Throw pillow love

After repainting our bedroom I got the itch to pretty much remove everything unneeded from the room, only return a select few pieces, and begin redecorating. With Josiah beginning kindergarten and exiting the little kid phase, I'm feeling like we can finally begin creating a home that feels "pulled together" vs. "thrown together." 6 months later...the room is slowly still evolving. Two of my very favorite additions have been a throw size quilt to drape over the upholstered chair (which will be replaced at some point with something non squeaky and non floral) and 5 pillows for the bed and the chair. I actually chose the pillow fabric last summer to compliment a massive California king sized quilt I've been working on (currently waiting for it to come back from the machine quilter). I absolutely LOVE them! They look fabulous even when the bed pillows are stored under the side table. In a room filled with grey and other neutrals they add just the right pop of color. 

Oh, what a stash!

Almost exactly 2 years ago I sewed my first quilt and promptly threw almost all of the remaining scraps of fabric away. It's taken this long for me to regret that decision, and now I'm totally kicking myself. At the time, that quilt began as at project to check off of my bucket list, and I was more testing the waters to see if sewing was something I'd ever want to take up again than anything. It didn't take long before I started pinning ideas for projects and purchased my own machine, but without a dedicated space for sewing, completed projects were few and far between and pretty simplistic.

It wasn't until this past winter when Modern Textiles opened their doors that I really became enthusiastic about sewing, and not really until this summer before I began making a point to make time for it. I've limited myself to mainly purchasing fabric for specific purposes or projects to keep my stash of fabric pretty refined and limited, and since I typically use most of what I purchase I have a very limited supply of scraps. Up until this weekend I considered that smart sewing, until I met Amanda Jean Nyberg of Crazy Mom Quilts and my jaw dropped when I saw her scrap quilts and pillows. Wow, I wish I had her eye for fabric. Her style of mixing vibrant colors and a huge variety of fabrics creates the most beautiful effect. Clearly I need to become braver and step out of my comfort zone, and clearly I need to not be afraid to collect a variety of fabrics that I love, even if I don't have a specific project in mind at the time. And now, of course, I'm wishing that I hadn't thrown away those original remnants of the fabrics I used for Josiah's quilt, since they would have been PERFECT in this pillow for his bed!

Isn't that bold, beautiful, cozy, and modern all wrapped up in one? I have never had any intention of sewing anything with little pieces or considered attempting to machine quilt anything I make, but the vibrant colors and prints just suck me in and make me want to attempt a few things that are out of my current comfort zone. This pillow is just one of Amanda's pillows, as you can see here in her blog post. After visiting with her briefly at the shop this weekend and getting to see and touch her work, I'm feeling oh so inspired to try a few scrappy pillows to work my way into working with smaller pieces. Through watching her do some spiral machine quilting in the shop and listening to her talk about how to begin small scale, I think I've mustered enough courage to attempt this on my own. Hence...let the stashing of fabric begin...

I picked up "a few" fat quarters in both prints and solids to begin a collection of pieces to work with. The charm pack (bundle of tiny squares) will be my first project inspired by Amanda. Pillow tutorial on her blog here... Going to be going WAY out of my comfort zone on this one...putting together little pieces and lining everything up accurately, doing my own machine quilting, first envelope pillow assembly (red polka dot under the charm pack will be the backside of the pillow, envelope tutorial here...), and first attempt at making my own pillow form (her tutorial for that here...)...I just LOVED the weight and feel of the forms she made herself. Soft enough for napping on the couch, but much denser and heftier than the wimpy pre made ones. I'm sure no pillow fights would happen with these.

I am totally inspired to try quilting a few pillows to test the waters. Jim will "love" that! Piles of pillows are his absolute favorite. Lol! I just added 5 throw pillows to our bedroom on top of the 6 bed pillows. What's a few more, right? The living room and Josiah's bed clearly need a few.

If you are interested in Amanda's book, which I picked up (and had autographed!!!) this weekend, here is the link...

Happy stashing and sewing y'all!

Note: Credit for pillow pictures goes to Amanda and her blog. I snapped a few on my iPhone this weekend, but they just didn't do them justice. 

