
3. Wine Gums
4. Improv Sampler
5. My version of Checkerboard from Sunday Morning Quilts
6. Slaveship Quilt Inspired by The Book of Negroes
7. Gum on Concrete, my version of Splash from Sunday Morning Quilts
8. An old Amy Butler quilt top I picked up a sample sale

Quilts - Basted and Started Quilting

9. Girlie Quilt
10. Low Volume Circles

Works in Progress

11. Mid Mod Bee - Blocks to be assembled into a top
12. Unscripted Bee - Waiting for a couple of blocks, then to be assembled
13. Hand Pieced Diamonds - always ongoing
14. More Cosmic Burst blocks - I have a whole other set of blocks for a baby quilt
15. Voiles - Still cutting and piecing every now and then
16. Name quilt for my daughter - haven't done anything since this post
17. Chandelier quilt - was so close, then discovered a big mistake and have never fixed it
18. Mountain Meadows - have made no more blocks since
19. Liberty Circles - I make a handful every now and then but I'm still not assembling the top
20. Blue and green Christmas Tree quilt - I cut the pieces last year then promptly put them away
21. The alternate pink/black/white blocks I started when working on the girlie quilt
22. Respite - a project started in a Bill Kerr design workshop
23. Pieced Stars - a BOM I started years ago when I wanted to do some precision piecing breaks when doing a lot of improv
24. Japanese Curves - Fell in love with a Japanese fabric and a curvy pattern, took a class, never finished
25. The Water Quilt
26. Maple Leaves

Class Samples (Pieces I work on while teaching, as examples)

27. A values quilt in neutrals
28. Green/Yellow/Orange Improv blocks

Intentional Quilts

29. Sympatico and Organic solid stack
30. Lucky Penny Bike Path
31. Some vintage feedsacks intended for Amanda's quilt from Fresh Fabric Treats
32. Turkey reds, blues, and whites for a striped project
33. A collection of screen printed and low-volume favourites

To cap all this off, as Andrea and Lee were leaving the mail arrived, and in it was a fat quarter collection of Architextures, my friend Carolyn's new line.

O  M  G
!

Maple Leaves Update

So close to getting the Maple Leaves done... I really hoped that they would be done by now and I could show them off on my new design wall. Alas, Hubby's real job is the focus of his time, not the finishing details in the basement. (We're also waiting on a ceiling product that I procrastinated on ordering, so it isn't all his fault.)

As far as I'd planned I have one more leaf to make. That will make 12 in total. And a finished quilt size of 48'' by 72''. This makes it lap size and still rectangular to mimic the flag shape.

For additional colours I've added in yellow and turquoise - in homage to the Ukrainian flag, my cultural heritage. I've also played with value, making some flags in low-volume fabrics for a different look.

In case you were wondering, I am going to set this without any sashing. I'm not keen to add any additional colours and I don't want to use white and take away from the center portion of the flag. It might also be that I have a thing against sashing.

Many folks have asked for a template and pattern for these. I am definitely going to put something together, but it will be at least a month from now. I need to get the house in order and I'd like to actually finish the quilt.

Wink Wink

Wink Wink

34" by 44''

Special Techniques: Improvised Curved Piecing

Bloggers' Quilt Festival Category: Baby Quilt

Made with and completely inspired by Mark Cesarik's Cosmic Burst line. It came out months ago, but I've been playing with these blocks and this quilt since March. That whole baby, new book, working, summer thing got in the way of finishing this top though. The last stitches in the binding finally went in over the weekend.

Check out all the process posts here:
The Fabric
Making Blocks
Layout Options 1
Layout Options 2
Finished Top
I absolutely love sharing the process like this. I don't always do it in such an intense burst (minus the finished quilt) because I'm always working on a million things at once. Or nothing at all.

And, as much as my little girl would love to keep this quilt for snuggles and fort building it is on its way to a baby boy. My husband actually commissioned the quilt for a friend and we'll be delivering it shortly.

Sharing this as part of the Blogger's Quilt Festival that Amy Ellis does twice a year. She is an awesome lady! And make sure to check out all the other quilts.