Well, I ahave been trying to clear the decks for August. I sent out my fabrics for Stash Busters, requesting wonky stars. I kinda felt like I wanted my own BushFire Quilt after seeing so many of them. I was supposed to send out 100square inches of fabric to I sent out between 2-6 swatches of modern fabric.

I went to the local Museum and re-rolled quilts.


Amy over at Amy ala Mode gave me a thank you and I meant to make 9 patches with them and show it but I cannot seem to get motivated.
Most of the fabric she gave me I didn't already have so it's great because now I can use it to make 9 patches. Ive been using the coasters too, in this heat my cup has been a sweatin'. It was great meeting her and showing off my city.
Thanks Amy.

I'm trying to get all my stuff together and loaded onto Etsy for my store. Im busy sewing a quilt top of vintage sheets. I have been cutting and stacking. Most likely it will go up starting this weekend(my days with the fewest visitors) SO check back Monday.
I'm excited about the shop. I went out and got envelopes and etc. I feel almost prepped and ready. This is the first time I have done this much fabric, It's a lot of work.I hope I am ready for it.

Design Recycled

The orange and green prints are Amy Butler from her Charm line- the pink and Black are Luna by Gail Fountain and Maywood Studio.
The print is exactly the same. Who is Gail Fountain? I know Maywood studio is an EEschenk house brand. EEschenk stopped distributing Freespirit and now seems to be licensing their old lines. I love the black and white. I am hoping to make a quilt with it and the originals.
I think I am going to sneak the pink and white in with other Charms like the tile print.
What other fabrics would like to see them reprint in other colors? I would like Flea Market Fancy in pastels .. lavander and lemon maybe a pale orange. Of course a baby pink and baby blue. beachy sand. A girl can dream can't she?
I sold the Summer in the City Charm pack after only 12 views. My girlfriend thinks she can get more so stay tuned. The Full Moon Forest Owl print hasn't budged so I am gonna keep lowering the price till it does. I started at 20$ a half yard now it's 10$

seriously....

I have heard back from 2 of the winners .. waiting on the third. I had some trouble with her mail so I may pick a new third

I'll be back this weekend to rap this up!

.....later

It's all worked out thanks ... sorry everybody! operator error!
I couldn't get Ann's mail to work but I figured it out.

Shameless Etsy Plug!

I dropped these into Etsy. I have a charm pack and a half yard of Full Moon Forest Owls.
They may be just what your looking for.


Are you looking for my Give Away of Flea Market Fancy? Click the link. Its free and everybody is eligible. Starting August I will be doing a fabric store, vintage sheets FQs, OOP fabrics, vintage fabrics. Info On that is coming, so stay tuned.
Quilters Rock!
Rachel

Here's the worst part!

I'm doing a give away! Flea Market Fancy Half yard and FQs ! Want to enter?
Join the give away down here. I went to the workshop and a wonderful woman gave me a quarter yard of grey seeds but some how I lost it, all my scraps I was saving, and worst of all 2 of my sketch books of ideas and quilting ideas... mass sadness.
But I want to ask if any one has grey seeds? Would you be willing to swap for some green seeds. I would also take blue or .... um is there pink? no yellow.
So I am releasing my sadness to the universe over losing my books ( I just have to let go) and I'm sure the scraps went into Denyse's bins, alas, I was talking and not cleaning up. So I turn to you dear reader, I still want some grey seeds ... really bad.

I would like FQ or half yard cuts... so let me know.

Quilters Rock!
Rachel

Poor Guy!

Looking for the give away? scroll down!

My husband has Kidney stones and today I took him to the hospital twice for the pain.
He is a sad camper.
We went to the 24 hour pharmacy and he had to make an appearance to pick up his schedule 2 narcotic. During the "lecture" portion of the visit he started puking into a trash can. We were the only ones in the store so it wasn't that bad but we were pretty embarrassed.
Early this morning Sew daisy and I got together to work on our August Store idea. Then I went to work at the jail, DH called to say "Pain" so Its been a busy, long day.

What are you doing tonight?

Tonight I'll be at the westside quilters guild how-toing my kite block technique. These two quilts are the same block.


It's so much easier.
http://www.westsideqg.org/

Meetings are held the third Monday at Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church in Cornelius Pass Business Park, 2038 Aloclek Drive, Hillsboro, OR 97124. Show & Tell begins at 6:45 PM. Meeting & Program begins at 7:00 PM

so enter the drawing for the FMF Green Sprouts/seeds down below and later this week I'll do a posting about the class and how I think I am changed by taking it. maybe not changed but refocused. okay. it was great.

