Garden Party Log Cabin Quilt

I was able to squeeze in some time this weekend to work on this quilt that I have been dreaming up for a while now.

 I already had the fabric collection picked out (in my last post) and I was just waiting on some gorgeous gem-toned Kona Cotton solids.  The colors below are (from top to bottom) Berry, Eggplant, Pomegranate, Hibiscus, Cerise, and Dark Violet. Aren't they gorgeous?!?!?

I only used Berry, Pomegranate, Hibiscus, and Cerise (and eggplant to be seen later) for this quilt. From those first 4 colors I cut 4 5.5 x 15.5 inch strips:
 

From the Garden Party and Good Folks fabrics, I selected 5 fat quarters to work from. I cut 4 5.5 x 15.5 in strips: 
 

I put all of the patterned and solids in a stack in a random order. I just sewed the strips that I knew I needed for the log cabin pattern to work:
 

Then I got busy busy ironing:
 

 ... and ... voila! I just love this picture and looking at all of the strips put together. Isn't it gorgeous???
 

I have to take some time to cut out the big strips of solid fabric for the other portion of the log cabin pattern. Maybe tomorrow? 

I asked my hubby what he thought of the quilt and his response was "it's colorful?". Bahhh.

xoxo

Workings of a large scale Log Cabin quilt

I took a look through some traditional quilt books and came up with an interesting and MUCH larger scale version of a log cabin pattern. By MUCH larger I mean that the center starting block is the lovely Anna Maria Horner's print from her Garden Party collection and it will be a finished 15x15in block. Which means that the other strips will be BIG. The white strips with "solid" written on them will be just that, huge strips of solid fabric. I know that I am definitely not doing white. I have been digging on deep purple lately, so that could make an appearance. I haven't decided if I want it to be one solid color, or each different strip be different solids.I think I might stick with each strip being a different solid. The OTHER strips that are all squiggly are going to be a mix of gorgeous prints from my Anna Maria Horner Garden Party and Good Folks stash and a mix of bold colored solids. I haven't mapped out all of the dimensions yet, that is part where my brain explodes.

The Garden Party print for my center block, don't you love it? I've only been staring at it for 2 years now....

I have picked through my Garden Party and Good Folks stash for these lovelies. After taking another glance, I already think that I am taking the brown print out. I don't really like the color brown, at all. It's got to go.:

 

Something I love about Anna Maria Horner's fabrics is that they all compliment each other so well. These are a mix from two completely unrelated collections and you can't even tell which are which (I even think that the two Good Folks prints I slipped in there go better than the Garden Party prints): 

Getting ready to be pressed:

Now I just need to get my solids, map out all the measurements, double-check the measurements and get going. Hopefully I will have everything mapped out by the weekend. 


Yay.


xoxo

Did I mention that I am an accountant?

And guess what? TAX SEASON IS HERE! 

When I started blogging last year, I wondered how I would handle blogging and working overtime during tax season. Apparently I am not doing well. I also started the new workout craze called P90X. I know that some of you have heard of it, but for those of you that haven't, it is WICKED tough. It is about an hour or more a day.

MORE WORK + INTENSE WORKOUTS = NO FUN FOR LAUREN

Given that I am not holding up to my promise of new and exciting projects every week, I am going to try harder!

To start.... I received a generous gift card to a local fabric shop for my birthday. I got all these goodies:

 (1/2 yard each: "la fleur du lin" by Lecien, "A Little Bird Told Me" by Windham Fabrics, "Wee Play" by American Jane)

(Some more Anna Maria Horner - Good Folks!)

(1 yard each "Le Poulet" by Whistler Studios and "Wonderland" by MoMo. I plan on using these to make sewing room accessories like a pin cushion)

The rest of these are fat quarters and I have no idea what they are called and who they are by but I love them none-the-less. You will notice that I am attracted to some pretty bizarre fabrics. I am trying to collect fabrics for a vintage inspired quilt (I already have a ton of vintage in my stash from my aunt, so I am trying to supplement). Check it:

 (I love these dots! I bought 4 of these fat quarters for $1 each!)

 

 (I really really LOVE LOVE this one. I am not a super-modern person, but something attracts me to this fabric. If anyone knows where I can buy it by the yard, please let me know!!)

