Hoffman Challenge 2013-DONE!

Posted in Other by StaceyinStitches

Holy Moly!

The last 3 weeks have been a whirlwind of sewing and ironing and quilting. Spare time has been practically non-existent. I have been so wrapped up in this challenge, its been mind boggling. To make matters even more exciting, I got a second job, and I thought the deadline for entry was next week. Turns out its Friday. Thankfully my quilt is winging its way to Colorado as we speak on the back of a UPS truck! Guaranteed to be there on time, hurray!

I could fill your ears with all the tales of trial and error, hard work and late nights, but I am so thankful that I was able to finish on time. I could not have done it without the support of my family and friends. My husband, who barely saw me, my mom for coming for a weekend so i could work 10 in a row, and my friend Naomi who babysits for me so I can work and sew.

This years fabric was my favorite out of all the challenge fabrics to date. I knew from the moment I saw it that I would be making the Imperial Dragon Quilt. I had always wanted to make it again. There were many things I wanted to tweak, and new techniques I wanted to try. I was able to do them all.

Imperial Splendor

Imperial Splendor!

I used Shiva Paintsticks to add highlights and shading to the dragons body. The mane is an eyelash yarn that I chain stitched with a 3mm crochet needle into a long rope, careful to keep the ‘eyelashes’ all to one side. It worked out very well because the eyelashes lay directional naturally.

Highlights

I used a Hoffman 1985 Watercolors batik for the dragons body, and cut each scale out individually. Then I fused them all down. There are more than 500 scales in the whole dragon. I quilted his body with a meandering stipple in a matching color. The leg, head and tail feathers were layered and quilted using a variegated aqua to green, then a dark plum in the darkest parts of the tail and head.

Dragon tail detail

Dragon head detail

I quilted the background to mimic the tail, using the large leaves as the base for each.

Quilting Detail

For the white background I used the back side of a tone on tone white fabric, the motif was really overwhelming, but looks really good from the back, quilted with an orange peel motif.

I am so super duper happy with how this quilt turned out. I think it is my all time favorite ever!

Keep on Sewing!!

Stacey

31May2013

Another Baby Quilt

Posted in Other by StaceyinStitches

Its been a busy week here at Stacey in Stitches. The giveaway was a great success, and I have been working on a couple things here and there that the deadlines are coming up, so I am going to be working pretty hard the next month or so. My latest finish is a baby quilt for my neighbor. She asked for a gender neutral baby quilt, and you know what? Gender neutral is kinda hard! I mean, whats left when you eliminate blue and pink (or red)? Yellow and green. Yellow and green gets pretty old pretty quick, and can still end up looking feminine.

I found the perfect compromise in a charm pack of the pastel rainbow prints of Noteworthy by Sweetwater for Moda. The blues are soft and the reds don’t appear pink, which is hard to do in a pastel red. Coupled with a cute alphabet print border and voila! A true gender neutral baby quilt.

Baby Quilt

I used a Micheal Miller Fairy Frost in Gold/Orange for the border, it picked out the oranges and yellow really well. I used the grey charms left over to make prairie points and put them in opposite corners.

I didn’t use the actual note print from Noteworthy. I liked them, but the idea of having a note that said “Adopt a Baby” on a baby quilt seemed a little strange. Most of the notes were just a little too adult. The border print more than makes up for it with some lovely phrases beside each letter of the alphabet. I regret not writing down the print name or designer (honestly I forgot) so if anyone knows please let me know

I did try to fussy cut the words so they were all in a straight line, but it actually printed off like that so the words wobble up and down across the width of the fabric. I like it this way, it adds some nice movement and will act as a sort of eye spy, follow the letters kind of thing!

My neighbor loved it and that makes me happy. There is nothing that I like better than making the perfect quilt for someone!

Up next is a memory quilt for a new client and my Hoffman Challenge for 2013. Roar!

Stacey

9May2013

StaceyinStitches Bloggers Bundle!

Posted in Other by StaceyinStitches

After a couple months of emails and picking fabrics, I am thrilled to announce that Pink Castle Fabrics has added the StaceyinStitches Bloggers bundle! It was so much fun going through all the fabrics and picking out just the right colors for my bundle, Glacier.

Glacier was inspired by….you guessed it! Snow! I wanted to have a Canadian feel to the bundle, and lets face it, when one thinks of Canada, ones thoughts turn immediately to snow. When we go traveling and the locals find our your Canadian, the first questions is usually snow related. When you think of snow, most people think white white white, but one visit to Glacier National Park and you will never see snow the same way. Most of the ice pack was formed before there were too many pollutants in the air, and the purity of the crystal clear ice to deep teal colors in the packed layers of snow are a testament to that.

I hope you all hop on over to Pink Castle Fabrics and check it out. They have some wonderful bundles! If you ever travel to British Columbia, be sure to plan a trip to Glacier National Park. It will take your breath away!

