Modern Tradition Quilt Bee

Here is my block for Melissa for the Modern Tradition Quilt Bee! I'll be honest...I've totally been procrastinating on this one. But it wasn't bad at all. Just very time consuming. But I do love how it turned out!

She supplied the white and yellow and wanted us to choose a coordinating fabric (in yellows, pinks, whites or oranges) from our stash. So I had the perfect fabric. Some Amy Butler Martini in yellow, orange, and pink!

The picture was corrected for darkness, so the colors look far more saturated than they are in reality. But the picture was way too dark otherwise.

my turn!!!!

eta: I'm about ready to give up on blogger with this font size thing. So for now, I'm leaving it! ;-)

Well, it's February!! Okay, maybe not. But close enough. February is my month for the Nittany Block Party bee and I can't even begin to describe how excited I am about the block I chose for this one!

Where do I begin? Well, this is actually the quilt that inspired it all. Aneela of comfortstitching came up with this one last summer. I immediately fell in love with it and knew I had to make one. But I didn't really know when or what colors or anything.

photo courtesy of comfortstitching

Until then I saw this....

photos courtesy of film in the fridge

Ashley of Film in the Fridge had this as the back of her nine-patch quilt. I love nine-patch quilts, but the back of this one won me over.

I LOVE the dark Kona coal and all the scrappy colors with the white border. Love.it.


So, this is what I came up with:


And again - I love it! The one thing I wish I maybe would have changed is to have a larger white border, but for every bit I make that larger, either the gray or colors get smaller. At some point I might re-work this block to make it a different size and play with that stuff, but for now, this works!

Technically what I've shown is only a half block, as the block (as the original tutorial is written) makes a 14"-ish block out of four 7.5" (or in my case, I squared to 7.25").

I'll be sharing more (and hopefully better pictures!) over on the Nittany Block Party blog in the next day or so for anyone who's interested in making something similar!

Wanda's blocks

Wanda's blocks for January, Nittany Block Party.

Wanda wanted 12.5" improv blocks with "people" fabric in the middle. I didn't think had any people fabric and then realized my mermaid fabric would work. So I chose the aqua mermaid and went with coordinating aqua/green/brown fabrics.

For the second block, I remembered I had some of Aneela's beautiful fabric (her own designs!) and chose the cute skippity girls. I love this block - I love the cute little girls and tried to stick with aqua/blue and red pops of color. And of course, how could I make a block with little jump-ropers and not finish it off with some Katie Jump Rope fabric?

Aren't they so cute? I could do a whole quilt in this color scheme - I love it!

I hope Wanda likes her blocks. They're going out today!

While you're at it, check me out on papernstitch over the next few weeks!

design wall

Guess what I have!!!

A design wall! Okay, so it's pretty rustic. I literally just cut a large piece of batting from my stash and secured it to the wall with a staple gun. But I love it! It's so nice to be able to hang quilt blocks on and not have to worry about the floor, table, etc.

I have quite a bit more on there now than is shown in the picture, but you at least get an idea of some of the things I'm working on!

haiti

The tragedy unfolding in Haiti right now is heartwrenching. I'm sure I don't need to tell anyone reading this just how bad it is. I'm trying to do what very little I can to help by donating some items to a good cause. So, if you've ever been interested in one of my items, now would be a great time to buy one!

Craft Hope has opened up a shop on etsy and every item being sold (including my dress) has been donated by the crafters. The proceeds will go to Doctors Without Borders. Even if you're not the market for a dress, please check out the shop. There are some amazing things that have been donated and it's for a great cause that desperately needs the funds right now.

the bee's knees

Late 2009, I chose to join a quilting bee for the new year. This coincided with Block Party's announcement that they were doing a book and were hoping for more online quilting bees like their own. For those that don't know, an online quilting bee is a way for 12 people to come together for a year and take turns making blocks for one another. For your month, you choose the block, send out the appropriate fabrics, give guidelines on color & style if people can build from their stash, and once completed they send their blocks back to you.

