Remaking the Junk Room (aka Guest Room)

As of April 29th, we'll have officially been in our home for a year.
 

I'm just now starting a quilt for our guest room (which was previously known as the oh-crap-people-are-coming-over-open-the-door-and-throw-all-our-junk-in-there room).

I'm madly in love with the Pinterest board I made for it, and I now own about 90% of the things in it.

My favorite item by far is a custom wall hook I ordered from CountryFolksCreations. I had her paint 'Welcome' on it, because I'm going to put water & fresh flowers in the little mason jar before guests arrive. And I plan on sewing ribbon tabs onto our guest towels so they will be hanging in their room all fresh & ready for them :)

Before we even moved in, I knew I wanted to paint the room a grayish blue color, and that I wanted to make a Modern Meadow quilt for the bed (because it's my favorite fabric line of all time!).

In came Ali with a genius idea for a Flickr group where you could adopt other people's UFO's. Kelly had a giant stack of navy, aqua & green Modern Meadow Mixtape Blocks, which I promptly snatched up.

Instant quilt, right?

...well...except for the part where I changed my mind and decided I wanted to accent the blue guest room with yellow instead of green.

...and let them sit in my closet for 8 months.

...and then decided to remake half the blocks to include more yellow.

...and then had to find 4 more prints and make even more blocks, because I only had enough for a Double instead of a Queen.

...only to discover I was a coordinating print shy, and had to sneak in one DS Quilts print from her first Australian collection.

 Here are the first 6 of a total of 9 rows I'm organizing for the top.

Whiskers ran across my blocks and messed them all up no less than 3 times. And I might have shrieked at him and flailed my arms like a crazy red-haired banshee each and every time.

*sigh* Isn't this the most soothing fabric line you've ever seen? I want our guest room to be cozy, happy, and calming.

Because I love making people feel comfortable in my home.

And so does Whiskers, by strewing himself inappropriately across guests' laps so they can scratch his tummy. Welcome to the family! Have some black fur for your pants.

I was feeling too lazy for paragraphs tonight, because there's no time for that when I have Caprese Salad to eat and Parks & Recreations to watch.

Happy Thursday :)

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I promised another finished quilt, didn't I?

The Snuggle Buddy Quilt

I mentioned a while back that I had not one, but two new finished quilts to show you guys! This will sound terrible, but I've actually had this finished for a couple weeks now....I'm bad, I know. I didn't mean to hold out on you, it's just that we've had terrible weather and it's been overcast almost every day since I got home from Christmas vacation. I meant to have Karen and Angela help me take photos on our sunny Saturday afternoon outing, but I forgot my camera at home because I'm a scatterbrain :(

I couldn't take the suspense any longer though, so I scurried home from work yesterday so I could take photos in the dying light. I know I've said this before...but I can't wait for the longer days of summer. It gets dark too stinkin' early in the winter. Boo!

I'll give you the basic info and then let the photos do the talkin'. It may seem odd that I've named it the "Snuggle Buddy" quilt, but I made it for my best friend from college. When we roomed together, we referred to each other as "snuggle buddies" because we used to snuggle up in our respective beds and watch movies all the time. She loves to sleep in a freezing cold room while snuggled up under a quilt (seriously...she used to open up the window behind her bed in the middle of winter when we were going to sleep every night...crazy woman), so I thought the title "Snuggly Buddy Quilt" was more than appropriate.

The pattern is Amy Butler's Brick Path pattern, which you can download for free here. The front is made entirely out of Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadow line, and the binding is the Honeycomb in Sunglow print from the same line. The back is done in Little Folks Voiles (Froth, River Rock and Water) and I can't say enough about how awesome that fabric feels. It's sooooo stinkin' soft. I told my friend that her quilt may or may not arrive used....because I couldn't resist napping under it's snuggly softness once or twice. Whiskers couldn't either. It's been decided. I'm gonna have to buy enough yardage of the voiles to back a quilt for us.

If you'd like to view previous posts or work-in-progress photos of this quilt, click on the Modern Meadow label on the left-hand side of the screen and it will pull up all my old posts on this quilt :)

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Blogger's Quilt Festival

Isn't this a fun idea? Amy's Creative Side is having an online quilt festival for those of us that can't make it to the Houston Intl. Quilt Show!

