Charmed by the Sea

Late last year, AnneMarie at GenX Quilters hosted a wonderful Quilt Along called Charmed Prints. Finally...in April...I finished mine. Only four months late. *cough*



The QAL was focused on using a charm pack to make a simple quilt with sashing and borders.  I needed something simple, and I had a three quarters of a leftover layer cake of Odyssea.  (For those of you who don't know, one layer cake is the equivalent of four charm packs.)  Seeing a good way to use some stash, I jumped in.  There were four blocks featured, of which I chose three - the Star Block,  Diamond in the Square, and Pinwheel Block.  The remainder of my blocks are just the charms themselves, no additional cutting.  Easy peasy.

My boys had been bugging me for another quilt, and I wanted one that my family could share.  The Odyssea fabric was perfect as we are a family of beach bums, living for our annual Hatteras beach trip with friends.  So, I decided to call this one "Charmed by the Sea". 




It's my largest quilt to date - measuring 70-inches square - which makes it big enough to share and it's found a fabulous home on my living room couch.

With school going on and life being what it was, I had a hard time keeping up.  The top came together in late December and I pieced the back, making 9- and 16-patches out of my scraps and leftover charms.  My oldest son even helped with the block placement, which was fun.  :)



I quilted it in January - a simple meander on the LQS long-arm - and made the label, but then got stuck for some reason.  I hand-stitched the binding up until I had about 15 inches left and then stopped.  I don't know why. There it sat, in my living room, until April.  I finally picked it up to take with me on a beach trip with friends.  I finished it that night and took it out on the beach the next morning...without my camera.  *sheesh*.



So, despite the fact that it is a beach quilt, made for the beach, inspired by the beach, and in honor of the beach....I have no pictures on the beach.

Maybe next week...when we head to the beach.  :)

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Quilt Stats

Pattern: Charmed Prints Quilt Along by AnneMarie at GenX Quilters

Size: approx. 70" x 70" 
Quilt Top Fabric: Odyssea Layer Cake by MoMo for Moda and Kona White
Backing: Athena in Ocean Blue (from Odyssea line)
Binding: Ionia in Ocean Blue (from Odyssea line)

Pieced and Quilted by: Angie Kimel

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Linking up:

WIP Wednesday - time for catching up

Summer is in full swing here and things are finally starting to settle down a bit. I realized this morning that I haven't posted a WIP Wednesday in...well...forever!  I actually have several things to share and my posting is further behind than my projects - which is nice for once!

My last update was February.  Yes, February.  I'm such a slacker...  So, I'm going to go beyond what I've done in the last week...but don't worry, I won't let the post get that long.  :)

In Progress

Oh My Stars QAL:  Yes, the actual QAL finished a long time ago, and I still only have a few stars.  I've completely changed direction here, though.  I've exchanged the white backround I was using for a dark gray.  Can't remember the color...one of the Free Spirit ones.  Still using Terrain and I've managed to create quite a stash of it in the past few weeks.  Fat Quarter Shop had it half-price and I also snatched up some at a local fabric shop.  I may qualify as a hoarder now.





Paintbox Quilt:  Squares are steadily coming in from my TwitterB group.  Only a few more outstanding.  I'm going to have to supplement with my own blocks, but I'm good with that as I need to dig into my stash to make room for new fabrics.  :)





Tangled Webs Pattern:  Still working on this, but I have made a big decision.  The pattern will be FREE.  I've debated it for several weeks and "decided" I should charge for it because of the time involved, but it never felt right.  I've grown my skills thanks to the generosity of other bloggers and I feel that my first pattern should be a thank-you gift of sorts.  So...be watching for my pattern soon.  :)

Sherbet Socks: The initial motivation for learning to knit was socks.  No matter what time of year, my feet are always cold.  I hate cold feet.  I want knit socks.  Warm, toast, colorful knit socks.  Well, I've finally (five months later!) started a pair.  I love the fun colors. (BTW - the pic is old...they are halfway down my foot now. )  :)








Sewing Room:  Work has started on finishing up my sewing-room re-do.  All of my stuff is out of the room and I hope to finish pulling border down tonight and paint tomorrow.  I made a little schematic on Monday so I could play around with furniture placement.  (I told y'all I'm a little OCD...).  The back page is the room - to scale, of course - and the top is my furniture pieces.  I then cut them out and move them around.  Like a puzzle, I guess.