I wanted to join for a few reasons. I thought that it would be a great way to push myself to finish more quilts this year. I love quilting, but the shop often robs me of quilting time when filling orders. But, as with anything, when I have a deadline or a commitment, I find a way to make it happen. I also thought it would be a great way to try and learn new blocks, especially things I might not try on my own.

So, I ended up joining three quilting bees this year. Nittany Block Party (though the Illini in this house would object strongly to this bee's name!), Modern Tradition, and The Bee's Knees. You can find links to each bee's blog on the right hand side of my page, and also find our groups on flickr.

The first blocks I worked on this month were for Tracy of The Bee's Knees. She wanted Wonky Pinwheels and has a blue/brown combo going - very pretty!

Here are my blocks for this month. I hope she likes them!




These were easy blocks and went together fast. I'm especially glad I checked our group blog before putting them together as the tutorial she provided has the smaller part of the pinwheel towards the center - opposite of what Tracy wanted. Phew!

I already have 2 of my blocks picked for this year (one more to go!) and my first month is February for the Nittany bee. My biggest problem was deciding which of the two to do first! But, I figured out what I want last night and will spend some time tonight working on some practice blocks. I'm working off a tutorial for a block but want to change it up a bit, thanks to an inspirational quilt. More on that later!

happy day!

Yesterday was a particularly happy day for me. A birthday full of special things. Cards from my kiddos. Breakfast made for me by my wonderful hubby. A fun morning of sweet times. Lunch out with the four of us. A "yes" day for my son (and therefore pretty stress-free for me!), and an evening of quilting!

I'm a very lucky girl!

Remember this block? What I've turned my attention to next. Loving the colors - can't wait to see it all pieced!

new styles!

I've been doing some sewing of new spring items for the shop! Excited to roll them all out, but even more excited for my photographer, Kelly Anderson of Kelly Anderson Photography and Design, to receive the items and take pictures for me.

I try....I really do. But I just simply lack the awesome photography skills necessary to capture the items in their full glory like Kelly can! Well, that and she also happens to have two very adorable models available 24/7. My only willing model (Noah doesn't count when it comes to skirts and dresses!) can't even walk yet. I think that may be a sign that my "boy" items need to come sooner rather than later! ;-)

Here are some sneak peeks in the meantime. These are just a few - there are more already listed in the shop and even more to come! Tomorrow, more quilting!

new year, new look!

I decided to change up the look for the shop a bit. I liked my original logo, but I created it myself and thought it was a bit too cutesy for what I was after for the shop. So, I hired an etsy artist to create a new look for me. I'll be sticking with this look now and the nice thing is I can change out the photos as items sell out and new ones are added, etc.

What do you think?

Happy 2010!!!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year! So hard to believe it's 2010 already. 2009 seems like a blur to me...so many new things. New gardens (we more than doubled our garden beds this year), new baby, new hobbies (sewing, knitting and quilting) which ultimately led me to this blog and my shop. I want to thank those of you out there reading this blog, following along and commenting. Means a lot to me! And thanks also to all my customers! The notes I get telling me how much your little ones love their Noah and Lilah items just absolutely make my days and bring a smile to my face. Really and truly make it all worthwhile, so thanks again!

I have big plans for 2010....so many new shop items to debut (and not just at Noah and Lilah...HomeModern also!), new studio space, three online quilting bees...just to name a few. Much more on all that to come, but in the meantime, take a look at what we've been up to over here (and why I haven't posted since before Christmas!):

my studio a few days ago...

my studio as of this morning!

I really should have taken a proper "before" photo - it had been serving as a playroom for Noah and had nothing but the center light fixture you see in the picture for lighting. Also, the left wall lacked drywall completely. Quite a bit of progress was made in the last week or so. Very exciting! I'll be sure to update you on progress as we continue! Now, I need to finish organizing in there. ;-)