What Shade are You?

I’m back! I stumbled off of the blogging track, but I am back today with a fun post to get me back into the swing of things. Next week I’ll catch you up on the highlights since well….April.

I am thrilled to be a part of the #whatshaderu blog hop with RJR Fabrics celebrating their Cotton Supreme Solids today. I was floored when RJR approached me to participate (the day after my birthday!), but I didn’t hesitate to say yes. Fast forward seven months and here I am with my Wonky Runner!

I chose a palette of grays, white, and mustard for our bedroom and set out to make a runner to pull the the mustard to the foot of our bed. I was inspired by the gorgeous illustration by Cara @Print Stitch & Paste and after getting her blessing, I set out to reproduce it in fabric! The cards are available in her Etsy shop if you love them as much as I do.

I had a great time playing with the Cotton Supreme solids and working in a slightly less accurate style then I’m used to. It was a great way to stretch my comfort limits and work through some creative fears. I was aiming for a slightly off kilter and wonky look, which I think I accomplished.

I struggled a bit on how to quilt it. Originally, I was going to and matchstick it evenly (top of above photo) with gray and a pop of mustard thread here and there. I paused halfway through to look at my progress (to make sure the lines were not leaning sideways) and fell in love with the texture that the uneven spacing added to the quilt (bottom of above photo). My seam ripper and I had a date one evening!

I have yet to settle on a binding color, but here are the options I am considering.

Want to make a runner of your own? With a yard of white, a half-yard each of five colors, and some careful cutting you can make enough blocks to create four full diamonds. My runner is two diamonds in the center, a half diamond on each end, with a diamond on the back.

Initial cutting (for 16 striped blocks):

• 64 – 3/4 x 13″ from white white
• 16 – 2  3/4 x 13″ each from color a, b, c, d, and e (a combined total of 80)

Assembly (additional cutting is included in the instructions):

• Make 16 stacks that contain one a, b, c, d, and e piece. Randomize the stacks so no two are alike (or few are).
• Piece together along the 13″ length your colors with a white strip alternating in between. Your start and end piece will be a color. Press seams to colors. Repeat until you have 16 blocks.

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I keep telling myself that wonky is what I'm aiming for with this project. Brain isn't getting the memo.

A post shared by Elizabeth (@andpins) on Jul 5, 2015 at 2:24pm PDT

• Roughly square up your blocks to be 13 x 13″.
• Divide blocks into two stacks of 8. Cut half of them diagonally top left to bottom right and the other half bottom top right to bottom left. You want to make opposite cuts.
• Layout your (now) triangle blocks on your design wall, bed, table, or floor and move the blocks around until you find the arrangement that you like.
• Measure the length of your diagonal line and cut sixteen 3/4″ strips of white a 1/2″ longer than your measurement. This will be the piece that makes the triangles block again.
• Sew 3/4″ strip along the diagonal of the first triangle, press to the colors. Offset the second triangle 1/4″ from the top edge of the first triangle, lining the diagonal cut against the white edge and sew. Press to the colors and you have a squarish block again. Repeat until you have 16 blocks.
• Measure the width of your new blocks and cut eight 3/4″ strips of white a 1/2″ longer than your measurement.
• Sew your white strip in between two vertical blocks to make eight individual two block units. Press to the colors.

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I think I'm going to like this!

A post shared by Elizabeth (@andpins) on Jul 17, 2015 at 7:34am PDT

• Measure the length of your vertical blocks and cut seven 3/4″ strips of white a 1/2″ longer than your measurement. Sew white strips in between each vertical block to finish the runner. Press to the colors.
• Quilt and bind to your liking!

RJR Fabrics is generously giving one lucky reader a fat quarter bundle of my color set which includes Golden Topaz, Pewter, Argento, On The Rocks, Silver, and Goldilocks. Goldilocks is another mustard option, my quilt uses Golden Topaz. To win, leave me a comment telling me what color combination you are loving today. Mr. Random will pick a winner next Wednesday evening, August 12th (8pm EST) and I’ll announce it here. I’ll be sending the winner a note card in the mail, the one that inspired the project.

Congratulations to Marti T!

To keep things real, this is what happens when I photograph quilts in my house! I think they approve.

