Have a Happy Labor Day

It has been one of those weeks when the anticipation of a long weekend seems to have worked against me and my little boy. We are exhausted after his third full week of school and ready for a little time home with my husband relaxing and not needing to do anything.

This week has been about finishing my Kitty Mini Quilt and the Sew Together Bag that will hold all the other goodies I'm sending to my partner. After this I am not doing any more swaps for 2014. I have a monthly subscription for the new Moda Basic Building Blocks quilt and want to devote more time to projects I should finish by the end of the year. I think my 2014 UFO October list will include a certain t-shirt quilt, a couple of kits that just need to be pieced, and at least two knitting items.

I am still mulling over the surface pattern design I want to create using what I learned two weeks back in Bonnie Christine's class on CreativeLive. See my previous post for links and more information but mostly I am probably a little too unfocused to actually commit to design even six prints right now but I still want to try.

Finally, I'll make this short and sweet ending with this yarn I dyed last weekend. I was working on a blanket I have had in my basket for months now and decided I wanted something with fall colors and in a fingering weight yarn so I could make a shawlette to wear when the weather starts to turn cold. Since I don't belive we are too far away from our first snowfall I want to have something fun and custom to be able to whip on in a second. I also ordered yarn for a more ambitious project that I will start probably in a month or so that will be for when the real cold comes in November.

KittyMiniSwap and Gracie Queen

It's blog post Friday, as promised and though there's not much, there is something.

I have been working on this mini quilt for the Kitty Mini Quilt Swap being hosted by Felice over at Sew ScatterBrained all week long. It was actually in the works last week and then I scrapped the whole concept direction and rerouted to these adorable flying geese. Now, as a secret swap I cannot name the intended recipient, though she has seemed receptive to the direction I am headed in, so I am pretty sure it will be a well received object.

Along with the quilt I have collected a pile of little goodies to include in the swap and may or may not have a SewTogether Bag to add for carrying all the goodness in. That will be next week's project and may remain a true secret.

The only other thing of note this week was I found a quilting frame that is not only a fit for my machine but is actually sold in tandem with my machine by the manufacturer. On three different sites I can find The Grace Company Gracie Queen and King quilting frames with my machine as the intended work horse, and I even so conveniently know of a shop that reps them that is, get this, a five minute drive down the road from my house. It's a match meant to be so I am now actively saving to be able to purchase the frame later this year or early next year. At $700 to $900 depending on bells and whistles it's not an enormous purchase but it's a far cry from the $10K tag on some long-arms. Added that I am not ready for a long-arm, the fold and store mid arm frame will be best for me.

Now I am off to working more on this mini and the extras for that swap. Figures I might be done by the end of August and it's not due to the USPS until the beginning of October!

Past, Present, and Future

Hello again. It's been a quick summer break in our home. Now, with the first week under our belt, I am doing some back to school organizing.

First up has been this poor neglected blog. It was May the last time I posted which is unacceptable. So, today and going forward I am going to commit to posting on Fridays. It may not be a real juicy or productive post most weeks, but it will be consistent and let's be honest, even if I have just a new zippered pouch to show, then at least I am creating.

Next is a quick note about this quilt. This is the Kate Spain line Daydream. I bought a charm pack of the fabric a while back and put it all together in this small sample piece. I call these sitting mat size because it is not large enough to be a crib or baby size but it is too big to be considered a true mini. I use this piece to find filler fabrics. The great functionality of this line is that there are prints both large and small in scale, high and low in volume, and in a whole range of colors. Even if I am not using that fabric specifically, I have an example to give me an idea of what I want or need for other projects.

Second for this blog post is the amazing class I have be in the last three days. From Creative Live, Bonnie Christine of Going Home to Roost Blog has been teaching all about Surface Pattern Design which is pretty much the art of making patterns. She uses Adobe Illustrator and in the class shows us how to start with a sketch and get all the way to a finished print line. This is HUGE to me because it steps me through everything! It has been a great three days and I bought the videos so I can go back anytime and review what I learned. It was well worth the money and since I already have a Creative Suite from Adobe, now I can get the most out of the programs and actually start producing surface patterns for my own use and maybe more.

Now this next quilt is also a sitting mat size and came from a collection of random gray shade fabrics I got in a swap a couple years back. Truth to tell this was my first mail away swap ever and it was so fun I jump to participate in these types of swaps. The fabric was originally charm size and then I manipulated it some more to get this overlapping weave. This quilt has served as the construction and design foundation for my BasketWeave quilt pattern.

 Finally, I want to finish up this post with a few more finished objects. First is a quilt near and dear to my heart, Beautiful Mess. This quilt is throw size and I use it on my bed every night. It is backed in flannel so it is warm and cozy. The block is the Japanese x & + from City Stitches Blog and all the fabric with the exception of one + is from Birch Fabrics. Perhaps it is the organic cotton, maybe it's the flannel, but for whatever reason I sometimes have to go hunt down this quilt in the evenings because everyone seems in my family seems to enjoy spending time in this quilt too.

Below is a table runner that has ended up on the fireplace hearth of our master bedroom. Now, we don't use that fireplace because it is currently blocked by other furnishings, but the table runner covers the stone hearth and softens that portion of the fireplace. Also below is my Boat Tote. This bag is large enough for a two rolled beach towels but currently I am using it for some knitting projects. The inside of the tote is lined in a laminated fabric so that it is easy to clean out after having damp items in it.

I am off to practice some more surface pattern designing and to finish a couple of blocks for tomorrow's FRMQG meeting. I recently joined the national Modern Quilt Guild and have signed-up for a Michael Miller fabric challenge so watch for that too. Have a great week, everyone and see you next Friday!