Stashmaster

My Chocolate Truffle

I recently had the pleasure of attending a small quilt retreat with some friends.  We had a wonderful time sharing tips, inspiration, good food and many laughs.

I was able to finish blocks for 3 quilts while I was there.  Here is the first one I put together when I returned home.  I used the Thimbleblossoms pattern Red Velvet, and the stone fabrics from Fa La La and La Petit Ecole for the centers, a dark brown for the star points, and background fabrics from almost every French General collection.

I can't call this Red Velvet, so how about Chocolate Truffle?  I still need to decide on an outer border, but I love how elegant and understated this quilt looks using a very limited color palette.

I almost never make the same pattern twice, but this one is an exception - it's super easy to make and a great retreat  project (I made the first version while on retreat, too!)

And then along comes Mary

I don't have such a good track record with Blocks of the Month.  I'm sure it stems from me being a "start to finish" quilter.   I like to finish a project before I start on the next one.  So making a block and then waiting an entire month before the next one arrives (at which point I'm already immersed in another project) pretty much resigns the rests of the blocks to a project box.

I was going through my fabric closet last weekend and discovered some BOM treasures.  Most of them are complete KITS by now!

I signed up for this Mary Engelbreit BOM from In Between Stitches when I visited Nicole in April 2008.  When I found the box, I discovered that I had already completed 7 of the blocks!

This week I finished the last 5.  And then I made 2 additional because I didn't like 2 of the blocks from the kit, but I got it done, it's cute and I still love the fabrics.

Next up - the Moda U Selvages BOM - also started in 2008.

Yes, I really *did* finish Rotue 44

Last September I joined my two best blog buddies, Thelma and Nicole, in Illinois to take some classes from the fabulous Carrie Nelson.  I started two large quilts - Ashcombe and Route 44 - and one Schnibbles quilt, Darcy.  I finished Darcy (not that big of a feat because it's a Schnibbles, it's tiny!) and Route 44.  Only time will tell if I finish Ashcombe.   I'm not loving the fabrics I chose.   Maybe I should recut and make one like Thelma's, which I absolutely adore.

I did, however finish Route 44, which I made using a stash of old Amy Butler fabrics that I very nearly let go in my stash sale last summer.  Thankfully I kept looking at the pile and thinking how pretty they were and using them really made this quilt work for me.   I added a frosted dot from Lakehouse Fabrics as the setting and borders.

 
One of our fellow students in the Route 44 class was LeAnne Olson, a longarm quilter who's name I have seen in quilting magazines.   I asked for her card, thinking that having a machine quilter who also made this quilt right along with me would be a great way to bring this project full circle.

 
LeAnne gave me permission to use her beautiful photographs.   It's been so dreary in the Seattle area that any time the clouds have parted enough to allow a photograph, I'm at work!   So here are some shots of my quilt - one of the Amy Butler fabrics was a random stripe with all the colors from the prints, and it made the perfect binding for this quilt.

Not only do I love the beauty of this quilt, it is priceless to me because of all the fond memories it evokes of my trip and friends (new and old).

I'll be back soon with pictures of my (finally) finished Pinochle quilt top!

Stack of deliciousness

I've had these French General fat quarters in my possession for some time now, but I have waited to find just the right pattern to showcase them.

The right pattern just fell into my hot little hands, by way of a new friend I met while visiting Illinois last fall.  My new friend, Monique Dillard, has been designing beautiful patterns and cool tools for years now.  In fact, Nicole and I did a sew along in 2007 using a sampler pattern of Monique's - Country Gatherings.   Here's a link to my quilt from Monique's design, Imaginary Friend.

Monique's exciting news is the April 2011 release of her book from C&T Publishing, Fat Quarter Winners.  Some awesome patterns and really unique techniques for putting those fat quarters in your stash to good use.  

