Kona Color of the Year Challenge

The Kona Color of the Year is HIGHLIGHT!

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When I was at Quiltcon last week Robert Kaufman Fabrics were handing out the following card along with a fat quarter of Highlight:

In order to join the Kona Color of the Year Challenge all I had to do was make a block using the color Highlight and other Kona solids.  Easy, right?  But what block should I make?? and what colors should I use??

First I took the color Highlight and tried to find some good colors to go along with it.  My original plan was to pair it with Navy, however, I accidentally put the Highlight next to the color Water and then I couldn't get that combination out of my mind.  I also added in Iron for the background.

Then I got out my trusty block book, "1000 Great Quilt Blocks" and started paging through, looking for a good 3 color block.

The following block caught my eye and then I couldn't get it out of my mind:

And here is the final product:

 

It's a fun block and I really like the way it looks with the colors I chose, but there is no way I would make a full quilt out of this block!  If I did, I would have to figure out a more efficient way to make it, it is only 16" square but it took so long to sew together.

I have entered the Kona COTY challenge on Instagram, go there to find all the other blocks that people are making with the color Highlight!

Pillow Covers

Occasionally I do sewing projects for Home Decor things instead of just for quilting.  Recently, one of my good friends found out that I opened an Etsy store and she asked me to make some pillow covers for her mom and she would buy them from my Etsy store.

The only requirements that she gave me were the size and that they had to include a "slate blue".  I did a lot of searching online and send her a bunch of options and eventually we decided on this fabric because it had a smaller repeat than a lot of the other home dec fabrics and would be good in pillow size.

Mental note to myself:  do not choose such geometric fabrics for pillow again!  It took more time to figure out how to cut the fabric so the best part of the pattern repeat was in the center of the pillow and to match the sides and top/bottom of the pillows than it did to actually sew them.

The fabric was slightly see-through so I lined the pillows with leftover curtain lining that I had laying around.  I did try one new thing with these pillows- I added an invisible zipper!  This was my very first invisible zipper project and once I got the hang of it, it wasn't that bad.  I used this tutorial that I found online where you sew together the fabrics first and then sew the zipper in place and then rip the first seam that made apart.  It actually worked really well and I would love to link to the tutorial but I can't find it, sorry!  I will keep looking.

Anyway, here are the final pillow covers, I mailed them out this week.  Hopefully my friend and her mom like them!

Quiltcon, Here I Come!!!!

Today I leave for Quiltcon West, in Pasadena California.  I am SO EXCITED!!!

I am lucky to have attended the last two Quiltcons in Austin TX.  I live in Houston and my husband enjoys going to Austin for the weekend and it was an easy drive to just attend the show for a couple hours.

However, this year I am making a bigger deal out of Quiltcon.  My sister is flying out too (from Connecticut) and we are meeting at the Los Angeles airport tonight (knock on wood) and then we are heading to a fun weekend together in Pasadena.

We signed up for 2 workshops, "Textural Quilting" with Angela Walters and "Free-Motion Favorites for the Modern Quilter" with Christa Watson.  We are also signed up for several lectures throughout the course of the weekend.

I have 3 (!) quilts at the show!  Two will be on display in the "Modern Traditionalism" exhibit and 1 will be on display at the Northcott fabrics booth.  I will share all about these quilts and show lots of pictures when I get back next week.

I am excited about Quiltcon- taking classes and seeing my quilts, but I am mostly excited about spending a fun weekend together with my sister and doing everything together with her.

I can't post this post without a picture, so here is my class homework that I had to put together before Quiltcon, it is basically just a bunch of quilt sandwiches to practice the quilting techniques that we learn in class.  I used fabrics that I hate just to get them out of my stash... you can't tell from the picture but those three in the bottom right aren't white, they are lime green :)  Hopefully I don't blind anyone with these colors.  Also, no idea why I own so much maroon?  This didn't really make a dent in it...

Facets QAL with Christa Quilts

I have joined the Facets QAL with Christa Quilts! 

Here is the final quilt, image from Christa Quilts:

I got the book "Machine Quilting with Style" by Christa Watson as a Christmas present from my parents and the "Facets" quilt is my favorite quilt in the book.  I had already decided that I wanted to make the quilt and then I found out that Christa was having it as a Quilt A Long (QAL) so I have joined right in.

I am kind of behind right now because of other things I have going on right now and will continue to be behind since I am headed to Quiltcon this week, but that is fine.  

Here is my progress so far...

My colors are this gradient of blues, and the Navy will be the background fabric...

I cut lots of strips...

And sewed them all back together...

Then I cut out the diamonds...

This took me so long and I this is less than 25% of the diamonds that I need!

After a couple more nights sewing I got this...

Turned into this...

50% done with the diamonds!  However, I am panicking slightly because I have used up more than half of the fabric that I bought for the diamonds so I am seriously considering scaling back slightly on the size of the quilt.  Can't wait to keep working on this and see how it turns out!

Christmas presents- Divided Baskets

Last November, I bought the "Divided Basket" pattern from Anna at Noodlehead.  I have used other (free) patterns from her in the past and I was excited to try the Divided Basket.  I was looking for something new to sew for my 2 nieces and nephew for Christmas and this fit the bill.

The pattern was well written and easy to follow... by the time I got to the third one I made I was starting to make adjustments to the pattern and they were starting to go together really quickly.  The crazy part was that cutting out all of the pieces takes as long as sewing the basket together!

I used both interfacings suggested and would recommend to others to do the same, it really helped the fabrics to stand up and keep their shape!

 Fronts of the 3 baskets

Backs of the 3 baskets

I have already used this pattern once since Christmas and see many more of these baskets in my future!

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday!

Born on the 4th of July

My sister and I decided last year that we wanted to make a quilt for one of our aunts.  The quilt started with an idea that we wanted to make it red, white, and blue since this aunt of ours was born on the 4th of July.  We also decided to make it wonky stars since we had never tried that before and we wanted to try something new.

We decided to make 4 sizes of wonky stars- 6", 9", 12", and 15" finished stars.  We both collected as much red, navy, and white fabrics as we could.  I started cutting the fabrics before my sister came to visit so that we could optimize our sewing time.

Somehow I don't have any other process pics of this quilt, but here is the finished product:

We basically sewed a whole bunch of the wonky stars- each star is made up of a red or blue fabric and a white fabric, but all the stars have different white-on-white backgrounds.  Then my sister was in charge of figuring out the layout- she laid out most of the quilt and then we made a couple more stars to fill in the gaps where we needed them.  Finally, we sewed the whole top together.

I quilted the quilt using a loopy pattern- it was my sister's idea and I really love the way that it made the quilt look!  I have never used a loopy pattern before but I will for sure use it in the future!  Then we sent the quilt home with my sister and she finished off the binding.

We gave the quilt to our aunt for Christmas and she really loved it!  It was fun to make and I enjoy collaborating with my sister on quilts too (most of the time!)

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday!