Another Fractured

This quilt has been done for over a week now, but our weather has turned very spring-ish here - and not in a good way! It's been nothing but rain, which means that I have not gone outside to take pictures of this quilt. The kids still get sent outside, but I avoid it :) So, after waiting for a week to take cute outside pics of this quilt (I have them all staged in my head), I gave in snapped them inside (with the kids as quilt holders). I guess the ideas will stay in my head for another quilt. So, without further ado, here is Fractured 2.

The front. Red, white, and black in all it's glory. The white binding doesn't stand out very much in this pic, but it really is a crisp finish to the whole thing. I love it! White binding will be a repeated element...someday...


The back of the quilt, which really lives up to the quilt's name. I love how all these broken pieces were used on the back. At first all these pieces were garbage due to a very poor initial job of squaring the quilt (I felt like such an idiot). But placed in with the ash color backing, they really make the back look fractured, too.

Close up of the binding (front).

Close up of the back - quilting detail, binding, and tag.

And now, I will leave you with a peek at the current project I am working on. I'm trying a "quilt as you go" technique, and while I'm loving the technique, I am totally second guessing my fabric choices. I still often have a "freak out" moment on every quilt where I wonder if it is going to turn out at all. I'm chalking up the fabric doubt to that phenomenon and plugging on.

Due to this extended doubt, this quilt seems to be dragging on a little. I hope to have it done this week, but the kiddos head back to school tomorrow, and I'm determined to instill a semblance of order back into my life. With one lonely girl left at home, we shall see how that works out. Hmmm, I just noticed you got a peek of my socked foot in the pic. Yes, it's been that cold!

Off I go to tackle this first school week, I'll check in soon to let you know how it's going!

Overheard...

My neighbour's 6 year old son (to me): "What are you doing?"
Me: "Sewing."
My 6 year old son (said with attitude): "Doesn't your mom have a sewing machine?"

A few minutes later...

My son: "This is my mom's quilt she made. She kinda has a business. See the back, it's cool."
Neighbour's son: ....silence...... (quiet in awe, I'm pretty sure)

Love it that my kids think that all moms do this, and I really love it that they think it's cool.

Pics of quilts coming soon....

What's black and white, and red all over?

Not the newspaper!! (note the obvious spelling of red, not read - that was your clue) It's the newest quilt top and back. Here's the progress...


Almost makes your eyes hurt, doesn't it? Hope that's a good thing!

And, a sneak peek of the backing.

Come back soon for the unveiling of the finished quilt.....

Gettin' ready...

For what?? Well, school for one. This year I have 2.5 kids in school. I homeschooled last year, and the year before only had one in school, so this is going to be quite the change. Summer vacation has lasted 14 months at our house, and now soon we will be back to regular life. Regular life requires indoor shoes, and acquiring indoor shoes requires searching the mall for just the right brands that were seen on TV. Curse you, commercials during morning cartoons!! But the right shoes were found, and even the 3 year old somehow snagged a pair of Twinkletoes (Skechers managed to score three of my four purchases). Admittedly they all look pretty cute...

Also, I'm gettin' ready to start stitching. I started by laying out my fabric strips to see if it covers the area of the size I wanted the quilt to be.

Once I had cut enough strips, I lay them out in the directions that I envision...

See where I'm going with this? If you need a reminder, check out the Fractured quilt again. White strips will be added between each section again. I'm looking forward to this one, and hope to have the quilt top finished today. I'm off!!

Coming Soon.....

I've been saving red, white, and black fabrics up for awhile for a red, white, and black quilt (the second part of that sentence seemed a little redundant). I think I may have enough and am going to start cutting into them. I'm leaning towards another Fractured quilt, but this time without the beginning mistake it took to create it. Also, on the original quilt, I cut strips of fabric anywhere from 2" - 5" (I think). This time I'm planning on cutting all of them 3" wide. Simplicity.

Here is where I am starting from (with a few more to be thrown in yet)...

I hope to show you more progress soon!

My husband's favorite quilt

My latest quilt has been declared my husband's favorite. I don't really know what to do with that. My husband as an eye. Not in the sense that he is missing one, but rather has an eye for proportions, color, scale and such. I like this quilt but it's not my absolute fave. Does that mean I don't have the eye if I don't think this one is the be all and end all? Hmmmmm..... How 'bout I show you it and you can help me decide.

The front - stripes with a random square pieced stripe thrown in. The grey is Kona solid Ash, and the purples are a few different Kona solids - I can't find my color card right now, but if you're desperate to know which purples, I can dig around for the card. The green flowers are Michael Miller something or other, and the green dots are Monaluna Mingle.

Straightline quilting seems to be all that I am capable of lately. I used to only free motion, and I tried it in a corner of this quilt and it was embarrassing - even to myself. NOT like riding a bike. Thankfully, I love the lines!! This quilt is stitched 1/4" from each seam line, with a few extra lines thrown in on the white stripes. I also changed the thread color on white to a purple so it would stand out more.

I love the squares where the quilt lines cross. So textural.

A small pieced section on the back... again.....


The quilting lines on the back - see the two different colors of thread? I like it, I hope you do too.


Since this has been declared my husband's favorite, I feel a bit of pressure to outperform the next time and make a new favorite. I'm going to attempt to ignore that pressure and make something new that I love. I have my fabric arranged in a few stacks on my sewing room counter, ready for the decision of what's next. I'll let you know when I know!!!

My first camping quilt

Don't take the title the wrong way - this is NOT a quilt to use while camping. Once again I used way too much white for this to be practical enough for that. Rather, this is my first quilt that I made WHILE camping. Yep, I brought my sewing machine along in our trailer and pieced while everyone else played. Don't think of me as a martyr, think of me as selfish and doing my own thing. I did everything but finished the binding - and that was because I had to get home and get my new tags out of the mail (see picture closer to the end). So here it is...



A simple design - perfect for mindlessly throwing together. I love how the straight line quilting adds so much texture - the white stripes are quite heavily quilted. I'm not sure how well you can see that - but it's beautiful!

Here is a peek of the back...



And the binding...



And my new tag!!! Yay!!! Also, a close up of my machine binding. I love to handsew the binding, but in the interest of time and sanity, have decided to machine bind. It is much more sturdy (or maybe I was hand binding wrong....), and I am getting better at it.

(I ordered the tags from Miss Label , and had great service and quick delivery)

This quilt does not have a home yet. I'm planning to start selling on Etsy this fall, but want to build a stash of quilts first. I'm willing to part with it now if you're interested...(measures 52"x40", perfect baby size) Message me if you are and I'll fill you in on more details.

Also, the mind burning quilt has officially been started (and the top completed). A sneak peek for you...

I'm hoping to get the back done and have it basted together this afternoon. We shall see....