Pillow challenge - take 2

The Seattle MQG is in the midst of a pillow-making challenge right now that I organized with Me+You/Hoffman fabric. I love their modern Indah batiks and wanted to give our guild the chance to play with them. Me+You was super generous in sending over tons of bundles for us to pass out to interested members, who are then to make a pillow cover with Me+You fabrics and any other Hoffman fabrics they want to add. They are going to be displayed at the Pacific Fabrics Northgate store for about a month starting July 15th.

I had a few ideas for what I'd like to make but finally decided on using the Meridian quilt pattern by Alison Glass and Jessica Beaudet. This is one of many patterns I have that I would love to make but have not found the time yet. All those curves are a little daunting as well so a pillow is the perfect place to start.

I cut up the provided fabric along with a few others (so happy I won some of their solids at Quiltcon!) to make 4 blocks from the pattern. I was not loving my creation. My 4 blocks didn't really look right to me but I could not figure out exactly what needed changing. I think they would be fine if I was making a whole quilt and all of the colors were incorporated into other parts of the quilt but not so much for just the 4 sections alone.

Yesterday, I cut pieces for 4 more blocks from a different section of the quilt pattern. I planned it out a little better this time and I think I like it better. Now I've just got to find some time to sew it together in the next few days and finish this pillow up! Although looking at it here, I may need to change out a piece or two before sewing. We shall see.

However it ends up, this has convinced me that I DO need to make a full quilt of this pattern. It shall be added to the never-ending to do list. Also, the original block (above, with the green) is now growing on me. Maybe it will be a 2 sided pillow!

SEAM Swap

Usually about once a year in the Seattle MQG, we do a swap with a specific person in mind. All of the other swaps are blind but I prefer making for someone in particular and receiving something made just for me. We had this swap at our October meeting last week.

I was lucky enough to draw Louise of I'm Feelin' Crafty. She sews so much amazing stuff and I'm always looking forward to seeing what she comes up with next. She had a few ideas of what she would like and one of those was an Autumn pillow for her house. I was more than happy to oblige with the weather turning a bit cooler these days.

I thought about it a little and decided to miniaturize Emily / Carolina Patchwork's very cool Percolate pattern in a Fall palette. It was pretty cool seeing all the blocks come together with her method. I tried a few different layouts and ended up mixing up all the HST colors instead of leaving them in chunks in the original pattern.

I was pretty happy with the layout but ended up making this MUCH bigger than I intended - it was 26x26"! So into a euro sham it became with a fancy little quilted flange all around. I had fun free motion quilting the top and used some secretly scored not-yet-released Karen Lewis fabric for the back. I mean, it was really the perfect color for this. I told Louise she can cut the whole thing into something smaller if the pillow cover is too big for her but I think she likes it.

In return, I was gifted this gorgeous mini quilt from Jaci, made of Alison Glass Handcrafted prints and chambray. It's so pretty and I really love her quilting. On the back she has scraps of all the beautiful prints and handy corner tabs so I can easily hang it. I had said I was open to receiving whatever the maker wanted to make so hopefully that made it more fun than stressful. I'm going to add this one to the growing wall of minis in my office.

Faux Clamshells are the cutest

Awhile back, I saw a really cool tutorial by Rachel of Stitched in Color that I knew I wanted to try at some point. That point has finally come and I liked it so much I did it twice!

Rachel made faux clamshells by cutting circles and layering them just so. The cutting of the circles was the most tedious part but it went pretty quickly. Then it was time to arrange and sew them down! For both sets, I created a panel to use as the outside of a Lola Pouch, my current favorite pouch pattern (though I do tend to just make it whatever size I make it).

The first was gifted to Christina Cameli when she came to teach a workshop to the Seattle MQG. I wanted hers to be in our signature aqua, white, and grey. I was even able to combine a few circle shapes to make one of the pieces out of a little logo print I had on hand.

The second was a long-overdue pouch for my friend Allison who had won a giveaway on my instagram when I reached 1000 followers. I tried to incorporate her favorite Cotton and Steel colors and prints. I'd say she definitely likes it!

I always like to finish my pouches with my tag (need to order more!) and a fun zipper pull charm. Do you have a good source for tags? What do you like to use for a charm?

I now want to make several more of these but lack the desire to cut circles. Thankfully, Kathy was kind enough to lend me her Sizzix cutter at our Meetup so I've got a nice big stack now and I can make more. Yay!

Quiltcon Hangover

So I just spent 5 days in Austin and saw basically 1% of the city, I was so busy. I took a few lectures, a few workshops, and lots of walking around taking it all in and talking to everyone. I loved meeting so many of my online friends in real life and was touched that Anne was carrying around the Super Tote I made her! It was also exciting to meet so many "sewlebrities" who I would not otherwise have come in contact with.Quiltcon was so incredibly fun for me that I almost feel like I'm still there and I really, really cannot wait for next year's event in Pasadena.

Seattle girls unite! Kristen Ballou, Krista Withers, and me!

Kristen and I with awesome quilty sewlebrities Vanessa Christenson, Lee Heinrich, and Faith Jones. I loved chatting with them at the Moda party! 

Anne brought the Super Tote I made her! Also, Austin Eastciders is delicious.

My first workshop was Emphasis with Carolyn Friedlander. It was wonderful spending the day with her and taking in her creative energy. I wish we had talked more about how to emphasize the different parts of the quilt though. I did not realize when I signed up for the class that we would just be making a paper pieced pattern from her new book. I love paper piecing and would consider myself to be pretty good at it already so I would have loved to give my spot to someone who wanted to learn more about the technique. In any case, I was able to piece a few blocks and I have a plan for the rest of the quilt. I'm looking forward to piecing the rest of it with my much-preferred freezer paper technique.

