Cute new threads!

Last weekend I went "home" (the city in which I grew up, but haven't actually called home in about 15 years or so) to visit with my mom and step-father, as well as seeing some other family in the mix, including my brother. When I arrived, sitting on the nightstand in the guest bedroom was a fun little skirt pattern.
"Fashion Formula Skirts" by Serendipity Studio. I have seen patterns by her before, and always find them attractive, but have not spent much time with clothing of late. I suppose my mom had picked up on my excitement about having done the Amy Butler Barcelona Skirts a few weeks ago, and happened to see this pattern at one of her local shops. What a sweet gift! Anyhow, the designer, Kay Whitt, has put together a little booklet of 3 different skirt patterns, each with 2-4 different variations (and that is not including the various length options). While all of them would be super cute, the one that immediately caught my eye is called "The Penelope Panel Skirt." However, after I get that one under way, I think I will have to try her "Faux Wrap" skirt next!


So, today I find myself back on my home turf, and putting in a work day at Cool Cottons and let me tell you, it is impossible to spend 8 hours here and not shop! Just impossible! So, I figure I'll at least shop responsibly, and by that I mean shop for a specific project (or two, as it turned out), and found some great fabrics to try out one of these skirts.

I promise, it's only coincidence that I chose the same general colors that her sample shows. That green dandelion Robert Kaufman fabric has been on my mind, and I just think it will make a great summer skirt! I guess we'll find out soon...

Gonna try a Quilt-along


As I was browsing recent blog updates (something I am admittedly not as good about as I could be), I came across Jeni's new Quilt-Along, The Warm Cool Quilt along and am definitely intrigued! I've never done one before, but this one seems to be not only fun and informative, but not so complex that I feel I wouldn't keep up. PLUS, my timing worked out so I am finding it only days after she initially posted, which says to me it was meant to be.

I've been visiting with my folks the last few days, but when I am back on my home turf and have my stash to play with I'll be jumping right in!

A Baby Bag

I'm writing this post as I am (perhaps simultaneously) missing the baby shower of a friend. A couple of years ago I made Amy Butler's "Nappy Bag" for a shower gift, and have decided that it is a fun, effective, and most importantly, useful gift. Oh, and it can go together in just an afternoon or two! So, last weekend I embarked on my second adventure with this pattern, adapting it slightly to be a little more efficient, and to accommodate my main fabric choice.


I found a fun, graphic B/W home-dec weight canvas at Fabric Depot, and a coordinating one for the changing pad case, so cute I could not resist!


At that point, I enlisted the aid and company of the mother-to-be's sister-in-law in finding the lining fabric and making a trip to JoAnn's for terry cloth for the changing pad. We lucked out, and she even found mini cupcake tins and liners as well, which I believe she inaugurated with treats for the shower.

One thing I had remembered about this particular pattern from my initial experience, is that there is a LOT of fabric waste, especially if you keep your lengthwise fold directly in the middle of the width of fabric. So I played around, and found that with the 60" home-dec fabric I could actually get two bag exteriors from the yardage on the pattern. On top of that, since I was already using a very sturdy canvas, I eliminated the lightweight canvas she recommends as a stabilizer between the exterior and lining of the bag.

As for the lining requirements, she offers one yardage recommendation assuming one will use the same print for the bag interior, and all pockets and pocket facings. I chose to mix it up a bit, and subsequently I THINK I minimized total yardage. I followed the recommendation for the exterior of the bag in buying new fabric for the interior lining, but pulled from my stash the prints for the sides of the pockets that will show, and used a coordinating solid broadcloth for the pocket interiors.


Once I got my calculations, folding and cutting squared away, the construction itself went very smoothly, though I will reiterate what the pattern reads in bold text: be sure to read all of the instructions before beginning! I found I did make a couple of mistakes by simply going ahead in a logical, intuitive way which actually made a subsequent step much more complicated. It's nothing that showed in the end, just that I realized I jumped the gun on the lining and if I had been following the pattern instructions more closely, it would have been much easier. No harm, no foul, right?






