Acts of kindness

It's so wonderful when you get to meet new, uber-talented ladies, who are more than happy to lend a helping hand. It's also nice {for me} to be able to share some of my talents to thank them.

So, to Marta Strzeszewski and Amy Gibson, many, many THANKS!!! I couldn't have done it without you. The pictures look great, my fingers are crossed!

These quilted goodies are for you. I won't say which one is for Marta and which one is for Amy, but you can see little bio's of them below their photos. I'm bringing them to the meeting on the 17th and I hope you'll both be there. If you see this before then, you can try to guess which one is for you!

Hexie flower on mustard Italian linen. Background linen densely quilted in an echoed scallop pattern with light lavender thread- Front
The hexes are 1", so you can get a gist of the overall size of the zippered pouch (10 x 6.5").

The back- the quilting really stands out here. Purple zipper.

Hexie flower on indigo dyed Italian linen. Background linen densely quilted in a "butterfly wings" pattern with a spring green thread. Front (This linen looks like denim in all the pictures I have ever taken. But it's so much nicer and textured than denim- perhaps I just need a better picture).
The hexes are 1", so you can get an overall idea of the size of the pouch (10 x 6.5").

The back- Light green zipper. 

I'm going to link these zipper pouches over at Amy's Creative Side…… I've had them on my to do list for a few weeks and now they are ta-done!!!

Don't forget this…...

Had to take a detour for the Modern Mini Quilt Challenge. But don't forget to leave a comment and get your hands on some goodies here.

Remember: 2 give aways this month.

Pixie Sticks

I'm trying my hand at some new {to me} quilting techniques (I have tried these before in garment making)…… and thought I'd give some of them a try at the Modern Mini Quilt Challenge over at Ellison Lane. Thank goodness for the MINI designation. (I tend to get carried away……).

Do you remember Pixie Sticks? I do, even though I didn't get to eat much candy when I was little, I did love those brightly colored straws and the sweet/tart sugar powder inside.

Pixie Sticks- front (detail of the dense {mostly} straight quilting and the 3-D Pixie Sticks).
The picture was shot with  a bit of shadowing cast by the Pixie Sticks to add some drama

My Modern Mini is a 12.5 x 15" 3-D beauty made from my scrap bin, a bit of cotton string and left over Kona Coal from the For the Love of Solids Swap. (Feels good to made a wee dent in that scrap pile).

The Pixie Sticks are prepared like corded binding, cut to different lengths (dictated solely by the length of the scrap) and laid out in a rainbow progression. Mostly prints, but some solids, again dictated by what I had cut and designated as scraps.

The Pixie strips are then sewn to Kona Coal strips of varying widths and lengths and then sewn to one another to make the mini quilt. I then densely quilted between the Pixie Sticks to make them standout from the neutral gray background. It's fun to run your hand across the top of the mini quilt. Makes an interesting sound as well.

Pixie Sticks- front

Side- 3-D- detail of Pixie Sticks

The back, plain multicolored polka dot, 100% cotton. I chose the backing fabric to keep with the "candy" theme- remember these? Candy dots on paper…….

Pixie Sticks- back, with the fabric version of Candy Dots on paper!

{The}Details:
Title: "Pixie Sticks", original design
Size: 12.5 x 15"
Material: Kona Coal and various scraps of 100% quilting cotton
Thread: Aurafil dark grey, 40 wt, 100% cotton (top thread) and Coats and Clark 100% quilting cotton, 40 wt (bobbin thread)
Binding: Hand bound with Kona Coal.

Design-finish: February, 2012.

March De-Stash Giveaway is here!!!

The March, 2012 De-stash Giveaway is here!!! Actually 2 giveaways.
This month is one of my favorite colors- orange. (We're "marching" our way through the rainbow).
Because I love orange so much, I have a double give away this month- I will pick one US winner and one out-side the US winner.
For my US followers, this box filled with (mostly) orange goodies could be yours.
For my outside the US followers, I will send you a gift certificate for $15.00 (US) to an on-line fabric store - hopefully near you- you may have to help with the selection.


So, for March this is what you have to do:


Answer the following question: With Spring around the corner, what is the first flower/ tree  that blooms near you?  If you can link to a photo, even better, I'd like to see what you see. If you have a photo from your yard, share!!! ALSO- and you MUST include this information with your answer. Tell me what country you live in.


For example: The first flowers that appear in my neck of the woods are Darwin Tulips. I live in Colorado, USA.

Darwin Tulips (aren't they pretty????)

2 winners in March!!!!!!

Large Postal box filled with things mostly orange.

Details for the 2012 Monthly Giveaway:

I will post a photo of the give-away each month during the first week of the month- so check back often, so you don't miss out.

You will have until the 21st of each month to leave a comment.

