One of the reasons that I have been a negligent blog poster these days is that I’ve been working very hard with my good friend Becca (you may know be13cca on Flickr) on our new Etsy fabric shop, Sew Fresh Fabrics! We are both hopelessly fabric addicted, quilting maniacs and dream of colorful bolts of goodness. What better way to live the dream than open a fabric store, right?

We’ve got a great selection of Kona solids right now as well as some fun designer prints and shipping is free from now until midnight, CyberMonday Nov. 30 (EST). Check us out, bookmark us, let us know what you’d like to see us carry. We’re expecting new fabric in weekly, including Amy Butler and Michael Miller dots, some great Alexander Henry prints and others. Like many a quilter, this is our heart and our soul and our dream and we’d love for you to join us on our journey

I took a workshop this past weekend with Christine Fries-Ureel. She’s an amazing art quilter and teacher. Her forté is thread painting and embellishment. I learned a ton about the techniques and materials to create all sorts of dimension and shapes in fabric and thread. I started with one of her painted quilt tops and did the embellish stitching and created the cutest little hedgehog and leaves for him to live in. (See his little face down there?) It was tons of fun. Don’t miss a chance to see her work or take a class with her. Her story and journey to and through the quilting world is inspiring.

I’ve finally finished my Round 1 quilts in the Old Red Barn Quilt Along. The Quilt Along is on Round 4 now and I may jump back in to join them (though I may wait until after the holidays).

These pictures are just one of the lap sized quilts I made. I cut first and read directions later. I didn’t realize it would make a bed-sized quilt. I had no desire to quilt another bed-sized quilt nor did I need one in the fabulous fabrics I picked. (I live with boys, you see. I’m still under orders to make a wild animal quilt. The Amy Schimler chickens and Heather Ross fish weren’t going to cut it for the boy in question, however they did help me name the quilt “Surf and Turf”.) So I made two lap sized quilts. The second one is for sale in the gallery where I work. I love the fabrics. I picked every one of the top fabrics from my stash. It just goes to show that you can never have too much fabric. If you love it, you’ll find the perfect quilt for it!

A few things I’ve been working on.

My October Stash Busting Bee block for Vintage Fern.

A quilt top assembled from a Quilt Block Exchange.

I’ve been making these scrap log cabins, some are monochromatic and some are wild. I was thinking it would end up as two quilts but I tried to see what integrating them would look like. It’s not bad (if I make one more, that is).

Happy Halloween. Boo!

I found this blog post via Park City Amy’s blog. This Amy says it so well. I’m thinking of joining her “Moments” group. What do you think?

Absentminded mostly. Juggling lots of things, large and small and neglecting my blog. Anyway, to catch up…

The ladies quilting weekend was once again heavenly. We had a full house, amazing gals, food, wine and sewing morning til night. These are some of my acquisitions from the trip.

I quilted my two tops from the Old Red Barn first quilt-a-long. I’ll post pictures when I finish the bindings in a few days. I also completed two tops from existing blocks for charity quilts. It was nice to get these WIPs moving forward.

Here’s some eye candy from our spectacular fall day yesterday. Beautiful leaves and plenty of wood for the winter. It’s all good.

I got a late start on Becca’s September Stash Busting Bee blocks so I made some extra ones as atonement. Her focus fabric was the retro kitchen print and she loves wonky log cabins. She also sent some of the large red checks. I found some nice coordinates from the shirting fabrics that I received. I’ve also been playing with Metro Market and Mingle which was perfect. I made the requested 10.5″ block and four 5.5″ blocks.

Here’s my Metro Market and Mingle project… placemats, ready to be quilted.

And just because I can’t resist a wonky log cabin or a cute chicken print…

maybe it will be a trivet for a placemat set. Isn’t it cool how the chicken on the left seems to have his backside completed by the swirls in the black print? Totally random, I swear.

Thanks again Amy, for hosting the Bloggers Quilt Festival!

I’m writing about my Scrappy Squares quilt because it made me feel connected to the online quilting world. I saw this quilt on Flickr and fell in love. It was a match made in heaven because I have a hard time throwing away even the smallest pieces of fabric. Thus my first scrap quilt was born. I made up the pattern myself and it had a few kinks along the way.

Next, Liza from Quiltifications decided to make it in black and white along with her friend Beth doing a brown and teal colorway. Their two quilts are here. Liza worked up the design in EQ and eliminated the annoying y-seam problem that I created for myself.

Then Lisa emailed me and asked about the pattern. Liza was kind enough to pass it on and Lisa made another terrific quilt.

I am so encouraged and inspired by the online quilting community. I’m continually amazed by the support and talent of the people out there. It’s nice when we can connect a little bit more. Thanks to all of you. Now off to the festival for me!

This is my cake from the “Idiom” challenge for my quilt guild show. I sent the image of my cake painting to Spoonflower to have it transferred onto fabric. Then I appliqued on top of it and set it into the still life. It was fun to play with the patterns and shapes. I like working in this smaller, narrative-type format.

The guild show was a success, the quilts were fabulous and attendance was up. And late Sunday afternoon, I got a very pleasant surprise…. my Blooming Nine Patch was awarded Second Place in Viewer’s Choice for large quilts! I now have a very impressive ribbon to hang in my sewing room. Pretty cool.

And lastly, my quilters getaway weekend is in 9 days!! WooHoo!!

Two new work schedules, two new school schedules (and the accompanying struggles and trauma), one quilt guild show and one gallery opening. It will all slow down by the first weekend in October but it’s been c-r-a-z-y.

I’ll be showing the Blooming Nine Patch and Scrappy Squares quilt in my guild show and I’m working frantically to finish my challenge quilt. The theme this time was to illustrate an idiom (i.e. tying the knot, time flies). My choice was to illustrate “It’s a Piece of Cake”. I’m not going to post a progress picture but I’ll give you a hint…. look at my blog header and notice the second picture from the left. ‘Nuf said.

I got the “mini quilt” bug by participating in the Good Ol’ Summertime Mini Quilt Swap. I’ve been wanting to try art quilts for a long time. There’s one I’ve been envisioning for years now. It’s really fun to see what you can do with your stash this way. It reminds me of the painting I used to do except this time my medium is fabric. I finished a mini art quilt to hang in the gallery space that I’ve been helping to redesign and renovate. Here’s the quilt I call “Still Life with Arm Chair”. I can’t wait until after the show is over so I can start on another one.