a stitch in dye

Postcards #1

2009-07-16T23:52:00.008-06:00

Views from the beach in Netanya:

I love the pattern of the windows and balconies of this hotel.
This is actually the hotel that the US swim team and several other national teams are staying in. The athletes whose competition venues are in Netanya are scattered throughout various beachside hotels.

A Week of Finishing :: Three Ginkgo Pillows

2009-07-09T14:57:00.006-06:00

No location shot today.
I'm winding up my week of finishing and hope to be back tomorrow with one last completed project. I'm pushing hard to wrap things up because I'll be leaving town on Sunday for about 10 days. I'm going to a swim meet...in Israel. A mom's gotta watch her baby swim.

A Week of Finishing :: Hexagon Quilt

2009-07-08T12:43:00.007-06:00

The quilt measures about 36"x 45". I don't know the dimensions of the train depot or the cow.

A Week of Finishing :: Big Nate Quilt

2009-07-07T11:41:00.006-06:00

I finished this quilt on Monday, binding it while sitting in my car waiting for my daughter at swim team. There's really nothing like having a warm quilt on your lap in your car in the summer heat. I didn't go inside the swim center as there's no air conditioning in there anyway, so not sweating wasn't really an option. Despite the perspiration, I am very happy with the finished product and decided to celebrate by taking pictures of it at a favorite park.

The quilt measures about 60"x 80" and is a combination of concentric squares and circles of varying sizes. Most of the squares and all the circles have been made using the shibori technique I used to make this quilt. Like that quilt I rented time on a long arm quilting machine to do the quilting. It's amazing how quickly a top of this size can be quilted on one of those babies. If I had an extra $10,000 laying around, I'd definitely consider investing in one.
Oh well...more tomorrow.

A Week of Finishing :: Leaf Tee

2009-07-06T16:20:00.006-06:00

Sometimes you can spend weeks working and feel like you have nothing to show for it and then other times you come into a veritable smorgasbord of finished objects. Well, I'm happy to say that it looks like I'm at the buffet table this week. I'm hopefully coming to the end of several projects and I'm planning on sharing them here this week.
My first completed item is not a sewn item, but a knitted one. If you all knew how hot it has been here the past few weeks, you would laugh at why I felt compelled to work on my knitting. In my own defense I will say that this item was made out of an amazing bamboo/cotton blend, so it is cool,with cool being a relative term when human beings are forced to endure 100+ degree temperatures day after day.
But I bet you all don't want to hear me go on and on and on about how freaking hot it is here and how, despite the fact that I have a pretty high tolerance for heat, I can't take this particular inferno,right?
I thought so.
Here's my finished object instead:

Try to ignore that string that is in every single one of the shots I took and instead focus on this really cute and easy to knit top. It's the Leaf T-Shirt, a free pattern on Ravelry. It's knitted from the top down. Oh, how I love knitting from the top down. It's so civilized.

Here's a detail shot of the tee. Or maybe it's a shot of me passed out from the unbearable heat. Either way, you can see the pretty lace pattern. It's just a 6 row repeat with plain knitting in between, but I like the interest it added to the top.

I've got a second Leaf T-Shirt in my future as well as more cotton/bamboo yarn. I picked this batch up today at a lovely local(air conditioned) store .
I'll be back tomorrow with another finished item.

July Comes in with a Bang

2009-07-01T13:25:00.004-06:00

...and I'm not just talking about the fireworks that will shoot off across the country this Saturday night. Everyplace, except here,probably. Because we're in the midst of a drought, and there's a burn ban, and we've had a string of 100+ degree days, and that's not just 100 or 1o1, but 1o6 and 1o8 degrees. It is too dang hot here for fireworks!
But, I digress. Must be heat stress. The bang I'm referring to has to do with exciting goings on for both my family and my blog.
My family news has to do with my eldest daughter, Sarah. I've mentioned before that we are a swimming people and that certainly holds true for her. Well, she is off tomorrow to Israel to swim for the US team at the 18th Maccabiah Games. She is one of 12 females and 12 males to be selected for this team. She is so excited and, well, so am I. The US team is particularly strong this year because this guy is swimming on the team. Remember him from Beijing?
Me being me, this momentous occasion prompted a wee bit of crafting. Sarah's not big on photography, but even she had to admit that she should get a camera and take a few shots. Naturally, I felt that her camera was a bit naked without the appropriate pouch.