Leave only one comment per person.

I will pick a winner and get your package in the mail by the 25th of each month (postal holidays and weekends excepted). (Make sure you don't fall in to the no-reply blogger category- if I can't get you I'll pick someone else).

I know some of my followers are outside the USA. Because international postal rates abroad are much more expensive I will be doing international mailings only a few times during the year (these are big packages and costly to send). Please know- I haven't forgotten you and appreciate your following me- I really do. So, I will specifically post whether the monthly destash-give-away is open to international entries on any given month.

Thanks for all your support and good luck in 2012! Remember 10 chances remain to win this year- Go for it!!!

I was featured…….

If you haven't seen the Quilt Story post, you can read about it here.

February give away winner…...

And the winner of the February 2012 De stash give away winner is…….. Miki Willa

who said"I would like to have lunch with Alex Anderson. There are many quilters I would really like to meet, but I pick Alex for this one because she has such deep and broad knowledge of so many types of quilting - from tradational to modern. I would love to just talk with her about quilts, fabrics, styles, colors, and all aspects of quilting.
Great giveaway. "

I will send you an email asking you for your mailing information and I'll get this package out to you ASAP.  I hope you like your goodies.  Please let me know when they arrive.

Don't forget to check back in early March for that month's give-away!!!

The Perfect Storm- for me that is…..

"Tail Wind" original design and quilting by- Stephanie Zacharer Ruyle
(photo: Marta Strzeszewski, photo editing by Amy Gibson- she photoshopped out the hands!)

It doesn't happen very often-that unique combination of circumstances and ideas (old and new), but it happened just recently to me and if I can get all the stars and planets to align (ya, right) I might be on to something.

Let me begin at the beginning, I have had this quilt for as long as I can remember.

It's faded in some areas, and the binding is frayed but it still retains it's beauty and it's simplicity

It's very old, very soft and very fragile. I don't know who made it, but it's totally made by hand. Cut, pieced and quilted without any electricity what-so-ever.

These small orange squares are 1" in size. Look at that tiny, uniform hand stitching.

I have always loved this quilt and wish I knew more about the person who made it. Besides it's mysterious creator, one thing that always makes me smile is it's color. It's orange and white- sunny and bright. Someone once told me that they thought it was probably not orange but red and that it has faded with time and use. But I disagree, something tells me it's always been orange (faded red to me is pink) and that makes me smile all the more.  (2/24 addition: I have learned the block in the antique quilt is called Burgoyne Surrounded and dates back to an important Revolutionary War battle. You can read more about that part of US history here).  I'm guessing 100+ years ago, orange wasn't a popular color, let alone the color of the year, like Tangerine Tango is this year, but someone liked it enough to make a quilt with orange proudly displayed. Which got me thinking that in 2012, I NEEDED to make a quilt for myself. (I haven't yet you see). Then along came the Tangerine Tango challenge…….

and the MQG challenge and a January FRMQG meeting and I got to thinking, perhaps these are just the push, my proverbial "Tail Wind".

So, here is MY story
Title: Tail Wind
Start: mid-January, 2012- completed: mid-February 2012

Tail Wind-the front

The back

Size: 95" x90" (Queen sized)
FMQ: (on my Bernina 180) using: a FMQ pattern of tailed-swirls and fillers to resemble "wind" currents originating from a centrally placed compass rose.

Thread: Coats and Clarks 100% quilting cotton in winter white, 40 weight.  I used well over 2000 yards of thread to quilt this project.
Batting: Hobbs Tuscany Collection, 100% wool batting which needs to be quilted every 3".
Material, 100% cotton- (front):
     1. Oranges:(mainly from stash and small yardage approximately FQ size and smaller) 5 Kona "orange family" solids (3 little pieces left over from the Robert Kaufman solids challenge charm pack in brights); Kona solids in school bus and coral; Kaffe Fassett- Rowan Line Dance; OZ by Sanae for Moda; Floralicious by Michael D'Amore for Benartex; Taza by Dena for free Spirit; Woodland Friends by Ellen Crimi-Trent for Clothworks, Half Moon by Moda; Grad Bazaar by Patty Young for Michael Miller; Metro Living Circles by Robert Kaufman; Fresh Flowers by Deb Strain for Moda; Garden Divas by Jane Sassaman for Free Spirit; A day in the Life by Mummysan for Robert Kaufman, Aviary 2 by Joel Dewberry for Free Spirit; Innocent Crush Maybe by Anna Maria Horner for Free Spirit; Treasures and Tidbits by Piece O' Cake Designs for Robert Kaufman; Tonal Kaleidoscope Gypsy Bandana by Pillow & Maxfield for Michael Miller;  Aldo fo Zippy by Jenn Ski/Lilla Rogers Studio for P&B Textiles; Kensington Studio for Quilting Treasures; Simon + Kabuki for Eandl Design, Inc.; Terrain by Kate Spain for Moda; Mingle by Monaluna for Robert Kaufman; and various wonderful orange scraps from Michelle L. (Flickr- I like Orange too) from the Goodie Bag swap (round 2).

