Almost Retreat Time

I finished the last thing I needed to do for Mid Atlantic Mod Retreat last night and now I can officially say I am all set. Can't wait for Friday!!!!!

This block is for the progressive quilts that will be completed at the retreat. It is entirely made of Modern Solids by Alissa Haight Carlton. The theme for this block was straight lines. I love the colors and the fabric.

You can check out the other block I made for another progressive quilt here.

A quick sneak peak at yet another new project. This is the year of me experimenting with color and I am sticking to my goal. These colors are waaaaayyy out of my comfort zone but I am trudging along bravely. Sorry for the seriously out of focus picture but the weather (sigh) hence lighting is awful in the house and someone was seriously photo bombing. I finally lost patience clicked a quick picture and got done with it. But you get the idea about the colors.

Skinny Pinny Swap

I had made a pin cushion waaaaay back and since then I have been planning to make a few more but never got around to it. So a few months ago when I was invited to a Skinny Pinny Swap hosted by Amy DeCesare over at Amy Made That! I jumped at the idea. This would be perfect for the little space in front of my sewing machine.

I had specified linen with quilting cotton as my requirement and soon arrived my skinny pinny all the way from down under Australia made by Kerrie Brill. It has a little mat attached which is really handy. I love the little details that Kerrie added.

My swap partner was Jane Kuchuk who had asked for muted country colors. This is what I made for her.

She was sweet enough to post a picture of the contents of my little package for her. I am glad she liked it.

What was neat about this swap was that a lot of folks created Flickr accounts for the first time to post pictures of their skinny pinnies. It's encouraging to see people dabble with technology.

A Weekend's Worth

It was a fairly lazy weekend around our household. Just enjoying the warmer weather and doing some spring cleaning.

I did manage to start two new projects last week. Here is a peak.

And of course I received plenty of encouragement from my trusty friend.

Linking up to: MontagsMacher, Fabric Tuesday, WIP Wednesday

Getting Ready

I am really looking forward to the Mid-Atlantic Mod quilting retreat the first weekend of April. It is going to be so much fun, very excited to meet fellow quilters and spend a weekend surrounded by quilty inspiration.

I am participating in a couple of events/swaps at the meet, one of them being the tote bag swap. We were provided a yard of Robert Kaufman Essex Linen in blue or black to come up with a tote bag for our swap partner. I picked black and this is what I came up with.

I did not follow a pattern but modeled it after a very handy tote I had picked up from Target a few years ago. I added a panel of my favorite Echino Safari Animals in Acacia and quilted it with black thread 1/4" apart. The tote has a lot of structure and stands on its own. I added a little touch of Echino to the handle as well along with some padding. 

For the inside I used Madrona Road Wild Carrot - Straw by Violet Craft and added a zippered pocket.

Other details include, an attached key lanyard and a little key chain. I have one just like that in my current office bag and it is the most handy thing ever. You can always find your car/house keys, even in the dark!

Of course no tote is complete without a customized fabric button closure!

You can check out other great totes on Instagram #midatlanticmod #totebagswap

Linking upto: Fabric Frenzy Friday, Fabric Tuesday, WIP Wednesday

HST Quilt - II

On the coat tails of my last finish, I got cracking on the second HST quilt top. This is IMO a more girlish version of the first one. These quilt tops were completed last year but were pending completion. I love the spring colors on this one. Yellow definitely brightens my mood.

I quilted it in straight lines identical to the first one but bound it using a light gray chevron fabric to mix things up a bit. The fabric did not have a selvedge so I am not sure what fabric it was. For the back I used one of my favorite DS fabrics. I had enough for the entire back. Hmm need to restock.

I had a hard time photographing this quilt. I guess my camera did not like the lack of contrast between the white and yellow. I had to totally switch everything to manual mode, even then the pictures were a bit blurred. Any tips on taking pictures with low contrast fabrics?

Linking up to Friday Fabric Frenzy, Fabric Tuesday, WIP Wednesday

HST Quilt - 1

This year my plan is to finish all my WIPs from last year using fabrics that I already have in my stash, so I can make room for more. This quilt squarely falls into that category.

I had purchased the fabric almost two years ago, made the quilt top last year and finally it's done. It's the loveliest organic cotton fabric you can find in very contemporary colors. After a few washes will almost feel like voile.

I had started some experiments with HST placements last year and this is the first of the quilts in that series. I played around with the color till I produced what I thought was a 3D effect. The blue squares seem to pop out of the quilt more than the orange and salmon ones. 

For the back I picked my tried and tested Quilter's Linen in Dusty Blue and a gray striped fabric from Lecien for the binding. I have used both of these in an earlier quilt and loved the combination. You can see the quilting pattern on the back.

This would make a lovely quilt for a boy. With this is done on to the next quilt in my HST series, it's sister version. I have picked out a lovely Denyse Schmidt fabric for the back. It's one of my favorite fabrics.

Linking up to Friday Fabric Frenzy, Fabric Tuesday, WIP Wednesday