Monthly Archives: February 2014
Rafi’s Run
Hi friends. I’m taking a break from quilting today to use this blog for a much more important reason than to talk about pretty fabric and quilts. I want to introduce you to Rafi and Rafi’s Run.
Rafi is a beautiful little girl that is fighting a very rare and painful disease called Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB). You can read more about it here. Rafi was born with the most severe subtype of EB and has endured a lot in her short life. Currently there is no cure, but Rafi, her parents, and a supportive community of friends and family are working hard to find one. That’s where Rafi’s Run comes in.
Rafi’s Run is a 5k run/walk to raise money and awareness for EB. The third annual Rafi’s Run will take place on March 9th, 2014 at 10 a.m. at Riverside Park at West 103rd Street in New York City. You can learn more about Rafi and how you can help here.
A mutual friend of mine and Rafi’s approached me about participating by donating a quilt for the raffle. I jumped at the chance and am honored to be a part of such a great cause for an amazing little girl. Please take a moment to learn more about Rafi and EB and help spread the word to find a cure.
Thanks for reading, and let’s all send lots of love Rafi’s way.
New Fabric (with lots of !!!!!!!!!!)
What makes me happier than new fabric? Not much. And with all of the snow and dreary weather I needed something to put me in a good mood. Fabric can do that for me.
I’ve managed to catch some good sales lately and had to add to my fabric collection. I have no plans for any of these pieces yet, but now I’m starting to dream up some ways to use them.
First up is a little Amy Butler. She is, and will always be, one of my favorites. I love the bright colors in this fabric.
Next is some dreamy Anna Maria Horner. I think the fabric on the far left is my favorite out of everything I got.
Of course some Denyse Schmidt had to happen.
And then I have a few random pieces that I really liked. The one of the far left has a vintage feel to me, which I always love, and I haven’t bought much pink lately so I had to pick up a few pieces. That fabric on the far right is part of the Dear Stella Piper collection. You may remember that I did a quilt last year using Piper, but I did not use/have this design from the collection and I really like it.
By the way, I got the Cream Star Bloom fabric for the back of my Spring Fling quilt and I am working on that now. I love seeing this quilt come together.
Have a great Sunday!
Fabric Envy – Ansonia
Have you seen that Denyse Schmidt’s new Ansonia collection is now available? I cannot wait to get my hands on it.
Photo Source: Denyse Schmidt Quilts
By now you probably all know that Denyse is one of my favorite fabric designers, and I think everything she does is just perfection. This new collection looks amazing, and I loved reading about her inspiration for it. I especially enjoyed the part about the Ansonia building here in NY. I have been in that building and it is stunning – inside and out.
So what’s your favorite colorway?
Tango?
Photo Source: Fat Quarter Shop
Or Bohemian?
Photo Source: Fat Quarter Shop
Or both?
Photo Source: Fat Quarter Shop
I’m going with both.
Trendsetter
My 2014 color trends-inspired quilt is done! You can read more about the color inspirations here.
Now that it’s all come together, I really like the color combination. Even more than I thought I would. Three different companies predicted three different color trends, and somehow they all work together when combined.
Color-wise I’m happy, but there is one thing I would do differently. For this pattern I cut the tops off of triangles, but I wish I would have cut about one more inch off and made them squattier. Is squattier a word?
They still look a little too triangle-like to me when that’s not exactly what I wanted. I really didn’t notice it until I had a few rows done, and at that point I was not going back. So it is what it is, but I like the color so much I’m going to let my triangle issue go.
For the back, I pieced together leftover fabric I had from the front. The fabric for this quilt all came from random pieces in my stash. There’s some Dear Stella Confetti Dot in there, along with a lot of Kona solids – Berry, Coal, Medium Grey and Windsor. The other patterns are ones I’ve had in my stash – some for a very long time – so I can’t tell you what they are.
