Ruby LOVE

I'm in the process of making up blocks for a quilt that I have had in mind for awhile.  I am using the Moda Ruby line.

The block I chose was inspired by a quilt that I quilted for someone else.  She used charm squares to make her blocks and the blocks were HUGE.  I wanted to scale it down a bit.  I had several packs of Ruby charm squares and quartered each square to compose these blocks.  I also bought some extra yardage of all the pindot fabrics.

 The blocks are 11.5" right now (so they will finish at 11").  I am thinking that I will likely make one large block and surround it with these small ones, but I am still thinking about that.

In addition to the Moda Ruby fabric, I am also including some of the Bliss line into the quilt.  I already made a Bliss quilt awhile back and had some extra fabric to work with.  The two lines, both by Bonnie & Camille, work seamlessly together.  I am still going to have a ton of fabric leftover, so I am sure yet another Bliss/Ruby quilt will be on the horizon!

It's been awhile...and IQF

Hello my fellow readers!  Well, it has been awhile since I have posted anything on this poor neglected blog.  I am sorry!  Suddenly life got a little crazy for me and I realized quickly that I needed to pull back on a few things to focus more on my family and make sure all that needed to be taken care of was actually being taken care of.  Every time I have a new child, I usually go through a period of time where I need to look at my life all over again and figure out what things are important to me and what things need to take a back seat.  This is sort of what happened to me the last couple of months.  The baby also started being awake a lot more and needing more attention and two of my children were in baseball/softball which had us out of the house almost every night.  It all just got a little crazy and I realized quickly that I wasn't going to be able to blog for awhile.  I do appreciate everyone's well wishes and concern.  Hoping that I will back from here on out, but you never know!!


In other news, I am lucky enough to live in Houston and was able to attend the International Quilt Festival for the first time!  It was lots of fun and I wish I had more time to go look at more of the gorgeous quilts that were there on display, but honestly, I spent most of my time spending money and buying fabric and sewing toys!  I snapped very few pictures but I thought I would share what I did take a picture of.

I went to IQF 3 seperate days and spent time with my aunt and my mom (the three of us pictured above), met up with my local guild members another day and went with some friends of mine the last day.  Of course, I only took one picture that first day, but I had a blast with everyone I went with!

 This is a random quilt to take a picture of (don't worry, I asked first!) but I am in the process of thinking about what sort of quilt I want to make for my daughter's teacher this year and loved this idea of using hand prints.  This particular quilt might be a better idea for one of my younger kids' preschool teachers but I thought it was just really creative.

 There was some AMAZING quilting to see while we were there.  I am on a quest to improve on my long arm quilting skills and perhaps one day I will be able to pull something like this off... or not.

 Another pretty random quilt but I liked how they did a simple ruffle in between each strip.  This would be a CUTE baby quilt!  (The sailboat quilt is pretty cute too!)

 I also scored a fat quarter bundle of Moda Reunion which is due out in February.  I'm in love with this fabric line.  I especially like the fabrics that use the basic primary colors in modern ways.  LOVE!

Also during Market and Festival, my Houston Modern Quilt Guild hosted a couple of get together for the Modern Quilt Guild.  I attended the first meetup which had mostly the people who went to Market (like "famous" bloggers, fabric desingers, quilt designers, book writers, etc).  I was such a nerd while I was there because I got to say hi to some of my favorite people who inspire me to make new things.  While there, I won this fat quarter bundle by Cloud 9 fabrics.  This line is out now!  I was so excited to have won!  My friend, Laurie, who came with me also won a gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop.... we were so thrilled!!

FAVORITE INSPIRATION

 I find myself being so inspired whenever I look on Flickr.  People post the most beautiful things and I just can't help but get ideas by looking at them all.  I mark the ones that are my favorites.  You may even see a couple similarities between some of these and a quilt or two I have made.  Looking at these beautiful quilts/blocks gets me so excited to do 'the next thing', but also a little sad because I will never get to make everything I want to.  You know?

Anyways, I am sharing with you all of my favorites from Flickr... it is forever growing so I will add more in the future.  I DARE you not to be inspired by these beauties!!:

1. Climbing the walls... A modern denim quilt., 2. PictureBox quilt blowing in wind, 3. Stepping stones quilt finished, 4. Purple & green, 5. Wall Hanging, 6. I Spy Flying Geese, 7. Under the Boardwalk quilt pattern by Sweet Jane's, Terrain fabric by Kate Spain, 8. Pixelated Color Wheel Quilt, 9. Stash Quilt Side A, 10. Wonderland Top, 11. DS Quilts top finished, 12. Rainbow Wonky Stars, 13. Minecraft Quilt Top!, 14. Seeing Squares Quilt Top, 15. Tetris + Quilt = Quiltris, 16. Pixel Pusher, finished, 17. Walk in the Woods finished quilt full, 18. Kaleidoscope quilt top, 19. Dresdens, 20. Adams Quilt 006, 21. Stained Glass Quilt, 22. Block-A-Palooza Complete [3], 23. Red and Aqua Winding Ways, 24. "Hope" October Stash Buster Quilt

1. Bee Modern- June, 2. Orange and Blue Blocks from Bee Imaginative Bee, 3. Suzanne's Blocks Together, 4. "Awesome Lap Quilt", 5. Square Top, 6. modern squares quilt blue green brown, 7. 2010 Atlanta Symphony Decorators Show House & Gardens, 8. Cascade Quilt, 9. Chartreuse Stamps Quilt, 10. Rainbow Around the Block - Karen, 11. Gelati Log Cabin, 12. "Spot On" Circle Quilt, 13. Blue, green, and gray, 14. Baby Quilt, 15. Bumper in crib 1, 16. Australasian Bee Quilt Finished - front, 17. Finished quilt top, 18. February Quilt: Both Sides, 19. Paintbox Quilt - Detail, 20. piano quilt, 21. P1030608, 22. do. Good Stitches December "Love" Quilt, 23. do. Good Stitches X-string Quilt - January "Faith" group, 24. Blue Bento

POW WOW... inspiration!?