Friends Nicole, Thelma and I want to congratulate Monique on her book, and feature some of her patterns, techniques, and interviews on our blogs so you can see just how beautiful and fun they are to make.   Please join us next week and throughout the month of April to see us introduce our projects to you, introduce Monique to you, and - did I mention? - there will be PRIZES!

Eventide Progress

I made great progress on my Eventide quilt this week.  Look!   A border!  There may even be 2 borders.   And a finished quilt center.   Stay tuned for my reveal next week.   Do you ever have so much fun making a quilt, you don't want it to end?   That's how I feel about this one.   Except if it never ended I couldn't move on to my long list of quilts that I want to make....

And today I leave you with my first ever Stashmaster Fitness Tip.  Riding a stationary bike, while good cardio exercise, is not the most exciting endeavor.  Knitting may seem like a good choice to pass the time while on a recumbent (seated) bike.  However, please pay heed to where your ball of yarn is, or it may get in front of your wheels and end up hopelessly wound around the hub and bike pedal.   Not a pretty sight.   Trust me.

Eventide progress, week 3

I didn't have a lot of time to sew this week, but I made a few more of the smaller star blocks for Eventide.   At least it's something!

A birthday and Eventide progress, week 2

First things first - happy birthday to my darling daughter, who would be turning 11 today if it were February 29.   But since it's not a leap  year, we celebrated her bithday yesterday (well, all weekend, actually!).  She had a birthday sleepover on Saturday night, a family party on Sunday and she took 3 dozen chcolate cupcakes to school yesterday.

Here's my daughter with her two cousins - a blonde, redhead and brunette.   The blonde one is my Lily.  They are all wearing their "nerd glasses" after seeing Gnomeo and Juliet in 3D and a dinner at Red Robin.

I didn't make a lot of visible progress on Eventide this week - I was sick 3 days last week, and then there was all the birthday celebrating.   I have all my block components (quarter square triangles) finished, I just need to put them together into blocks and work on the borders.   I'm having a lot of fun with this quilt.   I love the 2 sizes of stars and the soft, romantic colors of Luna Notte.

McGuffey in Central Park

First off - where the heck did January go??    I can't believe it's already February.  I did put the final border on this quilt Monday, so I'm claiming this as a January finish - my first one in 2011.

I used Kate Spain's wonderful Central Park fabric line and made the Big Schnibbles version of McGuffey.   I cut my strips 3" in order to be able to show off the Central Park fabric.  I also used the Lumiere de McGuffey variation that Carrie Nelson provides on her blog so I could feature stars in the center of the blocks.  Maybe this should be called McGuffey in Central Park, Under the Stars?

It was a fun quilt to make - bright and cheerful fabrics for a gloomy, gray January.

Red Velvet

No, this is not one of Thelma's cupcake review posts, although I do love a Red Velvet cupcake with cream cheese icing!   I recently got this quilt back from my longarm quilter.   I love the job she did with a feathered wreath inside each of the star blocks.

There's just something about a quilt that's been washed and dried and crinkled.   I just love the Rouenneries fabric from French General, I don't think I will ever get tired of them.   And that spark of Simple Abundance aqua?  And the striped binding?  LOVE IT.

Is it flattery when you copy the designer's pattern exactly, or just lack of imagination on my part?

The pattern is Red Velvet from the fabulous Thimble Blossoms designer, Camille Roskelley.  And I finished the quilt in a weekend at my guild retreat last November.

%)*&!@

No, I'm not cussing at you, I swear. I just wanted to share my latest project! I had 2 charm packs of American Jane's newest Moda group, Punctuation, and wanted to play with them. I found this blog post and knew it was the quilt I wanted to make, only slightly larger.

I went into my American Jane stash and added some fabrics from previous collections. I ended up with 7 distinct colors. I figured I would make 7 blocks and then decide what I would do with the extra block. As it turns out, I messed up the first block by not paying attention to the directional print of my background fabric, so that left me with with only 6 useable blocks. Add some pretty red daisies from American Jane's Peas and Carrots collection, and I have a quilt top that makes me smile every time I look at it!