Be Mine

I finished this mini quilt a few days ago. It started off as a DrEAMi, for those that are regular readers. The fabric is month 2 of a 3-month fabric stash enhancer subscription that Dayna got me for Christmas. The fabric line this month was 'Be Mine' by Stacy Iest Hsu for Moda Fabrics. In December I'd bought the pattern, 'Strippy Improv' from Lisa at Love to Color My World which is actually for Christmas blocks. I recently had the idea to do a heart with this improv reverse appliqué technique. Lisa has done one too!

Radiance

Quilts often just 'place' their names inside my head.  Others I kind of have to extract.  I looked up "glow", the first name that just came to me, because it seemed a little "not enough" for this quilt; I was looking for connections.  I came across incandescence and luminescence.  Luminescence, basically where the glow comes from within, nearly became the name.  However, I see rays here, especially if you look down at the photo of the orange block (Bella lolling about on top of it).  It wasn't much of a jump to have Radiance pop in my head.  Perfect.  More on that a bit later.

This was a sidenote OMG goal, to complete the flimsy.  I did complete (already!!) my main goal of getting the cat mats all done.

If you are on Instagram, you saw this little collage I posted yesterday (that got so many likes!)

From trimmings, to stretching cat approval, to half done flimsy

On Yvonne's Quilting Jetgirl pattern, Triangle Transparency, available here, she has several colour options, both sketched and actual quilts.  When I saw her orange version with two opposing gradations, I knew that this was going to be the quilt for Aidan.  Orange is his favourite colour, and I knew he would like the graphic nature of the design.

Bella approved the second gradation order block

I spied this wildflower on one of my walks with Rocco a few days ago.  The vibrant colours Mother Nature orchestrates just literally took my breath away.

Feel the glow, in this case, the luminescence of this example of perfection?

I have a time-saving and money-saving tip I thought I'd quickly share with you here:

Time-saver:  I put two HSTs atop each other, RST. With the diagonal seams pressed to the darker side, it is easy to butt them up against each other so they are nicely aligned, and then you can trim two at once.  The full tutorial is here, also featured on Totally Tutorials. :-)

Moneysaver:  Notice the small 5X7" Olfa cutting mat is on top of my larger one?  This way I don't touch the layered HSTs; I simply rotate the little mat 180 degrees, and do the second trim.  You can pay around $35 or more for the rotating Olfa mat; I think I paid around $5 several years ago for my Olfa mini mat, and one is always going to have a larger mat to set the mini mat upon, right?

Rotated and ready for the second trim

I had figured on pointing the triangles out, but this morning when I laid them down, I had to try them pointing in just to see:

And, photo-bombed, as per usual.

New stuff on the floor!! For ME!!  Is in her little kitty brain; her little fuzzy body vibrates with glee.

Just placing myself right ...  h-e-e-r-r-e  ... ahh! Okay you can take the photo now, Sandra.

Sorry Bella, adorable as you are, I do like the rays of sunlight streaming through the blinds on the quilt.  Rays.  Radiance.  For Aidan.  I love plays on words and symbolism, so I'm not going to ruin this quilt's name by spelling out how both figure in its name.  (hint: say "radiance" and say "Aidan"; think "glow" and "luminescence" ergo rays.)

Hmm, so on the layout, I asked for a couple of opinions.  MacGyver gave the thumbs-up for layout 2, well one thumb, the other hand was busy holding his iPad (shocker I know right, Brianne and Dayna?!) and/or coffee cup.  We both love the illusion of squares each layout provides.  Judy of Quilt Paradigm threw me not one but two curve balls, but when I saw her response, I'd already sewn up the top.  Ripper?  Nope.  But I might play with iPhoto and the Layout App I got for Instagram to see how her suggestions would play out...

I took it outside to, you know, do what I always do with finished quilts and flimsies, throw them around on the ground.

Florida orange, of course amongst the palm trees!

Don't worry; this time I put a sheet down first!  Don't want a repeat performance of what happened to Tish's pillow.  The quilt is 60.5" at this point, and, according to the pattern, done.  However, Aidan's brother, Callum's quilt, Shift, finished at 60X75", and so I'm going to make Radiance into a rectangular quilt by adding to it on the top and bottom.  Stay tuned.  I have lots of the Grunge fabrics left (oh are they fabulous!), but not very much of the Kona Cheddar....Oh I know that can be remedied!
Speaking of money-saving remedies, haha, er tips, have you been taking advantage of any of Connecting Threads' sales this week?  I know, I'm enabling you again.  I need company in my shopping madness glee.  No affiliation either, just plain adoration.  One word for today over there:  THREAD!!

Watch this spot tomorrow for more money-saving tips, well one big one coming from Craftsy! For now I'm off to buy thread!

