Week 1: Final Finishes

This summer, I am working my way through my fabric drawer storage system, trying to clear out space, and make some quilt tops. Today, I'll show you what I made in Week 1, and give you a preview of Week 2!

The designer of the week was Sanae (Moda Fabrics). I had three collections stuffed in three drawers: Panache, Oz and Arcadia. I started with Arcadia because I was also working on a commission quilt from this collection. For that one, I used my Hip to Be Square pattern (note: picture was taken before I assembled the top!)

One of the bonuses of this project is that it gives me a chance to try out some new patterns. Usually when I'm scrap quilting, my go-to pattern is either patchwork squares or a coins quilt, but I decided to flip through some quilt books and branch out. Since I had a bunch of leftover charm squares and honeybun strips, I decided to make the Square One quilt from Camille Roskelly's book Simplify. It was the perfect pattern for my scraps, and very easy to put together.

After making that quilt, I still had some miscellaneous pieces, so the blocks in this next quilt were inspired by another quilt in the book, Sweet Pea. I made the blocks a slightly different dimension, and changed the setting (the setting was actually based on Camille's Piece of Cake pattern!). This photo was also taken before the final assembly!

I had never made a plus quilt, even though I've had it on my must-make list for quite a while. This next quilt was inspired by the Dream Big quilt in Simplfy, except I used larger pieces. It worked really well for my Panache scraps -- I just kept cutting and building from the center out until it was the desired size. Then, I used most of my remaining fabrics to piece a scrappy backing for when I'm ready to quilt it.

I was a little stumped when it came to the Oz fabrics. I had a lot of partial jelly roll strips, so I used the Happy-Go-Lucky quilt in Simplify as inspiration. I decided to make all the block centers the same (or at least mostly the same -- some are orange, and some are red) and make only the A blocks.

For the final quilt, I used a basic snowball block (although if I'd made the quilt Coming Home from Simplify, I would have only needed two corner triangles per block!)

So after six quilt tops, I am down to a single drawer:

The two empty drawers now hold some newer fabrics that were waiting for an open spot!

So what's on the agenda for Week 2?

Two drawers of fabric by Chez Moi. I'll stop by mid-week with a progress report!

 

Twenty-Five Quilts, Day 18

I promised you'd see one last Vroom quilt, and here it is!

My supply stash of fabrics has finally been depleted, so this is the last one of these for my Etsy store. I've enjoyed making them, but I've made so many that I'm not too sad to be moving on to other projects!

My favorite part has always been the striped binding. I still have some of this on hand, so it may show up in another project. I do love striped bindings!

I had to get a little creative with the backing, but I like how it turned out.

I'll be back tomorrow with the next installment of my Twenty-Five Quilts blog series!

 

New Year's Quilty Resolution, Day 2

I'm starting off 2014 with a series of blog posts on my Quilty Resolutions. Hopefully, putting them in cyberspace will make me more likely to stick with them!

Anyone who has virtually visited my sewing room (to take a tour of my tiny, but functional space, see this post) knows that one of my favorite storage items are these cube drawers from Michaels:

I purchased the cubes 2 or 3 at a time (on sale or with a coupon) over a period of several months, and eventually built this 4 x 4 structure. Although I would love to purchase more and add on, I am at the point of maximum capacity in my current sewing space.

I absolutely love the way fat quarters, jelly rolls, and charm packs fit perfectly in the drawers. It is so easy to see what I have on hand, and very easy to return fabrics to their proper storage!

I have labeled the drawers with the names of either designers or fabric collections for sorting purposes.

So, on to the resolution part: my fabric stash has exceeded drawer capacity, so it is time to start going through the drawers and make some quilts out of what I already own, so that I can free up some space for the fabrics under my sewing table!

Quilty Resolution # 2: "sew" my way through some fabric drawers to make room for new fabrics (and at the same time, try to cut down on what I add to the stash!)

 

Stash Hoarding, The Sequel, Day 4: Fandango

Given my love of Kate Spain fabrics, it is not a surprise that another one of her collections would be part of my "stash hoarding". Fandango was her second collection for Moda Fabrics, and I love the soothing color palette and Art Deco feel of the fabrics.

I really love to pair the Fandango fabrics with an ivory solid -- so pretty!

However, I also like the way this jelly roll quilt came out: (pattern is Jelly - Filled by Thimbleblossoms

Such a lovely collection-- it's still hard to resist those elusive precuts when I come across them!

 

Stash Hoarding, The Sequel, Day 3: Hometown

Yesterday's Stash Hoarding post featured the Sweetwater collection Make Life. Today's will focus on another Sweetwater favorite, Hometown. I'm really not sure I could choose a favorite print in the collection -- I just love the way they all go together! The color palette is great, and all the basics are there: text prints, stripes, plaids, dots, etc.