I used a cute Japanese print and some beads I bought at Quilt Festival a few years ago to sew up this case. She seems to like it.
The sweet fabric, purchased through an independent retailer is a good segway to my July's bang for my blog. I have a new sponsor, Runner Girl Fabric and she carries some amazing fabric in her online store. For instance, check this print out. And this one . Runner Girl Fabric also carries Anna Maria Horner's Good Folks line as well as loads of great Amy Butler prints and Heather Ross's designs for Kokka. My suggestion is that you dash(cute pun, huh?) on over to Runner Girl Fabric and take a look for yourself. You won't even have to break a sweat. Isn't the internet grand?

When I Iove something...

2009-06-24T19:14:00.006-06:00

...I really love it. Take as an example Simplicity pattern 4589. See, I just typed that without even consulting the pattern envelope. Why? Because I've made the pat tern 8 times. Also, when I fall in love with something I want to share that love. Just recently my good friend, Sandy, asked me for a recommendation for a simple, beginner's pattern and, needless to say, I sung the praises of Simplicity 4589. When she accidentally bought the wrong size pattern and was concerned that she wouldn't be able to exchange it, I gave her my copy of the pattern. I did it not because I'm particularly generous, but because I so wanted her to love the pattern as much as I do. And she did. Last I heard, she'd made two versions of this top. What more could I want?
The same is true for the Automated Postal Center at the post office or APC for short. Ridiculous as this may sound, when I first discovered I could send all my domestic packages via this machine and that I could do so any time of day, 365 days a year, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I have since happened upon purchasing and printing my postage via my computer, but I'll always have a special place in my heart for the APC. And, like the sewing pattern, I enjoy letting other people in on this little treasure. When I do have to go to the post office, I can't help but glancing at the addressed packages of those waiting with me in the interminably long and slow line and upon realizing that the person next to me has a package that could be sent via the APC, I think nothing of casually saying, "I don't mean to butt into your business, but did you know that you could avoid this Disneyland-like que and ship your package directly through the APC?" Most people are pretty excited by this bit of news.
Now, I have something new to love. This:

It's my newest cookbook, American Masala by Suvir Saran. See all those post-it page markers laying on top of the book? Well, now the book is inundated with those bookmarks because that's how many of the recipes I plan on trying. Frankly, before I decided to organize my favorite recipes by marking the pages, I'd already made 2 or 3 of the book's dishes. As of this writing I've probably tried and loved at least half a dozen recipes with several made more than once.
Yesterday, I made this recipe not once, but twice.

It's called Indian Chopped Mixed Salad and I made the first version in the morning right after my farm basket was delivered. The dish calls for tomatoes and cucumbers and they were abundant in the basket.

I then made it again last night as a topping for homemade enchiladas. It was delicious. Are you hearing the piercing shrill of my enthusiasm?
The premise behind this book is to craft American recipes like Macaroni and Cheese casserole with an Indian flair and to slightly Americanize traditional Indian foods. The book is well organized and beautifully photographed. And it doesn't call for ingredients that you'd have to literally trek the silk road to find. Here's my suggestion for a perfect day: start off by whipping up a version of Simplicity 4589 followed by a quick trip to the post office to mail packages via the APC, then enjoy making and eating at least one of the recipes from American Masala. I bet you'll doze off that night with a big smile on your face.

The dog ate it

2009-06-22T16:04:00.009-06:00

That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
Actually, in all fairness to my sweet puppy, she didn't eat my mini quilt this Monday. She couldn't of. I didn't make a mini for today. I've been too busy working on several projects including two big quilts. Well, one is definitely large and the other is more large-ish. I didn't want to disappoint too much, so I've taken some in progress shots of those quilts.

Sorry for the crappy lighting, but this is against a wall in what seems like a permanently dim part of my studio. Anyway, the customer who requested this quilt liked the hexagon mini I'd made in the past, but wanted hers to be a wee bit bigger. This one will measure about 36"x45" when it's all pieced. It's not really even large-ish, but something about it being constructed out of hexagons makes me think it is.

The other quilt that's been keeping me busy is this bigger version of my Nate quilt.
It too is a for a lovely customer and it was her idea to include a smattering a twinkle circles amongst the squares. I really like this idea and it's given me a chance to incorporate both large and small circles. Now that I think about it, this quilt, when finished, won't be huge either, just 60"x 90", but I think of both of these quilts as big pieces. Maybe it's all the mini quilts I've made lately or the fact that these are not the only projects I'm working on or maybe I'm shrinking and will soon join the Lilliputians?
Regardless, this is my excuse for not completing the week's mini quilt assignment.

