In Which I Remember How to Sew

I cannot tell you how happy I am to have a respite from painting-cleaning-packing-and-moving.  It seems like a zillion years since August when all the big changes started here at Stella Bella Quilts.

I did keep a few projects here in Georgia to work on while the house is for sale, and it was way far past the time to get back into the sewing groove.  Spending an evening cutting fabric has got to be one of the best ways to un-stress and focus on the present moment.  A nice cup of tea with honey adds a extra dose of calmness.

Because of the crazy-busy holiday season at Starbucks and knowing that I would have to pack up and stash away my sewing stuff every night,  I decided to start on a new project that didn't require a lot of complicated piecing.  This great kit from my Silver Thimble Quilt Club fit the bill perfectly.  The pattern is "Second Hand Clothes" by Red Crinoline Quilts. I think I got this kit last year or maybe the year before.

Best thing about this kit is there are 110 different fabrics already cut into 6 1/2" squares and strips and after a short evening of cutting the solids and strip pieces I was ready to go.

[To address the obvious: yes, I'm sure I had more than enough fabrics to make up this quilt out of my stash but sometimes a girl just needs a kit, ya know?  Cue: everyone reading this nodding in agreement.]

 This is my little temporary sewing set-up in my bedroom.  Because the house is "staged" for selling and the only TV is in the bedroom, I carry this table and chair into the bedroom for sewing then carry everything back out again at night or before I leave the house.

I also was deathly afraid of dropping the iron or anything on the new carpet in the living room so this keeps everything manageable.

[P.S. careful observers will notice I'm watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I love watching movies that I've already seen while sewing.]

It's really weird sewing with no cats around to "help" and "supervise."  I'm pretty sure that I'm doing it all wrong....

Here's some blocks.  Better email this over to the cats to make sure I've got it right.

Sunnyside for an Overcast Day

I'm so excited to start off the month with a completed quilt top! I finished sewing the rows together this afternoon.

The pattern is "Sunnyside" from Pat Wys' book Spotlight on Neutrals: Quilts and More for Any Decor. 

I used my hoarded stash of Denise Schmidt Flea Market Fancy and Hope Valley fabrics with Moda Bella Solid in Zen Gray for the background.

I wish the lighting was better but it's been overcast on and off all day.   The colors are not true in this image and this photo doesn't do justice to the saturated colors of the fabrics.  There is no chance for an outdoor photo today as everything is still damp from the two weeks of a rain-storm-a-day weather. I'll try to get one when S. is home to be Mr. Quilt Holder.

Remy I started planning this quilt back in January and it went together quickly once I decided on the fabrics.  The directions were very thorough and it was easier to piece than it looks.

Here is a detail of the stars. This is a perfect pattern to highlight some of your treasured fabrics that you've been saving for "just the right quilt".  I particularly like the outer setting with the large and small triangles (or as I called it "the mountain range around the edge").

The original quilt in neutrals can be seen on Pat's blog. I think it would also look amazing in batiks.








I thought I would add an outtake of my attempts at trying to photograph this quilt today.
Count them.  Three.  Three cats in the middle of the photo.  From the top: Remy cleaning his toes, Gomez staring off into space and not willing to move an inch, and Stella wandering around back and forth in and out of the frame.  Edgar Poe (the fourth cat) was guarding the sewing machine.  Never a dull moment around here.

Also, we all would like to wish a Happy Canada Day to our fellow quilters and bloggers and quilt-blog kitties to the North.  Hope you have a wonderful holiday!!

Rainy Wednesday Photos

The baby quilt top is done! Wish my quilt holder was around so I could fit the whole quilt in the photo but you get the idea.  Also, the light is terrible in my house as it's overcast and pouring down rain. The colors are bright and clear primary colors with apple-green polka dot border.  The quilt is not baby-quilt size; it's 68" x 75".  Big enough for laying out on the floor and making a fort out of when he/she is older.  

The pattern is "Alphablocks Quilt" by American Jane.  This was a fun and easy quilt to make.  I used  Moda solids for the letters & solid blocks.  The letters are machine-appliqued with a small blanket stitch.  I have the binding made and need to hunt around in the stash for backing fabric.  I plan to machine quilt this myself.  Not my favorite thing to do, but I need to hold off on long-arm quilting at the moment.  

