design boards

 Have you made any of the design boards that Lori Holt demonstrated almost 4 years ago on her blog?
I have made a few bigger ones that I use from time to time.
http://beeinmybonnetco.blogspot.com/2011/07/mini-design-board-tutorial.html
This weekend I had a zillion scrappy 9″ blocks that needed to be laid out in a certain order. My bigger boards were not very handy and I really didn’t want to spend all weekend making boards. I had a couple rolls of this amazing stuff.

 I actually didn’t even know it was fabric. I had 2 packages of it in my “junk”.

It is lightweight and easy to work while still having the strength of duck tape. The choices of this fabric duck tape is very limited but it served its purpose. The boards aren’t near as nice as Lori’s are, but I was able to make 5 of them in about 15 minutes and get back to sewing. I also realized how I could use lots more of these.
See Lori’s blog post for the complete instructions.
http://beeinmybonnetco.blogspot.com/2011/07/mini-design-board-tutorial.html
I hope you are able to make a few. They also make great presents for your quilting friends. 

-modalissa

Modern Building Blocks

modalissa-quiltpics_15
Modern Building Blocks consists of blocks that
range in size from 6″ to 36″.
When I was making this quilt I had so much fun
playing with the blocks and their sizes.

I thought I would share some of the
pics I took along the way.

modalissa-quiltpics_6

Everything is divisible by 6
so the combinations are endless.
Shown above are some of the 6″ blocks lined up by color.
modalissa-quiltpics_3
This quilt goes on and on but the end result
is so worth it,
so don’t give up if you don’t
have all your blocks done.

modalissa-quiltpics_1
Just keep going and going and going. 

 modalissa-quiltpics_1 Yes, it could be a mini
or you could just put together some of the 6″ blocks and be done.
I am usually a print kind of gal but I enjoyed
working with the bella solids.
Finally the quilt top was done. 
                                                                                                                        modalissa-quiltpics_14
Quilted by the wonderfully talented
Natalia Bonner of Piece n Quilt.

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Are you making the Modern Building Blocks quilt? 
If so leave a comment with a link to your quilt.
I would love to see yours. 
Or follow the #modernbuildingblocks
to discover all kinds of yummy eye candy.
Enjoy-
modalissa

#APQquiltalong

Tone it down main quilt photo
Quilted by Natalia Bonner of Piece n Quilt
 “Image from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine.
©2013 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.”

 Everything in our world is so fast, fast, fast especially at
this time of year. I find it interesting there is this
Slow it Down movement
that people like Cheryl Arkison talks about in her
book, A Month of Sundays, or the Slow Stitching topic that
Mark Lipinski talks about. Now Mark is the most energetic person
in the industry so when he talks Slow it makes
 you stop and listen.

I strip piece. My mind thinks what is quickest most efficient
way to make a project.

But this slow it down got me to thinking
about my Tone it Down quilt.

Slow it Down…
Tone it Down…

I thoroughly enjoyed each and every second of making this quilt.
Looking at each and every little piece of fabric as I worked
from block to block. Thinking about the fabric, the designer
that created it and the story that goes along with it.

Now I watch online as more and more people are 
making this quilt and posting their 
pictures and honestly 
it is quite humbling 
and makes my heart feel good. 
search #apqquiltalong to see some of the versions
This is what the quilting industry is all about. 
I am sure if you are reading my blog you are a quilter
 or one of my aunts.

If for some reason you have landed here and are not a quilter,
I encourage you to join this community. It is the most wonderful
world to be living in.

Sign up for a class, get a book, do anything, just start!

The tone it down quilt is not for the faint of heart.
It is not a quilt that you can create over the weekend.

However this is a great quilt to add to your
to-do list and slowly enjoy as each block develops.
 
I am thrilled that
 American Patchwork and Quilting
offers this pattern as a
digital download

Now that I am finished being all gushy, I wanted to
share some other news.

I am going to be doing another #APQquiltalong in 2015.
Stay tuned, I will “slowly” talk about this project.

 Your first tease.