Fabric as Inspiration

2009-06-19T14:50:00.013-06:00

...for other fabric. I was browsing at a local fabric store the other day and happened upon these:

They literally caught my eye from across the store. It's no small wonder. They're simple and graphic, two things I love in almost anything, but especially in fabrics/textiles. I instantly started to think about all the things I could do with them, both as they are and after some dye and discharge manipulation. First, though, I had definite plans to over dye the red circle fabric.

And I did. And then I over dyed it with a shaped resist.

And already used some of the over dyed in a project.

Best of all the purchased fabric inspired some new patterning ideas for my own fabrics.

Another Twinkle Quilt

2009-06-15T14:45:00.007-06:00

In my own defense I want to say that I can quit whenever I want.

I just don't want to stop making these circles. And they're starting to creep into other designs.

But, like I said, I'm not powerless.

Answers and Inspirations

2009-06-10T18:10:00.007-06:00

I'm combining answers to some commonly asked questions with a few recent photos of inspiring stuff because otherwise my blog won't be as pretty and I really like pretty.

The number one, most commonly asked question I get both here in the comments and via email is where do I get the plexiglass shapes for the shibori technique I used in my twinkle quilt?
The answer to that is three fold:
1. I use a local plastics fabricator,Regal Plastics, here in Austin, Texas. You all are more than welcome to ask if they are willing to take out of town orders. You can easily get their contact info via a google search. Be forewarned though, Regal Plastics will only cut shapes from existing plastic or metal shapes as templates. They will return your original with your order, so you could use plastic quilting templates or quilter's squares as your templates.
2. If you have a friend, neighbor, relative, long lost uncle, etc. who has access to a jigsaw, he/she can cut the shapes for you. A few years ago I asked my neighbor's mom's then fiance to cut some plexiglass shapes for me and they're still in use today.
3. Use the Alchemy feature at Etsy to request bids for plexiglass shapes. I know of one very clever gal who did this and got the shapes she wanted/needed.

Another question I'm asked is whether the shapes need to be 3/4" in thickness as stated in my Quilting Arts article.
Actually,no. The 3/4" measurement was an error. It should have read 1/4" and the folks at Quilting Arts ran a note about the error in the following issue, but I don't think most folks caught that update.

Monday's post prompted someone to ask where I got the form for the floor pillow and if there was something unique about it.
I bought the form at Joann's. It measures 17"x15"x3". I think it's basically polyester, but, according to the package, it's been densified. Now, up until I read that word on the wrapping, I had only heard the word densify used by Lydia Batianich on one of her cooking shows. I was pretty convinced that she had made up the word and chalked up her using it to the fact that English was not her first language. I was wrong. Apparently, densifying is a possiblility for polyester forms as well as Italian sauces.
Anyway, the form is constructed so that it holds its rectangular shape. I also bought it in the 22"x22"x4" size.

By the way, this building is called the Norwood Tower . Feel free to learn all about it.
My final answer comes in response to a question about the shibori DVD I gave away as part of the SEWN launch party. Someone asked if I was planning on selling the DVDs. I'm not selling them, but you can purchase it directly from Interweave Press by going here.
That's all the answers I have for right now. Thanks so much for visiting my little web space, commenting, asking, opining and just generally being there.

Floor Pillow Masquerading as Mini Quilt and Winner

2009-06-08T16:12:00.004-06:00

This Monday is somewhat reminiscent of last Monday. I sort of have something mini quilt-like, but not really. I'm OK with that because the point of Mini Quilt Monday was to spur me on to try new things and I think I have. Just, sometimes the trials don't necessarily lead to a final product that can be specifically defined as a mini quilt.
But, before I get into describing my non-mini quilt, I first want to thank you all for participating in the giveaway and announce our winner:

Two Dogs and a Quilt said...The quilt is gorgeous! I love the subtle earthy colors. Nice that your daughter...

Congratulations! Please email me at malka@stitchindye.com with your address and I'll get your DVD to you super quick-like.

OK, back to the regular programming.

