Help me shop!

Hello friends! I've come today to ask for your opinions! I have very little on my quilting agenda right now and I'm realizing that it is not for lack of things I'd like to make, but rather a lack of fabric (no stash here!) and definitely some frustration over the whole shopping thing.

I really struggle with my local options, most of which are far too expensive in my opinion and/or don't carry the modern fabrics that I enjoy and/or have grouchy sales people. So unfortunately, since my budget needs to be remain relatively modest, online shopping is the best way to go for me.

I've decided that I'd like to purchase some Kona solids to start. Marmalade Fabrics carries so many of the colours, at very reasonable prices and with reasonable shipping to Canada, so I'm going to give them a try. My big question for all of you, since I know many of you use Kona solids in a lot of your projects....

What do you consider to be the "must-haves" or "staple" Kona solids?? What do you always like to have on hand?

And along with that, directed mainly at my Canadian blog friends but really any input is appreciated....

Where, online, do you shop for reasonably priced and reasonably shipped modern fabrics??

No W.I.P. Wednesday post for me this week (unless this counts!) as I truly have nothing that I am actively working on. My postage stamp quilt top is hanging by green painter's tape on my bedroom wall but I've not made any further plans for it than what I was thinking last week. I do hope to soon have some new projects in the works, and your input will help me greatly!

P.S. My little quick edit pencil at the bottom of each blog post has disappeared, and no matter how many "easy" tutorials I have read, nothing about it seems easy and I can't seem to get it fixed. Anyone??????

Scrappy Zig Zags

One last scrappy finish for now! I didn't use a pattern for this, rather I used this photo for inspiration and just went for it! This little quilt finished at about 28" x 32" and will be donated to our local hospital foundation.

I managed to piece together some larger leftover pieces for the back. I don't usually do a pieced back and let me tell you, this took some brain power to figure out how to use what I had to make it big enough, but in the end I think it's pretty fun!

Close up of the quilting lines....

And a close up of the duckies, just because they're so cute!

We're going out of town now for a few days. I hope all of your weeks get off to a good start and I'll be back to check back in later on tomorrow. :)

Linking up with:

Sew Modern Monday @ Canoe Ridge Creations
Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story

Scraps attack again {last time for now!}

I've depleted my scrap supply enough now that I don't know if there's enough left to make even another baby quilt. This one mainly used scraps from Sixteen Sparkles, but also has bits of Chrysalis and bits of the apron that I made for my sister for Christmas.

{finished size - 30" x 34"}

I could get this basted and quilted pretty quickly except that I don't have backing fabric yet. I was hoping to find a cute bed sheet for the purpose this morning when we were out doing errands, but at the store I was at all I found was cotton/poly blends that seemed really cheap and thin. But once I do find a backing, I will be quilting it in the same style as the quilt that inspired this one. I love it! So crisp and clean looking.

Linked up with Finish it Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts

W.I.P. Wednesday

This week I feel like I made some decent progress. I've been working on scrap projects and haven't actually purchased fabric in quite a while. I don't have a fabric stash per se, but I had accumulated a fair amount of scraps over the last year or so since I started quilting. And now I'm feeling pretty good that I have depleted the majority of my scraps and will be looking to start something "from scratch" pretty soon. :)

Since last week I finished the above mini quilt, now happily hanging above my sewing machine. More details {here}.

I also finished this quilt top out of 2.5" square scraps. I am in love with it! It's not very big. Only about 40" square so not totally usable as a quilt for any of the sizes of humans that live in my house (ie. we have no babies here anymore!) so I'm trying to decide what to do with it. I'm considering adding borders, maybe making the patchwork off-center similar to how I finished the Modern Quarters quilt. What do you think?

Finally, today I pulled out one more batch of scraps, mostly from Sixteen Sparkles, and using this quilt by Red Pepper Quilts as inspiration I started to put together another baby quilt. I think it's going to be pretty cute! The white I'm using here is broadcloth, a poly/cotton mix, which I happened to have and wanted to use up and let's just say I won't be using it in quilting again! It distorts SO easily with pressing and piecing and I've had to do a fair bit of trimming and tugging and re-pressing. Thankfully, quilting (and washing!) tends to cover up a multitude of problems so I think it'll end up okay.

Have a good week everyone!

Another scrappy finish {is there a theme here?}

{finished size 18.5" x 24"}

Things have been very scrappy around here lately, haven't they? This particular one started out as a cover for my sewing machine, and ended up as a wall hanging to go above my sewing machine! The majority of the prints came from Elizabeth when I won a giveaway on her blog. She asked which colours I liked, so naturally I loved the selection of charm squares that she cut for me from her own stash.

The gray background fabric was mostly leftovers from Chrysalis. I did have to order a little bit more to finish this off, and then ended up using pretty much the last little bit to make the binding so it worked out perfectly.

