Quilting for Boston

I wanted to share two projects for quilters who would like to do something for Boston. Click on the links of these projects for more details and information.

To Boston with Love
The Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild is hosting a bunting project with the theme of 'love, hearts and peace.' There is a full tutorial on their blog for how to make the flags. The deadline to have these in Boston is May 31st.
#tobostonwithlove

Send bunting for To Boston with Love to:

Amy Friend

PO Box 774

West Newbury, MA 01985

Quilts for Boston
The Boston Modern Quilt Guild is asking for quilters to send quilt blocks that they will turn into quilts. They are also accepting donations for quilt backs and binding. They would like the blocks to measure 12 1/2" tall by the width of your choice and made in the colors Blue, Yellow, Grey and White. Deadline is May 24th.
#quiltsforboston

Send blocks for Quilts for Boston to:
Quilts for Boston
P. O. Box 79225
Belmont, MA 02479

You can also make donations to The One Fund Boston, an organization that is accepting monetary donations for the victims.

If you are in the Portland, Oregon area you can bring flags and quilt squares to the next Portland Modern Quilt Guild meeting on May 16th.

Peace be with you,
Michelle

Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative

A while back my Design Camp [think outside the block] Bee mates and I made mini quilts for the Alzheimer's Quilt Initiative (AAQI). They are now all for sale on the AAQI site. There are hundreds of wonderful mini quilts on the site in addition to  the ones we made. All the titles on the photos are links to the quilts with descriptions by the artists and links to learn more about them. There is also an easy purchase button so you can buy them and make a donation to the AAQI!  All the proceeds go to fund research for Alzheimers.

Thanks to all the DCBee campers who contributed to this project. Combined the sales from our quilts will raise $235.

13,074 - Swimming With Thread by Michelle Freedman (me!)

13,083 - Improv Rays by Susan Beal

13,072 - Trying to Make the Pieces Fit by Suzy Boyle

13,073 - A Red Letter Day by Christine Horlbeck

13,070 - Around The Well by Dustin Cecil

13,071 - Crossroads by Deb Brown

Have machine, will travel
-- Michelle

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!