I made a floor pillow! I've been thinking about this for a long time and I decided that this was the week to craft a floor pillow. When I was a kid, we had a bunch of floor pillows in our living room. We never sat on the couch to watch TV or read a book. We always got cozy with one or two large scale pillows. Whenever I mention that we need a few floor pillows, my kids give me quizzical looks and mutter,huh? I don't understand how they've made it this far in life without the pleasure of sprawling out on the floor with a squishy pillow. Even as I write this the pillow has already migrated to the sofa. I might have to make a stack of these before my family gets the point, but I'm determined to bring back the floor pillow as a viable seating option.

SEWN and shared

2009-06-05T11:24:00.008-06:00

The quilt that's featured on the front of my book made its way back home yesterday. I had made the quilt with the book in mind, but I couldn't possibly make something so large without a real life purpose as well.

From the very first I had planned the palette of this quilt with my daughter, Rachel, in mind. A few summers ago, we painted Rachel's room a fun, adobe/orange color and I used that as my inspiration for the colors in this quilt. I told Rachel from the beginning that it might be a while before she got to use this quilt as it was meant for the book and would be off being photographed and what not. She was OK with that (read totally apathetic).

I was a bit surprised by how happy she was to arrive home and find out that the quilt was ready for use on her bed. She even cleaned up her room in honor of the new quilt. Jaws need to be dropping because she's 15 and holds fast to all those stereotypes about teenagers and housekeeping. I was elated on so many levels. I'm always happy to see smiles on my children's faces. I'm always happy to have my efforts appreciated. And I'm always happy to see that there is still carpeting underneath the clothes that usually cover the floor of her bedroom.
Having shared with Rachel and encountered so much happiness, I want to share with you and, who knows, maybe more happiness. I'm participating in the big launch extravaganza for a new and wonderful website, SEWN. It's an online community for quilters and sewers with tips, interviews, online forums, chats, and all sort of other cool stuff for those of us who like to put thread to needle. It officially launches on Monday, June 8. That's this coming Monday! You can check it out through the cute little button I've added to the right hand side bar of my blog. But...before you do that...take a minute to put your name in the virtual hat for the giveaway I'm sponsoring in celebration of SEWN. Leave a comment and you'll be entered in to win this:

It's a copy of the DVD I taped for Quilting Arts Workshop. It focuses on the shibori technique I use to mimic piecing in many of my hand dyed quilts and pillows. There's a complete list of materials and lots of info on dyeing and patterning fabric.
I'll keep the giveaway open until 5:00pm CST on Monday, June 8 and then announce the winner as part of Mini Quilt Monday.
Good luck and have a wonderful weekend!

Mini Quilt Monday...kinda, almost, sort of...

2009-06-01T15:31:00.006-06:00

It is and it isn't. It is because actually I have a fully formed mini quilt to show, but it isn't because the aforementioned quilt is mostly a repeat of a design I've already featured. It is because I did design something new and it is mini, but I opted to turn the top into a pillow rather than leave it a mini quilt.
So here are my sorta, kinda, almost,maybe mini quilts for this first Monday in June.

The "real" mini quilt is just another version of the patches mini quilt I've shown here before. This one is made out of some undyed cottons and linens and bits from a Moda jelly roll. I've never sewn with a jelly roll before, though I've eaten my fair share of them, but I made this quilt as a class sample for a mini quilt class I'll be teaching this summer at a local store, Sew Much More. The class isn't until August, but I needed to make the sample for publicity purposes.

The folks at Sew Much More just started stocking fabric along with an amazing array of sewing machines and accessories, so they wanted me to make the sample with material they carry.

This is the other half of my nearly mini Monday offerings. As a disclaimer, let me say, that I had every intention of crafting this design into a proper mini quilt Monday piece. Unfortunately, to paraphrase Mick Jagger," Time was not on my side."

So, I made a pillow instead. It's still mini, just not quite as two dimensional. And, like the patches design, you'll probably be seeing more of it.

Question

2009-05-31T09:16:00.005-06:00

If a tree falls in the forest but there's no one there to wrap it in yarn, does it make a sound?
Before you scratch your head in befuddlement take a gander a these pictures.

We happened upon this tree/sculpture as we were riding the Town Lake Trail the other day. The tree had apparently been felled recently in a storm and someone/ones had come along and wrapped its branches in lots of cheap, bright, acrylic yarn. It's really quite amazing. I love it on so many levels. Obviously the fiber connection speaks to me, but I like the public art/anonymous aspect of this project, and the fact that something like this is so quintessentially Austin.
If you live here and would like to see this for yourself, it's on the part of the trail that's just north of the Mopac foot bridge. And, if you go see it and post pictures, let me know. I'd love to see them.

