Modern Improv

I think I mentioned in my previous post that my BF wanted his own quilt since I wasn't so good about sharing mine. He wanted black and white. I thought about different patterns for a while but nothing was really exciting me. All I knew was that I wanted it to be all solids and in different shades of grey with a little black. I was bored at the end of my shift last Friday night so I drew up a really rough plan and some measurements. I was a little afraid of ruining a whole lot of my much loved Kona solids. If any of you live in Canada, you know it's very hard to get designer fabrics here without paying double the price. I refuse to do that so all my fabric is ordered online. Because of this I try to make sure I have everything I need before starting a project. It's very frustrating to wait 2 weeks for more fabric if you have to order mid project. Anyway, I picked all Kona cottons. The colours are pepper, charcoal, medium grey, slate and ash. So far it's turning out well and I see a lot of solid quilts in my future.

Kitchen Window Quilt

I know it seems like I haven't been doing much, but I have been...really. I finished this quilt at the beginning of January but just haven't got around to taking pictures, as usual. I am still struggling at taking pictures of quilts. They just never turn out very well. Oh well, I have never claimed to be a photographer.

Anyway, I have been planning this quilt since I bought Elizabeth Hartman's book, The Practical Guide to Patchwork. I knew right away I wanted to make one out of my very limited scraps (a freezer bag) of my favourite Amy Butler Belle fabrics. That's what I love about this pattern, it really doesn't take much fabric and makes a good size lap quilt. This was super easy and quick to make. The cutting took me a few hours as I was not using yardage but very odd and different sized scraps. I just love how it turned out despite my problem with the actual quilting. For some reason my sewing machine was just not agreeing with me that day. I definitely recommend this quilt to anyone, especially if you have limited supply of a favourite fabric. You will be seeing probably a few more of these from me. I have one planned out for my mom and my bf has decided he wants his own quilt for the couch since we've been fighting over this one. His is going to be done in Kona solids which I think will look great in this quilt and still be masculine.

Thank you Elizabeth for this book. I can honestly say, it is the best quilting book I have ever bought (and I have a lot)!

16" Lotus Pillows

16" Lotus Pillows
Originally uploaded by AmieJ Designs

These were made for my mom for Christmas. These were made from my scraps of Amy Butler's Lotus fabric. I was going to make my mom a quilt as well but I ran out of time. I'm will still make it, it will just have to be a" just because your my mom" present. I modified the block from Elizabeth Hartman's book A Practical Guide to Patchwork. If you do not have this book, you must go get it right now. Her quilts are stunning and the directions are so thorough and easy to follow. I will be getting a lot of use out of this book.

Another Quilt

I finished my sisters string quilt 2 days before Christmas. I was really under the wire with this one. I love how it turned out. I split the blocks up with sashing to make it a little less busy and binded it with orange and red dots from Amy Butler's Lotus fabric. I quilted it with some straight line quilting with my brand new walking foot. I don't know how I lived without this. I couldn't believe how easy it was and how smooth the back of the quilt was. I pieced the quilt back with 4 extra blocks I had and more Kona Snow and some Kona Medium Gray.

I think I really have the quilting bug right now. I am finishing up 2 pillows for my mom for this weekend and already have 2 more scrap quilts I'm dying to start. My BF also asked me to make him one in solids. I have been wanting to do a solid one for a while but don't really know how I want to go about this one.



I also have a few bags to list in my shop whenever I find a good chunck of time to take pictures. I really hate that part of it. My photography skills suck but I keep working at it.

I hope everyone had a great holiday!

One Down....

It's been a long time since I have posted any new projects. I have been really busy sewing. There's a ton of new wallets and pouches in the shop now with new bags to come as soon as I find time to take the pictures.

I have finished my brother's girlfriends quilt. I posted the quilt top a while back. It has been just waiting for me to make the back and quilt it. I finished it in about 6 hours. I really like it. I messed up when I was measuring the back so there is a lot of random piecing but I really like it. I am getting a lot better at free motion quilting too, but can still use some practice. She really likes pink so I made a simple coin quilt with all my pink scraps. I hope she likes it because it may be really hard for me to give it away.

I still have to quilt my sister's which I'm hoping to start tonight. I just got my walking foot in the mail and am excited to do some straight line quilting. I really like the look of it but I have no idea how I'm going to do it on the scrappy string quilt.




BTW...If anyone has any tips on how to photograph quilts, I could really use them.

3X6 Bee Blocks

My creation
Originally uploaded by AmieJ Designs

I have finished my blocks for the 3X6 mini bee on Flickr. I'm kind of sad about it. They were a lot of fun to do and the next round doesn't start until January. I should be glad they're done, I have a lot of work to do. I am just finishing up my bag for the bag swap, have my xmas present quilts to quilt and am thinking of doing a craft show in December so I need to make stock. Here are the blocks that I made for my group.

New Exciting Books

I bought two new books today.
One is Amy Butler's Style Stitches, 12 easy ways to 26 wonderful bags. I have been waiting for my local bookstore to get this since it was released. Today was finally the day. I only had a chance to glance through it briefly before going to work. I'm very excited about this. Why? I don't really know because I normally hate bag patterns and always design my own. I think it's the pink cover. I just signed up for the bag swap at Sew Mama Sew, so I'm thinking I'll try one of these great bags for my swap pattern.
The Second one is Dare To Be Square Quiting by Boo Davis. Again, I have only briefly flipped through this book but already love it. I don't think I've made it a secret that I love straight lines and a clean modern look. I still have to make my moms Christmas gift quilt so maybe I'll try one of these.
Does anyone else have any new or old favourite sewing books they'd like to share?