And in the end, I got a bag I think is super cute, and hope that Becca, Mike and their soon-to-arrive baby boy will get much use out of it!

Final touches

Okay, so a couple of weeks ago I talked my boyfriend into running errands with me, one of which included picking up several yards of batting from Fabric Depot. That batting still sits folded up on a credenza along side my sewing table, waiting to be cut down to the correct sizes for the finished quilt tops that I actually intend to quilt myself at some point this year.

And I just finished one more quilt top to be added to the list:


And that, of course, gives me permission to begin a new one! I have had this sketch in my sketchbook for the last couple of months, and found the ideal fabric to use as the focus, but have been gathering coordinating solid fabrics for the pieced blocks.


Today I began work on it. I started with the easy blocks

and moved on to some of the more complex, though still pretty straightforward


(I still have 4 more of these blocks to make... for some reason my calculations were off. I could have SWORN I only needed 64 pairs, but sometimes getting my head around the numbers is harder than it should be!)

And there is one more type of block to work on, the most involved and least regular of the bunch - leave it to me to save the hardest for last. But here is an intimation of where this puppy is headed:

I hope to get to it either tomorrow or the next day, but I have a couple of diaper bags to work on this week, one of which is intended for a baby shower I unfortunately won't be able to be at next weekend. But love the mom-to-be, and with the help of her sister-in-law found some KILLER fabric to make up her project!! More on that later.

continuing the place mat process

After spending the better part of an afternoon prepping the raw materials for more place mat sets, I've got about 2 afternoons under my belt at my sewing machine piecing them together (and still one more set to go, plus bindings on all). I do like that Quilt-as-you-Go method, though!

I've decided to upload some process photos, and leave the explanations to a minimum. If you're curious about my QAYG technique, I did a detailed post/tutorial back in February, which you can find here. The sets I am working on currently follow the same basic method, and only differ in combination and placement of fabrics (oh, and in overall number).
(I've already got a larger strip on the "back" side of the batting piece, waiting to be stitched down

pinned in place

front to back

chain stitching a QAYG

the first row on all 8 mats in the set

pressing open

Getting a glimpse of both sides, and see where the joining stitch on one side provides a quilting line on the opposite side. And now my raw edges are lined up, ready to add strips to both sides simultaneously for the next step.


placing a strip face down on each side of the mat, to be stitched down simultaneously.

And so on, and so forth.



Some pics of the *mostly* finished products... bindings yet to come.

color catchers



I finally finished quilting and binding a black, white and red quilt I've been working on as a wedding gift for some friends. The wedding was last summer, and the quilt was begun just around that same time, so (as I do with most of my quilts) I knew it ought to be washed once before gifting.

Though I made a point of prewashing all of the fabrics, also a common practice for me, I was wary about washing those reds and whites together, so I decided to test out the Shout Color Catchers. I have mixed reviews.



I put two sheets in the cold-water wash with the quilt, and as you can see, they certainly had some effect! And for the most part, the whites remained nice, crisp white. HOWEVER, there are a couple of places where red dye DID in fact transfer onto the other patches, especially where the white and red patches touch. I tried to photograph, but I suppose it's a bit too subtle for my little digital point and shoot camera to pick up.

If you look closely (and squint your eyes and form a mental picture) you might be able to see a ghost of red in that triangle with the sunflowers. Bummer. I can only think that the dye transfer would have been much much worse if I had NOT used the color catchers... otherwise I'd have to kick myself for ruining my friends' wedding gift.

Working with formulas

I'm trying to ramp up my actual production of "stuff," especially after having gone to Portland's Crafty Wonderland fair at the Oregon Convention Center last weekend. It was a great gathering of crafts, and for the most part a good balance of items (though a bit heavy on the jewelry and screen/press printing, but that can't be bad). So, between that excursion and an exchange of emails with my dear friend from BaseNatural (homemade soaps, lip balm, etc.), I've been able to see goals a little more tangibly.