 

Quilt Details

Title: Wonky Runner
Pattern: my own, inspired by an illustration by Print Stitch & Paste
Front: Cotton Supreme Solids by RJR Fabrics in Golden Topaz, Pewter, Argento, On The Rocks, & Silver
Back: Black Widescreen and more Cotton Supreme Solids from the front
Binding: undecided
Quilting: Aurifil 40wt 2600, a light gray, and pops of Auriful 50wt 5022, a beautiful mustard
Finished Size: 23.5 x 74″

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Sizzix Quilt Blog Hop | A Tutorial!

I am thrilled to be a part of the Sizzix Quilt Blog Hop celebrating Sizzix’s newest Bigz Pro Quilting collection with designs by the artist, author and quilter Victoria Findlay-Wolfe! I am in some amazing company: Victoria Findlay Wolfe, Nicole from Modern Handcraft, Karin from Leigh Laurel Studios, and eight other fabulous quilters! This week you will see some fantastic projects by some of my quilting idols and have a chance to win an awesome prize all at the same time.

To celebrate, I have a quick, easy mini quilt project for you: Color Hexis!

Every fun project starts with a sketch. I had selected the triangle die without formulating an idea first, so I grabbed my colored pencils and this awesome (free, printable!) triangle graph paper and started sketching some ideas with Carolyn Friedlander’s Botanics and coordinating Kona Solids in mind.

For the mini Color Hexi quilt all you need are 36 not so random charm squares or scraps (six fabrics for each of your six different color choices), the Sizzix Triangles, Isosceles and Right Die, the Fabi (or Big Shot Pro) Machine, and your choice of backing and binding fabric. I had never used a die cutter for fabric and I was shocked at how little time it took me to transform a stack of charm squares into a stack of perfectly cut triangles.

 Take your triangles to your design wall, table, or floor and play around until you are happy with how the colors flow around the hexis and against each other. If you are like me, you may need to sleep on the idea of the layout before you start sewing. Organize your rows into numbered piles so that you stay organized while sewing.

Starting with row 1, align your corners and pin as demonstrated below:

   Sew along pinned edge using a 1/4″ seam throughout and press to the left. Repeat for the remaining triangle in row 1.

Continue sewing the set of row pieces together, alternating which direction you press your seams with each row. With all of your rows well pressed, take row 1 and row 2 and pin your matching seams. You want to sew right across the X of the existing seams.

   This will ensure that you get perfect points.

Press your seams open and repeat with remaining rows.

Sandwich, baste, quilt, and bind (bias makes life easier) with your preferred methods. Jaybird Quilts has a great tutorial for binding the inside corners. After a few tries without a tutorial, I was happy that I found that one!

Be sure check out the rest of the Blog Hop this week, you are in for some great projects by some fabulous quilters!

January 16th Jamie Fingal

January 16th Tracy Mooney

January 17th Elizabeth Timmons

January 17th Nicole Daksiewicz

January 18th Ebony Love

January 18th Holly Hughes

January 19th Marni Weaver

January 19th Leslie Jenison

January 20th Karin Jordan

January 20th Sue Bleiweiss

January 21st Jenny Doan

January 21st Victoria Findlay Wolfe

Now, here are the details you really want! Sizzix is giving away an amazing prize of a Big Shot Pro machine and all three of Victoria Findlay Wolfe’s new dies! To enter, click the image for the Rafflecopter entry form.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for stopping by! What have you been working on lately?

Quilt Details

Pattern: My own design using Sizzix Triangles, Isosceles and Right Die
Front: Botanics by Carolyn Friedlander and coordinating Kona solids
Back: Widescreen in Gray by Carolyn Friedlander
Binding: Botanics Seagrape in Charcoal
Quilting: Aurifil 50WT #2024 (white)
Finished size: approx. 16.5″ across the top x 13.5″ tall

First Finish

I decided to sew for myself on the first day of the new year…

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Starting the new year off with some selfish sewing! Making a cozy scarf with this red flannel and black lawn.

A post shared by Elizabeth (@andpins) on Jan 1, 2015 at 4:17pm PST

…and it turned into this:

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I'm wrapped up in my first 2015 finish, the scarf I finished last night. If you're headed back to work like I am today, it's already Friday! 😘

A post shared by Elizabeth (@andpins) on Jan 2, 2015 at 4:57am PST

(I am really happy that I did!) I am going to make an effort to make sure I do some selfish sewing every now and then. Will you join me?

 

 

If you would like to make an infinity scarf line mine to keep you warm this winter, you can check out my tutorial. It’s a quick & easy one!