The quilt I chose is my Double Wedding Ring from earlier this year. I know most of you have probably already seen a million pictures of it because it consumed most of my summer, but I thought I'd post it anyway because I love it so! It's by far the most difficult (and rewarding) quilt I've ever made. There were many episodes of crying like a small child, and I almost gave up several times while ripping out my 500th seam, but once I got the technique down, I was able to zip right through it. There really isn't a lot of in-depth info out there about how to piece one of these bad boys. Sure, there are written instructions galore, but I'm a very visual learner and need pictures and videos to really get it. I think that's why I had such a hard time at the beginning :(

This quilt was a wedding present for one of my best and oldest friends. I've known her since I was 10 and I know that we'll always be friends, no matter how far apart we live. She's a sweetie and I love both her and her husband (who's a riot, by the way!) The other day I messaged them on Facebook, and her husband replied: "We're sorry you haven't heard from us, but we are too busy gazing into one another's eyes to pick up the phone." ....HAHAHA! Silly rabbits.

My goal with this quilt was to make something gender neutral. I always feel kinda sorry for the guys at wedding showers because we ladies pick out almost everything, and there are very few presents that men would get excited about...unless someone buys them a tool box or universal remote, haha! Plus we all know I'm a little on the flamboyant side, and Allison is much more traditional, so I needed to tone down the color palate from my usual shenanigans.

 

This quilt represents a lot of firsts for me. First time using the Double Wedding Ring pattern. First time free motion quilting. First time binding curved edges. And my first real attempt at combining modern and reproduction fabrics. Hope Valley is a little traditional for my tastes....the oranges and pinks are okay, but I would never have bought the blues and grays if it weren't for this project.  It's no secret how obsessed I am with the Modern Meadow line, but I didn't want to go with just that. I really wanted to pay homage to the long history of the DWR pattern by pulling in some reproduction prints, instead of blazing forward with super modern fabrics and snubbing my nose at tradition. Any other time I might have done that (hehe!), but I really love what the pattern represents and by including traditional fabrics, I felt like I was embracing all the DWR quilts that had been made over the centuries to celebrate a marriage....joining forces with all the little old ladies that sat in sewing bees and spent months hand sewing quilts for their daughters and granddaughters. Don't you feel so proud and blessed to be a part of such an amazing American tradition sometimes? 

 

So that's my story and I'm stickin' to it! Readers, I hope you have a fabulous time surfing through all the amazing quilts posted this weekend! I'll be right there with you clicking away :)

P.S. If you wanna see more pictures of this quilt, I have about a million in this set in Flickr. I wanted to document every inch of it since I was giving it away!

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MQG Retreat: Project #5 - Basted Modern Meadow Quilt

The last time you saw this quilt in early September, I'd just finished the top. And I know I said I was gonna get the finished quilt to my friend before cold weather arrived (which is pretty early in NYC)....but life got in the way. I'm really bad about taking too many things on at once, ya know? My new goal is to have it to her by Thanksgiving. Maybe it's just me, but I kinda crack up whenever I'm working on this quilt, because I can't help but think about how I'll be mailing her the most Springtimey quilt in the universe in the middle of winter. It's almost a little smug, like "hey...here's a Spring quilt to constantly remind you just how long it'll be til you see sunshine again...in your face!"

And I apologize for being too lazy to trim the excess batting before I took photos. This was toward the end of the retreat and my tank was running on fumes. Seriously. I usually only allow myself one Coke a week, but I probably drank enough to fuel a rocket to the moon last weekend. I tip my hat to you Cherry Coke. I don't think I would've been able to function without you...because coffee is nasty...well done, sir.

I'm pretty excited about the back. I find some of my best ideas are born from the ashes of my stupidity. I don't know what I was thinking, but I was going to do the back in a solid piece of AMH's River Rock Voile. But instead of ordering enough yardage to sew two pieces together to cover the width of the quilt, I ordered just enough to cover the length. So naturally, I go to lay my fabric on the quilt top so I can cut enough length, and I realize the fabric is a foot too narrow. Yeah...I really screwed the pooch on that one. I think my mind got confused because I was like "oh, the voiles are wider so it's all good" (because they're 54" instead of 44"), but even 54" was nowhere near the width I needed. I have no explanation. Sometimes I just have to accept that I have moments of complete and utter madness.