What was Remy doing on this rainy Wednesday?  

Napping and planning new quilt projects apparently.  Here he is napping with my friend Pat Wys' book Spotlight on Neutrals.  Wonder what project he has in mind?  I think Remy has been closely following Baxter's lessons on quilt making.  Wonder what project he has in mind?  If you haven't been following Mr. Q.O.'s Baxtertoons on Cathi's blog "Quilt Obsession", you are missing one of those little moments that brighten up your day.  Love Baxtertoons.

Pets on Quilts 2011

With four cats, when are pets not on quilts around here lol!  I also have at least 50-11 photos of the cats on various quilts so it's difficult to pick one cat let alone one quilt to highlight.  But choose I did and here is my entry in this year's Pets on Quilts Show hosted by Sew Cal Girl.

Morpheus and summer quilts

 This is Morpheus, my dearest, sweetest, black kitty and shadow.  Morpheus is 17 years young and I found him as a stray all those years ago.  You can read more about Morph's story on one of my early posts here. 

As you can see, Morpheus has a very comfy life.  Here he is on a pile of three summer quilts on the couch. 

I usually have lots of quilts on the couch and chair and switch them out seasonally.   

This quilt is one of the first quilts I made.  I just adore this quilt made from the Gingham Rose line by Moda.  The fabric is so soft and buttery feeling and the colors remind me of strawberries and lemonade and bright green early summer leaves.

The pattern is an early version of Strawberry Pie by my friend Pat Wys of Silver Thimble Quilt Co. 

The corners are rounded to give a soft feel to the edges too.

Click on the Pets on Quilts button on the left sidebar and check out all the entries and vote on your favorites. 

With all the dreary news, pets and quilts are guaranteed to make you smile. 

July UFO Challenge in August

Bet you thought I had forgotten given up fallen behind again on Judy's UFO Challenge.  That's OK, I thought the same myself.  July's challenge was #2 on the UFO list so I did work on bindings (in the middle of the hottest blasted summer ever and then the A/C went out which kind of delayed having quilts anywhere around). Even though it is August, here is one quilt, binding all done, and being held up by Quilt Holder S.

and here is another photo with Stella trying to see what is holding her the quilt up. 




The pattern is called Friendship Crossing by my friend Pat of Silver Thimble Quilt Co.  I think I bought this kit way back in 2004 and finished the top a couple years later and then had it quilted and then it sat and now finally it's finished.  Hooray!  Just like fine wine--it needed some resting time.

The quilt now has a purpose too.  A friend and former Starbucks co-worker of mine is moving to Germany with her husband and young son for 2 years while her husband works on his dissertation.  In honor of her super sweet, wonderful personality and the fun and friendship of working together.  I'm going to give this quilt to her.  The colors remind me of Starbucks too.  The endless green and white cups with red thrown in during Holiday.  Hope they enjoy this quilt and it helps keep them warm in the upcoming winter.

I'll post the 2nd July UFO tomorrow. 

Fun Stuff for a Monday

Weekends go by way too fast.  I have too many things I would rather be doing than dragging myself to work for another week.  But of course, work pays the bills so I will muddle through.

Here are some random fun quilty things that will keep me entertained this week. 

Minick & Simpson's Charlevoix fabric.   I have a project in the works with this and I just love this summery wonderful fabric.  It reminds me of Michigan and how much I wish I was there for the summer instead of hot-lanta.

Charlevoix is a resort town on Lake Michigan in northern Michigan.  Michigan is famous for its cherries and the National Cherry Festival is held in northern Michigan in July. 

This fabric also makes me hungry for cherry pie.

I am in LOVE with this pattern by my good friend Pat Wys of Silver Thimble Quilt Co.

Log cabin blocks on point with alternating blocks.  This quilt is stunning in person with a large assortment of scrappy reds, pinks, and creams.  I am planning a different colorway for mine and am pondering whether to start it now or be good and finish some projects I have in the works already. Oh I can't decide!!!!  What do you think??