     2. Grays:(mainly from stash and small yardage as above) Kona medium grey; "Quilters Linen" by Robert Kaufman,  Metro Living Circles by Robert Kaufman; Alexander Henry Fashion for Home; Little Apples by Aneela Hoey for Moda; Ta Dot by Michael Miller, and small scraps from Michelle L. (Flickr- I like Orange too).

 Material(back):
     1. Oranges: (mainly from stash and small yardage as above) Aldo fo Zippy by Jenn Ski/Lilla Rogers Studio for P&B Textiles; Heirloom by Joel Dewberry for Free Spirit
     2. Turquoise: (small yardage from stash)Treetop Fancy by Tina Givens for Free Spirit; Night Sky by Tina Givens for Free Spirit

"Neutral", (front and back): Kona Snow approximately 12-13 yards

For this quilt, I used:
Front: small pieced squares (5 1/2") 85 total- (80 orange, 5 gray)
          medium pieced squares (10 1/2") 26 total- (19 orange, 7 gray)
          medium kona snow solid 10 1/2" squares- 7
          small kona snow solid 5 1/2" squares- 16
          rectangle kona snow solid 10 1/2 x 5 1/2"- 10
Back: large pieced squares 15" 3 total (2 turquoise, 1 orange)
          small pieced squares 5 1/2" total 3 (2 orange and 1 turquoise)
          pieced kona solid in Snow

The quilt top pieces were laid out in a random pattern based mainly on what appealed to me.

One note of caution, and I should have foreseen this had I (been organized and) drawn this out in advance; was……... the piecing of the top became puzzle-like containing only one width of quilt straight seam line (yikes).

I lay my quilts out on the floor as I don't have a design "wall".  If you look closely at about 9 o'clock you can see a large grouping of quilt blocks with no obvious (to me) way to assemble them without some creative and non-linear piecing.

In the end I was left with about 7 medium sized sections and had quite the time fitting them all together in an orderly manner.

It required (quite) a bit of interesting seaming but it all eventually went together.

The completed top laying over the backing and the 100% wool batting, all taped to the living room floor and waiting to be pin-basted.

 I did lean my lesson when it came to the back! (minimal and straight piecing).

quilting in progress- Bernina 180 and a small Sew EZ portable sewing table

What I love about this quilt is that I used many, many oranges and some (but not as many) grays. If you look closely you can see birds, bees, flowers, dots, zig-zags, spiders, sinks, a bath tub, a whisk, a dress, eye glasses, a baby carriage, a toaster, a door, a piece of cake, utensils, lots of scissors, a toy car, stripes, checks, plaid, argyll, fish scales, words, leaves, rosebuds, ducks and hats. I'd say that's quite a collection of things to see and to look for, and all of that just makes me smile.

The quilting is really prominent on the back and I'm thrilled that I used so much neutral here.

Back, detail

                                               

Back- close-up of  FM quilting

In the end I have a beautiful and surprisingly light-weight queen sized quilt. Although the wool batting requires denser quilting, it's incredibly light, compressible and easy to maneuver under the space available on a regular table top sewing machine.

Many Thanks to my FRMQG members for helping me take full-length photos
The front (photo: Marta Strzeszewski)

The back
(photo Marta Strzeszewski)

February= BUSY!!

Felt heart hand made by Emily Levey

                                                 Happy Valentine's Day!! To each one of you from me.

February has been very busy.
My to do list was long but it is now complete.

Close-up of quilting on Valentine Swap- mini quilt

Always Bee Learning Word Blocks- for Kari

Kissy Fish blocks for a baby quilt

9-patch block for another baby quilt (FRMQG group project)

Scrap buster swap- crazy bento boxes, 32 block to swap

Pot Holder Pass 10- log cabin blocks for BeachGirl Sews

wonky stars- 12 Month Bee- for Leanne (18.5")

and 6.5"

Super Nova block for Hettie- I was missing one square in my package,
hence the "lovely" cutting mat peek-a-boo in the center. 

For the Love of Solids Swap, small item- can't show the front- that would give the owner away

For the Love of Solids Swap, main item- a sewing machine cover: front

For the Love of Solids Swap, main item- a sewing machine cover: back

what has been eating up most of my February

More details about this soon, really soon. Stayed tuned!

Oh, Oh, Oh, Don't forget to enter the give away for a Large Post Box full of yummy February crafting and sewing and knitting goodies. More details here.