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.

Pocketful of Sunshine

Great song by Natasha Bedingfield.  Great quilt by moi, if I do say so myself!  Fabulous new-to-us breakfast this morning! 

Shortest. Post. Ever.

I have Floral Dreams finished, and can just make it in time for Laura's TGIFF linky party.  Today it's hosted by Izzy of Dizzy Quilts.

Sorry for terrible lighting, blurriness, and inside shots, but my eyes are blearly (so maybe the photos AREN'T fuzzy??!!--here's hoping) and if I took the quilt outside, well...let's just say it's darker than the inside of a cow out there, as it's 10:30 and my bedtime...

Here you are:

I'm really happy with the edge-to-edge spiral+feathers pattern I free-motion quilted over the entire top.  I used a rayon thread in ivory so there's a gentle sheen to the quilting.

A quick view of the back:

Love how the quilting shows up so well.  It's a brushed flannel I had in my stash, bought for a quilted jacket lining that...well...never happened.

One last shot for tonight:

This quilt is for sale, but I haven't listed it -- wait I don't even HAVE a tab to list it on yet! -- on my "coming" Quilts for Sale.  You can always email me if you just have to have it...

I will take some better outdoor pics tomorrow, weather permitting in the afternoon.  I'm volunteering, sitting in the Kingsville Folk Fest booth, from 7:30-1:30 at our Farmers' Market tomorrow!

Quilt Details:
Size: 52 X 54"
Fabrics: scraps from Moda's Simplicity and Seaside Rose lines
Pattern:  June Scrap-a-Palooza Bricks quilt from Quilting is More Fun Than Housework

June Scrap Quilt

It doesn't have a name yet.  This is the June Scrap-a-Palooza quilt from Cynthia of Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.

Here it is on the design wall.

The quilt is a brick design.  I had about 7" by 21" of the fabric, called Simplicity, left over from the quilt I made for Brady, before his birth.  Once he was born a boy, I decided there wasn't enough blue in it, so I made him a different quilt with lots of blue, and kept this one myself.  I also used some leftovers from Seaside Rose, as both lines are 3 Sisters for Moda Fabrics.  Gosh I love Moda!  Have I said that before?  Um, yeeaahhh.

I made the bricks 3 1/2" X 7" as that was the optimum size given the scraps I had.  This gave me 6 bricks per chunk of fabric.  I also had some smaller pieces, so I worked those in, piecing as necessary.

I decided to add in 1 1/2" wide finished white sashing to give the quilt more length.  I would have loved to have all these soft fabrics play together, but the quilt would have been too small.  Here is a quick tip about piecing these long rows:

After trimming your horizontal strip as well as the sashing to the length you want, in my case, 46 1/4", find the centre of each strip and finger press it to make a crease.  You can drop a pin in the crease if you like.  Line up the creases, or pins and pin the sashing to the row.  Match and pin the ends as well.

Now you can ease in and distribute evenly any fullness and have every single row end up being 46 1/4"!  Another tip is to place whatever strip has a little fullness in it on the bottom, tugging gently on the top piece.  The feed dogs will ease in the extra fullness perfectly.

Quilt top all sewn. . . or not?

It measures 46 1/4" X 48", which is a baby quilt size.  I do have 30" left of one of the yellows.  Do I put a 3" finished border around the entire quilt?

Should I first add another white sashing across the top and the bottom?  Or do I add the yellow only to the sides?

Here is what yellow all around looks like.  This will mean the quilt will finish up at 52X54", so a lap quilt.

Any thoughts are welcome!

And I've now started following Maureen of Maureen Cracknell Handmade. I've visited her blog in the past through a link of a link of a link kind of thing, and been intrigued and impressed with all she does.  Cynthia's post today sent me there again, as the name rang a bell, and, well, I want to keep up with what she's up to! And maybe win some fabric. . .
AND, once again, I am linking up with Marelize in South Africa (don't you just love her name?!) of Stitch by Stitch for Anything Goes Mondays.  Check out her blog, if you haven't; she does beautiful work, and on a Bernina!  Gotta love Bernina!  ;-)

Thankful Thursday #3

As always, I have a ton of things to be thankful for today.  Here are a few:

The sun is shining and the sky is mostly blue with a few fluffy white clouds floating on by.

Very good friends, our next-door neighbours, are coming over for supper tonight.  We are having one of my favourite salads: Romaine, spinach, with fruit (today it's raspberries, blueberries and mango), sliced almonds, Vidalia onion, grated sharp cheddar, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, topped with Mango Chipotle dressing. . .

Before dressing

and spaghetti (long-time favourite dish of mine).  Two sauces, both of which have been slow-cooking all day:  meat, made by husband. . .

and marinara (or marijuana sauce, as Dayna used to call it when she was about 6!)made by moi. . .

