In celebration

After making the quilt for my PhD advisor, I still had half of the Parson Gray fabric leftover. Since I loved that quilt so much (and Jon did too), I decided to make another almost identical quilt to keep for my self to commemorate finishing my degree. Mine is just a little bit bigger than the original at about 50"x70".

I pieced, basted and quilted almost the entire thing at a weekend retreat I went to with the Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild at the beginning of January. It was an awesome way to get this project down, I just hunkered down with a great group of women and no distractions (except for hilarious conversation and girly movies).

I learned all kinds of great tips too, from how to make my own spray starch, to ironing a quilt sandwich before basting so the top and back "stick" to the batting (you can use fewer pins!), to making sure that I have tables on all sides of my sewing table so the quilt glides as I quilt it. Quilting this quilt was the first time I wasn't sore from moving the quilt around!

the back

So all around, I'm loving this quilt and the label will read:

"In celebration of earning my PhD and starting the next chapter!"

Quilt for My Advisor

On the eve of my dissertation defense (the final step of getting my PhD), I can't help but feel a little bit nervous and a whole lot of gratitude for all of those who have spent countless hours teaching and mentoring me to get me to this point.

The process of getting a PhD is very much an apprenticeship where one learns the art of research and scholarship from their advisor, and I have been extremely fortunate to have an amazing advisor. He has been patient and encouraging when I've struggled with my research, reminded me to celebrate when things went well and was incredibly supportive when I decided to pursue a career outside of the faculty-track.

I wanted to get him a gift, but I had no idea what to get him until I ran across this post on Greenleaf Goods. She had made a beautiful quilt for her advisor and I realized that a quilt would be perfect for mine as well. It would be personalized for him and the process of making it allowed me to reflect on my time in grad school as I sewed the strips together, quilted the top and hand stitched the binding.

And the product is my new favorite quilt. I'll be sad to have it leave, but I'm so thankful that I was able to give my advisor a gift that was made with my own hands. For me, it's the only gift that comes close to expressing how truly grateful I feel.

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Quilt details:
- Inspired by this quilt and this quilt
- 48"x 60"
- Fabric from Parson Grey's Curious Nature line with Kona O.D. Green
- All over stipple quilting with straight lines around the log cabins and along edge of stripe

Notes from some weekend sewing

Highlights from the weekend:
- It is possible for me to make a quilt in a weekend
- This is probably my favorite quilt to date
- I heart spray baste and will probably never baste a quilt with safety pins again
- I would rather sew gifts for others than sew for myself
- The Curious Nature line (from Parson Grey) is very difficult to color match

I can't wait to get the binding on this quilt, not only because I'm excited to finish, but also because I can do the hand sewing while watching the Olympics! More photos coming soon!

Weekend Plan

I have a plan for sewing this weekend. It involves:

these blocks

these strips

and this sketch

Wish me luck! I've got until Thursday to finish it up!!

p.s. Life has been particularly quiet on the sewing front for the last six weeks--I turned in my dissertation! Since then, I've been using the downtime before my defense to travel and it's been so relaxing to spend time with family and friends in all different places. My defense is on Thursday (this weekend's quilt is a gift for my advisor) and then we'll be making the big move to Ann Arbor a week later! 

Ricketts Glen State Park

Me and Best Friend in Chicago

Family Reunion Band

Home Sweet Home (Minneapolis, MN)

Just a bit late

Even though it's September, I just wrapped up my block for Block of a Feather for July/August (it's a make two blocks every two months kind of quilting bee).

Spiced Coffee (check out her photo stream for some seriously inspiring stuff!) sent Joel Dewberry prints and coordinating solids. She wanted one block to feature a large motif and we had free range for the other block.



For the second block, I used the Margaret's Choice pattern from Quilter's Cache and made a concerted effort to keep my seams even and my points matching. I mostly did it and actually produced a 12.5" block, so I'm pleased.



I also wanted to send along an extra block since I was a little delinquent. I was really inspired by some of the quilts in my new Kaffe Fassett book, Simple Shapes, that feature brick-like designs and wanted to try it out myself. I started piecing without much of a plan and I'm really happy with how it came together.

