The next hand-quilted project: The Naked Forest

This "Naked Forest" quilt already has a story.

I used a great tutorial from Film in the Fridge. Her work is always fresh & modern - it was a perfect choice for all of the green print fabrics I'd collected.

Once I completed this quilt top, I knew I wanted to hand-quilt it.

I sent it to Melear Fabrics to baste on their longarm quilting machine.

They shipped it back to me, but the address was read incorrectly by the postal service. It ended up three states away, sitting in a holding area. Fortunately, the folks at my local post office were able to track it down.

There were a few very uncertain weeks.... Luckily, it arrived 27 days after it was shipped, unharmed.

Here, you can see the black basting thread up-close.

I started quilting it on Sunday, December 18, 2011. Today, I have 4 of 169 blocks quilted.

Let's see how long it takes for this to finish!

(If anyone wants to help the hand-stitching....)

details: 104x104, backing: Kona Tarragon, expected binding: Kona Basil Green, Batting: White Quilters Dream Request Loft W3K

Waverunner in Red

I saw this tutorial at Bumble Beans and knew I had to make it. This is for a good friend's TV room that is without color - until now.

The top came together pretty easily - in just two afternoons. The quilting and binding took less than a day. Improvisational piecing was more enjoyable than I thought it would be.

Not having straight lines is a little bit daunting.

I put a warm, fuzzy, light blue flannel on the back. You can't see this in the picture, but there's a light design on the binding fabric.

I really enjoyed working with all of the solids in this quilt!

Details: 60x80, flannel backing, 2.25in binding, grey quilting thread

The Tupperware Quilt is Complete

It's been a long time coming and this is finally complete. I've blogged about this quilt here and here. I'm so glad to be done with it! Here you can see its crinkly goodness after its first washing:
Here's few closeups of the hand stitching:

I've been feeling so good about the hand-stitching on this that I've decided to start another hand-stitched quilt.
I fell in love with this quilt on Film in the Fridge and decided to make my own.
I have 169 blocks -

Here's an almost-finished top on my bed:

I will add a narrow white border to this before it's basted. For the back, I've chosen a solid Kona tarragon. The binding's not yet decided - I am leaning towards Denyse Schmidt's Sugar Creek Kitchsy Tile Cornflower. Looking forward to some hand-stitching! Anyone want to help? At 102x102, there's enough room for a lot of hands to quilt this....

Quilts Squared

I just received my two most recent quilts back from my favorite long-arm quilter: Melear Fabrics. I love their work! The first quilt is made of extra squares from many quilts from the last 8 years. It's backed in maroon. It's warm, cozy, and ready for napping. The second quilt was made with Moda's warm pastel bella solids. I'd wanted to make this pattern for a few years and finally did it. It's backed in charcoal flannel.

A visit to the farm

Today, I visited my very good friend, Liz, at her farm.

It was a glorious time with her. I decided that I don't spend enough time with her.

This is the entrance to her animal pen. It's a snazzy gate.

You can't see it in this photo, but her sign is on top of the gate.

And this cute building is her newest barn, built by a couple of cool gals, Jenny and Deborah.

Nice lookin' barn!

She has three equines. I found out tonight that a goat is not an equine. Her farm has three equine and one goat. The goat is in another category (because of the split hoof the goat didn't want to demonstrate for me) that I can't remember. Splithoof family, I think.

These two are the cutest things! 

One wanted my attention while the other couldn't care less.

This is their faces sticking out of their window.

Here, they're following Liz around the yard so I could take some photos with the zoom lens.

Here's the horse, Buddy.

He was very excited during my visit. Very. Excited.

This is the best family picture I could get.... only three of the four at once.

The goat barn is in the background.

Just when I thought the equines couldn't be outdone with the cuteness, I saw the goat playing with Liz.

It was a very serious game. 

Daisy, the goat, tired of the game before Liz did.

What a great visit to Liz's farm!

My first bag!

This is my first attempt at a bag.

It feels larger than I thought it would, but I still love it.

The bag's outer material is Fredrika upholstery from Ikea and is lined with green ticking from JoAnn's.

Stella's not impressed. She refused to get in.

It all started with tupperware

Amy, from Amyscreativeside.com, is hosting a Blogger's Quilt Festival to coincide with Quilt Market. To see some amazing quilts by bloggers everywhere, click on the link below:

I'm pretty sure that my love of orange is directly related to my love of all things from the 1970s.

What really epitomizes the color palette for me is, and always has been, my mom's funky set of tupperware:

I've always loved this set!

It's still in pristine condition, too. That handle really keeps the set together.

My name is on the bottom of the yellow bowl, made with a labelmaker much like this one:

I can't think of one thing that wasn't labeled with that label maker.

Coming up with a palette for a quilt for myself wasn't too hard. I usually start with orange.

Above is a shot of all of the blocks together, but not in the final arrangement.

Below, all set together:

The best part of this quilt, tho, isn't the color palette.

(even tho they're all my favorites)

The best part about this quilt is that it is just my second quilt hand-quilted piece.

And, it is the quilt that brought all of these fabulous people together to put it in a frame and help me start hand quilting.

We put it up in the driveway - on my grandmother's frame.

We used the quilt stands my granddad made.

Above, the backing is pinned to the boards first.

Then (below) the batting and top are attached.

And the quilting began.

These two great gals took me into their quilting circle!

Some quilt-enthusiasts showed up to support us:

Here's a great picture of one of my grams' best pals, showing me how it's done:

It was a perfect day to start a fun 70's tupperware-inspired quilt!

Particulars: 42 blocks, log cabiny, cotton batting

Progress to date: 29.5 blocks complete, binding machine-stitched to the backside.

Refrigerator Magnets for Jasmine

Again, I saw this nifty idea on another's craft blog, nicegirlnotes.

Such a fun, cute, simple way to bring a little style to the otherwise obnoxious refrigerator magnet letters.

I customized these by using hearts... and of course, in pink.

ingredients:

blank wood hearts, transfer letters, magnets,

tacky glue, ballet slipper pink spray paint.

lesson learned: use primer first!

[modeled on the RAV]

lots of fun and easy to make!

Jasmine's Playplace

I used this great Cardtable Playhouse pattern from Empty Bobbin's blog.

The pattern was easy to follow and fun to customize.

Jasmine's colors are pink and purple. I think she'll love playing in her own playplace!

Now, she needs some mail for her mailbox.

[hidden french seams on the corners]

This is by far the pinkest thing I've ever made.

Anna & her commissioned quilt