The plan….

So here’s what I plan to make for my Camp Loopy 3 – the Fabric Version – project.

It may look familiar since it is actually a slightly rearranged portion of the design I did for Hoffman California Fabrics Winter Greetings fabric line last year.

The colors shown in it have absolutely nothing to do with the fabrics I’m using – they are just placeholders for how I plan to space out the prints.

The background will be made up of a bunch of different black tone on tone fat quarters which are from one of the Short Stacks I need to use.  And the other larger colored areas will be the Charley Harper Short Stack – prints that I don’t want to cut up much.  And there’s a tomato colored solid mixed in that short stack which I would have enough to do the birds and cornerstones but I got it in my head it really needs the tomato color for the binding too.  So… yep you guessed it.. my original order of fabric hasn’t even arrived yet and I had to order more of the tomato and since I was at it I ordered both a cream and white since I’m not sure whether the background in the CH prints are more white or cream, and just for good measure a gray short stack.  I’ll use the gray for the bird bodies and I love gray fabrics anyway so whatever I don’t use will join the stash.

New Quilt Patterns

My latest designs for Hoffman California Fabrics are now available on their website for download.   Maple Lane  fabric collection pattern is available in both  quilt size and as a table runner.

The “Ornaments and Baubles” design  for the Pear Tree Greetings fabric line (which has lovely partridges in the main focus fabric) is very simple piecing – especially since the outer border is a stripe-printed fabric not a zillion little rectangles all sewn together!

Maple Lane Black quilt – Coming Spring 2014

Male Lane Cream – Coming Spring 2014

Maple Lane Black – Coming Spril 2014

Maple Lane – coming Spring 2014

Pear Tree Greetings – Baubles and Balls – coming Spring 2014

Pear Tree Greetings – Coming Spring 2014

 

 

Aspen Creek Lodge

My latest pattern for Hoffman California Fabrics is now available on their website.  The fabric collection, which I love, perfect for the lodge look, a cabin in the woods, or any “manly” looking quilt is Aspen Creek.  I love the birds, not just the well know Hoffman Cardinals – these bird prints have different varieties of birds on them.

Aspen Creek Lodge – Aspen Creek collection
cream-gold colorway 2013

Aspen Creek Lodge – Aspen Creek Collection
brown gold colorway 2013

Aspen Creek Lodge for Aspen Creek Collection – black silver 2013

Clicking on the quilt image will give you a larger  image of it.  Just go to hoffmanfabrics.com for the free pattern download.

Aspen Creek Lodge

Here’s a sneak peek at  “Aspen Creek Lodge”  the latest pattern design I did for Hoffman California Fabrics for their Aspen Creek fabric line.  The pattern should be coming soon to their free pattern downloads.

 

I love Hoffman’s bird prints — and these are not just the usual cardinals — I love the blue jays in this print and other birds, and the print that looks like the ends of chopped logs is a favorite too along with that bit of plaid.  Wouldn’t it be a great quilt for a cabin in the woods and, I think, an especially good “man” quilt in the two darker colorways.

 

 

I need to go reacquaint myself with my rotary cutter – it seems forever since I actually started a new quilt so after some brunch, it’s time to plug in some movies and get cutting and stitching on Ziggity.  I did finish Dreambird feather # 4 last night and finished off the background area around it this morning.   But no knitting till later – time for some quilting….maybe I’ll actually have something to show for design wall Monday which would make a nice change!

 

 

Walkin from the mailbox….

flippin through the latest Quiltmaker that arrived and….. hey, I recognize that quilt.

I didn’t take a very good photo – hard to get one that won’t glare on the page and this one turned our blurry but it’s the Snowbirds design I did for Hoffman California Fabrics which you can find on their website for download.   I never know if one of my designs will end up in one of their ads so it’s always a fun surprise to come across them unawares. 🙂

And for those who have asked in the past what the blue and yellow fabrics were that I colored in the original Heads or Tails bird design with – that line is  Riverwoods Collection, Midnight Blue by Karen Combs (Troy Corporation).  Those who asked I told that I didn’t know if they were still available since they came out in one of last year’s EQ stash updates.  However, there’s a big ad in Quiltmaker for that line as well so they must still be readily available.

For those who were thinking of making the Kinta project from Ravelry that I did for my Camp Loopy 1 project — after a couple people who made it added to their Ravelry project pages that yarn had run short in the yardage indicated and we couldn’t do as many repeats as the pattern called for, the designer has upped the yardage amount and decreased the repeats so hopefully no one else will have that issue.  Just like quilting patterns, knitting ones sometimes need some tweaking even through they’ve been edited and tested.  That’s the beauty of the project pages in Ravelry- designers can see who makes their designs and if they had any issues that may need to be looked at a second time.  If they need to make a correction to the pattern and you have it in your “library”, you automatically get an email and it shows that you need to download the update in your library.  Many times I buy patterns but don’t start them right away, or for months, or perhaps a year…… but when I do go back to print the pattern the update will be waiting for me.  And if you’re thinking about making a particular pattern – you can see all the projects others have made in all different kinds of yarn to help decide what you might like.  Tho mine didn’t have as many repeats – it’s still pretty and a good, wearable size.    And no, I have no connection to the designer or Ravelry – just a happy knitter and Ravelry user — but if you’re a knitter (or crocheter)  and haven’t checked out Ravelry you don’t know what you’re missing.

