Color Play Friday -NYC

It’s Friday! It’s Friday! Another day to play with fabric and colors. I had some fun this time with the bright colors within this photo. As with all the #colorplayfriday pictures there are always options of palettes to work with.

This week I decided to go more bold than I have the in the past couple weeks. I tried to stay a little more primary in the color choices. I’m not sure if I had more fun picking the bright colors or the fun fabrics to go with it.

I am in love with the fishy fabric I found on Hawthorne Threads. It’s just so darn adorable. I don’t know how I don’t go broke looking at all the fabric every week that I always think I “have to have”. Fortunately some self restraint kicks in somewhere. Yes, I have my own quilt shop stocked full of fabrics of love but I still find fabric I don’t have that I love.

The yellow gold with red flowers are probably my second favorite and I’m not a flowery type of girl. Lately I have been becoming more drawn to what I would call a modern retro fabric like the yellow piece. Fabrics by Denyse Schmidt and Another Point of View have a certain charm with their bold colors and vintage print.

On top of all this talk about bright color and fabric fun I can’t not talk about the fact that this is a picture of New York City. This is one of my top 10 places that I want to visit. Some day I’ll get to see the big city and all it’s crazy chaos. I think I’d fit right in!

Enough talk and let’s get to the fun part. Here is my selection of color and fabric for this weeks Color Play Friday.

Fabric Palette Info:

Enchanted by Alisse Courter for Camelot

La Vie Boheme by Amanda Herring for Riley Blake

Dryad by Shannon Brinkley for Fabri-Quilt

Skipping Stones by Anna Maria Horner for Westminster

Fresh Catch by Hawthorne Threads

The Nitty Gritty:

If you would like to join all us lovely ladies in Color Play Friday hop on over to Trina at InAnOtterLife or Lorinda of LaurelPoppyandPine to get the scoop on how to play along. You won’t regret it.

Supporting Cast:

Steph of Shimmy and More

Sarah of Sarah Goer Quilts

Bethany from Not So Perfect

Yvonne from That’s Sew Creative

Bonfire BOM Sister Swap

Well I have the second #BonfireBOM block done for my sister swap with Trina from In An Otter Life and Lorinda from Laurel, Poppy and Pine. The Sister Sampler Quilts book is still one of my favorite quilt books that I am doing two different quilt projects from. If you haven’t checked out the blog Gen X I highly recommend it.

The block this month was called Buttons. It’s outer curve corners were not my favorite and a lot of pins were required for this project. But the finished product is pretty so I can’t complain. Block still needs to be trimmed but it’s ready to swap.

I am still in love with my fabrics which makes this project all the more fun. I am using mostly fabric by Emily Herrick for Michael Miller called Rustique. My first pieces came from a quilt shop in Portland when I was first researching opening my own quilt shop. I was hooked and had to have more of the collection which sat and waited for the right project. When Trina showed me the palette she and Lorinda chose for the swap I knew this fabric finally had a home.

I’m glad to have this done and can’t wait for March to come so I can do the next one.

Sew…. moving on to the next project.

Color Play Friday -Skywalker Horse

Hello, Friday! I thought you would never get here. It’s been a rough week coming back from the family trip and jumping right back into work. We had such a great time and beautiful weather so I can’t complain.

#Colorplayfriday is such a fun thing to do every week and I look forward to the challenge of creating new color schemes every week. If you would like to join us in the fun check out the Nitty Gritty section for more details on how to get involved.

Now that I am back into my groove it was time to work on giving Skywalker the horse a fabric and color palette as adorable as he is. I swear he looks like he’s saying “Can I have a treat? I’m really, really cute.” This picture just makes me smile every time I look at it.

My color choices this week are very soft. I started with the pale blue and it just inspired me to keep everything light. It was somewhat a challenge to get all soft colors from this picture due to Skywalker’s chocolaty coat and the grassy knoll but I got it to work out.

The white may have been a “cheater” piece for me but I just couldn’t ruin my soft colors with throwing in anything else. I had fun with the challenge I put on myself this week working with this palette.

Without further ado. Introducing the wonderful, magical “Skywalker” and his lovely palette of colors and fabric.

Fabric Palette Info:

Wonderland by Melissa Mortenson for Riley Blake

Moonshadow by Kim Schaefer for Andover

Cat Lady by Sarah Watts for Cotton + Steel

Curiosities by Jeni Baker for Art Gallery Fabrics

Quilters Pearl by Stof Fabrics

The Nitty Gritty:

If you would like to join all us lovely ladies in Color Play Friday hop on over to Trina at InAnOtterLife or Lorinda of LaurelPoppyandPine to get the scoop on how to play along. You won’t regret it.

