SBAMQG Zipper Pouch Swap

Swapping in person is my favorite, especially when it's done on a large scale with a lot of participation.   I've joined in every single one of our local MQG chapter swaps including the most recent Zipper Pouch exchange.

Swap Given and Received 

Despite having had months to create the project I waited until the last minute to sew mine up just a couple of days before the meeting.  I'm choosing to see this fact as a sign of confidence rather than procrastination.  We need all the positive spin we can get these days, right?

SBAMQG Tote/Pouch Swap Group Photo

I snagged the picture above from the guild Instagram account - isn't it great?!  You can spot mine balanced on the hooks on the left and Tina's on the right.  It was fun to see the "same but different" creations with hers in the light background and arching upward the opposite of mine.

2014 Pin cushion Swap from partner Meridyth

My partner was my freind Meridyth which worked out well because I have a good grasp on her taste and she was once my secret parter for a pin cushion swap so it made things feel full circle. Flickr is pretty much obsolete but I do love it for making it easy to find this 4 year old picture of us!

Swap Given

zipper pouch Swap

What better time to pull out my precious stash and use a panel from Allison Glass. So instead I just used basic pouch construction principals that we had used for a similar one for Quilt Retreat Swag.

Fabric Pull

Because I wanted to feature it as much as possible I knew a custom cut would be necessary and using a pattern that didn't take into account the proportions didn't make sense.   Fussy cutting the pink  to center the dots was fun.

On the Design Wall

 For the bottom portion I used Kraftex for both durability and looks since the Indigo is such a pretty color and would support the cooler end of the spectrum.

True up, Trim up

Have I mentioned how much I love my big Creative Grid ruler?   It's not a coincidence that often the width of my blocks and projects happen to be this size.   Originally the zipper was to be high contrast to add a pop but I decided it distracted from the pink dot strips that I was so fond of.  A quick trip to the LQS was worth the pause and luckily they had the perfect match.

Notions 

It truly has two "fronts" but looking through my photos it's undeniable that I am drawn to the warm side.  Fusible interfacing gave it a nice structure and I like the way the lining isn't loose inside. 

Embroidery floss color pull

My granddaughter enjoyed pulling the Embroidery floss colors that she thought would look best for the zipper pull and liked watching me do the braiding.  One day soon, I'd like to have the two of us play around with this type of crafting.

Despite the last minute finish, I was able to stop by the beach for a proper photo shoot before the guild meeting and the weather cooperated nicely.

Glamour Shot 

Normally in a bind swap your partner isn't revealed until the exchange but mine knew she wasn't going to be able to attend for the exchange and let me know ahead that I'd be getting my pouch the following month.  It worked out great.

Swap Received 

Open Out Box Pouch made by Jessica

The card that accompanied my pouch was the inspiration palette that Jessica used.  It was such a special touch to get an insight in the making and I love artist Tom Killion's work.  

With an image that depicts the coast, I knew just where I wanted to stage the photo shoot to show off what I had been gifted.   She did an amazing job.  The pattern is Open-Out Box Pouch by Aneela Hoey and is the perfect size and shape for sewing supplies.  

A Maximalist to follow a Minimalist

Composing in Color

It's no secret that I'm drawn to technique and process more than duplicating a quilt using a published pattern.  This composition measures 11"x22" so far.  

Saturday's "making prints out of solids" South Bay Area MQG workshop with Maria Shell, Tales of a Stitcher was an opportunity to learn to create a huge range of "fabric". It was so engaging and perfect for me.  Well, maybe if it were a 3 or 5 day retreat workshop it could've been more perfect. 

Maria Shell demo and Class Samples

As you can see from her class samples displayed above, Maria embraces a full palette. She did a demo of each method and helped us select colors that could stand on their own.  A favorite phrase that she used and that I whole heartedly relate to was "painting with your rotary".    It's almost as messy! 

My SIL didn't attend so I took my batch of parts with me on Sunday when I visited and snapped this shot while the were on her design wall. 

