A Splash of Color

This quilt was never meant to be a quilt.  I got the fabric to make grocery sacks, and though they are the same fabric print in two different colors, I had not intended to put them together.  It's a little bit on the holy-cow bright side for my taste, but I would be willing to bet that someone will find it to be their cup of tea.

This fabric posed an interesting challenge.  All four pieces were variegated, but the way it was printed would cause the variation to show up from strip to strip rather than in a single strip if I cut it the way quilters typically do.  Basically, I had to cut the strips with the grain rather than across the grain.  This meant that the border has a lot of piecing to it, as I only had about half a yard of each fabric.  Fortunately, the fabric design hides all the extra piecing.

TESSA is the group I donate my quilts to now, and their drive ends tomorrow.  I had hoped to finish all of these quilts last month, but a bad cold kept me from quilting until yesterday.  I had them mostly done, but it was a scramble to finish all 5 quilts in 2 days.  I truly hope that the families who receive these quilts and the other crafts I am sending have a happy holiday season.

(Stripe Block, approximately 32 x 54, Dec. 8, 2011)

Sleeping Lambs

I got the lamb fabric to make a quilt for a baby a friend was having.  I moved and lost touch with her in all the craziness of starting my new job, and it is amazing how quickly ten years pass.  Even if I were to find her again, somehow I don't think her son would want little sleeping lambs on a quilt.

I did manage to make this quilt from scraps, but it was a lot harder.  The blue and teal both are lovely, soft colors, but are not at all the typical baby colors, and therefore had to be matched with regular calicoes.  Fortunately, periwinkle is one of my favorite colors, so I did have a fair number of scraps to choose from.  You may also recognize the brown "baby" fabric from Landon's Monkey Quilt. 

I made a chenille teddy bear a few years ago, and I had a few scraps left as well.  I happened to stumble on them while digging through the recesses of my fabric dresser.  The color was right, and I love adding in textured fabrics to make baby quilts a little more interesting. 

Again, a ribbon adds a finishing touch before it goes to TESSA.

(Block in Block, approximately 34 x 52, Dec. 8 2011)

Ballet and Princesses and Fairies, Oh My!

So, the fabric from this quilt has a little of everything girls like.  About all it's missing is a white pony.  This is another stash quilt.  I am fairly sure that these two fabrics were a set, but finding anything else to go with them proved to be an issue.  The border, pink roses, ended up being a fairly good match from my stash.

I had enough fabric to partially fussy-cut the girls.  I wasn't able to position them vertically, but I was able to center them horizontally.  I took turns putting the girls either high or low in the block, creating a little of a pattern, though it seems a little random too.

I also have a fairly large collection of lace and ribbon that I was looking to reduce.  This eyelet seemed like a nice match and helped add a little interest because I use so few fabrics.  The ribbon is simply to help package it as a gift.

(Long Blocks, approximately 30 x 50, Dec. 8, 2011)

New Look, Part 2 Bonus: Sand & Seaglass

I dug through my photos, took some new ones and played even more with the style of the page.  Now the background is actually a quilt I made.  I also decided to stop being so shy and post my picture rather than the sewing machine.  I think I am done tinkering with the blog look for now, but who knows what will happen if I make a new favorite quilt.

 I was going to link the quilt I used and came to the shocking realization that I never blogged about it.  I love miniature quilts and this one is one of my all-time favorites.  I picked the colors based on the theme "Sand and Seaglass."  The block is "Amish Shadows" though I greatly reduced it.  The strips of color are just under 1/4" giving the over-all quilt a 6 1/2 x 8 inch size.

I knew that I would frame this quilt as I was designing it.  I consider quilts of this size to be artwork rather than functional, so I chose the shadowbox as I picked the fabric so everything would match.  I used variegated brown and gold lamé thread for the quilting.  The cream fabric and striped also had some metallic gold highlights, thus tying everything together.  This is one of the quilts I donated to Joyful Heart Foundation, and I believe they chose to hang it in their cooperate office.

Dishwasher Doggie

So this isn't sewn, at all.  I tend to do the loading of the dishwasher, and other family members tend to unload.  Since we don't need to run it every day, this leads to confusion at times.  I wanted a magnet that said "clean"/"dirty" but magnets don't stick to the dishwasher.  I had this unfinished wooden cut out of a dog, so I decided to paint him as a solution to the problem.