So, I worked out a new formula for more Quilt-as-you-go place mats...


... and started gathering fabrics...



... and cutting strips.



And more strips, for more sets.




And then I cut the batting...





... with the left-overs being the perfect size for future pot holders!

a new block or two




This past weekend I decided to concentrate on my Flickr bee blocks, as well as a swap project for the next PMQG meeting. I was pleased that in both of the virtual bees that I am participating in, the hostess for the month picked a block pattern that was new to me.

WendyLou {WendyLouP} was the host for this month's "Bliss" circle of do.Good Stitches. She shared a tutorial from Cindy Lammon's blog, Hyacinth Quilt Designs for this block, which Cindy calls Garden Fence


Now, the quilt she features on her blog, which was also apparently featured on Moda's Bakeshop, is stunning, in greys and yellows and white, a beautiful balance. You should definitely check out the link above to her blog post with this. Honestly, it's been a long time since I've been pointed to someone else's tutorial and felt I actually want to make a whole quilt using their pattern, but this one falls into that category!

For the Seams Perfect Bee, it was Rhonda's {adnohrg} month. She went above and beyond, and drafted a block from one she says she saw on a yahoo group. The original quilter used jelly rolls for hers, but Rhonda was trying to stay within our 12.5" block parameters, so she said she plugged it in to her EQ program and got the dimensions needed. Her color requests were to stick with the cooler side of the color wheel - green, blue, aqua and violet.



Now, though Rhonda had gone to some trouble to resize her pattern to get a 12.5" block, I have been making larger blocks for my personal sampler from this bee, so played around with measurements based again on a 2.5" strip. It kind of reminded me of the draping and drafting class I took in undergrad... at least in the sense of "work it out as you go." Let's just say it involved some trimming, but I managed to get a 15" block (half an inch smaller than most of my other blocks so far, but I suppose that's part of the fun of a sampler, right?)

After next month's block I'll take a photo of all of my orange, green, grey blocks together, to date and start to play around with how I will combine them all. Until then...

Desperately Seeking Something

I'm sorry to say that the last couple of weeks have been less than inspiring on this end. But I am seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, and better yet, the light is DAY-GLO!

I've signed up for a new swap on Flickr: I Heart the 80s(sic)! It looks like it will be a feast of nostalgia for those of us who came of age during that crazy decade, and an excuse to revisit the completely over-the-top design sense that helped define it!


This is just a sample of some of the rad references I found on Flickr and incorporated into my inspiration mosaic for the group (the legend and links to the origins of the photos can be found here).

When I was trying to think of what sort of craft items or sewn goods I might like from that era, I kept coming back to the old lap desks, with the beanbag bottoms. Perhaps it has something to do with my relatively new acquisition of a laptop computer, which I do in fact use on my lap as often as on a desk. I found a vendor on Etsy, LapDeskLady who had some that screamed quintessential '80s in my book, like this one here...


And of course, who doesn't still have a mix tape or two (or a dozen) from back then?? Someone in the group located this fabric from Timeless Treasures, too:


But one thing that was consistent on most every form of art/craft/fashion/nick-knack of the time was MONOGRAMS! Whether they be the traditional embroidered monograms on towels, robes, even socks, or a more age-specific style of first names stitched on backpacks, duffel bags (myself, I had a cute pink and green duffel I used for ballet class for years), and then there was the paint pen onslaught... the bubble letters, dot-serif print, cute butterflies and bees, labeling ANYTHING and EVERYTHING! I even have a cassette case with paint pen ID on it!


And I can't remember which came first, the monogramming or the string friendship bracelets, but I recall that I had some entrepreneurial friends back then (somewhere around 4th and 5th grades) with whom I combined my creative force and we offered our services for a nominal fee. That might have lasted for all of a month, who knows, but somehow embedded itself deep in the recesses of my memory.

