November Cottage Quilting Bee

Here are my blocks for Tacha of Hanies Quilts. She requested squares and log cabins. The fabrics were a nice selection of yellows, reds, creams, and brown. Sometimes it is so hard to cut into pretty fabrics and there were a few that I really loved.

First Block:



Second Block:



I have really enjoyed being part of a virtual quilting bee. It has been fun have such focused assignments and being able to spend time on just one or two blocks. There is some talk about the Cottage Quilting Bee going a second year. We'll see what happens!

Cottage Quilting Bee: The Modern Take on Quarter-Square Triangles

Ever since I signed on with the Cottage Quilting Bee, I have been coming up with ideas for my month and let me tell you, it's changed a number of times. That's not the only thing that changed... life has changed a lot as well. My husband and I bought our first house and moved in at the end of August. We also found out that we will be welcoming our first child in February 2010. So many changes, so many opportunities to have my talented comrades in the quilting bee contribute to something new and special for our home. I finally decided to go big... I have never tackled a queen-sized quilt and we are need of more bedding now that we have a guest room. Would you guys like to help me out?

The idea I ended up being most drawn to are triangles. I have loved looking at the flying geese and star quilts and came close to choosing one of those for a quilt bee project. However, I really wanted to find a traditional pattern that I could offer a modern take on. In reviewing the book, "The Art of Classic Quiltmaking," by Harriet Hargrove and Sharyn Craig, I found a pattern for Quarter-Square Triangles and a vision started to come together. Brace yourself, I am going to try to explain the step-by-step details of getting this done.

The fabric: This has already been a learning experience. Something was wrong with my math initially, hence trip number 2 to the fabric store. For the background color in this quilt, I'm using a soft gray color. I am going for a monochromatic look with each block, so there will be white blocks, orange blocks, green blocks, and pink blocks. You'll recognize fabrics by Amy Butler, Heather Ross, Erin McMorris, Tula Pink and some others.

There are four fabrics that will be sent out in each color. You are welcome to take from your stash as long as you keep with the same color. My nitpicky request is that you do not include white background fabrics unless you have a white block.


The block:
The size of the block will be 16.5 by 16.5. Inside each block there are four 8.5 by 8.5 inch blocks. Here are directions to make each 8.5 inch mini-block.

1. First, you will need lots of triangles. You will need 8 gray triangles and 8 colored triangles. We are going for 4 inch quarter-square triangles, meaning the long edge of the triangle will be 4 inches when finished.

2. A method: no templates. To cut without templates, add 1 1/4 inches to the finished long edge of the triangle. For us, that's 5 1/4. The fabric I've sent out should cut easily into 5 1/4 by 5 1/4 squares. Cut both colored and gray fabric into 5 1/4 by 5/1/4 squares. The fabrics I sent out should be easily cut to these measurements (I pre-measured it all).




Then cut from corner to corner twice to get four triangles.





3. Sew the triangles into little squares.






4. Sew the little squares into each miniblock.




Tip: Set up your next block next to your completed one so that the colors coordinate. I did it wrong the first time and when I put the two blocks next to eachother, the gray/color flow was disrupted. Here is what I did to make sure the colors matched up.



5. Sew 4 miniblocks together to make the 16.5 by 16.5 inch block.





DONE!

Please let me know if my directions are not clear, this is my first time sharing sewing directions.

Thanks so much for helping me with this quilt!

July Cottage Quilting Bee

Why yes, it is August and I just got my July blocks out in the mail. I hate to be late. I'll skip the excuses. My high school cross country coach used to say, "Excuses are like noses. Everybody has one."

Tina, who is the fearless leader of the Cottage Quilting Bee and blogger over at Little Blue Cottage sent out some yellows with red and gray accents. She requested blocks reminiscent of Gee's Bend. I was fortunate enough to see the Gee's Bend exhibit when visiting Auburn University a few years ago with my husband. It was very inspirational and the quilts were beautiful.




Adina sent out pretty oranges and greens and requested two triangles of stripes. I am looking forward to seeing this one all together. I have a feeling the effect will be pretty neat.



I promise to get my blocks done on time this month. Promise.