Of course there will be a choice of fresh grated Asiago, or grated Parmesan and Romano to sprinkle on the spaghetti, and a baguette.  Dessert is apple pie (not homemade) and butter pecan ice cream!  Yum.

I am also thankful for my yoga teacher from Rosemary Court Yoga in Sarasota, Florida, with whom I keep in weekly contact every Thursday.  I do the Ashtanga Primary Series on my own here, sometimes the Full practice, sometimes Half Primary, and I check in with her to let her know I did it and how it went.  She is a wonderful teacher, good friend, and now my email "practice-buddy".

Most of all today, I am so thankful and ecstatic, to be honest, that my caption was one of two chosen in Fat Quarter Shop's first Caption This! Contest at Quilt Market this year!  I WON!!!!  I WON!!!!  Each day they posted an interesting photo, and asked blog followers to send in a caption.  I missed one of the days, but sent comments on the others.  You can see them all here.  This is the picture with my caption that won:

My husband used to say this to our girls, minus the "for potential quilt patterns" phrase if they caught him nodding off!  Since I've been meditating on a daily basis, one of the things I notice, is that sometimes I do see flowing colours on the insides of MY eyelids, so this just seemed a perfect pic to combine his saying with my experience.  Oh I'm sure I've left myself wide open for a sarcastic comment from my loving sister, Linda....

What do I win?  A Moda fabrics bundle of Miss Kate Flannels by Bonnie and Camille!  EEEEK!!  I am just a tad excited about this!  Cannot wait until it arrives!  I adore Moda fabrics, always have, so this means a lot to me.
:-)

Hidden in Plaid Sight

He's all done!

Here's how it started:
A gorgeous pack of charm squares plus 2 extra sets of 8, that I bought about 5 years ago at Sew Worth It in Sarasota.  They came in a tin, so cute, along with a pattern for a cute little 12 3/4" square quilt.  This line is "Follow Your Heart" by Kathy Schmitz.

The problem was that I didn't want to have all these pretty fabrics reduced to such a small quilt!  So there they sat, flipped through and admired, pattern looked at, and lid snapped shut again.  In this winter of finish up some of these old projects, I had to face all 3 sets of charm square packs and do something with them.  This one was the second one.  See here for the first.

I am so proud that I designed this lap quilt.  No pattern, just gut instinct and creativity.  It was fun!

What if...
I kept the same colours together, and graduated them from dark to light on the diagonal?  Hmmm...

I liked it, but it wasn't very big.  I had leftover light fabric from "Winter Night", so wondered what would happen if I used rectangles as spacers.  I didn't have enough for light sashing, so decided to go with my stash of Kona black cotton.  Hmmm, again. It just might work.

Laid out a few rows to get the effect

It DID work!

Framed in black.

I had bought the Craftsy class, Dot to Dot Quilting, with Angela Walters, back at the end of November.  Prior to beginning to quilt this quilt, I decided to watch some of the lessons to see if I could use any of the techniques here.  Well, it turned out that this was the perfect quilt on which to try the designs, and techniques to create my own quilting designs!

In the two lower right corner black squares diagonal from each other you see a wedge design, which is basically a quarter of her starburst design, expanded.  Also, in the black with red hearts square and going up diagonally in the other two black blocks is my own dot to dot design, created thanks to the principles learned in class.

In the top row, middle red square, is a nod to Angela's Free Motion Feathers class I took and used extensively on Seaside Rose.  Also I wanted to see what would happen if I combined the wedge designs with their points going inwards.  That example is the red square on the bottom right.  It ended up making a central diamond pattern!

Her diamond design is in the top left tan square, and the others have various combinations of her designs.  The bottom right square is my own design again.

I tried to get some back light on the quilt to show off the quilting.

Here is the border design, showing the corner.  I used the wedge triangle shape combined with half diamond designs.

I used Sulky rayons on the top and The Bottom Line and Gutermann cotton in the bobbin.  I decided to go with the burgundy through the cream and black lattice to emphasize the plaid look. I was a little concerned at first, especially about using it on the cream, but I think it looks good.

A glimpse of the backing.

The label, again as an integral part of the backing.

Against the flowering shrubbery.

Ahh!  Feels good, in more ways than one!

Quilt details:
Name:  Hidden in Plaid Sight
Size:  46 X 51.25"
Pattern:  by moi, Sandra Jane Walker
Fabric:  Moda and Kona cotton, 100% cotton
Backing: Moda "Renewal" by Brannock & Patek (purchased this at Quilts n' More! in Port Charlotte, FL)
Machine-pieced and machine-quilted on my Bernina Artista 180 using Sulky rayons with The Bottom Line and Gutermann cotton in the bobbin