One of my Dad's all time favorite phrases for when someone is going to do something regardless is: "well, it was like trying to hold back a hurricane with a palm branch"... you get the picture right? I guess it would be safe to say that this pretty much sums up my stash explosion fabric shopping spree while in the US. Believe it not, there has actually been a method to my madness, and it's been a lot about basics and fabrics that I have coveted for too long:
In addition to my previous stacks, I've added several low volumes to my stash, but I really wanted to add a few low volumes with color. I love this pastel mix and can't wait to make something sweet and delicate with them.
While I find so many solid quilts to be beautiful and just plain brilliant, when it comes working with solids myself, I feel completely at a loss. Somehow creating with a fabric that is almost solid is more my to my taste. Zen Chic's city map and Carolyn Friedlander's crosshatch fabrics are just perfect for that work-like-a-solid-look without actually being solid.
And what would a shopping spree be without one little splurge? This hard to find, OOP (out of print) little bundle of fabrics again from Carolyn Friedlander completed my stash. I justified the price by figuring that this would essentially be the normal price that I would pay for fabrics in Germany anyway. I'm pleased to say that these have not landed into the "fabrics to pretty to be used" category (or in this case to expensive)...
... and here they are in the works: For my Facing East quilt, I currently have two blocks that feature designs from one collection. While I have generally avoided sticking with all one collection for each block segment, I opted to feature two of my favorites as a whole.
What are your stash building strategies? Do you build with basics, and add in fun prints here and there, or do you build project by project?
Linking up this week to WIP Wednesday & Let's Bee Social.
If you follow the bi-annual happenings of quilt market, then you probably remember when the queen of craftiness herself showed up in this feathered frock when she introduced her Field Study fabric line. Oh, how the internet crafting world was all a flurry afterwards with various interpretations of her free feathers quilt project... and all with good reason. The pattern is fantastic!
There are various ways that you can make the pattern, depending on personal quilting preferences. One could use traditional piecing styles, the paper piecing method, or my all time favorite... freezer paper applique. I had fun making this pillow using snippits from Dowry and Pretty Potent, on a Chambray Denim background, and a little hand-stitching to make the feathers pop.
I thought it might be fun to share a few of my favorite projects that I found featuring the fabulous feather pattern:
If you are a little unsure about making the feathers or need inspiration for your projects, you can always join in on Ms. Horner's Creativebug class.
What about you... have you made any feather projects yourself? Leave a link... I'd love to see!
Linking up this week to Let's Bee Social
The longer I am away from home, the more I must process coming to terms with my own identity. I'm not talking about living the next state over from the people and places that I know and love, but a whole continent away! Somehow no matter where I am, there is always something small that is missing from each place. Usually I can go about a year before I start feeling a little out of balance, and experience a deep yearning to be in that familiar place again, with familiar people, and even a familiar language.... for me that place is West Virginia.
When I was growing up, I viewed my home state much differently than I do now, and I think living away from that place you call home can make you realize things that you never recognized before. While West Virginia is not exactly a "hot spot" destination for most travelers coming to the US, there is something rich and pure about the not so populated, "country roads" state. I've come to appreciate the deep cultural roots that makes the mountainess state, and the people, what they are.
While quilting plays a big role in the West Virginia's history, unfortunately that heritage was not passed down in my family like I read other generational quilters tell of. My grandmother did give us quilts from other quilters, and I remember being wrapped up in them studying each little print, picking out my favorite ones. Truly at a young age I appreciated each tiny snippit that made a quilt.
I love traditions and especially making them. In Germany so far we have a standing annual event for Thanksgiving, Spargelzeit (aspargus time), and new Christmas traditions as a family. For the last several years, when I have traveled home to visit my family, I have attended the local quilt show with my one and only aunt who does quilt. We marvel at the skills, designs, and quilting of each one, and know first hand the time that it takes to make each one.... it's almost become our annual tradition.
As I walked through the doors to the show, I felt my heart stir a bit, knowing full well that the tradition of quilting in West Virginia is older than me or anyone that I know. Sewing and quilting has been just as much a part of the culture as the mountains, and I can't help thinking that me stepping into that tradition is somehow about coming full circle.
I was particularly fascinated by the traveling quilt "The First Four Hundred" by Jane M. Crutchfield, which was also hand quilted. "Each block has an element from the cover of
each of the first four hundred issues of Quilter’s Newsletter (Sept
1969-Mar 2008). The first blocks are black and white because that is
how the magazine was published initially. The blocks then go to
monochromatic for several issues, then to full color in July 1976 with
the Bicentennial Star block."
As I had expected, most of the quilts on exhibit were more traditional in fabric choices and designs, but there were a few modern quilters also exhibiting at the show. Even though my style leans more towards the modern end of the spectrum, I can very much appreciate quilts that carry the art through the generations.
Do you have any quilting traditions? Are you from generations of quilters or did you discover the art in some other way?
All quilts shown are from the 2015 West Virginia Quilt Festival exhibit.
Before I left I was actually able to make a good amount of progress on my Scrappy Windmill quilt and am debating back and forth on whether I should make a smaller version for a baby quilt. It's actually not because I've lost steam, but becasue I think that with so many fun and sweet prints that this would be adorable wrapped on some snuggly, little bundle of joy. I had also thought that this would be a fun "I spy" quilt... can't you just imagine being tucked in with a cute toddler searching together for cats, strawberries, foxes, trees, glasses, crickets, clothespins, frogs, cameras, tiny mice on bikes, snails, tea cups, hedgehogs, birds, and more?
I've still not decided if I will keep the brown blocks in or not, but because I had them made up, I kept them in for the photo. I'll of course need to add a few more blocks even for a baby size quilt... what do you think? With enlarging my currents WIP's it might also be nice to finish something a little smaller instead. Speaking of my other WIP's... remember that little stack of snippits I had? Well, take a look at them now:
As crazy as it might sound, I actually liked working on three different projects at a time. What about you, do you work on multiple projects at once or do you stick to one thing at a time?
Linking up this week to WIP Wednesday, Let's Bee Social, and Scraptastic Tuesday
When I was pregnant with my
oldest son I found that I would crave very specific things at very
specific times. At one point I had such a craving for sushi
that I thought I would loose it, come completely unglued, and have a serious emotional meltdown if I did not get my hands on a little sampling of these delectable
delicacies. The challenge was, of course, to find a way to satisfy my craving without eating the highly forbidden raw fish.... and somehow ordering the cooked versions of my favorites did it! While
I realize that having a few favorite Heather Ross designs printed from Spoonflower perhaps is not
exactly like having the original, I knew that it would definitely satisfy my
craving.
There are two fabric designers that have been at the top of my favorites list for years now: Heather Ross and Lizzy House. I
know that there might be a lot of bandwagon people out there, jumping on the latest trend that drives by, but I
assure you, I am not one of them. I have been googling and drooling over Heather Ross fabrics for years, but somehow, there was never really the chance for me to score some yardage of her highly coveted fabrics.
With prints that are this sweet, how could I not add a few snippits to my Scrappy Windmill quilt...
So, who is that one designer whose fabrics always make you drool?
Linking up this week to WIP Wednesday & Let's Bee Social
