Finally Finished: Lucky Quilt!

Okay, brace yourselves, folks: I have two finished projects to show you this week!

Things have been so crazy lately.  We bought a house and close in less than a month!  Kelby visited this weekend!  Nick's dad is visiting next week!  My mom and I started a yarn dyeing business!  Oh, and we're still going to our day jobs everyday!  Needless to say, time is at a premium, but everyone is busy so I have very little right to complain.  How are you?

Let's talk about my first finished project, my Thimble Blossoms Lucky quilt.  I don't think I ever blogged about these blocks, but I know I posted some pictures on Instagram and Flickr.  Basically, I won a one-yard bundle from Leah Duncan, celebrating the release of her first collection with Art Gallery Fabrics, Tule.  (She's about to debut her third, so it's about damn time that I finish this.)  I had also purchased a FQ bundle of the collection, and I knew I wanted to use it somehow in our home.  The colors are a bit saturated for Nick, as he is a wimp when it comes to color, so I decided to focus on the guest room instead of our bedroom.  I had also bought the Thimble Blossoms Lucky pattern and it was just sitting in my Google Drive, waiting for a match.  Thus, a quilt baby was born.

Did you know Nick hasn't touched either of his guitars in over four years?  Yet we're about to move them for the third time?  Now you know.

Again, I started this quilt last September.  Really.  It's all HSTs with sashing, so it isn't like the piecing is super intricate.  I just moved onto other things for some reason.  I started knitting, I focused on Christmas presents, and Lucky got tossed to the back of my sewing closet.

Let's not focus on the negative, though, okay?  It's a really pretty quilt and the colors are so happy.  I used all Art Gallery solids with the blocks.  I think I bought them all from Hawthorne Threads, but I'd be happy to figure out the names if anyone wants them!  I backed the quilt with a plain white sheet from Target: not only is this thrifty ($13.99 vs. five yards of quilting cotton) but it also makes the quilt super soft and luxe.  Because this quilt is for a bed and won't be stored in a cabinet or on a quilt ladder, I needed to make sure the quilt will withstand the use but also will drape right.  I think it looks pretty good for a sheet!

I quilted with the orange thread from the Thimble Blossoms Aurifil set--I can find out that number as well, if anyone wants it.  It matched the peach in Tule perfectly!  Again, this is a bed quilt, so I wanted it to be soft and snuggly.  I quilted about 2.5" on either side of one diagonal throughout the quilt.  I know my quilting is boring but it served a purpose and also went really fast!  I quilted and bound this in about three hours.  

My main reason for suddenly rushing on this was because Kelby visited this weekend!  I wanted the guest room to be as done as it's going to be, until we move and make a new guest room.  We had a blast--we visited the Mint museums, walked through the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens, ate everywhere (including Tupelo Honey--my favorite!) and had so much fun together.  She got to meet Nick and the animals, who all loved her, especially the cats!  Schnoz loved her too, despite freaking her out by licking her knee.  He's kind of a weirdo.

Part of finishing the guest room was hanging new art--the "Yay Summer" print is by Emily McDowell and the other two prints are by Nan Lawson.   I have some of their prints picked out for our new house too.  When is it too soon to start buying things?!

Finally!  I just wanted to mention Kelby made beautiful yarn labels for us:

I took all new pictures of the yarn today, trying out a new background and showing off the labels.  Check it out!

So that's it!  Lucky quilt: Check!  Come back later this week for a new knitting project!

Luck

I've been ridiculously lucky lately.  It's not like my life has been on the line or anything, but for smaller matters, things have been happening and I'm not used to it.  I normally attract bad luck; if someone will get stuck in a rain storm, fall in the middle of a crosswalk, or lose her keys, it's me.

I think, in the sewing blog world, we have a crazy amount of giveaways.  Normally, I don't seek out bloggers who give things away, because I don't really care and honestly, what are my chances?  But it's nice when companies have a contest and the contest doesn't require you to comment and tweet about it and like them on Facebook and call three people and give them a pint of blood.  If all I have to do is leave a comment, then I'm good as gold.  I also make a rule that I only enter contests for items I truly want, because I think people tend to have a finite amount of luck, and I don't want to waste it on an old Cabbage Patch Doll with homemade accessories when I could get something I really want instead.

