A Tiffany Quilt for Nina

The lack of central heating in my apartment really dictates what I do in the evenings.  Unfortunately it tends to inspire me to be very lazy, snuggling up under a quilt on the couch versus sitting at my sewing machine.  Every winter I am shocked by how much the insulation sucks in my apartment!  But now since I’ve been nudged to blog, I need to show yall I haven’t been 100% lazy (maybe just 60%…ha!).

Soooooo…I finished Nina’s quilt!  Forgive the picture quality, these were taken inside…I swear we are in monsoon season!  But I couldn’t wait any longer to show this one off!

I really love the back on this one, it’s a perfect pink (that is really hard to photograph) and I love that it’s pieced!  AND that I had the foresight to put my label in the part that is pieced…versus my typical lower right hand corner.  I’m not sure where that comes from but like clockwork I ALWAYS put the label in the lower right hand corner!

Ok, here are a few more pictures.

I used the Tiffany Quilt pattern by Red Pepper Quilts.  Red Pepper Quilt’s pattern uses more natural tones but I REALLY like this one in the bold, pink, green, grey tones. 

This quilt will be great to snuggle under (I’m resisting the urge to break it in for Nina!).

Brooke, your quilt is up next!!

Disappearing Nine Patch- Completed

To say I’m pleased as punch with myself would be an understatement!  It has taken me ages (well not really but a great deal longer than usual), to finish the quilting on this quilt.  I tried “straight line” quilting for the first time and have finally embraced my walking foot, and boy am I glad I did.  In true Kyishia fashion, I have quilted this one within an inch of it’s life …I like alot of quiltng ;-).  The diagonal quilting in two directions created a plaid like look which actually looks more like a traditional quilt or what I envisioned traditional quilts to be.

I really, really like how this one turned out.  At first I wasn’t sold on the fabrics, it’s just not my usual palette, but there is something about a finished quilt!  I also pieced the binding, a bit of orange and blue and I like how this turned out as well.

The back is pieced with leftover fabrics from the front, along with a few prints I forgot to incorporate in the front (how does that happen!).  And I like the back as much as the front!  Love when that happens!

My pictures are so much better outside!  I don’t think taking pictures in the house does the quilts half as much justice, despite the winter winds and lack of daylight savings time I must make more of an effort to take pictures outside.

I’m glad this one is off my sewing table and finally finished because I RECEIVED A FABRIC DELIVERY!  This arrived just in time for me to get back to Nina’s Quilt.  This quilt is for sale in my etsy shop, go over and have a look!  Did you notice anything different?  I’ve been working on my branding, I have new business cards (pictures to come soon) and changed the banner in my Etsy shop.  What do you think?

Just In Time

It feels sooooooooo good to have a quilt for my own home.  I’m so excited to have this quilt done just in time for winter.  It’s getting below 50 in the evenings and living in an apartment that is poorly insulated and without central heating means this is RIGHT ON TIME!

Let me remind yall, I LOVE FABRIC WITH WORDS!  This whole back has words….BONUS!!!  I went all out on this something special for us…it was professionally quilted by Jeannette and she did a fabulous job.

For some reason this label looks even better on my own quilt ;-).

I have hoarded another two bundles of fabric for quilts I would like to make for myself…but it’s back to focusing on my paying customers and burning through some fabric in my stash for baby quilts to go in my Etsy store. 

I really love how neutral the colors are…I’m sure my other half will be thrilled not to be sleeping under a pink and green quilt ;-).

I can’t wait to snuggle up with this tonight!

Error!!

So this is why you should say no to drugs….I must have been on something when I released yesterday’s post…there were no pictures!  And of all of you who read it, no one commented on that!  Now, that’s strange! 

At any rate…I’ve updated the post and actually finished it (so I have now communicated all I wanted).  Go back and have a look here.

Have a great day!!

Nina’s Quilt- Top Finished! UPDATED!!!!!

