Blogger's Quilt Festival, Spring 2015 - Farmer's Wife Quilt {large quilt category}

I'm excited to be entering my Farmer's Wife Quilt in Blogger's Quilt Festival Spring 2015, being hosted by Amy over at Amy's Creative Side.  This quilt was almost exactly a year in the making, and is the largest quilt I've made to date.  Quite honestly, I don't think I'll ever go bigger than this!!  Its finished size is approximately 86" x 96", and I'm actually hoping for a bit of shrinkage once it goes through the wash!

I enjoyed (almost!) every moment of making the actual blocks, and working with Denyse Schmidt's Chicopee fabric line certainly helped!  I love the bright colours and patterns in the fabrics that don't seem like they should go together, yet they do.

I had Chelsea (www.chelseaquilts.com) do the quilting for me, knowing that I could never manage to work this beast through my normal household machine, and I'm so glad I did.  She did a wonderful job.

I used Carolyn Friedlander's Widescreen Crosshatch fabric for backing, which ended up being just wide enough to use without having to piece any other fabric into the backing to bring it up to size.  Phew!  I was relieved to not have to deal with that for such a big quilt.  The binding fabric is Moda Bella Solids in Scarlet.

Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to visit the Blogger's Quilt Festival and check out all of the other entries in many categories.  Have a great day!

Noodlehead 241 Tote

This is a project that I have admired from afar on many blogs over the last few years and I finally decided to give it a try.  Asides from bee blocks, I haven't been quilting this summer.  My Farmer's Wife quilt is on hold until this fall, and honestly it's just too hot in the house to be thinking about wrangling anything too big and heavy through the sewing machine!  So anyways, a few bags have made their way through my machine this summer and this is the first one I have to show (the other one was finished first but still needs a bit of tweaking!).

I'll start off by saying that I am absolutely happy with the finished product.  I have nothing negative at all to say about the pattern, it is thorough and awesome and Anna's pattern support is great too!  However, I found almost everything about this bag to be a challenge for me.  I don't know if it was the curves or what, but something about it had me second guessing my sewing skills.  I know I shouldn't be too hard on myself since it turned out great, much to my relief.  Maybe I just need to make a few more to gain confidence!!  Top stitching around the gusset was the biggest challenge of all.  I got it done but it was a struggle every stitch of the way....it would be really awesome if someone who is experienced and comfortable with it would make a video or something....just sayin'!!  ;)  But onto some more of the positives and a few more pics...

I discovered a local shop where I can purchase Pellon ShapeFlex101 interfacing and it was a dream to work with!  I'd never used a woven interfacing before and it was fantastic.  A bit pricy, in my opinion, at $6.75/m, but worth it for projects like this for sure.  I interfaced all of the outer pieces (actually, that light coloured dot fabric really could have used two layers, but the single layer ended up being ok) except for the outer side pockets since I was using a denim.  Likewise for the strap, also in denim (by the way, the denim looks really wacky on my first photo, does anyone know why that happens sometimes??).

This was my first time using a magnetic snap and I love it.  The insertion was easy and straight forward and it works great.  Will definitely be using more in the future.  One thing I will say about the pattern is to be sure you test the strap length to see if it's to your liking.  The 26" suggested in the pattern is not nearly long enough to be a cross-body strap, which I am okay with since I don't tend to wear bags that way, but just so you're aware it is more of an over one shoulder type strap length.

Overall, a great pattern and a really fun & unique design, if you can get past a few challenges which thankfully I was able to do!

Really Random Thursday/Finish It Up Friday {aka: an ode to Chicopee}

I've been slack on the blog lately, and I'm feeling like I might just start popping in here when I have finishes to share but otherwise most of my activity will be on Instagram (@windingbobbins).  I like that it's quick, easy, doesn't take much thought, and most of you are over there anyways!!  If any of you are on IG and I'm not following you yet though, let me know!  That said, I have a list of finishes to share today!  You might notice a theme....

First up, I finished all of the Farmer's Wife blocks a few weeks ago!  My plan is to finish it in the same way that Michelle finished hers, alternating straight blocks and on-point blocks across the rows.  I have ordered Kona Natural for the sashing and setting triangles and am waiting for it to arrive from Mad About Patchwork.

Not finished with the beautiful Chicopee fabric yet, while I wait for my Kona to arrive I have made a bunch of minis too.  First up, these two made to surprise two generous quilting friends of mine.

Still not done, a Chicopee mug rug....

....and a pair of slippers!  These were made using Ayumi's Log Cabin Slipper pattern.  There were some really fiddly parts, but they were fun to make and a very straight forward pattern.  If I make more of these I will try to modify the width.  I do not have dainty feet, and the slippers are a bit wide even for me.  I put them through the washer/dryer this afternoon which helped, but a slightly narrower slipper would be better.  Overall though, super happy with them!

Hope you're all doing well!

Linking up with Really Random Thursday @ Live a Colorful Life

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts

A parade of Family Passport Wallets

I've been back on the Family Passport Wallet train again and have three new ones to share, all made within the last week or two.  All of them are for sale and ready to ship from my Etsy shop.  As always, the wallets were made using this pattern by Amber.

Linking up with Finish it up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts

W.I.P. Wednesday ~ Farmer's Wife edition

I took a brief break from working on my Farmer's Wife blocks in order to complete some bee blocks and other small projects, but I'm right back into it now.  64 blocks down - I make them in batches of 4 blocks so that is how I have been photographing them.  You can click on the collage for a larger view.  I'm more than happy with how they are coming together, and am now well past the half way point!  Woohoo!

In other news, I have re-opened my Etsy shop, Winding Bobbins.  I currently have a few Family Passport Wallets in there (made using Amber's pattern) as well as a baby quilt, and I hope to add a few more items yet this week.  Fingers crossed that I'll see some sales!

Have a good week everyone!

Linking up with Lee @ Freshly Pieced

Blogger's Quilt Festival ~ Spring 2014 {ROYGBIV category}

Realizing just this morning that each blogger can link up two projects in the Blogger's Quilt Festival, I'm excited to share this second entry.  My other entry, in the large quilt category, can be found here.  Thanks again to Amy for hosting this event each year.

This quilt was a huge challenge for me being that it is improv based, which is something that definitely does not come naturally to me.  It did come together though, and I'm more than happy with the result.  This quilt now graces the wall of my kitchen and it just brightens everything up!

Quilt stats:

Finished size:  27" x 27"
Pattern:  Improv blocks based on crazy piecing technique described in "Quilting Modern" by Katie Pedersen & Jacquie Gering

Fabric:  Colourful scraps from my overflowing bin!  Michael Miller "Old Script" binding.

Quilting:  Spiral quilting using WonderFil Tutti 50wt Egyptian cotton
Festival Category:  ROYGBIV