Quilt Expo 2017

What an amazing, crazy, fun whirlwind the last few days have been!  I'm drunk on fabric and quilting and art and friends.  Quilt Expo 2017 did not disappoint!

Let's start with the absolute most exciting part-- My lion quilt was in the juried exhibition!!!  Wooot!!

And the next super amazing, fun part-- Tula Pink was there!  She gave a lecture on Friday night and I was in stitches the whole time.  She is a hoot!  Totally, absolutely love her!

The display of quilts was gorgeous as ever.  Here is a small selection of things I loved:

And then there was the shopping.  I did some damages!

To wrap up the show, I volunteered to take down the exhibit quilts. I love to meet the people who made the quilts. And now only 362 days until Quilt Expo 2018!

xoxo

Kristin

ps

Linking up with Molli Sparkles Sunday Stash and Lorna's Lets be Social

Finish! The Lion Quilt

Hooray!  I have a very special finish to report-- The Lion Quilt!  I started this last fall (October) and finished the top in early January.  Out of all the quilts I have made, I'm most proud of this one.  It was complicated, yet incredibly addictive.  Every section that I would complete would make me want to start another, just to see it evolve.  The pattern is Violet Craft's Jungle Abstraction: The Lion.  I've applied to show this at Quilt Expo in September-- fingers crossed that it makes the cut!

This quilt was one of my goals for Q2 Finish-a-Long and I'm linking up with Amanda Jean's Finish it up Friday!

xoxo
Kristin

Sunday Stash + Slow Stitching

While at Blue Bar Quilts last week, I did a little stash enhancement. No particular purpose, just some pretty fat quarters that wanted to come home with me...

I'm on a mission to finish up my Lion Quilt. I got it back from my quilter about a week ago and I want to enter it in Quilt Expo this fall.  The submission deadline is June 30th, so I have to go, go, go with the binding and I'm taking advantage of any downtime and trying to fit some slow stitching in.  Hopefully I will have a finish to   

xoxo,

Kristin

Linking up with Molli Sparkles and Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching

Finish! Twin Baby Girl Quilt (1 of 2)

I have a finished quilt to share!  This is one of two baby quilts that I'm making for a coworker, whose wife is pregnant with twins! Bot quilts are identical-- except for the bindings.  I did one in scrappy grey and one in scrappy pink.  That way, if there is a need to distinguish them, it can be done.  Here is the grey bound one.  The pink one is almost there (not quite!).

These are both goals I listed as part of the the Finish-A-Long for quarter 2 of 2017.  My original post is here.

Hopefully I will have the twin to this one finished and ready to share next week.  Right now, I have binding galore to work on.  In addition to these baby quilts, I have the pink/purple XO quilt and...

MY LION QUILT IS BACK!  I got it back from the quilter yesterday and it turned out FaBuLoUs!!!  Here is a teeny-tiny sneak peek:

xoxo,

Kristin

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and Finish it up Friday.

Finish-A-Long 2017

I've read about the Finish-A-Long for a while now and have followed many people that are participating.  Because I have several quilts that are either finished tops or not too far from finishing, I thought this might help motivate me to bring them to completion.  So-- I'm joining in on 2017 Quarter 2 Finish-A-Long!  Woo-hoo!

The rules are: I post a list of what I want to complete in Q2 to my blog this week and at the end of the quarter, if I've completed any of them, I post a summary and link it up to the Finsh-A-Long hosts.  Every finish qualifies for a prize!  It's worth saying again--Woo-hoo!

Here are my goals:

1- Lion Quilt: it's at the quilter's waiting for its turn.  I would love to get this back and have it bound by the end of the quarter.

2- Charity Chop Quilt:  The top and back are complete (Finally!!).  Can I find the time to quilt and bind this?

3- Pink Grey Triangle Baby Quilt x 2:  There are some babies in my world and I would like to complete 2 Thousand Pyramid quilts in pink/grey/black/white and gift these to friends.

4- Wonky Stars for Lutherdale: I would like to submit this quilt to the August Lutherdale Auction.  Can't do that without completing it!! =O

5- Elephant Parade-- this is where i get ambitious!! This top has been complete for a while.  Do I quilt it myself?  Or have it done by a professional?  It would be lovely to finish this up.

Oops!  I forgot an important top that I want to finish this quarter.  Editing to add the Pink/Purple XO top.

I'll be linking up with Jess at Elven Garden Quilts.  Wish me luck!!!

xoxo
Kristin

What's under my needle and on my design wall?