Richard's Shirt Repeat

2009-05-27T14:51:00.004-06:00

About a year ago, I posted about making my friend, Richard, a shirt out of some of my hand dyed fabric. Well, I'm thinking that this could be an annual event because I've made him a second shirt.

Everyone, this is Richard and his new shirt. One of the things I like about sewing for him is that he's not afraid to wear bold colors and prints. The pattern for the shirt is the same as the one I made him a year ago. Then, though, I hadn't thought to arrange a little photo shoot so that he could model his shirt.

These shots were taken yesterday morning after swim practice. He and I swim on the same USMS (United States Masters Swimming) team. His smile and probably mine are because the photographs were taken after practice. Everyone's always a little cheerier on the other side of the workout.

Mini Quilt Monday :: Yellow Edition

2009-05-25T14:53:00.005-06:00

One of my goals in taking on the challenge of Mini Quilt Monday was to investigate some technical or design element every week. Sometimes the idea being explored altered the quilt in a big way. I feel that was the case last week. And sometimes, the new idea or direction is just a small variation of something I've already tried. I think that's OK too. A lot of times making one of these minis has spawned a slew possible variations on a given design.
This week's mini falls into the subtle variation category, but it's definitely something I've been thinking about for a while.

The concept, simple quilts, has to do with whole cloth quilts crafted out of a single, beautifully dyed piece of fabric. I envision this top heavily quilted and bound by a contrasting fabric whose color is intensified by the color of the top. Oftentimes, when I work out a design idea I do so in stages. This mini quilt seems like it might be stage 1 of my simple quilts idea.

It's obviously not constructed out of one piece of fabric, but I did stick to mostly yellow fabrics. I wanted it to read like a color field, but to be made out of small, slightly different bits. To accentuate it's singleness of hue, I bound it with some amazing yellow silk dupioni.

Photographing the quilt against this gray background was pretty much a no brainer. I'm especially partial to this view where so much of the background is included. It really highlights that color field quality.

This is the last Monday in May and technically, the end of my May celebration of mini quilts. But I'm not feeling done with Mini Quilt Monday, so I'm extending my commitment to weekly Monday Mini Quilts through June. I invite you all to join me on any or all of the Mondays in June by posting your mini quilt to the Mini Quilt Monday flickr group .
And, if you have a minute, check out Melissa's little beauty on her blog, Whatknot .

When the city is still sleeping...

2009-05-23T18:54:00.010-06:00

...it is so beautiful.

Seven Reasons

2009-05-20T15:33:00.009-06:00

I love fabric.

1. It looks pretty up close.

2. It's pretty from a distance.

3. It can have the most amazing texture (embroidered silk dupioni)

4. It makes so much creativity possible.

5. It makes me happy even after I'm done working with it (two versions of the same dress).

6. I can make it uniquely my own...

7. ...or combine it with something someone else's vision.

Those are only some of my reasons, but I'm guessing they're similar to the way a lot of you feel about crafting with fabric. Well, to help fuel your creativity(addiction?), the folks over at Fabric.com are offering you, my readers, a special discount. If you glance over to the right hand sidebar, you'll see that I've got a new button. I've decided to become a fabric.com affiliate and, at least for the next few days, you all are the beneficiaries. Between May 21 and May 28, you'll get a $5 discount on any fabric order. Just enter the phrase blogstitchindye as your coupon code and $5 will be deducted from your order. Pretty neat, huh?
Saving a little money could be reason #8, but, let's face it, I'd buy the fabric even without the discount, wouldn't you?

Inside Out Mini Monday

2009-05-18T08:09:00.006-06:00

My original design for this week's mini quilt was thwarted by how much I liked the side with all the seams. This isn't the first time I've noticed and enjoyed the "wrong" side, but it is the first time I changed everything to highlight it.

What really sold me on the idea of featuring the raw edge side was the way the seams looked. I can be lazy sometimes about changing thread and at the time I was starting to piece this quilt, I was using an orange thread both as bobbin and top thread. I found that I really liked the way the orange contrasted with the whites and other light colored fabrics and how it emphasized the lines of the concentric piecing.

