Mariner's Star

For the July Simply Solids Bee, Rachel asked us to paper piece (she's the creator of the Beeful of Paper that I'm also in). This block pieced together very quickly - a welcome change from the intricate paper piecing I've done of late. As much as I love the outcome, it can be tedious. She chose excellent colors, very similar to last month's block - orange, gray, and mint.

In a completely unrelated note, but one that makes me happy, I hung a poster that I've had in my possession for the last few years. It came from my grandparents' house, and now I have it in my dining room overlooking the table. At their house in New Jersey, it was hung over the kitchen table, and I have many fond memories sitting under it with my grandparents, including one summer when I lived with them while interning in New York. 

Big Block Roller Rink Quilt

I've seen the Roller Rink quilt done a number of times. I decided to use that as inspiration for my own design. I took the mitred corner class at the Quilt Expo in Baltimore in May. I'm putting that to good use. I'm doing a full quilt where every block has mitred corners.  Each of these blocks measures 10"x30" - definitely a change from all the paper piecing I've been doing.

Apologies on the lighting, I just took the pictures at 8:45pm. Half of the blocks will look like this with the gray running down the long side and the white across the short. The other half will be the inverse. This will make for some interest where the corner of the blocks meet up. 

I made all 27 center sections on Saturday at the DC Modern Quilt Guild sewing day held at the Arlington Library. I've been following their blog since I knew I'd be moving back here, and this was the first meeting that I was able to go to. I met a number of people whom I've followed via Instagram and their blogs as well as meeting many other faces of the DC Quilting community. 

When this quilt is done, it will be heading to a Navy friend stationed in Japan. After he got there and got his housing settled, he asked if he could commission one, but I wasn't going to let him pay what it really costs for a queen quilt, so it'll be headed overseas because he was my battle buddy (most of the time) while we were at training. 

It's been two weeks, oops

I've been working on Bee Blocks and my big, pearl bracelets quilt, so I haven't really felt the blogging pull. But I finished all the bee blocks and they're wending their way across the country to their new homes this week. Here is the set all together before I sent them out. These blocks each took a little over an hour and a half to make. Each section has 7 sections and with 12 sections per block that's 84 pieces to each one. That said, I made it through a lot of Sex and the City and Entourage. HBO Go is a great thing for rewatching old series.

A bag for me!

So when I made the Studio Cherie duffel bags back in February, neither ended up staying with me, and both were sold. The Little Sister bag that I made last week for my cousin as a diaper bag spawned a commission from one of her good friends (who I've known for years, as well). But before I make that one, I made one for me because I really like the pattern, and there was no time frame on the commissioned one, that said, I'll probably make it next week.

One of the big differences is on mine, I used the PUL fabric as the liner. PUL is polyurethane laminate. That means carrying a damp bathing suit is just fine since it won't leak through. Swimming is my main form of working out, and since there's a beautiful pool at work that provides towels, showers, and shampoo/conditioner in said showers, the only thing I have to carry around is my bathing suit - this is when I thank the Navy for having amazing gym facilities on base.

You can see what the liner looks like from the front pocket - the aqua/white polka dots is the lining.

As well, here are the June Bee Blocks for the Paper Pieced Bee(ful) of Paper and Simply Solids.

For the Paper Pieced bee, the queen for this month just requested that we make a star with the fabric she had sent us. Since I'd made this star for the last round of the 4x5, I was very comfortable with it, and made that for her. For the solids bee, we were asked to make 9 patches into giant HSTs in orange, aqua, and gray. 

A new MODERN quilt shop has opened!

Thanks to social media, specifically Katie from SwimBikeQuilt's instagram feed, I took a field trip down to Fairfax, VA yesterday to visit the area's newest quilt shop which specifically has a modern bent. The owner is actually a former manager of the quilt shop that's closer to me, but still definitely more traditional than modern. The best part about her shop, in my opinion, is a long arm machine that she will be renting out starting in a couple of months.

The new place is called Quilter's Studio in the Fair City Mall. Along with growing my stash while I was there, I was chatting with the owner and she asked me to put together some class proposals to teach. I will be proposing paper piecing and a few others.

Here are the fabrics I picked up for my stash:

 The other excellent part about yesterday was getting this package in the mail. It's from the Mug Rug swap that I made the Under the Sea mini for. My partner definitely spoiled me, and her piecing/quilting were amazingly well done. I can't wait for the next round to try more fun techniques.

A Special Project - a little break from quilting

Today I made a bag. It's the pattern I picked up while at the Quilting show in Baltimore in May. Last week I got the interfacing that I need (specifically I got enough for 2 bags worth since I knew I wanted to make one for myself, too).

One of my cousins is going to have a baby this fall, and I knew I wanted to make something for her. I'm sure I'll also make a quilt for the baby, but I wanted to make something that would be functional and useful. She LOVES giraffes, always has, and even more so after a safari trip in Tanzania about 5 years ago. She also likes using all different bags and has fun accessorizing. Her baby should be able to accessorize in style with giraffes, too.

This is by far the most involved bag construction I've ever done. It has external pockets with elastic and outer pockets on both sides along with inner pockets. The last thing I need to do is put on the zipper/gusset, but that will take very little time. In terms of total working time, it probably took me about 6 hours to make this bag, but that's because I did orange peel quilting on the main body of the bag to make it extra sturdy. If I hadn't done that and for subsequent ones where I know the order/process, my guess is it's a 3-3.5 hour bag. Wonder Clips were used extensively during construction.

Nice drop handles that fit over shoulders well. The front/back are identical with the double external center pockets.  

 Inside - there are three pockets on each side made from where the straps are sewn - these have fusible fleece and are fully lined, so they are sturdy pockets. 

 Sides match the front pockets and have an elasticized pocket 

perfect for holding a bottles (water or for baby)

 Close up of the elasticized pocket. 

This pattern is called the Little Sister Bag and the pattern also includes a clutch wallet pattern which I haven't made (yet).

90"x90" Achieved

Today I finished making the strip sets for the quilt that'll be going on my bed. I made the pieces of the chevrons in six row increments then cut them on the diagonal to get what becomes half of the chevron.

 The angle of the picture is weird because it's hard to take a picture of a quilt this big in my apartment. And it's taken with my phone rather than my real camera because with the lens that's on it, I couldn't get a full shot. 

And here is bee block number two for the Summer 3x6 - she requested bright pastels (not sure if that's actually a thing) in pink, yellow, and aqua. But these seemed to match her mosaic of colors given to us as guidance. Four more of these blocks to go by mid-July.