Speaking of which – the Welted Beanie pattern is from there, and is free, and it is turning out so cute (tho I don’t know if my Dad would like to hear that I’m making him a ‘cute’ hat) LOL and no, those flowers are not part of it – they are stitch markers. LOL   I love the brim of it — four welts (you can see how they look more easily on the pattern in Ravelry that is done in a solid color)  but they look like four rows of corded piping to put it in more sewing/quilting terms.  I’m on the final decreases at the top and need to switch from my circular needle to dps.  It is a fast and super easy knit.  I think I’ll  be making more of these  – they would be great hats for charity.  I always hated hats with lots of ribbing and none of that to do on this one.

Challenge quilt sewing

On The Quilting Post – an online group I help run – we have a challenge quilt project going which I’m sure I’ve mentioned before.  Hoffman Fabrics donated our challenge fabric and I shipped pieces of it out to all who signed up to participate.  The challenge quilts will be finished by each participant and then will go to our charitable project where we ship quilts out to battered women and children shelters.  

 Here’s the challenge fabric – lots of bright colors.  My fabric has  been waiting for me to find time to do something with it.  When I cleaned up the sewing room, I set aside a couple of pieces that might look good with the challenge fabric.  I was just itchin to do some cutting and work on something new so decided I finally start on my challenge quilt.  We’ll be doing some voting on them and there are prizes but since I made up the challenge and the rules, mine won’t be in the running for the giveaways — and I’m not sure on this first one I followed all the challenge rules anyway since I didn’t go back and check them — but I’ll be making a couple different quilts so maybe on one of them I’ll make sure I follow the rules. LOL

  Here’s the EQ image of the pattern design for the first one I’m making.

 

I cut a bunch of pieces and decided to stitch one of each block in the quilt so I could see how they looked.  

Here’s the two blocks that make up the quilt.

Have a few more pieces to cut and then I can concentrate on the stitching…. after a coffee break I think.

 

 

Snowbirds – Winter Wishes Collection

  If you like my bird designs, you may want to check out the Hoffman California Fabrics website for my Snowbirds design I created for their Winter Wishes fabric collection.  The pattern is now available for download. The Winter Wishes collection starts arriving in quilt shops in May.

I have a glut of wintery/christmas fabrics in the stash – some gorgeous larger prints (several the Hoffman Cardinals from past years similar to the new ones here) that just don’t look as good chopped up so this would be a great pattern for those types of fabrics – to let the larger prints be showcased in the simple blocks.  I think I may have to set aside a weekend next month to work on this one.

Quiltathon continues

My quiltathon will continue today and jump over to  Judy’s to see what the others are up to during their quiltathons.

Yes there are some boring chores – laundry, dishes – to take care of at some point but I’ve been enjoying spending the last two days mostly in  the sewing room.    I haven’t decided what I plan to work on for sure.  I will either be working on CTS blocks or working on this quilt.

  Autumn Ripples — or actually my smaller version of it.  The original Autumn Ripples quilt I designed for Hoffman California Fabrics for the Indian Summer fabric collection.  The fall fabrics in the center of the quilt are the actual Indian summer fabrics – they had sent me some samples so I had to use them since I love falls colors and some of these have a  bit of gold glitz overlay that looks like dried leaf veins.  The original pattern (free on Hoffman’s website) had these same blocks turned on point.  Since I was working with a very limited amount of fabric – fat quarters or less in most cases – I had just enough  to set the blocks straight and found fabrics in the stash for the background and borders.  I can’t even begin to remember how long that border fabric has been in the stash.  I must have found it on a really good sale because I had lots of it originally and it has made it’s way into several quilts or as backing.  It has a bit of gold glitz too.

I just need to see if I have a batting piece large  enough for this one to get it layered.  This quilt would “kill two birds with one stone” so to speak, it’s on my UFO Challenge list (which I’m woefully behind on) and it was one of the Quilts From the Crate.

Then again, there’s those new CTS blocks to make.  Decisions, decisions… but the first decisive decision — I need some breakfast or  brunch — food, I’m hungry — and more coffee.

1:15 p.m.  – you would think by now I’d have had breakfast, brunch — food in general.  I was looking in the fridge to decide what I wanted and there was the left over roasted asparagus from last night, fresh mushrooms — hmmmm asparagus, mushroom and swiss omlet – my favorite! And wouldn’t it go good with the raspberry muffins I made that are in the freezer.  Well I hate taking muffins out of the freezer and having to defrost in the microwave so that meant I had to delay brunch for a while till it had mostly thawed out on its own and the I could stick it in the over to reheat it.   Soooo back to the sewing room I went.  I’ve been puttering trying to figure out what fabrics to use for Judy’s CTS block this month — finally decided and  have that block about 3/4’s done.