Strip Quilt, Part 2

So the fabric fiasco that I alluded to in my Strip Quilt, Part 1 post is here...and here's the story. I picked out a group of gorgeous fabrics that all went together at my favorite fabric shop (Modern Textiles), and stacked the bolts on the cutting table. From a side view they appeared beautiful and well-balanced, but after I began sewing the strips together there was one fabric in particular that seemed to stand out more than the others. Yikes! After some major heartache and debate, I decided to explore another option and begin removing that fabric from its many locations in my quilt. My sister and I headed to the local quilt shop, which was filled with many not-so-fun prints, and we managed to find a substitute. The fabric in question appears in the left and center photo, and is a white background with grey leaves. It was replaced by the light grey herringbone, which appears almost solid in the picture on the right.

Did I make the right decision? At the time I was totally convinced that the white with grey leaves stood out too much. I really wanted the bolder prints to stand out, and I think since the white background was so bright it caught my eye more than I had anticipated. The grey herringbone is very soft, more muted, and definitely blends unnoticed into the quilt allowing my favorites to take center stage undisputed. Ironically, now that I'm typing this post and looking back at the original mix of prints, I am finding myself liking the brightness that the one I removed brought to the overall appearance. Oh well...too late now to reconsider any decisions!

I'm now in the process of sewing the backside of my quilt. Below are the three cuts that I am totally head over heels in love with. They will be sewn together in three large rectangles running horizontally. The two patterns are from the first line of Cotton and Steel, and the solid is Moda. They are such a beautiful blend of neutral ivory, and even though they are much less bold than the front, I think they are just as beautiful. 

As much as I'd love to say that the final post on this project will be out soon, it's highly unlikely that I will complete the back, get it to and from the machine quilter, and finish binding anytime in the near future. The holidays with all their road tripping fun might just be the perfect time for the seeming miles of hand sewing required to wrap up this monster of a project. 

Strip Quilt, Part 1

From the lovely ladies at Modern Textiles who are quilt math wizards:

For a strip quilt in California King size (100" wide x 98" long), for those of us with 6' 4" hubbies, choose:

7 x 1.25 yard cuts for quilt top

1 x 1 yard cut for binding

Here's my stack! Go ahead and drool...

See that coral color piece peeking out? That's going to be my binding. It's also going to become one of 5 coral colored throw pillows in different prints. Love! 

Step 1: Iron and Cut

From each of the 7 pieces chosen for your quilt top cut 4.75" strips running parallel with the salvage edge. This will make the longest strips. Cut your binding strips 2.25" in whichever direction you prefer the pattern to run for your binding. 

Step 2:

Sew strips end to end, making sure to not put two of the same together. Also pay attention to the directionality of your strips. I had three fabrics that always needed to be sewn facing the same direction. 

Step 3:

Cut your one ridiculously long strip into strips of equal length. Since I completed this step at the lake without my cutting mat and grid, I used the tile floor in the kitchen for my cutting guide. :)

Note:

I "oopsed" the directions and bought too much fabric (that's why you don't forget the pattern at home when you go to pick out fabric). I bought 1 1/3 yards, so I had to adjust the overall dimensions. Instead of 22 rows at 98" long, I had 27 rows at 112". 

Upcoming in Part 2...my fabric fiasco...

Sew Much to Get Ready!

So we're headed to the lake, and can you guess what my boys are planning to do???

Me? Not so much a fisherwoman. Jim's "rendition" of my trips out on the boat go like this..."Yeah, I'll go out for awhile and read while you fish." (30-60 minutes later, or just as he's settling in) "Ok, I'm ready to go back." Drives him crazy!!! I do like to be out on the water, but I don't like baking to a crisp or trying to read and relax in a super cramped boat seat while constantly having to move around to stay comfortable. Maybe someday we'll get a pontoon so we have the best of all worlds. 

I am, however, planning to sew, read, work on photos, sew, maybe nap, sew, read, work on photos some more, SEW... Thanks to Pinterest and the lovely Connie and Roxanne at Modern Textiles (MT on Facebook or their website) I have a pile of gorgeous fabric and a list of sewing projects as long as my arm. If you sew and you haven't visited their shop, seriously, you need to go. Now. They have impeccable taste, everything in their shop from the fabric choices to the displays to the decor is set up to inspire, their product lines are nothing but quality, and they take the time to get to know their customers while they ever so patiently help you find the perfect print (or 7). I am slowly becoming less lost in the world of sewing, though I am still belligerently sticking to things that only require sewing straight lines, for now.

And since a good chunk of our vacation is forecasted rain, I'm planning to spend much of the time my handsome hubby and adorable son are fishing turning these (7)...

