Stash Mixology - The 12 Step Program

I have come to terms with my addiction to blue colored fabric.  Join me as I evaluate my addiction using the 12 Step Program (with small revisions for fabric):

1. Admit that you are powerless over your addiction.
Admittedly, I am powerless over my addiction to the color blue (and sometimes green...)
Blue and green have always been my favorite colors.  I think a large factor in my color rankings (other than the fact that blue is AWESOME) is my strawberry-blonde hair.  Growing up I was told to avoid pinks, reds, oranges and even some yellows due to my complexion.  My wardrobe has always been blue and green heavy.  Consequently, my fabric stash reflects my wardrobe.  Although I am learning, this does not have to be the case.
Basically, I am addicted to blues in all sorts of shades.  The blue sections of the local quilt shops unyieldingly beckon to me, as well as the online stores' tab "Blues."  And did I mention my husband's eyes are blue, too?

2. Come to believe that a power greater than yourself could restore balance to your stash.
Here is where the color wheel comes in to play.  Use the color wheel to help you identify the colors in your stash and ensure you have a good mix of primary, secondary, and tertiary colors.  A balance color wheel is a happy color wheel (in my opinion).

I believe in you color wheel!  Also, peer pressure works well.

Image Credit

3. Make a decision to turn your will to the care of the color wheel
Ok color wheel, show me how it's done.

4. Make an inventory of your fabric stash
Blue, blue, blue, green, blue, blue, yellow, red, brown, black, blue, purple...

A part of my blue collection

5. Admit to others your color addiction
I fully admitted to my addiction at the Sewing Summit.  At the first shop I had the courage to admit that I have a problem (two blue fabric bundles already clutched in my hands).  My friends encouraged me and help me set limits.  One shop I could only get reds and purples, another I needed to buy orange and grey.
Elisa of Stitch Outside the Ditch taught the class: Stash Mixology. This was a pivotal moment for me.  She asked us to evaluate our stash to see if it was off-balanced.  There were a few snickers from my new friends who knew of my addiction and I chose to admit my addiction to the class. "I have a blue problem."

6.  Ready to have the color wheel remove the defects of your color character.
I am ready....though, my budget might not be!

7. Ask the color wheel to remove your color short comings
Please, color wheel, help me restore balance to my fabric stash.

8. Make a list of the colors you've harmed or neglected.
Pink, red, purple, orange, and yellow

In Elisa's Stash Mixology she offered some great advice:
- Ugly will add interest
- Add a zinger to your quilt
- Add black and watch the quilt composition change/improve

9. Make amends to the colors you've neglected.
Buy lots of fuchsia, red, oranges and greys on shop hop.

Here's pictures of some of the shop hop haul:

10. Continue to take inventory and admit when you succumb to your color addiction.
Perform regular inventory of my fabric stash and admit when I buy too much blue (some is ok, right? ---> back to step no. 1).

11. Continually seek to improve and balance the colors of your fabric stash.
Go to local quilt shop or online shop with list of needs and avoid the color blue, unless you love it!  Here is the overall picture of the shop hop fabric haul.

12. Carry this message on to other color addicts and practice the principles in all your crafting.
All, I challenge you take an inventory of your fabric stash and evaluate where your fabric "rainbow" may be heavy.  Are you ok with a lop-sided rainbow?  Why not try stretching your color horizons?


So in summary:
The Twelve Step Program for Overcoming Color Addictions:
1. Admit that you are powerless over your addiction.
2. Come to believe that a power greater than yourself could restore balance to your fabric stash.
3. Make a decision to turn your will to the care of the color wheel
4. Make an inventory of your fabric stash
5. Admit to others your color addiction
6.  Ready to have the color wheel remove the defects of your color character.
7. Ask the color wheel to remove your color short comings
8. Make a list of the colors you've harmed or neglected. 
9. Make amends to the colors you've neglected.
10. Continue to take inventory and admit when you succumb to your color addiction.
11. Continually seek to improve and balance the colors of your fabric stash.
12. Carry this message on to other color addicts and practice the principles in all your crafting.

Thanks for allowing me to humorously allude my color addiction to the respected 12 Step Program for Addictions. 

I'll leave you with this final question:
What color(s) are you addicted to?

