Film Strip

I've got a very easy, inexpensive quilt top (or interesting back) for you today.

If you're anything like me, you have a lot of beautiful modern prints in your stash, some of which employ several colors and make for excellent focus fabrics.

Sometimes they feel just too perfect to cut into. This quilt will give you a wonderful look but still leave most of the precious yardage in your stash! Simply add a few inexpensive solids to the mix.

Choose your favorite (or second favorite, if you'll be giving it away) stash focus fabric. Pick a couple of analogous colors (those that are near each other on the color wheel) from the print, a single color you want to play up in the print and a shade (lighter) or tint (darker), or colors that would just look good with your focus print to use as your background fabrics. Then, choose a contrasting color for your frames.

Now comes the brave part. Take a deep breath and either take a single slice or fussy cut a few motifs. You can do it! (This design looks great in repeats of fabric or each square unique. Use your scraps, if you like, and have fun!)

I've cut my squares at 5.5", but if you have a larger or smaller print you're looking to highlight, do what is right for it. The framing strips are cut at 1.5".

Chain piece your squares (or rectangles) to the framing strip, leaving approximately 1/2" between for trimming later

Flip your chain-pieced strip around and add the frame to the other side, too.

Now, cut between the squares, so that there is about 1/4" of extra framing on both focus fabrics. Press your seams and trim the excess framing off.

Add framing strips only to the top of each square.

The bottom square will get an additional framing strip on the bottom. Press seams, trim the excess, and join all the framed squares together into one film strip.

Cut a strip 12.5" wide from one of your background fabrics and 18.5" wide from the other. Attach the narrower strip to the left of the film strip piece, the wider strip to the right, and your top is complete!

And how long did it take?

How's that for fast?! (This time includes cutting, piecing, pressing, trimming, piecing, pressing, trimming, piecing, and pressing.) Not bad, if I do say so myself.

My top finished at 37" x 43", a wonderful baby-sized quilt. There is plenty of negative space to play around in and utilize your free motion quilting skills.

If you need a larger quilt top (say twin sized), simply scale up. It will look great no matter how big you'd like to go.

Don't feel you're limited to solids on either side, go with a print and put the solids inside the film strip, if you like, or a print on one side and a solid on the other. Have fun!

This tutorial was originally posted on the Minneapolis Modern Quilt Guild blog.

A Lovely Year of Finishes: March Goal

Some time last year or the year before, I joined a group lead by Angela of Cut to Pieces: Project UFO. It such a wonderful, supportive group, but I didn't take it very seriously and haven't gotten far - enitrely my own fault!

Then, a few months ago, I saw a post online about A Lovely Year of Finishes co-hosted by Sew BitterSweet Designs and Fiber of All Sorts. I saved it and knew I wanted to get in on the action, but again, I didn't take it seriously.

No more! I have jumped in with both feet. I updated my goals for this month at Project UFO and this is my introduction to March's lovely finish.

In November, I started a top for a charity quilt with a fat quarter bundle I had won. The colors aren't really my cup of tea, but someone will love it, I know, and it gives me a chance to try out something I haven't done before!

I started with simple squares and made nine-patches in November, then let them languish until just last weekend when I cut them to make a disappearing nine-patch top.

Then, I used some of the leftover squares for the back and added solid gray on either side.

Before the end of the month this will be quilted and bound! It will be donated to Graham Smith, a philanthropic young man who chose to drum up donations for Project Linus for his Eagle Scout project. I know his mother, Vivien, is very proud of him. He has even organized several other Scouts to assist in the production of quilts using donated materials.

I'm very happy to have a UFO that will soon be checked off my list and even happier to be contributing to such a worthy project.

Another guest post: English paper piecing

I wrote another guest post on the MinnMod guild blog about English paper piecing. Pop on over and learn how to make loveliness like this:

Olympic Ogees WIP

Easy peasy and not nearly as slow as you might think!

Make it fresh

I started to write this post shortly after my survey results post and then the proverbial schtuff hit the imaginary fan. At long last, I give you another blog post.

When last we spoke, my studio looked like this:

Well, it looks only slightly better, now, but it did look nice between then and now.

First, I took all the books off of the card table behind the regular sewing table, put all the fabric back on the shelves where it belonged, slipped the blocks for a WIP in my WIP drawer, and folded up said card table so that I could push my machine back up against the design wall.

Then, I turned to my cutting table where I finished up overdue bee blocks.

 

There were some other blocks in there that I can't share. Okay, that's the first time I've really said anything like this here, and while it's kind of frustrating as a reader - I know from other blogs - lemme just tell ya it's SUPER exciting as the one on the other side of the screen. Sorry!

I decided my scraps needed to have more uniform storage, so I busted out some IKEA boxes purchased just for that use and also sorted my overflowing holding bin scraps into their proper places

I plan to paint the book case where the stash lives a clean, bright white as soon as it warms up a little outside. As I live in Minnesota, that may be 3 months, yet. No joke.