I had a great time making Christmas stockings out of this non-traditional palette:

When I wrote my When the Stars Align pattern, I knew I wanted to use Hometown for the cover photo:

As I mentioned, I love the way the palette works together. However, earlier this year, I had a custom request to make the quilt in only the reds and yellows. I love the way it turned out!

At this point in time, precuts of Hometown are pretty hard to find, so I grab them whenever I find a good deal!

Tune in tomorrow for another episode of Stash Hoarding!

 

Stash Hoarding, Day 5: It's A Hoot

Today is the final day of my Stash Hoarding Top Five list, although I think I should include some "honorable mentions" later this week (let's face it -- I hoard a LOT of fabric!).

There are certain fabric designers whose work I would buy sight unseen, just because I've loved everything they've done. Momo (for Moda Fabrics) is one of them. The first quilt I ever sold on Etsy was made from Momo Wonderland fabric:

I've made and sold at least 5 or 6 of these quilts, and stocked up on quite a bit of Wonderland along the way. I think I'm over the hoarding of it, however -- I had the opportunity to add some to my stash this week and chose not to! The next collection was Freebird, and I thought this one was a lot of fun, too. The first quilt I made in it sold very quickly:

I made a couple of other Freebird quilts, but decided to try separating the bright colors with a neutral fabric. I do really like the way the solid sets off the wild fabrics.

This spring, I made a Freebird circles top for one of my customers who likes to handquilt:

I loved this one so much that I'm working on one for my store!

The next collection that Momo produced was It's a Hoot, which is the subject of today's hoarding post:

I've actually only made one It's a Hoot quilt. It sold so quickly that I never even got a picture with the binding finished. Since then, I've purchased a lot of It's a Hoot fabric with the intention of making follow up quilts, but the fabric just seems to collect in a drawer. I have charm packs, layer cakes, and yardage -- definitely enough for several quilts! I'm not sure why this one keeps getting pushed aside, but I still keep buying those precuts whenever I find them!

It's definitely time to revisit this collection and make some quilts, and then maybe I'll have a chance to make some out of the other Momo collections (I have an unopened fat quarter bundle of Just Wing It, a brand-new layer cake of the brand-new collction "Oh Deer", as well as several charm packs of Half Moon Modern). I've got a few more custom orders and many unquilted tops to make a dent in before I make good on this pledge, but I WILL use up some It's a Hoot this year!

 

 

 

 

Stash Hoarding Day 4: Bliss

In my mailbox this afternoon was the perfect example for this week's topic: stash hoarding!

For Day 4 of my week of stash hoarding posts, I have chosen the collection Bliss by Bonnie and Camille for Moda fabrics. Although this is not their first collection, it is the first in their series of red, pink and aqua collections.

I purchased a Bliss layer cake (10 " squares) as soon as the collection was released a couple of years ago. It is such a pretty palette -- who doesn't love pink, red and aqua?! I sold at least 2 of these lap size quilts, and then I received a custom order to make a full size version:

The thing I love most about Bliss is how nicely it interacts with their next 3 collections: Ruby, Vintage Modern and Marmalade. Last January, I did a custom order using selected fabrics from both Ruby and Bliss:

 

I've even received an order for custom valances to match a Bliss quilt:

 

When Vintage Modern arrived, I used some Bliss, Ruby and Vintage Modern charm squares to make this simple patchwork design.

Bliss can still be found; although some of the prints are very hard to find, and the precuts (layer cakes, charms squares, etc) are very scarce. So, I don't necessarily hoard Bliss and not use it -- but I feel the need to replace some whenever I use it!

 

The final hoarding post may be delayed by a day or two -- we will be on the road to Grandma's tomorrow night, so I may not post until Sunday. Have a great weekend!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stash Hoarding, Day 3: Neptune

Anyone who is a fabric connoisseur will not be surprised to see my third entry in my week of stash-hoarding posts: Tula Pink's widly popular collection for Moda Fabrics, Neptune:

This collection was released right around the time that my style was changing from "traditional" to "modern". It definitely appealed to me, but I wasn't purchasing a lot of precuts (layer cakes, jelly rolls, charm packs) at the time (otherwise I definitely would have stocked up!) I'm almost positive that my first Neptune quilt was made from a clearance priced layer cake. (This was also when I used to make my kids hold the quilts up for Etsy pictures!)

I had two Neptune quilts for sale in the early days of my shop. The second one was made from a honey bun, and included some floral appliques. I was testing out some additional pattern ideas at the time, and I'm pretty sure I bought the honey bun on clearance, too.