I haven’t posted pictures of my latest fabric delivery because it honestly wasn’t that exciting! I purchased a flat rate envelope full of various kona solids for a few different projects so I thought I would spare you ;-). Some of these solids were needed for Nina’s quilt, remember my false start? Well I’m ALL DONE NOW! When I was looking at this quilt laid out on my design wall the floor I wasn’t 100% sold, it is very bright and I’m used to quilting with a base color (cream or grey) to bring everything together but once I sewed the whole quilt top together….I WAS IN LOVE!!! I attempted to shop for backing and binding this weekend but it was just too hard for me to visualize since the whole top wasn’t together. Since the top is so bright I am leaning toward something a bit more subdued for the back (in the pink & green colorway of course)! Do you have any thoughts?

I sewed the remainder of the strips together into stacked coins for the back so this will be another pieced back! I love using left over fabric in this way!  I received a fabric package this week and coincidentally there was fabric that coodinated perfectly for the back!  Unfortunately I had a baby quilt in mind when I ordered the fabric so there wasn’t enough and alas I’m waiting on another shipment!!  (This is turning out to be the story of my life with this quilt).

Now I’m headed back to the sewing table to start working on my other custom order! I’m amazed I’ve cleared my WIP so quickly!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~UPDATE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So this is what I get for releasing posts from my ipad before viewing them!  None of my pictures posted AND I was trying to tell yall about my Saturday morning fun outside fighting the wind and trying to get some shots of this quilt!  Ugh!  Well at least I figured it out and was able to updae with some pictures!  More of this quilt to come when I receive the rest of the backing fabric.

Disappearing Nine Patch Baby Quilt

I have been fighting off a cold for over a week now. Despite spending several days at home from work and committed to my couch, I have still managed some productivity. Remember “my quilt“, I sent it off to be professionally long arm quilted (a very first for me), by Jeannette. Jeannette is another American living in Australia and she was in one of my quilting bees. She offered a bee discount (and I love a good sale) so I saw this as the perfect opportunity to have one of my quilts professionally finished. And she did an AMAZING job!! I received a fabric delivery this week that included the fabric for the binding so I hurried to finish sewing the binding on Friday in anticipation of Saturday’s Scquilter’s meeting, if you are interested in some pictures, head over to the blog (because I have not taken any yet!). I promise to do an outdoor photo shoot of my finished quilt once I complete the hand sewing of the binding….this alone may take me another month or two. Saturday at Scquilter’s was great. I had a fantastic time catching up with the other women who share my passion for quilting, and never hurts that there were a few my age as well ;-).

This week I also spent some time at Claire’s house doing a bit of sewing and running my mouth (like I like to do!). Sewing is so much fun with company!

Claire also helped me pull together a bundle for a new baby quilt. I’m in stash busting mode right now so I pulled out some fabrics and Claire was gracious enough to throw in a few pieces of Bliss fabric. Time flew by and it was time to go home before I knew it! When I got home I was still in the sewing zone so I cut all the squares required for quilt…talk about productive!

Claire convinced me to approach this differently than I initially anticipated, sewing three rows of three squares and then cutting down the middle (see picture to the right). These came together SO FAST!!! I was able to pick this up throughout the week (between my naps on the couch) and this top was finished before the weekend!

The picture quality is not the greatest, since we no longer have daylight savings it’s dark at 5pm which makes it impossible to get outdoor shots (unless I actually don’t snooze 3-4 times and get up to do it in the am!).

I pieced the back…really not sure why I haven’t done much of that lately because I really like the look of it! Now the quilt is sitting on my sewing machine to be quilted. I should have more pictures of this quilt by the weekend (fingers crossed) and if you happen to like this one then it will ultimately go for sale in my etsy shop!

More Custom Orders

So there are only a few people who can “jump the line” and sneak in a quilt order to be made ASAP and one of these people did just that this week! Fortunately I was off a few days and waiting on more fabric for a few of my in progress quilts so I had plenty of time and opportunity to knock this out.

