STLMQG Collection Project

You might remember I mentioned the STLMQG Collection Challenge earlier in April. Here is my focus fabric and the collection fabrics that my challenge partner chose to go with it. She totally gets my style - I love the colors and the geometric prints.

STLMQG Collection Challenge:

My focus fabric and coordinates received from my swap partner

I found some friends in my stash (imagine that!) and I might have found a couple more in Paducah. This is what I'm doing with them:

Challenge fabrics and friends on my design wall 4/29/15

Still playing with layout, moving them around...

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced and Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts. Check out all the other inspiration there!

Paducah Surprise

Nothing on my design wall today, but with all the fabric I bought in Paducah, there will surely be projects there soon. See yesterday's post below for all that fabric bounty!

Speaking of Paducah, I encountered the most wonderful surprise in the bubble - the AQS Author's Showcase booth had posters of books that are coming soon. I found mine there!!! Mine is Cut and Shuffle Quilts, at the right. This is the first time I've seen the cover (other than the thumbnail on Amazon). I was thrilled!

AQS books coming soon

Me and my book poster

I still don't have a publication date; Amazon says available August 18. A far cry from the February 2015 publication AQS originally told me when they accepted the book proposal.

The description Amazon has is terrible - inaccurate and a total turn-off to quilters. I'm trying to get it changed, both via Amazon and via AQS.

Description on Amazon

This is what I've suggested they use instead:

"Modern and traditional quilters unite with these easy to make quilts. Complete instructions are included for blocks which start from a simple square called the “Block Mama,” which is then cut, shuffled, and reassembled to create four unique blocks.  The blocks are featured in six different quilts ranging in size from 40 inches square to 76 by 88 inches. Alternate fabric and colorway suggestions are given for each of these versatile quilts. "

Anyway, I was thrilled to see the poster of my book at the show in Paducah. There's hope that it'll be out sooner or later!

Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times - Check out everyone else's design walls over there for some quilty inspiration.

Post-Paducah Stash Update

My name is Jan and I'm a fabriholic. I indulged. And I enjoyed it. And I'm not sorry.

I haven't even counted the yardage yet. I'll tally up the totals for the month and year to date next week. I'm going to have a busy year of sewing if I want to consume all this!

It's pretty amazing how over three days of shopping at multiple locations, without carrying swatches, I came away with stuff that works together.

Pink, Orange & Yellow, inspired by that top print from Hancock's back room.

 

Backings

Selected with specific projects in mind. 

These were actually on my shopping list!

 

Black & White & Feminine.

I found the black floral to go with something in my stash, and the rest came along to play.

Love that bias stripe at the bottom for binding - all my friends got some and we scarfed up the bolt.

 

Masculine, and also because they go with something else that's percolating in my head.

 

More black prints because that border print goes with something I already have in my stash.

 

Stash Basics 

When you find good basics in Hancock's back room or the

color of the day at Eleanor Burns, you have to stock up, right?

 

Low Volume - ditto comment above.

They counted ivory and beige in the tan color of the day at EB.

You can never have too many pale neutrals, right?

 

Score!

Some Kaffe Fasset prints and friends from Hancock's back room,

at the last minute before I left town.

 

I had a very successful and fun trip! Oh, and seeing the show quilts was great, too - overwhelming in their complexity and excellence, but so inspiring. Plus there was a surprise - more tomorrow.

 

Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times for the fabric Stash Report. I know I'm not the only one who may have indulged my fabric habit a bit in Paducah!

 

 

 

Basted and Ready for Quilting

My Hands 2 Help lap quilt is layered and pin basted, ready for quilting. I'm getting ready to go to Paducah, so it'll have to wait until I get back.

H2H top, basted

The top was made using fat eighths from a Benartex bundle I picked up several years ago. I used the rest of them and some more of the beige background print to piece the back.

H2H back

I haven't decided how I'm going to quilt it yet. My FMQ skills are pretty much limited to an all-over meander. Any suggestions?

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced and Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts. Check out all the inspiration there!

Pattern info for my H2H lap quilt

Yesterday I posted a progress report for Hands2Help at Confessions of a Fabric Addict; I'm making a lap quilt for Happy Chemo. Here's the top:

H2H Happy Chemo WIP

A couple of people asked about the pattern. The pattern is my own design, LINKED, which you can find in the Patterns tab above (scroll down). 