This striped honey bun quilt prompted my first ever custom order. Less than two months after I opened my shop, a lovely woman in Australia contacted me about remaking this honey bun quilt as two matching twin size quilts for her girls. I was able to make the quilt on a larger scale by using jelly rolls (2 1/2" strips) and adding borders. She was thrilled with how they turned out, and I was so grateful that someone halfway around the world would trust a new Etsy seller to take on such a project!

I knew the collection was becoming scarce at the time-- I bought one jelly roll right away, but had to do quite a bit of searching to find the second one. There was still a bit of yardage to be found, and by the time I finished the quilts, I had begun a little stash of Neptune. I even kept most of the smaller scraps, and earlier this year, I finally went through the bag and made a few pillow covers:

To be perfectly honest, my hoarding issue extends to all of Tula Pink's fabrics, especially her earliest collections. I have a couple of Nest and Flutterby precuts that I haven't found the perfect project for, and I always snatch up Hushabye when I see it. It looks like her upcoming collection Salt Water might be a bit of a tribute to Neptune, judging by the teaser picture on her blog!

 

I've got a little more work to do on custom orders before I head off to bed -- hope you'll join me tomorrow for Day 4 of my Stash Hoarding week!

 

 

 

 

Stash Hoarding, Day 2: Authentic

This week, I am doing a series of posts on the top five fabric collections I love to hoard! I am a huge fan of Sweetwater's fabrics, but my favorite of those by far is their first collection for Moda, entitled "Authentic". This was one of the first quilts I made for my Etsy shop, and it was the second quilt I ever sold. I just love the color palette of black, grey, cream and green. It is simple, yet striking, and it always looks so modern and fresh.

I wish I had a bought a bolt each of the black polka dot, and the green text print! Love them!

I've remade the original quilt a total of three times; each time, it has sold quickly!

I even made a tumbler quilt using my Accuquilt die -- this was back when yardage was still available.

I also made some adorable onesies!

I love this collection so much that I use this picture as my blogger and etsy shop avatar:

Here's a picture of some of my Authentic stash (and you can see a bit of another Sweetwater project in progress in the background, using one of their newer lines, Reunion)

I will admit to overpaying for some of this, but it is just so impossible to find that it's hard not to purchase it when you do come across it! Luckily, Sweetwater keeps coming up with new tempting collections; in fact, their newest one, Mama Said Sew, was inspired by Authentic. I haven't made anything with this collection yet, but I do like the graphic look of the fabrics, so I'm excited about the possibilities!

 

I have had plans for several years to make myself a purse using Authentic so that I can enjoy it every day; I just haven't gotten around to cutting into it (or maybe I'm still afraid to cut it!) Tomorrow night is our first quilt guild meeting of the year, so maybe I'll be brave enough to pledge this as a project to complete by June! I'll let you know....

 

Tune in tomorrow for another out-of-print favorite from my stash!

 

Stash Hoarding, Day 1: Arcadia

Last week, I promised to do a series of posts on my top five fabric collections to hoard. All of these are out-of-print, and I seem to be unable to resist them when I find a good deal online! What is even worse is that I seem to only be able to use them if I have "back-up" fabric!

The first collection to showcase is Arcadia by Sanae for Moda Fabrics. This one is special to me because it became my "test quilt" when I decided to start selling quilts on Etsy three years ago. I had just been to a very unsuccessful craft fair and realized that these events were just too unpredictable to be worthwhile, especially for trying to sell higher priced items such as quilts. As it happened, I had a new nephew who needed a crib quilt, and a layer cake of Arcadia on hand to play with. I designed a pattern to make the best use of a layer cake, which became the prototype for the Hip to Be Square quilts I started selling in my shop. Although it took about a month to make a sale, business has grown steadily since then!

I just love the colors and designs in this collection. Actually, I'm not really a huge fan of any other Sanae fabric line -- this one is just particularly appealing to me. Since the first quilt was given to my nephew, I didn't make one for my store until I came across another Arcadia layer cake later that year. It sold fairly quickly, and prompted a request from another customer for a custom order. I couldn't find any other layer cakes to remake the original, but I did find a few honey buns (1 1/2 " strip rolls) and made this version:

Since I couldn't find enough fabric for a backing, I had to improvise by using a coordinating Sandy Gervais print, but I included a few extra Arcadia blocks on the back to tie it all together. I love the way the back turned out! I think it really suits the modern look of the collection.

This was also the quilt that prompted the hoarding of the collection! Since then, I have collected other pieces, including a couple of charm packs, a layer cake, honey buns, and even a fat quarter bundle! I have plenty of fabric to make several other quilts -- I just seem to fear running out! I do plan to make another Hip to Be Square quilt in the near future, and I have a pattern in mind for the honey buns as well. I really do try not to overpay for these finds, however -- I think that's why I have to snatch them up, and why it is so difficult to subsequently cut into them!

 

Tune in tomorrow for my next blog entry about stash hoarding!