Once I decided that I was going to feature the raw edges, I realized I had a second design question to ponder. Did I want the top to look like the underside of a quilt, meaning that the fabric shown was always from the wrong side? I actually didn't want that. So, I had to piece all the blocks with wrong sides facing to make sure that the "right" side of the fabric faced out. Sound confusing?

When I stitched with my own hand dyed fabrics or with whites and solid linens, the right side/wrong side issue wasn't really present. But when I used commercial prints, I really had to pay attention because, after years of sewing with the right sides together, doing the opposite is no easy feat.

I also went back and forth about how to quilt and bind this little quilt and, in the end, decided to go with simple stitching in white thread. I wanted the quilting to be there, but not overt. The choice of binding fabric was partly dictated by the orange thread used to piece the top and partly influenced by my plan to photograph the quilt against a gray background. Orange and gray do look awfully good together, don't they?

A Quickie

2009-05-15T16:04:00.005-06:00

Just popping in to make a little announcement, answer a question and show off a recent FO.

I'm so happy to tell y'all that my book now has an official title, Color You Cloth: A Quilter's Guide to Dyeing and Patterning Fabric. Yay!
If you don't make quilts, do not be fooled. This book is loaded with information that you too can use and half of the projects aren't quilts, so there's plenty for those whose sewing passion is not quilting.

The question has to do with my last post. I mentioned that I was planning on making this dress in cotton lawn. Someone asked where I have found cotton lawn online. As it happens, you can buy some lovely looking cotton lawn from fabric.com. I haven't purchased any cotton lawn yet, but I have bought quite a bit of fabric from this online retailer and I've been very happy with their products and customer service.

OK. Now for the finished object I mentioned. It's big and blob-like, but I like it.

It's the Gum Drop Pillow by Amy Butler. The pattern comes in two possible sizes, 18 and 24 inches. I imagine the 18" version is supposed to be more of a sofa pillow, but I'm a bit suspicious of this reasoning. This shape doesn't strike me as appropriate for laying back on as you relax on the couch. It does, however, make a great ottoman. This one belongs to my youngest. She picked out the fabrics which are, coincidentally, from fabric.com.

Just between you and me, I'm not in love with her choices, but I decided to avoid micro managing the making of her ottoman. The pattern was clear, and easy and, like all of Amy's patterns, incredibly well illustrated. I did make one modification. The original instructions call for you to leave a seam open in one of the panels so that you can add stuffing, then hand stitch the seam closed once the pillow is as fluffy as you like. I opted to put an invisible zipper in that seam instead, so that I could add more stuffing when I felt it was needed. Sure, you could open the seam to do the same thing, but unzipping a zipper is a lot easier.
I'm happy to report that Abi is very happy with her Gum Drop Pillow and that the making of it afforded me endless opportunities to squeal like the gingerbread man in Shrek, "not the gum drop buttons!"

The New York Times and Me

2009-05-13T13:26:00.009-06:00

A few weeks ago I was perusing the Sunday New York Times when I spotted an interesting article in the Sunday Styles section.

Titled, "Hard-Working Dresses", the piece highlighted several Spring dresses that they claimed were stylish and practical because of their versatility. The crux of the article was that in tough economic times shoppers are looking for garments that can be worn both for day and evening and were easy to wear. In scanning the dresses featured, I liked most of them and could imagine wearing almost all of them. I read through the article and, not surprisingly, discovered that the NY Times and I have a different perspective on what qualifies as affordable. No problem though. I had a feeling I could find similar patterns for all of the dresses I liked and make them without shelling out $350 per garment.

Has anyone else noticed that there is an amazing array of great patterns available lately? It didn't used to be this way, but there's more stuff that I'd like to make than time to make it. It's a wonderful time to sew clothes.
Anyway, I found this pattern which I thought was very like the one pictured. I opted to make my dress in just one color rather than the contrasting fabrics in the original.

I used a navy (or purple if you ask my youngest) linen for mine and, in keeping with the feel of the original dress chose the version with sleeves.

The pattern has several nice features including an invisible zipper and generous front facings.
My next version will probably be in cotton lawn and sans the sleeves, but I definitely want to make a second dress. Considering that the original came at a price tag of $350 and I spent $12 for the 3 yards of fabric needed, I'm confident I still have money in the budget to make a few more of these babies.