One thing I learned is I need to change my design board to plain fabric.I will be buying some White Flannel. ugh. I haven't unpacked or looked at the photos I took.


More later!
Quilters Rock!
Rachel

Give Away Instructions!

seriously folks - leave an email or have an email in your blogger profile.
All entries with no available email will never win.
I'm such a crabby pants.

Give Away!!!

Give Away Alert!!!

Giving away Flea Market Fancy Green Sprouts and Green Dots
1st prize is half yard of each
2nd and 3rd get a FQ of each

To celebrate the class this weekend and the lecture on Friday. To celebrate Denyse Schmidt coming to our fair and crafty city - I am giving away the rare, hard to find, OOP Flea Market Fancy fabric.

Rules: leave a comment. It's easy. Give away open to EVERYONE including IRL friends and international. Ends Thursday July 22nd, 2009 Noon or when I first check blog on Thursday.
Will need an email to contact you- no anonymous entries please, it's just too much of a hassle.
Winners picked at random.
However, if your a member of the Designer Fabric Swappy poo Group on Flickr.com an essay is required, 2 referrals and after you have received the invite you will have 12 minutes to enter and if you fail to enter please find another accepted contestant to invite you to begin process again. Thanks.
I'm just kidding... ;)

I got a couple more Prints Charming prints to take with me to class and I totally need to pack. I'm taking a whole load of stuff. Even tho I live local I am still taking rolling luggage. eek! SO I need to pack it up and see if it all fits. I have a Bernina that is heavy and am taking another machine for Amy so I need wheels. for sure.
The curve quilt continues, I have it half pieced and am working on it. I can't wait to get it finished so I can move on to the Round About Quilt Along top I want to do. Brights! I want to use them. anxious to move on.

I'll be back next week to tell you how the class went.
Quilters Rock!
* I edited this post - I was being petty and I am over it.

Countdown Begins

Woo hoo! 8 days till Denyse Schmidt class and counting. They sent out a mail that said basically bring 4 half yards of coordinating fabric. 4? four? are you sure? okay, so I have been slaving over this idea for weeks. Which 4? I thought at first I was going to ignore that mail and take a background of gray and then a rainbow of fat eighths - right now, I am following directions.
On the day we will see. I think the stack needs more blue. we'll see.

The thrift store was good to me! I needed a new rack to hold my rulers, small mats and templates. See the old one? a old plate rack from Ikea. The new one is a file folder rack from the office supply section of the Goodwill I like its industrial look. I spent a great deal of time straightening up my work space so I could take this photo. Making all those quarter circle blocks made quite a mess. and yet still the mess shows. I can't sew together the top until I have clean work surface, so Guess what I will be doing this weekend?

Here is how its going.... I just threw it up to have a look see. Right now all the blocks are in a stack on my desk and I need to re-org them. Then they go back up and that's what I am doing next week. That and quilting.
and getting ready for class. ... too excited for words.
Quilters Rock!

okay how funny is

this?
Urban dictionary and I do not agree in regards to this term. Back in my day it just meant a lady who was used to being spoiled ... not one who was unwilling to work. Let's hope she's from Hillcrest.

Thanks John!

I got my placemat swap from John. He is an experienced swapper and had the good sense to send some peanuts and a cookie. I opened the peanuts on the way back to the house. I love nuts from the south - they really are better.
I love my placemat! I love the colors. I think the geometric prints from Dena this season are the best of the year so far.
The place mat has really got me thinking. Straight line quilting is really cool. Lots of folks are doing it over at Flickr.com and I was thinking I want something bigger straight line quilted. I may have to try it on the Handi quilter or do a trade. I think I like the order of it.
John, thanks for the inspiring placemat. we use placemats quite a bit ...or rather mini quilts.
I bind stuff I am playing at or cut out something I liked from a larger experiment.
We have an island in our kitchen and no dining table. Since it's just DH and I we eat in the kitchen often. The top of the island is glass, so it is cold, and we use the quilts to keep our fore arms warm and toastly. I am forever dripping things on mine or using it as a plate, so maybe I will just save it for "special" otherwise it will get stained. When we get a table we can put it in the middle.
Quilters Rock!

getting a "round" to posting.

