The Colorado Quilt

UPDATE: You can now purchase my Welcome to Colorful Colorado quilt pattern on Craftsy!

This quilt was Jesse’s 30^th birthday present, and it was quite the process. Last year Jesse won a very large stack of Oakshott cotton at a Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild event that I brought him along to, and he very graciously gave it to me! I knew I had to make something for him with it, so the fabric was the first decision I made in making this quilt. I decided on Colorado for the theme, since he was born and raised there, and chose to use lots of graphic shapes for the pattern.

I started in June, giving me plenty of time to finish it. I didn’t want him to know that I was making it, so the only time I could work on it was when he wasn’t around. Fortunately, I found a few hours here and there each week. But, boy, that was stressful! I never want to have to quilt in secret again:)

The Oakshott fabric (oh my goodness, I love this fabric!) came in fat eighths, which definitely added complexity and time to the quilt. It all worked out in the end, but having fat quarters would have helped tremendously - not that I can complain, it was free after all. I drew everything in Illustrator, figured out the sizes, and also assigned every piece to a color since I was limited on fabric. My brain got a total workout on this one!

The quilt works both vertically and horizontally. Vertically, it’s like your standing in a field, looking at the sun setting behind the mountains. The large brown piece on the right represents the flat irons, which are located in the Boulder area where he grew up. If you hold it horizontally, it reflects the map of Colorado. Jesse actually taught me this, but Colorado is divided into thirds, with the mesas on the west (the reds) the mountains in the middle (blues are rock, white is snow, and green is the trees) and the plains (yellows, greens and browns) on the east.

I decided to name the quilt “Welcome to Colorful Colorado”. It only seemed fitting - a colorful quilt to represent the state’s motto. I used freezer paper and fabric paint to do the label on the back, and a facing finish binding to complete the quilt. 

I gave him his quilt last weekend, and he loved it! He’s so excited to have a quilt all his own.

Baby Quilt

This past year was full of several of my friends having babies. I guess I am at that age where people start to procreate – even though I still don’t feel old enough to take care of another human being!

The fun part of friends having babies (besides the cute babies) is getting to make quilts for them. Baby quilts are the perfect size to make. Anything bigger just seems unmanageable and way too time consuming.

One of my favorites I finished was for my good friend Jenn’s baby girl. Jenn and her husband have a very modern design aesthetic and picked lots of bright colors for the nursery, which made it even more fun to make! I used solids, and free-motion quilting that added a lot of texture. I used this fabric on the back, which helped inspire the quilt too. A lot of people thought it looked like the Trivial Pursuit game piece, or a game spinner – not intentional, but it would be really fun to do game inspired quilts in the future!

I was so excited to see her monthly photos taken on the quilt. Isn’t their baby girl adorable?! She’s even bigger now and almost 7 months old!

DIY Cardboard Hexagon Containers

We somehow ended up with loads of cardboard in our house. It probably helps that I won’t let Jesse throw ANY boxes away! We had several pieces in really good condition, so I decided to play around with turning some of it into little hexagon containers. I was able to use up some of the cardboard stash, and also found another use for my beloved washi tape.

The great things about these is that when you get tired of them you can just toss them in the recycling bin, and you don’t have to feel guilty about it. Even better, these only took about an hour to make. One hour = three very functional, and free, recycled hexagon containers – not bad!

Supplies: Cardboard, Washi Tape (I purchased some of mine from Happy Tape), pencil, x-acto, cutting mat, ruler and hex template.

Instructions & Tips:

1. Layout your template so that the top line is running parallel with the grain. This seems to make it a little more stable, and less likely to warp while wrapping the tape.

2. Don’t forget to mark your score lines! A clear quilting ruler works well for lining up your score marks and making a straight score line. Though, any ruler will do.

3. Score, cut out and fold. Use a “stabilizer” piece of tape in the inside to join the seam of your two end pieces. This will help hold the sides together while you wrap the container. 

4. Tape the sides to the bottom before you start wrapping the container. Wider tape works best for this part, as you’ll stick it to the side, and than fold it over to the bottom to attach the two.

5. Start wrapping! It helps to always start and stop on the same side, that way all your tape seams will all be one side.

I’ve included templates you can download for the three containers, and a bonus XLARGE version that is great as a gift box or for larger items.

They can even be found in nature – how cool is that?! Yep, I love hexagons.

