Diary of a Mad Fabri-Holic

Dakota blues

Now that this quilt has finally made it to its new owner, I can show you the final pictures.  

Dakota is the newest addition to the family of an old friend (his older sister got this quilt when she arrived).  I have a feeling he is going to be a very mischievous little guy- he tricked everyone into thinking he was a girl at ultrasound #1, but revealed himself truly in #2.  Good thing I was running behind on starting his quilt, or he might be rolling around on something pretty and pink right now!

When I discovered Project Improv, it was the perfect starting point.  Rather than use a pattern, I bravely played with fabric and my own ideas.  That's really tough for me- so I started really simply with this one.  But I think simple worked well.  I quilted it super simply too- diagonal lines across the quilt in a soft yellow thread.  The back is a minkee-esque fabric, a soft yellow.  I had big wild plans for the binding- a fabulous wavy striped batik- but I went with a simple dark blue batik instead for a calming element.  So it turns out I accidentally made the quilt in the colors of Dakota's mom's alma mater- go me!

Working on this one was a wonderful journey- making a quilt for a friend's new son AND enjoying the creative process- I think I am luckier than Dakota.  Now to finish the next Project Improv piece AND get inspired to start a new one...

Stash, a whole new way

A monumental amount of work went into this:

And this as well:

The all new fabric organization system!  From one bookshelf AND a bunch of storage bins to 2 bookshelves.  (The books- knitting and quilting and other crafting- have moved to the family room.)  There is still some fabric stashed- all the scraps, flannel, non-quilting, and a few special pieces (vintage elvis collection, xmas.)  But the rest is out where I can see it and sorted by nothing but color.

Well, except for that bottom shelf of Kaffe...  but there's so darn much of it.  And it is so happy together... So let's pretend that shelf doesn't exist.

But the rest of it is all mixed up.  There is no longer any designer division.  Novelties lay next to solids lay next to batiks.  It's so much fun.  And it's also a really easy way to see my color prefences: bright bright and more bright, and no brown, please!  Who knew I was so obvious?

I'm looking forward to playing with my new system and making some wild and crazy quilts, after I finish a few in-process pieces lying around...  Which hopefully will happen in the next few days.

7 balls of yarn, one hundred billion stitches (or so), and one very happy 8 year old...

Browsing around Ravelry a few weeks ago, I stumbled up a simple, fabulous pattern for a child's twirly skirt.  Annie had recently pretty much outgrown the one and only skirt I had knitted for her.  (The nerve!)  So I showed her the pattern, which she loved, and we went to Michaels armed w/a 30%-off-your-entire-purchase coupon.  After much, much deliberation, Annie settled on a wild and crazy color combination, and I got started knitting.  We went with Lion Brand Micro Spun- inexpensive and machine washable with a nice drape- and in colors Annie was wild about!

Boy, oh boy, oh boy, that was a long knit.  It went everywhere with me for a few weeks- even a Rockies game!

It was super simple- I adapted it to knit in the round to avoid any seaming.  But by the time I got to the 4th color, there were four hundred and ninety- 490- stitches per round.  Dear god.  The first row took less than one ball.  The 4th?  2.5!  Take  that times 20 ish rounds... well... you see why I was ready to dance a dance of joy when I was ready to bind off!  (Well, that and also a fun dinner guest arrived at the same time...)

The Hubby helped me figure out the i-cord machine I recently picked up- we do NOT recommend the micro spun w/the machine- and he cranked out the drawstring!  A true family effort- if you count the bunny ears that Henry is giving me in the above photo...

And then, two hems sewed, and one fabulous twirly skirt, done and ready to test out!

What do you think?  It twirls beautifully!  She loves it, it fits, and- the best part- she wore it Monday when we had to go to the dentist and run a huge pile of errands.  Everywhere we went, people were crazy for the skirt!  Such a great day for my ego...  Plus, I up-sized it a tiny bit by making each stripe 1" longer and the waist a bit wider (hooray for the drawstring) so she can grow for a while and still be able to wear it!

A Weekend Full of Eye Candy

I was a lucky lucky lady this Saturday- I ditched the husband and the kids and spent the entire day at the Denver National Quilt Festival.

There was loads of eye candy- as always, it's kind of overwhelming.  You can only take in so much beauty, talent and inspiration before you hit sensory overload...  I took photos of my favorites for later perusal.  In case you didn't know where my loves lie, you will see that I favor modern, bold and bright quilts over traditional and less bright ones...  I would LOVE to see photos of someone else's faves- I bet it would look like we went to completely different shows!

To check out what inspired me, click the badge below. It will take you to a Flickr set of my photos from the show.  You can also see 2008 by clicking HERE and 2007 HERE.

www.flickr.com

This is a Flickr badge showing items in a set called Denver National Quilt Festival, 2009. Make your own badge here.

It seemed to me that the show was far less crowded than in years past, and that fewer quilts were on display. It also seemed that the vendors were not so very interesting- great for my budget, blah for my shopping.  Fabric you could get anywhere, boring patterns, etc.- or it could be that I personally am frustrated by traditional quilting at the moment and took it out on what I saw? 

I came home with very very little new fabric- which is just fine- but I was sad that there was less to be inspired by- not so many hand dyes or prints, and the folks who made my favorite X rated fabric from last year were not in attendance :-(  I'm not sure is the lack of attendees and vendors was due to the economy or not, but I hope next year is back up to speed!

Meanwhile, I'm going to bask in the photos I took and be inspired.  Unless I get depressed by seeing so darn much talent and start thinking "I could never do THAT."  Guess I'll just have to get braver.