Another Baby Shower

Hello there. The summer is flying by- here it is August already. Amongst the busy-ness of multiple trips out of town and buying a house, I found some time to crochet a baby gift for a friend. It's been awhile since I have done any crochet, but I found some good directions online to make these cute baby beanies and baby socks. The yarn I used was probably too thick because the socks are meant to be newborn sized. However, they ended up looking more like toddler size. Unfortunately I was unable to attend the shower because I was out of town, but I'm hopeful that these little treats will keep a precious baby girl warm this winter and maybe next!

June Cottage Quilt Bee and a Baby Shower

Again, it's been awhile but I've been busy. We are closing on our first home at the end of this month so much of my time and energy over the past month or two has been devoted to anything and everything related to houses. It's exciting though.

Here is my block for the Cottage Quilting Bee. John of Quilt Dad sent some lovely fabrics with instructions to do uncomplicated blocks with squares and rectangles. I really enjoyed working with these fabrics- I got nice browns, greens, and whites- and I am happy with the end result.

Here it is:


And from another angle:


A friend and coworker is about to have her first baby, probably sometime this week. We had a little baby shower for her and I came up with a soft blanket. It turned out well, but I had trouble with the red layer, which kept stretching on me. Then I followed a pattern for the cat found in the recent issue of Stitch. Hopefully my friend's daughter will enjoy these cuddly gifts.




So there's a quick update. More sewing to come!

More catch-up

What a nice day... a nice weekend for that matter. Beautiful weather. Good company. Good food. Lots of sewing. A nice run and cycling class. We took the dog, Blanco, on his first trip to the dog park, which was so much fun. It was a very large park and at one point, he had us both chasing him through a small wooded area (chasing is relative, since he is a retired racing greyhound). That was before he played in the water. Jim and I also took at a look at some open houses both Saturday and Sunday... added a few new favorites to the list. It is looking hopeful for us to buy in the next few months, so this is all very exciting. With all the excitement of saving for a house, work trips, etc., there will probably be no racing for me this summer. My head's not in race mode anyway. I am happy to run and cycle for fun. Maybe even swim a few laps.

Here are my two blocks for May's Cottage Quilting Bee.



This was a definite departure from anything I've ever sewn before. Carolyn of Laughing Duck sent out directions for little houses and trees for a neighbourhood. I was happy to see that the directions were easy to follow and had nice little diagrams.




This one is for Ashley Ann at Hot Butter. Her theme was a rainbow quilt. I'm very happy with how this turned out. And I love the fabric combination that Ashley Ann sent out- it seems to be the right balance of warm oranges, yellows, and reds along with cooler blues, greens, and purples.

I have been noticing all the blog buzz about the Buttercup Bag, a pattern offered by Made By Rae. I grabbed two fat quarters during a quick run through at Joann Fabrics to give it a shot...



It is so fun! This is a great pattern for a fresh summer bag. I saw that the pattern has been expanded to make a larger bag as well.



My favorite part was putting in the button hole, which was a modification of the original pattern that calls for a magnetised closure. It was the first time I put in a button hole :).

Now that I've made two posts in one day, I am going to enjoy the cool Memorial Day breeze.

Catch-Up

I need to play catch up... which will likely consist of several posts about recent sewing projects. I'll start by posting about my blocks from last month's Cottage Qulting Bee. There were two different designers last month.



Katy from I'm a Ginger Monkey selected these pretty fabrics. That solid light blue colored fabric is silk. I wanted to appliqué hence the two pieces that form sort of an "L" shape. Beyond the applique, I had trouble deciding how to design this block. One reason is that when there is a larger pattern, like the colorful bird pattern in the center of the block, I don't want to cut it up into smaller pieces. My fellow bee-mates had some very nice ideas.



Katie from Metrosupial Designs commissioned these blocks. We received different color themes and my batch of fabrics were pretty blues. Katie has such pretty fabrics and I enjoyed working with them. It was kind of therapeutic to cut each small square, make each row, and bring it all together. I cannot wait to see this quilt finished.

Back with more later!

Busy Busy

Here are my squares for Nettie of A Quilt is Nice. I started reading her blog and oohing and ahhing over her sewing projects prior to this virtual quilting bee, so it is fun to submit blocks for one of her creations.