As if the possibility of starting that quilt wasn't enough, I also have this pile of wonderful new project goodness hanging out and tempting me. Some friends of mine and I do fabric swaps.  It's a great way to make a really scrappy quilt with a large assortment of fabrics.  This is our fourth swap and it's for the Bonnie Blue Quilt pattern called "The Long Road Home."  

Please don't ask to see the quilts from the other three swaps because well...I haven't finished started those yet....

We traded fabrics on Friday at Silver Thimble club. I loved seeing all the different ways we each packaged up the trade.  Look at the cute paper bag with the little fabric tie. Some bags have all the pieces separated into other little bags.  Some of the fabric is folded so you can see all the different fabrics.  My package is on the bottom left. I like to recycle plastic bags--most of my bags were from Fat Quarter Shop purchases.  Hmmm what does that say about me?  LOL!

Giveaway Shout Out

Please go visit Pat at Silver Thimble Talk. She is having a giveaway in honor of some exciting news.

I am so excited for her! Three cheers and a Twizzler for Pat!!!

Celebrity Sightings

I feel like Kevin Bacon by being one degree of separation from so many celebrity sightings this month (and yes, this is a shameless plug for some of my favorite people out there in quilty blogland).

First among the celebs is Her Most High Exalted Thimble Herself, Pat Wys
Pat has a super fantastic basket pattern in the new issue of McCall's Quilting magazine.
This is the issue and here is the article
Yes, I know the photo is bad...now you have to go find your copy to see it better. After you add Pat's project to your To Do list like I did...

Cruise on back a few pages and check out our second celebrity Ms. Marcie Patch of Patchalot More.
I love Marcie's designs (and her blog) and added this way cool Dream Catcher quilt to my To Do list to go along with her other magazine appearances.

I spotted another favorite blogger in this month's Quiltmaker magazine. I already had this issue on my to-buy list because Judy Laquidara had a nifty pattern in it. But look who else has magically appeared with a super cute Halloween pattern
Ms. Moonbeams in a Jar Mary Anne Drury! I heart and adore her blog. She always cracks me up.

Just today there were two more celebrity sightings. Who did we find spreading laughter all over the Stash Manicure blog? Pat Wys!!!! Now I'm afraid everyone will know how funny she is and she'll get all Hollywood and leave our little Silver Thimble club behind to take on Conan, David, Jon, and Stephen. Sigh, I knew her when....

Lastly but not leastly two extremely local celebs are featured on the Bunny Hill Designs blog. Anne is featuring an "I Love My Pet" series of posts and if you click on this post and scroll to the 5th photo, you will see my very own Edgar and Stella being sweet and cuddly. So far the paparazzi has not caught them being siblings and fighting since this post.

Scrappy Nines

I had a busy weekend--the usual errands and chores and also 2 dinner invites. I did get some sewing in yesterday. I decided to work on my Scrappy Nines quilt (designed by my good friend Pat of Silver Thimble Quilt co.). I have about 900 million nine-patches to make for this quilt. This is what 900 million nine-patches looks like in pieces. Did I mention that they are little bitty nine-patches? All 900 million of them finish at 3".
Aren't they cute? Now I only have 899,000,000 to go....
Pat is probably telling me to stop exaggerating now. I can hear her all the way across the other side of the county.

I also finished the Fat Quarter Shop Designer Mystery block 11.
Block 12 will be here soon so it's a good thing I got this one done.
This is my first attempt at taking a photo of the block. I had just ironed it and Stella thought it was a nice warm spot to take a nap.
Hope everyone had a great weekend and the mom's out there had a good mother's day. The cats thought their "cat mom" should get up early this morning. Morpheus especially wanted me up and about (or maybe he was just hungry). How can I refuse such a handsome guy?

Hurling Through December....

December is when the year goes from busy, to hectic, to zooming around at the speed of light and doing 2 million things while trying to be cheerful about it. (it's that whole cheerful thing that's hard isn't it???).

Take a mini-break right now and hop over to Pat's blog and enter her great giveaway. She also has a very funny post. I'll wait here for you.