Look at that?
my DHs new grill. In the store trying to talk me into it he said "Look honey, it's kinda steam punk." Hilarious. I don't know where he got that. He really is thrilled, and so motivated to cook.


Over the weekend, he cooked, we all ate, it was good. Hooray!
We sat eating in the back yard watching the birds play in the fountain. I haven't been able to get a good photo of the birds... here's the fountain.






Here's my first tomato of the season and I am so thrilled! It's a Sungold - a cherry tomato with citrus notes. Yummy! That's basil in the foreground. more yum.

In the studio - I have been busy. I joined the round about quilt along over at acommonplacelife.
I was already working on a green/blue quilt top that is curved piecing that I need to finish and then I am going to do bigger blocks for her quilt along in a more vibrant contrasty color way.
I am doing my piecing in a much different way than she says to do it, but when I talked to her about it she said I could piece in my own fashion.
I thought you might be interested in how I do it:
First I pick out a bunch of fabrics, for this one I am doing low contrast, blues/greens with about a quarter of the fabrics as solids in blue, green and yellow(that's my contrast- the yellow).
I am using the templates from Elisa's Backporch. I love these! they come in at least a couple of sizes. I'm using the six inch medium. I cut about a 7.5" strip and cut out the pieces.

In this next picture you'll see 2 things.
1. Enclosed are her instructions that she calls the "one pin method" after a little practice even that seems like too many pins. really. I promise.
2. I overlapped the templates to show the seam line. If you sew a good quarter inch seam, they really don't any trimming. Easy. Peasy. They are meant to fit together.


I then make 3 stacks:
1. with the seams ironed open with both light and dark centers.

2. a stack pressed towards the dark centers


3. a stack with the seams pressed towards the dark outers.

I just sew and press in batches. I put the parts in a stack. sew them up.

After I am done with the squares I will throw them up on the wall and "make pretty". In my flickr I will tossing around photos of the options to get the color balanced. Think about coming over to have a look.

Tips for sewing? Why yes, I have a couple.
In the next photo you'll notice the needle is in the down position, and I have turned my speed down to half.


That's it. It's super easy and so much fun. For the effort could there be anything that looks cooler? There are lots of ways to do curved piecing. Have you done some? Please post your photos of inspiring curves, rings, or circles over here in the new flickr.com pool.
Do you want to try? Think about joining the quilt a long.

Love. Peace.
Quilters Rock!

WIP #8

I participated in my first mini swap this week. Making something for a stranger that I have never met or know only thru his comments and photos on flickr.com. It was the placemat quilt swap sponsored by Krommama. It was fun to see what everybody made. That link takes you to the Flickr pool. I have been toying with this idea for a while, setting things off in rows that are also offset. It was nice to focus it on a small project to see how it worked. I used my super soft Organic Cotton, it is a bit drapey and so I haven't used it on big quilts.
I also experimented with using a fill I call "ball of yarn" as an all over. I don't know how I feel about it. But I think it's going to wash up real good.
Notice the edge treatment? Binding and a mini border? I like it. I think Iam going to do this on a larger project soon. nice little splash of blue around the edge.

This the orientation of the quilt as it's meant to sit on the table. Longways. I made it a bit wider as my husband likes to put up his arms and elbows when he sits at our island. He has had me make him several wide placemats. I am hoping it looks manly and fresh. Does it say "Man"?

In other news I am over my cold/flu but am still feeling tired. My husband and I both had it for 2 weeks and are slow to recover. Starting to feel like a shut-in, in our self imposed exile. Things are starting to get back to normal finally.
Our neighborhood (development) has a July Fourth Party every year. All the neighbors BBQ and play games. We have a bounce house for the kids, when it gets close to dark we all light off fireworks. One of my neighbors is related to Valorie Wells in an in-law sort of way which is how this relates to quilting. Since we don't eat pork, high fructose corn syrup, ground meat in any form or franken foods, we won't be attending the potluck portion. Partly, so my mother won't feel the need to lecture everyone on their food choices and partly because frankly I don't like the heat. Plant a tree people! We will put in an appearance before it gets too dark to say "how dee do"and "my, look how the kids have grown" and then watch the fireworks.
My husband is getting a new Natural Gas Grill, so he is preparing for a meat filled weekend of grilled goodness. He is eating at home.

I hope your holiday is grand! Have a good one.


Here is a little detail of the quilting and the binding.


Quilters' Rock!