Gratefully, 
-modalissa

NEW Cool Pins

Untitled

 
Pins are numbered 1-20, 

that is more numbers than 
counting with your fingers and toes.
The pins come in a cute little slotted container
 with  pins numbered 1-10 on one side
 and  pins 11-20 on the other. 
 Untitled
When I have a big variety of stripped pieced sets that need to stay in a certain order I write on the scrap the corresponding letter or number so at least I have that as a reference.Untitled  
but now I can use these pins to keep my sets neatly numbered.
 Untitled

They are not the sharpest pins I have ever used 

and be careful to 
shut the lid tightly 
before turning the container over… 
just saying!! 
They are just the cutest thing ever 
and any quilter on your 
Christmas shopping list would 
love one in their stocking.
-modalissa

quilt market

Whether you are planning a booth full of the newest items or coming to shop the show to find the latest trends and items,  everyone that goes to market puts in a ton of work. I must say it is all worth it to get to see old friends and make new memories.Untitled

Have you heard of a face-ie? Well leave it to Barb from Me and My Sister to coin a new phrase. She meant selfie but I like using face-ie now. When the moda designers and staff get together their is always plenty of shenanigans. I was not taking a face-ie but they had me hold my hand up to the camera as if I were. Then they were saying lean back, further, further, further as if i were to be better positioned in the frame of the picture. However I do believe this was a trick to see if I would fall flat on my booty, as you can tell by the way they were all positioning their cameras to get a shot of me on the floor. I hope I surprised them with my great balance and yoga moves. OR maybe I disappointed them if you know what I mean.

Just a few other fun pics from the show.
Moda-FQM2014_426

Moda-FQM2014_417

Moda-FQM2014_415

Moda-FQM2014_434 

 And did I mention shenanigans?
Maybe all the parties involved will let me share more about the picture shown below.
Are you intrigued?
Moda-FQM2014_6 
Market is a ton of work and a ton of fun!!

Confetti Forest

 
Confetti Forest
I love that name. 
I wish I was the one that thought of it, but I didn’t. It was the talented crew at McCall’s Quilting that named my quilt. I couldn’t have thought of a more perfect name for this quilt. Just the sound of it makes me think of fall and laying on a quilt, looking at the sky through the colorful leaves… Well scratch all that. That is what I think it should look like if I lived somewhere that actually had fall. We seem to go from Winter to Summer and not much in between. Yesterday it was 80 degrees, today it is 30.

I guess I can enjoy my “fall” quilt at the lake or snuggle under my “fall” quilt when the temperatures plunge. 
I combined two of my favorite lines, Persimmon by Basic Grey and Modern Neutral by Amy Ellis. But this is also a great scrap buster project.  The complete instructions and yardages can be found in the McCall’s Quilting January/February 2015 issue. To find out more information about this quilt, magazine and kit information please  visit http://www.mccallsquilting.com/mccallsquilting/articles/Confetti-Forest-Trendy-Triangles-Throw-Quilt-Pattern

Subscriptions- November 11th on New stands November 25th

On a side note if you want to see more about Persimmon by Basic Grey, Alison shares the fabric line and patterns available. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsaiYNUTWEE

And here is Amy Ellis talking about Modern Neutral fabrics, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CTEUKppzf0

Sew Scandi Quilt

Sweet quilt
The Sew Scandinavian quilt from This N That’s Blog hop is now ready for a good home.  
Each of us made sections of this quilt and Sherri completed the final project.
Sherri (This N That)
 

 Vickie Eapen

Me-Modalissa
Kimberly Jolly

blog link~ http://fatquartershop.blogspot.com.es/

Here is the link to the quilt on Ebay, along with a note from Sherri.

I have the quilt up for auction on ebay.
Here is the link to it~

This is such an awful disease and I think if I can do something, even something small like this and others join me (like you all!) I think we can do great things and make a big difference together.
Thank you all so much!!
Sherri

This quilt would be a perfect Christmas present, so go ahead and make a bid!
-modalissa

member of the club

There is an elite club that many talk about. It is a club that has thousands and thousands of members. The members talk about it with such gleam and glow. It is the infamous Grandmothers Club. So this is my first official post about our little angel Nolan who is now 3 months old.