Nothing pleases me more than making a quilt from fabrics on my STASH!!! I really need to work on reducing my stash and making more quilts based on what I already have versus the yummy fabric I fall victim to at sales and while perusing the internet.

This pattern is my go to pattern for charm squares these days. I like my modification with a 4″ border and yall know I don’t usually incorporate borders on my quilts. I had two charm squares and the tumblers are so easy to cut that I cut and pieced the top in one sitting.

Hometown has been my favorite fabric released lately. I really LOVE this fabric, I LOVE fabric released by Sweetwater because alot of it has words! And I so love fabric with words on it!

I have a fat quarter bundle of Hometown still remaining in my stash but Leisha must be pretty special for me to agree to use some of my fav fabric for her request!!

I finished this quilt over three days. Day 1 I cut fabric and pieced the top (including the border) and I cut the backing fabric. I had some extra wide fabric for the back so all I needed was one piece of fabric (I LOVE WHEN THIS HAPPENS!!!). Day 2 I cut the batting and had to do some piecing since I miscut (ugghhhh!!). Luckily this didn’t take much time at all and I got right to the quilting. I also made the binding and let me tell you this binding is FABULOUS!!! I had just enough fabric to make the binding for the quilt. I’m a fan of paisley and it was a small miracle that the light blue matched PERFECTLY! Day 3 I sewed on the binding and started hand sewing the binding to the back.

This quilt came together really quickly and I’m glad. At this rate I will be able to get it in the post early this week and it should arrive well before the baby shower!

This quilt is a custom order for Leisha but for those interested there is a baby quilt still for sale in my Etsy store!

My “Sewing Room”

I have had the past three days off of work which means ALOT of sewing. But before I post about this week’s projects I wanted to make good on a promise to Heavenly to show you my “sewing room”. It’s a “sewing room” and not a sewing room because it’s actually my dining room! I took over this space before Reggie moved to Australia otherwise I probably wouldn’t have a dedicated sewing area. It’s just so much easier to sew spontaneously when my machine is always set up. I like that there is a window in this space, the natural light is so much better especially when I’m quilting but I do tend to keep the blinds closed otherwise to prevent my fabric from fading.

Let’s talk about these bins to the right. The clear bin has fabric stash, mostly fabric for projects that I’m planning to start in the near future. The fabric in front of the clear bin is actually for projects in progress. The first bin with the red top has scraps (I swear I’ll make a quilt from scraps only one day). The second bin with the red top has projects in progress (such as my blocks from quilt bees) but these are longer term, larger quilts that I pick up and put down. The last bin has batting in it (the cotton that goes in the middle of the quilt). I like to keep this on hand and stock up during the sales at Remnant Warehouse. This is one of the few things I always buy in Australia.

There are more drawers and more bins (see picture left). At the top in the blue carry case is….MORE FABRIC! This includes projects I usually take with me to SCQuilters, some applique work, my mom’s quilt, etc. Then there’s another clear bin that has more stash fabric. Both of these bins are sitting on top of a set of three drawers that includes EVEN MORE FABRIC!!! The top drawer includes rulers, pens/pencils, and other notions I have collected over the two years.

So this is my little space. I have acquired far more fabric than I intended. I started out buying fabric for projects and not allowing myself to buy more fabric until I used what I had….you see things quickly changed. This space has served its purpose but I am already starting to think about my house in Atlanta and turning my old office into a sewing room. This includes installing some cabinets to take advantage of the wall space (again this is a small room so I’m going to have to make the most of it). I’m also looking forward to upgrading my sewing machine!

So what do you think? Was it what you expected?

Nina’s Quilt: False Start

Tuesday evening felt like a Friday since I didn’t have to go to work on Wednesday (ANZAC day, public holiday), so I took advantage and did some sewing.  I had an important conference call with the US for work otherwise I would have been at Claire’s sewing :-(.