So here was my thought process: 1) I'm too cheap to order more $15/yard fabric for the back, 2) I have yardage of all the Little Folk voiles, 3) Why don't I piece some of those coordinating voiles in a strip down the back?

And you know what? I LOVE it. I wish I'd thought of it from the beginning and saved myself the mental pants-kicking from the "not enough fabric" fiasco. I love how it's a "solids" interpretation of the front...I almost feel like it's not the back but another side of the quilt....like it's reversible or something....or variations of the same theme - one solid, one printed.

I hope you guys like it too! I wish you could pet the voiles through the screen, because they're almost like silk. So soft and cool to the touch! Ahhhh....

I don't relish the thought of quilting this because I'm afraid the voile will bunch and pucker easily, but it was too perfect not to use for this project. My friend is a snuggle bunny and loves quilts, but she gets hot very easily. I thought the voile would be cooler and more breathable for the back than regular quilting cotton. I'll let you know what she reports back in a few months ;) 

Happy almost Friday!

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New Fabric Smell

Does anyone else love New Fabric Smell (henceforth to be known as NFS)? It's kind of like New Car Smell, except much, much better...because I don't have to spend 3 years paying it off or dump $40/week into it with nothing to show for it.

Even more mysterious is that all fabric has the exact same NFS, no matter where it comes from. I'm probably breathing in a delicious array of manufacturing chemicals whenever I take a big whiff of a fresh new fabric bundle. Ahhhh...those sweet, sweet carcinogens.

It's a shame they haven't come up with a scratch'n'sniff computer monitor yet, because I'd love to share the aroma.

From T to B: Dogwood Bloom in Lake, Honeycomb in Pink, Herringbone in Grass, Herringbone in Timber, Herringbone in Maple, Herringbone in Lake, Acorn Chain in Lake, Pie Basket in Fiesta

I also got some of the Farmdale prints (yay!) and here's a sneak peak at one of them + the other fabrics I'll be using for a new project - and this one's actually going to be for me! My husband and I are leaving for Disney World on Saturday, but when I get back I have a small mountain of half-finished projects to complete (this being one of them). First up are my September "wonky town" blocks for Bee (A Little Bit) Japanese, my Farmdale item, Meghan's Modern Meadow quilt, a Savvy Seasons swap item, and a smattering of other things. I think it's good I'm going on vacation before I finish working on them, because to be honest, I need a little break from sewing right now. Sacrilegious, I know....BUT...I will say that I'm gonna be really excited to start working on one project in particular when I get back. My Savvy Seasons secret partner mentioned bunting as one of her "wants", so I'm going to make interchangable bunting. It's going to be a long piece of linen tape with snaps on it, so my partner will be able to snap on and off the two holiday sets I'm going to make for it. One set will be fabric gingerbread cookies and glasses of milk, and the other will be triangle shaped santas and trees. The items will alternate with letters to spell out HO HO (i.e. cookie - H - milk - O - cookie - H...you get the picture). I thought this would be fun because if she wanted, she could make a fabric set of letter flags + icons for every holiday!

Avert your eyes from these last few pictures if you're feeling a weak, compulsive need to order more fabric right now...because what I'm about to show you is practically fabric porn! Look at these precious fabrics Natalie sent for her October blocks! She wants us to make one giant 11"x36" mini-forest block full of wee lil trees and critters. Can I tell you how much I love our Japanese fabric bee? I love being able to work with all these different fabrics without having to buy them ;)


This one is by far my favorite..."petit cochon" aka "little pigs"...how adorable is that?!?!


I'm having a Glee marathon with my hubby right now and I'm missing the Olivia Newton John episode, so I gotta run. Lemme part by saying how much I love Sue Sylvester. What other character on TV could get away with saying lines like:

"You take weird little strides when you walk as if you grew up in Imperial Japan and someone bound your feet."

and

"Now get out of my office, if you can manage to squeeze through the door without your water breaking all over my new carpet."