LINKED

LINKED Pattern:
Size 40", skill level Easy, price $9.00 includes US postage. Can be made using background yardage plus either a Charm Pack and Jelly Roll, or 8 Fat Eighths.

Please contact me via the comments or at ochterbeckj (at) gmail (dot) com if you're interested in purchasing the pattern. Thank you!

Linking up with Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times. Nothing new on my design wall this week, but the H2H quilt is now basted and ready for quilting.

H2H Progress

I'm participating in Hands 2 Help over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict and today is progress update link day. I'm making a lap quilt for Happy Chemo and I've got the top together:

H2H Top

Actually it was a little windy when I was taking pictures, but I was finally able to get a better one:

H2H Top

This will finish at 40" square, a good lap size for wheelchair users that (so I'm told) won't get caught in the wheels.

This started out as a fat eighth bundle from Benartex featuring lots of luscious purples that I picked up at the AQS show several years ago. The top used 8 fat eighths and a yard of beige print background, so I can count two yards out of my stash this week. I'll use the remaining fat eighths and a bit more of the beige to piece together the backing, but since it's not finished I can't count it out yet.

Linking up with Patchwork Times for the Stash Report and Confessions of a Fabric Addict for H2H progress update. Check out all the inspiring projects!

B-Day Outfit for Maddie

My great niece and nephew' birthday party is this weekend. They'll be six and eight. Maddie's all girly-girl, loves clothes, loves to twirl. She was thrilled when I made her a dress and cardigan and a matching outfit for her doll for Christmas 2013.

She's probably outgrown that dress by now, so it's time for a new twirly skirt. And of course one for the doll.

Full Circle Skirt, and one for Dolly too

 Since Maddie's the only girl among four great nephews and a grandson, and I never had a daughter, she's the only one I can sew special girly outfits for. I think I'll enjoy it while she's young enough to appreciate it!

Linking up with Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict and With Friday Finish at Crazy Mom Quilts. Check out all the inspirational finishes over there!

Cutting, Marking, Boring...

My design wall looks the same today as it did last week.

Hand Piecing Project on Design Wall

I'm cutting and marking triangles for the borders. All black batik, same as the setting triangles. I need 250 and I have 196 cut so far. I also need 26 of each left or right half-triangles for the ends and I'm almost there.  I think I'll have just enough yardage.

Stack of 196 Triangles

Since this is a hand piecing project, each piece must be marked with seam lines for hand stitching. Very tedious! This batik has a noticeable difference between the sides so I'm being careful to keep the pieces all same side up as I mark them.

Triangles Marked for Hand Piecing

 

The only sewing I did over the weekend was one X and Plus block for a bee friend.  These blocks are fun to make and are great for using a scrappy variety of fabrics.

X and Plus Block for Bee Friend

Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times - check out all the quilty inspiration over there. Much less boring than my hundreds of black triangles!

Stash Report 4/12/15: Fabric Collections

IN this week: 1-1/4 yards from STLMQG Collection Challenge
OUT this week: 1-1/2 yards to STLMQG Collection Challenge

The challenge was to take a partner's focus fabric and add four FQ's to it to build a collection. The challenge coordinator is an aspiring fabric designer who talked a bit about what makes a good collection when she issued the challenge. Considerations include color, value, scale, and theme or mood.

Here's what I received, with my focus fabric (challenge fabric) at the bottom:

Challenge Fabrics Received

My swap partner was generous and gave me an extra FQ, plus some chocolates! Pretty nice collection. She did great  - I really like what she chose - and her tastes are so different from mine.

My challenge fabric and the coordinates I gave away are these:

Challenge Fabrics Given

This was one of the more fun fabric swaps we've had and I'd like to do it again sometime.

Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times - check out the other stash reports over there.

Just A Little Finish for a Friend

Just a little mug rug. My SIL J asked me to make it for her friend who's suffering some serious health issues. 

Mug rug for SIL's Alaska mission friend

 

J and her husband go on a mission trip to a remote village in Alaska every summer, and this friend is one of their fellow Alaska missionaries. They take "vacation bible school" to a coastal village above the Arctic Circle. The friend won't be able to go any more.  J asked me to make a "tea coaster thing" for her friend like a mug rug I had made for her several years ago.

