Quilt Con vs. Godzilla

I didn't get to go to Quilt Con and I was pretty sad about that. My Cat's Game quilt was in the Modern Traditionalism category in the show. I was very humbled and a little nervous that my sweet little quilt I had made for my daughter would be hanging with some of the masters. This is exactly the kind of stuff that I can drive myself (and my family) nuts about: I've been told that I can turn into Larry David in a heart beat. Kidding aside, not going to Quilt Con actually did teach me an important lesson. For the first time I think I really understood how my husband feels every year that he misses South by South West. It was a good lesson in empathy for me. I won't judge him for brooding ever again.

My dear pal Susan came home with a million wonderful gifts for me. She texted me highlights of the show the whole weekend and I got to live vicariously through the shower of awesome photos on Instagram. The most amazing gift I got from QuiltCon was a peek at these comp pages from the next issue of Patchwork Quilt Tsushin (from Japan) that Susan brought back. I am over the moon that my Park Blocks quilt is featured (upper right)! Can I say I'm 'big in Japan now?' This makes me so happy. I love this quilt and treasure all the blocks my bee-mates from the Design Camp [think outside the block] Bee contributed to it. And look at the gorgeousness it is surrounded by: I feel loved!

And bonus props (again to myself) for my 'Bad Ass Tumbler' block in our PMQG guild quilt. It is front and center too (well, actually lower stage left). Ya me - us! And hello Nancy, Pétra, Ale and Susan! You gals are super stars! The photo shoot took place at Cool Cottons. There are a few other featured PDX places in this issue too: Bolt, Modern Domestic, Knitten Kitten. We are so lucky to live in this town!

And just as I was secretly wishing to see a photo of my Cat's Game quilt on intstagram, I did! Thank you a bazillion times jenni20designs for posting this photo. You made me so very happy! I made this quilt for my daughter inspired by a tied game of Tic-Tac-Toe we played. It was mistakenly judged at Quilt Con (some of the comments I could have lived with-out) but it was nice to get accolades for my sewing and binding techniques.

I recently came across a project on Quilts My Way that is similar to Cat's Game. It was one of those 'oh - wow! That is a cool version of my quilt - wait, that isn't my quilt -' moments but honestly I love this project: Tic Tac Toe coasters. This was published in Fat Quarterly magazine, as was my Cat's Game quilt. Great minds think alike, right? I may have to try a version of my quilt reversed, so the ground is white and the X and Os are in color. Thanks for the inspiration Gosia Pawlowska!

WIP Wednesday: I did it!

Oh yeah, I did it, uh-huh, uh-huh I did it! (Channeling Will Ferrell as my cheer partner here). Ten bee blocks in the mail and on their way around the world. Ironically I got a lovely little envelope in the mail the other day with, yep, a bee block for March! Note to self: Do it Now!

Now for the WIP Wednesday part. I am working on my quilt for the PMQG Special Exhibit at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show this July. I don't have any photos of it yet (it is a true WIP and I'm not quite ready to share) but the process has been really fun. I wanted to make something inspired by Hawaii, but not literally and not in a traditional Hawaiian style so I am working with shapes from palm trees. My goals are to keep this clean, graphic and modern -- something that I can put in my bedroom and feel really happy about every night before I go to sleep.

And here is a round-up of the Bee Blocks for my Design Camp [think outside the block] Bee that I finished last week. I am working on a new post about my Park Blocks quilt I made from the blocks I got from the month I hosted. It was featured in a magazine in Japan recently. I can't wait to share that with you!

House-inspired Improv Block 'Lassen St.'

Inspired by Yolanda Improv Block

Arizona-inspired Improv Block 'Summer of '76'

Folk Tale-inspired improv block 'Enchanted Tree House'

Wisconsin-inspired Improv Block 'View from the Plane'

Mt Hood-inspired Improv Block 'Chair Lift'

WIP Wednesday: Bee Finished Already

If there were an award for the slowest bee block sewer ever it would be given to me. I am finishing them all - I really am! I love making these blocks and learning new techniques and working with fabrics and colors that I might not naturally gravitate toward. I am just a slowly-slow poke. I think today will be WIP WIFF (Work is Finally Finished) Wednesday. 

