Fabric Tuesday and Moda Bake Shop!

Hey everyone!  Today is the last day some of my very good friends are our house and I'm bummed to see them go. We each have two boys the same ages and it's just really fun to get together. They've been staying for five days but it went so fast!!  Sad!!

And I want to announce the winner of our Fabric Envy giveaway (Thanks Andrea!!)

 Sheila said...

Daisy cottage precut fat quarters...I followed on Pinterest, Liked on FB, and I already follow the blog!

Congrats Sheila!!

Well this weekend I was so busy playing games and watching movies that I completely spaced my tutorial on Moda Bake Shop!!! Eeeek!  This is our second time posting there and we are so happy that they had us back! :)

Heather and I grew up in Colorado on Emerson Street and I have really fond and happy memories growing up there.  If you have a minute head on over and check it out!

Fabric Tuesday #71

Welcome!

Click here if you need a refresher on the rules.

Do you have a fabric WIP? A recent fabric finish? Trying to choose fabrics for a quilt? 

If it's a post with fabric link it up!

ROYGBIV Log Cabin Quilt from she can quilt

Love today's feature!  It's no secret I am a fan of color, and I love this modern log cabin quilt from Leanne of she can quilt.  I almost can't decide if I love the backing or the top more! :)  So great.  Also Leanne has a great tutorial on curved piecing, Quilt As You Go blocks and fab tips on basting a quilt.  Check out her flickr for some great inspiration and stop by she can quilt too!

The ROYGBIV Log Cabin quilt for Claire is all done. It is washed, dried and had a short visit outside.

By the time I got out, it was late afternoon. The light was already turning a bit purple. But even still, the colours are more true in the outside pictures.

Here is the back, I am so pleased with how square this giant log cabin managed to end up.

Here it is on my king size bed. The quilt has finished at about 70" x 90" - designed to fit a twin bed with lots to spare on the sides.

The back makes a nice alternative front.

This picture of the back is actually before it was washed.

Here is some detail of the quilting on the front before I washed the finished quilt. All the fabrics on this one were pre-washed in warm water and dried in a regular warm dryer.

A closer shot of the quilting before I washed the quilt.

This is a close up of the quilting after the quilt was washed and dried, again in warm water and in a regular warm dryer. You can see how the washing shrinks the batting and thread a bit, pulling the stitches in just a bit. The entire quilt lost about 3" - 4" in both directions after it was washed.

Another close up shot of the quilt after it was washed. You can see how it has become more bumpy and soft. The drape of this quilt really softened up after the wash too. It is very snuggly now.

Tomorrow or the next day, I am packing it up and sending it to Claire's dad. It is for her, for Christmas. I hope she likes it - I sure do, and it was just a joy to make.

This quilt was made from a pile of fabrics that Claire chose and then I just cut strips off of most everything bright and colourful that I had. Most of the fabrics are cotton but there are also some flannels, some linen blends, some decor weight. They all play nicely together. The blocks feature red centres (or pink flannel cats) - the red centres in traditional log cabin blocks symbolize the warm hearth of the home.

I am fairly sure there are more ROYGBIV quilts in my future. I highly recommend them, they just make you smile all the time.

As I made this quilt, Rhonda from Quilter in the Gap and Rachel from Contented set up the Duo QAL (see my sidebar for the button) and this quilt became my contribution to the QAL, - where I enjoyed loads of help with free motion quilting and lots of friendship too.

Best,

Leanne

Tutorial: Friendship Star Block

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!  We've got a simple tutorial to share with you today, the Friendship Star.  We shared this tutorial several months ago on Chasing Cottons and hadn't put it onto our blog yet! :)  This is a simple and fun block to make for a sampler, swap or repeated in a quilt.  What makes this star a little unique is I fussy-cut the center square...you can't go wrong with Heather Ross!

Cutting requirements

see image below

Solid background: two 4.25" x 4.25" squares for HST and four 3.5" x 3.5"

Contrasting pinwheel: two 4.25" x 4.25" squares for HST

Center: one 3.5" x 3.5"

HST (half-square triangle)

Draw a line from corner to corner on both solid background pieces.

