Beginning: Shelburne Falls Rain or Shine

Do you ever get in a rut with your projects and need a fresh start?  Luckily, Stitched in Color saved me from the blahs.  Rachel is hosting a contest on her blog (see link here) for projects featuring the new line, Shelburne Falls from Denyse Schmidt.  The lure of pretty fabric plus a deadline was like codeine in cough syrup: awesome. 

(Side note: Don't do drugs! I've only had cough syrup with codeine once when I had a terrible case of bronchitis, pneumonia, cold, etc all at once and hadn't slept for days.  It was during my freshmen year of college and finals were fast approaching. Needless to say a few hours of sleep were a miracle.  Now I am starting to re-think using that analogy above...) 

Additional inspiration came from Elizabeth Hartman's The Practical Guide to Patchwork (she's also known for her blog Oh Fransson).  Her Rain or Shine block appealed to me especially.

I chose three prints and a coordinating yellow solid to create a few blocks.

Now that you've got a peek at what I'm working on, are you going to join the fun?  I'm not afraid of a little competition, right? Well...er...

Sea Glass Finished!

Sea Glass is finished!  I wish I lived closer to a beach so that it could have a proper "photo shoot."  So just imagine a beautiful beach with sand dollars, sand castles and waves in the background.  Can you see it?

 

For now, I hope you enjoy the dark-brown stucco of my apartment complex in the background.

My wonderful husband is such a pro at holding quilts!  

Where do you like to photograph your quilts?

Sea Glass Binding

Sea Glass returned from the quilter looking lovelier than ever! 

I celebrated National Quilting Day (Saturday) by working on the binding. Doesn't the Basic Grey's Waves in Seafoam look great?  The backing is from V and Co's Simply Color line, Leafy Stripe in Aqua.

 

Happy Tuesday :) - Kate

Tangram Book and Blog Hop Give-Away Winner

Thank you everyone for participating in the give-away and blog hop!  The winner of the give-away is listed below!

 

First I wanted to share a little sewing project:

Sew Mama Sew's Quilt Blocks' Tangram Book

I am one of those quilters who hoards saves all of his/her scraps of fabric because she loves each of them dearly.  This project is perfect for using those small pieces and showcases them wonderfully.  

 

 

 
This little number went to a very cute four year-old who loves to put things in order.  Seriously, at the age of two she was organizing all of her crayons into a straight line.  A girl after my own heart.
 

Thanks for letting me share my tangram project with you and now to the fun part:

Congratulations to the winner of the 44, 4” Kate Spain Squares! 

OhioLori: “I agree with many of the other comments...LOVE Tutorials...with pictures...& finished projects!!

Awesome prints...love the squares!!! :)”

Make sure thank the random number generator ;)  I’ll send you an email shortly.

Thanks to everyone for their comments and for playing along.

I hope everyone has enjoyed the blog hop.  Please feel free to stop by Quarter Mile Quilts and visit anytime!  Your comments and participation are always appreciated.

Kate

Conversion Rates: Kentucky Derby

Like most everyone, I have several works in progress at various stages of development.  Most start out the same way; I tend to find pieces of fabric that I love, and then spend the next several months gathering coordinating prints until I have enough for a quilt.

This quilt, Kentucky Derby as I call it, started when I found the horse print in a remnant section.  As soon as I saw it, I thought of one of my sister in laws.  She trains with horses and even competes in tournaments.

While reading through some online quilt blogs, I came across this star block from A Quilting Life.  It's great tutorial, except it was the wrong size of block.  I wanted to use larger center squares to highlight the horses.  So I figured I could easily convert it to fit a 7" center square, it couldn't be that hard, I thought.  And then this happened...

My measurements were off and I ended up with a nice 1-1/2" gap all the way around the square.  Instead of trying to cut down the HST to fit the center block, I chose to add a nice contrasting border.  My husband suggested the navy and it works wonderfully!

Now I have to decide, should I have navy borders on all of my blocks?  Or should I alternate navy borders with yellow star points, and yellow borders with navy star points?

Also, thank you for all of the comments at the give-away.  The input is greatly appreciated as I continue to develop Quarter Mile Quilts and myself. 

Give Away: Beat the Winter Blues - Blog Hop

GIVE AWAY HAS CLOSED.  Thanks for participating!

Welcome to Quarter Mile Quilts! 

I am your host, Kate (hehe - I crack myself up)

Today I am participating in the Beat the Winter Blues Blog Hop and am excited to meet fellow quilters and bloggers!  Being a native Arizonan, it can difficult to relate to the winter blues (we have more of the "summer reds" as I call it, when we just get tired of the heat).  However, I am always up for a quilt party!

http://quiltinggallery.com/quilters-fun/quilters-blog-hop-party

 

As a part of the "hop," I am giving away a set of 44, 4" squares that feature Kate Spain's Central Park line with a few coordinating prints to round it out.  To enter all you'll need to do is leave a comment below telling me your favorite feature of quilt blogs (i.e. tutorials, pictures of wonderful fabric, etc.).  International entries are welcomed.

Give-away closes March 14th at 11:59PM.  Please only one comment per person!  I'll be randomly picking the winner using a random number generator to keep things fair :)

With that said, feel free to browse around the blog and if you so desire, follow Quarter Mile Quilts.

Notes: The squares are cut by hand in my pet-free, smoke-free home.  Also, please note that there are more of the cobblestone (light brown) print than the other squares.

HST Sampler: Bow Tie Block

Our quilt group is working on a half square triangle sampler quilt and this upcoming meeting we're working on the bow tie block.   I went back and forth on whether I would make each bow tie out of the same fabric, or if I would make it look more "patchwork."  The jury is still out on the results...

What do you think?

Since I'm limited on the amount of polka dot fabric (ahem, forgive the reference to pajama pants), I am alternating using it every other block.  I think it will help keep it from getting "too busy."

I'll be honest, the jewel/bright tones are not always my style, but I am loving it!

HST Sampler: Pinwheel Block

Recently I demonstrated how to make half square triangles (HST) to my local quilt group.  They were all excited to practice and so we decided to make HST sampler quilts.  Before each meeting, I will prepare a sample block to share with the group.  Our first block is the classic pinwheel block.

Below are the colors I selected to use for the "sample" HST sampler quilt.  The color palette is inspired by the multi-colored polka dot fabric.  I love this print!  It is from an old pair of pajama pants that I wore out and would not give up.  

Today I spent a good, productive hour organizing the fabric for each HST sampler block.  It can be tricky to find the right balance of color through out a quilt, especially when you're using strong colors.  To ensure I didn't mix up all of my hard work, I simply pinned a labeled piece of paper to each stack.

This fabric organization helps me keep the blocks in order and the color in balance.

HST Bowtie block is scheduled for our next meeting!

Hope you're having a great weekend! - Kate

A Near Perfect Friday Afternoon

Trip to my local fabric store for Bella, Lotta Jansdotter from Windham Fabrics

Dr. Pepper

Psych marathon

and time with my sewing machine

I love my job and am so grateful that I could have today off!