That is my three-year old pup Ryder guarding my pile of envelopes and pretending he didn't just knock some on the ground. I know there are wonderful things waiting to be made in those lovely packages and I will give each and every one the attention they deserve today.

I will also mail the blocks I made on Saturday at our PMQG sew day. I had a rare opportunity to spend hours sewing among amazingly talented gals. It is such an inspiring way to work! These are my recent finishes:

If I have time when I finish I am going to start a new quilt. I can't wait to work on that, but I will wait because as my family would say, "no dessert until you finish your mashed potatoes!" Do you know that book? It both amused and terrified me as a young child. 

The fact of the matter is that I love mashed potatoes. It was the illustration of the bathtub with the eels that gave me nightmares. Okay, I'm getting side-tracked already. Focus, Michelle. Off to the cutting table I go. Thanks Lee aka Freshly Pieced for keeping the motivation real!

Samples for Sew Expo

I have so much fun at my part time job! I spent the last month and a half designing and coordinating samples for the Pendleton Woolen Mill Store Sew Expo vender booth. I can't begin to tell you how much fun it was! I mean, having access to any Pendleton fabric to make any sample I want to make? How cool is that! 

My Design Wall for the Woolen Mill Store 

One of the first things I did was to make a design wall in the embroidery room. There are so many gorgeous fabric that I had to pin swatches up to create my mini collections. Once I knew which fabrics I wanted to use and the designs I planned to make them in I set out to delegate: I know a few very talented gals who can sew up a storm. I knew I wouldn't be able to make everything myself and meet the deadline so I enlisted my army of talented sewists to work on this collection with me.

Fastest Bag in the West Free Pattern Here

Download Free Sugar Skull Applique Here

I also decided to make free patterns for any of my original designs. I love helping customers with their sewing projects and it is fun for me to make these free pattern pages. Above are links to two of my new designs: The Fastest Bag in the West (fits a 15" laptop) and an applique template that goes with the new Pendleton Sugar Skulls fabric. I embroidered the skull applique with the Sublime Stitching metallic palette. It was fun to embellish. I think I used every embroidery stitch I could think of!

In additional to designing original projects, I used several commercial patterns and projects from books. I love Burda Style sewing patterns that can be download from their website but it does take some patience to tape the pattern pieces together. Last year all my projects for Sew Expo came from the Burda Sewing Book. The post I wrote about that is here.

Plaid Puppy Love (and cute toes!)

Susan Beal of West Coast Crafty suggested sewing the adorable 'George the Puppy' from Girl's World: Twenty-One Sewing Projects to Make for Little Girls by Jennifer Paganelli. They came out just darling! I never would have thought to make these in Pendleton plaids -- Susan is so talented! She has some great tips for making these darling pups on her blog.

The gals at the WMS loved it so much they asked me to make another project from the book so I made the Gigi Ruffled Pillow (photo is on the right side, one up from the bottom corner.) 

A collage of all the wonderful projects we made for Sew Expo!

In all we made three jackets, two skirts, five pillows, three blankets/quilts, two bags and a few other goodies. I made all the samples in the collage except these:

Lower left Corner: An original pillow with neon-embroidered Feathers made by Meridith. Right above her pillow is the Sew Liberated Bohemian Carpet Bag. Meridith often teaches this bag as a class at  Modern Domestic so check their website for dates and times. 

Center Bottom Row: Pink Jacket make by Teresa of crinkledreams from a Burda Style sewing pattern.

If you are at Sew Expo this weekend make sure to stop by the Pendleton Woolen Mills booth and say hi. They have some gorgeous new fabrics that are priced special for the show. Hope to see you there!