The moose tracks fabric is all I had left with any kind of Alaska theme. I used it for the back of the mug rug, too. It's left over from a quilt I made for J and her family in 2011. Since that was before I started blogging and I've never shown it on the blog, here's a picture of it.  I used the moose tracks print for the binding as well as some of the patches.

Alaska themed quilt for SIL and her family, 2011

Anyway, I hope the little mug rug brings a smile to J's friend.

Linking up with Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Friday Finish at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Back on the wall again

This is a very long term WIP. It's a project I'm doing with CSQ Piecing Group, all hand stitching.

Rows on the design wall 4/6/2015

We've been working on it for several go-rounds, first to make triangles out of tiny kite shapes. It's all batik fabrics, and all hand pieced (not EPP).

Pieced triangles

 

The short sides of the kite shapes measure 1" and the triangles will finish about 3-1/2" tall.

Partial assembly

 

The triangles have been pieced together into rows.

Triangles pieced into rows

Next up will be borders of more of the black triangles. The existing rows you see on the wall will get black triangles and half-triangles on the ends to create side borders. There will also be two rows of black triangles at the top and at the bottom for borders. 

I'm getting kits ready to hand out in May. I don't know if I have enough of the black batik left, so I'm cutting triangles and if I need more, I'll pick up more black batik in Paducah and alternate the old dye lot with the new dye lot.

It will be a couple more go-rounds of Piecing Group before the top is done, though, and then some final row seams which I'll finish up. When the top is finally done, I'm hoping to have it hand quilted by CSQ Monday Quilters.  So it'll be quite awhile longer as a WIP.

This quilt will be named How Many. Unofficial count so far:
- kite pieces - 2070
- pieced triangles - 690
- hexagons - 115
- black triangles - ???
- different batik fabrics - 164 so far
- people worked on this - still counting
- years in the making - started in 2008 and still counting

Estimated final size will be a generous queen size, probably somewhere around 96 x96" or so.

Linking up with Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced, and Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts. Check them out for more quilty inspiration!

Stash report & family quilts 4/5/15

IN this week: 1/4 yard for STLMQG "Collection Challenge"
OUT this week: nothing I can count yet, but I did prep the backing for Gramercy & Friends. I'll count it when the quilt is finished and bound.

My swap partner for the STLMQG Collection Challenge chose the colorful focus print below. My assignment is to collate four FQs to coordinate with it as a collection. My swap partner is also a member of my bee and she has a new baby granddaughter. I couldn't resist throwing in an extra FQ for her. Plus, the aqua Pearl Bracelet print is left over from a STLMQG pillow project last year, so since it was originally a guild fabric, I'm including it for her. What do you think - how did I do at building a collection? (The purple prints look too blue in the photo but in real life the cast is very good)

STLMQG Collection Challenge

In other news, DS is bringing baby CJ to spend Easter and Monday with us. Whoo-hoo! So of course we have to have a baby quilt for at grandma's house. I pulled this one out of the closet.

Grandma's baby quilt

DH commented whined that baby CJ already has three quilts and he only has one. What he doesn't know yet is that Gramercy and Friends is for him. I passed Gramercy off to the long armer yesterday, and she promised it will be ready in time for Father's Day.  I think Gramercy looks masculine and sophisticated. I don't usually show DH my WIPs so he hasn't seen much of it and hasn't seen the top finished.

Gramercy & Friends top

And since all the other family members are mentioned in this post, I better not leave out this one.

Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times for Stash Report Sunday.

PLUS DASH Pattern

Churn Dash blocks and Plus motifs are so popular in quilting now that I decided to combine them into one design.

Plus Dash quilt

 

Introducing my latest pattern, PLUS DASH.

Plus Dash Pattern

Fabric requirements and instructions are given for five sizes, ranging from baby to queen.

Skill level EASY.

Plus Dash Pattern

I chose a cheerful selection of bright midtone colors for my quilt. This pattern also works well using designer collections, neutrals, or patriotic colors.

Plus Dash illustrated in neutral colors

 

Plus Dash illustrated in Quilt of Valor colors

 

To purchase, contact me at ochterbeckj@gmail.com. Pattern price $11.00 includes postage to US and Canada. Sorry, at this time I cannot take orders from EU countries due to the VAT situation.

 

Linking up with Friday Finish at  Crazy Mom Quilts and Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.