Supporting Cast:

Steph of Shimmy and More

Sarah of Sarah Goer Quilts

Bethany from Not So Perfect

Yvonne from That’s Sew Creative

Bloom Sew Along

Class is almost here and I am so excited to see how it goes. Our lovely teacher Lori Stevens will be showing everyone how to make these adorable blocks. We found this great sew along from Bee in My Bonnet creator Lori Holt.

If you are new to applique or have never done applique using sew in stabilizer this is the class for you. It’s super easy and makes the pieces easy to work with.

While our Lori followed along choosing fabrics from Lori Holt's Calico Days line. I chose to do a more modern version. The possibilities are endless. This project lends itself to a variety of fabric choices.

If you would like to join the club and do the Blooming Quilt Along there is still room left. If you can’t come to class but want to make the quilt you can follow along with our blog to see what’s going on in class. The pattern is free on the Bee in My Bonnet blog.

Color Play Friday -Tulip Festival

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Friday! I know my Friday will be awesome because I will be with my family at Disneyland. So I am writing up my Color Play Friday earlier than normal before the crazy sets in for the week.

We have another lovely picture of Washington. These color play pics are really making me want Spring to hurry up and get here. I’m really enjoying my palette I chose this week. The rich eggplant purple with the deep avocado green are my favorites. I can’t wait for it to be time for the Tulip Festival again.

Of course picking the fabrics to go along with the color palette is always fun too. Allison Glass and Cotton + Steel are always good go to fabrics and I swear they go with everything. Moda always has some great options especially when working with V & Co. and Kate Spain. We are doing some quilt-alongs with Lori Holt using her Calico Days so I though it fit perfectly with my palette.

So her we go with what I call “Spring Dreaming”.

Fabric Selection:

Simply Colorful 2 by V&Co for Moda

Sun Prints 2015 by Allison Glass for Andover

XOXO -Cotton + Steel basics by Cotton + Steel

Aria by Kate Spain for Moda

Calico Days by Lori Holt for Riley Blake

The Nitty Gritty:

If you would like to join all us lovely ladies in Color Play Friday hop on over to Trina at InAnOtterLife or Lorinda of LaurelPoppyandPine to get the scoop on how to play along. You won’t regret it.

Supporting Cast:

Steph of Shimmy and More

Sarah of Sarah Goer Quilts

Bethany from Not So Perfect

Color Play Friday – Hydrangea

Welcome back to Color Play Friday! I have to admit I have not had the time I would like to do #colorplayfriday this week. Life gets a little crazy and I may have just a bit much on my plate these days.

I love the picture Lorinda chose for the week. It is the epitome of Washington. I am a born and raised Washingtonian and very proud of it. I love that we can go from seeing the beautiful Puget Sound to being up in the Mountains in the matter of hours.

When trying to chose my color palette I attempt to capture a piece of every part of the picture. I will admit that I tried using the rust color from the structure and just couldn’t find a fabric I liked to go with is so I started over on a color choice and found the almond/cream color.

Here are the fabrics I chose:

True Colors by Joel Dewberry for Westminster

Simply Colorful by V & Co for Moda

Mochi by Rashida Coleman-Hale For Cotton + Steel

Aria by Kate Spain for Moda

Honeymoon by Sarah Watts for Cotton + Steel

The Nitty Gritty:

If you would like to join all us lovely ladies in Color Play Friday hop on over to Trina at InAnOtterLife or Lorinda of LaurelPoppyandPine to get the scoop on how to play along. You won’t regret it.

Supporting Cast:

Steph of Shimmy and More

Sarah of Sarah Goer Quilts

100 Block Challenge -February

Not everyone is as crazy about Tula Pink as I am but i just can’t resist some of her fun fabrics with all kinds of little creatures in them. It could be because I’ve gotten to meet and speak with her on a couple occasions and she is just full of fun energy that is contagious. A couple years ago she wrote a book called City Sampler that has 100 6 inch pieced blocks. They are nice easy blocks. As she puts it they don’t have any “funny stuff” in the making of them.

As I started working on the calendar for the new year back in December I wanted to start some fun easy clubs for people to join where they could meet people and make some quilty friends.

At the Sister’s Quilt Show in Sisters, Oregon last year I saw several quilts made from all the blocks from Tula’s City Sampler book. The different colors and layouts inspired me to want to make all 100 blocks. Here are a few quilts that were on display. If you’ve never gone to the Sister’s show I highly recommend going at least once.

So the 100 Block Challenge was born not only to get me to make all 100 blocks but to also encourage others to use up that dreaded “stash” that everyone feels guilty about and create this City Sampler quilt. We focus on making 10 blocks per month so that by November you will have all 100 done and can start deciding on your layout. December we will have a show and tell for everyone to show off what they have created. Finished quilt or not.

