Modern Fall Quilt

8 Comments
kennedy modeling my newest quilt
Can you modernize Halloween or possibly the 
celebration of Thanksgiving? Both Holidays are certainly the beginning 
of the fall holiday season in the United States, 
but neither holiday would be considered modern.
I love the season,
I love the colors
and I love the weather
during this time of year 
AND
I was inspired to sew.
I didn’t know what project but I had a color palette in  mind.
So I was looking back through my notebook of project sheets.
I have always
loved
 the Wee Woodland pattern so I choose some “fall colors”, 
grabbed
some candy corn and peanuts,
 threw them in a bowl for a sewing snack and started 
yet
another project.
The working title for this quilt was Modern Fall. It was my excuse 
to get to sew with
 orange, grey, magenta and greens and a 
natural grey pindot background 
without having to worry 
about the fabrics matching my house.
Whoa, wait a minute, did I give you the impression that 
anything in my house matches? 
It doesn’t, eclectic to say the least.
My kids are kind of tired of helping me hold up quilts for pictures,
so I solicited some help from my niece, Kennedy.
She is interested in photography, so I held the quilts
and she took the pictures. We have pictures from all different angles.
There is something about clicking that shutter button multiple times so it
sounds like a professional photographer.
I think that only applies to fashion photography not quilts.
 click, click, click
 I think it was a test to see how long I could hold my 
arms straight up over my head holding the quilt.
quilting by Natalia Bonner
Close up of quilting shown on Natalia’s site.
 
Enough with the quilt pictures. 
My arms were tired. 
It was time to change places,
I was behind the camera and she was in front.
 This quilt is easy and fun to make using an assortment of 10″ squares. Pattern info here.
My other niece Avery came home and helped “model” some
of the other quilts to 
be shown in future posts.
Thank goodness they still like to help Aunt Izzy.

what’s up?

3 Comments
The 2 months before each Market is so hard for me.
Everything I am working on is top secret.
It drives me crazy to see all the fun things people are doing
and I am sewing under the veils of secrecy.
So I just wanted to drop you a few peeks at my projects.
More to come.
Let me just say NEW Minick Simpson/ future McCalls Magazine
Maggi Honeyman is working her magic on it right now!
This one is done and you will see it soon.

I blogged about this one here, during a tutorial for the Folded Corner Ruler.
What I didn’t show is the back. The folded corner ruler give you “extras” that are perfectly paired. I just had to sew the pieces together to make half square triangles. 

I told Bo I was finished taking a picture of the quilt
 but from the look on his face he doesn’t seem to trust me.
The kid does not like his picture taken!

Another quilt in the works!
Thanks for the quilting Natalia.
I have plenty of binding projects! Probably my least favorite part of the entire process.

Hex- a- Go Go Day

62 Comments
Hexa-Go-Go
Yippee Yeah It’s My Day.
I hope you have been following along on the Hexa-Go-Go book tour. Tacha has outdone herself on her Hexagon English Paper Piecing book and has asked us to tell you what we think about it.

 August 20th Katy Jones – imagingermonkey – http://www.imagingermonkey.blogspot.com

August 22nd Beth Wilson – Sew Mama Sew – http://www.sewmamasew.com/blog2/
August 24th Cathy Underhill – Cabbage Quilts – http://cabbagequilts.blogspot.com
August 27th Lynne Goldsworthy – Lilys Quilts – http://www.lilysquilts.blogspot.com/

August 29th Jennifer Mathis – Ellison Lane – http://ellisonlane.blogspot.com
August 31st Angela Pingel – Cut to Pieces – http://cuttopieces.blogspot.com

September 3rd Jeni Baker – In Color Order – http://www.incolororder.blogspot.com/

September 5th Nettie – A quilt is nice – http://aquiltisnice.blogspot.com

September 7th Lissa Alexander – Moda Lissa – http://modalissa.blogspot.com

September 10th Sarah Fielke – The Last Piece – http://www.thelastpiece.typepad.com/
September 12th Michele Pacey – Michele Made Me – http://www.michelemademe.com/

September 14th Kimberly Jolly – Fat Quarter Shop – http://www.fatquartershop.blogspot.com/
September 17th Aneela Hoey – Comfort Stitching – http://www.comfortstitching.typepad.co.uk/

September 19th John Adams – Quiltdad – http://www.quiltdad.com/

September 21st Elizabeth Hartman – Oh Fransson – http://www.ohfransson.com/

Hexa-Go-Go
This is just once example of the happy colorful projects in the book.
Is Happy a color? It should be. If my unmade bed looked this good, Iwould never make it again. 

