C2C2: Alison's Quilt

After finishing up with Stephanie's quilt for the Coast to Coast Traveling Bee, I quickly jumped into getting Alison's done. There are two reasons for this: 1) I'm moving soon. I don't want to accidentally lose or pack any of this lovely quilt! and 2) Get a look at those fabrics! How could I not get excited to work with such a cheery group?

For C2C this year, Alison requested a 48" row featuring any kind of block we liked--within reason, of course. I opted for a Greek Cross block, and I used Fresh Lemons Quilts' tutorial. Alison had sent along this super fun set of charms and some additional yardage, and I opted to use a yellow solid for my background fabric, mostly because none of the other rows had gone yellow, and isn't it such a sunny shade?

This is my favorite of the four blocks that I made. I really like the fabric used for the center cross.

And here are all the rows making friends with each other. If I'm remembering correctly, Alison is planning to sash these lovelies together, then throw a border around the entire thing. Yum yum yum yum.

Friends, this concludes the Coast to Coast Traveling Bee for me for this year. Well, until I get my own quilt back, of course! For the second year in a row, this bee has proved to be challenging, but super rewarding. I'm so thankful to the ladies who sewed along with me. Onto next year!

C2C2: Stephanie's Quilt

It has come to my attention that I still have not one but TWO Coast to Coast Traveling Bee quilts in progress to share with you! I've actually finished up my commitment to that bee for this year, and this year's quilt tops have me soaring with excitement. BONUS: I can't WAIT to get my own quilt back!

First, up, Stephanie's quilt. I lucked out and found Stephanie's original blog post showing her quilt start and a bit of her inspiration. Stephanie shipped it to K, who shipped it to Chelsea, who shipped it to me, so I'm the fourth person who had the privilege of working on this lovely.

This is the bulk of Stephanie's quilt as of now. You can see her original trees, and also the flying geese K added and the tulips from Chelsea. I added a row of butterflies down the right side to follow along with the nature prompt. I felt like there was a lot of plant life, so we needed some insect life too.

I had so much fun picking out the fabrics for the butterflies. I kept the bodies the same fabric, but each butterfly had different colored wings.

But I didn't feel right about just sending the super fun to piece butterflies, so I went back to the cutting board...

...and churned out a row of Ohio stars. Of course, I did my quilty math totally wrong, and instead of fitting over the top of the quilt, it hung seriously over! Thankfully Alison, the next person in the chain, is a total peach, and she said she'd add the stars for me after making her own additions. Whew!

I'm not gonna lie, I struggled with the theme for this one. Not because it was particularly hard, but the prompt was nature, and I am SO not a nature-y kind of girl. Have any of y'all seen the Jim Gaffigan sketch on camping? I think it's in his King Baby special, but the line that always sticks out to me is when he says he's "indoorsy." SPOT ON, Jim Gaffigan. I'm not a nature kind of girl, I'm just indoorsy.

I'm starting to think about round 3 of the bee...sure, it's only June, but I'm a planner! Hopefully I'll have Alison's quilt to share with you next week!

Coast to Coast 2: C's Quilt

I shared K's quilt with y'all earlier this week, and today I'm back to share C's quilt with you!

C's quilt was the first one (other than my own) that I tackled for C2C this year. I feel like the first round is always super tough--you're setting a major tone for future additions! And I struggled with C's quilt. I felt like I could go a conservative route and tack on some trees, or a sunshine in the sky, or a river underneath, and I sketched out numerous plans. I researched natural features in NH, where C is from, and I even considered improv piecing a waterfall. But none of those ideas felt right.

What did feel right was a retro travel poster idea. I reached out to C, who was okay with my idea, and I went to town! I googled retro travel posters and looked for ideas. I ultimately decided to frame the mountains with a white-on-white print and a chocolate shot cotton, which totally looks black and way too much in the pic above, but it's really a tad more demure.

For the lettering, I used a red and white polka dot because I knew I wanted red. Yummy, yummy red. I bought an alphabet pattern from From Blank Pages, and it was awesome. I would totally recommend it!

This was a teaser I put up on instagram, and I asked readers to guess what it was going to say. Some of the responses were totally awesome.

Next I'll work on S's quilt, but I have a brief break because I haven't received it just yet. Here's hoping I can squeeze out another quilt or two and maybe even cut into the fabric I purchased for two dresses this past weekend. (Yes, two. Apparently my fabric-buying self-control went out the window this weekend. I blame it on the snow and my need to wear sundresses without heavy tights and boots.)

Do you have any fun weekend sewing plans? I'm going to be staring longingly at my tangerine knit fabric and my Moneta dress pattern. Maybe???

