Tethered Threads: July

Now that August is nearly over, I guess it's time to show the blocks I made for my Tethered Threads block party for July! These are for Beth, who had requested blocks in the style of Denyse Schmidt's Drunk Love in a Log Cabin quilt. This is a really popular block party request, it seems, but I'd never actually made blocks in this style before. Hope I did it right!

Psst! This is my 250th post, according to Blogger! Wow. Perhaps I should do some kind of giveaway at some point? I've got some big projects cooking right now, but maybe something in October??

Gifted: Wedding-ish quilt

Wow! I don't know where the time is going, but it seems every time I look I've been neglecting the blog! And yet, even though there's not a TON of crafting going on, I've been amassing pictures on my camera. Nearly 300 of them, from various day and weekend trips, plus a little bit of crafty crafty. I finally downloaded them last night in a marathon session--seriously, we're talking hours here. Phew! Anyway, this is a quilt I made for my lovely friends Nick and Katie. It's only a "wedding-ish" quilt because they were married in May 2009, but in late July had a party/reception/ceremony, which is when I gave them this gift.

The pattern is from this book (you can see the original on the third page here) but I definitely changed it up a bit. For starters, I used a Dill Blossom jelly roll, so I re-drafted the blocks to use the 2.5" strips instead of 2" strips the pattern called for. I eliminated the prairie points and changed the layout to use fewer blocks, but the essence of the quilt is still the same.

For the back, I pieced some lovely, super soft Connecting Threads solid teal with some strips and fat quarters of fabric from the front. (By the way, did you see that Connecting Threads has massively expanded their line of solids, and lowered all pricing??)

For quilting, I divided each block into three sections--a top, middle, and bottom--and quilted loop-de-loops up and down through all of the rows with some gorgeous variegated teal Aurifil thread. I also did some curlicues in the outside borders. (Side note: Gloria is still quilting a-maz-ing-ly! I was so surprised when I was able to quilt this entire twin-sized quilt in little over an hour and a half! Free-motion ftw!)

Bound in the polka-dot, the quilt is folded and ready for gifting! Nick and Katie loved it, of course. Rob and I traveled to Providence, RI to stay with them last weekend and were able to see the quilt in action on their couch and sleep under it for two nights. A lovely quilt for some lovely people! Does it get any better?

Little Red hoop hangings

Remember when I made this quilt for a friend's birthday? Well, when I bought the fabric I also bought some matching wooden buttons, but then didn't know what to do with them. It took me a while, but I finally decided to make these hanging embroideries for the same friend as a housewarming gift. I love how they turned out!

These were really easy to do! The appliqués are cut from felt and stitched to the linen background. I used some floss to stitch some grass, and then just sewed on the buttons.

I finished them the best way I thought possible, though it was a little sloppy: I glued the linen to the back of the inside hoop, trimmed the excess, and covered all of it with some bias tape. It looks okay, but I could've probably just glued and trimmed the linen and been okay. Still, they are a cute addition to my friend's new apartment!

Folklore Bag (again)

I'm back, after an unexpected bloggy break! Summer is just flying by, and we've been out and about a lot, spending time with friends and just enjoying time away from the computer. And I've been toting this new bag! It's my second attempt at the Folklore Bag pattern from One-Yard Wonders. I wasn't planning on making another bag so soon, but then this happened to my corduroy, right where my phone rubs against my body, so I fussy-cut some of this amazing volumes print by Anna Maria Horner for my new bag. I am in love with it!

This time around, I left out all of the interfacing. I probably could've used some in the handles, which are still pretty floppy, but the outer fabric is home decor weight (though still super soft and nice--love Ms. Horner's fabrics!!) and the bag is holding up well--a little slouchy, but that's okay with me! The lining is a print I'd had around forever, so I was really happy to use some of that up, too. Gotta make room for more, new fabric, right?

How in the world is it August already?!?