All Up in My Grill

Super Bowl Sunday! Whoot Whoot! TOUCHDOWNS! Ya! Are the Ducks playing? (cue the sound of a car skidding to a stop...) Okay, the truth is, I have NEVER been to a pro football game. I went to my first College game last fall, and no, I still don't know who plays on what day. Well, who's to say I can't be a fan in my own way? I made this about a month ago for a friend of mine who LOVES the Ducks.

It was really fun to make! I used Elizabeth Hartman's tutorial from her Billboard Quilt-Along to make the 'O'. I free hand drew it on freezer paper and then marked off all the sections for the patchwork pieces. It was super fast and easy to sew all the pieces together - instant gratification for sure! I sewed the strips for the bag together and appliqued on the yellow 'O' and quilted it all to a piece of pink calico (she'll never know!). It made her really, really happy!

Back to the Super Bowl. I was asked to bring baked beans to our friend's house today. Easy. My Aunt Sandy makes the best baked beans in the world. I've made them a few times before so I checked to make sure I had some of her secret ingredients (liquid smoke is one) and headed to the market to get the beans and fresh ingredients. She always used the canned beans with the green label on them - I never paid attention to what the brand was, I just always bought the ones with the green label. So skip forward to me standing confused in front of rows and rows of canned beans, none of which had a green label. I was deep in thought when a woman with her five-ish year-old son came up next to me. The woman bent down to her son and said, "We NEVER eat canned beans, do we?" He looked at her lovingly and didn't answer. "Those are YUCKY, aren't they!" Hand in hand they walked down the aisle, leaving me stunned and sad with a can of beans in my hand.

I am just going to say this right now before I go any further. I BOUGHT THE CANNED BEANS. This does not mean I am a bad person. I fully support banning BPA from ALL food packaging. I was upset when the FDA did not agree to the ban in back in March 2012 and I am hopeful that they will ban it eventually. But I would NEVER, EVER humiliate someone the way that person did to me today. I called my cousin Romy (who had walked me through a shopping list on my way to the market) to tell her what had happened. We decided what the perfect response would have been (Romy is one of the funniest people on the planet) and next time if I have my wits about me I may just find the courage to say it. They do look good, don't they?

And to cheer myself up I am going over to Dry Goods Designs to take advantage of their Super Bowl Sale. They are giving an additional 25% off of sale fabrics if you mention the codes Ravens or Niners . Shopping for fabric online while eating baked beans? What more could a girl want!

WIP Wednesday: Hey, cut it out!

Heading over to my good friend Tanya's house in a few to work in her beautiful sewing space. I have a quilt project to cut out with a looming March 1 deadline and sometimes cutting is always more fun with a friend.

I did manage to get through lots of projects at the beginning of the week, including sewing the sleeve and label on the PMQG QuiltCon charity quilt. There was some serious finger stabbing involved in that project which has inspired me to get some new sharper quilting needles. Anyone have favorites out there? I am a thimble user, but I still poked around it because it is a habit I can't seem to break.

Susan and Heather have some great posts about this quilt. It really is a special one! I also need to sew the sleeve onto my quilt that was accepted into the QuiltCon quilt show today. Serendipity was smiling on me yesterday: Susan had a piece of the exact fabric I used for the back in her give-away pile!

And I am working on my presentation for the PMQG February BOM. Here is a sneak peak. Can you guess what it is? (I hope not - I want it to be a surprise!)

Happy WIP Wednesday! Head over to Freshly Pieced and see what everyone is up to today.

Michelle

Visit Your Local Quilt Shop Day

What fun! The Fabric Shop Network is hosting a Visit Your Local Quilt Shop Day blog tour. Join the #ILoveMyLQS fun and enter for the chance to win some great prizes. Visit your local quilt shop day is this Thursday, January 24th.

So let me tell you a little bit about my adopted hometown Portland, Oregon. For those of you who are wondering, it is exaclty like an episode of Portlandia We play hide and seek in libraries, visit the farms of the foul we eat and Aimee Mann cleans our homes. Portlandia does an excellent job of showing all the finer things about PDX, however, I have yet to see an episode based on the electrifying Local Quilt Shop scene. Well, let me take this opportunity to sketch it out for you.
(For the record, some parts of this script are not true.)