Finishes

Charmed Prints Quilt:  I actually finished this in April, but haven't posted.  Pics and a full write-up soon.





Prince Charming Quilt Top:  I finished my Quilt Top last month in hopes of having the quilt done in time for Tula Pink's visit.  No such luck on finishing the quilt, but she did sign the label I made.  Now, to get to the long arm!





Tropical Tote:  This was last week's easy Saturday project.   The boys left on a two-week trip to Michigan and I needed some sewing therapy.  Tutorial will be up next week.






and finally.... Baseball!  We finished up the Spring baseball season on Friday.  Both boys' teams finished in second place in their divisions.  So proud of them and all of their hard work.  They both want to be pitchers and are well on their way.  It's wonderful to watch them excel at things they love.  :)






Would love to hear what you've been up to... don't forget to link up with Lee!!







 

Tangled Webs

A few weeks ago, I learned the mixed-emotioned news that Karen Gray was closing her store and, in her place, The Little General Fabric Boutique would be opening. I loved Karen's store and had full plans of teaching there later this fall, but was very excited to hear the news about the new store.

In true Karen style, she had set up a fabulous celebration for the Little General's opening, inviting none other than the fabulous Tula Pink to come speak about fabric design and autograph books. Tula will be here tomorrow - and in the store, waiting for her, is my new quilt...Tangled Webs.

As soon as Karen announced that Tula was coming, I offered to make a Nightshade quilt.  With the line being Halloween-inspired, my immediate thought was a spiderweb quilt.  So with fabric in hand, I immediately started paper-piecing webs.  I even took off a day of work to make the top...and ended up with about 4 webs.  Four.  Out of 36.  Hmmm.

So while complaining to a friend over lunch, I tried to figure out a way to incorporate the webs into a quicker design.  Having been inspired by the panels in Quilt Dad's quilt the week before, I started drawing on scratch paper and quickly had a mock up of a top that incorporated two different sized webs into large blocks of fabric.  I used the webs I had already finished, made a couple more and, bam... here it is.

The back is pieced as well, with a small strip highlighting two of the sisters and a web...mostly because I made one too many webs.  *cough* 

My friend Gina quilted the quilt and did a fabulous job.  I gave her free reign over the quilt design and the finished piece came back with gorgeous webs, swirls, and cross-hatching.  It's so beautiful!  She had just recently decided to go into the quilting business, so if you're looking for a wonderful quilter, I highly recommend her.

In all the flurry and chaos, this quilt has opened several opportunities for me.  Remember my plans for teaching at Karen's?  I'll be teaching at The Little G in the fall, instead... teaching this quilt!  Classes will start in August, so if you're local and interested, let me know.  Gina has also talked about putting together kits for the top, too, so watch for that as well.

For those not local, but still interested in the quilt, I'm in process of finishing up the pattern.  That's right... I'll soon have a pattern out!  This will be the first pattern I've ever offered, so I'm very excited and I'm trying to get things done just right.  I had hoped to have it ready by today, but no go.  I had no idea how time consuming quilt patterns could be.  And your reward for reading this far?  I need pattern testers! 

Even though the pattern was designed with Nightshade in mind, I think it lends itself to many different fabrics, especially Halloween ones.  If you are interested in pattern testing, leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail.   You should be comfortable with paper-piecing, and able to manage a quick-turnaround of no more than two weeks for a pieced top.  **Edited to add: Thanks for all the pattern testing offers! I have my testers and will be in touch soon.**


I hope you like the quilt!  I'll be back in a couple days to highlight Tula's visit.  I'm looking forward to meeting her and hanging out.  Should be lots of fun!

I've been nominated!

The nominations are up in the Blogger's Quilt Festival and, holy smokes, I've been nominated...Twice!




Thank you, thank you to those who nominated Jane's Black and White Quilt.  It's a finalist in the "Favorite Two Color Quilt" category and I've been nominated in the "Favorite Quilt Photographer" category.   I'm absolutely flattered!  I've been trying to work on my photography, and this is a complete surprise.  It truly does mean the world just to be nominated...there are some fabulous entries out there.

To say the least, I would love a vote from you in one, or even both categories.  The link to the voting page is here:  http://amyscreativeside.com/2012/05/28/bloggers-quilt-festival-vote-now/

Scroll through and vote for your favorites now!  :)