English Paper piecing or EPP dates back to the 18th century. This method was often used to stabilize fabrics such as silk. EPP continued to the art form it is today by using the smallest bits of scraps and transforming them into today’s heirlooms. I can imagine that learning EPP was similar to the craft of
teaching stitches by making embroidered samplers.
The luxury of EPP for me is that it is so portable and requires so few tools and supplies. I  even keep a small bag in my car with a clover needle threader, needle and thread, hexagon papers and scraps.
One of my favorite quilts in the book is a huge union jack quilt.
pics compliments of Stash Books

 I really want to make it, but instead I started on a smaller version of the US flag quilt. I worked on this during the London Olympics, so it is kind of the same, right?

This is my table runner in progress. I ran out of time to finish the field of stars
as hexagons so I am going to quilt it to look like hexagons.
I talked to my friends at Accu-Quilt and ……..
I have one  Go Baby for some lucky person.
Then I am going to throw in a hexagon die and mat. You will have the complete package to aid you in this addiction to this relaxing, therapeutic form of handwork. Leave a comment and let me know what you would make from hexagons. The winner will be drawn at random Sunday night and announced Monday morning. (thank you AccuQuilt)
 As you know I do love hexagons. There is something just so pleasing about it’s simple shape.
Warning: EPP does become an addiction as you will see in these pictures.
I have two different quilts started. I probably have enough hexy’s made to complete both quilts
but I keep making more.
I have even started machine piecing some of the hexy’s together.
Read how in previous blog posts here and here.
Sneak peek on my I Spy hexy quilt for a future grand child. No one is pregnant yet and I do not want to tempt anyone to get pregnant just to get the quilt. I have a long long way to go.More on this project in a future post.
Tacha has taken the traditional EPP flower garden to an entirely new level.
The hottest trend is the new English paper piecing. Amazing how great quilters are making a craft from the 18th century trendy again.
What would the acronym for that be? NEPP

There is an old saying: Nothing good comes from boredom. It’s said that idle hands are the devil’s workshop, an old saying dating at least as far back as Chaucer in the twelfth century who called idle hands the devil’s tools.
Keep your hands busy with Hexy’s and start with Hexa-Go Go for inspiration and direction.
Thank you Tacha!

Portable Design Wall

7 Comments
Do you need a design wall that is lightweight but don’t have a wall to add a piece of flannel to?
Ask for insulation board at Home Depot or Lowe’s.
It is available in 8′ tall sheets and is the weight of a thick piece of dense Styrofoam. I am sure there are several options for this type of board.
 
I cut my board in half using a sharp knife.
Choose fabric to cover the board.
I used a flannel print from Bonnie and Camille’s collection.
Because the board is wider than than 45″ I had to piece the fabric together
so plan accordingly when picking fabric.
 This can be eliminated by trimming the board to approx 36″ wide.
Use T-Pins to tack the flannel to the board.  Slide the pins in at a slight angle to hold the fabric taunt.
At the corners do a hospital corner.
Did you know there was officially terminology for those tight sheet corners
that you have to squirm to be able to kick your feet from the bottom.?
Because the insulation board does not hold nails, I hot glued a yardstick
and added a couple of picture hangers.
Now it can be hung on most any wall since it is very light weight.
The board also comes in handy sitting on a cutting table and leaning up against the wall.
I would show you the final picture but mysteriously my flannel board has found
 its way into my daughter’s room for a bulletin board.
The fabric was perfect to match her room, or so she says.
Off to make a new one for ME.

Hex-a go-go

No Comments

Hex a Go Go  by Tacha Bruecher Book Tour

Starts August 20th.
It is time for another book tour.  The tour is all about Hexagons, so of course I was absolutely giddy for Tacha to have asked me to join in. Mark your calenders to follow along with designers from all over the world.  Regardless of what time zone you are in, there will be a great variety of people sharing
their review of this book.
Hexa-Go-Go 
 August 20th visit Katy Jones – imagingermonkey
August 22nd hop on over to Beth Wilson – Sew Mama Sew
August 24th  hear what Cathy Underhill has to say – Cabbage Quilts
August 27th go across the pond to Lynne Goldsworthy – Lilys Quilts
August 29th visit Jennifer Mathis – Ellison Lane
August 31st  travel to Angela Pingel – Cut to Pieces
September 3rd join in with  Jeni Baker – In Color Order
September 5th Nettie shares the buzz about this book – A quilt is nice
September 7th is my day! Lissa Alexander – Moda Lissa
September 10th pop in on Sarah Fielke – The Last Piece
September 12th  visit Michele Pacey – Michele Made Me
September 14th check in with Kimberly Jolly – Fat Quarter Shop
September 17th Aneela Hoey shines- Comfort Stitching
September 19th John Adams goes hexy on us – Quiltdad
September 21st is the prolific day for Elizabeth Hartman – Oh Fransson

If you were a sign winners

No Comments
CONGRATULATIONS
Prizes are on the way to
Cecilia won a jelly roll.
Cecilia said…
I think my sign would say Under Construction and I would hang it on the door of my sewing room. I wish I had this book when my son was young too. He would have loved all of the sign quilts.
August 15, 2012 10:23 AM
Book Winner
Anonymous said…
My sign would be “Live for the Day” jillfroelich@yahoo.com
August 15, 2012 1:11 PM

Friday Funny

8 Comments
In honor of the 
STOP, GO, Quilt, Sew book tour
last week I thought my Friday Funny
could be full of irreverent  signs.

