Just letting you all know

I am new at blogging, probably obvious, and am new at html,  and therefore I am periodically correcting past posts to be sure I credit the appropriate people for their patterns, inspiration, and such. Also, please properly link to me if you use my pics, ideas, and so forth. Hope you enjoy reading my blog :-).

About my design notebooks

I have 2 DESIGN NOTEBOOKS... one for quilting ideas and one for apparel. Here's a page from my QUILTING design notebook...actually this is the moose quilt (see  finished quilt in my older posts).  You will notice I used a pre-printed wildlife fabric.  I didn't like the borders they came with so I applied layers of strips of fabrics over them, similar to doing a log cabin and then every other square I did a real log cabin.  This was a lot of fun.  I like to put samples of the fabrics used in each quilt, although lately I have been remiss in doing this because I am using so many different fabrics.  The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt has 111 separate, distinct blocks.  Some people try not to use the same fabric twice.  Don't know that I will be one of them.

Here's another page out of the same design book.  ON the LEFT, I keep a swatch of SOLIDS with the name brand and color since I like to do micro borders (1/2" or less wide border) on my quilts.  The RIGHT is the fabric page and quick sketch of my original design baby quilt (see my older posts).

One inch and micro borders plus unfinished binding....

This pic is from my APPAREL design notebook...sketches of ideas, patterns, fabric swatches, my croquis fashion templates, my original designs... it's got all kinds of things.

Ruffle Skirt is FINISHED!!

 This is a skirt I designed some time back, finished it a day ago!!! It's lined, has an off the waist yoked band and biased ruffle at the bottom.  I ran into a little trouble because I put on a few lbs and therefore didn't have enough room in the side seams to really warrant a button at the waist style.  So I cut off a bit at the top, readjusted the sides seams again and viola...it works great!

Catching up on postings...lots been going on

Have been working on a lot of things... finishing knitting, some garment sewing, quilts, home decor things.

Cabled Button Toque Hat pattern by Amy Swenson, click here for pattern.

Potholders...just playing with layouts...the lobster fabric was where I drew my color choices.

Started working on New York Beauty...took another paper piecing class from the great folks at Button Box.

Using this pic from Australian Patchwork & Quilting Vol.13 No. 11 p. 44-45 as my inspiration for my color choices.

Sew many fabrics to choose from...trying to get the right feel.

Where I am to this point.

Ok, I need to slow down a bit...what's important in above is the process...you get your inspiration....but then the angst of auditioning fabrics to get the look you want... so many many options. I think what this quilt is doing to me... is leading me to try reproduction civil war era... something I haven't worked with much.  The tiny prints and patterns are really lovely.  I have kinda been turned off by them in the past but now I think I am starting to like them.  Sew much sew that I bought the new The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt book and have been traveling through out the surrounding Boston area to quilt stores to procure enough different fabrics to start on it!!

Other projects... A Quilter's Alphabet wall hanging

I got this "A quilter's alphabet" muslin wall hanging from Austin Sew and Vac in Austin, TX a few years back.  I had it on my sewing room door taped with masking tape.  A "new and improved" sewing room needed a "proper" door hanging.  Here's the process of my progress.  Oh and here's this great scissor fabric I got at Gather Here in Cambridge, MA.  Great place btw!!!  I added ribbon my sister had gotten me from Ribbon Jar online and some I had gotten from the Franklin Mills Store in Franklin, MA.  The area where all the writing is was a little puffy so I quilted just that area.  I like the way it turned out!

Tackling unfinished projects

I started these potholders from fabrics I was inspired by for an apron.  The apron turned out ok but what wowed me was working with bits of these different fabrics.  I didn't have a plan... I just started putting them together, quilted them, and finished binding them.

cleaned up sewing room with some improvements

Fabrics  and books organized and books ...yeah!

Idea wall where I pin my inspirations and I organized my fav fabric and yarn store business cards in these :-).

Then I wanted to show you all my new ribbon holders. I used toilet paper tubes and covered them with scrapbook paper, wrapped my french ribbons on them. The pins are caught in the hollow tube area so you don't have to worry about sticking yourself accidentally. Oh and above is my cleaned up ribbon bulletin board with my new wire-yarn "SEW" courtesy of my dear daughter :-).

ALmost finished projects

This was the sad part, as I piled things into categories; unfinished projects, quilt projects vs apparel projects, and such, I realized these were really were almost finished...just needed a binding or something small.  So I made a list of them and got to it. Pot holders done, 2 of the 3 flannel lap quilts now have bindings.  Encouraging.  This kind of thing reminds me of chore work...which is sometimes fun and sometimes not.  I will do the binding flannel lap quilt #3 tomorrow and then I have to get back to creating!!

Not so clean sewing room

THis is my sewing room prior to cleaning...ugh.

MOdeling my new COwl

Giving Credit where credit is due :-)

These are some of my wonderful assistants!!!

Moose QUilt

Baby Quilt for another friend of mine

A quilt for a very special young lady :-)

Wagon Wheel...this was my first paper piecing class.

Once I did the first block in this quilt I realized that this was going to be a challenge to carry the balance throughout the quilt and yet not overwhelm it with all the bold patterns and colors.  This is one of my favorites up to this point.

Fall quilt...

Recently, I was trying to find quilting blogs to see what was really out there in the way of fresh, upbeat designs. What I stumbled onto in the process was a list of amazing talented bloggers. I fell in love with this quilt. As I was driving thru NH "leaf peeping", I thought it would be awesome to use the solid color idea that Lisa (The Red Headed Mermaid) used with the vibrant the fall foliage, kinda like looking at the floorboard of an autumn forest...and this is what I came up with.

What I have been working on :-)

Here are 3 baby quilts that I have been waiting to take pictures of, a sunny day after a new snow.  The top quilt I got the idea from Creations. The bottom quilt is my design and my very first attempt at paper piecing of border irregular triangles.  That border is actually sewn to a backing fabric.  The bright purple and teal quilt is a railroad pattern done in all batiks which I got from the Quilts Quilts Quilts book.