I am finding that my quilting style is becoming more and more improvisational. It has been so fun to be create a piece of artwork piece by piece, or to come up with an idea in my head and then try it out.



I really loved all of the fabrics that were sent, but was drawn to the large printed birds and green. The birds became the focal point of both my blocks. The center piece of this block was my starting point.



I love the sea horses.

In non-sewing news, the weather has been nice and sunny and warm this past week and I have been getting outside on some runs. A coworker of mine gave me a free entry into the St. Patrick's Day 5K around Lake Harriet on Saturday. It felt like running amongst a heard of cattle, but was very fun. I have been going back and forth in terms of the rest of the racing season. With work being so busy, it has been nice to just train how I want to train and not worry about a specific training plan. Who knows, maybe I'll be inspired to start a training plan as the weather warms. After three years of running injuries, it is so exciting to be running as much as I want. I am so thankful!

Cottage Quilting Bee: Emily the Strange Quilt Block

I've gotten some questions about what a virtual quilting bee is, so let me take a moment to explain. Basically, a group of individuals agree to participate for a year and each person is assigned one month. My month comes in October. What happens is I will pick out some fabrics and a quilt theme/style, then divide up the fabric so that each person will receive a little parcel in the mail with fabric and instructions. My fellow bee-mates will then sew up a nice quilt block for me and send it back. So, when it is not my month to send out fabric, I receive little parcels of fabric from the other bee-mates and complete blocks for them. Tina, over at Little Blue Cottage is our fearless organizer and is our distributor and receiver of fabrics and quilt blocks. With the Cottage Quilting Bee, the are actually more than twelve people so some of the months will have two people sending out fabric. March is one of those months.

Emily The Strange
Viv selected sent out some dark fabrics and included some lovely little pictures of Emily. I was not familiar with Emily The Stange, but have since learned she is a "counterculture icon." Wikipedia describes her as a character that began to surface on stickers at concerts to promote a company called Cosmic Debris. She's 13 years old and has an affinity for black cats. Here is what I came up with:




When Viv suggested incorporating hearts, I jumped at the chance to try making a pretty heart block Jacquie of Tallgrass Prairie Studio designed. My hearts were on a much smaller scale, but her tutorial was very helpful.



Emily the Strange.

I am looking forward to seeing all the blocks together in a quilt. My bee-mates were very creative and pulled out all the stops with reverse applique, embroidery, and buttons. Take a look at our flicker page.

In other news, I found a fabulous local quilting shop today! I love shopping for fabric online, but have been looking for a fun little shop to use. Glad Creations is a shop in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood of Minneapolis. They have an extraordinarily large selection of fabrics and supplies in a small space. Upstairs classes and social sewing events are held. The staff there was also very friendly and helpful. They were busy helping customers select fabrics and cutting the entire time I was there. I was happy to see that they carry quite a bit of Moda and a really nice big selection of Kaffe Fassett. I got a selection of Basic Grey's urban couture line. There are several other shops I would like to visit, but they are out in the suburbs and I wanted a quick trip today. I will definitely be heading back to Glad Creations.

Second Annual Polish Dinner

I grew up in the Chicago area with Polish grandparents. We were fortunate growing up to have my mother's parents, Grandma and Grandpa Bodzewski, close by. I have countless memories of them... For awhile, they would come over once per week and watch me and my brother Evan while my mom did errands. Everyone would come together at their home for Christmas Day. There were even special nights when Evan and I got to stay overnight. I remember sitting with my grandmother and asking her to tell me stories. Stories about my mom when she was growing up and stories about me when I was too young to remember. I also asked my grandmother to tell me about times when she and my grandfather were young. Unfortunately I don't remember many of the stories, but I do remember hearing about fancy evenings out with the other polish couples... balls, galas, special events. Chicago is known for having a large polish immigrant population.

