Year in Review and Planning for 2017

I have this problem about not blogging in November and December every year!  I think that the issue is that I am busy making gifts and I don't want to post them online for the recipient to see, as well as being busy with the whole holiday season.

Anyway, now I am back and ready to make some quilty goals for 2017, but first let's see how I did with last year's goals.

Goals for 2016:
1. Go see my two quilts hanging at Quiltcon (!) in Pasadena and enjoy the workshops and lectures I am attending with my sister
This was so fun!  I blogged about it here, here, and here.

2. Enter quilts in shows and not worry about rejections
I entered 5 quilts in shows, they all got rejected, and that's ok :)

3. Learn how to write patterns more professionally and apply it to new patterns
Hmm, still need to work on this one

4. Sell some patterns!
See above

5. Grow my Etsy store
I made a couple hundred dollars from my Etsy store this year and am considering that a success

6. Grow my blog following 
Still working on this

7. Blog more! 
See above

8. Quilt!!!
Done!

Goals for 2017:
1. Participate in Alison Glass link up at Quilting Jetgirl with my Alison Glass charm swap fabrics
2. Finish quilting my Summer Solstice QAL quilt
3. Work more on patterns, writing them more professionally and trying to sell them
4. Continue to sell in my Etsy store
5. Try out improvisational piecing and make a quilt out of it (I have been wanting to do this for a while)
6. Continue to grow my piecing and quilting skills
7. Try to write some tutorials to grow traffic to my blog
8. Have fun and enjoy sewing :)

I am linking up with the Quilting Jetgirl 2017 Planning Party!

Summer Solstice QAL- Finished Quilt Top!!

I finished my quilt top for the Summer Solstice QAL!

I am making the one block 48" quilt.  If you remember, I started off with this beautiful piece of blue gradient fabric...

Then I cut all my pieces very carefully to make the gradient work from the center of the block out to the edges...

Last week my block looked like this....

This week I added the white border and then I added an extra gradient border (both to use up the rest of the gradient fabric and also because I thought it would look awesome).  I ended up with a 4" border of the gradient fabric.  I tried a skinnier border first but my sister told me it would look better wider (thanks Christina!).  Without further ado, here is the finished quilt top...

I love it with the extra border!!!!!  The final size is about 56" square.  Unfortunately I am not going to get it quilted up by this Thursday.  I had originally bought Kona Pacific for the backing but upon further inspection, the Pacific isn't quite the right color and I need to get a different blue.  Plus, I did some calculations and I don't seem to have enough backing fabric for the quilt top and binding now that I added the extra border.  Hopefully in the next week or two I will get the right backing and I can start quilting it!

Thanks again to Melissa for holding such a fun QAL!  I can't wait to see everyone's finished quilt tops!

Wednesday Fabric Love #8

As a rule, I don't (usually) buy flannel fabrics.  I don't use them in quilts, but I might occasionally use them for burp cloths or other small projects/gifts.

However, this fabric is so cute!!!!  This is "Zoomates Flannel" by Henry Glass.  I wish so much that this came in a cotton but I can't seem to find it in a cotton online.  If anyone sees it, let me know!  I don't really love the coordinates, this is the best one in the line (in my opinion).

Zoomates can be purchased here and at many other online retailers!

Sunday Stash

In July, my husband had a business trip to Paris and I went along with him for a couple days!  We flew out on a Thursday and arrived on Friday morning.  On Friday, we toured the Eiffel Tower and then we took a boat ride on the Seine.  On Saturday, we went to Versailles for the whole day.  On Sunday, we walked almost the entire city of Paris!

However, on Monday, my husband had to go to his work meetings and I wasn't leaving until Tuesday so I had the whole day to entertain myself.  I started looking for fabric stores in Paris because one of my favorite things to do is visit fabric stores in the cities where I travel.  In my Google searches for fabric stores, I came across Barbara, from "Stitching Up Paris".  Barbara gives 3 hour tours of the fabric stores in Paris, and she will customize the tour for you and your particular type of crafting (knitting, embroidery, clothes sewing, quilting, etc)!  Barbara is from New Zealand but has lived in Paris for a long time and speaks French fluently.  So, I signed up for a tour with Barbara!

I had so much fun touring the fabric stores with Barbara!  First, she took me to back alley haberdashery stores that I never would have found myself.  They sold all types of buttons, ribbons, trims, etc.  Then we walked through some areas with custom upholstery stores and checked out all the windows.  We ended up in the fabric district in Montmarte and we went in tons of stores there too.