I decided to quilt this with very minimal diagonal lines, and I like it! It's just enough to still allow the colourful prints do most of the talking!

For the first time, I made a hanging pocket on the back following this tutorial at Stitched In Color, which was so easy and I will definitely do it again on future small projects. I do still need to buy a skinny dowel to hang it properly, but since I'm impatient I straightened out a wire clothes hanger as well as I could and am using that for now. :)

{My humble little sewing corner}

Linking up with the following:
{Sew} Modern Monday @ Canoe Ridge Creations
Sew Darn Crafty @ Sew Many Ways
Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story

Little Quilt Monday @ Pieceful Life

Scrap Attack

Four hundred 2.5" squares later, and I have a totally colourful, totally awesome quilt top that has memories of most of my projects from the past year, and some scraps from new blog friends contained in it. This was meant to be a charity quilt, but I don't know if I'll be able to give it away, you know? I'll keep you posted!

P.S. Is it just me, or is it actually quite difficult to put together an accurately pieced top like this? You'd think sewing squares together would be easy peasy, but it really was quite a challenge to get it all to line up as best as I could, especially once the time came to join the rows!

Linking up with Finish it up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts

Mini Vacuum Attachment

A few of you commented on my W.I.P. post, asking for more information about the mini vacuum attachment set that I recently purchased, so I'll leave you with this little post so you know where I bought it from and what I think of it so far.

I purchased the set from Sara's Vac Shack on eBay. It was the most reasonably priced that I could find online, including shipping costs to Canada. I had not ordered from this shop before. As you will see from the link, they sell sets for various makes of vacuum cleaners but from what I can see, I wouldn't be surprised if it was really actually quite universal. The set that I bought is for Eureka, but it also fits on a different vacuum we have of a different brand.

As you can see, it comes with several different attachments including 2 with brush ends. The angled adapter (in the center of the photo) has been useful because of course you still have to deal with the upper part of the machine getting in the way as you try to suction out the bobbin area!! It allows you to get in there just a bit better.

The one problem I have with the system is this....

This is the adapter that obviously the flexible hose fits onto one end, and your regular vacuum cleaner hose fits in the other end. See those little "vents"?? That part turns so that more or less of the "vent" is open. It can only be turned as far as halfway closed, and it doesn't stay in place. I wonder if this is necessary since you are putting a regular cleaner's suction power through such a small hose, but it seems like a lot of suction is lost because of those vents. It does still seem to suck up lint, and I've been holding my hand over the vents while I use it which does increase the suction a bit more, but that is the one foible that I have with the system. I feel like it could work just a bit better. I may still email the shop owner and ask, and will keep you updated.

But overall, it does seem to do what I need it to do and I am happy that I am able to get in there and get all that fuzz out of my machine. It does work MUCH better than trying to do it with a regular vacuum.

W.I.P. Wednesday

{Before I get started with today's news, I just wanted to say that I changed my commenting to not allow anonymous comments anymore (sorry Mom, CJ & Trudy...) due to annoying spammy comments. I hope that I set it so that it still lets the rest of you in though! Let me know if it doesn't and you're unable to comment.}

Things have been busy around here in the last few weeks, finishing both Chrysalis and Sparkle and now things are definitely slowing down. Only a few things on the go now, but for starters I'll show you a picture of Sparkle, all washed up! Crinkly, quilty goodness. :)

This week I started cutting up scraps into 2.5" squares. Now, most people in blog land who are cutting 2.5" squares these days are making Granny Square Blocks. Not me! I love the Granny Square, don't get me wrong, but I'm lacking in solid background fabrics and have waaaaaay too many leftover prints. So what I'm going to do is sew these together randomly into somewhat of a Postage Stamp Quilt design and see how many 36" baby quilt tops I can put together, which will eventually be quilted and given to our hospital foundation.

{this is just a fraction of them...}

Two other items to note:

• I received the mini vacuum attachment that I ordered from ebay, for the purpose of keeping my new sewing machine in tip top shape, and I think it's going to be great! I used it briefly yesterday, just to try it out, and it's nice to be able to get into those little nooks and crannies. I'll update as I use it more.

• Connecting Threads Essential Cotton Thread - I'm not sure if I'm sold on it, yet. I used it for quilting the Sparkle quilt, and really had no problems at all. However, when I opened up my machine to clean it out after finishing that project, there was SO.MUCH.LINT in my machine. Like literally balls of fluff inside my bobbin case and feed dogs, etc. It was kind of shocking. I had cleaned the dust out before starting to quilt this, so what was in there was only from quilting the Sparkle. I worry that there's fluff and fuzz also in the upper thread workings of my machine, which is obviously much harder to access. One other thing about the thread - it is called a 50wt., but it definitely seems heavier than what I'm used to. I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing, it just wasn't what I was expecting.

