Corals

January came in pretty gloomy which resulted in me thinking I needed some nice new fabric in a coral shade to cheer me up. I went online to Hawthorne Threads and looked to see what they had and ended up with this lovely stack of fat quarters.

Nice eh? Now what do I make out of them?

Aqua Star Quilt

Every few months I will order scrap packs from Hawthorne Threads just to add some variety to my fabrics.  In these packs I get pieces of fabric from a 5” to fat quarter piece which is more than enough to put into a scrappy or monochromatic quilt. The other thing is that there are often pieces from one line or that coordinate in there as well. I don’t know if the owners do that intentionally but it works well for me. 

 From this batch there was a lovely aqua grey theme fabric and some coordinating pieces.  I added the medium value aqua from my stash along with a variety of whites but the rest of the fabric came from the scrap pack.  Best $11 spent. 

 I decided to go with a small six inch Sawtooth star mixing aqua, grey and green with a nice bright white background. Seeing as it looked too blank as a bunch of stars, I added a darker aqua to the mix and ta da! As you can see from the photo below the addition makes the quilt look so pretty.

 

 But I was not done yet, I decided it needed to be a bit bigger and I added some borders to round it out. This quilt will go off to Arlene to quilt up of course and I will show you the finished end result when it comes in.

New Projects on the Horizon

Since returning to Pet I have been busy not only recovering from time zones changes and washing a two week pile off laundry I also have cut into some new projects.  One of them was to start the X and Y quilt trying to use up scraps of fabrics that have been collecting or that I have collected while here. 

carnaby street scraps

Carnaby street scraps

In an effort to get some new fabrics I have been purchasing the scrap bags from Hawthorne Threads.  Its such a treat to open the box and see what treasures are inside to play with.  Its great to lay them out and see all that is out there, but of course you have to use it up otherwise it would be a waste. As a result I have made some zipper clutches, ipod holders, and now some nifty blocks. 

The collection of images for this block that I have seen on Flickr show the block at 8".  Rather than work on a smaller scale, I decided to make it 12"  and use up more scraps.  I most likely can make one queen size quilt with the scraps that I have here. And I won't tell you about the scraps that are awaiting me at home this summer. Shhhh- don't tell the hubby!

feeling a bit Russian?

 I think that I am off to a good start with finishing seven blocks.  I plan to do minimum of a block a day. At the end of the month I should have a quilt top ready to take home for quilting by Arlene.

I think this is my favorite.

Pouch Finish Two

In December I had ordered from scrap bags from Hawthorne Threads. They always send me a great selection of fabrics in fairly bit chunks that I can make not only blocks out of but home goods items too.

As you know it found this Triple Zip pouch from A Quilters Table and now have made it twice. These are pretty roomy pouches and I have been able to put numerous cords for e readers, iPods and phone in it. And I see a few more versions ahead for me as well.

The pattern is a great one and easy to follow too. I struggle a bit with the the top zip and lining, getting that all working cause it is a lot of fabric to sew together at the top, but other than that there is nothing to fear about this pattern.

The outer fabric of the pouch is from Tula Pinks Nightshade collection, while the others are from Michael Miller I believe.  It is lined with a pale green and pink fabric who's manufacturer I don't know.

And guess what??? I won the first prize for the Triple Zip flicker group that Deb over at a Quilters Table. Yeah me.  Thanks Deb. 

Verrisimo

My lovely husband, knowing that I was so far from a Starbucks got me a coffee maker for Christmas. Wasn't that sweet.

Verrisimo side view

After a bit of a delay and waiting for a place to put it, I finally have it set up and have had 2 cups of my fav latte.  Ah. ( Three hours later my belly hurts. LOL.  Maybe I should stick to one cup only.)

Unfortunately, my barracks room is dusty.  Yeah I dust and clean every week but still the dust comes.  So I made a cover for my Verrisimo.  While it does not match the cover on the sewing machine or the TV, its in another corner so I am not too worried that it doesn't match. I ordered before Christmas this rigging material by Michael Miller from Hawthorne Threads.  While living in Ontario, I find this company is quite close to get things in a timely fashion and their prices are good too.  I particularly love their scrap packs.  Such neat fabrics that I normally wouldn't get due to my taste and location from suppliers.

While you can't see it, I have used navy cording that wraps on the side and around the top of the cover and finishes it off nicely. It is lined with plain white cotton that I found in the drapery dept of all places.