Triple Zip Pouch Swap - Finished

For the first time ever, I decided to join an online quilt/sewing swap.  So far my experience has been a bit nerve racking as I picked out fabric for another person.  If I get nervous with my own fabric selections, how could I possibly do it for another person?

 

Luckily, my secret partner had a whole selection of favorite fabrics on her Pinterest board.  I picked the Cassettes in Gray from Riley Blakes' Geekly Chic line and chose the blue, Timeless Treasure's Rain Basin in Aqua.  The black is from my stash and I've forgotten who it's from...

 

 

People suggested using different colored zippers, but I felt like the black worked so well, I didn't want to jinx it.  What do think?  I almost bought fluorescent colors like the yellow, blue and green, but then felt it would be an overwhelming shout of 80s!

 

Oh wait, what are we making?  Stephanie over at Quarter Incher is hosting the Triple Zip Pouch from A Quilter's Table.  It's a really great tutorial and fairly easy to follow.  The only trouble I had was near the end when you sew the sides together.  Still not completely sure if I did it right... However, with great instructions, I was able to complete it in one evening!

 

Here is the finished product.  I'm keeping the goodies secret, as I already feel like a rule breaker showing it here :)  If you're interested in checking out other pouches, the flickr group is located here.

 

 

So totally awesome, right?  Like, totally, gag me with a spoon! (Insert other random 80's sayings here - did I even use the last one correctly?).

Happy Go Lucky Hexagon Winner

Drumroll please.... (drdrdrddrrrdrrdrdrdrdrrrr)

The winner of the Happy Go Lucky Hexagon/Honeycomb pack is:

Qltr89! Who said: "Thank you for the chance to win the precut hexagons. I just completed a baby quilt with machine-pieced hexagons using the free pattern called "Quiltology" designed by Pat Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics. It was so much fun to make. I would love to try precut hexagons if I win your give-away."

Congratulations! Please send me an email with your mailing address by May 15th. (quartermilequilts@gmail.com).  If I do not hear from you, I'll use the random number generator to pick another winner. 

Be sure to thank the random number generator!

I really appreciate everyone stopping by and participating in the give-away.  Thank you so much for all of the lovely comments on the HST blocks.  I've got the almost put together and I'll post it soon!

Sweet Contrary: A Mosaic Contest from Stitched in Color

I took a few (or ahem many) minutes of my lunch break today to play around with colors at Lark Cottons.  Stitched in Color is hosting a contest where each person can choose 12 fabrics and create a mosaic.  The fabrics need to be in contrary colors, where warm meets cool, in a modern, beautiful way.  Next week all of the entries will be open for voting and the top two entries will receive a fat quarter bundle of their fabric selection.  Yes, PLEASE.

This contest posed an interesting challenge for me.  I tend to keep to the same colors and don't often use "contrary" colors.  I LOVE blue and green, but knew I needed to branch out of my comfort zone. Pinks, oranges, teals and grays?  Why not?!?

I quickly made this first entry, which is linked to my flickr account (I was too excited to get my entry in I couldn't even take the time to write a quick blog post!).  I'm pleasantly surprised with the results.

You are allowed to make a second entry and I think I'll let it simmer for a bit before making my selections.  I'm enjoying the creative process and how this contest is allowing me to see how different colors work beautifully together, even when I don't expect them to!

Also, did you know you can make these fun mosaics for free?  Stitched in Color recommended this tool, Mosaic Maker Tool.  I may need to play with this more later.  I could see how this would be useful when pulling different fabrics together from various online sites.  I think this has great potential.

Go join in the fun here!  As I said with the last contest, I don't mind a little competition :)

Kate

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...

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: 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!

Chevron Skirt - Complete

This week required more time commuting as a project was out of town.  This commute ate all of my sewing and quilting time, not to mention my energy.  I was in need of a quick and easy project and behold, the skirt!

I used Riley Blake's chevron print fabric in grey and the tutorial from The Big Oak Tree found here.

I highly recommend this tutorial!  For a person whose sewing skills can be limited to straight-line quilting, I was hesitant to try a skirt.  This tutorial featured a lot of straight lines.  The only difficult part, was the zipper, but I muscled my way through.

I am very happy with the results!

Looking forward to more time for quilting this week!  Hope you are, too.