One minus was that they don't sell a lot of quilting cottons in Paris.  Apparently most of the quilting fabric is imported from the US (Moda, etc) and sells for almost double what it costs here.  I knew that beforehand and really I just enjoyed the experience of going in all the fabric stores and browsing. 

I did buy a couple things though (after all, this is Sunday Stash!)...

Embroidery scissors (so sharp!), pins, and needles at Sajou:

These interesting zippers at some back alley store, I can't wait to figure out how to use these on a pouch:

A metre of the gray fabric and a fat quarter-ish of the blue flowers:

Some small pieces of a Paris-themed fabric and the cool colored dashes:

I didn't buy that much, but I had such a fun afternoon with Barbara!  It was so nice to have her take me everywhere so I didn't have to worry about getting lost (I don't have the best sense of direction), and since she speaks French she could easily speak to all the shopkeepers and also help me with anything I needed.  If you are ever planning a trip to Paris, you should consider looking her up!  (She also has a book out detailing a lot of the Paris fabric stores so that could be another option)

Linking up with Sunday Stash at Molli Sparkles!

Wednesday Fabric Love #7

It has been well documented that I can not pass up "travel" themed fabrics, and this one is no exception!

This fabric is "European Adventures" by Timeless treasures.  I was just in Paris in July and so those "Paris" stamps on the fabric really speak to me.

This fabric can be found at Fabric Shack and many other online retailers.  I am not affiliated with Fabric Shack, I just like their quick service and awesome fabric selection.

Sunday Stash

A couple weeks ago I was visiting family in Denver Colorado.  While I was there, my husband took me to one of my very favorite quilt shops, Holly's Quilt Cabin.

We found this quilt store randomly during one of our visits to CO because it is right next door to a grocery store.  Holly's Quilt Cabin doesn't look like much from the outside (the storefront isn't very wide) but the store is so deep and they have an amazing selection of fabrics.  They have traditional fabrics, modern fabrics, blenders, flannels, batiks, everything!  Weirdly enough, they have one of the best selection of "outer space" fabrics that I have ever seen in one place and all sorts of themed fabrics too!

I only had like 10 minutes in the store while my husband went to get gas in the car and I did the best I could in that time frame!   I picked up a half yard each of the three fabrics below- my very favorite is the rocket ships!  I was so excited to see the rockets ships because I had seen that online and had been secretly wanting it.  You also might recognize the crayola crayons from when I posted about them last month.

I also picked up Fat Quarters of these two music fabrics- I think my sister and I are going to be making a music quilt in 2 months and I need to start stashing some fabrics!

Linking up with Sunday Stash by Molli Sparkles!

Summer Solstice QAL- Building Blocks

I was SO EXCITED to finally put together all the pieces for my Summer Solstice giant block!  (from the Summer Solstice QAL)

I LOVE the way that the gradient worked out!  There is still a white border that goes around the block and then I am considering adding a gradient border outside of the white border.   I am waiting to see what the size will be when the white border is added before I make my decision- I am looking forward to the next set of instructions this Thursday!

Summer Solstics QAL- Drunkard's Path

I am still working on the Summer Solstice QAL... I totally finished the last assignment before the due date but then I messed up days in my head and I didn't get it posted in time to qualify for the weekly prizes.  Just to be complete, I will still post my progress.

My drunkard's path blocks:

Just wait until you see the finished top!!!

Wednesday Fabric Love #6

You all know by now that I have a soft spot for kid's fabrics and even more of an inclination to buy them if they are primary colored because they match with the rest of my stash.

This week I saw the very cutest dinosaur fabric!

I just love the multicolored dino tracks on the coordinating fabric!  This fabric has several other coordinates and has different background colors too (I prefer the white though).  See it here at Fabric Shack.

Now, how would I use this fabric?  I immediately thought of Shannon Brinkley and her "Scrappy Applique" method.

  from here

Wouldn't this fabric look so cute as borders around a giant dinosaur?  Or maybe use the dinos as the border and the dino tracks as the backing!  So many options!!

Wednesday Fabric Love #5

Many years ago when I was in college, I did a summer internship at the Crayola Factory in Easton PA.  Ever since then (and even before) I have had a love of Crayola products (and everyone knows that store brand crayons can't even compare to Crayola brand!).

I was surprised to see that Riley Blake entered a partnership with Crayola and they made a fabric line about crayons!

My personal favorite is the first one, the "tossed crayons".  This line has several other coordinates, and Riley Blake also produced solids with the Crayola name.  I can see these fabrics used for pencil pouches, open wide pouches, and anything for back-to-school time.