I've been a busy quilter lately and have all kinds of things to report on!

My lion quilt top is complete!!!!  I absolutely love how it turned out and can't wait for it to be quilted! This went together quickly.  Probably because I was rather obsessed and was working on it in most every spare moment. What is hard to convey in the photo is the size-- 60" x 60".  It's practically as tall as me! I'm hoping to enter this at Quilt Expo this year! ☺

Over Christmas, I added the borders and quilted my Strawberry Quilt. I'm making this as a donation to Lutherdale's annual quilt auction.  It seems perfect for a little girl to take naps under, play picnic on top of and just to decorate a room! Hopefully it gets a high bid!  Just a little bit of binding left before this is complete.  I'll see if I can get better pictures at that point.

Now that the lion is off the design wall, I can use it for other things. I have another charity quilt I would like to finish up and send on it's way.  I assembled the top 2 years ago? And it has been hibernating in my closet.  Instead of purchasing yardage for the backing, I've decided to purge my stash of fabrics I am not in love with anymore.  That is how the top started!! I had some fabrics that were taking up precious space, so I started making large nine-patched for a 'disappearing' quilt.  

The back is all improv with 2 orphan blocks.  It is about 75% complete. This quilt will be part of Mad City Quilt Guild's donations to Project Linus.

Lastly, I've started pulling fabric for a baby quilt.  I'm quite excited to get this started!

xoxo

Kristin

ps

linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts and Patchwork Times

2016 - Year in review

Another year has passed and it seems to have gone faster than ever.  How is that?!?!  I always have ambitous goals, whether it is chores on a Saturday, things to do on a vacation or quilts to make in a year.  Looking back on 2016, I might think that I wasn't very prolific in finishes, but I had a lot of wonderful experiences.

I quilted my longest UFO (my bed quilt) and completed the binding in less than a week! (2006-2016).

I entered a quilt at Quilt Expo for the first time! And-- my Aunt Nancy happened to be visiting from Seattle at the same time as Expo and was able to spend a few hours there with me (so much fun!!).  

I sent my second quilt ever home with Nancy to give to my cousin who is expecting her first child! This quilt was waiting patiently for a special home.

I added another vintage machine to my collection.

I had a fantastic weekend in Eau Claire making bags and meeting new people.

I participated in the Lutherdale gala quilt again and feel honored to help with such a fantastic cause.

I've started what I think is my most stunning quilt ever!

I'm settling into my new sewing room at my new home and feel very blessed.

All in all, it was an amazing year!!  And I can't wait to see what 2017 brings.  The way things are looking, this might be the year of the baby quilt.  I have plans to make quite a few. 

xoxo

Kristin

Barn Quilt + Lion progress

Last week I took a Barn Quilt class at Ardyth's Sewing in Baraboo and it was all kinds of fun!  We picked our pattern in advance and they drafted the block for us before class.  All I needed to do was show up and paint! My design is 'Whirling Star',

My Lion Quilt is coming together quite nicely!  The bottom section is complete and just needs a few long seams sewn together.  I'm actually a bit further along than this, but don't have the latest photo. =(  I'm still a bit obsessed and would rather be sewing on this than doing practically anything else!  The perspective in the photo is a bit deceiving.  This finishes at 60" x 60"  It will be pretty big!

Linking up with Patchwork Times - Design Wall Monday and Sew Fresh Quilts - Let's Be Sewcial

xoxo

The Lion Quilt

Now that fall is here, I'm able to find more time to sew.  I did some crafting over the summer, but didn't get to blogging it.  Hopefully I can do some catch up posts!

Last Saturday, I started a version of Violet Craft's Lion Quilt.  It's part of a Jungle Abstractions series.  I bought the pattern last winter and thought I might have lost my mind when I looked at it.  So I let the pattern age (like a fine wine!).  I thought maybe it would be a good project for my January retreat, when I have several uninterrupted days to work on it.  I started ordering fabric with the plan of holding off until January.  Well-- that didn't happen!!  I've become obsessed with working on this quilt!

The fabrics are all Moda Bella Solids and (if it's not obvious) it is paper pieced.  I love paper piecing and have done many projects using that technique.  This is different, because the scale is so much bigger than what I normally do.  And usually I'm using scraps, but that would be quite hard with this pattern!

Most quilts have a block repeated many times, which can be tedious and this one is so organic and different.  I think I'm motivated by wanting to see more and more!