I am VERY excited about the stash additions. I bought a ton of the blue/ivory dots and the ivory/white waves and hope to use those on some upcoming baby projects.

Stay tuned... 

xoxo

 

 

Good Folks Mug Rugs Finale!

I finally finished these mug rugs! I know it took a while,but I will discuss the challenges I came across at the end. For now, pictures:

(binding pinned and ready to go!)

Here are the finished mug rugs:

 

(This is the first one I completed, which means that it the first time I did machine binding. Needless to say, I will be keeping this one due to the many errors)

 (I love the straight-line quilting of this one)

 (This is one of the blocks that I pieced incorrectly. Woops. But I love the end result and am considering doing an entire quilt like this!)

 (This stippling job isn't SO bad.... Except for where I crossed my path)

 (I am pretty happy with this stipple job too!)

 (Another woopsie piecing job. I REALLY like this one too. I will definitely be making more!)

 (This was the MAJOR FAIL of a thread tension situation. I actually really like the way the bad tension looks, but I still should have paid attention when I started)

 (This mug rug was quilting using random straight-line quilting. I don't love it, but my neighbor does, so she will likely be getting this as a Christmas present!)

 (MY FAVORITE! I Will definitely be keeping this one for myself because I do love love love it. I love the diagonal quilting and if I had to pick a favorite color, it would be teal)

 (I also love the backing fabric. I love the entire Good Folks collection, but this may be my favorite)

 (more stippling)

Here are some of the sewing I think came out the best. I am very excited because I am a new quilting, so I am patting myself on my back a little bit here:

(Good machine binding from the front)

 (Good machine quilting from the front)

 (A corner I am VERY proud of from the front)

 (That same corner from the back)

 (Machine binding from the front that you can BARELY see)

 (Machine quilting from the back, too bad I forgot to change my bobbin thread)

 (Another good corner from the front)

 (Machine binding from the front)

(Another good corner)

Enough tooting my own horn, here are the FAILS:

 (FAIL. Keep in mind that this was my first block practicing the machine binding, it turns out that it was pretty tough!)

 (A bad corner. Actually, a majority of them were bad. I definitely need to pin my corners FLATTER and then my walking foot goes over them without moving.)

 (Not so good corner from the back)

 (Didn't change the bobbin thread, woops)

Overall, I really loved making these mug rugs. Actually, I brought them into work and one of my coworkers suggested using one as a mousepad and guess what? It worked perfectly!  

Things I would do again:

1) Machine bind!! I loved it. I won't think that I will ever hand bind. Sorry. Don't judge.

2) Double hourglass blocks. I love them too. I definitely learned that my cutting needs to be more accurate so the blocks line up better.

3) Straight-line quilting. I love the look. The feel is completely different from stippling. Straight-line quilting makes a much sturdier and less flexible feeling product. I like it a lot for the mug rug or mousepad application. I used my 1/4 foot and spaced the lines 1/4 apart. I would NEVER do that for an entire quilt. It would be miserable to do and I also think that it would result in a stiff and no comfy quilt. 

4) Stipple/Meander: It was stressful at first, but I did improve. I wouldn't do this for an entire quilt either though. I think that it sort of morphs the piecing done. On of my coworkers mentioned that it make the block look confusing, and I sort of agree. However, my stippling was on a large scale, so it produced a very soft and flexible product which is desirable in a quilt. We will see. 

Things I won't do again / work on:

1) I definitely need to plan the project better. Improv just takes WAY too long. I would really like to do all my cutting at once and not have to think about it later. 

2) I think I iron too much. I haven't seen that as a negative yet, other than things taking longer than I anticipate them taking.

3) I need to learn how to maintain a constant speed with stippling and my results will be much better. I hear that comes with time though.

4) Match up my thread better with the fabrics. I don't have a huge thread collection and had I been working on a quilt, I probably would have bought thread to match. However, I was a little unhappy with the thread match-up with some of the blocks. I guess that's an excuse to buy thread? Yup.

5) OH. I definitely need to get better at taking pictures. Maybe a new camera is in my future, who knows.

I think that may be it! This sums up the "Sew Mug Rugs" item on my bucket list. I do plan on making a bunch more, especially so I can hand some out to my coworkers.

If you have any questions/comments feel free to post or email me!

xoxo