Making things pretty

My fabric stash has been in desperate need of organizing for a while now. The other day, I was rifling through the many separate boxes and stacks when it suddenly occurred to me that I was doing it all backward. This is what my fabric bookcase looked like before:

Eek. Before, the bookcase was filled with all of my "upcycle" fabrics — old t-shirts and pants, sheets, and other randomness, plus various notions and rulers on the top two shelves. All of my pretty fabric was stored in the two plastic bins you see to the right, as well as a few more bins in the closest on the left. Why on earth was I hiding all the good stuff (and making it harder to get to)? Problem solved!

Yay! I can't get over the prettiness. A few nights ago, I put on an episode of Food Network Star and got to work. I sorted all of my designer fabric by color and folded it properly so it would fit on the bookcase. I then moved all of the upcycle fabrics into the plastic bins. My fat quarters and larger scraps went into a smaller plastic bin in the closest. I also sorted through the notions and organized them in a black bin we weren't using.

Pretty rainbow! It's so much easier to find fabrics now, and I can see exactly what I have. The bottom three shelves are sorted by color. The top shelf of fabric is for projects I'm currently working on, and the shelf below that holds the red fabrics (the top of the rainbow sorting) and the multicolor fabrics. I'm so happy with the switch.

And a little more fabric prettiness. I love this stack! After the Jacquie Gering workshop the other day, I stopped by a new-to-me fabric shop in town that I'd been meaning to check out for months. The ladies who run it were super nice, and we chatted while I picked out too many things, including this stack. :)

 

I love, love, love how the colors together and can't wait to decide what to do with them. I might need to go back and get some more...

Workshoppin' with Jacquie Gering

This past weekend, I went to my first quilting lecture and workshop. For months, the St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild has been building up to this weekend, when we finally welcomed the wonderful Jacquie Gering to the Lou.

On Friday, she gave a lecture entitled "Quilting Modern: Honoring Tradition." She talked all about her method, where she gets her inspiration, and how to take traditional ideas and put a modern spin on them.

And she showed off a ton of her fabulous quilts.

Really, I wanted to sneak out of there with all of them.

Afterward, she was kind enough to stick around to chat, sign copies of her book, and let us manhandle her beautiful quilts.

On Saturday, she hosted a workshop on modern crazy piecing. I was really excited about this one because I really don't do any improv work when I sew, and I knew it would be a good chance to learn a new technique and push me out of my comfort zone.

I definitely wasn't the only one, as lots of people in the group cringed as Jacquie starting slicing through fabric without measuring. But once I got my rotary cutter in my hand, it was actually a really freeing experience and so much fun. Slice, slice, rearrange!

I worked on a monochromatic piece using a range of teals (big surprise coming from me, I know). I gathered up this huge stack a few weeks ago so I'd have plenty of inspiration. I'm planning on using these fabrics for my STLMQG Ohio Star challenge quilt, but this weekend, they all went to the workshop with me. I think my plan will be to use some of my crazy piecing for the back of the Ohio Star quilt.

After the initial "lesson," Jacquie canvassed the room offering great advice and lots of help the entire time. And she was so very, very genuinely nice. She even helped me carry my ironing board to my car after the workshop. Ha!

It was a great weekend and a wonderful first workshop experience. I can't wait for the next one! Now, I gotta get back to my piecing.

A berry good summer

It's no surprise that I love berries. I've already written about them once this summer, in fact. But we've been gobbling them up so much over the past few weeks that I couldn't resist another post.

We try to get most of our berries in the summer from the farmers' market. They tend to be the prettiest and tastiest, plus they're local. See? So pretty.

We've certainly done our fair share of eating berries on their own, but I've also had several occasions for baking lately, and at this time of year, it's hard for me to justify baking something that doesn't have berries in it.

It started with these Summer Berry Custard Bars from Bakers Royale. I made them for two 4th of July parties we attended, and they were a big hit. Kind of a cakier gooey butter cake with berries. Yes, please!

Shortly after that, I made Smitten Kitchen's Blueberry Crumb Bars for brunch. They have fruit in them, so they're a breakfast food, right? They were delicious. So much blueberry goodness.

Then, this past weekend, I whipped up these Blueberry Hand Pies from Completely Delicious. I've made many a pie in my day, but this was my first time making hand pies. They were so good and definitely a better option for taking to parties, like I did, than a big old pie you have to cut up. Besides, summer is all about utensil-less foods.

 B gave his hearty approval.

I felt pretty much the same way. Now, I just need an excuse to make Smitten Kitchen's Strawberry Summer Cake. I made it last year and have been dreaming about it ever since.

WIP Wednesday #39

Howdy, Wednesday. Let's do this thing. 

Completed:
Beckett's baby quilt (aka, the Marine quilt)

It's done! Done! Done! You can read all about the quilt (and see lots more pics) here, but I wanted to be sure it was documented here, too. Because it's done!

In progress:
T-shirt quilt

My friend Katie and I are pushing each other on this one. We've both been wanting to make one for a long time, so we agreed to start on them together this summer. Last Friday, we had a great night of chatting while we cut up and interfaced a million shirts. As you can see, I still have a lot of interfacing to do. I hate interfacing.

Quilt for the St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild's Ohio Star Challenge quilt challenge

This quilt is our "challenge" for the year. It's due in September, so I'm just getting started, but I have an idea of what I want to do, and I pulled this great stack for inspiration. Grays, teals, and lime greens? Looks like me.

Kitchen Window quilt
Now that B's quilt is done, I'm determined to get back to this one and finally finish it. Next step: sashing! 

On the "to do" list: 

Re-covering the downstairs chair

New pillows for the downstairs chairs
Christmas table runner
iPod workout strap
A mug rug for me and one for a gift
Picnic quilt
Ironing board cover
Another divided basket from the Noodlehead pattern 
Reusable snack bags
Living room quilt
Small zipper bag for me
Baby gifts

This week, I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced and We Did It Wednesday at Sew Much Ado!

Piling up fabric

Last Saturday was the monthly meeting of the St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild. It marked the guild's third anniversary, so there were several extra giveaways and prizes. It also turned out to be my lucky day, as I won two of them.

The first was a follow-up to the sew-in we had a few weeks ago. The "price" of admission for each sew-in is one modern fat quarter. All of the collected FQs are then given away at the next meeting. Everyone who attended the sew-in had their name in the drawing, and two names were drawn. Each person received 11 FQs!

I love the assortment I got, and it includes some of my favorites, including some Flea Market Fancy, Anne Kelle Remix, and Metro Living Ring Toss. I also love this print from the Comma collection.

The second one was a biggie. At each meeting, there's a raffle for a fabric prize, usually a small FQ set of a hot new line. Because it was our big anniversary meeting, the set was bigger than usual — FQs of the entire Happy Go Lucky collection. I only bought one raffle ticket, but apparently it was the right one!

I'm so excited about this stack. I love the cheery colors and can't wait to figure out what to use them for. I think the banner prints are my favorite.

The navy and gray prints in the set don't make a lot of sense to me with the other colors, but I love them on their own, and I have the perfect idea for using them — and it probably includes those last few pillows I need to make for the downstairs area.

Finally, when I saw this week's Stash Share picture on Pile O' Fabric, I couldn't help but throw in a picture of my own. I love the yellow, pink, and gray color combo. Maybe I'll have to get these into a project soon.

Have you been following the Stash Share posts? They provide some great color combo ideas and give me an excuse to sort through my own stash. I always find something I've forgotten about!