Traveling Houses

For the last month of Traveling Threads, Lucinda (aka LucyEllen06) requested houses. She sent some cute prints and wanted us to personalize the houses with bits and pieces from our stash.



I found that little bird and stamped the sewing machine and thread so she could have an upstairs sewing room (isn't that what we all want?).

Back in the Saddle

Wow!
It's been almost 2 months since my last post and almost as long since I've made anything. Between an end of the semester paper, end of the semester grading, wedding stuff and some family visits, the sewing machine hasn't gotten much love lately.

I also got behind on one of my bees. These blocks were due at the end of last month, but I just couldn't get to them until recently. I felt so awful, but Ruthie was wonderfully understanding. She asked for blocks for a spring garden and here's what I came up with.


This came from a free pattern at paper panache


This one is completely improvised (using the same method as my tutorial from a while ago). I really like how they came out but they're really different in style than what the other women made, so I hope Ruthie likes them...

Watch for more posts this weekend as I try to get caught up. :)

Sunshine=Productivity

I don't know what it is about sunshine, but it makes me super productive!

Here's the block I made for Leslie (aka Twenty-Eighth Street) for Traveling Threads. It's 15.5" square!


And I made huge progress on my Christmas Threads quilt. All of the blocks except the trees have sashing!! I even have an idea for the back and label.


I have a long arm quilter lined up for next month so let's hope I can make the deadline.

I did it!

I actually got some sewing done... hurray! Life has been pretty hectic for me lately so I'm a little late with my March blocks (a first for me), but I also started my April blocks so hopefully it won't happen again.

For Traveling Threads (for March!), Mari (aka midland-design) wanted blocks that remind us of a summer garden so she can have a bright quilt to snuggle under during Norwegian winters. I had a lot of fun doing raw edge applique and embroidery on this one. Aren't the frogs cute?



For snip.sew.send in March, Tina (of Little Blue Cottage) is making a pink quilt for her daughter and wanted a block full of squares. I ran out of fabric to finish the last square, but I figure she probably has more pink at home.


For snip.sew.send for April, Heather (of Quiltin' Like Crazy) sent yellow fabrics with really specific instructions that were easy to follow. An episode of "This American Life" later, I had this block:


I have another block or two I'm hoping to do this weekend and also get caught up on some research related work that I'd really like to finish. Hope you all are having a great weekend... anyone else loving the warm weather???

February Quilting Bee blocks

February would've been a short month to get my bee blocks done, but it's made even shorter this month since Jon and I are going on vacation in a week and that's going to eat up 2 weekends where I would normally get some sewing done. (We're going to Mazatlan, Mexico for a wedding and I'm really excited!! I have a serious case of cabin fever/winter blues!)

This month for Traveling Threads, Jessica (aka jmbmommy) sent Kaffe Fasset fabric and requested wonky stars. I love wonky stars and had fun with the proportions on this one. It's 12.5" square.



For my new quilting bee, Blocks of a Feather, there's only 6 of us, so we do 2 blocks every 2 months. This time, Lily.Lemon gave us free reign with some really wonderful Halloween fabrics and asked for 10.5" blocks. I decided to do one totally improv block and another with a cute play on words (trick or treating around the block)... aren't those kitties cute?




And it's my month for Snip.Sew.Send! I've asked for a little neighborhood inspired by the Ingrid Press quilt that's been all over flickr and blogland.

January Bee Round-Up

Here are the blocks are made this month for my quilting bees. It's been a busy month so I'm getting them in JUST under the wire!

For snip.sew.send, Robin is having us make blocks for a rainbow baby quilt. She sent each of us a different color and asked for wonky log cabin style blocks. I got purple! It's probably my favorite color, so I was really excited. I added some darker purple fabrics I had from my stash and here's what I came up with (sorry about the weird picture, purple is difficult to capture without natural light...)


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Cue Wicked Witch music... da d'da d'da da daaa.

