Outfoxed.... Again!

 If you are looking for My {Very Own} Memories Giveaway, click this link.  Giveaway ends June 22.

We finally have some decent weather here in Northwest Florida  - the first truly sunny day we've had in a couple of weeks, and I couldn't wait for the "sweet light" to take pictures, so please forgive the too bright photos.

Last Saturday dawned dark and stormy, but unperturbed, I decided it was a great day to sew and sat down to finish some things I had already started.  WH and I didn't leave the house all day.  Good thing, too from the sound of it.  While we were snug and cozy in our "castle" on the hill, others in our area were experiencing the devastating effects of too much rain.  Please keep those folks who suffered damage from the flooding in your prayers. 

I work about two blocks from where this video was shot.  I'm told that in some places the water was as much as 4 feet high.  Luckily, since it was Saturday, I wasn't there.  And since we live on a hill, we suffered no damage. 

Anyway, it was a great day for staying home, warm and dry, and finishing up a project or two.

My Outfoxed quilt was all sandwiched, just itching to be quilted.  I started with a charm pack of Outfoxed from Westwood Acres and a charm pack of Kona solids.  It's amazing what you can do with these little bits of fabric, isn't it?

I chose to quilt it in a swirl-ish (yes, I made up that word!) pattern.  I love it when the quilting gives the quilt lots of texture.

The back was a piece of orange yardage that was "donated" by BD#1, who decided she didn't have a use for it.  In other words - it was free!  And perfect for this quilt.

I bought a couple of pieces of Outfoxed yardage (the brown foxes and some pearl bracelets) and pieced one side of the back because the yardage wasn't wide enough.  With the scallops, the "fun fabrics" didn't end up as wide as I would have liked.  If I were to do this again, I would slice the large piece of orange, probably off-center, and insert the pieced strip.

Normally, I use binding cut straight with the grain, but because of the curves, bias binding was a better choice.  I usually hate cutting bias binding, both because of the waste and because it is a pain in the neck.  But I used this tutorial, and it was remarkably easy, and I had much less waste than any other method I've tried.  And it was fast - Heather says you can cut enough bias binding for a queen bed in 10 minutes, and with this method, you absolutely can.  I was impressed.

The pattern is "Sweet Pea", from Camille Roskelly's Simplify so I'm another step closer to my goal.  It was truly an easy pattern, and I really enjoyed it.  I finished all the blocks for the top in about an hour one night after work.

I have to say, the fabric is cute, and I love the bow,

 but I think the scallops really make this quilt.

I think I'll put scallops on everything from now on.... maybe.

Yesterday...

I've had several quilt tops in progress for a few weeks - some longer than others, of course, and yesterday, I  managed to finish them.  I was pretty jazzed to get the tops pieced, to be honest.  The down side is that now I have to sandwich them.  I really love the piecing and I don't mind the quilting or binding, but the sandwiching is my least favorite part.

Is there a part of the quilt process you're not especially fond of??

I know that sandwiching is a necessary part of the process, but the older I get, the less I like it. Maybe it's the crawling around on the floor.  I did see a method to do it on a table top and pin it in sections, using binder clips to hold it taut.  I don't have a suitable table, but someday I just may invest in one.  Since we put in our hardwood floors in 2007, crawling around on my knees has been anything but comfortable.

This is another quilt top from Camille Roskelly's book Simplify made from American Jane's Fairy Tale Friends fabrics by Moda.  It uses a charm square pack and a honey bun, along with the sashing.  I used a bone sashing on this quilt, although it looks white in the photo.  It's a little smaller than my normal quilt, but would be fine for a child.

I love the fabric.  It's so bright and fresh, although my photography doesn't do it justice.  I bought the charm pack last fall from my daughter's little shop, Westwood Acres, but it wasn't until I found the honey bun that I knew it was the perfect fit for Camille's pattern, "Square One". 

I've had some of Aneela Hoey's Little Apples sitting around here for awhile.  I met Aneela at last year's Quilt Market in SLC and it was such a pleasure.  I love this fabric.  I had a charm pack, a jelly roll, and a fat quarter bundle that I actually won from Pink Chalk Fabrics and I have been debating what to do with it for months.

