From K - Finished Pink Pluses Quilt

I recently finished my Pink Pluses Quilt and I am so excited to donate it to a great cause tomorrow!

 

 

I mentioned in an earlier post that an all pink quilt was a bit out of my comfort zone so I balanced the donated pink fabrics with some gray prints and lighter pink prints from my stash. I honestly couldn't be more pleased with how well the fabrics blend together.

 

 

When contemplating what to make with a collection of donated pink strips, I thought hard about how I could make something special, yet something that still felt like it had a small piece of me in it. In the end, I went modern with the design and used a number of gray geometric background prints to balance out the bold pink floral pluses.

 

 

Since this quilt has a very feminine colour scheme, I thought I would try my hand at some swirl quilting to soften the edges of the plus pattern. It was my first time attempting this design but I know it won't be my last. I'd like to try this again soon. The texture it creates is so soft!

 

 

For the backing I kept is simple, a dominant pink fabric with a couple of modern prints to balance it out. I wanted the back to emote a similar balance of modern femininity and I hope this back reflects that.

 

 

I took these photos at sunset (which unfortunately doesn't translate at all in the pictures) and you can see I was loosing the light quickly!

 

 

If you'd like to read more about the Southern Alberta flooding and how it effected my city, I have an early post here. It has been incredible to watch the outpouring of support and donations sent in from the quilting community for this cause. I hope this quilt brings some comfort and love to a much deserving family.

 

I'm linking up to TGIFF and Finish it up Friday.

From K - Dressing it Up!

In less than two weeks I'll be jetting down to Salt Lake City for my first even sewing/blogging conference. Although my to-sew list is beyond overwhelming right now, I decided that making a few new garments are an absolute necessity. I don't generally need an excuse to make new clothes, but it seems absolutely fitting to wear handmade in a venue full of people who will not only notice but will also really care!

Last week I picked up a Liberty of London Lifestyles print that I've swooned over for months (10% at my local quilt shop) and have decided to make it into another Staple Dress (see my first Staple here). Then just yesterday I scored some amazing chambray-esque purple fabric from Fabricland for $7.50/m! Beyond amazing deal right?! The drape of this fabric is so soft and beautiful, I can't wait to try out another of April Rhodes designs, the Date Night Dress.

If these dresses turn out half as stunning as I anticipate, I may have to stock up on more fabric (that Fabricland score comes in about 15 different colours, all on sale - Canadian friends, hit up your local FL before I clear out all of the inventory!). I'm beyond obsessive right now with April's designs. I'm positive these will be the perfect last minute suitcase additions and I can't wait to wear them around.

To keep myself on track, I'm linking up to the September: A Lovely Year of Finishes over at Fiber of All Sorts. Come join in on the fun, the goal setting link is open until midnight on September 7 so there is plenty of time to participate.

From A - Making Special

While on the road, the Mr. and I celebrated our cotton (second) anniversary.

Since you only get one cotton anniversary in a marriage, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make him something special. After mulling it over for a couple of months, I had settled on an embroidery project. I bought the necessary supplies and proceeded to ignore the coming event.

For once my tendency to ignore deadlines paid off because this post from the Colette Patterns blog popped up on my feed reader and promptly kicked my sweet little embroidery project's metaphorical butt right out of the picture.

Within about 30 minutes of reading the post, I had the whole thing planned out in my mind. I would hunt down some Caesar tana lawn from Liberty of London for the exterior, line it with scraps from my Liberty Wiksten tank, and add a little "handmade" sewing label I picked up when we were in London together shortly after getting married.

And the result: the kind of perfect imperfection that defines our marriage.

 

There were some challenges getting everything to line up well enough to make a tie point that would be acceptable for public wear. Fortunately, it was nothing that a bit of strong arming and a bunch of steam couldn't fix.

The hand sewn finishing touches on this one are really what made it special: slip stitching the center back seam, attaching the label and tie keep. The perfect way to inject it with a little bit of l-o-v-e.