Coast to Coast 2: K's Quilt

So, apparently I haven't posted about the second quilt I've worked on for Coast to Coast 2018, but I just finished this one yesterday, and I'm super excited about it, so you get to see K's first. (Though I'm not gonna lie, C's is another sort of super cool.)

This is what I received in the mail a few weeks ago. K had started with the awesome paper pieced center, and C had put it on point (SUCH an awesome decision) and added the patchwork. K requested movement, and I thought one way of furthering that goal would be to put it on point again.

So I did.

My initial plan was to do stripes. The starting point is gorgeous with a yum low volume/color balance, but I thought the use of minimal LV and bold colors in my round would be a fun contrast. (It also feels like a total Audrey move, not gonna lie.) But stripes seemed kinda...boring. And since K is not only my quilt bee buddy but ALSO the person who introduced me to quilting, I couldn't just slap together a set of stripes and call it done. So I added triangles, which I think was the right move.

The fabrics I chose for this were a yellow pin dot I had in stash, an Alison Glass print in orange (one of my fave prints from her), some grunge in a cream, a fun batik I picked up, and this purple stripe print, which I think seals the deal. Like, it would be cool without it, and I almost chickened out and went with a grunge in purple, but the saleslady caught me putting back the stripe-y bolt and pretty much strong-armed me into it. (In the best sort of way--she was lovely.) I was worried the stripes wouldn't line up and it would be super obvious, but I think it works out okay.

I also chose to piece the yellow and orange at different widths, so in two corners, the yellow is more prominent, and in two, the orange is more prominent. I obviously didn't make the width too different because I don't think most people would notice, but I had hoped it would add to the movement theme.

I seriously love this bee!

Coast to Coast 2 Quilt Top Start

Last year, I helped start a traveling quilt bee called the #coasttocoasttravelingbee. Along with five other super awesome quilters, we stretched our skillz to the max and produced six super awesome quilt tops. (Here's mine!) I had such an amazing time, and it was pretty obvious that C2C had to happen again!

My 2017 quilt top was inspired by a mountain range, and it was fun to create based on a place. (I had never made a quilt like that before!) I had thought at first that I would use water (particularly in the form of rain) as the base for this year's quilt, but my initial work following that pursuit was...um...bleh. And not me at all! And you know how sometimes it's good to do things you're uncomfortable with and push yourself to try new color schemes/techniques/things? Well, this wasn't any of those things. It was just bleh.

At this point, I had a couple of weeks to produce something worthy of this year's C2C group. After spending MONTHS laboring over the water/rain idea, I searched through my folder of quilt ideas/patterns/inspiration, desperate for something.

And then I saw these awesome Butterfly Charm Blocks from lillyella. And they'd looked pretty fun, and what if I did a rainbow? So I did.

At first I'd planned to make 9 and then do a nine-patch grouping, but after talking with K, she suggested maybe a ring of butterflies would be awesome.

And I was like, I have this nine-patch idea cemented into my brain! I can't betray that! And besides, it's going to look fierce! And then I laid out a ring of butterflies as K suggested, and it looked AWESOME (and meant less paper piecing) and how could I say NO?

This is what I've sent to the always fab Alison, along with some rainbow goodness. Yes, please, butterfly charm blocks. YES, PLEASE.

Who wants to guess what will get added? I'm SO excited to see where this group of awesome quilters will go!

Coast to Coast Traveling Bee--My Quilt Top!

Friends, have we talked about how great the Coast to Coast Traveling Bee is? Have we talked about my very serious love for it? Yes? Well, in case you are unaware, this bee is AMAZING. I had so much fun participating this year, and I am eager to start the 2018 round off. (Okay, not TOTALLY eager as I've yet to finish piecing my top, but you get the point!)

The mountain centerpiece above is where my quilt started.

And this is what I got in return. SO FREAKING AWESOME, right?

Right.

This bad boy is totally getting the handquilting treatment. You know, when I finished up the other five quilt tops laying around my house at present. (FIVE? YIKES!)

Now, I'm off to work on paper-piecing my start for round two, aka C2C2.

Coast to Coast Traveling Bee Quilt 5

For my fifth and final quilt project from the Coast to Coast Traveling Bee, I got to work on Chelsea's quilt, woo! Chelsea had sent along some Alison Glass charms and some oh-so lovely blocks utilizing AG fabric, asking for additional blocks for a super fun sampler. This was my last quilt project from the bee--other than finishing up my own quilt, of course--and it's sad to think we are done for the year. I had hoped this bee would be totally wicked awesome with some totally wicked awesome peeps, and it was that and so much more.

