Marcelle Medallion - Swimming Around

Hello, Blog!

It's been months since I've logged in, and in that time, so much has changed, and so many quilts have come into this world. I must admit, I share tiny pictures of them on Instagram, but I'm awful at taking nice pictures and updating my blog. This one though, was specially requested and I did promise to post pictures of it.

Over on Instagram, the Marcelle Medallion from the Liberty Love book has become quite popular. Alexia - the author, came and spoke at my guild meeting a few months ago, so I decided I needed to make the quilt.

My first version was actually all in blues, but I don't have any pictures of it yet, since I submitted it to the local fair (hey - I get a free ticket for entering something). :) That one was gifted to a friend, so I made another for myself, ALL IN ORANGE. Okay,  enough words, here are the pictures.

I know it's not all orange, but I love the dancing hula girls! 

Here you can see my Orange Churn Dash too!

They are great friends, they look wonderful together.

My favorite part about this quilt is that it was only possible because of the generosity of my friends! I only had the lobsters, whales and submarines, but multiple friends gave/traded fabric to give me all the fish, the seahorses, the octopuses, etc. That's not even mentioning the lovely ladies who gave me access to their entire orange stash. Snuggling in this quilt is what being covered in love feels like. I'm so grateful to my friends, both local and online. 

I've also been dabbling in clothing, so maybe soon I'll post pictures of the dress I made!

Until next time, happy fabric hoarding, or sewing. Whatever you prefer.

A Ghastlie Good Time

Oh I love the Ghastlies. They're such a wonderfully weird, creepy family, and I just can't get enough of them. I made my first Ghastlies Quilt last year, and so when the new collection came out this year, of course I bought some. Then, like most fabric hoarders who carefully guard their protected stash, I let it sit. After a few months, my mom needed a christmas present, so I made her a Ghastlies Pillow with triangles. That was meant to be a small project, since everyone knows fussy cutting wastes so much fabric. But, after it was finished, I couldn't get it out of my head, and I wanted to make a quilt out of it! I scaled up my triangles a bit, and this is what I ended up with:

Originally I was going to cut the sides so they were straight, but I just couldn't bear to lose the people! They're just too fantastic. 

The back was again a work in improv piecing - someone please let me know if I"m totally wrong in my usage of improv. There basically was no plan, and I just started putting things together. I didn't feel very confident, but my IG friends encouraged me through it. Oddly enough, my favorite part is the big empty part in the middle where I put some more people. 

So, I realized during this process but didn't feel like changing it - there's Kona White and Kona Snow in this section, as well as another not-quite-white fabric. It sorta bugs me, but I'm going to practice  'Live and Let Live'  here.

I free motion quilted this quilt with loopy loops, and I'm very happy with how it turned out. This quilt has quickly made it's way up to the top of the list of my favorite things. I really like that I now have 2 Ghastlies quilts to snuggle under.

That's all I have to share today, but I'll be back soon to share my Sweet Pouch Swap contribution!

Until then, Happy Sewing!

2012 Wrap Up

I have a confession. The post was started 12 days ago. The photos were all taken, and I've just been awful about sitting down at my computer to upload them and finish typing everything out! hehe Anyway, without further ado, I wanted to share my last two quilts from 2012.

The first was for my little brother. He's 24, turning 25, and he's a very hip/cool kid. So of course when I was brainstorming what I could do for him, I knew it would have to be something modern, and less traditional. He has a little disney Vinalmation character inspired by Piet Mondiran - so that was what I ran with.

I really like how this quilt turned out, even though I don't think I would do it again!

Looking back, if I could change something about this quilt, it would be using colored thread in my bobbins when I quilted the colored blocks on the front. It doesn't look terrible, but I really don't like it very much. I do enjoy that working on this quilt let me try a few different free-motion quilting techniques though!

The next quilt was for my sister. She's 19, and we have very different tastes in style and colors. I'm usually wearing just about every color possible, and she's generally in blacks, greys and blues. So, when I first saw the Tula Pink Nightshade collection, I knew I needed to get it for her. Once I had it though, I was totally stumped. The girl fabric (Coven) was my absolute favorite, but it was just so big, and I couldn't figure out what pattern to use. After a few months of thinking about it, I decided I was just going to improv piece it, and see where we ended up. Here is the finished product.

I decided to back it in grey Minky - mostly because I have a quilt with minky backing, and it's my favorite to snuggle under when it's chilly. For quilting, I tried my hand at a spider web.

I do like the look of the spider web quilting, but next time, I'm going to make a few focal points on the spider web instead of just one. 

For the quilt, I also decided to try my hand at making a label. It didn't turn out the best, but I'm posting it here so that down the road I can look back and see if my quilt labels have progressed at all. 

I wanted sister to be surprised by the quilt, so at our pre-christmas party, I gave her this pillow. They look really cute as a set on her bed together now.

Have a great weekend, and until next time, Happy Sewing!