Stretching a Charm Pack

I can't help myself.  I walk through fabric stores and am magnetically attracted to lovely, neat pre-cut fabrics.  Jelly rolls, layer cakes and charm packs all seem like such easy additions to the stash.  But sometimes I have a hard time using them.  For example, charm packs.  One little charm pack, well, just doesn't cover much space.

So I had this little charm pack of S'More Love that I had purchased thinking it would be perfect for a little lap quilt for the porch at our lake house.  But how to make it large enough to cover a lap?

I was inspired by this quilt.  After making a few hourglass blocks and using up essentially all the charms, I had this.

After much debate with myself, I added a couple of borders to increase the size up to 49" by 49," a size that should be useful around the knees on a chilly morning.

And I have the PERFECT backing fabric for this...can't wait to get this one quilted and put to use!

I also put together a quilt top as part of the Boston Modern Quilt Guild's Quilt for Boston project.  I am a new member of the guild and wanted to do a little something to contribute as they near the completion of this amazing project.

Stay tuned for some quilting updates!  Yay!
Linking up with Amanda Jean's finish it up Friday party!

Kathy

More Tula Time! #44 to 60

I need to catch you up on my progress with Tula Pink's City Sampler.  I've been working on these blocks a few at a time.  First I lay out all my fabric, all Tula's with a coordinating stack of Kona solids.

I cut a bunch out and then sew the blocks together.
 
Before I started this last round I pulled the completed blocks out of the book and organized them by color to see how the color distribution of my randomness was working out.

I was not too surprised to see the largest pile had mostly purple and aqua elements.

First, finishing off the triangle sections (cause for celebration!) are blocks #44 through 55:

Really, Tula, 30 pieces in a 6.5" block?!

Escaping into the stripes section, here are blocks #56 through 60:

Oh look, Fox Field has made it into the blocks!

This is what 60 blocks look like:

As you can see from the picture above I have a respectable collection of Tula Pink fabrics.  Last night we were in beautiful Portsmouth, NH killing time before meeting our son and daughter-in-law for dinner and, well, we just had to stop at the Portsmouth Fabric Company.   I had been there once before but it was in my naive, innocent quilting days when I was shopping for a sewing machine.  But now I walk the aisles of this little, packed, charming store and all I see is beautiful designer fabric that I want to take home with me!  The fabric is well organized, mostly by designer.  I am glad I am not hooked on Kaffee Fassett fabric as the selection was amazing.   AND (you know where this is going...) the Tula Pink fabric was extensive!  I even found a few that I did not have!

I can't wait to play with the leftovers from this project!
Happy Wednesday!  Linking up with Lorna's Let's Bee Social and Lee's WIP Wednesday.
Kathy

BMQG Sewing Room Swap

As a new member of the Boston Modern Quilt Guild (a group that is comprised of some seriously talented people) I was so excited (and a little nervous) to participate in their sewing room swap.  I was matched with Karen who suggested that a thread catcher would be useful.  Love it!  So I went in search of a pattern (why start from scratch when smarter people have figured this all out already?) for a thread catcher and found this tutorial by Elizabeth Hartman.   Perfect!  Just to make sure I knew what I was doing, I made one first for my sewing room.

 In her hints to her secret match, Karen did not specify a color preference so I decided to go scrappy.

I made the thread catcher out of 1.5" squares from my scraps and pieced them using ANOTHER Elizabeth Hartman tutorial.  The interfacing added a nice extra body to the bag.

 Karen loved it!  Yay!

AND at the swap I received this lovely basket from Naomi!

Look at all the goodies she filled the basket with!

The basket alone will be so useful but she also made a wonderful design wall with velcro on the back to hang either vertically or horizontally.  I don't have much wall space in my little sewing room and this fits perfectly behind the door.  How did she know?

My husband's solution for hanging:

So a very successful swap both as a swap-er and a swap-ee!

Linking up with Amanda Jean's finish it up Friday and Lorna's Let's Bee Social!
Happy Friday!
Kathy

Basting Backlog

Why do one quilt at a time when you can do three?

• Make backing
• Cut batting to size (or piece to size)
• Press quilt top removing all the little fraying threads
• Baste.

A few months ago I moved off the floor to basting on a table, an enormous improvement!  But occasionally I would have wrinkles on the backing after basting.   I belong to the HandiQuilter Sweet Sixteen Yahoo group (more of a voyeur than participant to be honest) and a discussion arose regarding basting technique.  The very sweet and  helpful Emily talked me through her approach to table basting (really, we had a nice long telephone chat!).  She had many little tricks like this one:

She suggested putting a pin at the center side of the backing (there is a pin under the masking tape above), batting and quilt top to ensure the edges are lined up when you are doing that first important step of centering the three layers.  So simple but so helpful!

Now, all three quilts are basted and ready to be quilted!  I hope to have some finished quilts to share soon!
Happy Wednesday!
Kathy

SMS Winner and Movie Poll

And the winner is...

#380 Taryn @ Pixels to Patchwork whose favorite movies are Enchanted and 13 Going on 30!

Thank you all for participating!  A special welcome to new followers!

Regarding the answer to the favorite movie question, there were definitely some repeats (Gone with the Wind, Frozen, Sleepless in Seattle, Pride & Prejudice, Princess Bride to name a few) with definitely a theme of romantic, fun movies.  In case you were wondering, my answer to that question would be any and all James Bond movies.  Yup.   There is a tie right now for my favorite James Bond between Sean Connery or Daniel Craig.  After that I would say Casablanca and Up (the movie I cried uncontrollably through the first 20 minutes).

I think my son (who is a professional film critic in Chicago) would love your answers!

Have a great day!
Kathy

SMS Giveaway!

I know I am arriving socially late to this party, but here we are!  It is Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day/Week!

Welcome!   I won't take much of your time, but for those of you who are stopping  by for the first time, here is a little collage of some of the things I have been working on this year.

My giveaway is a charm pack and a jelly roll.

In case you don't have the rules memorized:

• Just leave me a comment answering this question:  what is your favorite movie? 
• Go ahead and leave a second comment if you are a follower of any kind!
• International entrants (read that:  everyone) is welcome to participate.
• If you are a no reply commenter please leave an email address in your comment!
• The giveaway will be open until Friday, May 16 at 5:00 PST.
• I will email the winner by the end of the day Sunday, May 18.

Good luck and have fun visiting all the participating sites!

WIP Wednesday - Spring Distractions

It's the time of year full of suspense as to what flora survived the winter and, particularly this year, the attention of the fauna who we helped survive over the winter.  In some areas of the garden, I am hopeful.

In others, not so much.

The trees have started to bloom which is sufficient reward to offset the pollen itch also beginning.

Further, I am quite excited to report I had my first kayak outing over the weekend!  Yay!!

In the sewing department, I started a little lap quilt using a charm pack of S'More Love.  I generally do not add borders to my quilts, but I am going to on this one to make the completed size more useful.

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Hope you are having a good week.  Linking up with Lorna's Let's Bee Social and Lee's WIP Wednesday
Kathy