My collective

A Song and A Dance

November blocks for Leanne 10x17.5 and 7.5x15  Linking up to Scraptastic Tuesday - check it out.

BeeSewcial this month was like candy for my sweet tooth.  I've enjoyed getting outside my comfort zone each challenge and the last two were no exception. 

Conveying a clear message in black and white for Hillary, Entropy Always Wins and then an abstract winter landscape in icy grays for Felicity. (Reveal below)  The absence of color was a stretch. 

When Leanne, She Can Quilt announced that she was making an Improv Sampler, requesting a ruler free saturated medium tone block of any size in colors that make you wanna sing and dance - it was like she served up my favorite dish of confort food. 

Looking for the Glow

There wasn't enough time to try out everything in class especially since I plowed ahead with that first piece combining parts from half circles and curve to explore composition.  

Circles and Half Circles

I came home, stayed up late and got up early - that kind of reaction to a workshop does not happen often. I'll admit more times than not, the bits barely get unpacked and usually sit in my WIP bucket. 

Sunrise Sunday

When I tried to make plaid on my own I ran into some trouble with order getting confused with the rearranging of parts. 

Plaid-ish

I have every intention of trying them all.  Thank you Maria for a wonderful time and permission to share the picture of you and samples and to South Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild for another amazing teacher choice.  The dots and stripes sewn by my friends in class were really fun.  The next guild meeting should be a fun show and tell.  

Winter Wonderland

I think I can count the number of times I've been in the snow on one hand.  Felicity provided an image board and description on her blog post here so although my first hand experience is limited,  The icy starkness of my block, portraying slivers of trees has a lot of parts for minimalism but the limited palette sets the calm mood.  You may recognize the other source of inspiration,  my friend Renee's piece from the retreat.  

Fork in the Road

I joked (not so jokingly) that I'd surely become a shut in if I were to ever live in the snow.  Driving is not my favorite thing in dry weather and it boggles the mind how people manage without visibility on the road which was the spark for this block.

Building 

Busting out the scissors to work not only ruler-less but without my rotary for part of the process has become a little less awkward.

Pardon the fold lines in the picture - I had taken late night poor lighting shots and was in the parking lot of the post office when I remembered that I never took any good ones. So with creases in the trunk of the car was better than nothing.

I'm thrilled to be continuing as a member of BeeSewcial for 2016, making the bitter sweet of sewing the last block of the year easier to handle.

Tilt Shift - Challenge Reveal Tonight

Tilt Shift Top Done

Finished Top 27"x27"

When we drew our slips of papers for our Logo color challenge and I read the modern concept "high contrast and graphic areas of solid color",  I knew exactly where to go.  QDAD.  I'll admit that the color Cerise is pretty much my go to palette so it wasn't much of a challenge to work with.

(Full disclosure:  I originally drew "Improv" and my SIL got this one which made her scratch her head - so I swapped with her - which was totally allowed).

I chose the design above and recolored it to meet the guild criteria.  Here are a few earlier designs with similar cropping and positioning concept.    Neither of these have the actual tips cut off though.  Sewing a complete block and then chopping it up sounds like a perfect plan.

Having an idea in the back of my mind is great, but having an actual resource to reference is even better.  Explore and Ditch.  Explore and Make.  Explore and Alter.  Explore and Mock Up!  

Streamline Strips

I brought the project along on a four day retreat.  On the morning of the final day I busted it out and fortunately when I forgot to add seam allowance to my sketch dimensions- right after saying I'd remember to - there were highly qualified quilty-math friends in the room to save me.   

Color Choices

Lots of rulers were involved.  For the setting I did it the hard way instead of the math way - which for me is the easier or at least more enjoyable way!

Critical Crop

Basically,  once I got the square constructed I just added chunks of gray to all the edges and built it out then trimmed it down.  For the actual Critical Crop angle, I sat my phone with the target image on it on the table next to me until it looked right.

My Helper

I'm not one with nimble fingers or an obsession for perfection, so those narrow bits and partial seams got as good as they get.   Makes me really appreciate the #minimini posts I've been seeing on IG. 