In July, I left a comment on a Pink Chalk Fabrics post about Denyse Schmidt.  I love Denyse Schmidt.  Her improv quilts aren't for everyone, but the woman is trained, talented, and seems like the nicest lady ever.  I also like that she kind of shies away from the spotlight--while she does tours and such, she's certainly not dressed head-to-toe in her fabrics and throwing them in everyone's faces.  Anyway, from the Facebook post, they were choosing one person to win six yards of Chicopee, her new line.  So of course I entered, leaving a little comment, whatever.  A couple days later, I saw that I had won.  I mean, I was seriously over the moon, and the worst part is, I was at work when I found out and no one here cares!  So I just texted my mom and Nick (he has to care, it's part of our relationship) about it and kept my excitement hidden.  I was thrilled to receive it, too: six one-yard cuts of the Morning colorway, which I've already started using (as you can see here).  I was so excited.  I'd never won anything in my entire life!

Last week, I saw Generation Q was holding a giveaway for Quilters Take Manhattan tickets.  Side note: does anyone else picture the Red Hat Society when you hear "Quilters Take Manhattan"?  Anyway, the tickets were for a lecture at FIT featuring, yep, Denyse Schmidt.  We're about four hours from New York, so I entered, but figured more people would enter because it seemed like a big deal, at least to quilters.  It's a four-hour lecture and there are goody bags, door prizes, what have you.  I checked over the weekend to see what my competition was, and by Monday morning (after the deadline), there were nine others besides me.  Not bad chances, but still, I had work to do, so I stopped thinking about it.  A little after lunch yesterday, my mom excitedly texted me asking if I was the "Emily" who had won.  What?  I'm working!  I don't know!

Sure enough, I was.  Holy moly.  I was going to meet (quote-unquote) Denyse Schmidt.  I would get to see the quilts she's made.  I invited my mom to join me, but as of today, she's  unsure, so I might go alone and Nick will join me on the trip just to go record shopping and get some food.  To make it even better (as if that wasn't good enough), I found $8 while I was outside talking with my mom.  It was just there.  There was no one around, but that money just seemed to fall from the sky.  I mean, $8 is $8, so it's not like I'm a millionaire, but it's very strange.

I've been trying to be more positive lately: I joined an MQG to make friends, I'm trying to enjoy the time we have here because it won't last forever, but I know some days are harder than others.  Regardless, thinking about the positive instead of focusing on the negative seems to be working for me.  Of course, I don't want to tempt things, and I hate the thought of entering any other giveaways (of which there are bazillions) because I've won a lot lately.  I don't know, this is just a conflicting thing for me.  I've also been reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  Though it isn't my favorite book, and I'm not attributing a ton of changes to it, it's hard to be negative while reading a book on how to be happier.  Have you read it?

I don't want to tempt fate by getting too lucky and taking it for granted.  I'm unbelievably excited about New York next month, and now I don't have to buy an extra day's pass for QuiltCon in February!  (I'm only going to lectures on Friday, not Saturday, but wanted to see Denyse's keynote.)  Part of me wonders if this is because I'm putting myself out there, applying for things and offering my services to blogs, and the other part wonders if it's just the power of positive thinking.  Who knows, but I do like it.

Are you lucky?  On the flip side, do you want to go to New York with me next month?

Squaring Up

Remember when I talked about quilting on Monday?  If not, I feel kind of bad for you, that was two days ago.  Get it together.  Anyway, I had mentioned on Twitter over the weekend that I had plans to make quilts before Christmas, and did that make me crazy?  My friend Ariel saw it and mentioned that she, too, had been wanting to make a quilt, and what did I think of creating a virtual bee for support?  We currently live on different continents, so virtual it was!  I loved the idea and soon we were planning and scheming.

I guess this is what happens when you have two highly-motivated women in charge, but we've started a blog and have plans to turn it into a community for modern quilters who need some support.  We're both beginners but we have a lot of moxie and determination, and we want to succeed.  Personally, I think with those traits, you can't lose.

