Sunday Stash #123

A Walk in The Woods by Aneely Hoey for Moda!

This Fat Eights bundle of A Walk in The Woods has been sitting around my sewing area for about a week or so.  It has been moved about and admired from every angle awaiting a photography session, all while I poked and prodded at it to get a better glimpse of the adorable prints.

Aneela!!  You've really outdone yourself with this new collection, it is so very sweet! I love the color palette, and the teeny tiny detailed prints on the fabrics including ribbons and bows, toadstools, red riding hood, and the big bad wolf are adorable.  (There are even several dot/spot prints!).

A Walk in the Woods pre-cuts are available from and/or yardage coming soon to:

Fat Quarter Shop

Pink Castle Fabrics@ Etsy
Yardage coming soon:

Fabric Shoppe @ Etsy 

Fabric Worm

The rotary cutter is poised and ready to cut into this pretty stash!

Enjoy Sunday!
Rita

Crossroads Mark II ~ A Finished Quilt

Ok.  I am back again for the second time this week, channeling my inner Nancy Crow.  I hope you will put up with me as I get this Crossroads phase out of my system.

I just had to have another go as this quilting grid, just to make sure it wasn't a fluke that both the piecing with long strips of fabric, and the gridded quilting, had worked out so well the first time around. 

The piecing process, in particular the selection of fabric and the color play, was so much harder this time around.  I may have spent too much time (over) thinking about the colors and their interactions, rather than just doing; and I think it may show.

The quilting, on the other hand, proved to be no problem.  I started the quilting grid by first stitching either side of all horizontal seams, and then the vertical quilting lines were stitched, starting at one of the vertical seam line and slowly working my way out to the quilt edges.

I so wish you would feel the texture created by the quilting grid; the quilt is light and soft, and has a lovely drape which I don't think is conveyed well via the screen.

As usual I have updated my Etsy Store.

You can find the listings for both Crossroads quilts here: Crossroads I and Crossroads II - SOLD

I am now ready to leave my Crossroads phase behind.  For the time being.

Rita

RELEVANT LINKS:
Crossroads Quilt Mark I

Crossroads ~ A Finished Quilt

Warning!  A heavy duty picture post follows as well as a small tribute to Robert Kaufman Kona Cottons:

Not everything is always smooth sailing, however this quilt simply unfolded and came together like it was always meant to be.   The actual rotary cutting and piecing didn't take all that long, although the same cannot be said for the quilting.

I love the quilting! It has added so much character and texture to the finished quilt.  Without it this quilt, although otherwise graphically striking, has no soul, no personality, no zing factor.

And the back: ~ No tucks, no puckering; it's all in the basting.  I am still a pin baster, taping the layers to the floor and crawling around on hands and knees to pin, pin, pin.  There isn't a whole lot of fun in the process but it consistently produces the best results for me.  And so, it will continue.

I really wanted to bind this quilt with a printed fabric, however I quickly came to the conclusion that a black solid fabric was warranted and the only suitable option to frame this quilt.

I have listed this quilt in my Etsy Store:  Red Pepper Quilts @ Etsy - SOLD

You can find the listing here:  Crossroads Quilt @ Etsy

Thank you for stopping by,
Rita

Crossroads

When I am in my "in between projects" phase, and not sure where to start next (and according to my family just a tad annoying ~ Surely not!), I have been known to turn to my collection of quilting books for inspiration.

Crossroads by Nancy Crow

On Sunday I picked up my copy of Crossroads by Nancy Crow; this book accompanied the 2007 exhibit of 25 quilts by Nancy Crow at the Snyderman Gallery in Philadelphia, PA.  It is a catalog of beautiful photographs that capture the colors and textures of Nancy's graphic and bold quilts, and also the starting point for my next quilt.

Out with the rotary cutter and ruler, as well as my stash of solid fabrics; all Robert Kaufman Kona Cottons.   It wasn't long before numerous strips of fabric were cut in an array of bright and bold colors.  Sewing together long narrow strips of fabric hasn't always provided me with much joy, but rather than avoid doing so altogether, the time had come to face the challenge.

And honestly, once I started sewing the strips together ~ first into pairs and then joining pairs of strips together, etc ~ and was overly careful when pressing the strips/seams not to stretch and distort, the whole thing came together quickly and without too much use of the trusty spray starch.

Absolutely everything just fell into place ~ the sewing machine played nice and I was able to enjoy quite some sewing time in order to finish the quilt top.  The less pleasant task of basting followed thereafter, and I have even started quilting.

I will leave you with just a snippet of the quilting grid:  Crossroads.  Although the quilting will take some time to complete,  the added texture truly compliments this quilt.

Rita

RELEVANT LINKS:
The finished Crossroads Quilt
Crossroads Quilt Mark II

Sunday Stash #122 ~ Robert Kaufman Pure Organic Cottons

If you've been stopping by here for a while, you will already be familiar with my love for solid fabrics, ... and color, and even the occasional use of organic cotton prints and solids.

It should therefore not come as a surprise that when I saw this colorful Fat Quarter Bundle of solids there was a sharp intake of breath, and the rest is history.

Colors (above) from top to bottom:

Pink, Bright Pink, Cherry, Red, Orange, Marigold, Maize, Pear, Chartreuse, Aqua, Teal, Navy, Black, Steel, Grey, Chocolate, Hazelnut, Ivory, Ecru, White.