Partial Seam

TIP:  Mock Up

So here's something that many people already do - and I'm writing about it mostly to remind myself to do it more often.  MOCK UP.  yup.  If you are visual learner and creator it's a great way to have a virtual reference as a jumping off point.  This doesn't mean you have to actually make your project to match.  There is no obligation - the freedom to deviate is there.

Explored and Ditched

Working out ideas on paper - or computer - is really a wonderful option.  Somethings need to settle in and sort themselves out before taking a rotary to fabric IMO and using a MockUp can serve that purpose.

Sample Fabric photo mock up

I will also use the PhotoGrid app on my phone to see what repeated alterations would look like by duplicating a picture of a sketch or actual block like I've done here.  In the end I thought it was overworked and too complex but may incorporate the idea in other future project.

Taking part in Tips and Tutorials linky party with Stephanie over at Late Night Quilter
and WIP Wednesday with Lee at Freshly Pieced  - now how to quilt it! 

Final Quarter 2014

1. IG mini swap. 2. King Clam 3. Improv 4. Greek plus puss 5. Redwood Grove 6. Alternative Grid 7. Veggies 

Last quarter I was able to finish all three items.  Had this linky been a few days ago I could have included my Amish: The Modern Muse entries but now they fall happily into the finished category.  Fingers (and toes) crossed that they are chosen to hang in the community exhibition.  I learned so much and pushed myself really far on both of these.  Wish I'd taken better photos before submitting them:

Look Who's Walking

I was terrified of the high contrast thread breaking across the ribbons but that ends up being one of my favorite elements.  Also, the change up of thread color was super fun.

The back shows the quilting pretty well and the binding color I love with both sides. 

Capitola Crossing

Close Up

This is the closest I've come to matchstick and it was kind of fun - on a mini!  I had considered hand stitching with Aurifil 12 wool the center "belly button" and decided to leave it as is.

Linking up to FAL Q4 Goal setting party at The Little Thistle and WIP Wednesday with Freshly Pieced and Let's Bee Social and Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.  

GlamClam workshop

Glamming it Up late into the Night

12" clams half way to a King

The SBAMQG workshop last night was so much fun with Latifah.  Seeing all of the fabric and layout choices was great.  I was tempted to tone it down because I do love the look of the samples she brought that include a lot of solids and really feature the print pops but in the end the "everything including the kitchen sink" scrappy was most authentic for me.

Latifah and I - such an honor to meet her!

Here's me and my progress spreading out and taking over the entire table.  Linking up to WIP Wednesday with Lee at Freshly Pieced and Let's Bee Social.

Keeping it all straight took a few misses on my part, mixing up which arch to sew the next clam into.  I finally discovered that if I placed the next one on the bed of my machine before cutting the thread to disconnect the one I just finished, there was little chance of accidentally grabbing the wrong on to sew it to. 

Demo and tips at the beginning of the workshop to get us all on the right track.  We're so lucky to have such a wonderful space in the Solaris room to create and learn in with friends.

This one really appeals to me and I just might have to create something similar with the perpetual clams that I'm sure to have.  So Much Fun!!!

Quilting Demo

On Wednesday afternoon i got to go to the fair and demo with a few of the ladies in my PVQA small quilt group The Fabric Hounds. We made great progress (and a huge mess) both doing piecing and appliqué of puppies which the kids especially liked. 

My safety radar is fine tuned from spending time with my baby grand girl. It came in handy because working with sharp pointy things in public requires extra caution.

These gals are so much fun!

I'm hoping that doing a demo and going to the County Fair becomes an annual event.  When I was a kid I had my 4-H sewing on display and then chaperoned when my boys were in Elementary school but haven't been since.  

Look who's one 

 The seahorse I picked up from the Monterey Bay Aquarium gift shop was a big hit.

Lots of Excitement as the clock strikes her "birth-time"

After the fair I went with my family to a yummy dinner at Choclate downtown and for Penny Icecream after. 

Baked Pasta Rosettes 

Today is her beach party to celebrate with friends and family and it's a beautiful day! Hope you're having a fun and full weekend too.