Look what I found in the pantry. More straws. Now I don’t have a reason to go to Ikea.
Archive for April, 2007
M R Dogs
Since it looks nothing like Summer in the City (witness: rain), I’ve taken a brief detour from the Summer in the City fabric and blocks to make some non-shedding (threads don’t count) canine companions. Happy little dogs who don’t bark at mail carriers.
The pattern in from Barbara Brandeburg’s Twists and Turns book. My dogs will have a variety of rusty-orangey-browny backgrounds. It was very hard for me NOT to use every jumbo dot from the Ellery fabric line. Great colors!
I’ll pretend that the “sun tea” in the fridge actually required sun while we wait for it to stop raining. Of course, when the rain stops, I’ll have to mow the yard…
She’s Kind of Pretty
Here’s a Grandmother’s Flower Garden top that was sitting pretty on eBay. I think it was the hot pink in every flower that hooked me. The pink and blue gingham and the bit of limey green didn’t hurt. She needs to have some flowers re-potted in order to complete the top and she needs a good pressing, but she is a bright spot on a rainy day.
Everything old…
Lately, I’m most inspired by traditional quilt patterns gussied up in new ways. Not that they need gussying–they are grand just the way they are, no matter the fabrics. But isn’t it interesting to see them in some of these large-scale prints and retro colors? This weekend I indulged in some used book shopping (rather, DH indulged me…) that has the creative juices flowing in that direction. In downtown Detroit there is a used book store par excellence, John King Books. It’s in an old glove factory, floors and floors and rows and rows of books. When you walk in it has the same smell our old small town Carnegie library had. I really think that’s my favorite smell. The third floor contains, among other things, the textile and needlework section. These are my restrained purchases:
It was difficult to pare down my selections. I always love the Maggie Malone books. I’m still thinking of the ones I left behind for another visit. The quilting section has scads of old Quilters Newsletter Magazines and lots of the grand old titles of quilting instruction (SuperQuilter, anyone?). You can also embroider yourself silly with all of the embroidery books; no technique is too obscure for that collection of books! However, I remained focused on quilting.
One traditional pattern that has been on my mind lately (credited to lots of modern inspiration here and here), is grandmothers flower garden.
I’ve used Brandy’s mylar pieces to make some flowers in the past (these are similar to what looks like the sold-out-everywhere Quilt Patis). But then I saw this Most Beautimous Quilt (hmm, it looks like I broke Quiltindex.org). Swoon. Slap a cRaZy sticker on my head. Yes, let’s take a lovely, time-consuming handwork project and make it just plain nuts by adding some tiny 60 degree triangles. However, if one should so desire to go nuts, Brandy’s is there to help with matching 60 degree triangle mylar pieces!
And, finally, the bookstore trip was capped off with Ben & Jerry’s Cinnamon Buns ice cream. Who’s responsible for this? It’s just wrong that it exists.
The Face
Purely gratuitous, non-quilt-related content below:
Now that’s a sleepy dog!
Serial Poster
I’ve been searching for fabric for a One-Block Wonder quilt for some time. I found this Alexander Henry and I’m in lurv:
And who could resist these pretty little birds? I, for one, am loving the cute birdies trend.
Have a pretty bird weekend!
Progress?
Well, I’ll be darned if I feel like I’ve accomplished anything this week. Fits and starts and news and running around. On the other hand, above is a speedy project with Free Spirit‘s Utopia (free pattern on the Free Spirit site). This is part of the Over-commitment Gang. It is a long tale (only because it has gone on so long) of falling in love with fabric and involves words to the effect of: “I’ll do that sample.” And then what do the Fabric People do (and I’m sure this involves collusion with UPS…)? Send more pretty fabric! Magpies drop everything when the next shiny thing comes along. But one must return to even the dusty things on the to-do list. The fabrics look so much better all mixed up in the quilt top than they do on the bolt.
And then there are these:
These blocks are made from the Modern Mix pattern in the June 2007 American Patchwork & Quilting. I had a fat quarter bundle of Moda’s Summer in the City and thought I could get this sample done before the bolts were delivered. Ha, I say! The fabric arrived on the day I started making the blocks. Mind you, I practiced beforehand with some Aunt Gracie fabrics. Do you know how many blocks I made before I realized what the pattern meant by “matching” lights and darks. Let’s just say 10 blocks. But, I must say, the “mistakes” are a little more visually interesting than the “correct” ones I made today. We’ll do a little more mixing and matching. Oh, and if one of the three people who reads this decides to make a quilt using this pattern: straight quarters are SO much better for it than fat quarters! You’ll avoid stopping and starting when it comes to sewing the strip sets, and it can be a little dicey to make sure you get the smaller triangles that you need out of the ends of the fat quarter strip sets. And, if you are me, with two sets of each of the fat quarter strip sets, you are twice as likely to start cutting your triangles from the wrong side… sigh.
And then there are the many reasons I love Amy Butler
Oh, there are many reasons. She and The Kaffe are right up there. Of course, there are many others I love. I cannot love just a few when there are so many deserving of fabric love.
But, don’t you love a fabric that leads everyone to believe you FUSSY CUT and APPLIQUED the flowers on it?!
Should you be desirous of checking out this stupendous pattern that is ripe for such eye-fooling tomfoolery, it is by Maw-Bell Designs and is called Paradise Meadow.
What I Did on My Spring Break
A field trip was taken to the Door Mouse in Bettsville, Ohio. It is a veritable archive of good fabrics. Psst, if you are looking for Lonni Rossi fabric, get yourself to Bettsville! You won’t find it on their website, but they have a stash of older Lonni Rossi fabrics that is amazing. I was inspired by a superduper quilt by Blue Underground called In and Out (aka Sample 10 on the web site). The quilt on the cover of the pattern uses many of these older Lonni Rossi selections. I went on a treasure hunt and struck gold…and blue…and rust…and so on.
While I tried to stay focused, a few other pretty items found their way to the cutting table but that’s all I’m ‘fessing up to (that’s some Robert Kaufman Iota fabric ooooh aaahhh).
Truly, I lead an exciting life.
I play with fabric
I might as well start a blog on Friday the 13th.
Here’s what’s been at the sewing maching lately:
It’s Fig Tree’s Gerbera Daisies pattern, paper-pieced, machine appliqued and lots of fun to make. Given the recent state of affairs that is Weather in Michigan, it may be the closest thing to spring flowers I’ll see.
Mrs. Schmenkman Quilts 