I have found my motivation to get back in the sewing room!  I purchased the pattern for Nina’s quilt earlier this week and set out to cutting the required pieces.  This quilt is going to come together so quickly!  I managed to sew half of the blocks required for this quilt (50 of the 100 blocks).

We’ll call this a false start because as usual I don’t have enough fabric!  Nina want’s a throw/lap size quilt and I ordered a fat quarter bundle to start with, I never like to order too much fabric which means I’m usually short!  I have since placed an order for two shades of kona pink fabric and fingers crossed it arrives next week so I can get back to it!  Since I was on a roll I cut the remaining printed fabric and counted to ensure I wasn’t short there as well (here’s to planning ahead!)

Nina wanted a quilt that focused on pink and green, I think the additional pink solids will bring more pink into the picture but I’m linking the current mix of colors (especially the grey).  I hope Nina likes the progress.  I’ll report back more on this one when I have received my fabric order and completed the quilt top.

In the meantime this has been packaged up and placed in my work in progress bin.

On to the next project!

Bowtie Quilt COMPLETED!

Since at this very moment I’m waiting on my finished bowtie quilt to dry so I can photograph and post pictures, I figured I would take advantage of this time to show you some new fabric!  A few weeks ago Claire and I went to a fabric sale at Remnant Warehouse and did a bit of damage.  I have also been encouraged to do better about telling you guys the name of the fabric I post, so I updated my last post to show my intent to do better ;-).

I really like that Remnant Warehouse sells their end of bolts and scrap cuts, I picked up some for cheap.  I’m not sure of the name of the red and white fabric but it will go towards my mom’s quilt (yes Mom, I’m still working on your quilt).  The turquoise and white fabric is A Day in the Country. 

In the picture to the left, from top to bottom we have Domestic Bliss by Liz Scott for Moda, A Day in the Country (this is an Aussie fabric designer but there is nothing on my selvedge so I don’t have any more details to give!), and Palette Pleasure.  

I plan to use these fabrics for binding but I don’t have any particular quilt in mind…let’s just call this stash building. 

The fabric to the right is unknown, just some extra wide fabric that was on sale.  I love extra wide fabric for binding, it means less work for me.  I like to piece backs but only when I’m using left over fabric from the front of the quilt.  It really annoys me to have to piece fabric when I’m using all of the same fabric.  Katy at I’m a Ginger Monkey has been making headway on this topic and getting Moda to print more of the designer fabric extra wide to make the quilting process more efficient.  I’m ready to get on my letter writing campaign to help out on this one…it only makes sense!

The final bit of fabric I purchased was a layer Cake of Domestic Bliss, it is GORGEOUS.  While shopping at Remnant Warehouse we ran into two more friends from the SCQuilters meetings and we all wound up grabbing one of these!  Good thing there was just enough, otherwise this could have been like shopping at Walmart on Black Friday ;-).  It may be awhile before I’m able to cut this layer cake, right now I’m content just fondling it (don’t judge me!).

Ok, now to my quilting update of the week.  Between a quilting session at Claire’s house on Tuesday (where I probably talked and drank more wine than actually sewed) and a Sunday couch session I managed to finish the binding on the bowtie quilt.  I REALLY like the bow tie quilt I’m just not sure about the quilting.  I think the lesson for me is that I’m not ready for variegated threads yet.  I like my quilting to be done in cream and to blend with the quilt.  After pulling this one out the wash it is back on my good side.  I love the colors, the design and even the pink quilting is growing on me!

 

My plan of attack for the week is to cut the Bloggers Choice fabric pictured here.  Reggie has a friend coming to visit on May 8 and woudn’t it be wonderful if I was able to finish this quilt for my friend and send it back with him!  Let’s hope I get ambitioius over the next few days and can pull this off.  I have started off on the right foot by purchasing the pattern today!  

Heavenly, I haven’t forgotten about you.  My ‘sewing room’ has been in disarray and in no shape to show the internet world.  Thanks to my rental agency wanting to do an inspection this week that all had to change so I will be posting pictures of where I sew by the end of the week.