A QAYG 241 Tote

I finally decided to dip my toe in the "quilt as you go" craze.

I have been wanting to make the 241 Tote by noodlehead for a long time.

Since I was able to pick up some Echino at sample spree I thought this would be the perfect project to fussy cut some of it.

The echino fabric paired up with Chicopee nicely and

I was super thrilled with how it turned out!

The QAYG method was a lot of fun and I definitely  will be doing more of it.

I was able to use a lot of fabric scraps along with my fussy cuts and

I just love how each panel you make will be unique and the possibilities endless!

The one downside...

my sewing room in now a complete mess!!!

Happy Sewing,

alician

Luxe In Bloom at Quilt Market

One of my favorite new designers that I saw at the International Quilt Market was Sarah Watson of Art Gallery Fabrics.

Her new collection Luxe in Bloom is gorgeous!

    

I loved seeing all of her doodles and drawings on the wall of her booth.  It gives a a peek into her designing process.

The geometric shapes she uses in her collection are awesome.

But you can see she takes her inspiration from nature and all of her prints have a very organic feel.

It's no surprise that Sarah won a best booth award, It was my favorite one after all.

I was also lucky enough to get some of this collection at sample spree!

I have added it to my shop so 1 lucky person can get there hands on this collection before it hits stores in December.

Just click here to purchase the 10 print fat quarter bundle.

More pictures about quilt market coming soon.  you can also find out more about Sarah by visiting her blog here!

Sample Spree 2012

This year was my first for the International Quilt Market in Houston.  Luckily I live relatively close and only needed to travel a few hours east.  I was also lucky enough to have free lodging in a beautiful house just a short drive away from the convention center.  Getting to the convention center literately couldn't have been easier.  The first day was schoolhouse and I never expected how quickly the classes would move.  Sometimes it felt like you just found a seat and then had to get up to go to another room.  Almost all the classes had raffles, but I didn't win anything :( and there were some really good giveaways.  But the absolute highlight of the day (or should I say night) was sample spree!!

People started standing sitting in line really early.  I got up there at around 6pm and the doors didn't open until 8pm.  I thought I wasn't that close to the front until I
saw(more like heard I wasn't about to get out of line) how far back the line went.  Turns out I was in good shape.  I would have taken a picture of the crazy line but I had abandoned my camera to make more room in my bag for fabric.  I had been hearing all day about how crazy it would get once the doors opened and that generally nice ladies that quilt would turn into ruthless fabric hunting beasts.  So my expectations were not high that I would get much.

So here is what I scored...

Riley Blake Flutter & Cotton Solids

Aurifil and Mettler Thread & Type FQs from Windham

Kona Solids & Architextures Charm Pack ( I could kick myself for only getting one of the charms)

 Posy by Aneela Hoey for Moda

 Echino Fall 2012 & Heather Ross Nursery Versery (I can't believe I scored these!!!)

Art Gallery Fabrics: Luxe In Bloom, Coquette, Paradise

Art Gallery Floral Elements & Oval Elements

I think It was a success!

For my first time out I think I did pretty good.  Actually way better than I thought I would.  It also was not as bad as all the stories I heard.  Was it hard to get up close to the tables?  Some what.  Were people rude and pushing? Not really, and most people were very polite.  My shoulders are still aching two days later from all the heavy bags. But then I look at my fabric and the aches and pains go away.  Some of this fabric I would never purchase at full price, like Echino and Heather Ross.  I'm so glad I have them to add to my stash!

While most of this will be stashed...Some of the bundles are up for grabs in my Etsy Shop!  Check it out before they are gone!!!

More Quilt Market highlights in the coming days!

~Alician

Sunday Inspiration

Today the sun is out and it's a beautiful autumn morning.  A happy sight since the last couple of days have been overcast and muggy.  To make the morning even more fabulous was getting to cut into my recent fabric arrivals, Chicopee and yarn dyed Essex Linen.  I have been coveting this collection since it first came out but wouldn't take the plunge for the whole collection.  Finally, after seeing a price I couldn't refuse and knowing it soon would be extremely hard to find I bought a fat quarter bundle from The Intrepid Thread.  I selected a few of the prints and matched them with the yarn dyed Essex linen in black.

All of the prints are delicious but I wanted to stick to just one colorway for the quilt that I am envisioning.  However, I may throw in a couple of the brighter prints before it's all said and done.

As I am cutting and piecing, each fabric I touch becomes my new favorite!  I can't believe I waited so long to get my hands on these fabrics.  I've also never  worked with a dark neutral like black in a quilt before and thought the black linen would be a good first try.  It's dark but the variation in the thread colors softens it a bit and of course it's a dream to sew.

I can't wait to finish this quilt, it may just end up being my favorite as of yet! I hope you find what inspires you too on this beautiful Sunday!

Reunion Quilt Top

I have been holding on to some Reunion charm packs by Sweetwater for some time now.  I finally started to put them together last week. I decided to do a similar layout to my Salt Air Quilt, but instead of quarter half -square triangles I am doing just half-square triangles.  The end result will be a little less piecing and a slightly bigger quilt.  I love hanging my quilt tops up in a window to take pictures.  The stained glass effect is so stunning!