Katie, my right hand girl, and I are co-teaching the club and we are both making the blocks throughout the year. So come join us for some fun and by the end of the year you’ll have 100 blocks and a beautiful quilt to show for it. There are two club dates per month to chose from. One class on the second Saturday and one on the fourth Thursday of the month. Check out our calendar to see which one works for you. If you can’t make it to a club you can follow along by watching our emails, Facebook and this blog to see what’s going on.

I encourage everyone to post pictures of their blocks as their go. Please add #qm100blockchallenge to your pics either on Facebook or Instagram so we can see how they progress.

Bloom Sew Along

What a wonderful thing Spring can be. The time of year for new growth with all plants blooming. To celebrate the coming of Spring we are following Lori Holt, from Bee in My Bonnet, sew along called Bloom. You may also know her from Farm Girl Vintage and her fabric line Calico Days.

Every week Lori Holt will be releasing one of her Bloom blocks every week. If you want to follow along with us at the store you can come to our Blooming Quilt Along the 3rd Sunday of every month, taught by Lori Stevens.

I will also be posting pictures of our Lori’s Bloom blocks as the class goes so you can follow along at home if you want. We have the Sew Simple Shape templates in at the store along with all the other supplies Lori Holt suggests for doing her blocks.

So let’s start with the basics. There are some supplies that you need to do this sew along. Sew Simple Shapes templates created by Lori Holt specifically for Bloom are a must. You will also need sew-in stabilizer to do the applique technique she uses. Some other suggested helpful supplies are Roxanne’s Glue Baste-it, Point 2 Point Turner, applique pins and a 1/4″ bias tape maker. I also recommend a Frixion pen for tracing templates. If you are doing invisible machine applique I recommend using Monopoly Thread.

If you can’t come to class and have Lori Stevens teach you how to do the applique method please visit Lori Holt’s Blog Bee in My Bonnet to find videos on how to do the blocks.

If you are following along with Lori Stevens class you will see she is using Calico Days by Lori Holt for Riley Blake. It’s a cute new fabric line with a fun vintage feel. We are offering a starter kit for this class that includes all the basic fabrics used for the shop sample (minus background fabric). It gives you great variety without having to buy a lot of fabric.

Now if you want a more modern look you can use some like you see in my choices below. I chose a variety of black and white backgrounds for the flower blocks and then a mix of Cotton + Steel, Allison Glass plus a few others for bright flowers.

After following the instructions on how to make the applique pieces I chose to machine stitch my pieces with Monopoly thread. Remember you will need to reduce your tension so the thread won’t stretch. You could also use coordinating cotton thread to sew down the pieces. I used a zig zag stitch that I lengthened and reduced the width slightly so the thread just catches the applique piece and the background piece. If you are machine stitching the pieces I also recommend using a stabilizer such as Shape Flex. I prefer Shape Flex because it is fusible and light weight so you don’t get a lot of bulk.

So I have finished blocks 1 and 2 from the sew along and await block 3. If you take the class, which I highly recommend especially if you are new to applique and templates, the blocks will be done in a different order. The benefit of class is that you will get personal instruction and hands on experience making these blocks and learning the techniques.

So Happy Sewing until the next block is done!

Zodiac BOM -Aquarius

Well I am off and running with this new foundation piecing block of the month. Aquarius was released from Diane Bohn of From Blank Pages and I just couldn’t wait to get it started. I was convinced that some end of bolt fabrics had to come home with me so I made them my focus colors for this new project. The girls always tease me that teal is my secret favorite color so I am embracing it. The teal Dit Dot from In the Beginning Fabrics and lime green Squared by Art Gallery were my “homeless” fabrics that needed a purposed. The rest I added to make the project complete.

I haven’t really done a lot of foundation piecing so this was a big undertaking to decide to do this year. I was pleased to find that the pattern is very well written and even has coloring pages to plan out the block and the quilt. While I don’t normally plan my quilts out far enough to require coloring pages I truly needed it this time. I wanted to make sure I made the lattice show up but I also wanted to focus on some of the secondary patterns to make them pop also.

Over the weekend I tackled block #1: Aquarius and am pleased with the results. Now to patiently wait for block #2.

UFO Challenge February

January is gone and we have moved into February. For those of you who are new we are following along with AllPeopleQuilt.com 2016 UFO Challenge. We started last month taking in peoples resolution lists of UFO’s they wanted to complete in 2016. We have 15 people who have turned in their UFO Resolution sheets with us.

For those that turned in their resolution sheets in January we are giving away a prize to those who complete their assigned UFO for the month. Here are a few that we got to see done.

So if you are already on board and following along the assigned UFO for this month is #5.

Remember if want to be in the drawing for the month you need to come in the shop and show us your completed UFO by February 29th.