Inventory Quilt Project

Have you heard of the Inventory Quilt Project being hosted by Just Wanna Quilt? The idea is to use one piece of each fabric in your stash to make a quilt to show your stash all in one quilt. You can use fabrics in one colour, for example or maybe the more the merrier version. I'm the more the merrier kind a gal with my project.

 I am one of the featured designers and my turn to showcase my project and pattern is today March 4th.

The pattern I'm using is called 'Flipping Out'. I know strange name right. Here's how it came about I was in a stare down competition with my bonus HSTs and wondering what in the world was I going to do with all of them. Well I can tell you I didn't win the stare down as they seemed to multiply right before my very eyes. I was ready to flip out. Enough already I needed to deal with them and NOW. And that is how a new pattern began.

I have a substantial amount of green and also pink. 5 granddaughters account for all the pink.

If you want to use Flipping Out for your inventory quilt, pick up the PDF pattern in my Etsy store. It is on the introductory sale price of $8 CDN. Pick it up today and join me as I continue to work on mine.
Thank you to Robin Sue for testing this pattern and the editing.

Flipping out uses FQ's or scraps or yardage

If you want to take part in the Inventory Quilt project sew along, there's a Facebook group you can join and you can also use the hashtag #inventoryquilt on Instgram.

Will you be sewing along? If so, will you use every single fabric in your stash, or every fabric in a single colour, or some other variation?

And just for fun let's have a giveaway of one of my patterns for all those who participate using 'Flipping Out'.

Now to get back to playing with my stash let the fun begin!

Splash of Colour Progress

I am loving how my Splash of Colour project is looking. The little pop of green adds the wow factor. The Splash of Colour QAL is being run by Myra @ Busy Hands.  You can read more about my pattern choice here.

paper pieced units

I have had to fit this project in with other projects I'm working on. There were 16 of the white with black and white paper pieced units. I use freezer paper to do my paper piecing, no papers to rip off after. The black with white dots is a Cotton & Steele print, I only had a FQ and am now wishing I had more as I would have liked to use it as the binding.

one of 4 sections pieced

After piecing the sections I ran into a small snag. I didn't have enough of the white on white print background fabric. I knew I wanted white for the corner pieces. Not all whites are created equal and I finally decided a solid would be my best bet. I pulled out some Kona snow and think once I get the quilting done it will be a good fit.

Kona corners added although they are hard to see in this photo trust me they are there

Next big decision how to quilt it. At this point I don't have a clue as how I'm going to quilt it.

Linking up with

Midweek Makers

Confessions of a FabricAddict

My Quilt Infatuation

Linky Tuesday

What Happened to October?

I'm not sure where the time has gone. I feel like I blinked and all of a sudden it's November. It's not that I didn't do anything in October, I did. I'll let you be the judge.

There was a mystery tour through my guild. It was a great day with lots of laughter and shopping at some great quilt shops. We went to The Quilt Place in Shakespeare, Heart'n'Home in New Hamburg, E & E's Cloth & Creations in Newton, Cotton Harvest Shop in Seaforth, Ye Olde Quilt Shop in Stratford. A delicious lunch was enjoyed by all at Anna Mae's in Millbank.

two metres of Moda's Basic Grey from the Quilt Place and 4 metres of Northcott solid from Heart'n'Home

three one metre batik cuts from the Cotton Harvest. The blue is for my daughter 

The Northcott blue was purchased for a quilt for one of my grandson's. He wants blue and animals, he is getting both. I have been making blocks using patterns from Lorna of Sew Fresh Quilts. Some are purchased patterns and some are free on her blog.

Brandon's animal quilt so far

Then there's a memory quilt, a cousin and I are making. 

I thread sketched the fishing rod and line

At November's guild meeting I will be demoing Inktense pencils.

this piece of batik with a little Inktense pencil work turned into leaves

I'm also doing a QAL, a Splash of Colour you can read more about it here.

Splash of Colour progress, the black with white dots is Cotton & Steel. There has been some reverse stitching involved in the progress of this one. I may have put the white and black print on the wrong side. All fixed now.

That sums up a little of what has kept me busy in October. After putting it in this post it's no wonder it flew by so fast.

Linking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict, My Quilt Infatuation

Splash of Colour QAL

I wasn't going to participate in any QAL's as I just have too much going on at this time. Unfortunately my will power wasn't strong enough to resist this one. Who can resist black and white with a splash of colour anyway. Not me! The Splash of Colour QAL is being run by Myra @ Busy Hands.

I have a nice collection of black and white fat quarters that have been begging to be used in a project. Instead of just telling them to quiet down I crumbled.

some black and whites pulled with a splash of colour

I pulled some of those fat quarters out, for the splash of colour I pulled some batiks out. Now the big decision... What pattern was I going to make? 