Monday Mini Quilt with a Hexagon Twist

2009-05-11T10:57:00.012-06:00

Wow! There are a lot of eager baby quilt makers out there. I enjoyed reading all your comments, especially the ones that mentioned soon-to-be babies as an impetus for making quilts.
According to the random number generator, the winning comments were:

cheryl norwood said...

Love your fabric, pillows and quilts---looks like a cute book, too!

Congratulations, Cheryl! Email me your address and I'll pass that along to the folks at Lark so you can receive your copy ASAP.

This week's Monday mini quilt is all about my newest shape obsession, hexagons. Well, maybe not exactly an obsession, but I am making a large bed sized quilt with hexagons and I've done a fair amount of English paper piecing of hexagons, so, perhaps the phrase strongly held interest applies.

Like last week's mini, this one utilizes a lot of leftovers from my scraps basket. I drafted a hexagon that measured about 4" in width and used that to create my patches. I didn't paper piece this quilt though. I machine pieced them with "Y" seams. The sewing wasn't exactly super fast, but a whole lot quicker than hand sewing.

And it made simple quilt-in the-ditch possible as I didn't have to worry about using the quilting to help hold the top together like I would have had I used paper piecing.

Frankly, the hardest, most time consuming aspect of this quilt was the binding. Because it needed to go around unusually shaped corners, I cut all the strips on the bias and then had to carefully manipulate it in and out of each edge. Also, I needed to hand stitch the backside of the binding rather than using a machine zig-zag.

I'll be adding these images to the Mini quilt Monday pool over at flickr. As of this minute, 12:40pm CST, there are 199 members in the group, so that means there are a whole bunch of wonderful mini quilts to enjoy. Run...don't walk (interenetly speaking, of course), to see these quilts.

And, as an appetizer to the group, take a gander at these two mini quilts sent to me via email this morning. This one is by Rossie. She's used a dye technique that's near and dear to my heart to craft her little beauty. And this one is by Chawne, aka cauchy09. If you get a chance to see Chawne's mini, take some time to check out her photostream. This woman has made some wonderful quilts.

Happy Monday!

PS. For those of you looking for more stitch in dye bundles and 1/4 pound scrap bundles, they'll be more in the shop this afternoon.

The Baby Quilts Book

2009-05-08T12:02:00.004-06:00

That's what I called it for the longest time. So, I was really happy when I found out that the official title of the book was going to be Quilts,Baby! . I didn't have to work too hard to learn a completely different name.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was excited to have a couple designs in this book, but at that point I hadn't received my contributor's copy. Now that I have an actual copy of the book, have read (and reread) the text and oohed and aahed over the quilts, I am even more thrilled to have been included. Along with a spectrum of fun, and contemporary quilts, there's a an extensive techniques section that, I think, makes these projects very doable for sewers from a variety of backgrounds and experience levels. Also, there's a bunch of cute little extras that enhance the essential charm of the book.
Extras like this:

Rather than have a traditional picture of each of the designers, the author, Linda Kopp, had each contributor send a baby picture to be included along with their design. It's just a little thing, but I enjoyed flipping through the pages and looking at everyone's baby picture. It made for a sweet experience. I also loved the excerpts from questionairres the designers filled out. I'm familiar with the work of quite a few of these women through flickr and the blogosphere and it was fun to hear more about them.
I think it's a fresh look at baby quilts and I'm proud to be included. I'm also giving away a copy of the book. The nice folks at Lark Books (the publisher) are offering a free copy of the book to one of my blog readers. That's you! All you have to do is leave a comment and I'll put your name in the drawing for the book. I'll take comments through Sunday at 8:00pm CST and announce the winner as part of Mini Quilt Monday.
Good luck and have a terrific weekend!

It's not about the pictures

2009-05-06T17:01:00.007-06:00

Really. This post is to let you all know about a new flickr group I've started to celebrate Mini Quilt Monday. Check it out here and, if you're interested, I'd love for you to join. There are already quite a few terrific little quilts in the group which makes me so happy. Also, I managed to navigate the process of creating the group which actually wasn't that complicated, but I'm still semi-amazed I didn't screw it up.
These pictures have absolutely nothing to do with the post, but I'm seriously averse to posting without images. Nine times out of ten when I visit other blogs, I enjoy all the pictures before I ever stop to read the text.

This fabric was hung out to dry yesterday and and looked so pretty on the line that despite its wrinkles I took some pictures of it.

Then today I crafted some of it into a pair of pillow covers for my shop .