Hopefully this will be quilted and binded by the end of next week.  Then I will put it up for sale in my etsy shop.  I hope it sells as fast as my Salt Air Quilt did!  SOLD!

Have a great Friday!!!

Riley Blake Small Dots

The Small Cotton Dots are in from Riley Blake Designs and I can't wait to make something out of them.

They are now available in my shop!

I also am getting restocked on Chevron (small) and the rest will be in on Monday.

They sold so quickly it made my head spin a little bit.

A big thanks to Applique Market for mentioning me on Facebook.

They sell very cute applique patterns like this

Everybody has been so excited about these fabrics, there are just so many ways you can use them.

Have a great weekend sewing!

Trying to Finish

This quilt top has been finished for a couple of weeks and just hanging on my design board.  Since school has started back up I've had precious little time to sew.  I decided to take the day off from the ToDo list and just concentrate on finishing this quilt.

Of coarse other things get in the way like grocery shopping, making lunch, and the US Open (exciting matches today).  All I had left to do was piece the back (check), Iron quilt back (check), make quilt sandwich (working on it), and figuring out how to quilt the dang thing (scratching my head).  Hopefully I can at least start quilting it today.  Come tomorrow I turn back into a pumpkin and must get some school work down.  Sometimes I wish I could just make time stop for a few hours so I could squeeze in a little more sewing time.

 

My Helper

Once this quilt gets quilted and binded it will go up for sale in my Etsy shop.

SOLD!

New Riley Blake Chevrons

I'm so excited to finally get some of these fabrics in stock.  I ordered the small chevrons from Riley Blake and have yardage up for grabs here!  I also received the Rainbow Chevron in Medium.  It's such a fun fabric and I can't wait to use it for a quilt back.  I'm also looking forward to using the small chevrons for quilt binding and borders.

So hurry and get yours know before I decide to use it all up.  Available by the yard and as fat quarter bundles.  There are also plenty of other cute things in my etsy shop so stop by and check it out!!!

~alician

Happy Accidents

Thanks to my lovely "cat" alarm I was able to wake up before the sun came over the trees to take pictures of my newly finished quilt in the nice morning light.  I was taking my time setting up each shot  since I had some time before the sun would start to peak over the tree tops.  As I was taking the last shot my batteries died on my camera. UGH!  I quickly ran back inside to get the back up batteries and finished up my shots.  I came back in poured myself a cup of coffee and set down to upload the photos and edit them.  Except... there was nothing! nadda!! zilch!!! on my memory card.

I grabbed the quilt and ran back outside and of course the sun was already too high.  I did manage to find a spot that was decent enough to take pictures but by the end I was in the sun.

But, I'm glad that happened because a couple of shots came out really well that show off the quilting.  I think the pictures came out better the second time around too, even though I was rushing.  I must admit I didn't know how this quilt was going to turn out.  I was just winging it and making decisions as I went.  I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out!

And thankfully we have had some rain recently that has helped lessen the drought and green up the grass.  If you would like to purchase this quilt it is available in my shop here!

A Nest

The nesting season for birds is almost over and I'm lucky enough to have a pair of Carolina wrens nesting on my patio.  They started building the nest in my potted plumbago way back in march.  I promptly put up my webcam so I could spy in on them.  They would visit the nest everyday adding to it but never laid eggs.  Finally at the end of June she laid 4 eggs, only 3 hatched.  I have been watching them daily double in size and soon they will be gone.

The baby wrens have now opened their eyes and are starting to get in their brown feathers.  They are now making so much noise when mom comes in with a worm.  Check them out while they are still here.  I expect them to leave the nest (fledge) sometime between July 19-25.  It will probably happen somewhere in the middle.

I also have several Black Chinned hummingbirds feeding on several of my feeders hanging near by.  You can hear them from time to time.

BTW, did anyone catch the HBO documentary: Birders: The Central Park Effect on Monday?  It was a fabulous documentary and makes me want to visit New York all the more.

The Tic Tac Toe Quilt

I recently updated my shop with the Tic Tac Toe Quilt.  Please visit if you are interested in purchasing the quilt.  It was  a blast making it!

 

if you are interested in making this quilt for yourself,

you can find the quilt pattern here.

Introducing Tic Tac Toe a quilt pattern

I finally finished my first quilt pattern.  I have been wanting to dip my toe in the pattern making world for a while now.  I learned a lot about the limitations of computer software.  It never can do exactly as you want it to, as easily as you want it to.  Luckily, in most cases I was able to figure out work arounds in EQ7.  I hope that what I learned sticks so I don't have to relearn it next time.  I hate when you figure out how to do something on the computer and then you immediately forget how you did it.  So Frustrating!  anyway I digress...

So, this quilt pattern is super fun to make.  Pretty, simple, and a fast sew.  It measures 42" square.  I wanted something small enough that you didn't have to piece the backing if you didn't want to.

This Pattern is available in my esty shop for purchase here!

I hope you check it out

Just a Glimps of what's Ahead

When you put Pezzy & Heath fabrics together

with a dash of Lucy's Crab Shack

what do you get?...

An incredibly cute quilt!!!

Pattern coming soon...