So, as you can see, I am scouting for ideas and inspiration, and trying to come up with fun projects for my as-yet-undetermined swap partner!

Signing out,
Linda (from circa 1984)

Monochromatic project, next installment

As promised, I'm going to fill in a few more details on my journey through this challenge, which I have since learned I did not place in, but one of my fellow Portland Modern Quilt Guild members, Jill, did! See her fabulous entry here and here.

The design process began, as most do for me, with a piece of graph paper and a pencil - oh, and the original theme of the challenge, of course. The first design was in my awesome graph paper composition notebook, but as I was playing with ideas I realized this quilt wanted to be based on 60 degree triangles, which meant switching the type of graph paper I was using. Thank goodness for the options we have!


I've talked about the fabric selection process a bit in previous posts, so I won't go too much in depth here. Plus, there's nothing too complex about it. Bluntly, this challenge came about at a time when I was making a concerted effort to limit my fabric purchases to specific projects, and knowing I was going scrappy for this, I started out in my stash. Choosing from a color that I seemed to have a fair amount of fabrics in a variety of values made the most sense to me, and so that's where I began.

And then I just started making strip sets, selecting sub-sets of gradients within the full "spectrum" of values with which I was working. Those strip sets got cut down at 60 degree triangles and from the dozens and dozens of such triangles I started laying them out and sewing them back together according to the layout in the sketch.


Now, one of the new techniques this project introduced me to was binding the serrated edge. When I have a bit more concentration (admittedly, we are watching "Dangeroud Liasons" while I am doing this - an excellent film that neither J nor I has seen in YEARS) I'll try to put together a tutorial on the binding process, but for now I'll just load several of my photos from the experience.








and like my little "binding cozy"? Just a swatch from an old knitting project and a safety pin, and it keeps the long bias binding roll in check, while allowing it to unroll as I use it. Yay for scraps of all kinds!

Monochromatic challenge

So, I guess I've been holding out on sharing much about my first major entry to a quilt contest. Some might say I play by the rules, and those same folks would also say that I take thing rather literally. And both are more or less true.

I did, once before, enter a quilt into a contest, or rather a juried exhibition. It was only a couple of years after I had started quilting, and though I still stand by the inspiration and theme of the quilt, I acknowledge that the technical aspects were not exactly museum worthy. I was looking for ways to combine my relatively newly discovered love of quilting with my more steady, consistent love for photography. It is a black and white "Trip Around the World," both literally and figuratively.



I designed this quilt using photographs I had taken while traveling. I printed the photos onto ink jet printer fabric (NOT Printed Treasures... in fact I don't even remember the brand) which ultimately discolored and became more charcoal and mauve than black and white,

plus I hand quilted the piece, with little to no experience. (Experience now tells me that my hand quilting will NEVER be jury-worthy!)

And enough with the tangent... Back to the matter at hand - the Modern Quilt Guild's Project Modern 2 Challenge. The theme, as you most likely know, was "monochromatic" with a bit of discussion about how stringently they would be sticking to that definition. I tried to do my best, though I battled with WHITE and the family of TEAL just a bit. However, I was happy with what I came up with. I started out with these guys
and started building out from there.



My first step was playing around in the sketchbook, and the first design I came up with, I figured was both more complex than I wanted to try for this, and would perhaps not be best realized as a monochromatic quilt. So I played some more and came up with a quilt based primarily on scrappy, string-pieced patches. After much playing around and adding to the fabric pool, I landed on what worked best for me.


Over all, this process took about 2 and half months, a few pieces of paper, and a fair amount of fabric. The quilting and binding of the quilt are something else entirely, and I shall devote another post to them, but for now I will stick with the overall picture and just say that I am glad to be in the game (even though I don't know the results just yet...)

quilters' alchemy?