Sew 1/4 inch on each side of the pencil line, then cut down the pencil line.

Square the HST's to 3.5"

Piece together in rows first, always using 1/4" seams

Then rows together!

Voila!  One 9.5" x 9.5" finished block

Do you have a quilt block tutorial??

Make sure to link it up to our Block Tutorial Link-Up!

Chemo Quilt from days and years...

Kim from days and years  created this amazing quilt in record time 10 days! (during her busy life). She made it for a Aunt who is going through chemotherapy. What a wonderful thing to do! Her blog is full of crafting, sewing, cooking, gardening among other things. Make sure to go visit her. 

Chemo Quilt

How to make a quilt in 10 days while working a full-time job, and doing a girls’ cabin weekend in the middle of it all (a.k.a. quick ‘n dirty style):

Day 1: Decide, upon hearing that your dear auntie who was recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer will be starting chemo in 10 days, that you MUST make her a care package, complete with handmade lap quilt. Make plans to hit the fabric store after your New Year’s Day date with your husband. Curse the universe when you realize that the fabric store closes too early for you to get there.

Day 2: In a 20 minute between-appointments break at work, run into your favorite local fabric store. Grab several bolts of your favorite Anna Maria Horner fabric, thank your lucky stars that there isn’t a line at the cutting table, and walk out with about 1/2 yard each of 6 quilting cottons and 1 yard each of voile. On the drive home, wrestle with the eternal question: to prewash or not to prewash?? Opt to prewash.

Day 3: Decide that you don’t have time to use an elaborate pattern. Start laying out the fabric on your living room floor, keeping the pieces as large as possible. Time is of the essence… planning and piecing eats time. Misplace your scissors. Burst into tears a few times. Ponder the thought of losing yet another family member so soon… Start ripping fabric. Discover that your plan for the backing won’t work. Dig through stash, find more fabric. Assemble the top and the back. Cry yourself to sleep.

Day 4: Make your quilt sandwich, using organic cotton batting and basting spray to hold everything together. Try not to spray your dog, because he keeps trying to “help.” Gather quilting needles, thread, curse yourself for failing (again) to buy a thimble.

Day 5: Go out of town with your girlfriends. Take a day off from working on the quilt. Say a silent “thank you” to the universe for blessing you with such great friends.

Day 6: Everyone knows that girls’ weekends are filled with wine, chatting, more wine, more chatting, and other sedentary activities (except that one time when there was snow – we went snowshoeing!). Use this opportunity to start the hand quilting. Work on the stitching whenever sitting down, which ends up being about 10 hours over the whole day.

Day 7: Continue stitching on the drive home, and for the rest of the evening. It helps if your husband is sleeping on the couch.

Day 8: Stitch stitch stitch!

Day 9: Yes, more stitching! Finish! Stand back and realize – whoah. Those colors are, um. Bold. Loud. Not exactly subtle. Then again, there’s nothing subtle about cancer.

Day 10: Trim the edges. Realize that the failure to measure anything while assembling results in less-than-square corners. Decide you don’t care. Make double-fold bias binding. Machine-stitch to the quilt. Wash and dry!

My sister and I delivered the care package to my aunt last weekend, right after she finished the first treatment. She loves it, and refuses to bring it with her to her treatments.  That’s alright. It can stay at home.

In case you find yourself in this situation and are looking for chemo care package ideas, here is what we came up with:

Large tote bag

Slim expanding file folder

Business card folder

Notebook/journal

Fun pens

iTunes gift card

Extension cord (for her iPad)

Hard candies (sugar-free Jolly Ranchers, Werther’s, mints, honey-lemon lozenges)

Smartwater

Water flavorings (Crystal Lite packets, Mio water flavor drops)

Various teas (Smooth Move, Ginger, Peppermint)

Crystalized ginger

Assorted hand lotions

Lip balm

A tea kettle & pretty mug

Cozy lounge pants, t-shirts, and zip-front hoodies

I feel like there was more in there… I can’t remember what else though. We made a pot of vegetable soup and a pan of veggie lasagna and froze those in single servings. We also cooked some frozen fruit, then re-froze it in ice cube trays. We thought those might come in handy if her white blood cell counts go low, and she wants to keep doing smoothies.