My son and daughter-in-law are a bit old fashioned in many ways.  They followed this “new’ trend of not finding out what the sex of the baby was. Imagine that, not knowing almost at conception whether you were have a boy or a girl. So this brought about 9 months of guessing. 6 of those months consisted of complete strangers predicting boy or girl. The gal at the nail salon assured us she has never been wrong, the neighbor down the street knew for sure, a friend of a friend previewed side profile pics of the mama and was willing to bet money she knew boy or girl. We didn’t keep a tally of who predicted what, but all this did was add more confusion.  

Not “knowing” also saved us lots of money because there is only so much neutral baby stuff one can possibly purchase. Don’t really know if this was my son’s plan all along but no matter what it saved us all a ton of money.

This also made the choice of making a quilt extremely difficult. Don’t get me wrong during this time I made lots of baby quilts. The problem with that is when I am making a quilt for someone I like to know that from the beginning much like knowing if you are having a boy or girl when you find out you are pregnant. I like to think about the person while I am planning the fabrics. I like to plan what the design is and how it fits their personality. I like to think that I can make it just perfect. So add up all that pressure and imagine how I crippled myself when it comes to making the first grandkids’ baby quilt.
I knew I would make more than one quilt for this wee little one so I just jumped in and made something that included all the existing family members.

Using an accu-quilt die I made a big chunky clamshell quilt.I loved using this die and I will certainly do it again.  I then embroidered all the family names on each of the clamshells.

The fun thing about this quilt is that I not only got to think about the new grand baby but also got to think about each of the family members and how one little person would forever change our lives. Those of you in the club completely understand, right?

Nolan Robert Alexander 

on a side note: I had to include a pic of his guard dog, Peter. I did not include pets on the quilt, so I had to go on record with a pic.

Sew Scandi Sew Along

Sew Scandi continues…
Thank you Sherri for rearranging my turn on the hop.
Here are my blocks and my process.

I don’t have much room to sew so when it comes to laying pieces the space is limited. I  always look at a block and see if block has any shapes that are duplicates or mirror images of each other so I can layout a small section and chain sew. .When looking at this block, I noticed that one quarter section of this block is the pieced in the same direction as all the other corners of each block. This comes in handy when making multiple blocks of the same design.

This makes it easy to assembly line sew the sections together. Or what I call mindless sewing. As long as each of the pieces are picked up in the correct order you can just out the pedal to the medal and sew.

Following the block layout each of the sections can then be joined into segments and then constructed into the finished blocks.

Finished blocks are ready to add to the other sections. Now hop back to Sherri’s blog as she shows the final chain part of the quilt.  This finished quilt will be auctioned on Ebay with 100% of the winning bid going to the Susan B Komen foundation
Stay tuned as Sherri will also be posting a link to the Ebay auction.

Enjoy! 

Sweet Scandi Sew Along

Sweet quilt
image from This n That
I have always loved Sherri from This n That’s clean classic style and her latest project, Sweet Scandi was on my “to make in some lifetime” list. So when Sherri said she was going to have a sewalong, I jumped in. 
I am best under a deadline or else the quilt would just stay on the ever growing list “sometime”.
 
So if you are ready to sewalong here are the details. The best part is that you will have a new quilt in time for the holidays.
 
July 24th- Sherri (This N That) yardages and center blocks.
 
July 31 Sherri (A Quilting Life) with the alternate blocks.
August 7 Vickie with the corner blocks.
August 14 Lissa with 3 of the large main blocks.
August 21 Kimberly with 3 of the large main blocks.
blog link~ http://fatquartershop.blogspot.com.es/

We will all finish our quilt tops for show n tell on August 28th.  Hope you decide to join in and sew along. If you aren’t able to join us with this project, you could still own this quilt. Sherri is going to feature her quilt on an ebay auction with all the money going to benefit the breast cancer. 

-modalissa