Carolyn and I with my Emphasis blocks

Carolyn will everyone's pieced Emphasis blocks

My next class was Improv with Intent with Cheryl Arkison. I loved it! We were asked to come to class with a few ideas to work with. Mine were jellyfish and scissors. Totally unrelated, I know. Cheryl asked us to think about and sketch out our idea to make a plan that we would then sew together. We could use rulers to cut but only for the straight line aspect - we were not allowed to measure anything. Quarter inch seams were still required - just because it's improv doesn't mean it's sloppy or poorly constructed. Cheryl was really great about working with each person individually and keeping everyone going. This class was pretty short but I did have time to make one jellyfish block. I plan to make several more in different sizes to piece into a whole ocean of jellies.

Improv with Intent - sketching out the design

Improv with Intent - my first jellyfish!

Cheryl and I at the end of class

My final day was spent in workshops with Angela Walters, one of my free motion quilting heroes. It was wonderful! I loved watching her draw out the designs and then of course practicing them on the long arm was a lot of fun too. Everyone left with tons of ideas and a sample piece. The last half of the day was a separate drawing class. It was fun but a lot of what we did was covered in her book and I was tired from being at the conference all week. In the end though, I had a great time and have started teaching my brain some great FMQ designs.

My FMQ work from Angela Walters' class

When I was not in workshops, I spent as much time as possible walking around. I talked to so many vendors and exhibitors about different things that we have planned for the Seattle MQG. I was super excited to meet my friend Alyssa of Pile O'Fabric. She was just as sweet in real life. Actually, that seemed to be a big theme throughout all of Quiltcon. Everyone was so nice! I spent quite a bit of time at the Cotton and Steel booth on Thursday, sewing up some pincushions and gift bags and those women were also incredibly sweet and fun to hang out with.

Alyssa of Pile O'Fabric and I

With Alexia Abegg and Sarah Watts of Cotton and Steel

Of course I had to take a picture with Alison Glass while I was wearing her fabric!

All in all, the show was fantastic. It was inspiring to see so many different modern quilts and have so many modern quilters come together in the same place. The show organizers did a wonderful job. See you in Pasadena!

Matt and I testing our Kona IQ - I got 180! 

My Falling quilt was on display in the Pinwheels booth and was in wonderful company! Pinwheels is a great US shop selling Oakshott fabrics. Hello cheaper shipping!

Love practicing some FMQ on the longarms at quilt shows!

Michael Miller had a fun booth asking what people liked to sew

Cute dresses everywhere! This is Niku from Stitch Lab.

Matt with his amazing bias challenge quilt

So many swaps

I have this habit of signing up for too many swaps. My boyfriend is convinced I only ever make things for other people and sometimes he is not too far off the mark. I end up making a lot of things that I love and sending them off to new homes. The good thing is that I know they are going to someone who will love them as much as I do.

A photo posted by Sew all the things! (@allisonsews) on Dec 12, 2014 at 8:33pm PST

This past weekend we had our Seattle MQG holiday party and sew in, and there was a swap involved. I started making a super cute pouch for the party with some paper pieced letters on one side and tiny geese on the other. It was a major pain in the ass - don't EVER use Essex for tiny paper piecing! It's just too thick. The letters looked awesome in the end though and I loved the pouch.

Since this one wasn't destined for anyone in particular, I kept it. The boyfriend is proud of me for making something that I'm keeping. And I'll get to enjoy my own handiwork for a long time to come.

Allison

Seattle MQG Retreat

This past weekend was the Seattle MQG's Fall Retreat and it was so much fun! Three whole days at a retreat center in the wilderness with nothing to do but sew. I guess we could have hiked or swam, but sewing was all I wanted to do.

Of course with the list I posted last week you would think I had tons of projects to work on but sometimes too many options are a bad thing. I made some Diamonds in Diamonds blocks out of some Cotton and Steel fabric I got a few months ago. I started setting them but need to do a little more work to finish the sashing. I'm really liking them so far though!

A photo posted by Sew all the things! (@allisonsews) on Nov 11, 2014 at 10:00am PST

I made a cute little mouse friend to go with the Forest Abstractions coyote I pieced a few months ago. They are BFFs already and are going to have a lot of fun playing with their new owner. Just need to quilt this little guy and finish it up now!

A photo posted by Sew all the things! (@allisonsews) on Nov 11, 2014 at 5:50pm PST

I took my first stab at some graffiti quilting a la Karlee Porter and it was pretty fun! I was testing Juki to make sure he was ready for some FMQ so I could do a little work for a friend. Unfortunately I figured out that Juki does not like glue or applique work. Dang it, no quilting over her applique quilt. At least I figured out why the quilting didn't go so well on Falling - I had glue basted many of the pieces together.

A photo posted by Sew all the things! (@allisonsews) on Nov 11, 2014 at 12:24am PST

On Sunday, I walked some friends through Noodlehead's open wide pouch tutorial, one of my favorites to make. They were great students!

A photo posted by Sew all the things! (@allisonsews) on Nov 11, 2014 at 1:46pm PST

This also happened to be my birthday weekend and my very sweet friend Kristen made me the most adorable birthday cake pincushion!

A photo posted by Sew all the things! (@allisonsews) on Nov 11, 2014 at 1:21pm PST

I'm already looking forward to our next retreat!

Allison

PS - sorry about all the IG pics. I actually did have my real camera there but only managed to take pictures of what everyone else was working on!