Indie Quilt: Finished!

Finally.  After much procrastination, it's done.

I put off the backing and binding for weeks.  It's my least-favorite part of making a large quilt. It's just so hard to get the fabric completely smooth.  At least the front was already quilted, so I knew that part would look wrinkle-free.  I don't recommend the use of quilt basting spray.  Yikes.  What a mess.  Just ask my poor husband, who really tried to help me with that part.  By the end, our socks were sticking to the floor, and the quilt was crooked and creased.  But we emerged victorious!

This came out exactly as I envisioned it, which nearly never happens to me.  I kinda made it up as I went, with the intent of having large enough pieces of the prints to be able to fully appreciate them.  I just love this fabric! (Indie by Pat Bravo, in case you missed that part.)  I sewed up the strips first, and then quilted as I sewed them together into rows.  The top corner has a blank navy rectangle, which adds  a fun bit of asymmetry.

I detest hand-sewing binding, so I wrapped the edges of the backing around to the front and machine stitched the whole thing.

The backing is a couple of large pieces of my favorite prints from the front.

What I'm Working On: Indie Quilt

I have been hoarding my stash of lovely Indie fabric by Pat Bravo ever since it arrived in my mailbox many months ago.  I knew I wanted to make a quilt for my bed with it, especially after seeing Maureen's.  But I wanted to take my time with it, making sure that I think it through enough beforehand so that I love it in the end.  The fabrics are a mix of florals and geometrics in gorgeous jewel tones. To ground them (and make it a bit more "manly") I am pairing them with a navy Moda Bella solid.

I've been saving ideas on a Pinterest board and collecting some fun coordinating accessories to tie the quilt in to the rest of the room.  The hard part is that I don't know what the room itself will look like--by the time I get this project finished, we will be moving to a new house/town/state thanks to the good old US Coast Guard.  But I want to have it ready to go when we get there, wherever there may be.

Birch-inspired prints by Alaskan artist Katie Sevigny

I snagged two of these awesome wall hooks in the clearance room at Blackbeary Bog in Homer.

I started cutting the fabric this week.  I don't want it to look too planned, but I am just not the type of person who can dive in with no plan at all!  I am basing my design on the Uneven Coins quilt in Block Party.  But I want my "coins" to be large enough to showcase the large-scale prints of the fabric.

 I'm going to try out a method for making the strips that I found in my new book from Tula Pink.  I think it will be a real time saver.

The plan is to make 5 columns of "coins", each column quilted as I go using the method I learned in Rachael's stocking pattern.  Wish me luck!!

AGF October Challenge: Mending Kit

I am so, so proud of this project!  Last month I discovered that Art Gallery Fabrics hosts a monthly sewing challenge.  I actually won last month's with my fab laptop sleeve:

This month's challenge was a mending kit.  I despise hand sewing.  But it is a necessary evil.  So I made myself participate in the challenge, hoping to make something that I will love using enough to make hand sewing not so terrible.  I think it worked!

I designed this kit, using fabrics from the Indie line by Pat Bravo (my very favorite, could you tell?), using nothing but the bag-making skills I have learned over the past year and my trusty iPad sketching "pen."  It turned out just as I had hoped--or maybe even a little better.

The outside is lightly gathered, with a fun contrasting strip down the middle.  Inside there are two zippered pockets (with metal zippers to give it a little edge) that can hold buttons, needles, and even my hexie-making templates.   I added a little loop to hold my favorite metal ruler, a pocket for my scissors, and elastic loops for my thread.  I have lots of thread, and always seem to buy the same size spools, so I made the loops to hold this specific size.  The little pin cushion attaches with velcro.  I used DecorBond on both sides for extra stability, and sandwiched a piece of cotton batting in there too.  The whole thing folds in thirds (a requirement of the challenge) and fastens with an elastic loop and fun wooden button.

All folded up, it looks like a fun little clutch.  Did I mention how much I love it?!?!

I wish I had discovered these challenges earlier in the year.  Those who complete them all are in the running to win a new sewing machine.  There's no way I can catch up now, but I'm so glad I found them.  It's always nice to give myself a way to expand on my design skills.

Indie Laptop Sleeve

I'm a big fan of Art Gallery Fabrics, especially since the Indie line by Pat Bravo was released. They have been running a different sewing challenge every month this year, but I am just getting in on the action this month.  The assignment was to make a laptop sleeve with a "drop-in" pocket using only Art Gallery fabrics.

Luckily, I ordered myself more Indie a couple of weeks ago.  I pulled out a pattern by Michelle Patterns that I used several months ago for a laptop sleeve.  I wasn't happy with the results at the time (which is unusual for a pattern by Michelle--her stuff is generally awesome).  The velcro on the flap didn't line up correctly, the case was a little too bulky, and the laptop didn't quite fit into the sleeve.  I reworked the pattern a bit, making it a little taller and adding a wide zippered pocket across the top to hold my iPad and the charging cord for my MacBook.  Rather than use Velcro to close the flap, I borrowed the method I am using in my coffee cup sleeves and made two elastic loop and button closures.  Now the flap can expand to accommodate the added bulk when I put my power cord in the pocket.

And now I can retire my old Vera Bradley laptop bag that is pretty far from my current style in favor of my awesome new Indie sleeve.  Hooray!

Military Uniforms in My Quilt?

Now that I have abandoned my overwhelmingly huge idea for the New York Beauty Blocks (and further downsized it into the goal of a twin-sized quilt for my daughter!), my mind has moved on to deciding on a more manageable quilt for my own bed.

I am really loving the new Indie collection by Pat Bravo, and have a fat quarter pack of the entire line in my cart right now at The Intrepid Thread.  I am planning a scrappy-yet-planned simple quilt and want to use a navy solid to add some modern edge.

Indie, image courtesy of Fresh Lemon Quilts

I considered ordering several yards of the Moda Bella Solid in Admiral Blue, and then I saw the towering pile of Coast Guard ODU uniforms on my office floor.  Every few years, the Coast Guard is nice enough to change the required daily uniform that my husband must wear, rendering his old uniforms obsolete and costing us an arm and a leg to replace with the new regulation version.  They just so happen to be navy blue.  They are also 50% cotton and 50% nylon.   They have been washed enough times that they're really soft.

 I am tempted to try repurposing them, but am unsure how they will work with quilting-weight cotton.  Anyone have any experience with this to share? It would make buying those new uniforms seem not quite as pricey!