Quiltlandia
synopsis
Michelle (that's me!) decides to hop on the modern quilting band wagon. She entrusts her worthy friend Alex Q (Adorable Lovely Experienced Quilter played by Fred Armisten -- what, guys can quilt...) to guide her through the process of choosing fabrics at SewPo, his favorite local quilt shop.

SewPo, a sweet sewing space and quilt shop
in the quirky and hip Mississippi Arts district.

(MICHELLE and ALEX Q enter SewPo. KATE is putting FQ sets together for a new table display)
MICHELLE: Hi! I'm looking for some fabrics to make a modern quilt, what would you suggest?
KATE: (store owner, her real name, played by Carrie Brownstein) Well, how about trying the quilt I made that was featured on an episode of Grimm. I have a kit of that right here.
MICHELLE: How cool is that! Everyone in Portland loves Grimm! I totally want to make a Grimm quilt!
KATE: Yeah, everything is so much cooler when it is on TV.
ALEX Q: Awesome!
KATE: It comes with everything except the fabric for the back and binding. But we have lots to choose from here. You can get thread to match too --

The finest selection in modern quilting fabrics west of the Mississippi

loud music starts playing outside

MICHELLE: What the?

KATE: Oh, that? That is just Aaron and Mikey (Played by themselves). Ever since Ween broke up they started quilting. Sometimes they hang around out front and busk so they can buy more fabric.

MICHELLE and ALEX Q: Awesome!

the front door opens and five women walk in
WOMAN 1: Here we are gals!
WOMAN 2: Grab your fabrics and line up so KATE can cut them for us.
WOMAN 3: We don't have all day.
WOMAN 4 & 5: Chop Chop!
MICHELLE: (whispers to Alex Q) What is that all about?
ALEX Q: Oh, those are the bee ladies. This could take a while. Follow my lead --
(ALEX hops on the twister rug and taps a secret code onto the colors. The small red toy car turns into a portal for a secret room)

Step once on the top red, three times on the middle blue
and step on both browns at exactly the same time...

(lights flash and scene changes to a small room that looks suspiciously like the 24 hour Church of Elvis)
MICHELLE: What is this place?
ALEX Q.: It's a magic quilting sanctuary where you can hide out if you want to meditate on what fabrics to chose for your quilt. Every LQS in Portland has one.
MICHELLE: That's Awesome! Is it easy to get back to SewPo from here?
ALEX Q: No problem, you just have to do this move and we go back (does a little Elvis dance)

They re-enter through the classroom near the yellow chair.

(Back at SewPo)
MICHELLE: That was Awesome! I had no idea --
ALEX Q.: Yeah, LQSs are full of surprises. You were Awesome!
MICHELLE: I was, wasn't I!
KATE: Hey did you guys go to the sanctuary?
(Michelle and Alex Q look at each other knowingly, nod their heads and smile)
KATE: Smart! It got nuts in here for a while then my mom came by and helped me ring stuff up. I can cut your fabrics for you now.

Kate's Mom (Janette) is a force to be reckoned with!

(KATE cuts their fabrics. ALEX Q. and MICHELLE thank her and head out.
MICHELLE: I'd love a coffee. How about we head over to Stumptown Coffee Roasters and take a little break.
ALEX Q: Awesome! We can look at more fabrics online! Sew Mama Sew has everything! And I love Lark Cottons! And then we can head over to Cool Cottons and if we still have time we can go to Bolt and buy more and...
(fade out and scene.)

Check out quiltshopday.com and like them on facebook.com/quiltshopday. And share some LQS love if you are in our fine City of Roses. We are quite lucky to have so many fantastic shops here.
Peace out,
Michelle
SewPo
830 N. Failing St. Portland, Oregon 97227
(503) 282-1372