Tag Archives: sewing

New York Part 2: Quilting Inspiration

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While in New York, we took some time just to look around the city. Isn’t it amazing when you take some time out, just the places you find, that are inspiring. Here are a few photo’s of things which may land up in some way, shape or form in my quilting projects in future.

  1. Bluish Mod-Style Window facade of the building in middle of the photo. I can already see a great pieced quilt design in this building, the blocks all made of squares, rectangles and framed; each block being of a different size:IMG_7519
  2. This building struck me with shape and the vivid white-black-blue coloring. Once reviewing the photo, I also loved the addition of the orange and red that were captured in the overall photo.IMG_7520
  3. The windows of this building amazed me…I loved the composition of a quartered circle within a square within a square.
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  4. The stain glass dome in the roof here, could be the next FMQ pattern I could use for a large hexagon pieced project.
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  5. I love the design/composition of this pop art piece. Look at the vibrancy of those primary colors, blue, red, yellow, with the white and black. There is a splash of green which works out perfectly. IMG_7485
  6. I see two things I really like in this photo….the obvious one are the irregular shapes and colors used in this outdoor art piece. Secondly, look at the windows in the background…are those log cabin blocks I see?
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  7. Lastly, I was super impressed with the walls and walls of M&M’s. The photos were made at night, which is not the best, but hopefully you can still get the idea of a cool striped quilt or blocks out of these:
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Linking up with Lee @ Freshly Pieced WiP Wednesday (after all design is part of the work in progress right ? )

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Sea Spray: HST Pillow Completed!!!

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“Sea spray is a spray of seawater that forms when ocean waves crash, or high winds are blowing.” (from wikipedia).

That, I think, perfectly describes this finished HST pillow.  It was a dash to the finish, for sure, but I managed to finish my pillow that I am swapping this weekend.  I based this pillow off “Crystallized” by Angela Mitchell’s pattern in the Pillow Pop book (page 82). Instead of using the warm and cool color combinations, I swapped the warm for low-volume prints and made the cool color rings a single color within a the ring (not mixed). IMG_7424

I quilted irregular lines in the low volume portion of the pillow, which you can see more clearly in this close-up.IMG_7426

The back of the pillow I kept simple with using a single Kona Blue fabric. The opening I used an invisible zipper through the middle of the pillow (as I had done in my other two cushions blogged here). IMG_7428

I am including a picture of the pillow top backing, as you can really see the quilting. The top, I used organic cotton batting with muslin as the backing which is what you see here.IMG_7430

So I love the finish, the hubby wanted to keep it…..I hope my swap partner likes it!!
I blogged previously, showing photos of the making of the pillow – those can be found here and here. I shared the above photos on the “Pillow Pop” flickr group – in case you are interested in joining.

I am linking up with AmandaJean @ CrazyMomQuilts for Finish it up Friday.

Lovely Year of Finishes: June Goals

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It is halfway through the year….I am loving being part of the link-up party “A lovely year of finishes”, it makes me more focused and increases my productivity. You too can join, if you have not, try it for a month and see if it helps you…just click on the button below.

My Button

This month’s main goal will be:

  • Finish a baby quilt top, that I haven’t started yet. I do, however, have a design in mind.

In addition to this, I have also decided that I am not signing up for swaps this month….I want to spend some time doing my own thing. The last two months, I have loved my finishes, but they have been projects for our quilt guild, which is great to participate in. So, what will I do with assigned projects???….the smaller projects that have been swimming around in my head are:

  • Market Tote for me (using the pattern from Patchwork, please)
  • iPad cover (again I have been eyeing the pattern from Patchwork, please)
  • More Cushions/Pillows (there have been a couple I want to try from Pillow pop but I also have a couple of others in mind).
  • Hand-quilting on the Four Season’s in One Day quilt.

My goal is no pressure; I will just do what I can and in the time I want :-).

An update as well….Firstly, when I participated in the May Give-Away Day, the number one design item folks wanted was a design board, I knew how they felt :-). I made myself a design board using hard foam backing board and grey flannel (I love the grey background). I used staples and tape to stretch and flatten the flannel to the board.   It is amazing how the fabric pieces stick to the flannel – look at how well it works!!! If you don’t have a design board, give making one a try…it is really very easy and cheap. The whole thing cost me less than $10 (USD). Let me know if you want instructions.

The design board was invaluable as I laid out all my HST for my latest pillow project (pillow for our quilting guild pillow swap, next weekend). Here is where I am at and a look at my design board:
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For the pillow, I used blues, greens and aqua fabric prints and wanted to mix them with some low-volume fabrics….I am loving it all laid out on my design board. Isn’t so cool when you have an idea in your head and it becomes equal or better in reality :-). The pillow should land up being 20 inches (the swap was for 18 in” but I really wanted to do this design, I am sure the person receiving it will not mind).

Here is a full look of my design board. I will be adding a couple of grommets in the top corners so I can hang it but also still have it portable. By adding these I can move it when the light changes in my workspace I can put it where it works. IMG_7405

I think this board has worked so well, I am also thinking of adding a second design board…which I could store on the same hooks.

I hope you all had a great weekend. I look forward to seeing all the wonderful WiP’s and Finishes everyone did this week. Linking up with Beth’s “Let’s get acquainted”.

Plum and June