No one.

P.S. THANK YOU for all your sweet comments about my B&W quilt top! You guys are the best, and if I had a chart with all your names written on it, each and every one of you would get a gold star ;)

Finishing it and writing about the whole ordeal was very cathartic, so thanks for reading through all my psychobabble. Hugs and kisses ~Kaelin

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Another Modern Meadow Quilt :)

My friend Meghan visited a few months back while I was working on this quilt for Roxanne. She fell in love with the simple pattern and asked if I'd make one for her, so we dug through my fabric and settled on a Modern Meadow bundle from Fabricworm. She likes the muted and cozy look of the Shabby Chic style, so the sweet colors and florals were perfect for her.

By the way...I wish I could do this with everyone I make a quilt for! It's so fun digging through fabrics with someone, having them admire your carefully curated stash, and getting both your creative juices flowing! My floor and cabinet were a mess afterward, but it was too much fun making the mess for me to regret it! ;) Laughing, yanking out fabric in a flash of inspiration, unfolding, comparing, wadding, "what about this"ing, tossing aside.

You can read more about the backstory and see the fabrics I'll be using for the backing and binding here.

And everyone say thanks to my beloved hubby and model, Ray. He quit playing an intense game of Plants vs. Zombies to help me out with my "photo shoot" ;)

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More Stashin'

I've been on my best behavior when it comes to ordering fabric ever since I got the FFA2 bundle...but...I ran across some hard to find fabrics the other day, and that required some buying! You can't not buy 3 yards of Chocolate Lollipop Damask when you find it in either Turquoise or Brown, because they're next to impossible to find! And I know what you're thinking...the Riley Blake isn't hard to find, but I thought I might as well throw it in the cart since it was $6/yard and I was already paying for shipping ;)

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.

But anywho, here are my recent conquests:

3 yards Chocolate Lollipop Damask in Chocolate (I just caught myself typing "Chicago" instead of "Chocolate"...didn't realize that was a color now instead of a city...haha!), 1 yard Riley Blake Raindrop Stripe in White, 1.5 yards Modern Meadow Herringbone in Lake (another one that's getting hard to find! grr!)

And below are some fun little tidbits I acquired recently. One is the free Spoonflower sample I ordered a week or two ago (it just arrived) and it's called An Apple a Day by hamburgerliebe. Her stuff is so cute! The other is a yard of lovely fleur de lis ribbon that the best mother-in-law in the world gave me! (mine) Sorry, but I'm not sharing her world. You'll have to marry my brother-in-law to steal her from me, but even then I'll fight you ;)

Tune in tomorrow because I'm gonna post pictures of my newest quilt top! (you can see the fabrics I'm using here) My friend requested a really simple pattern (Amy Butler's Brick Path) and it shouldn't have taken me long to finish, but I've had to stop and start a million different times in order to finish a bunch of small projects. Argh. At least I'll be able to finish before winter sets in in NYC! That is the goal after all. Using quilts in the winter to keep warm :)

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And the winner is...

Before I announce the winner, I just want to thank all of you for entering and leaving me such lovely comments! You guys are the best and I appreciate all your sweet words about my blog (and my puppy...the quickest way to my heart is to compliment my furbaby!) I had a blast going through all the links to your favorite projects and I feel priveliged to have so many awesomely talented people reading my blog! And don't be surprised if you see one of your projects used as "inspiration" on here in the future ;)

The winner of the Modern Meadow fabric bundle + the FFA2 pouch is....

AllieKatMom!!!

The Random Number Generator picked the number 5 and her comment was:

"My favorite thing I ever made http://www.flickr.com/photos/alliekatmom/4921142854/ ....oh you mean quilting!

Dont really have a favorite thing yet. Maybe this http://www.flickr.com/photos/alliekatmom/4751872877/ or this http://www.flickr.com/photos/alliekatmom/4459655915/ or this http://www.flickr.com/photos/alliekatmom/4905073869/ I like em all or I wouldnt have made em I guess :)"

The winner has been emailed and if I don't hear back from her by the end of the week, then I'll redraw.