Bringing order from chaos, turning one thing into something else entirely, where the sum of two parts is most definitely greater than the whole.
Taking this:

and this:

and turning them into this:

this:

and eventually this:

pretty much only takes stamina and determination (and very, very basic math skills).

A couple of years ago I made this quilt, based on a pattern in the Laurie Shifrin book, Batik Beauties, called Modern Mayhem.

I chose to adjust the measurements slightly, bringing the scale to a more approachable one in my opinion, and just CUT. From there I took the approach of drawing a name out of a hat, but instead of a name it was a fabric piece, and instead of a hat it was a box top. And I have to say, I have been very happy with the results - so much so that I decided a while back that this would be my formula for all of my smaller (but not miniscule) scraps. However, like washing the dishes just after preparing and eating a meal, it is not the easiest thing for me to trim my sewing scraps AS I use them. Instead I let them collect, keeping them in the wire baskets sorted by general color, and every so often get the urge to spend an entire afternoon cutting them down into just 3 basic sizes, awaiting the time when I randomly reach in and start piecing another of those scrappy quilts.

So, here is my oh-so-simple formula: 5x5, 2x5, 2x2. Beware, it is NOT a charm pack and a jelly roll. I suppose it could be, but for some reason I prefer the slightly smaller scale for the sashing and posts.
And here is my process:

Begin with a fabric scrap at least 5" square


Trim width to exactly 5"


Cross-cut to make as many 5" squares as possible. Once the remainder is too narrow for that (or there's a divet cut out from a previous project which gets in the way), switch to cutting 5"x2" rectangles and 2"x2" squares (for sashing strips and posts respectively)




And of course we all know that we have lots of viable scraps that do not start at 5" wide, and for those, just jump straight to the 2" components (which we'll be needing many more of in this case, anyhow):




Once enough elements (and please don't ask me to define "enough" because I apparently haven't figured that one out yet, even for myself!) are cut, I say just throw your hand into the big mess, come out with 2 differently-sized pieces at random, match up the edges that are the same dimension and start the chain piecing! It is one of my goals to start making a scrappy, single-color (as in same color family, not STRICTLY single-color) quilt from each of my half a dozen color-coded scrap bags. Just a few more scraps to cut down, first... then hopefully more quilts in this direction:

Checkin' in for the first time


As I was browsing around Flickr this morning while enjoying my morning coffee, seeing the sun lighting up my house (a novelty for 9am as of late) and preparing to head downstairs to work on some bee projects today, I came across a new blog to me. Now, most blogs are new to me, relatively speaking, and I still haven't fallen into a rhythm with checking any on a regular basis, but I was glad to find Elizabeth's (of Don't Call Me Betsy) posts. First of all, I was led there by my intrigue after seeing these blocks for a different circle in the do.Good Stitches bee, made from her tutorial. Something I'll definitely have to try out for myself soon!

But what really got the fire under me was seeing a more recent post of hers about taking inventory of her to-do list from the beginning of 2011, now that we are a quarter of the way into the year. Now, those of you who know me know that I am NOT a list maker, though I would certainly benefit from doing so. BUT, this year started differently than any other for me, and I did at least begin with a mental list of things I hope/intend to accomplish - or at least work toward this year. So here follows my assessment of the year so far:

*This Blog... though I still have a LOT of work to bring it to the caliber I'd like, I've been keeping up with it, so that's something. And, as I mentioned earlier, I've been doing some scanning of other blogs and finding inspiration and most definitely learning. I do hope to bring more tutorials to this, as I work through some of my own original designs and projects, which brings me to my next couple points...

*keeping a sketchbook AND using it!


*Activating my EQ7 Software and having an instructor for it. After my mom granted my birthday wish last fall by buying me the software, my boyfriend contacted a local instructor, Katrina Hamer, and arranged for me to receive 3 one-on-one classes with her as part of my Christmas present. And she was GREAT!