Here’s Susan’s block for this month – the poinsettia – I had that one made ahead of time. 🙂

    Remember you come back to my blog next month to get the final instructions to put the whole CTS quilt together.  Will you be caught up and ready to start final assembly?  (or more importantly at least to me — will I be caught up?). LOL    I’ve got a couple more House in the Woods blocks to make (2 I think), finish Judy’s block which will be done this afternoon,  put a face on my  Cinder Paws (Sheryl’s cat from last month) and trim it to size, and make Sheryl’s block for this month.  Not too bad all in all.

Omelet and Muffin are calling!

3:45 p.m. — time for a coffee break. I finally ate, cleaned up the kitchen and then got back to work.  I now have Judy’s CTS block for this month finished.   Now I have to go find the rest of my House in the Woods blocks to see how many I have left to make.  (Okay I did sneak in a few rows of knitting too after I ate and have about another inch to go before I can start on the heel flap). 😉

 

6:15 p.m. — the final update for today  since I’m heading out of the sewing room soon.

Once again I realize why I don’t like working on scrappy – even controlled scrappy quilts where I have to decide what fabrics to use in each block — it just takes too dang long! LOL  Not necessarily the choosing though I’m trying to spread all the various colors out so they’ll be balanced in the quilt – but the cutting for each individual block.  I’ve been in the sewing room the better part of the  day – okay with lots of breaks – but I have a whooping two blocks to show for it (and a  rather messy sewing room table).  I did start on Sheryl’s block (which I’m not going to show you until after she posts it) 😉 so actually 2-1/2 blocks done.

But time to close up shop in the sewing room for the nite in order to get ready for that Saturday night tv viewing — the only night I actually have shows I like to watch but nothing deep or thought provoking — purely for entertainments sake.  The britcoms, the saturday night horror movie – yes tonight its the giant praying mantis that ate the world (okay that could be thought provoking I suppose) VBG – I love those old black and white low budget movies before computerized special effects where costumes were badly made and the occasional microphone can be seen or the wires to make people fly.   So need to go take up my comfy chair soon.  In the meantime,  I found the nose and eyes for the kitty block that I need to applique, have a little applique on another block to do, and need to find some embroidery floss or pearl cotton to give the cat his mouth.  So I’m gathering up supplies in order to head to my comfy chair, make a bowl of popcorn for later, and after that applique, back to the socks.

Designs for Hoffman California Fabrics

I was very busy this past Christmas season working on some new designs for Hoffman California Fabrics new fabric collections.  The patterns are now available at Hoffman Fabrics’ website. I believe the fabrics all come out at Spring Market, so they will be hitting your local quilt shop later this year.  Here’s the designs I did.  You can get a closer look at all the fabrics  in the collections by going to the website.

ALPINE HOLIDAY COLLECTION

–

PLEASANT FARM COLLECTION — “DOWN ON THE FARM”  – Chickens, chickens and more chickens — and a sunflower stripe too.  The main brown print is a scene of chickens and roosters which due to the colorings reminds of me old postcard prints.

MADISON COLLECTION – “On The Square”.   Since I live in Madison, it seemed appropriate that I work on this collection. 🙂  and since I work on the Capitol Square — well you can guess how I came up with the quilt name.

Papyrus Colorway

—Blush Colorway

  My favorite print in this collection is the large butterfly print.  It’s even prettier up close – the detail and colors.  And although I normally don’t like pinkish fabrics — I absolutely love this Blush colorway.

This next pattern is not available – it’s just one design idea I was playing with but it does show the 3rd colorway of the Madison collection.

 

Good things do come in threes….

Look what I found in my mail today!  I’ a “cover girl” again. 🙂

The advance copies of Quiltmaker’s next issue arrived and my design made the cover again.  Once again I can’t take credit for actually sewing the design – time constraints prohibited that – but Denise Starck (hey coincidence – same first name) stitched it and it’s beautiful.

No time to make the whole quilt (I know that what’s like) – just one of the package blocks would make a cute little wallhanging or a couple of them a table runner – lots of possibilities.

Now if that wasn’t enough fun and excitement….. the latest design I did for Hoffman California Fabrics “Dainty Blossoms” fabric collection is now available for download on their website under the free patterns link.

 

So if subscribe and got the original verison of this post in your email you were probably wondering — can’t she count? that’s only two good things.  Well somehow the third got lost when I published the post.

The third good thing – if you check out EQ Boutique, my latest block collection “Frozen Delights” is now available for sale.  Unlike the version of this project previously done on the blog, the blocks in this collection are all applique  No pieced ones.  And there’s new ones added that weren’t in the blog project.  🙂