CONGRATS! :)

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Bon Voyage Doll Quilt

Do you ever wake up some mornings and just know it's going to be a good day? I woke up this morning and didn't feel tired at all. Usually I hit the snooze at least 5 times and my husband practically has to bang on pans to get me up. But not only did I feel refreshed and happy about the day this morning, but I actually woke up before my husband and walked the dog. I came back in and played on the internet before getting dressed...and joy of all joys!...saw that Anna Maria Horner, my favorite designer in the universe, posted pictures of her new fabric line Innocent Crush!!! Can you believe how gorgeous and versatile it is?!

But then, best of all, I realized my doll quilt would be delivered to my secret partner today! I just knew it was going to be a good day ;)

I finished my doll quilt a little over a week ago, but waited to mail it off until I could finish getting the rest of my "extras" together. I sent it Priority on Monday, so it should arrive on her doorstep sometime this afternoon. I'm 100% sure she doesn't read my blog and it's arriving today anyway, so I feel safe posting pictures of "the goods".

This is everything that went into her package:

And here's a closeup of all the little goodies:

I made her one of my little box pouches out of Modern Meadow because she listed that as one of her favorite fabric lines (and I have tons of it...obviously!). I figured I couldn't go wrong with a zipper pouch because she's a mom and mom's can never have enough storage bags! All the little items you see out to the side were lovingly zipped inside before I packed up her box. I found those adorable little needle threaders at Joann's, and then I thought it would be cute to get some strawberry buttons to match the little red strawberry needle threader...and the butterfly straight pins don't really fit in with anything else, but I thought they were cute and tossed them in my cart.

The book is one that I picked up at Barnes & Noble, and I highly recommend it! It's called the Directory of Quilting Techniques by Caroline Rodrigues and I bought about a million of them to use as stocking stuffers when it was marked down online to $5 a couple weeks ago. It's a reference book for quilters and includes just about every common pattern, stitch, and applique technique known to man. It's not incredibly detailed, but it's nice to use as a quick reference when you're sewing and either a) forget how to do something and need a refresher or b) don't know how to do something at all and don't quite feel like trolling the web looking for a tutorial.

Silly rabbit that I am, I almost forgot to make a label for my quilt. Honestly. I didn't remember until Sunday night around 9 pm! So I whipped out some printable fabric and put this little guy together. Don't judge my stitches because it was late and I was in a hurry (...at least that's the excuse I'm giving myself as I sit here - horrified - looking at this giant, closeup picture of my mangled Tim Burton-esque stitches)!


And now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever fully explained my DQS9 quilt title. Obviously part of the name comes from the fact that the little girl decides to stop caring whether she gets wet or not and "embraces the horror" by jumping into a giant puddle like an Amazon woman. But I actually got the phrase from my mother-in-law because she says it to me all the time! Whenever something crazy and uncontrollable happens, my MIL will look at me, laugh, throw her hands out, and say "embrace the horror Kaelin". Like when the whole family is together and my scottie, their chihuahua, and my brother-in-law's Jack Russell puppy are running around the house like a fur tornado...Ray and Terry are playing Halo at a volume of 73...and my father-in-law is in the background yelling because he spilled Diet Coke all over the floor...my mother-in-law will look over at me, chuckle, and calmly say "just embrace the horror Kaelin...just embrace it".


Lastly, here's my quilt all snuggled in it's box and ready to go. I wrote her a long note (the entire back side is covered as well) explaining where I got the idea, plus a few other little things I wanted to tell her. It was a little sad mailing it off, but the thought of it maybe hanging in her little girl's room someday made me happy again. Hopefully her family enjoys it :)

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The Plaid Scottie Presents: The 1st Official Giveaway!

*This giveaway is now closed*

As you can see, my model was sleeping on the job. But isn't he cute??? I hope nobody's allergic to him, because you'll probably explode into hives when you get this in the mail...oops! But I digress...the purpose of this post is to announce that...

I'M OFFICIALLY STARTING THE GIVEAWAY!!!

