What a difference a year makes!
This weekend I went to the Long Beach Quilt Festival.
Do you remember when I went last year? Well, things have changed! Not at all in terms of their offerings (in fact, I saw even less fabric I wanted this time around – but it could be that with my stash growth I’ve become pickier) but this time, I was there with some of the LA Modern Quilt Guild!
Last year I’d mentioned that I thought modern quilters weren’t well represented at festival, and in terms of the merchandise and quilts on display, I still think that’s the case, but WE were there! And since we were showing our pride with our t-shirts and totes, we were stopped and chatted with quite a bit. We put the effort in to spread the word!
Jamie, me and Latifah all loving our totes!
It was my griping about festival on my blog last year that caused Latifah to comment, saying that maybe we should start our own “modern” quilt guild and look at us now! Over 70 groups across the country and world.
Impressive modern quilters, impressive! What will we do next?!?
Scrap winners!
Thanks to all of you for your comments on the scraps. First, I’m actually not very organized at all, but moving is a chance to start out strong, right? Also, I did in fact consciously chose to put the scraps in contrasting baskets. Might not make practical sense but it looked prettier to me. That’s always more important, right??
Anyhow – congrats to Kerry and Georgia! The ol’ random number generator picked you!
Georgia’s getting some brown and purple (with some green thrown in!) scraps…
…and some orange and aqua scraps will be headed to Kerri!
Keep an eye out for an email from me!
Scrap mania!
I’m taking my time and being very thorough with the sewing room set up. Yesterday that meant a major scrap sort!
Presort:
And post sort!
I’m not great about using my little scraps but maybe if they are sorted by color I will? In any case, I have more than I’ll ever use and should give some to you. Comment with your two favorite colors and I’ll pick a couple of winners on Monday. A scrap pack will then be on it’s way to you! Good luck and happy weekend to you all!
What I’ve been up to.
My husband and sister painting away! (Forgive the lousy IPhone photos!)
We went for lots of bold color and we’re super happy with the results.
And now – this is what I’m living in.
Time to get unpacking! Of course you know my sewing room is already partly good to go! Will do a whole post on that a later… Hope you all have wonderful weekends!
Why is everything cuter when tiny?
We all love Bonne Maman jars. But have you seen these teeny tiny ones before?? A hotel I was at recently had ‘em. Now I don’t THINK you’re supposed to take…oh… six or so… but I did. I couldn’t help it.
I love them. Love. But I’m at a loss as to what I can do with them. They make me wish I had a bead collection. Are you allowed to start a collection purely because you already have something to hold it in??
They are just so… little! And wonderful! Anyone have suggestions what I could use them for?
Whip Up Mini Quilts winner!
Thanks for all your mini quilts comments. They are a great time, right??
Getting down to business… the ol’ random number generator picked…
#32: Megan!
Who said “What a great little book! I’ve been thinking about doing some mini-quilts lately for just those reasons you mention: you can try out new techniques and ideas without the major commitment of a full-size quilt. Plus, it’s a great way to use up scraps (not that I have any of those lying around).”
Congrats Megan!! Keep any eye out for an email from me…
Catching up
On Friday my job ended and so I’m back to having much more time to sew! Needless to say, I’m happy about it. I took the weekend to catch up on some things including one of the bees I’m in, Bee Imaginative.
Some drunk love style blocks for Ashley.
And some flying geese for Amanda!
I paper pieced these… not something that I’ve done a lot of, and it limits creativity, but it was fun to tackle. I used this pattern.
Check back here tomorrow as I’ll be part of the Whip Up Mini Quilt book blog tour. As luck would have it – we’re having a mini quilt swap tonight at our LA Modern Quilt Guild meeting. Tomorrow’s post will be all mini quilts all the time!
Handmade Beginnings
I was so pleased to be asked to be a part of the blog tour for Anna Marie Horner’s new book, Handmade Beginnings.
At first I thought “hmm… I’m not pregnant and I don’t have any babies (yet!)… will this book be of any use to me?” The answer? Yes – absolutely!
First of all, we’re all swamped with baby showers and sometimes there just isn’t time to get a whole quilt made, but you want to bring a personal handmade gift. There are many wonderful options in the book that are certain to be big hits at the next baby shower you head to!
How about some adorable bebe shooooes??
Or a cozy cozy sleeping sack??
And OMG I can’t handle how cute this photo is. Makes me wanna make loads of little pants for babies this instant!!
And then there are patterns in the book that can be made for anyone – not just babies. Check out both of these bags. They would work for any number of things non-baby related!
Overall a great book with loads of modern, interesting and varied choices. Oh and did I mention the photography? It’s so so good. Really – it gives the book a wonderful warm and personal feeling that makes you want to sit down to your sewing machine and dive into one of the many included projects!
Maggie agrees completely.
Do you want a copy? Wiley Publishing were generous to get me an extra for you! Leave a comment here and I’ll pick a winner tomorrow morning.
Also, click on over here if you want to enter to win a sewing machine!
The blog tour is coming to a close soon, but you still have a couple places to check out. Here’s the details of the whole tour:
May 3 : Craft
May 4: Indie Fixx
May 5: Sew Mama Sew
May 6: Pink Chalk Studio
May 10: Wise Craft
May 14: House on Hill Road
May 16: The Purl Bee
May 18: All Buttoned Up
May 19: Alabama Chanin Journal
May 20: Homemade by Jill
May 21: True Up
May 22: Oh, Fransson!
May 23: Prudent Baby
May 24: Sew Liberated
May 25: Handmade by Alissa
May 26: Hazelnuts
May 27: Petite Purls






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