I was originally going to have the dog with a "clean"/"dirty" sign, but my brother suggested just making the dog clean or dirty.  I thought it was a cute idea and went with it.  I like it, and thought you may too.

Pooh Baby Quilt

I don't know how long I've had this Pooh fabric.  I think it's been at least 10 years.  I was always going to do "something" with it, but it just sat on my shelf.  For a while, I was reading about and talking with quilters who had a "stash" of fabric and I was convinced that I needed to collect fabric too.  I worked in a fabric store, so I saw both the newest, hottest fabrics and the best sales (as well as my employee discount).  Needless to say, I started my own stash.  Lately, it is annoying me.  I have a few pieces that I bought large quantities, but most of my stash is in 1-2 yard pieces.  At the time, I thought that would be plenty, but I have found that to have the flexibility to place the fabric in the position in needs to be within the block is paramount, and these little pieces are often too small.  My other problem is that I am very, very, very careful about patterns and colors when I design a quilt.  Far too often, my stash is the wrong color, the wrong pattern, the wrong size of pattern, etc.  My other problem is that to get it in a quilt, I either need a way bigger stash so I have more choice (not gonna happen, too much $ and space) or I need to take all of it with me when I shop for a specific quilt.  I don't mind taking swatches into a store, but the level of playing and finagling involved when I have a quilt idea would require the whole piece.  I just don't like bringing strange fabric into a store and dealing with the employees who want to charge me for it or look mad for daring to match another store's fabric to their own (to be fair, not all shops are bad, but enough are that I just don't).

So, back to Pooh.  Both of these fabrics were in my stash.  I resolved to make quilts from my stash and press my creative luck.  I managed to make four so far, and the rest will be showing up here soon, as I finish them.

I kept the block design and quilting rather simple.  Given that I had limited amounts of each fabric and that I wanted to use it up, I felt that a nice chunky block would be fun with the wiggly woven print of the Pooh fabric.

Oh, another random rant, if you'll read it.  Lots of fabrics are copyrighted.  As a composer and a member of ASCAP, I truly believe in following copyright law.  The Pooh fabric actually has printed "for home use only, not for resale."  When I see that on fabric, I truly try to abide it.  I would not sell this quilt for that reason.  I make my money selling quilts because of the artistry and work I put into my quilts, not by the fact that they have a logo that someone will buy.  I will do special orders with this type of fabric, but only because then the client is buying and choosing the materials, and I am simply a seamstress finishing it for their own home use.  I've seen lots of people on Etsy and at craft shows who do not adhere to copyright laws, but I do hope that word will spread and people will stop buying the copyrighted items.

(Pooh Blocks approximately 36 x 48, Dec. 6, 2011)

Ballet Bear

This was another "quilt" kit.  I use the quotes because it is not pieced or appliqued, but rather two pieces of fabric quilted together with batting between.  In my mind, which I can't say is standard, I don't think of something as a "Quilt" unless the top has several pieces of fabric.  To me, this is a "quilted blanket" much like the comforters they sell in stores.

The design was rather fun, so I chose to simply bring out the details in the stitching.  I used clear thread because there were too many colors to be practical and a lot of the colors were not standard thread colors.

 
 I mostly stitched around the outlines, but there were a few details I stitched as well such as the lines on the butterfly wings and the stippling in the ballet slippers.  Both places helped add a little more 3D to this flat design.

Several times, I almost sewed on lace, ribbon roses, ribbons and flower-shaped buttons.  I think it would have made the quilt more interesting, but I decided against it in the end because they are all choking hazards, and the quality of the print was not mount-on-the-wall artistic.

(Quilted Blanket, approximately 30 x 42, Dec. 6, 2011)

New Look

I made this stamp logo for Sew Honeybee before I ever did anything on this blog, then I never used it.  I always thought it was rather cute, and I've been meaning to use it on my computer.  I have a bunch of crafts that I am getting ready to post on, so I thought I may as well do the updating before I blog about my new projects.  I've actually been doing a lot of sewing since my last post, but my camera has been super flaky and has uncharged batteries at an astounding rate, even while not on.  So, hopefully I can get enough AA batteries to take pictures of all the projects from the last few months.

Oh, by the way, for the record the background image is not a quilt I made.  I'm going to try to take a picture for the background, once of course, the camera is cooperating!