This month, Ruth (aka RuthieQuilts) from Traveling Threads asked for a really fun challenge: Wizard of Oz themed blocks! I had considered all kinds of different blocks from Emerald City to a tornado to ruby slippers or Toto, but finally decided to modify some paper piecing patterns to make some blocks with the Wicked Witch.

The first is a modified version of Sonja (Artisania)'s witch pattern.


The second is a pattern that I've been working on for a while to get right. I took the patterns for Snape from Harry Potter and a crystal ball from this site (with tons of Harry Potter themed pattern) and combined them to be the Wicked Witch looking to her crystal ball. I think it turned out pretty well, although I wish the crystal ball were a little more round...

Traveling Threads Christmas Quilt

I've been promising an update on my Christmas quilt for a while, but the end of the semester teaching has been much more time consuming than I anticipated and slowed my progress. I've received all the blocks from my Traveling Threads quilting bee and they look great!


I made three more blocks today. One is a completely improv block:


The other two are similar but I forgot to take a picture of the other one. You can see both in the picture of the layout though.


What do you guys think about this layout? Any blocks standing out as being in an odd place? Any better ideas?

Currently, the top and bottom rows are turned and the background would be white. I'm trying to make it 5 rows so that it'll be long enough to cover Jon's toes. :)
I have a candy cane stripe for the binding that I think is going to be really cute.

November Quilting Bee Round-Up

This weekend I also got caught up on my quilting bees. This month, alexdk sent out Christmas fabrics for the Traveling Threads bee and asked for either wonky houses or log cabin style blocks. I've been wanting to do a wonky house and REALLY wanting to do wonky trees (check out the ones I got from RuthieQuilts) so I free-pieced this block (12.5" square):



Gretchen from Snip.Sew.Send is working on a "Jewel Squares" quilt and wanted blocks that are 2”, 3.5”, 6.5” and 9.5”. I love the fabric she sent and these little blocks are really addicting. The pictures don't really do the colors justice (it's been cloudy all weekend), but  I think this quilt will be spectacular! Here are the blocks I made (6.5" and 9.5"):



I'm also plugging along with the Sew Kid at Heart bee. I'm hoping that I can have most (if not all) of the blocks done in January before the next semester starts. This weekend I made these string blocks for a quilt Leslie (aka TwentyEighthStreet) is making for her son. The colors are really great.

More October Flowers

For Traveling Threads this month, I made these flowers for Jill (aka Spinster Sister). She wanted something fun and loves layering. I'm hoping it didn't end up too busy but I'm in love with the flowers.



Edited to Add: I made these flowers in the same way that log cabin blocks are made. I randomly cut a center shape and then added strips one at time on each edge going around. If there's interest, I'll be happy to do a tutorial about it.

They're raw edge appliqued on with Steam-A-Steam Lite (a lightweight fusible web). I ironed them on (following the Seam-A-Steam instructions) and straight-stitched around the edges.

August Swaps Round-up

Since I'm going to be out of town for 10 days at the end of the month, I've been working hard to get my swaps taken care of early.

For Traveling Threads, Marilyn (aka Spiced Coffee) sent some really beautiful, soft colored fabric and hoped for a few birds. I went with something simple since the fabric seemed so calm, I didn't want anything too busy. I'm really happy with how the block turned out. It's 12.5" square.



For snip.sew.send., Zonnah (of Zonnah's Addictions) wanted us to do 7.5" curve/circle blocks. I've been loving the circles lately and was really inspired by this quilt. I pieced the circle and then used the fusible interfacing method to applique the circle. I figured that would be easier with all the seams around the edge. I also cut the back open to reduce the bulk and so I could re-press the seams.




and last, but certainly not least, I wrapped up my witches for Jane's Spooktacular Swap. It turns out that as much as I love the paper pieced witch pattern, I just can't make 12 of them. So, I made 4 of those, 4 witch faces and 4 sets of witch shoes. I think they're all fun in their own way, but I picked one of the sets of shoes to be returned to me. I can't wait to see what I end up with from the other ladies in my group!