Original Sewing and Quilt Expo Recap

Yesterday, my mom and I went up to Baltimore to visit the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo. I took one longer quilting class and she took 3 shorter garment classes and got to talk with pattern designers and got a personal fitting for pants from someone who is a big deal in the garment world (but whose name I don't remember).

The class I took was about set in triangles and mitred corners. We were given kits and instruction with lots of personal attention since there were only 7 people in a 3 hour class. There is a third square not pictured, too. Not necessarily my first choice in colors, but definitely fun fabrics and the contrast is there to accentuate the mitres.

After I finished my class, I wandered the vendor area and came home with a few fun things. I also spent time auditioning various long arm machines for down the line when I have the money to actually buy one. I definitely liked the Tin Lizzie the best of the ones that I tried. I'm very much looking forward to being able to get one. Espcially since now that I've moved to DC there aren't any LQS's that have rental time available on long arm machines compared to Boston where there are a number that do.

First is the Quilt Pounce and a few of the full line stencils. If yout haven't come across this, it's stensils for freemotion quilting where you push chalk through a fine mesh which allows it to be continous lines without the breaks that come from typical stencils. And the chalk lines disappear when ironed. I got three stencils along with the chalk applicator. 

And moving right along, I got a bag pattern that has many pockets and contrast binding. This pattern also includes a clutch purse to match. With the way the pockets are laid out in this bag, I can see it as being good as a camera bag for all the lenses or a diaper bag for all the various things that little ones need (I've got friends who have requested custom diaper bags). 

At the same vendor, I was introduced to PUL fabric - polyurethane laminated. It's non-toxic and can be wiped down so it can be used in lunch bags, or anything else where it would be good to be able to clean it. It still has a soft feel on the right side and the laminated side is the wrong side. 

And last, but certainly not least, I picked up four Malka Dubrovsky prints. If any designer out there channels me, it's her. The color choices and geometric designs that she makes are exactly what I like. Case in point, the asterisk quilt I made was three of her prints, the the blue with small green dots pictured here is a repeat buy since it was part of that quilt. 

I won, I won!!!

As you, my faithful readers, know I like to paper piece. It probably is anywhere from 25-50% of what I do (especially as of late since I keep joining the paper pieced hives in the Flickr bees). Well, this past week many bloggers participated in the Sew Mama Sew giveaway day. And I won what I think is probably the best of all the giveaways for me.

Kristy over at Quiet Play designed a set of paper pieced alphabet blocks both upper and lower case along with numbers and punctuation. Check out her Craftsy Store where you can see those and her retro kitchen series plus many, many more. I can't wait to use these in my quilting.

Along with waking up to the great email from Kristy, today my mom and I headed up to Baltimore for a sewing and quilting expo. We both took classes and shopped the vendors. There will be a full post about that coming later, probably tomorrow, but for now it's time for me to have a housewarming/birthday party now that my apartment is unpacked, and since I turned 26 this week. 

309 Squares

I don't know about you, but when I'm going to start a quilt, I always do ALL my cutting, regardless of the size of the quilt in question. As I posted, I'm pattern testing for John of Quilt Dad. Today was spent getting ready to piece the quilt top over the next week or two.

This also shows that I have a cutting table now. Yesterday, my mother and I moved the last couple of furniture items from her house to my apartment and that allowed me to put this table into my sewing room (until yesterday it was what held my TV). I have a 24"x36" cutting mat covering all but an inch on the edge of the table top. 

Making a Mosaic Block

I've seen mosaic blocks all over the place made from people's scraps. I just made one for the Simply Solids May Queen Bee, and I can say I'll definitely use this technique for some scrappy blocks of my own using warms or cools rather than the set palate that we used for this block.

Chelsie is going to have a fun quilt made of these blocks:

A sneak peek!

I'm pattern testing for John over at Quilt Dad - here are the fabrics that he sent me for making his new pattern. For the next few weeks, this will be my focus project with bee blocks sprinkled between. I can't show you the whole quilt until John gives the go ahead, but I can give little glimpses into what I'm doing.

I can't tell you how nice it is to have a gigantic window in my sewing room - 48"x66". Natural light photos are the best. And I've switched over to using my DSLR for the photos that go up on the blog. 

The last of the bee blocks (for this hive)

I finished all of the Star Seam blocks and put them in the mail this week. I also signed up for the summer round of the 3x6 bee and a full year paper piecing bee because as we all know, paper piecing is my thing. I love the precision and geometric designs that it allows for. Also, this whole being at work at 6:30 every day and going to bed by 9:30 is a bit of a drag when it comes to my quilting time. That said, the new job is great, and I'm learning a TON.

Here are the last 4 blocks that weren't previously pictured. They are already on their way to their new homes.

And for the April Simply Solids Bee, we were asked to make an improv block with a gray background via the fabric sent to us from this month's Queen. I enjoyed making this more than I was expecting to. It was nice to have a very abstract, free form design. The May block is also a very free form pattern, so my guess is I'll enjoy making it, too.

My Little Paper Piecing Secret

So I have a little paper piecing secret. I buy reams of newsprint off of Amazon to use as my foundations. The total of the ream and shipping is just under $9, and totally worth it compared to buying actual foundation paper at quilt shops which will often run $5 for 20 sheets of the exact same stuff except that I'm getting 500 sheets. 

And here we have another bee block, this one for Jenn who wanted medium pink, red, and green. And for those wondering, each of these stars takes about an hour and a half to do from printing the foundations to sewing all the pieces together at the end.