solids are a challenge!

the night after a quilt guild meeting is always the most productive time for me. i'm so full of energy and good feelings from all the wonderful projects i've seen the night before. i get a lot done and i really enjoy the process of making.

at our next meeting, we will be revealing our solids challenge quilts! i had such a hard time figuring out what i wanted to do. i was really certain that i would end up making something i wouldn't like and would end up giving away or never using. i was feeling very discouraged and frustrated. and then all of a sudden it came together, if out of nowhere! i was messing around in photoshop, which is where i like to do very rough mock-ups of quilt blocks and came up with this:





and i really like it! i've messed around with the color order and number of chevrons a bit, but i think it's really going to work out and end up being something i like a lot! in fact, i think this is going to be the new throw for our couch. it's been a lot of fun to make, even if dealing with half-square triangles is not something high on my list of favorites. i'd take a circle over a hst any day!

lamqg meeting - feb

last night, we had our first meeting at sew modern, a new store owned by guild member lauren! our old home, reform school will be sorely missed, but it's nice to be back in a fabric store again! it's dangerous on the wallet, though!

we saw a lot of amazing quilts last night. here are some of my favorites!


kelly made these adorable valentine's day pillows, completely from scraps!



jamie made her own version of denyse schmidt's "hop, skip & a jump" quilt.



my favorite quilt of the night was jenny's "any way you slice it" quilt. jenny is working on an adorable project called "d.s., i love you!". she's making one of every quilt in the denyse schimdt quilts book, following the patterns exactly!



our president latifah never fails to impress. her bold graphic designs are a favorite around here!

the rest of the images from our meeting can be found on flickr!

lamqg weekend sew

some highlights of projects people were working on at the sew last weekend:


chris had these adorable hexies (and great storage!)



jamie is working on her quilt as you go project, which is something i really need to try.



eliza was working on our solids challenge! it's looking awesome.



liberty was working on a mod mosaic block in a great color palate.


the rest of the pictures from our sew can be found on flickr!

a nice surprise and some works in progress...

i was going through my google reader today, checking up on some of my favorite blogs. i saw this really cute grouping of images and then realized, "hey! that looks familiar!"



thank you so much, fat quarterly for including my little red and white hexie flower in this amazing post!

now, on to works in progress. i am not really one for "the process". i tend to just sit in front of my sewing machine and just make stuff. following patterns, for the most part, kind of freaks me out. and i've never done mock-ups of things i've wanted to make before. but the idea is growing on me. especially with all the swaps i'm doing. sometimes i get a weird little idea in my head and usually i just dive right in and make it or brush it off. but this time i decided to work it out in photoshop and see what others thought of it.

so, here's my work in progress image:



the person i am making these for requested placemats, and has a very distinct and simple style that i just love. also, i am really into the idea of square placemats! i want to make tons of gigantic log cabin square placemats for every occasion now. i really hope my swap partner ends up liking them. now all i have to do is actually sew them up!

a secret swap mug rug!

i have been a member of the photo-sharing site flickr since september of 2004. i used it for a very long time to post pictures to share with my friends and family but didn't really use it for social networking much. but in the last year, i've become very active in the flickr crafting and swapping groups and have found so much inspiration from so many super-talented people!

it's really helped me grow as a sewer. all the positive energy and great feedback makes me excited to make things and share them with others. i have really loved the swaps and bees that i have joined and i feel like they've really pushed me to make things that hopefully other people will love.

this weekend i finished up my project for the scrappy mug rug swap. both my boyfriend and i have been a little under the weather, so this hexie mug rug was a perfect "curl up in bed and sew while we're watching law and order episodes" project.




my partner said she loved things that were "whimsical" and i hope this is what she had in mind!