Back? OK now where were we? Oh yeah, ending the first week of December. On Saturday, Melisa at Sweet Home Quilt Co. had a holiday open house. I went early thinking I would beat the crowds. It was packed!!! Only a Sweet Home sale could get all these Georgia quilters out on a freezing cold morning--me included. I picked up a book called "Jelly Roll Inspirations" and some odds & ends fabric and some sale fabric. Just a wee bit. Visited with a bunch of friends and then I hightailed it home to get some sewing time in.

I did finish this top
called "Hidden Stars" from this book. The fabric is a layer cake from Barbara Brackman's Civil War Homefront line for Moda.

Did I mention it was freezing cold? A lot of places around the country had snow. It was cold enough for snow here in GA this weekend although we didn't get any in the ATL. It was 28F at 6AM this morning when I left for SBux. That is really cold for GA at the beginning of December.

The first big cold snap of the year brings swarms of people to Starbucks for hot chocolate and lattes, and everything else. The first big cold snap also is the start of the "Cats sleeping on the heat vents" season at my house.
Here is Morpheus and Gomez demonstrating why it is freezing inside my house too.

So how is your December so far?

Silver Thimbles Report, BOMs, and Henry V

I'm watching Henry V. I love me some Shakespeare. I think if I were stranded on a deserted island and could only have one book, I would choose my copy of The Riverside Shakespeare.

Yesterday was our monthly Silver Thimble club meeting. Here is the super fabulous new pattern by Pat and a kit to make the quilt.
As you can see, mine is still sealed in the bag because I need to finish the projects I'm working on now before I dive into this one.

I forgot to bring my camera and take photos but Pat has some great ones on her blog.

My latest project is these wonderful elongated nine-patches made from Moda's "Wildflower Serenade". The pattern is by Heather Mulder Peterson.


I received both of my BOMs in the mail on Saturday and made them today.
Here is the September block from Little Quilts
and
block #4 from the Fat Quarter Shop's 2009 mystery BOM.

I can't believe the weekend is over with already. How did it go by so fast???!!!?? It will be a short week for me as I have another Furlough Friday....

Thimbles and More Spring Cleaning!

I had a busy weekend. Saturday was Silver Thimble Quilt Club and it was so great to see everyone. I haven't seen Most Exalted Leader Pat since January because of her knee surgery. She was busy busy busy working on samples for quilt market. I hadn't seen everyone else since February because I missed Thimbles in March to go to the mountains. I finished up the top for my Gypsy Rose quilt except for the borders (will post a photo soon) and started another project. Becky sewed on bindings. Kristie worked on one of her MANY MANY MANY BOMs from Homestead Hearth. Cindi was making her own "Bad Melisa Bag". Karin was cutting a million zillion pieces for a quilt she is calling "Gretchen's Fault". We were a bunch of busy quilters.

Sunday, I worked my usual shift at SBux then came home and did some more major spring cleaning for about 4 hours, which is why I am too tired to take any photos and post them. My house is way overdue for some major "getting rid of stuff" time. Everything is getting recycled or donated to Goodwill. I plan on tackling the attic this coming weekend. YUCK!

Winter Solstice

Happy (official) first day of winter. I'm catching up on blog reading and love all the snow photos. Wish it were snowing here (sorry Karin!) Since it went from mid- to high 60s yesterday to windy and cold today, it might as well snow.

Yesterday was a fun time at the cookie swap. It was the first official gathering of Pat's new Silver Thimble Quilt Club. I need to explain some backstory (if you want to skip the story, just scroll down to cookie photo, I won't mind).

For the past 4 years, Pat was the "Sister Superior" for our Stitch n' Sisters sewing group at the LQS. Well the LQS, Stitch n' Quilt, closed this month and we needed a new place to go. Pat started up the sewing group again and we are meeting at a fellowship hall now. This group is the best ever. On the 3rd weekend of every month, we get a 5-hour sewing time (Friday day, Friday evening or Saturday day) and we can purchase a quilt kit (at a discount) or work on our own projects or work on past projects. There are about 60 of us spread across the three meetings and I am so happy to get back sewing with everyone after a few month hiatus. In honor of our newly reformed group, Karin has anointed Pat with the title "Most High Exalted Thimble". Check out Karin's blog for photos of our first project starting in January. Melisa, The Wonderful, owner of Sweet Home Quilt Co. is providing kits for this quarter so ya know they are going to be great and we'll all have to buy them (pssst: Melisa offers an online discount to bloggers, how cool is that!).