Autumn Leaves

This quilt was something rather different for me.  It's the first time that I actually bought a kit, thus I did not pick the individual fabrics.  It was also the first time I worked with stricktly batiks.  I have always loved batiks, but they are generally out of my price range.  This quilt is close to show quality, but there are enough imperfections that I don't know if I will ever enter it.

 

Autumn is my favorite time of the year.  I hardly decorate for any season, but for some reason, I really get into decorating for fall.  My glass pumpkin collection manages to get a little bigger each year.  When I saw the kit for this wall hanging and the example made up in the quilt store, I fell in love.  I was in luck.  It was December, and the one kit they had left was on sale.  I couldn't have gotten the same fabric or even cheaper fabric for the price I paid.  I was thrilled.

I have heard people rave about how wonderful duct tape is, but I am in love with masking tape.  I recently painted a bathroom and had lovely sharp edges where the white ceiling paint met the light green wall paint.  I use masking tap all the time when I quilt straight lines.  it makes a great guideline to follow, while pealing off easily and sticking well enough to use for several lines.  I used masking tape in this quilt to make large diamonds in the green and smaller diamonds in the burgundy.

For fun, I tried using one of my decorative stitches while I quilted.  Every other line is a leaf vine.  It added a nice extra texture to the quilt but it posed many challenges.  It took about twice as long to quilt, and I had to be very careful about getting the fabric to move freely back and forth under the feed dogs.  The picture above shows off one of the changes I made to the pattern.  The original pattern did not miter the corners of the orange border.  To me, the strips looked choppy and weird in the corners, so I decided that this would look more finished.  I was quite pleased with how it turned out.

(Autumn Leaves, 43 x 58, May 23, 2011)

Landon's Quilt

Landon was born on April 29, 2011.  I asked his mom how she was decorating the nursery and she said zoo animals especially monkeys and light UND green.  I liked this pattern because there was lots of room to show off the monkeys in the background.

 I have been having more issues picking baby fabric in the past few years.  It seems like the fabric is always picked over when I go to the store.  I had lots of monkeys to pick from, but the complementary fabrics were a different story.  I generally don't like solids.  I don't think you'll find a single quilt on this site that has one in it.  The closest I get is tone on tone in a cloudy tie-dye style.  I like the depth and texture that these fabrics add.  When I chose fabrics, I am very picky about the color, but I am almost as picky about the pattern/texture of the fabric.  I think the finished product of this quilt is generally good, but there were several fabrics I wish I could replace.

Given that this quilt is for a boy, I would rather leave the pink out.  Unfortunately, red looked awful with the green monkey print because of the little pink dots.  It also did not match the brightness of the other colors.  Purple was also a problem.  For some reason, purple tends to be the color that has the smallest selection.  It tends to be half the size of even the next smallest color.  Purple prints also tend to have "girly"  prints like butterflies and flowers.  I finally went with the dragonflies because they were the least offensive.  The yellow also gave me issues.  Yellow is another color that is in the monkey fabric, so it had to match.  The only fabric that was close was a stripe.  Generally, it is not a great idea to throw a geometric print in with a bunch of soft, curvy prints, but it was my only option.  The only reason it works is that the stripe is very subtle.  Had it been yellow on white, I would not have even tried.  The monkeys on white is the only fabric that I believe was truly was a mistake.  They're cute and match the green monkeys, but they match too well.  The pinwheel blocks disappear into the background.  If I were to do this quilt again, I would use a white on white print or the brown baby print for the pinwheels.

I will admit, I only went to one fabric store.  I almost never go to more than one for many reasons.  When picking out a quilt, a fabric can change positions within the pattern several times.  There was a time when I was going to do the white as the background, or as the border and backing or there was another monkey print that I was going to use.  If I had tried to put it together by going to several stores, I would have had to get several yards of each material so I could cover any position the fabrics may take.  This leads to a craft room full of useless fabric and lots of extra $$$ spent.  I also don't generally mix quality of fabrics.  If I go and find a fabric at Jo Ann's, I would not pair it with a fabric from an independent quilt shop or Wal-Mart.  The quality is not the same, so they would have different textures and likely would shrink at different rates.  Colors tend to come and go like fads.  A single store is more likely to have matching complementary colors.  They do sets of fabric that are designed to go together.  Taking one piece of fabric to another store is generally unlikely to give good results.  The best matches for that fabric were in the store where it was purchased.