Now we just need to say our prayers and call in our favors and hope that she comes through this as strong as ever.

Fabric envy giveaway....

Our wonderful sponsor Fabric Envy is hosting a fun giveaway today!

 

Fabric Envy is offering a 6x6 Prince Charm Pack by Tula Pink, a polished blossom from Basic Grey and 2 yards Riley Blake ruffle elastic!

How cute is this stuff! I wonder if I can win???  :)

A little about fabric Envy...

They offer low shipping rates up to 8 yards ships for only $5.00 and all patterns and orders of $150.00 or more always ship FREE

 

They carry a fun assortment of notions including Basic Grey Fabric Flowers, Buttons, and Riley Blake Trims, and Anna Maria Horner Bias Tapes

Her darling blog offers great tutorials and giveaways like these flower and headband tutorials

 They also offer a one-of-a-kind Vendor Program, that offers discounted fabric for those of you out there who resale your crafts. It's so easy to apply. Check out the perks here

They carry a wide variety of unique Fat Quarter Bundles

 

Great, easy, website was designed to help the user find what they need fast by allowing you to shop by Designer, Collection, Manufacturer, Color, Theme, Special Cuts, and more

The Design Wall makes it easy to coordinate fabrics right on your computer screen

How to enter:

(enter each of these in separate comments, for 4 ways to enter)

• Visit the shop and let us know your favorite item
• Follow on Facebook 
• Follow the Blog
• Follow in Pinterest

This giveaway is now closed.

Wonderful memory quilt from Nancy Noodle...

Nancy from Nancy Noodle made this wonderful quilt in memory of her Uncle. The details that went into all the embroideries is amazing! What a great gift to give to the family who lost their father and husband.  Be sure to visit her blog, and she has a cute etsy shop as well...

Quilt of Shaun

My final post of 2011 is dedicated to a quilt that has taken me most of the year to complete. I first envisioned a quilt dedicated to my uncle Shaun a little over a year ago. In October 2010 he passed away suddenly, leaving my aunt and her 3 kids heartbroken.

I enlisted the help of my sister Amber and my mom in the project. Amber, who is great with design and drawing helped me figure out which aspects of Shaun's life we should include and how to do so. She drew most of the images that became the stitcheries. We divided the 10 blocks between the 3 of us. A few months later I collected the stitchery blocks. We collaborated on fabrics/quilt designs, and from our collaborations I created this quilt. Just in time for Christmas too!
I love how it turned out. The colors, the design, the fabrics, the stitcheries, the straight line diagonal quilting, even the back.
Fabrics used in this quilt: Kona Cottons (Lemon, Banana, Medium Grey & Ash); Michael Miller's Dumb Dot, Peacock Lane- Meadow and Going Coastal- Sea Kelp; Free Spirit's Soliel and Silent Cinema- Iris Yellow; Ary Gallery's Modern Affair; and Cloud9's Cut Out & Keep- Poplin Avenues.

Now for a brief look into Shaun's life:
Family was always the most important part of Shaun's life. His wife, his children and his extended family.
Shaun married my Aunt Karen in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple.
He served a religious mission to Japan.
He was a farmer, and operated a red combine. He was one of the hardest working men I've ever known.
Shaun attended and graduated from Brigham Young University.
He taught his kids to ski when they were small and it was always a favorite family activity.
He loved scouting and was involved in it his whole life.
Shaun enjoyed read, and I always remember that there was stack of books on the table beside his chair.
He was raised in and lived his life in a small town in Idaho.
He went to Oakley High School and enjoyed sports.

My uncle Shaun was a great man, a man whom I want to try to emulate in my own life. Creating this quilt about him has helped me to remember that and I hope that it will have that same affect on others, especially his children and future grandchildren who won't have met him but can still benefit from his example and love.