These fabrics are available here from Fabric Shack.  I am not paid to say this, but I like Fabric Shack's large variety of fabric, fast and cheap shipping, and the ability to order 1/4 yds!

Summer Solstice QAL- Half Square Triangles

This week in the Summer Solstice Quiltalong we made Half Square Triangles.  Super easy and once again I was glad that I am only making 1 giant block!

And since I tend to be very impatient to see what the final product will look like, I hung up the pieces on my design wall early :)

I LOVE the way this looks!!!!  Except I think that I need to dissect two of the center flying geese and exchange some triangles so that the gradient flows correctly, otherwise it will bug me forever.  I can't wait to add the drunkard's path blocks next!

Wednesday Fabric Love #4

I found this great new line of fabric this week, "Geekery" by Sue Marsh for RJR fabric!  I am a mechanical engineer and I am always on the lookout for math and science related fabric and this totally meets that goal.

I just love the rainbow colors and these fabrics are so fun!  I could see these being used for pouches and for notebook covers for school.

These fabrics are available here from Fabric Shack, along with several other coordinates.  These fabrics come with a black background too.

Fabric Shack does not sponsor me, I just really like their selection, their fast and cheap shipping, and the fact that they let you purchase 1/4 yds!

Giant Storm at Sea

Last fall, my sister and I decided to make a lap sized quilt for our grandfather.  For some reason, I had been looking at "Storm at Sea" quilts and I convinced my sister that we should make a Storm at Sea but greatly enlarged.

"storm at sea" design from here

First of all, after making my quilt, I can't imagine making more of the intricate Storm at Sea quilts with so many blocks!  We did 4 blocks and that was all I could deal with.  This would have to be a paper pieced quilt to get all the points to line up!

We went to the fabric store with the idea of getting some "manly" fabrics, like greens, browns, etc, but definitively wanted to do prints.  Well, we came home with blue solids hahaha.  We tried so hard to find some prints but in the end decided it was more "us" with the blues and the solids.

We used some quilt calculators online to find the dimensions for the "square in a square" blocks.  The hardest part was the "diamond in a rectangle" block.  We couldn't find dimensions and then we messed up so many times before figuring out how to get the corner pieces on the rectangle to be the correct size.  Never again!  This picture was taken to celebrate the first correct diamond piece!

The completed quilt top:

Before I started the quilting, I googled Storm at Sea quilts just to try and see how they did the quilting because I didn't just want to do a simple stipple or loops on this quilt.  I found one quilt that was quilted with straight lines following the shapes in the quilt and I really loved the way it looked, so I copied it for this quilt.  I quilted with a variegated blue thread.  Can you see the quilting lines in the picture below?

 We bound the quilt with a navy binding and it brought the whole quilt together.  The backing is a beautiful light blue/dark blue print but unfortunately I don't have any pictures of it.

Here is the finished quilt, I just love the way it looks!

Wednesday Fabric Love #3

This week I want to talk about a new kid fabric that I found, the Northcott Connector Playmats Panels.

From top to bottom, they are "Around Town", "At the Train Station", "At the Airport", and "At the Harbor".  Each panel is 2/3 yd and you can see that the roads can connect both vertically and horizontally.  So you could buy one for a small playmat (40" x 24"), connect two for a medium mat (40" x 48"), or buy all 4 for a giant mat (80" x 48").  

I don't have anyone to make this for right now but am considering buying some of them just because they are so cute haha.  But which ones to buy?  How could I pick one over the others?  If you want some for yourself, they are available at Fabric Shack, one of my favorite online fabric sellers.

Wednesday Fabric Love #2

Continuing with my travel theme from last week, I really love this fabric from Hoffman Fabrics, called "National Park Centennial".  It is available in blue, gray, and khaki.

Did you know that the National Park Service turns 100 years old on August 26, 2016?  I went to the Grand Canyon with my family about 7 years ago and ever since it has re-ignited my love of the National Parks.  I have a "National Park Passport" that you can get stamped at all the National Parks and my husband and I plan trips based on how many National Parks we can visit!  Every Park is different and they are all awesome.  I just asked my husband which park is his favorite (that we have visited) and he said Grand Canyon- and I think I would agree with that!


This fabric would make a fun journal cover, or maybe a pillow cover to use in the car for your road trips?  Or maybe a road-trip bag?  So many options.


This fabric is available online from Fabric Shack.  They are not paying me to say this, but they are one of my favorite online shops!  Quick cutting, quick and cheap shipping, and they allow 1/4 yd cuts!