Once the cutting table was clean, I turned to the closet. Remember, it looked like this:

*shudder*

I took out the things in there that don't actually belong to me and stuffed them up under my cutting table where I can forget about them until said owners are able to take them home. Hey, we're keepin' it real, right? Then, I took all those emptied color-mish-mash-former-scrap boxes and put unfinished projects in them. I sorted, folded, and neatly stacked all the WIPs and UFOs hiding in the closet, as well. Now my roll of batting stands upright on the floor instead of stacked and leaning, ready to fall out and hit me any second.

Okay, it looks way better in person than this pic, I swear. Those bags of batting up on the shelf have been ignored in favor of the lovely roll of batting, but I'm forcing myself to use them up this year. Perhaps one of the UFOs so nicely folded now could employ one or two? Yes, I think so.

THEN, I turned to my lovely $carlett and gave her a little TLC. I'll go into the machine maintenance in my next post, though, as it's pic heavy.

One good sweep later, I was ready to run, and run I did! You already saw my post about Trippy Lemonade Sunshine and Roses on the MinnMod blog, I finished up a commission piece...

...and turned to yet another exciting thing I can't show you, yet, but which turned my studio back into a disaster area.

I'm coming out from under that, now, trying to pay attention to the overdue bee blocks and my family.

More to come very soon!

Trippy Lemonade or Sunshine and Roses

I know I've been a bit AWOL over here, but this week has been consumed by the real job and finishing a quilt top for a guest post. Here's the palette I used.

On that note, head over to my guest post on the Minneapolis Modern Quilt Guild blog to see the Scrappy Trip quilt top I made! I call it Trippy Lemonade Sunshine and Roses.

Survey Results for 2013

Once again, I would like to thank each of you that took the time to let me know what you think of my little blog and what you would like to see this year. I read each and every extra comment and appreciate you immensely!

I'm doing a few things right. Most of you (94.1%) think the length of my posts is just right, though you're very close as to the amount of pictures I use (47.1% too few, 52.9% just right). The frequency of posts is spread out, but the sweet spot seems to be once a week (36.9%), though twice a week is trailing just behind (33.3%).

Three quarters of you want to see more tutorials. So do I! I did a little brainstorming and have a handful jotted down to work up this year.

There was a lot of response on the "learn about" question. A few of you (22.2%) would like me to start at the basics. Such a good idea! Nearly everything I suggested was popular - piecing (38.9%), design (50.0%), color choices (61.1%), free motion quilting (66.7%) - and coupled with your request for more tutorials... I smell a quilt along coming! I have a very simple, but still very interesting design in mind that can be adapted to your comfort level. We'll start with the design and layout, choose colors, learn how to cut it properly, piece it, create a back, baste it, quilt it, bind it, and have a lovely, snugly quilt at the end. I will even include directions on how to hand quilt, if you, like one respondent, want to try that. I'm very excited! It will have a long burn, so take your time and jump in whenever you like.

    

I'll also have posts about how I organize my studio (44.4%), set up my sewing space so I'm not in pain by the end of the day (55.6%), and keep my machine ready to go at a moment's notice (33.3%).

The majority of you (61.1%) would like me to continue my practice of keepin' it real and sharing some personal anecdotes. In the interest of KIR, I give you the current state of my studio:

Now to go do something about that and take lots of pictures, so I can tell you how I reorganized my space after the crafting hurricane blasted through my house.

Christmas and Giveaway Winners

Thanks to everyone who responded to my 2013 planning survey! I heard from 18 of you (nearly 26% of followers), which is pretty awesome, especially when you know an excellent return rate on unsolicited direct mail is 2%. The comparison may be apples to oranges, but I'm sticking to it.

I'll delve into the results more later, but want to let you know that the two winners have been chosen by Mr. Random. They are:

Janne Braukman, one of my very first followers, who lives in Germany...

and "Magnolia Tea."

Ladies, I have emailed you both. Please let me know which book you'd like to receive with your scraps.

I hope you all thoroughly enjoyed your holidays. I made out like a fabric bandit!

My mom sent me some lovely Kate Spain yardage and coordinating prints.

My mother-out-law sent me a gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop, so I got a FQ bundle of the full line of Salt Water by Tula Pink and tacked on a few more yards of the lovely octopus print for a back.

My main squeeze bought the loveliest stack of bright Moda cross weaves for me from Pixie Spit on Etsy...

...as well as an Accuquilt Go! Baby fabric cutter. Woohoo! My guy's a real keeper.

I have a few dies to go with it and had an overflowing scrap bin, so I spent a couple of hours sorting them into their proper boxes. The cat decided that the large box with a soft layer of fabric in the bottom MUST be for her.

The dear thing! I didn't want to move her and even left her to sleep there when I went down to bed.

We also made all our goals at the office this year, so with a portion of my surprise end-of-year bonus, I bought a half-yard bundle of Lizzy House's Pearl Bracelets from my cousin Amanda. (Westwood Acres on Etsy)

So much fun to be had in my studio! Did you get anything that made you giggle like a kid again?