*Work on building an inventory, to be sold through Etsy and hopefully ultimately other venues. I've been adding to my place mat and pot holder stock (not as quickly as I'd hoped, but that's my own fault) and have actually had a few sales, which can't be bad!




*testing out new designs, with the goal of publishing. My Fiesta Squares quilt, and more recently the Dorm Room Cots quilt are both headed in that direction.



*Participating in online quilting bees. So far, I've kept it to just two, which actually seems to be working out well, and I feel I lucked out in both cases. It's been great to get to "know" a new group of quilters, and I've been enjoying the interactions and the inspirations found both in the Seams Perfect Modern Scrap Bee and the do.Good Stitches bee.


And an addition to that is the Urban Home Goods Swap 4. Went outside of my box for that one with the messenger bag.



*Get my queen size quarter log cabin quilt basted and in the hand-quilting frame.

Granted, I've not even finished quilting one block, but I knew it would be a long process... it will eventually be on my own bed, thank you very much!

*And last, but certainly not least, submitting a quilt for the Project Modern Challenge 2. Since the deadline has now passed, and I've seen other VERY TALENTED ladies post photos of their submissions, here's a look:

(I'll add more details and process photos after the judging happens)


Now, the list of things I thought I would have gotten to, but have not is just as long, sadly. I still have a stack of not-so-new quilt tops awaiting quilting, some UFOs I began in classes but never finished, a quilt I began working on for my brother and his significant other, and then there's the bike.




If there's anything I would need to make a "new year's resolution" about, it's using my bike more. Which I think will need to start with a new front tire, and now that the weather is finally starting to change, I think that's next on the list!

Eye on the prize?

Is there ever really a remedy for lack of motivation when every morning begins grey, rainy, cool and there is no one but yourself with any expectations from you for the day? Well, a long phone call with a good friend helps. Especially when that friend is a great source of grounding, and has never been accused of mincing her words. And when it comes down to keeping you on track and on task, she is that motivation, let me tell you! So, what had the potential of being yet another disappointingly unproductive day turned into something slightly more. Not to say I was little miss busy body or anything, but I did manage to take a few steps forward on a couple of different projects that have been in the works.

Just yesterday I finished piecing a quilt top from an original design I've been calling Dorm Room Cots. The photo of the actual quilt top can be found here.

I actually have this planned out in two different color ways, and as soon as the southwest version was finished, I jumped right in on the more subdued black/grey/green version.

However, there have been so many other projects floating around in my head and in my sketchbook that I felt compelled to move this one aside for the time being and break ground on a commission. So began work on a couple of different sets of place mats, testing out new designs to me (nothing earth-shattering, just different than my usual). When I get something worthy of sending along to the customer, I will go ahead and post photos, but not just yet.

And now the meteorologist says it's supposed to be a nice, warm day tomorrow, so perhaps the projects for tomorrow will take me out into the sunshine?? Wishful thinking??

Every day stuff

Well, I wish I had a great update to post after a couple of weeks of non-activity. But, I don't. I joined my mom, brother, uncles and aunt back in our home town of St. Louis for an intensive weekend of organization and nostalgia where we came across many treasures of family history. But as the cliche goes, upon returning home (to Portland, that is) I needed a vacation to recover from my time off! I had a week of relaxing and slacking, reading, watching TV and immersing myself in a new obsession (thanks, mom!) of these hidden object games However, I am now thankfully off the couch and back in the sewing room with new projects forthcoming.

Looking ahead, I could not resist this adorable twill from Westrade Textiles with the idea of a messenger bag, satchel or laptop carrier in mind...


And last, but certainly not least, I finally managed to finish my first ever knit garment (scarves don't count - no measurements involved!) Now if I had been really forward thinking, I would have had J take a pic of me while wearing this vest/shawl yesterday, but for now the dining room chair will have to suffice. I did get quite a bit of use out of this in St. Louis in March, though!