Oh, what's the blog's address?  Right: http://www.squaringup.blogspot.com.  Right now, it's pretty sad and bare, but we are planning for more!  Our first official post should be up Friday, but in the mean time, we're getting things in gear.  If you get a Twitter follow from us, don't be surprised!  And feel free to join in; as we're moving along, we'll need guest posters to feature their projects or plans, and we'd be delighted if you'd volunteer!

We have big plans for this blog, so join us!

Patchworking

I'm moving on with my life since those shorts.  They kind of put a damper on my sewing for the weekend, but they're now in the past.  And PS, I'm going to try the Sewaholic Thurlow pattern, I think.  They look like they're more my style, with a lower waist and back pockets (a flat butt's best friend).  I haven't ordered it yet, but I'm considering it.

Anyway, I read a lot of Amanda's blog this weekend, going through the archives and looking at pictures.  I love her blog, if only for the visual inspiration.  She lives a very pared-down lifestyle, has an awesome stash, runs her own business and just is pretty cool in general.  I wish we were friends (virtual or real-life) because I really admire her.  But, of course, now all I want to do is embroider and patchwork.  She cross-stitches, which is something I haven't done since middle school (and I don't think I ever finished a project) but her patchwork is just so damn inspiring I can barely stand it.

I couldn't get off the ground with any experimental patchwork yesterday, so instead I spent hours and hours looking at quilts online.  I have three planned for Christmas gifts, but is that being ambitious?  Wait, I'm a pretty ambitious sewer, right?  So it's okay.  Anyway, here's some inspiration I found around the internet yesterday:

Thimble Blossoms' Dilly Dally, Merry and Swoon patterns are gorgeous and fresh, and we need some stockings anyway.

Jeni B.'s Patchwork Picnic quilt looks super easy...but almost too easy.

However, her Plus quilt is something I'm dying to make for Nicholas for Christmas.  We're only exchanging one gift this year, and I kind of want to make him a quilt in his favorite colors (eggplant, charcoal, white and black).

I'm also thinking of spending lots of money and buying some Medocino to make my mom a quilt for Christmas.  We're going no-frills this year--normally Christmas is lots of money and lots of presents--so I'd like to give her something meaningful and something handmade.  I've found a few FQ sets that won't break the bank, but I'll need more than that.  Does anyone have a resource besides Etsy and eBay?

What do you all think?  Are you a quilter?  What would you recommend for a beginner who likes a challenge?

This Just In: Not a fan of quilting.

I know, I just committed blasphemy.  I worked on the Sew Mama Sew Charm Pack Baby Quilt yesterday and today, and I just don't want to look at it anymore.  I'm guessing it has something to do with my machine.  I have a simple Singer Heavy Duty machine, not a long-arm or quilting machine.  This quilt is not even 4' x 4' and it was too much to handle on that machine.  I just tried to sit down and do the binding but became too frustrated.  Done!

This was the quilt top last night.  I actually had a good time sewing together the charms.  I should have known I'd have trouble, though, when I sewed the rows wrong: you're supposed to rotate 180 degrees each time (so it starts big square, little square, on and on) but that didn't happen.  Oh well.

This is the quilt as of now.  It bunched like crazy in the middle and I don't know why.  Maybe because I was using an all-purpose foot instead of a walking foot?  I'm hoping once it's washed and it crinkles it won't be as noticeable.  The binding is a light blue Kona solid.  The periwinkle is a Kona solid too, and the charms and backing are both City Weekend by Liesl Gibson for Oliver + S.

So I think I'm just frustrated.  Does anyone know how to bind and could explain it?  I looked on the Oh, Frannson! explanation and just didn't get it.  The mitered corners I think threw me off.  And she switched halfway through to a different material and color so I wasn't sure what I was looking at.  Any help would be much appreciated!

On another note, it's officially spring in the nation's capital:

This tree is right around the corner from us.  I stopped on the way home from buying groceries to take a few pictures.  Spring is pink!

How's everyone's weekend?