I wanted to showcase the fabric, so the pattern had to be something that wouldn't require me cutting this adorable fabric in to teeny little pieces.  In the end, I kind of did my own thing. I surrounded each charm square in a length of jelly roll, and then joined 4 of them into a reverse bento-ish square, with the jelly roll to the center.  I really liked the blocks when they were finished.  I used a narrow yellow (Kona Buttercup to be exact) sashing because the blocks had so much white, and I wanted them to stand out.  I tried a border of randomly sized jelly roll pieces for the outer border, but it was just too much.  I finally decided that the white was perfect.  It's so fresh and clean, it kinda thrills me.  (There I go with my brights on white thing again - it doesn't take much to get me excited!)

Those of you who have visited here a time or two know that gray is just not my favorite color, but I rather like it in this line, although it does kind of remind me of winter, rather than summer.  Even so, I was pretty pleased with how the top turned out.  I'm looking forward to quilting this one.

 My final finish yesterday was this little "Sweet Pea" quilt, again from Camille's book.  I had a charm pack of Lizzie House's Outfoxed from Westwood Acres and a Kona charm pack I got in my swag from Sewing Summit last fall.  I was playing with my stash when I noticed how well the colors went together.  One of the things I really like about Amanda and Weston's shop is that you can get charms and jelly rolls of fabrics that aren't manufactured that way.  Sometimes it's fun to just play with a little bit of something, and not make a big investment.  They painstakingly cut them and make them available for sale.  It's like having them do most of the work.  I love it!  I'm not sure you can get Outfoxed charms anywhere else. 

Some of the prints in this line are just so cute.  I love the foxes and the hedgehogs!  There are only something like 25 pieces in Outfoxed, so I needed a pattern that mixed them up pretty well.  The way the charms are sliced and switched in "Sweet Pea" was perfect.  Some of the blocks used two solids, and some of the blocks had solids mixed in with the Outfoxed charms .  I wanted the Outfoxed fabric for the border, and had a difficult time finding yardage of the Outfoxed print in the brown "Outsmarted" color.  I finally found it and placed my  earlier this week, and it arrived in yesterday's mail.  Perfect timing, don't you think?

I love the little bow on this one.  I bought some brown polka dot ribbon, but it was way too busy, so in the end, I settled for the orange.

The Sweet Pea pattern calls for scalloped borders, but you don't cut the scallops until you finish the quilting.  And I neglected to enlarge the pattern 133%, so I'm going to have to make a run to Kinko's - but not today.

Guess I'd better get busy.  I think I'll go put on a movie and lay these babies out on the floor and get started with the sandwiching.  Once that's done, I'm home free.

Happy quilting!

Eye Candy

BD#1 speaking with Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs

 Today, we're going to have a little fun with three or four of my favorite fabrics and experiences at Quilt Market.

First, is Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs.  Anne was so nice and we had a wonderful time talking to her.  Maybe the best part was that she and her colleague thought I was BD#1's friend instead of her mom "because I didn't look old enough to be her mom."  Sure made my day!

Puttin on the Ritz, in blue

Puttin on the Ritz in pink

Her new line is called Puttin' on the Ritz, and comes in three colorways - pink, blue and gray.  As you may know, I'm not a big fan of gray, but I am learning that it has its place.  This is lovely fabric and great for kids.  

While BD#1 was conducting some business...

I had probably my favorite experience of the whole market - meeting Camille Roskelly and Bonnie Olavesen of Bonnie and Camille fame.  I loved Bliss when it came out, and their new line doesn't disappoint.  

It is so bright and cheerful - I love it.  It's called Ruby, and BD#1 must love me, because she brought home a Fat Eighth bundle of Ruby for me from Sample Spree.  Am I the luckiest mom ever, or what?

Isn't it just yummy?  And I had such a good time talking with Bonnie and Camille. They were so kind.  Check out their own blogs for their own stories.  Suffice it to say I'm in love with both the fabric and the patterns.  Can't wait til Ruby hits the stores.

One of the things that really impressed me about this line is that they are producing coordinating flannels in some of the prints.  The flannels are maybe the softest I have ever felt.  Too yummy!  Bonnie gave me a free receiving blanket pattern I'm dying to try - maybe in Ruby flannels if I can find some.

And we met Sandy Klop of American Jane.  Her booth was so fun - and I didn't get a single picture.  Too busy talking, I guess!

And I loved this quilt by Oliver + S.  Wouldn't this be sweet in a nursery?

This is Dazzle, by Melissa Averinos.

And this is 1001 Peeps, by Lizzie House.  Here's a close-up.  Fun, huh?

Well, I've got to save something for tomorrow, so I'll wish you sweet dreams of yummy fabrics and fun quilt designs.