Wrapping up

Another swap comes winding to a close. Y'all have seen the photos I've posted of the messenger and market bags I made for my "secret partner" for the latest round of the UHG swap on flickr. Well, earlier this week I received my lovely package from my gifter, Kat !




And, in an unexpected turn, we were paired with each other!! (not a common approach for these blind swaps, so I'm led to understand). AND... she's also a Portlander, so who knows, we may bump into each other at the Whole Foods or something, and know one another by our respective bags!

planning process

As well as working on the ever-present WIPs (work-in-progress), I've been planning a couple of future endeavors.

I'm trying to make good use of both my EQ program and my good ol' graph paper sketchbooks and sheets, and build from my own designs. And, I'd like to say I'm doing that step by step.




The latest to see life as a full on quilt top is something I have temporarily dubbed "Fiesta Squares," designed with the Kaffe Fassett collective in mind.





Without over thinking the whole thing, I just went for cutting these guys up and seeing what happens. I'm still not sold, but I went ahead all the same...



and finished up with one BRIGHT, busy quilt top!



Now, it's on to the next projects... I have an easy pattern I drafted on graph paper and transferred into the EQ7 program, and even played with color options. With some amount of luck I landed on a combination that I find very appealing, so I figure I'll try and bring it to fruition


in two different color ways...


...and a couple of other ideas bouncing around in there:




Hopefully there will be more to share as the week progresses!

crafting in all forms

So, this post is dedicated to a craft other than quilting: beer brewing.



For as long as I've known him, my boyfriend J has made fruit wine. He's had great success with blackberries, peaches, strawberries... less so with nectarine and banana-ginger. However, in the last year or so, he's expressed an interest in trying out beer brewing. So, for Christmas this past year his folks got him a brewing kit. It hung out in a seldom-seen corner of my dining room until about two weeks ago, when the bug hit and the kit got unpacked.



J took meticulous notes on his process, and when he racked the beer last week, we enjoyed a preview. Sure enough, it tasted like beer! Granted, a little thin and without carbonation, but actually like beer as opposed to rotting grain. Today we made a trip to one of the local brewing suppliers, F.H. Steinbart's, and picked up a few cases of bottles, as well as ingredients to make a next batch. This afternoon has been dedicated to washing and filling bottles (at least HIS time has been dedicated to that!)


Now, we wait another couple of weeks for the yeast and enzymes to do their thing, create CO2, and make an ale!



a work in progress

One of my Flickr friends, Jennifer, is in the process of putting together an auction quilt to benefit the LA Revlon Run/Walk, raising funds for cancer research. The request came through one of the online bees she has organized, Seams Perfect - a Modern Scrap Bee, and given my new(ish) ample time to play in the sewing room and my even newer fascination with the online bees, I was more than happy to answer the call (as was most everyone else participating in our bee, I might add!) Not to mention any desire to contribute to such a worthy cause...

Anyhow, the timing of her request was just so that this seemed a great opportunity to test my newly learned ability to print a paper-piecing template from my EQ7 program. I had been playing with a spiderweb quilt on EQ7

and thought I would test my skills on this one block... Oh, and for you Seams Perfect gals - you'll likely be seeing this illustration again in the future, but that's a topic for another time. Anyhow, eventually I managed to get the pieces printed, then had to cut and tape the separate pages together like a puzzle until I had (4) 45-45-90 triangles. Next time I do this, I'll try running legal-sized paper through the printer and see if that helps.

Then on to the fun part - fabric selection and the actual paper-piecing! The scrappier the better, I say, so I went rummaging through my blue and white scraps to see what I had to work with, within Jennifer's parameters. I had forgotten about this excellent Amy Butler Love fabric until just recently, and it's doing well for me!

Then came some adventures in paper piecing...


... until I ended up with 4 pieced triangles...

... and finally a finished block!

I look forward to my next attempt, which will hopefully go smoother than the first, but I certainly cannot complain about what it yielded!