5May2013

April Star Block Bee

Posted in Other by StaceyinStitches

Two more star blocks for my Star Block Bee! April’s Queen Bee wanted the Star Crossed Block from Don’t Call Me Betsy. It whipped up fast! It’s a great block if you want something fun, colorful and quick for a gift quilt. I also enjoyed working in Tula Pink’s Salt Water line. I have had my eye on it for a while!

I especially like the hegagon print, it cuts up nicely into small pieces and still maintains the movement of color in the print. The seahorses would be great to fussy cut with.

For May we are taking a short break, then it may be my turn in June! I haven’t quite decided what to do. I am going with a fuchsia, chocolate and tangerine color way, mostly inspired by the Citrus colorway of Madrona Road.

I am leaning towards the Swoon Block. It is 24″ finished, but I thought instead of asking for two 12″ blocks, I would ask for one 24″ block and it all works out about even. It would be 12 blocks big instead of 9, so I might add some large pieced borders and make it a California King for our room. Maybe some feather quilting. We will see.

Up next on my list is the Hoffman Challenge quilt for 2013. It is due in July, so I should really get cracking!

Have yourselves a Quilty Day!

22Apr2013

Sapphire Star is in!

Posted in Other by StaceyinStitches

A few months ago I entered Sapphire Star into the Canadian Quilters Association National Juried Show. This year the show is only a few hours from my home, so I am super stoked to be able to attend ( did someone say Merchants Mall?!)

Sapphire Star

I also received email notification that Sapphire Star had been accepted into the show! How amazing is that? I am so happy and proud that my works gets to hang with some of the best quilt artists in Canada and from around the world. Last years entries were phenomenal, and I am so honored to have Sapphire Star in the show this year!

The countdown begins tomorrow, when I send off my quilt =)

Belated WIP Wednesday

I finally finished the growth chart last night for Monkey Man’s first birthday…..3 weeks ago……

I am very happy with how it turned out. My FIL brought down the stain and finish for me, and I picked through a pile of pine boards until I found the one I liked. Add a Wood Paint Marker and we were all set. I used one of my 1″ rulers to mark off the lines, so there is a line of paint coating one thin edge but it was worth it! I printed off the numbers and did the while DIY carbon copy thing, rub the pencil on the back of the paper then trace over the front.

The little monkey even helped Mommy clean up afterwards. What a sweetie-pie!

1Apr2013

Happy Birthday at our house

Posted in Other by StaceyinStitches

So, I had not realized that my last post was more than two weeks ago! How time seems to be flying! With all the things going on in the last two weeks its no wonder, but never fear! I did not forget about you all!

The little man’s 1st birthday party was on Saturday, that was a lot of fun. I made a shirt for him to wear to match the theme, which was mustaches. Lots of good food and friends.

My birthday is….TODAY! Hurray! I got to spend the whole day quilting and reading and spending time with the family. The little guy has become quite the snuggler lately., and is wholly obsessed with books. I love it!

Oh, and did I mention he is WALKING? Go Harry go! He started about a week ago and is getting pretty good at it (today’s face-plant not withstanding)

In the quilting side of things, I am working on a new lap sized quilt tutorial that I hope to have posted in the next week. Its super easy and fun. I am also making good progress on my FLiQS quilt. The colors really pop and its coming together like I hoped it would. It has morphed from a Mariner’s Compass to a Spinning Star, but that’s okay =) Everyone likes stars!

There was also the Creative Stitches and Crafting Alive Show last weekend. The little guy did good being patient with Mommy, and didn’t try to pull down too many bolts of fabric. I did purchase a little more than I planned, but it was all really good prices. I was happy to see one of our local quilt shops is carrying a lot of modern fabrics now. The Needle and I Quilt Shoppe on the Burnaby/New Westminster border has been switching their inventory. She had the Citrus Colorway of Madrona Road by Violet Craft in her booth for half price. I picked up 2 yards of the chevron and a couple others. I also found the fuschia/orange colorway of Cuzco by Kate Spain. I plan to grab some more Madrona Road and some dark brown blenders, and those will make my colors for my month in the Star Block Bee. I hope to end up with a Queen Quilt at the end of the bee.

This has been a text heavy post, so I leave you with a fun picture that always makes me laugh!

4Feb2013

Starburst QAL Week 4

Posted in Other, Quilt-A-Longs, Starburst QAL by StaceyinStitches

Today marks the first day of week 4 of the Starburst Quilt-a-long, which is block construction. I am totally in love with my blocks! I was unsure at first about the first one put together, but after. 30000000000000000000000000000000000000

ha ha ha, Harry helped me with that. He is just tall enough to reach the keyboard. He hits the keys and runs (crawls) away.

As I wa saying, after I got them all together and laid out, I love the look and how they flow together. I have 2 high impact blocks and 2 low impact blocks, which balance out nicely. Even better is there is one in each colorway, Heartbreaker and Dreammaker! I love accidental symmetry!

I did work ahead on the next week because I am going to need more time for the final stretch of quilting and binding. I am very excited to finish this one off!