So here are the cookies I brought to the cookie swap: Andes Mint Chip Cookies.

I discovered Andes mint chips last year and hunted them down again this year (found at Super Target). They are so yummy! Don't you just love Andes dinner mints? This recipe is on the back of the package. So have a cup of coffee, enjoy some cookies, and send some snow this way.

A Belated Tree Skirt

I got this tree skirt shipped off to my sister-in-law this week. It is only one or maybe two years late....The fabric is Moda's Mistletoe Manor so whenever that fabric came out, that's when I started the project. This great pattern makes two tree skirts at the same time (I made the other one for my mom; she already has hers) so it's a great pattern if you have more than one tree, you have a friend that likes the same fabric that you do, or you need two gifts. Visit my friend Pat at Silver Thimble Quilt Co. for the pattern.

Here's a cute photos of the cats. There is poor Stella on the bottom being used as a pillow for Morpheus and Gomez. Morph has a shiny new red collar as his at-least-a-decade-old one bit the dust. What a great way to spend a rainy day.

Three Quilt Photos

Today is a state/fed. holiday (Columbus Day) and also Canada's Thanksgiving--Happy Thanksgiving Canada!! I have three--count them three-- quilt photos today. How did I spend my weekend? Finishing binding and borders. Here is my finished "Peace in the Valley" (pattern by Silver Thimble Quilt Co.)

And here are two quilts from my favorite quilt book "Jelly Roll Quilts"

the completed "Prairie Pailey Peer Pressure" quilt (pattern is "Garden Trellis" in the book and

the complete top for "Civil War Nine Patch" made from Moda's Heritage and some stash. For some reason these photos are kinda blurry--either my quilt-holder-upper or I have had too much coffee today, take your pick.

If you have been following this blog, you know that Karin and I are making just about every quilt in the "Jelly Roll Quilts" book and have convinced every quilter we know to buy the book and join us too. Well check out this blog for a sneak preview of their new book. Karin--we have until March to finish up this book so we can be ready for the next LOL!!!!

Michelle has reminded me that it's time to get busy on Christmas gifts so I also started that this weekend. Can't show photos of those!

Perfect Rainy Day

It's been raining all day today, which is great since GA is still recovering from last year's drought. I don't mind a nice, steady rain all day especially if it is warm and not too humid. It's a perfect rainy day today. I've had the "blahs" all week. I think it's because I have been over-tired for too long (since sometime in November I think). But with gas nearing $4 a gallon, I don't think my work schedule will let up anytime soon. So I will suck it up and keep on keeping on.

The big news of the week is that my friend, mentor, teacher, and all around fantabulous person Pat has her new blog up. Check it out here. I know you will want to add it to your favorite blogs (and I'm not just saying that because she is my friend) because she is a wonderfully talented quilt designer and is really a lot of fun. I had the great honor of going to Quilt Market last fall with her to work in her booth and I have never laughed so much in my life.

The fabric I bought at Sweet Home last week was to make one of Pat's patterns called "Peace in the Valley".

I bought the FQ bundle at Fall Market and didn't know what I was going to use it for until Pat started her Civil War version of the quilt and I had one of those "Eureka" quilt moments and thought the design would look great in these cheery, saturated colors. The yardage is from Sweet Home for backing or borders or who knows.

Now for some retail therapy: Amazon.com is a dangerous website and should come with a warning every time I click on it (a warning that says "You have too many books already!!!! Put down the CC and step away from the laptop!!!!!" preferably in George Clooney's voice but I digress). I heart the comic strip "Mutts"; it is my absolute favorite. I have all the books and this is the latest with real life stories along with the "Shelter Stories" comic series.

The Jelly Roll book is a MUST for any quilters who are as addicted to jelly rolls as I am. There are 17 (!) projects in the book and all of them take one jelly roll plus some additional yardage for borders. I like these patterns much better than the ones that take multiple jelly rolls. The directions are clear and well written and illustrated. Well I guess that's 17 more projects to add to the "to do" list LOL!