A Brief Respite

It's been a long time since I posted on this blog. The summer has already gotten away from me due to work obligations. I feel like I've missed out on so much including time to sew because it's been so busy. I need to work on that work/play balance to make time for things that give me pleasure like sewing.

I do have a few items I'm working on including my Stash Bee hive blocks quilt and some mini quilts for the American Made Brand (AMB) challenge. I can't post images of the later since one of the rules is to not post to any social media or blog.

AMB Mini Quilts

To know me is to guess that my AMB minis will involve rainbows of some sort. Over the years, I've bought various shades I thought were pretty and now I have over 40 different shades of AMB colors to choose from. I plan to use as many as I can. (Plus, I'll have the excuse to buy more next year when the "fabric fast" is over.)

A little bit of everything going in my AMB quilt.

Stash Bee

I had my hivemates make paper pieced economy blocks so I would have uniform blocks to make something fun for myself. Here are a few my friend, Julia, sent over:

She used her precious Tula Pink fabrics because she knows I love them, too.
Quilty friends are fantastic!

I have faithfully made blocks for my Stash Bee hivemates that I'd love to share with you.

June's block were envelopes for a love letter my hivemate is
quilting for her husband.
It's a giant 16in block and pretty genius design!

July's Union Jack were a fun challenge.
(I didn't like having to unpick on the first one, but the second one was a snap.)

IG Swaps

My next challenge has been to take a break from Instagram Swaps. They are SO addictive! I completed the last of my swaps in June and couldn't be more thrilled.

Here is what I sent out to my partners:

Nerds Craft It Better Swap:
I was paired with someone who loves Wonder Woman as much as I do!

Paper pieced Wonder Woman logo

Wonder Woman logo then made into the
front of a pouch.

Inside is super fun!

Back of pouch has a little
Wonder Woman flavor, too.

Here's what I received from my partner:

Simple treats, a homemade HP wand and Aurifil.
So perfect!

I unwrapped the rolls above to find these!
Three mini quilts that I can hang together or separately.
They already have a place of honor in my room.
(Plus, mini pins were tucked inside!)

Cotton+Steel Mini Swap:
Deciding on a design and cutting up the precious fabrics I've hoarded took some doing but I am very pleased with the results. (My partner is pleased, too.)

I enlarged the Julie Hirt Mercury block
pattern to make my partner a playful star.
I added in some shot cottons to add subtle color.

For the back, I used "Games we play" because it's so fun!

Check out what I was given in return:

A viewfinder mini quilt! It's so wonderful!
Plus, a cute wristlet pouch and a fist full of C+S selvages.

Can you understand my addiction now? I mean, really? Getting back some great projects from folks that put in time and love the same way I do makes me smile each time I see them.

Rescued:

In May, we said goodbye to our little dog, Evie, who provided us with 16 years of joy. That took its toll and I've had a hard time getting over that loss. (It's been a hard year with so many losses in my family.) I certainly didn't feel ready for a new pet any time soon. Fate had other plans.

Here is the newest addition to our family:

Meet Artemis!

Arti is such a cutie!

This photo of her at the shelter stole our hearts and we had to go meet her. She was scheduled to be put down the next day due to lack of space.  Just as expected when we arrived, she was sweet and playful. We were able to take her home that same day.

[This gorgeous photo is courtesy of Pawsitive Shelter Photography. This non-profit group works tirelessly to get tons of photos of pets available in Central Florida for adoption.  Please consider purchasing a calendar from their campaign HERE. Our very own Artemis happens to be on the cover and is featured as Miss September!]

She's loves a good belly rub!

At a hefty 50 pounds, she is the biggest dog we've ever owned and has kept me sane in the last few weeks. Although we rescued her from a high-kill shelter just before her time was up, I think she also rescued me this summer.

What have you been up to this summer so far?

September, where did you go?

Somehow September flew by and I am just now sitting down to post what's been happening. I was very busy and having lots of fun. This post will be mostly a photo diary, if you will, of everything since last month.

Festival of Tress

Earlier this year, our guild was asked to create a quilt that would be donated to a charity auction in Orlando. I was on the FoT committee and after lots of searching, I decided to make a pattern myself on EQ7 and propose it to the group. My design won and we set off to make this idea I had a reality.
All members were asked to make a 6.5 inch block that would be made into my Modern Sampler Tree. We used the 25th and Pine collection, various blenders, and a white on white houndstooth print for the background.

Finished top!
So in love with the way it all came together.

Started arranging the design and cutting out HST
to make the side line up just right.

I didn't love the idea of a straight line across the bottom
but didn't have enough for a full row.

I sewed more HST and a few leftover blocks
I was saving for the storage bag that was being made.Then I added
some brown strips and made a little trunk for this cute tree.

After all of my math, I ran out of white for the background!
I called and they still had the fabric so I made a quick run at 8:00.
(They closed at 8:30 and I just made it.)
Fun times!