Robert Kaufman

Pure Organic Kona Cotton Solids

100% certified organic cotton and printed with low impact dyes.

Robert Kaufman Kona Pure Organic Kona Cotton available from:

The Fat Quarter Shop

Fabric Worm

The Quilted Castle 

Enjoy Sunday!

Rita

A Set of Four Pillows

Without further ado:

These four pillows are a Christmas gift for my mother and are custom made to fit rush covered kitchen chairs.   

The pillows measure 16 inches x 16 inches  ~  each pieced from 49 squares measuring 2.75" x 2.75" including seam allowances ~ and include a invisible zip inserted in the side seam so that the covers can be removed and washed with ease.

For the back of the pillows I have used a cotton/linen blend home decorator fabric for extra durability; it has been in my stash for some time awaiting the "right" project.  I love how it has a Christmas feel about it without it actually being a Christmas print.

Ready for the wrapping fairy ... I am not a huge fan of the wrapping paper and sticky tape.

Thank you for stopping by,
Rita

More Christmas Sewing

The weeks leading up to Christmas seem to pass by even more quickly than usual, and as I still have a considerable amount of present sewing (and knitting) to do, I am starting to feel a little panicky.

My mother is on top of the list of gift making and has asked for some cushions for her traditional dutch colonial kitchen chairs with woven rush (cane) seating.  These chairs have been in our family for close to 40 years and the rush covering is just starting to show a little wear.

And so I've spent some time sorting and choosing fabric (even pulling some pieces from the scrap bin), cutting small squares, and patchwork piecing. I think you will again recognize many of these prints ~ lots of Katie Jump Rope and Flea Market Fancy by Denyse Schmidt, tossed together with the usual dots and stripes.

Four kitchen chairs, means making four chair cushions.  After some thought I decided to make all four chair pillow/covers in the same color scheme ~ green, blue and brown.  Sorting through my stash I was reminded that I have very few brown prints in my stash; you see almost all of my brown fabric stash in these patchwork blocks.

It is time to start quilting these blocks and then turn them into cushion covers.

More soon.
Rita

Summer Rain ~ A Finished Quilt

A second finished custom quilt!

This is Part 2 of a custom order (see all of the details of Part 1 here).  My customer's brief was simple enough; two quilts for teenage girls ~ sisters, happy and colorful, but not the same. Other than that I was given full creative license, which truly is the most wonderful and uninhibited way to work for a customer.

I love that these quilts are so obviously a set and have a certain RPQ look about them, and yet they are so different, readily distinguishable by their color palettes.

Working on these quilts has served as a reminder that fabric and color play are my true love and that I should perhaps more often work with my awesome fabric stash.

Instead of outlining the seam lines I have quilted this second quilt with a cross-hatch; stitching diagonal lines from edge to edge through each of the squares in both directions. 

I could not resist a black and white stripe binding for this second quilt!  This striped fabric never fails to please the eye.  I am not sure if there is another fabric that works wonders for almost any quilt edge quite like this one.

Ready for shipping!

I am already pondering my next project ...

Rita

Buttonwillow Wrap ~ A Finished Knit

No fabric stashing today, but I do have a finished knit to show you. 

The Pattern:  Buttonwillow Wrap by Rosemary (Romi) Hill.

When I am taking a step back from the sewing machine I continue to turn to the knitting needles.  Knitting is hypnotic and soothing, and you can quickly while away time when waiting for ... cricket training to finish, appointments, hair foils to do their thing, kids that need to be picked up ... you know how it goes.

The Yarn:  Madelinetosh Merino Light in Grasshopper.

I've also continued my love affair with Madelinetosh Merino Light, a soft and squidgy single ply.  This shawl requires more than a single skein of yarn (I used the half skein of yarn left over from my Cladonia project), and as my two skeins were not from the same dye lot ~ and one was noticeably darker ~ I alternated the two skeins every two rows throughout this project.  

The Buttonwillow Wrap is a great portable knit, with simple repetitive chart reading.  I encountered some early difficulty with the center increases, and chose to use stitch markers to help me recognize the placement of the increases; and from there it was smooth sailing.

By the way, there is a lot of purling in this shawl.  If  you take on the challenge of knitting this shawl and you're not of fan of the purl stitch before this project, you will be afterwards!

For more pictures and all the details check out my Ravelry page:

Enjoy Sunday!
Rita

[workinprogress ~ on Thursday]

Today I thought I would share with you a little of the progress I've made:

Piecing a quilt top like this represents I guess about 5 hours of continuous picking up pieces, sewing together rows, and pressing seams.  Of course it takes much longer when you take into account coffee breaks, and all of the usual domestic chores to keep us all fed and in clean clothes.

When piecing together a quilt top like this I lay out all of the pieces on my design floor. Then, starting with the first row, I carefully pick up the fabric squares in order and sew them together into a row by chain piecing; first in pairs, then sewing the pairs together, etc.  I press seams as I go, alternating the direction of the seams for every row.

When all the rows are complete I sew the rows together.  Usually first into sets of 2 rows, then sets of 4 rows, etc until the quilt top is complete.

A fairly standard procedure, I suggest.

Happy sewing!
Rita