I am  my worst critic.  I use each quilt I make as a learning experience.  I can't say there is a single quilt I have made that I am completely happy with and would not change a thing.  In all honestly, I think this quilt turned out rather nice, and I bet Landon will love it and drag it around until he finds out that it says "baby" on it and shuns it because he's a big boy.  I simply wanted to make a point.  I have been quilting since 1998, and I still have a lot to learn.  I enjoy it, and I always look forward to the next quilt.

Teddy Bear Baby

This was a custom order quilt for a gift. The mom-to-be doesn't want to know what sex the baby is, so the quilt needed to be non-gender specific. On the other hand, the person ordering the quilt didn't want it to look like every other generic baby thing on the market. She also wanted to avoid dogs and cats, but wanted something very baby. I suggested teddy bears, and I got the go-ahead.


I started with the bear print, and used it as a foundation for my color scheme. I was originally going to go for a yellow and green theme, but I found all these really fun bubble prints in bright colors. They went so nicely together, I just found that nothing else was as good.



I love how the blue and the pink are not the typical baby blue and pink. It seems like these bolder colors make it much more neutral. I have noticed a trend in baby items the last few years. It seems like brown is becoming a more popular color for the nursery. A couple years ago, I never would have added in so many dark colors, but it seems like it's all the rage now.


I used the bear fabric as the backing as well. I never got a really good picture of the colors. In all these pictures, this fabric looks really light. In real life, all the colors in the print match the colors in the dotted fabric.


By the way, this pattern may look familiar. It's amazing how different a quilt can look by just changing a few colors and rotating a few blocks. Check it out.

(Sailor's Dream 38"x50" 2010)

Kindle Cover

A good friend of mine just got a Kindle and asked me to make a cover for it. She wanted something very simple, mostly just to keep the screen from getting scratched. She also wanted it to close with a wooden button.

I used a soft cotton fabric for the outside and inside and I used a flannel for a little extra padding. When I did a mock-up with batting, I found that it was too thick and made the whole cover very puffy and fat.


I did a little quilting to hold the flannel in place. I followed the brown check design in a dark brown thread. I wanted to avoid leaving lint or threads on the Kindle, so I left the lining off while quilting so there were no unfinished seams.

I was a little concerned that the button could damage the screen. I suggested storing the Kindle so that the screen is not on the same side as the button. This case will protect against scratches and minor bumps, but it is not padded enough to protect against dropping.

She was thrilled with her case and is off in India enjoying it as I write this post.

Kimonos

These kimonos were made for a husband and wife who are really into learning about Japanese culture. I will be the first to admit that the fabric is far from authentic. This was really a cotton trial run for some nicer silk/satin ones in the future.

His kimono was a bit of a challenge because he is very tall, and has the mass for his height. Every pattern piece was approximately 5" to small, both lengthwise and width wise. With careful measurements, I was able to get it really close. The only alteration it needed was to hem up the sleeves.


The belt that came with the pattern was a simple velcro-in-place belt, and it looked far from sturdy. I designed this belt like a karate belt, so that it goes around the waste twice and ties in front. I made it a little long so that it looked a little more formal.



Her kimono was a little harder to sew with the long sleeves. I actually didn't have enough fabric for the sleeves, so I had to improvise by adding a panel of red to the bottom. In the end, I think it turned out nicer having the two-toned sleeves.



Her sash is not an authentic obi. I did use the pattern with the velcro-in-place sash. It looks fine for every day use, but we plan on doing a full real obi for her silk/satin kimono.

People Giving Back

Well, the cat's out of the bag. I was just given credit by The Joyful Heart Foundation for making and giving away my quilts to D.V. shelters. Here is the story if you would like to read it. For those of you who found my blog due to the story, here is a bit of an update. I have been giving my quilts to the local TESSA'S House. Lately I have been making mostly baby and lap sized quilts because the art quilts aren't as functional. I would like to make some more twin and full sized quilts, but money has been a bit tight, so I haven't been able to afford the materials for a larger quilt. In September, I donated a blue and yellow striped lap quilt.


I ended up having a very crazy October, so I ended up donating two in late November. Both have a kitty theme and fun textural fabrics.





My shop has been suffering from post-Christmas blues. My friends and family ended up getting purses, table runners, pot holders, lavender eye pillows and the like under the Christmas tree, which means I am out of stock on almost everything! This write up may just be all the encouragement I need to get a bunch of purses/quilts finished. As always, if you would like to special order a quilt, purse, costume, etc., please feel free to contact me!

sewhoneybee@hotmail.com