The fun part was sewing each row together and seeing it take shape.
It was faster than you might think.

I asked the guild founder to make the star that goes on top.
I think it is such a lovely compliment!

Finished quilt measures 86" by 88".
Quilting and binding completed by OMQG members.
It's one of my favorites designs to date.

                       

 Stash Bee Blocks

Plus Cross block for August
(I was running a little behind.)

Mini modern plus sign with large color background for September. 
(I can't wait to see her finished Wombat-style quilt.)

Modern Quilting Salon

At our last board meeting, I proposed the idea of hosting a modern quilting salon in the evenings for those interested in the modern movement and cannot attend our morning Orlando MQG meetings. I think we had a nice turn out and I shared a little about the guild and what modern quilting means to me. I was so nervous but everyone asked questions and stayed until the end. (I think it's great when they don't run out kicking and screaming before the last slide on your presentation.)

Maker Faire Orlando

Part of the craziness this month was spent participating in Maker Faire Orlando. If you are not familiar with the maker movement you can learn more here.

Read last month's post on how we started things, here.

I made the banner for our table one night.
I made hexagon bunting instead of
traditional triangles because I'm geeky like that.

It was hard to get a great shot in my tiny, dark sewing room.

We spent some time meeting together before the faire to decide on demos to share, completed projects and supplies to bring. Kathryn kept us organized and we came up with ways to break up the weekend. It was a wonderful event and I had so much fun. I met a lot of creative folks and I'm already excited about doing this event next year.

Love this little robot in this logo.
(The shirt is super soft, too.)

Lots of prep work to complete before the event!

I was showing a few pixelated quilt designs and
my Accuquilt cutter got lots of mileage last month.
It's worth it's weight in gold!

I pulled out my English Paper Piecing project to share, too.

Mid-week shopping therapy at
Indie Craft Exchange.

Coffee is my go go juice when I needed to stay awake
 and keep cutting/organizing for the event.
(Wonder Woman always makes me smile!)

I spent a lot of time counting before cutting so I could stay organized.
I have an Excel spread sheet of all the pieced needed for each project.
This way I can maximize my cutting time with the Accuquilt cutter.

A cassette tape is a part of my retro pixel collection
I'm working to complete by 2015.

The Weekend at Maker Faire Orlando

We were on the 4th floor of the Orlando Science Center.
The Dino Digs room was pretty awesome!
It's where all the cool kids were hanging out.

Setting up the Friday night before Maker Faire Orlando.
(We were in the dark for a while until they dropped in our lights later.)

Geeky Chic of Florida
We won a Maker of Merit Award that weekend!
(The triceratops behind us was so cool.)

I love how diverse the four of us were.
We had lots of people stop by and ask questions
and advice on their sewing/art projects.

Tried to get a better picture of that ribbon
but the perfect shot eluded me.

Other Stuff!

A gift from my dear friend Kim.
(I made her a Tetris quilt for her 10-year wedding anniversary in March.)
It's my new favorite board game.

The last Friday of my vacation with a great sunrise on Lake Monroe.
I had ten glorious days off from work and enjoyed every second of it!

You've made it to the end, you brave reader! Thanks for taking the time to go through this month-long journey.
Let me know what you were up to last month while I was gone from the blogosphere.
I love reading your comments.

Friday's Photo Finish

I am so excited that it's Friday. I FINALLY finished my Michael Miller Fabric Challenge quilt for the Modern Quilt Guild.

It took a while to get here but I am so glad I finished it in time to enter the competition.

Here's a quick summary of how it's made:

I cut the fabric into squares that I made into 9-patch blocks.

(Trying to make random patches was harder than I expected.)

I used muslin on the corner of 13 of them since they were going to be cut off anyway.

I then used EQ7 to create a custom template for my Drunkard's path pattern that would create my letters. I needed the curves to end with 1/4 exactly that would make smooth curves for each letter.

Each template took two pages that were taped together and
cut out on freezer paper for the blocks.

I practiced a few times on muslin to be sure it would work first.

After sewing all of the 9-patches together, I tried to keep similar colors from touching. It wasn't perfect but it started to become fun.

I slowly made my way through all 13 blocks that needed to be cut and added gray to form curves to create the letters. (Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of this part since I was doing this at night after grading papers. Le sigh!)

To ensure the letters weren't touching too much, I added 2 in strips of gray in between each letter to give them a little space to show off. The shorter letters needed an extra gray block to make them as long as the "L" then I added gray on the top and bottom to make the finished piece.

This is my first quilt made entirely with Aurifil thread and I think I am hooked for life now. White and steel gray were used for all of the piecing and for quilting the many, many, many lines it took to make this dream a reality.

This beast is 68 in by 68 in and was bound using my favorite fabric from this collection called "Pegs a Plenty". (It's the only purchased yardage from this collection used to make this quilt.)

I love this quilt and am thrilled that it's finally finished.