I referenced the block library at Gen X Quilters, and I picked out a handful of blocks I thought would make fun contributions to this project. This is my personal favorite, the Modern Star from LaineyBug Designs.

This is the Crown of Thorns block from Charise Creates.

And a Starry Skyline block courtesy of From Blank Pages.

I made a couple of small filler blocks as well and sent it all off. Here is a shot of Chelsea's blocks all together--I'm eager to see what this finished top will look like!

C2C is already planning for next year--at least one of the peeps has already bought fabric!! The rumblings of an idea are starting to take shape, and thankfully I have some time to let them mature. I hope to have one more C2C post for this year--one full of finishes! (Or at least finished tops...)

Coast to Coast Traveling Bee Quilt 4

For this round of the Coast to Coast Traveling Bee, I had the privilege of working on my super awesome friend K's quilt. K elected to go with a teal, black and white color scheme. I know K is a fan of geometric small scale blenders, and I tried to shape my contribution to this quilt to compliment the blocks that have come before mine.

The above pic shows the blocks for K so far, not including a set of seriously awesome flying geese from Alison. I also pieced together some extra HSTs that were leftover and included some additional fabrics to be used for sashing when it comes time for K to put this all together. 

Before my turn, there was only one block with a gray background, and I thought I should contribute a few additional blocks that might read as gray, so I used a lot of that black and white crosshatch from Carolyn Friedlander. One of my first impressions of this quilt was that a lot of the blocks have movement, so that was my goal when selecting which blocks I wanted to contribute.

Other fabrics I used include some Violet Craft (the black and white bird print in the bottom block) and a teal print from one of Elizabeth Hartman's lines. The blocks from top to bottom, left to right are Fibonacci Sequence blocks, Ashley's Star (alt block), Pinwheel block (I did modify mine), and Ribbon Star.

In some ways, this traveling bee assignment was one of the more difficult for me. ONLY three colors???? Do I know how to piece blocks in only three colors? But it appears I do. I think the Ribbon Star block is my fave, though I do like that Ashley's Star block too.

It's hard to believe, but I have only ONE MORE quilt to work on before this round of the bee is done. It has been such an enjoyable experience, and I think everyone is going to wind up with a really exciting finish!

Coast to Coast Traveling Bee Quilt 3

It's fun to think that these quilts from the Coast to Coast Traveling Bee were started late last year, and here we are in May. This is the third quilt I've had the pleasure of working on, meaning I'm more than halfway through now. Two more to go!

Summer started off her quilt with the awesome center medallion, then bordered it with the big HSTs and triangles. Her color palette was fun, and her directions fairly open, so I went to work, thinking of what I could contribute to this quilt that would be my own something, but would compliment the work of the other awesome quilters who have already handled this.

I am thoroughly enjoying myself in this bee. It's pushing me, but in a very good way. I'm being challenged to work outside my usual style and contribute to art that has been manipulated and teased about by other different artists. They have their strengths and styles, and I have to determine what about me will be the perfect contribution to each quilt. It's made for some very different ideas (check out Alison and Susan's quilts!) but I like each a whole lot!

Sometimes finding the perfect something takes a lot of thinking time. And in this case, it also took a lot of quilty math.

And this is what I came up with! Summer mentioned HSTs, so I figured pretty early I would use some of those to tie it back to the HSTs in the center, but I was going to wind up with some crazy fractions if I tried to get the HSTs to work with a 43.75" side, so I opted to add the border of squares to the top and bottom to bring it up to 48.5", a measurement that is much more HST friendly.

I took inspiration from Melissa's Royal Quilt from Happy Quilting. I love her play of the two different sizes of HSTs, and that's where I got the idea to use two different sizes in my addition to this quilt.

And if you're wondering what's going on with my quilt, well, check it out! Summer had my quilt this round, so it was fun watching her work on mine as I worked on hers! I would never have imagined it going this direction, and it's so. much. fun. to watch where each person has taken it. I hope you're enjoying following our progress. If you're on instagram, check out #coasttocoasttravelingbee for more pics.

Coast to Coast Traveling Bee Quilt 2

I was chatting with my super wise quilting sensei, K, this week about the pendulum swing of self-doubt. And I've got be honest, this week was a doozy of a swing.

This is Susan's quilt for the Coast to Coast Traveling Bee. The thing that stuck out to me on her list was a request for lots of movement. Susan made this gorgeous feather and flying geese ring, and then Alison contributed a glorious batch of ninja stars--ahem, I mean friendship stars!--and I was left pondering, what can I contribute? How can I make this quilt move?