All my goodies are now in one place, and I hope you like them! Can I just say that I really, really enjoy giving things to people? I'm probably as excited to give these away as you are to win them! It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside :)

But on to the good stuff! The winner will receive BOTH items. Up for grabs is:

Item #1: 1/2 yard bundle of 7 different Modern Meadow prints (3 1/2 yards total!!! Are you excited yet???)

Prints included are: Flower Fields in Grass, Dogwood Bloom in Pink, Hand Picked Daisies in Pink, Herringbone in Berry, Picnic Plaid in Berry, Acorn Chain in Berry, Sunflower in Berry. To see bigger pictures of all the prints included, click here!

Item #2: Far Far Away 2 box pouch in my favorite print!!!

It's lined with some Orange Freckle fabric from Freespirit, and it's about 6" long, 3.5" wide, and 2.5" tall. I've made a couple of these zipper pouches for myself, and they're great for storing makeup or sewing accessories (I like to use mine for when I do hand sewing/on-the-go quilting like hexies or binding). And it's the perfect size for all your airplane-friendly 2 oz. bottles!

So here's the rub. In order to enter the giveaway (up to four times!), here's what you can do:

1. Leave a comment telling me your favorite thing about quilting. (i.e. Mine is that moment when I hand someone a quilt I've made just for them. It's one of the most special feelings in the world! ...I told you I like giving people gifts!) What is it for you? Is it leaving "life" stress behind and getting lost in the precision of the task? Drafting ideas? Quilting the layers together? (sicko!) Buying fabric? Feeling it? Nuzzling it against your face? (oops...too much!)


2. Become a Follower and leave me a comment. If you're already a Follower, leave a comment saying so.


3. Blog about my giveaway and leave a comment.


4. (This is another fun one!) Leave a comment with a link to your favorite project you've ever made. I want to see everyone's beautiful work and dream about my fabric going to a good home and being made into something lovely!

I will announce the winner a week from today! (Tuesday, Sept 7th)

This is open to Internationals, by the way!

GOOD LUCK & HAPPY TUESDAY! :)

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Giveaway starts tomorrow!

I told you to expect something on Tuesday, so check back tomorrow afternoon for the official start of my giveaway! More details will follow, but these are the prints I'll be giving away (plus the mystery item made by yours truly ::wink::)

I hope you're excited...because I am (see excited face below)!

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Tackling My Next Project

I've had the flu for almost a week now and can't seem to shake it. I decided to bow my head and try to plow through it, but it seems my body finally caught up with me. I woke up like a zombie this morning, called work, and then slept until 11 am. So here I am...lying on my sofa, watching old episodes of the X-Files, and blogging. And even though I'm sick and he's not, my dog has been even more worthless than me today...he's been asleep on the sofa next to me for the past few hours. As you can see, everyone in our family loves quilts.


This latest project is for my former college roomie (and bridesmaid) who's one of my best friends. Normally I wouldn't recommend that friends room together because I saw many friendships implode that way, but Meghan and I were awesome roomies. Possibly because we're the only two people on Earth that love all of the following: 1980's Care Bears Movies, Fran Drescher, and Broadway Showtunes :)

Anywho, when she visited a few months back, she fell in love with the brick path quilt I was making. She loved the simple pattern, and since she lives in frigid NYC, I offered to make her a quilt to bundle up in on those cold winter nights. I told her to consider it a thank you for putting up with me for so many years ;)

I let her rummage through my giant cabinet o' fabric, and she came out with a set of Modern Meadow fabrics I got from Fabricworm awhile back. I thought the Anna Maria Horner voile would be perfect for the back because it's ridiculously soft and perfect for snuggling under while watching a movie. For the binding I'll be using Honeycomb in Sunglow because the I think the pattern will work well for bias binding.

Here's hoping I feel better in the next few days so I can get to work on this. She'll be moving into a new place soon and I'd like to send it to her as an "apartmentwarming" gift.

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Finished Girly Girl Quilt

I don't have much time because we have to run out the door in a few minutes to celebrate my brother-in-law's 23rd birthday, but here are a few quick photos of the finished Girly Girl Quilt. I'm mailing it off to my cousin in Kentucky tomorrow morning!

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