LA

This past February I was able to go out to LA and visit my long time friend Jessie. We have been friends for our entire life, yes, all 29 years! We went to the same daycare as small children, and shared many classes over the course of twelve grades at the same school. Somehow we even made it through 4 years of French together, we’re still not sure how that happened! And please, don’t ask us to parler francais:)

I had such an amazing time. Jessie was kind enough to drive me around the town, which if you’ve ever been to LA, is no small feat. Some of my favorite things were Melrose Trading Post, touring Paramount Pictures (and the sets of Glee!) and watching the entire first season of American Horror Story together. If Netflix had been around while we were in high school, it is highly likely we would have done this!

We visited the shop Poketo, which I had seen online and knew I had to visit. The shop was amazing, just as I expected and the neighborhood was really cute too – an up-and-coming area with fun graffiti and a few other shops and restaurants. It seemed like an area straight out of the show New Girl, and I was right! The exterior shots of their apartment building is located just blocks away from Poketo. If you’re in LA, you should definitely venture to this part of town! 

Peace Quilt

I made this quilt for my mother-in-law back in April. I actually made it in a record 3 days! Eek! It helped that it was a simple design, plus I was highly motivated and didn't leave the house for an entire weekend. Sometimes this is the only way things will get done. I took these photos before I added the binding, but these photos have the best lighting.

I've been trying out piecing letters, and love the way you can incorporate words and phrases into a quilt. I think I actually used paper piecing this time for the letters which worked out well, and was fast too!

For the past several years they have been staying on a beach near Santa Barbara for a couple of months out of the year, so I used that as the inspiration. I used some Oakshott fabric I won last year which is such wonderful fabric and so perfect for this quilt. The threads are dyed and then woven together. In several of the fabrics they combine two colors, which give it an iridescent feel - so pretty:)

I left in the background on these because I just learned the best way to photograph a quilt is by hanging it on the wall. Duh, saves you from risking falling off a chair, or dropping your camera - and the quilt won't look warped from the weird angle. These is the last quilt to get photographed like this - thank goodness!

Public Bikes Box: Marquee Arrow Sign

At the beginning of the year I decided to take the plunge and purchase a bike. That whole process requires another post, but 6 months later, I am still very much happy with my decision!

Public is based out of San Francisco, so I had to have the bike shipped to me. So, not only did I get a beautiful bike, but a giant box as well. I'm all about reusing material, and the box/website even promotes recycling the box for something new - so awesome!

There are several good tutorials out there (here and here) for creating marquee signs out of paper mache letters and other materials. I ended up just figuring it out as I went along since I had certain restrictions due to the original box.

I decided on a giant arrow. I had to work around the handle cut outs on the box, and a few areas that got beat up in the shipping process. After cutting out the arrow shape, I used buttons to lay out where the lightbulbs would be. I decided on two strands (25 bulbs per strand) which fit perfectly on the arrow. I traced around the buttons, and than used those marks to drill holes (you could probably make cuts with your x-acto, but I really wanted to use power tools!).

I used the sides of the box for the sides of the arrow, and used lots and lots of hot glue to attach them. It's overall pretty lightweight, so I think it should hold up ok.

The finished light! I might eventually spray paint it, but I like the fact that it's imperfect and I even like the cardboard feel. Once we figure out the perfect place for it we'll hang it onto the wall, but for now it adds a little personality to our movie room and the perfect addition for a Movie Foodie night!

International Quilt Study Center & Museum

Last month I went to the International Quilt Study Center & Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska to celebrate my mom's birthday. We had talked about going for some time now, and finally planned the trip! She brought along two of her good friends, and we turned it into a little weekend trip.

They had a display of miniature and toy sewing machines - I desperately want that blue one at the top!

The quilt below was made by a seamstress in Lincoln. She made it between 1909 and 1914, and is made of 10,222 pieces! And those pieces are tiny too! I can see why it took her 5 years to complete:)

A guy pieced and quilted this one above! He was an engineer, and used his math skills to perfect quilting.

They have a collection of over 4,000 quilts, but they only show a couple dozen at a time, and rotate the quilts in themed exhibits. I loved that it was just three curated little exhibits. Most museums have so much art to look at, it can be overwhelming, and I tend to get bored - but this had just the right amount. You could go once a year and see different quilts, and hear different stories every time.

One lesson I learned after visiting - label your quilts with your name and year! I have only done this once, but will try to be more diligent about it in the future. You can check out their website to see their current and future exhibits, and also see images of their quilt collection.