Bloggers' Quilt Festival Fall 2011-- a wedding quilt

It's that time of year! Amy at Amy's Creative Side is hosting the Bloggers' Quilt Festival.

And I've got something new!

I made this quilt as a gift for my brother-in-law, PJ, and his wife Danielle. They married this summer in a beautiful outdoor ceremony.

The blocks are simple log cabins, sashed in a thin border of Essex linen blend. The fabrics include quite a few solids, Cloud 9 organics, and a few others. The grey sashing is Carolina Chambray in Ebony.

It's backed in one of my favorite Cloud 9 fabrics, Hydrangea. It washed up so beautifully! It's incredibly soft.

This is the first time I've had someone else do my quilting-- the quilt measures 62" x 78", and I wasn't sure I wanted to do it on my own machine. So I sent it off to my friend Krista Withers, who many of you know on flickr as lolablueocean. (Seriously, go to her photostream after reading this. You will be so glad you did!)She's a professional long arm quilter in Seattle and does amazing work, both personally and for others. This quilt is no exception! I pretty much gave her free reign to do something simple and modern. I love the boxy look she chose. She also chose a poly down batting that makes the quilt so lightweight and fluffy.

In order to keep the colors from being too "autumn," I decided to bind the quilt using a teal crossweave with a couple of shots of olive green.

This quilt is being gifted tonight. I'll admit that I'm always a little nervous giving a handmade gift. I hope this quilt will be used-- it was designed to be backyard, dog, and (hopefully someday) baby friendly!

Make sure to check out the other quilts in the Festival! Now back out to the snow...

in my mail

Thank you for all of the nice comments and congratulations on my last post!

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I mentioned on our vacation recap that I came home to some pretty cool mail!

First was my package from the Hanging Hoop Wall Pocket Swap. It came all the way from Wendy in the Netherlands! She used some of my favorite fabrics, Echino, and paired it up with sweet little details like this beautiful mustard lace. It fits so perfectly in my sewing room!

She also included some pretty awesome goodies. Thanks Wendy!

The next was this incredible block from my friend Amy at During Quiet Time. Can you believe this?

photo taken by Amy of During Quiet Time-- hers are way better than mine!

Amy got her inspiration from a vintage ski poster. It's amazing really, and I'm still marveling at how she pieced it.

photo taken by Amy of During Quiet Time-- hers are way better than mine!

You can see her post about it here.

She made it for me as part of the Cocorico Bee. The theme for my month is "Let's Hit the Slopes."  I'm excited to get blocks that will fit a winter and ski theme. Seriously, check out what the other members are doing in the group!

We finally got our first snowfall this morning. It's not the 10 inches that you're getting in the Northeast US, but I'll take it. I spent the early morning hours finishing up the binding for the quilt that I'll be posting for Blogger's Quilt Festival. Check back later for the details!

Have a great Sunday! Oh, and Happy Halloween!

I Make Modern Blocks

Some of you may have noticed a button in my sidebar the last couple of months that alludes to something fun-- I've got two patterns published in Modern Blocks!

First up, Rolling Hills:

It's a simple block that features a gentle curve. When the blocks are arranged in a quilt, they create pretty waves. I've got one in the works that I can't wait to show you!

The next is Spool:

This is also a very simple block. When I created it, I imagined using it to make a sweet mini quilt for my sewing room. That's in the works too. And hey, check it out on the back cover!

Designing these blocks was a really fun experience-- one that I've been able to share with wonderful friends who are also in the book. Check out these posts from Krista, Lynne, and Angela to see what they've created!

I should have the real books in hand any day now (I can't wait!!!) but for now, I am happy to be able to give away one copy of the Modern Blocks e-book. Leave a comment below if you'd like to win it! I'll leave comments open through the weekend and pick a winner on Monday morning. The giveaway is now closed!

vacation recap

I'm still recovering from our long flight home from our vacation on Friday. Bring on the coffee!

It can be somewhat isolating living here in Alaska. While much of our family lives here, a lot of our extended family lives in the lower 48. I feel really lucky that we were finally able to put together a trip to see some of them. First we visited with Rob's grandmother, aunt (Hi Pat!), and cousins in Arkansas:

Then we drove down to Tyler, Texas to spend a few days with my grandparents (who I hadn't seen since Avery was just 6 weeks old):



My grandma makes Martha Stewart look like an amateur. Her entire home features beatiful things she's made, like this kitchen island decorated with print blocks she saved from her father's shop.



We had some much-needed family time together. But now we're glad to be home. One of the best parts of getting back was opening the mail that was waiting! I've got a couple of super cool things to share later once I get my camera battery charged up!

Not a bad way...

... To start your 9th birthday. Happy birthday Claire!

