7 adding up.

I snuck in some sewing time this morning since I was up early with a sick pup, and added a few more Edges plus blocks to my design wall. I really like how this is coming together.

In other news, I survived the wedding last weekend!  It was a gorgeous wedding with some wonderful people.  I was a bit stressed but I enjoyed myself, and I think I might be crazy enough to actually do it again!

If you are interested in following along with my photography, please "like" my Holly DeGroot Photography page on facebook.  Then maybe I won't feel so guilty about not posting here as much recently :)  

4 playing catch-up.

Two posts in one week!  A record for me lately.  I've been busy prepping to shoot my first wedding this weekend (I might die of nervousness!), so no sewing to speak of this week.  I did start making these plus blocks recently with Laura Gunn's new Edges collection.

Nothing really new and exciting as far as design is concerned, I think everyone is making some sort of plus block lately!  But I did figure out how to construct them with minimal cutting using charm packs.

In other news, I put together a new bundle for Stash Fabrics recently, and it's now listed in the shop in FQ and half yard bundles!  Beth is offering 10% off all bundles this weekend too, so it's the perfect time to pick one up!

Christa Quilts has started a new quilt along this week on her blog called String of Pearls.  Kits are available for 10% off in her shop, through 6/30 with the code CQA2013.

Pink Castle Fabrics is having a huge sale this week.  Over 400 fabrics are on sale, including Glimma!  You can save an additional 10% when you spend $50 with the code FIFTY10. 

Fat Quarter Shop has Riley Blake Chevrons in every color on sale this month, along with Sewline pens and Amy Ellis' new book Modern Neutrals.  Select patterns are 40% off this week too, and there's lots of other stuff in their sale section!

Little Pink Rose is having an amazing sale this week, 25% off your entire order with the code JUNE25.  I really like these Cotton Shuffle prints in the shop!  

Quilt Sandwich has most of Julia Rothman's new Ride collection in stock, and those elusive white Geekly Chic glasses!  There are lots of fun fabrics in their sale section as well!

I think that's all for today.  Hope you all have a nice weekend!

25 Lone Starburst Quilt.

Well, I didn't mean to fall silent for so long!  It's been hard to find the time to sew lately, much less blog.  But I finally finished my Lone Starburst quilt last week for do.Good Stitches.

 The blocks in this quilt were made by the Inspire Circle, using this tutorial by Six White Horses.

I machine quilted around each of the stars in the thin white strip in each block, and then quilted diagonally through the stars for added stability.

Then I hand quilted around the outside of each star in a coordinating color of perle cotton to really make each star pop.

 It's bound in one of my favorite prints, Modern Meadow Herringbone in Lake.

 For the back, I just pieced together some coordinating prints I had in my stash.

 You can really see the quilting on the back of the quilt!

 This one is going to be really hard to give up, but it's headed off to Project Linus very soon.

22 pretty patchwork.

I always crave super simple projects that I can finish right away in between the long, more difficult ones. It doesn't get much simpler than patchwork, but I still love the look of it.

I cut a bunch of 5" charms and stitched them together last night, connected the rows during lunch today, et voila, I have a finished quilt top.

The fabric is mostly Indian Summer (available at Pink Castle Fabrics, Stash Fabrics, and Fat Quarter Shop) with some Essex yarn dyed linen in Flax and some chambray scraps leftover from these quilts.  I'm kind of wishing I had bought a bolt of that fabric when I found it, because I don't think JoAnn sells it anymore.

 I really, really love some of the prints in this line.  That animal print is my favorite!

The finished top feels very light and airy to me, which is a nice change compared to some of the other things I've been making lately.

I am very happy with the way my seams matched up on this quilt top!  I find myself being a lot more picky when it comes to misaligned seams lately, actually taking the time to rip them out and do it over if I'm not happy with them.  Thankfully I didn't have to do that much here!

This quilt will get a simple backing, most likely some crosshatch quilting, and be shipped off to a new baby very soon.  We had two new babies arrive within our family and friends last week!

6 Quilts for Boston.

Since I'm in Boston this week, I thought it was a good time to share some information about the Quilts for Boston relief effort being put on by Boston Modern Quilt Guild.  The goal is to make at least 50 quilts for those directly affected by the Boston Marathon bombings.  To do so, the BMQG is asking for help making quilt blocks in the color scheme of gray, white, blue, and yellow.

I pulled some fabrics from my stash and scrap bins to make my blocks.

I finished up two blocks this weekend, just in time to hand deliver them to Natalie this week!

This one has a little improv heart applique.

And this one is just random improv, although I do see a heart shape in it that was totally unplanned.

If you're interested in making blocks to help out, please check out the details here.  Blocks need to be shipped by May 24th.

There's also an effort being put on by the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild called To Boston With Love, in which they are asking for flag buntings to be flown somewhere in Boston this summer.  I haven't made my flags just yet but I definitely plan to!  Details of that effort can be found here.  Flags need to be shipped by May 21st, and you can find the shipping information here.

I hope some of you can find the time to help out with these efforts! 

4 sunday stash.

Lots of new fabric in the mail this week!  First, Robert Kaufman sent me a huge stack of Holiday Sweet Treats by Laurie Wisbrun.  These will be shipping to stores in June.  I was lucky enough to spend some time with Laurie at QuiltCon, and she is seriously awesome!  Love her.

I see a Christmas quilt in my future!  The mint color just so happens to match my living room.

Those cardinals are just so cute!  I love that these prints are not overly Christmas-y.

Another gorgeous new line came this week too from Michael Miller, Edges by Laura Gunn!  I am so excited for this collection.  Laura was sweet enough to send me this line to play with, even after my last quilt made from her fabrics took seven months to finish :)

I've always loved Laura's Painter's Canvas and I'm happy to see so many other great stash builders all in one collection.  The textures of these prints are amazing.  The ombre circle print is my favorite!  You can find Edges at Fat Quarter Shop.

I'm brainstorming a new quilt to be made out of these as well.  Any recommendations for a good charm pack quilt pattern?

Last but not least, some Field Study Linens!  I picked these up at Pink Castle Fabrics.  3 yards of the feather print for some new pillows for the couch, and a yard of each of the others, just because I love them.  The scale of these prints is huge!  

I need to do some catch up in sharing my stash!  So many new fabrics arriving lately, and they're all so pretty!  I think that also means a destash should be coming soon :)

15 Clementine Kites.

My Clementine Kites quilt is finished!

This quilt was made for Dear Stella's booth at Quilt Market, out of their Clementine collection.  I used the Must Stash pattern from the book Modern Designs for Classic Quilts (speaking of which, I'll be giving away a copy of the book very soon!).  

I quilted straight lines across each of the diamonds to resemble kites, and then did free motion loops through the sashing to look like the kite strings.  The FMQ was definitely a learning experience for me, but after practicing on some scraps, I did get the hang of it.  It's not perfect but thankfully the quilting is dense enough to mask most of my mistakes (or at least, that's what I'm telling myself!).  The quilting really made the diamonds pop off the background.

It's bound in the same Stella Solid White as the sashing to blend in with the background.

The back is this gorgeous Summer Floral print from the collection, which gives a nice contrast to the white on the front of the quilt!

I'm really hoping someone will take a picture of this hanging up at market for me, since I'm not going to be able to go!

Thanks Dear Stella for the opportunity to make this quilt!  Check out their post on this quilt on their blog.

You can find Clementine at Fat Quarter Shop.