...into a larger version of this...

...and these (4) combinations...

...into a few of these adorable elephants!!! (click here for the link to the tutorial)

I was going to make these two ultra and unbelievably soft fabrics into a baby blanket...

...but couldn't wait to put them together for a dear friend today...

...and created very possibly my most favorite baby blanket ever!!!

Almost every one of these projects will be made exclusively from fabric from Roxanne and Connie. I typically don't let my MT fabrics "play" with the other fabrics I had purchased previously elsewhere, but I had a few in my stash that were just too perfect for the elephants to not use. LOL

Have I done this before?

If I looked on my Facebook wall about this time last year, and probably the year before, I'm pretty sure I'd find pictures of my new / newly or organized / reorganized desk. Seriously?! Have I not learned that I need to take care of things right away as the only way to maintain an organized office? So often I hear, "You're so organized!" If only that were always true. Confession: I hate paperwork. I hate filing. I hate grading papers. I hate all that clean up stuff at the end. I have an ottoman full of paper that needs to be filed, shredded, or simply thrown. And I get totally overwhelmed when I've let something pile up. So...this is the year to finally "learn my lesson." I still have few odds and ends to go through, but after I go through the last two bins I'm eliminating any unused containers so I can't do it again. Can someone please check up on me at the end of July. :) (or remind me next year at this time that the reason I have a mess is because the last month of school is c.r.a.z.y.)

Here's my "new office." What do I love? My jar full of washi tape, my plethora of pens and other writing utensils, and my reshuffled shelf of projects that is no longer a mess (since twice during the school year I had the not-so-brilliant idea...yes, twice...to move cookbooks and then unfinished photo albums here). Talk about visually overstimulating. This is much better. I also love the cabinet that matches my desk, and holds almost all of my Mary Kay inventory perfectly. SO much easier to get at, and since it's out of the closet we can store all our office supplies IN the closet. What a thought, huh? And all the bins in my Expedit shelf? They're full of beautiful fabric, batting, scraps...everything I need for a brain break when I just can't take any more office work. Sigh...It's amazing how much calmer I feel when my space is settled and everything has a home. 

Now, even though I still have filing to do and a planner to create, I'm going to take a break from organizing for some "me time." I haven't just stopped to do whatever I want yet this summer. It's.About.Time. Look at these gorgeous fabrics so beautifully folded...they are going to become a quilt for our bed and 5 throw pillows. I can hardly wait!!!

Ready to Ride!

Took part of the afternoon off to do some online perusing with Josiah for ideas for his birthday party. Last year I fully intended to do a party after the holidays, but without an actual birthday and the presence of an awful winter (the plan was to do a sledding party) it just didn't happen. So this year I'm going to be a much better mom and start planning a month early. Can you guess what our theme is going to be? Yep...bikes! Josiah and I ran down to Unglued on Broadway so we could check out the new fabrics that Modern Textiles just stocked...what perfect timing!!! So excited to use these for decor and favors!!!

While we were there I just couldn't leave these two...the print on the left I've used before and LOVE, and the one on the right is just absolutely gorgeous. I see some beautiful baby gifts for some of my beautiful friends in the near future! 

Oh sew fun!!!

Thank you Lori Steinbrink for road tripping with me to your family quilt shop! I am SO excited about all the new projects I am now supplied for! Here's a sneak peak at what's to come!!!

I see a sweet, soft, snuggly receiving blanket...

So many possibilities in here...the two fat quarters on the lid will be pin cushions, and the rest inside will be a combination of burp clothes for baby gifts and owl heating pads for Josiah and a few other special friends.

Future throw pillows to coordinate with Josiah's newly finished quilt.

My big splurge...the softest, most beautiful ivory minky I've seen with a contrasting flannel back. Josiah is clearly the most spoiled child, unless I decide to keep this one for myself. :)

This last stash didn't come from the quilt shop. Modern Textiles is a local fabric company, currently without a shop. I picked these up a few weeks ago at The Studio in downtown Fargo, but they also have fabric available at Eco Chic and Unglued. The teal will back another baby gift, the yellow/grey and yellow chevron will be pouches or bags to hold my sewing supplies or other goodies, the blue chevron will be a drawstring top bag for toy storage, and the blue bicycle pattern has yet to be determined. 

Would love to start right now, but folding laundry, grading a few papers, and whipping up a pot of Southwest Chicken Soup for dinner are first on my list!