I spent a lot a lot A LOT of time thinking about this. And in case that sounds like I'm complaining, I'm not trying to--this kind of thinking was super invigorating and pleasurable. I was trying to hunt down the perfect addition to this already stunning WIP, and it was fun!

I pulled a stack of rainbow, which was probably the easiest part of this. Early on, I thought half-dresdens might be nice, so I started piecing wedges and when it was obvious they were going to be stunning, I thankfully was a smart girl and pieced one extra for me! (I might already have plans for it.)

And then this idea for arrows formed in my mind, but how to fit them? Why, around the corners, of course! This pattern is by Sew What Sherlock, and I always enjoy how crisp the points turn out.

And when I had pieced all the dresdens and all the arrows, and all I really had to do was fit everything together, I had a major moment of self-doubt. I was convinced it was all terrible and all wrong and horrible and WRONG. I started thinking of other things I could do and would I possibly be able to make them happen before the mailing date? And I was tired because I had felt so sure that the plan I'd had was solid and perfect, and here it was, a massive failure and who's to say the next one wouldn't be quite so horrible? (Admittedly, I can be a *touch* melodramatic at times.)

Except, it wasn't. Not at all. The swing back to confidence started with a good talk with K, who assured me it was great. The photo I took to send to her gave me a different eye. It shrunk down the quilt, and I was able to weigh my concerns using its help. I appliqued down the wedges, and I decided they could stay. I started adding the arrows, still half-convinced they were going to have to go. And slowly, I finished piecing my portion of this quilt.

And friends, I think it looks pretty smokin' awesome! I'm hoping that the next time I face such a moment of self-doubt, I'm able to continue forward because maybe, just maybe, it'll turn out grand.

Coast to Coast Traveling Bee Quilt 1

As I'm piecing these stars for Alison's quilt, my husband asks me why I'm working on a quilt for a person I don't like. And I reply, "Alison is awesome. Why would you think I don't like her?"

And then I start panicking. Does the quilt look like junk? Does he think I've made a mess of Alison's lovely medallion?

Thankfully, no. APPARENTLY, friendship stars look like ninja stars to him, and APPARENTLY he thinks I'm the sort of person to send people death threats in their quilt tops. What a punk. 

So I tell my husband that I'm calling him out on my blog for insinuating that I have violent tendencies, and he starts backtracking. "No!" he says. "Ninja stars are useful tools. You're using them in the quilt to show your friend you've got her back."

RIGHT. :)

Here's the quilt as it stands right now, and I'm pretty excited about it! I'll drop it in the mail this week, and then I get to start work on Susan's!

Coast to Coast Traveling Quilt Bee

I've mentioned the Coast to Coast Traveling Quilt Bee a couple of times, and today I'm excited to share more about this project with you. Earlier this year, my quilting sensei, K, and I were discussing how fun traveling bees are, and that turned into some discussion about starting one, and before I knew it, C2C was born, six ladies (myself included) were excited to be a part of it, and we'll commence January 1!

If you're unfamiliar with the concept of a traveling quilt bee, the long and short of it is, we'll each start our own quilt, then mail it off to the next person in line. Each person in the bee adds on to it and mails it to the person after them, and in the end, each quilt will be worked on by six individuals and return to the person who started it. Fun, right?

I had the hardest time settling on a fabric pull for this quilt. I originally used Katarina Roccella's Avant Garde collection as a starting off point--specifically her Steps Above Print in Prism--and had planned to do a super bright bit of fun. But it was never quite right. I subtracted prints, I added prints, I shopped around for other prints, but nothing was right. And then, the my pull-in-progress was sitting next to a Tula Pink print from her Acacia line--the raccoons on tan fabric--and that looked divine, and I added fabrics that finally felt right, but then I had no idea what to do! Finally, I axed the raccoons and started cutting strips of my fabrics.

There was a lot of weird cutting, and when I got to this point, I pretty much knew I'd either love the finished result or hate it. There was not going to be any middle ground. I was all kinds of nervous.

Here's where I landed. Friends, I'm in LOVE with this. Like, wanna go to the chapel and get married kind of LOVE. Y'all may know I'm a super huge fan of Rebecca Bryan's Modern Rainbow book, and I'm slowly working on making every quilt from that book. Well, this is my go at her Wavelength quilt. I ADORE that quilt. I seriously want a super big version too, but I felt that starting off with a smaller version was a smart idea as I wanted to make sure I had grasped the improv piecing properly.

I need to write up some notes and whatnot, but after that, I'll be sending this off to Chelsea. And come January 1, I'll start work on Alison's. I am ALL SORTS of excited for this bee, as I know it's going to be splendid and amazing and awesome all packed into six quilts.

Have you ever been in a traveling quilt bee?