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Admittedly, when we used to go places as a family and my mom would start talking about how something or another reminded her of her quilting... I totally rolled my eyes and was pretty embarrassed.  Well folks, I really am turning into my mother.  Our church hosted a Pow Wow on Saturday night and I couldn't help but think about quilting!!!

The tradition, dancing, singing, drumming and ceremony was all beautiful, but I was most impressed with the what they all wore!!!  Everything is very bright and intricate.  Incredibly inspiring as far as making something that reflects this style myself some day.

 AND-  Do you see what I see in the middle of all those feathers?!?  STARS!!!  Stars like I make on quilts!  This might be a "duh" statement for most of you, but it is all starting to connect for me, perhaps part of our quilting culture comes from Native Americans!

 I saw stars everywhere on these outfits (costumes??  Not sure what the correct term is).  Their attire had so much going on.  Color, different fabrics, different materials, animal parts/skins, beautiful designs.  It was very neat to see.

 I love this bag!  Think they would give it to me?  Nope.  Check out that star!  Looks like it could go right on a quilt, doesn't it?  Of course, most of the stars I saw (specifically in the head pieces and in the center of feathers) were all done with bead work.  VERY tiny beads.  I wouldn't ever do that.  I don't have the patience for it.  It is almost all I can do to paper piece a star and even that seems like a lot of work.

All and all it was a very fun night that really made me think of quilting!!!  Perhaps I am obsessed, I don't know, but who could stop thinking about quilting with all of those stars!

 This is a picture of me (ignore the glare off my forehead !:))  My dad helped to host the event so out of respect (and fun I guess) he got to dress up too.  He actually had deer toenails hanging from his knees.  I would be interested to know if there is some sort of cultural significance to that.

 And for good measure, here are 3 out of 4 of my kids.  They had fun too!

Here is #4.... with a very weird look on his face.  He doesn't always have that look on his face... only when the camera comes out and he is like "what the heck is that!?"

Off to HMQG

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Today is our monthly Houston Modern Quilt Guild meeting.  I feel really lucky that there is a place I can go to meet up with other quilters who quilt like I do.  I am always inspired by what the other members of the guild accomplish.  Here are some work from the other members' of the guild:

1. habitat challenge mosaic, 2. sunflower quilt, 3. rainbow bamboo quilting, 4. navy QOV #11 - finished, 5. Whirl and twirl, 6. HMQG July Meeting, 7. Hope Valley Plus Quilt, 8. Heather's baby quilt, 9. Amy's whole quilt, 10. "dorothy's garden" quilt, 11. Innocent Crush Brick Path, 12. "corner crosses", 13. january "bee pieceful" quilt - butterfly kaleidescope, 14. Lily and Will Front, 15. hmqg wonky star QOV - completed!, 16. Cacophony of Color - Bella Solids Parade, 17. HMQG Park Challenge, 18. Alzheimer's Quilt #5, 19. Tumbler Quilt, 20. Rainbow progression, 21. DQS, 22. Triangle Whimsy Front, 23. I Dream of Triangles, 24. 2 Squared Front, 25. Cate's Quilt

My absolute favorite part of our meetings is show and tell!  It is so fun to hear about other peoples' quilts.  There is always a story to a quilt.  Even if it doesn't start with a story, a story is created as you make it.  I think that is why I feel so attached to the quilts I make.  Sure I can't keep them all, but each one of them is important to me!

"Shirt Off My Bag"!

 For the Quilting Book Club, we are starting a new book called, "Fresh Fabric Treats".  It's a great book with simple patterns made by Moda Bake Shop designers.  (By the way, I LOVE Moda Bake Shop, sometimes I just go there and stare at all the pictures and it helps to inspire me.  Honestly, I have gotten lots of ideas from looking at others' work). 

The first task we are tackling is a pattern called, "Shirt Off My Bag".  It's a really cute, small bag.  Because I am forever in fear of falling behind in this group, I try to work ahead where I can. 

 The original pattern calls for four different fabrics, but I wanted to stick with these too because I think they are really pretty and wanted to focus on just them.

 There aren't many pieces to it at all-- just four inside/outside pieces, two triangular cuff pieces and then the handle pieces.

 Here, I'm sewing it all up!

The finished bag.  I decided to curve the bottom edges.. I didn't need to nor did it call for it, but I though it added an extra "cuteness" to it.  (I am using "CUTE" way too much in this post!)

Feeling Inspired

 Since having Mason two months ago, my quilting time has gone down a lot.  It's sad, but I also get to spend time with a really cute baby.  Nonetheless, it seems most of my quilting now is making sure my bees are caught up and working on quilts made from beemates.  Well, I am starting to feel like I need to do a project of my own.  With a couple of swaps and bees ending soon, I am starting to think about what I would like to work on.  Here are a few quilts that I saw at the West Houston Area Quilt Show that are inspiring me right now:

 I love the perspective on this block one above.  Though I can already tell that is a whole lot of little pieces and I am not sure I am up to snuff for something like that quite yet!

 This one is certainly doable.  I pretty easy pattern actually it seems and very bright... I think that is why I liked it.  Most of the quilters for this particular show (when I went back in April), are more traditional quilters.  Which I love and appreciate, but just aren't me.

I have yet to do a circle/drunkards path quilt and I am actually really eager to try it out.  Perhaps this will be next on the list!