Are your preachers named after alcohol? That is how we do it in the south.

I love this one!

This one applies to all of us going through the drought stricken areas across the country.

And this is my favorite, Look close….
see the alligators on the side of the road.
Have a great weekend,
-modalissa

If you were a road sign?

67 Comments
Where was this book 20 years ago when my boys were little and obsessed by all things mobile? Now they are in their 20’s and 30’s and obsessed by all things mobile but the only difference is that it is a phone now.
Angela’s quest for  boy themed projects  is certainly showcased here in her new book,
Stop. Go. Quilt. Sew! Make 12 Fun projects for Boys to Enjoy.
Angela creates her own fabric for appliques by piecing various strips together. In the book she talks about creating scrap applique. This technique is perfect whether you are using scraps or jelly rolls.
 I am giving away a basic jelly roll (off white bella solid) in case you are interested in
creating your own scrap applique. ( see below for info)
While we are talking street signs, I thought I would show you a few local street signs in my neck of the woods. The first sign will not actually be found on any map or google site. It is a street sign that the employees at Moda/United Notions gave to the boss. I happened to catch the moda van parked  by the sign which makes it  much more official.
The sign below is an actual street sign that I had never seen before until one of my kids sent me the pic.
How great is this?
Angela asked us if we had to design our own street sign , what would it say.
Of course mine is in the shape of a hexagon
but isn’t red because that would mean
STOP
and that is the last
thing on my mind.
Angela is giving away a
Book
and I am going to throw in a
Basic Jelly Roll.
Leave a comment and tell me what would your
street sign would say for a chance to win the book
 or the jelly roll. 
 2 prizes, 2 chances to win.

One Direction

7 Comments
If any of you have daughters, nieces, etc. under the age of 18 then you probably have heard of the boy band, One Direction. My niece Kennedy is a huge, huge fan of this group. If she could, she would be president of their fan club, quit school and follow them all over the world. These guys really do have an interesting story. A few years ago they had not even met.
expert from their website:

The making of One Direction
Turn back the clock to July 2010 and auditions for the UK’s X Factor were underway. Five young boys from various parts of the UK and Ireland had entered the competition with nothing else but a passion for singing and raw talent. Their names were Niall (from Westmeath, Ireland), Zayn (from Bradford), Liam (from Wolverhampton), Harry (from Cheshire) and Louis (from Doncaster) and they had all entered as solo artists. Arriving to their individual auditions, they were given the task of impressing the judges. And they did. But just not quite how they imagined.
One-direction_large
It was during the Bootcamp round of the competition that Simon Cowell, Nicole Scherzinger and Louis Walsh had to give the boys the bad news that they hadn’t made it through as solo artists. They were devastated, but they were offered a suggestion. The judges wanted them to form a group; to learn to sing as a five-piece rather than individuals.
 The boys jumped at the chance and One Direction was born.
What is kind of funny is that I actually remembered watching this show when
 Simon Cowell joined this boys into one group.
Why am I posting about 4 guys from London
and 1 guy from Ireland?
Reason #1-
Of course I am going to be into anything my niece is interested in.
Reason # 2–
I might as well make her a quilt. So here is my One Direction Quilt top.

If any one knows these guys personally I would love to send the quilt to
them to autograph, but in the mean time my plan is to embroider
Niall (on the irish flag)
Liam
Harry
Zayn
and Louis
on each of the flags.
I thought this was perfect timing to show this during the London Olympics.
The British flag is from a pattern by Michelle Kunigisky
of Busy Bee Quilt Designs called Victory Garden.

Victory Garden
I must admit the Irish  flag was my own design. Ya okay, it is three strips of fabrics.
Kennedy and I may have to go into business selling these quilts.
 If you don’t see a blog post from me in a long time, you will probably know that
 Kennedy and I have gone on the road as
President of the One Direction fan club
and
maker of One Direction quilts.
One side note– I must really like the British Flag becasue I have also made one using a Cabbages & Roses line of fabric. Wouldn’t this quilt make a precious baby quilt for Prince William and Kate?
Maybe I could go to London to decorate their future nursery. I could probably work it into
the One Direction tour scheldule.
Okay, back to reality!