Grandma and Grandpa: Helen and Ludwig Bodzewski

Now that the years have gone by and my grandparents have gone on to heaven, I have been thinking about how to hold on to my memories and create new ones with family and friends. Even though I can't remember all the stories, I can remember the food. We used to eat barshch (beet soup), pierogis, polish sausage, sauerkraut... Last year Jim and I hosted our first Polish Dinner. It was so much fun, we decided to make it an annual event. Here is the menu I came up with:

• Barshch
• Pierogi: Blueberry-Apple and Potato
• Golabki (stuffed cabbage leaves)
• Kidney Bean Salad
• Drambuie Liqueure Ice Cream

I created the menu and made everything but the ice cream. I requested Drambuie because it was a favorite of my grandfather's. Jim did a great job finding a recipe for the ice cream. My biggest mistake last year was underestimating how much time it would take to make all the food, so made everything over the week prior to the dinner. It made a big difference and I was able to relax the day of the dinner and enjoy the meal and company. Here are some pictures.



These napkins were my first sewing project. I chose the variety of colors because we have fiestaware place settings in every color. We enjoyed the very first use of these napkins at the dinner.


The table was set and decorated with candles. We used every single chair in the apartment. Including two folding chairs that made an appearance from the garage.

Barshch or Beet Soup
Pierogi!
Cooking in the kitchen. The golabki are in the two pots on the stove. Cooking offered the opportunity to be nostialgic. My mom helped me out long distance over the phone.

The dinner was a success. I'm thinking the challenge next year will be polish pastries...

Cottage Quilting Bee

I had a great time making the blocks for the first month of Cottage Quilting Bee. I made two log cabin blocks: one traditional block and one "wonky" block. This was my first time trying the log cabin style and I found the tutorial Darci posted here and here very helpful.



This is the traditional square that I made. I made this one first and had a lot of fun with it. I was trying to see what it would look like to have two sides of the square the same fabric... think it looks good. After that I just pieced randomly.

And now the wonky block...



This was my first time using the "wonky" uneven edges and it turned out ok. I wasn't thrilled with the final product initially, but it grew on me the more I looked at it. Part of what caused the problem was that I cut two sides on the same go-round and for some reason that made it harder for me to figure out. I was able able to finish it though and plan to keep trying these types of blocks. Comparing my blocks to the others, it seems I ended up with more pink and less green than others. I can't wait to see how they all come together!

Back again

I disappeared in January. After getting back from a vacation over Christmas, my attention turned to the upcoming social work license exam. After several years of logging work and supervision hours, I was finally able to apply and test for my clinical license. So, January was spent studying. Now that I've passed, I feel like I can be a normal person again with interests and hobbies and actually have time to do them again. I've been staring longingly at the fabric I received from Darci for the Cottage Quilting Bee. Now I can actually start playing with them. I've never made log cabin blocks before, but am excited to try. Also on my list to complete are some napkins and coasters I started months ago- they actually were my sewing project! We are hosting a Polish Dinner later on in February and I would love to use some snazzy napkins to dress up the table. It's amazing all the project possibilities...

Midweek check-in

I got myself into the pool on Monday! After taking a look and seeing that three lanes were wide open, there were not excuses left to skip it. It went well although I could definitely feel the time off. Just focused on doing three-hundreds with thirty second breaks. As much as I dread the water beforehand, I do enjoy it and love the tired feeling in my shoulders when I'm done. Tonight I worked out work stress in spin class.

I'm super excited about two opportunities this coming year: my first virtual quilting bee! There are a whopping 17 people in the project so there will be some months where two people will send out fabric. The other is an improvisational quilting project.

What's up for the week...

Tentative plan for the week...
Monday: Yoga class, then 1 hour swim or run
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: Spin Class, then either Pilates or Bodyflow
Thursday: Pilates on a roll, then 6 mile run
Friday: Short run and then swim 30 minutes
Saturday: Pilates or Bodyflow and then Cycling
Sunday: 7 mile run

I am going to start swimming again this week... Even though it's scheduled twice, I'll be happy to get it in once. I do not heart swimming but I know I need to get back into it. As a group fitness junky, I am excited about the new classes on the winter schedule this week. Thursday a class called "pilates on a roll" which will somehow incorporate a foam roller.

In other news, I'm expanding the blog to include the sewing and crafting I've been up to. I'm hesitant to do so because of all the beautiful crafting blogs I have been watching for the past several months. At the same time, I'm looking forward to joining everyone.