Madrona Road Challenge

How long ago was the Modern Quilt Guild's Madrona Road Challenge?  I must really be a quilter to let a project languish, unfinished for such a long spell and then revive it in a whirl of activity.  I actually have more ideas and plenty of the fabric left but here's what I've gotten to so far:

First off, the latest project for the Zakka 2.0 sew along on Flickr. The block pattern is "Books for Baby" from Ayumi Takahashi's book Patchwork, Please!  I enlarged it slightly but left out the sashing and made a 17-inch pillow sham (for a 16" insert.)

The open pages of the books read: "Good night," "Sweet dreams," "She tied," and "Loose threads."

For the back of the books pillow, I used two text prints I had on hand and appliquéd the hexies I learned to English-paper-piece at the MplsMQG summer Sew-B-Q.  Underneath the flap is a pink zipper.  It's machine-quilted.



Next up is my long-dormant challenge project.  No longer an Unfinished Object!!!  The center block is a foundation-pieced pattern by Cyrille of BubbleStitch.  You should check out her patterns; they are my favorites!  This one is from her Goldilocks set but I call her, Madrona.

You can see more of the house blocks on the back of the pillow.  They are a pattern called "Circus Tents" from Kaffe Fassett's book, Glorious Patchwork.   They are very easy to piece.
This pillow cover is about 21 inches square; the insert is a 20" duck down pillow from IKEA.

Underneath the flap is an orange zipper and a little label I made out of the selvedge.

I just love Violet Craft's Madrona Road fabric collection.  It was the first fat quarter set I ever bought (of any designer fabric.)  Later on, I couldn't believe my luck when the Modern Quilt Guild created the challenge and I got another fat quarter set (the blues and yellow solid) for free!

Originally, I planned a twin-sized quilt to go with this pillow.  It would have more houses and two girl blocks.  I still think about finishing that quilt idea but then again, I'd like to close out this Work-in-Progress.  It feels good to be finished.

Here's my next WIP.  Do you recognize the fabric?

See you on the flip side.

-Kristin

Little Red Riding Hood

The only downside to summer vacation is coming home with a cold.  Boo-hoo!  Woe-is-me!  Sob!  Sniffle...  But now I'm feeling much better and I remember the other downside to vacation: falling behind on my sewing!  I missed a couple of great weeks in the Zakka 2.0 sew along on Flickr; the polka-dot cafe apron, the placemat, and the apple bib look so fun but I'm just in time for the Dino-Mite Hat on page 65.

 I did sew today.  I did not make a dinosaur hat.  I also did not make a baby hat.  However, I did make a pillowcase dress and a very small velveteen hood with ears for my China Girl doll.

Bonus Question: Can anyone from the MplsMQG guess the liner fabric?

China Girl is a song by David Bowie (and Iggy Pop) but she's also a character from the recent film, Oz the Great and Powerful (see video clips here and here.)  I thought the movie was kind of meh...even if there was an Anna Maria Horner panel on one of the aprons but I do enjoy the Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum weirdness in general, and I've spent a ton of time at Dorothy's House in Liberal, Kansas.  I'm not really a doll collector but China Girl happens to be a thoughtfully made toy and she's pretty fun because she's 14 inches tall, jointed so she's posable, and she can stand on her own.   Besides, she's from Oz and she's adorable and she keeps me company in the sewing room.  Today I thought she might like a new outfit and so this is what we came up with.

The dress is a simple pillowcase style made from two 10-inch squares of a novelty print from Joann's.  I used three different trims and her belt secures with a bra hook.
Her hat is a variation of the style from Ayumi's pattern in Patchwork, Please! but I had to draft it myself to be boxier since CG has molded hair and all.  Instead of dinosaur spikes down the middle, I just folded triangular ears into the darts.

Yes, it was inspired by Little Red Riding Hood and her nemesis, the Big Bad Wolf.
I guess there's a mix of styles going on here...Sort of 1970's Little House on the Prairie goes Harajuku lolita.  Maybe CG is headed to a Renaissance festival or something.

Anywho.  There it is.  Celebrating being able to breathe out of my nose by sewing for my dolly from stash scraps.


Perhaps I'm making doll clothes because I didn't learn to sew as a kid and now I need to fill in the design experience gaps?   In any case, it's like baby clothes: all the fun of sewing garments without the expense of so much fabric.

It's really fun and I recommend it.

                               Catchya Later

                                 -Kristin

Summer Session

Woohoo! Summer finally arrived in Minnesota and it is wonderful.  Warm.  Sunny.  Sticky. Busy.  I just got back from a week of raod-tripping and visiting family in Montana, Idaho, and North Dakota. They were experiencing a little bit of that heat wave that hit the western United States last week...and let's just say that all the stores were out of fans and swimming pools.  But it was gloriously fun and we saw lots of animals (see below) and now we came home with a new appreciation for air conditioning in the house!

I haven't sewn much of anything for the last couple of weeks except for these last two blocks for the Modern Stash Quilting Bee on Flickr.  The design is called Twirling Asterisk and it's by Janine at Rainbow Hare Quilts.  I drew up a quick template (it finishes at 11 inches.)

If you think about it...these are just half square triangles so the possibilities are endless!  This pair is on its merry way to Scotland but I think I'll make some more for myself soon.