Vacation life

We're on a trip visiting family down south. First stop, Arkansas! The kids are having so much fun here. There are horses! And a potbellied pig! And everyone is just so nice.

I even figured out some crochet on the plane ride down. It finally clicked!

crochet school

I can't crochet. I've tried teaching myself but never gotten past the chain.

Kristin, a member of the Anchorage Modern Quilt Guild, listened to my crochet woes awhile back and then surprised me with a mini lesson before our last meeting! She taught me how to double crochet after just a few minutes of instruction, then sent me home with the hook and the yarn. I thought I had it down this time.

Unfortunately, I have failed again. See the exhibit below:


I'm guessing this is some other sort of stitch to make curls or circles or something

 That was my result this weekend after an hour of trying to figure out how to do single crochet stitch. I can't find my other swatch that looks like two teddy bear ears and a bunch of knots.

Sigh. So now I'm following Crochet School on Craftyminx. All this month, she is posting a daily lesson that will hopefully solve all of my crochet woes!




It's perfect timing too, as we're hitting the road soon and I need a simple travel project. A hook and ball of yard won't take too much space. Maybe I'll finally get it?

and the winner of the fall fabric giveaway is...

Thank you to everyone who entered! I made a big mistake asking about fall meals (and comfort measures in my other sneaky post for a chance to win). All I want to do now is make a big pot of soup and some pumpkin pie, then stuff my face with it while I lay under a big quilt in front of the fire! Soon, soon.

fall fabric giveaway

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!
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I reached the 400 followers mark! To celebrate, I'm giving away this fall-inspired fabric bundle. The winner will receive fat thirds (did I make that up?) of six fabrics and three matching 8" zippers.

To win, leave a comment with your favorite fall meal! This giveaway will be open for a small window of time-- you have until tomorrow (Sunday) at 4:00 p.m. Alaska time to enter!

Good luck! And thank you for reading.

disappearing comments

Have you been having a hard time posting comments on blogger? I've been so frustrated, as my comments have been disappearing when I try to submit them on some of my favorite blogs. This may be the "duh" answer, but if you are using Internet Explorer or Firefox, just go to your privacy settings and set them to accept third-party cookies. Problem solved. I wish I had figured this out a week ago. I'm not very tech savvy.

this photo has nothing to do with this post-- these are just some echino patchwork pillows I made for the girls' room recently

If you chose to click on this boring, boring post, I'm going to reward you. See my follower box on the sidebar? I finally reached 400 followers today! To celebrate, I'm going to give away a little something this weekend. Stay tuned for the post. It will be open for just 24 hours and a one-comment-per-person kind of thing, with one exception. Comment here with your favorite trick to making your house feel cozy in the fall/winter months. That will get you another entry into this weekend's giveaway!

Have a good one! Off we go for some Friday night pizza...

no rest for the weary, unless you're a stuffed bear

Have I mentioned recently that things are really busy around here? I always think that once fall comes around, things will slow down. I'm always wrong. There is soooo much to do.

Anyway, to add to the busy season, I signed up for a big holiday craft fair the weekend before Thanksgiving. The Anchorage Etsy team received a grant to cover some of the costs of a group booth, so if all goes well, I'll need to make a lot of stuff! I've got a whole slew of ideas to try. One thing that's been on my list for possible sale is the Three Bears' Sleeping Bag by Florence at Flossie Teacakes.

I made the middle size (for Mama Bear) out of some cute hedgehog fabric I've been wanting to use for ages.

I'll admit, I only read bits of the pattern before I started. Because of this, I quilted the back of the sleeping bag (unnecessary), chose a precious pink Lecien stripe for the lining pieces (which no one will ever see) and skipped all instructions on applying bias tape around the edges (not smart for someone new to the stuff). So I ended up making bias binding like I would for a quilt, then folded it over and machine stitched it all around. Honestly, it doesn't look that great on the back and there is too much bulk. All my fault. I might need to suck it up and do it the right way (imagine that?). Although if I'm going to sell these things at a reasonable price, I'll still need to figure out the best way to machine stitch the bindings.

A big thank you to my sleeping bag model, Purple Baby. She was Claire's favorite for many years, but has been stuck in an under-the-bed bin for so long that I'm afraid she's been forgotten. Hopefully seeing her in the new sleeping bag will encourage Claire to add her back with the dozen or so stuffed animals that cover her bed. If not, I'm sure Cooper will adopt her as a friend for his Baby.

On a separate note, my sweet girls have decided that they only want to dress up as scary things for Halloween from now on. Claire insists on being a vampire, and Avery will be a zombie. Long gone are the days of hot dog and cow girl costumes :( I'm trying to feel better about it by making their costumes (see why I'm so busy?) and having some control, maybe by adding some humor or cuteness. Any zombie/vampire costume tutorials you've seen out there?