I also got my star blocks done for Linda in the Star Block Bee. She asked for 3 12″ blocks. I hope she likes them =)

Now I am off on a grand adventure to the parents house, so I will see you all in a week!

Stacey

2Feb2013

Happy Goodness

Posted in Other by StaceyinStitches

Its been a week since the giveaway, I hope everyone had fun. I don’t know where the time went, but I am finally back with enough time to say hello.

*Ahem*

Hello!

I am super excited this week, I am picking up my mom from the airport and heading on up to their house with the little guy for some well deserved rest. There is a box of Tula Pink Birds and The Bees fabric, as well as some Frog Prince and a Valori Wells Wrenly print from waiting for me there. I ordered it on Boxing Day (Dec. 26 for my friends south of the 49th) and due to some weird cutting/shipping backlog it didn’t arrive until mid-January, long after we had left for home. So now I get to drool all over it again. Yippee!!

FYI the Wrenly collection is on sale at Fabric.com for a sinfully low price and there is a full stock of it. Just Sayin’….

I also got a new camera from my parents this last week so I have been having a lot of fun learning how to use it and loving the pictures that come out. Gotta love parents and Airmiles! Be prepared for a significant increase in picture quality here at Stacey In Stitches.

I managed to accomplish a few things this week, which has been interesting at best and terrifyingly hectic at worst. I received my first fabric bundle from the February Queen Bee in my new Star Block Bee. They had a drop out and were kind enough to let me join. Many of the bee-mates are from the UK, and one from Australia. I think I might send back a bottle of real Maple Syrup (carefully packages of course) with my returned blocks. The fabrics were a pair of gorgeous Cusco prints in the orchid colorway. I am going to fussy cut some of the pieces and paper piece others. I love Stars, don’t you!

I finally completed a baby quilt for my friend. Her little one was born in October. better late than never. She got her first baby’s quilt a month early, so the two even out *the math works in my head, just carry a two somewhere, its all good* I had picked up a really cute panel back in July with some coordinating prints and I pieced it all together, and then it sat until Sunday when I finally changed up my thread and free-motion quilted around all the little animals. I am a fan of this panel, very very cute!

D’s Baby Quilt

Gotta love the hippo

I got around to making another project for my little monkey as well. I have a number of things in mind, and all the supplies and fabric are sitting in the bin for his stuff. This time it was a set of Nesting Blocks. They came together super fast and are adorable. I chose a group of Micheal Miller prints in the Lagoon colorway and he loves them! He likes to take the smallest and place it in and out of the 3 largest bins.

Literally a little monkey. See him holding with his toes?

Now all that’s left is to work on my bee blocks for Linda, mail my DQS13 to my partner, finish my Madrona Road Challenge Quilt and wait for the clothing drop off so I can get started on a new commissioned quilt. Maybe I will work on some more checkerboard for my Listen With Your Eyes quilt. Its been a few months since I worked on that project. I think its going to be my Big Finish this year.

Just for fun here is a little preview of my Madrona Road.

Enjoy!

Stacey

8Jan2013

Guess Who’s Back!

Posted in Other by StaceyinStitches

Well, after a long Christmas break I am back ready to rock and roll (and sew)! The last months has been a super whirlwind of sewing, cooking, baking and family. It was the first Christmas with our little one in our new home with all the family here (and only one person sleeping on the couch/floor). Then 10 days on the mountain with my parents and grandparents with no cell coverage and spotty internet, where the cards abounded! Its been a long time since we had everyone together for the holidays, and I forgot how much fun it is playing cards until midnight, yelling and scrapping and basically having a grand old time I BUY!! I BUY!! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

For those who play Pepper, these are two deadman’s hands dealt honestly

Baby H got his first taste of deep snow. It was about 3 feet deep, but he is such a featherweight that he was able to sit on top of the pile. He was fine until mommy pushed him over *wink*

Not Happy!

He also recieved a beautiful quilt from his Great Grandma for Christmas. Mommy loves it because its owls, and she used the Jenny Ski 10 Little Things owls for the border. H likes it because the wings are prairie points that he can flap and chew.

The Owl Quilt

My big project over the last 3 months has been the Sawtooth Cat Quilt commission. I finished it and a set of pillow shams in time for Christmas ( December 23rd still counts). It was for my clients mother, who lost everything she had to a house fire. She has a very large cat collection, and Laurel Burch figured among them. The inspiration for the quilt was a panel I had in my stash of Laurel Burch’s Fanciful Felines.

The Pillow Sham

I had a major panic attack when I went to make the shams because I ran out of fabric to do the ruffle and the back. I was starting to hyperventilate when I remembered that Holly of Holly’s Red Bike, who is the President of the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild, had given me 2 meters of Laurel Burch Fanciful Felines cat print in the same colorway! It saved my sanity and the commission. Thank You Holly!!

The Cat Quilt

Of course no quilt is ever fully completed without home special “helpers”, usually in the form of a cat or small child. This go round was the latter for me.