Looking forward to seeing what the rest of you have been up to!

Sixteen Sparkles

Finally, a Sparkle wrap-up! I was such a keener at first, cranking out sparkles left right and center, and then totally stalled out as I waited for my batting to arrive in the mail. I think I might be the last Sparkler to finish! But here it is, and I'm so happy with the result. I think this may possibly be the worst day possible for taking photos, a very dreary west coast day, so I did my best with indoor shots. Beware of photo overload!

{Shows the full deal, but not really the quilting details at all}

{A different view, shows quilting a bit better}

This was my first time using free motion quilting on a large project. I saw this loopy quilting design on Stitched in Color and decided to go with it. Quilted in rows, as opposed to all-over-no-stopping, I liked it in that it gave me a break after each row! And believe me, I needed breaks! It got better as I went, and overall I was shocked at how fast the whole thing was finished, and how much thread I used!! But then I got to wondering whether I actually used more thread than when straight line quilting, or if my bobbin just ran out faster because of the speed of FMQ? I don't know!

{Ahhhhhh, loops!}

The backing is Michael Miller Antiquity Quatrefoils in "Breeze". It is blue-ish, and doesn't totally go with the blue on the front, but overall it ended up appearing quite neutral and I'm happy with that choice. The binding is just a generic dot print from my local fabric store, nothing printed on the selvedge of this one.

{Dots!}

{My chair....this is where I sit to bind all of my quilts!}

Thanks to Jeni and Megan for hosting this fun quilt along!

W.I.P. Wednesday

Since last week's post, my shipment from Connecting Threads arrived and I busily got down to work on the quilt tops that have been accumulating! First up was Chrysalis. I basted, quilted and bound this one in just a few days. I love it! (more details here)

Next up was the Sparkle top, made following this QAL. I decided to try free motion for the first time on a large project, and chose to do loops in rows like I saw on Stitched in Color last week. I am glad that I chose a design done in rows for my first time, because FMQ on a large project is HARD! Much different than on a small project. I have some weird little jiggedy spots where I didn't re-start very well, but overall it's going pretty good. Can't say I'm very relaxed yet though, and it's definitely not soothing! I have less than 1/4 left to do, so it's actually gone pretty fast considering I only basted this today. I'm trying the Connecting Threads Essential Cotton thread for the first time and I've had no issues with it whatsoever. Seems like a good product and a good value.

That's about all that's on my plate this week. Looking forward to seeing what the rest of you are up to!

Winner!!

The winner of my Modern Mini Challenge quilt is #18 .............. Krista!! Krista is one of my most favourite bloggers and quilters, and she is somewhat local to me. I am thrilled that your number came up Krista. :)

Thanks to everyone else who left such sweet comments, I have so enjoyed this challenge and seeing what the rest of you have come up with as well!

Chrysalis is finally finished!

Katie told me not to come back until Chrysalis was finished, and asides from the Modern Mini Challenge quilt, which I already had ready to post, I have listened to Katie! hehe All in jest, of course, but nevertheless I am so excited to finally be able to show off a finished Chrysalis! We're having some serious wind today, so I did my best with the photos in between gusts!

I started this project several months ago, and was inspired by Krista's Full Circle quilt. I used 2 charm packs of Chrysalis by Moda, and about 1.75yds of Nugray solid by Free Spirit (purchased at Modern Fabric Studio, highly recommended and reasonable shipping to Canada). This quilt finished at about 48.5" x 59".

For the backing I used "Scrappy and Happy" by Janet Selck for Northcott Fabrics, purchased at my local Fabricland store. The orange was a perfect match and I couldn't pass it up! I had four leftover blocks from the top that I incorporated into the backing. I used the same fabric from the backing for the binding. I've done this on a few of my recent quilts and I really like it! I always have leftover backing fabric so might as well put it to use. This is what the back looks like with the sun shining through.....kind of fun, hey?

The binding.....

And lastly, a few indoor shots which are not quite as nice but I think show the quilting lines and the backing a bit better.




Phew! Sorry for the picture overload, I'm just so pleased with this project! This quilt will become a snuggler on our living room couch. I think I will try to claim it for myself as much as possible. :-)

One final note about this project. For the first time I used Hobbs Heirloom Natural Cotton Batting with scrim, just to try something different. At first when I took it out of the package, I was feeling a bit unsure about it. It is VERY thin, thinner than the 80/20 Hobbs Heirloom that I have used in the past. It also seemed pretty linty when working with it. I noticed a lot of little cotton fluffs during the quilting process!! BUT the positives, it is very soft and machine quilted very nicely. And now that the quilt is finished and washed, it doesn't seem quite so thin so I thinked it fluffed up nicely. I have enough of this batting (purchased 2 king sized pre-packaged batts in this type) for quite a few more projects so I'll keep you posted!

Thanks for coming along on this quilting journey with me!