Blue & Green Should Never Be Seen...

"Except in the Washing Machine." And of course, in a Quilt!I'm actually a wee bit embarrassed to admit that I only finished this quilt a couple of weeks ago, since I've been using the blocks for my blog header for over a year! But it took me forever to actually get this top quilted and bound. This quilt is very special to me as it was my first attempt at Wonky Piecing and making a quilt without a pattern. I was inspired by Jacquie's Project Improv and her Wonky Log Cabin tutorial and just started piecing with a bunch of scraps that I had. It was so freeing!

I also love that I made this quilt before I became a fabric snob - I don't even know the names of the different prints and I still love it. It seems that now I'm just a wee obsessed with 'designer' fabric that I forget that great quilts don't need name brands.

Although I still adore traditional quilts and piecing, I feel like I've rediscovered the artist in myself with improv and wonky blocks. Thank you Jacquie for inspiring me to put away patterns (at least sometimes) and to just create.I LOVE this quilt...it makes me happy everyday. So I'm going to keep it for myself.

Happy Sewing everyone!

Fabric Buying Lesson Part 3

The very best fabric....

is Free fabric!

Remember this? Well, I won a $25 GC to Pink Panda Fabrics. And I used it to buy some lovely Meadowsweet. Look at all of that monochromatic goodness? See, I'm learning...

Lazy Sunday

I have to admit that I'm not much of a Football fan, but I did watch the last few ends of the Scott Tournament of Hearts. There I said it, I'm a curling fan....And as you might have heard in the pre-Olympic news, BC is having a very early spring. I live about 6 hours north of Vancouver, and we are usually under 4 feet of snow this time of year. But right now everything is melting. So it was a perfect day to take the dog (and the kids) out for a walk.
I also managed to get a start on my little quilt for DQS8. I'm going for a simple, Denyse Schmidt inspired look. Hopefully it works for my partner.

Happy Sunday!

Fabric Buying Lesson Part 2

When you go to a new Quilt Shop...
and tell your three year old, princess obsessed, daughter that she can choose any fabric in the Sale Section...Hide the Disney Princess Fabric! It is awful (both to look at and to sew with).

Her brother (almost 2) was much easier to influence and chose a lovely Hoffman truck print. Here's his pillow on his bed (now made into a daybed because the little turkey decided he could climb out of his crib).Pillows made with Ashley's tutorial from Film in the Fridge.

Fabric Buying Lesson...

I've been following Elizabeth's Paintbox Quilt Along over on Flickr. I'm dying to join in, but I'm on a self-imposed fabric diet until I can get some of my UFO's finished. I adore Elizabeth's quilts - she is a true artist.One discussion thread really caught my attention. Elizabeth gave some ideas for fabric lines that work well for the Paintbox Quilt. Interestingly, I have so many fabrics from these lines - Amy Butler, Sandi Henderson, Heather Bailey, etc. Unfortunately, I tend to buy the flashy, big scale prints. But then I don't know what to do with them because they don't lend themselves to small sized piecing.

It really struck me that I was buying the wrong fabric, when I read from Elizabeth:

"My preference in fabric for quilting tends toward monchromatic or otherwise simple prints anyway, so I tend to approach a new collection looking for those prints, rather than at the flashy bigger multicolored prints. For instance, Amy Butler's new Love collection has lots of big multicolored florals, but it also has several colors of a print called "Sunspot" that would be perfect for this kind of project." -Elizabeth, Oh, Fransson

- A successful purchase this summer - 7 out of 10 are monochromatic!

So, when my fabric diet is over, I plan to buy more monochromatic fabrics instead of the flashier prints. And I'm going to buy a Kona Roll-Up so I can make one of these beautiful Paintbox Quilts. Even though I need a new project like a I need a hole in my head!

So, what type of fabric are you buying these days?

Doll Quilt Swap 8

I signed up for my third round of the Doll Quilt Swap. It is my favourite swap. Last year I participated in DQS6 and DQS7. The quilts are amazing! And I love guessing which one is just for me. I thought I'd just do a quick review of the quilts I made last year. Sorry for the repetition for anyone who's seen them before.
In the spring, I sent these little butterflies all the way to Australia for DQS6. My partner asked for something for her daughter's room.
And this is the gorgeous quilt I received. It now lives right above my ironing board so I get to enjoy it while I'm quilting. (And let me tell you, it is the only ironing I do!)
During the the summer, I made this little bluebird quilt. It went to live in Australia too.And I got this sweet blue and aqua quilt from Susi. It is beautifully hand quilted.
And now for DQS8! I think I've got some ideas about what to make my partner. It involves curves, lots of white, and some gorgeous blues and greens.

I can't wait to see what I will get this time.

New Bee

Okay, so I joined another one. Another VQB that is. But how could I resist? This one is 100% Canadian. I am thrilled to work with other Canadian Quilters. And I'm also thrilled that I don't have to fill out customs slips every time I mail a block back.

So January is our first month, and I'm up. I'm a little slow getting things rolling (I was waiting for some yummy Munki Munki to arrive but it still isn't here). But I'm now pretty happy with my fabrics. (Sorry for the terrible photo - have you ever tried to layout fabric to mail out with 2 toddlers running around. Trust me, it is chaos! So I had to snap this picture at night).

I sent out a selection of blue/aqua and orange with a few of my favourite Heather Ross fabrics thrown in. I'm looking for wonky log cabins/improv blocks. Here is some inspiration.

I'm going to make these blocks into a twin sized quilt for my son. I can't believe he's almost ready for a big boy bed.