Back from Paducah

I'm baaaaaaack.  I am amazed every year I make the trek to Paducah, Kentucky for the annual quilt show. The workmanship is just ridiculous.  These people are so talented. I don't know how they come up with some of these ideas or where they find the time.  Most of these quilts I would never make, but I am just wowed by their beauty. I thought I would share some of my favorites.

This was my absolute favorite in the entire show. I just love whimsical quilts. This quilt is by

Dominique Ehrmann who documents her 25 years as a baker and chocolate maker.  You can definitely add quiltmaker to this list. This girl is oober talented. The details were crazy. There was 3d shoes, chef hat and bake shop! Gotta love this. Have to definitely see it in person because my pics don't do it any justice. Looooooooooooove!

A quick post

I have made progress on both projects i'm working on but I don't have pics of the little dress. Had a difficult time choosing buttons and getting the lining to cooperate. I will have it done by next week. I do however have some progress to report on the little tiana quilt.  It is gonna be soooo cute (if I must say so myself).  Still deciding on a background but here's a sneak peek.  Will be back next week with info from my mini quilt trip.  I'm going to Paducah, Kentucky for the AQS quilt show.  Happy quilting!

 

 

 

 

Mini distraction

I'm making progress on the tiana quilt. in fact, I have the fabrics picked out and ironed onto the respective pattern pieces. This is going to be such a cute little quilt. I can't wait until it's done.  Meanwhile, it wouldn't be normal for me to work on one project at a time. Soooo, I've decided to jump into apparel sewing. I saw this cute little number in a LQS a  while ago.

I just had to it.  This is also the first time I've made a dress.  It's also one of the few times I have attempted to make something other than pjs.  I am so proud of myself. This pattern was easy to follow and once I really committed to making it, everything went smoothly. Here is my progress so far. I just have to decide on buttons and pick out another lining.

I hope to finish this tomorrow and will hopefully have an adorable little model to show it off.
Until next time, happy quilting and sewing!
 

Playtime

I am super excited about a new quilt I'm starting for a fellow co-worker's god-daughter. She wanted pink and green but didn't care about anything else. I came up with this idea to do a princess tiana quilt, you know the princess and the frog. Plenty of green right! This is one of my all time favorite animations and I'm so excited I can't even begin to tell you. I start off with a simple coloring book page and blow it up about 220%. This little gem will be the center of the quilt.

Now began tracing all the elements of the picture. You can add as little or as much detail as you want.  I just kinda go with the flow and let the moment dictate what details I will add. By the time I start stitching, I will have probably changed my mind a hundred times anyway. I decided to add the details to my tracing now because it makes for easier transferring to the fabric. Next I get to cut out all the pieces on the line. I place them in little sandwich baggies until I'm ready for them.

Now begins the really fun part. I get to dig through my stash and pick out fabrics for her clothing.   this is so much fun.  It reminds me of the times I would play with paper dolls when I was younger.  Some of the fabrics I'm deciding on are below.  This is always so hard for me because I just want to use everything:)  I realized while doing this project, that I don't have as much green fabric as I thought.  Oh well, I see a fabric shopping trip in the near future.  I think i'm loving the shiny brocade like fabric. I'm just a little apprehensive because it's slippery. I got it eons ago in the fashion fabric section when I wanted to make Barbie doll clothes. I still may try it just to see how it goes.

Well that's all for now, I gotta get stitching. Can't wait to show you guys more progress. Happy quilting

 

The fabric that I buy!

Didn't I just mention in my last post that me + quilt shop= trouble?  Well it seems as though I don't even have to step into a shop now.  I was never an online purchaser before but in the last few months I've been bitten by that bug.  I'm normally a touch it, feel it, squeeze it type of shopper, I need to caress (yes caress) the fabric that I want to buy. Quilters know what i'm talking about right? It can't be that I am the only one.   Anyway I frequent the Fat Quarter Shop online store quite often. There is always something that I fall in love with on their site.  Here are two of my latest purchases. The first is from Quilting  Treasures and its from the Peanuts Worldwide line.  The second is from Swirly Girl for Michael Miller fabrics.  These are from their Weekend Clubhouse line.  This is such a deviation from what I normally buy but I just fell in love with all of these fabrics, especially that beautiful gingham print.  I have no idea what i'm going to do with these fabrics but I know it will be fun. Happy quilting!

 
 

Quilty fun

I'm showing you guys some of the quilt tops that I have finished and need to get quilted. Hopefully they will be done sometime in the immediate future. I just have so many things coming up that I don't know how it will happen lol.

 This is a project I drooled over for a long time. It is a Sweetwater project called Intersection.
 I made it with the same fabrics used in their quilt, the Hometown line. I just love all their fabric
 lines and adore this pattern. I had some leftover blocks that were not the right size (don't
 know how that happened) so I just used them for the backing. I LOVE this quilt.

Next up is the cute little pattern by A Bright Corner.  This is one of her free tutorials and I must

say it was quite easy to follow. The directions were clear and concise and this was a lot of fun.

Here is another wonderful quilt design that I got from the moda bakeshop.  Starry Eyed used another wonderful fabric from the girls over at Sweetwater.  Did I say I love their fabric? 

This little gem sprang from and idea over at Cupcakes and Daises. This is my version of her crimson and cream snowball challenge.  Thelma is an awesome quilter and we both share an affinity for red. That's so funny because I never was a red person before and now I have somehow fallen in love with it.

Here is another quilt done with my all time favorite quilt line put out by Sweetwater.  It is called Sunkissed and I just could not buy enough of it.  It is done in a quilt pattern called Smitten by one of my favorite bloggers, Rachel Griffith over at ps I quilt. 

I hate to admit, but this quilt has been done for some time and I haven't quilted it YET!

I had planned on making it for my little girl when she was a toddler. She is nine now, just a little late huh?  The pattern is from the book below and it has so many cute patterns for quilts and pillows.  Oh, I do eventually plan on finishing it and possibly make the matching pillow.  Hopefully it won't be for my grandchild.  I could always add more borders and make it bigger, but then begins the trouble of trying to find just the right fabrics.  Me in a quilt store equals bad news. I really do try and limit myself. But hey you only live once right?

Here is a quilt I was just playing around with a new tool and decided to use up some stash fabric. It uses the twister template and was very easy to complete.  I love the inspiration fabric that I used, but not so crazy about the quilt. I got this cute little animal print batik in Paducah, Kentucky a while ago. Didn't know what I would do with it, just knew I loved it and had to have it.  Most of my fabric purchases seem to go that way.  I think I will just practice some new quilting designs on this baby and use it as a picnic blanket.

This little beauty is a gorgeous quilt designed by my LQS in Collinsville, Illinois. The store is

Cross Patches and I simply love this shop.  They are filled with wonderfully inspiring projects. please ignore my wheel of fortune pose lol.

Here are just a few close-ups of  some of the blocks.