You’ll notice the Batik print in there and I’ve had that for a lonnnnng time. For years it’s been patiently waiting to make its appearance. I really don’t buy Batiks, but this one caught my eye way back when and I bought it on a whim. It’s been sitting around for so long I never thought I was going to use it, but wouldn’t you know its time has finally come, and I think it came at the right time to help pull all of the colors together.
The lesson here? Every fabric will have its moment.
Happy Sunday sewing!
Note: This quilt is featured in the July/August 2014 issue of Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine.
On the Mend
I was visiting my brother in Denver last summer when I noticed an old quilt of his needed some repair work. This is a quilt my grandma made a long time ago and my brother uses it to nap on the couch. Or at least that’s what I assume he uses it for since it lies on the floor next to his couch. It has to be at least 20 years old, and it’s showing its age.
I know a lot of quilters make quilts they treat like museum pieces and I get that. They are definitely works of art and I can appreciate taking that approach, but that’s not what I do. I always say that my quilts are meant to be used and loved. That’s what we’ve done with my grandma’s quilts and that’s what I do with mine. They go through the wash, they get thrown on the ground outside for picnics, and they’ve probably been spilled on a time or two.
This is one of those quilts. It has been heavily loved. It’s gone through the wash many times and the fabric is super soft. It’s thinning in a lot of places, but the main issue is the binding. As you can see it is completely worn out.
My brother sent me the quilt so I could try to make some repairs and make it last another 20 years. At first I took a seam ripper and started to remove the old binding, but then I realized some of the most worn areas were right by the binding. That’s when I decided to save myself a lot of time and cut off the old binding along with the fabric near it that had worn thin.
Once that was done, all I had to do was attach new binding, where I used Kona Cotton in Navy. I also mended a few small holes in the fabric that I found. Nothing major, just a few spots that could use a little help.
This is the first time I’ve repaired a quilt and I think it turned out okay. Hopefully this old quilt now has a few more years in it.
Gettin’ Trendy
At the end of last year, I wrote about 2014 color trends and how I already had a stack of fabric to go that reminded me of all the 2014 color trend predictions – Radiant Orchid from Pantone, Exclusive Plum from Sherwin-Williams and Breath of Fresh Air from Benjamin Moore.
Well this stack is no more and is now a quilt in progress. It’s coming together pretty quickly and I expect to be finished soon.
One change, though. Originally I planned on including some yellow fabric to add another color dimension, but after I started cutting and piecing I realized I liked it better without the yellow. Instead it’s only purples, greys and blues, and I really like that combination. Can’t wait to show this one to you soon!
Spring Fling
Happy Super Bowl Sunday. Are you planning to watch the game tonight? I’m going to my friends’ apartment to eat Mexican food (hello guacamole) and watch the game with them. But I think there will be more eating and laughing than game watching, and that is why I celebrate Super Bowl Sunday.
Now back to quilts!
My wonky blocks with Moda’s Wrens & Friends collection are done and I am so pleased with the quilt top. I really love how it turned out, and love the happy Spring colors that make me forget it is February. And cold. And snowy. And just kind of miserable outside.
As a reminder, here is the fabric (designed by Gina Martin) that I mixed in some solids with, most of which are Kona.
Each block is the same size but I tried to vary the cuts and shapes that make up the block.
This was made with fat quarters and it was just enough fabric for the quilt top. I wanted to do one more column of blocks along the side but I didn’t have enough fabric left, so instead I added scraps of fabric between blocks to make the quilt a little wider.
This method actually ended up working pretty well and gives it an even more wonky look that I like.
Now I have to figure out the back. It will probably be awhile before I get to it because I am completely out of the Wrens & Friends fabric and I want to use some of that for the back. I am going to choose the fabric pattern that I like best from the collection and then get a big piece of that to use. I think I’m leaning towards the pattern called Cream Star Blooms. That’s the one on the top right in the fabric image early in the post. Do you have a favorite?