I opened EQ7 and started playing around, next thing I knew I had three possibilities. Now to narrow it down to one.

Let's see what they were.

number 1 made with hst's. Not bad if I don't say so myself

Next up

number 2. I like the QST's and strips.

Last one

number 3 I have had a compass on my to do list for awhile

A decision was finally reached! Thankfully I only drew up three. I have decided to make number 3, the compass. 

Have you ever felt like you can't take on any more and then you get pulled in for another project? I know I can't be the only one.

OMG: One Monthly Goals

My February single goal is to make a Swoon Mini.

Making a Swoon quilt has been on my quilty bucket list for quite awhile. So when Sandra of  mmm quilts asked if I would like to join her and Tish of Tish's Adventures in Wonderland in making a swoon mini. I said " yes please". We are going to keep each other on the straight and narrow and by the end of February we will all have a finished quilt. Thank goodness this month has an extra day as I might be need it.

Before doing my fabric pull I checked out this Pinterest board for some ideas. So many wonderful swoon colours!
I took a look through my FQ collection, I may have a little bit of a collection, every time I look they seem to grow. Such pretties! So many choices. I decided to pair a floral with a solid. I like my pull, although after looking at my photo I may change out my background fabric for more of a white.

mini swoon fabric pull

Wish me luck in completing my goal.

Linking up to Red Letter Quilts One Monthly Goal.

I am participating in the QAL at DOD Mystery Blog. The first block is free and as long as each block is completed by the end of the month you get next months block free. This is month one and you can still sign up.
I found these neat alpha beads at Michael's on sale. I slipped them on some pins, I need to glue them as they are not a tight fit. That's a job for another day. I cut out all the pieces and marked them with the alphas worked great.

alpha pins

 My nine year old granddaughter picked the colours for the house. I wanted to go with either a gray archway or a tan/beige, but my granddaughter wanted the eye catching green. Now I ask you what's a grandma to do but give in.

House with bright green archway

I need to machine applique the windows and the archway. A center window wouldn't be a bad idea either. I'm going to use the house in a quilt for my granddaughter, she just doesn't know it yet. If you haven't guessed purple is her favourite colour.

It's a beautiful sunny day with temps in the low 20's Celsius. I'm going to go out and enjoy it as the hot humid stuff is coming by the weekend.

Quilting done

All quilted and binding done. What a beautiful sunny day perfect for picture taking, I enlisted the help of my dear hubby today. Without further ado here it is. I made the lap size. This is going to be my new snuggle quilt.

A closer view of the quilting. I need to practice straight lines. They did look straighter before I washed it. You've heard the story of the washing machine eating the socks... well I think the washing machine made the quilting lines crooked. Right? 

Feathers aren't perfect but I do believe they are getting better. They are all freehand, and that in itself is a biggie for me. Just need more practice. I didn't quilt the purple crosses I left them blank.

A shot of the back the texture shows up nice. 

Lining up to Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River.

Top finished

I have my top finished for the Irish Chain QAL. The green piece on top is what I'm going to use for the back. Bet you can't tell my favorite colour is green... lol  I like this quilt top. Now on to some FMQing.

 I'm using my new camera. I bought a Canon Elph until I decide what kind of camera I want. I would like a DSLR, not sure whether to get a Canon or Nikon or ?? Decisions, decisions, and more decisions. I need to do some research.

Quilting Ideas?

I have been working on quilting ideas for my Irish Chain Twist. A few pictures of how I decide what design I'm going to quilt. I use my domestic machine to do all my FMQing.

I roughly draw the design on a piece of clear gift wrap that I get at the dollar store. I use a permanent or Sharpie marker to make the outline sketch. I also print out a part of the quilt pattern in black and white and doodle a few ideas their first.

Here is a closer shot of the printed pattern. Not so sure about what I have, so it's back to the doodling part. I hope you can see my sketch okay. The left side is just some angled lines a little harder to see. 

A closer view of the clear gift wrap I use dry erase markers to audition the quilting patterns before I make a decision. The good part about the giftwrap and dry erase markers is they just wipe right off, with a dry paper towel if you don't like what you have. As you can see I don't have patterns on it yet. 

After a little playing I have a few choices. Although I am still playing around, and may not use any of these at all. 

If you try this and like a design you've come up with. Just remember the dry erase markers wipe off easy on your hands so be very careful near your quilt top. I don't place these on or near my top as I'm afraid of getting marks on my top I may not be able to get rid of. You can trace the final design on tracing paper using a permanent marker and use that as a template with a lightbox to mark your quilt top with the appropriate marking tools. 

Happy! Happy! Happy!

It feels so good to be sewing again. My shoulder isn't 100% yet, I still have 5 more weeks of physio, but I can at least move it enough to do things. I wasn't able to do dishes for 3 weeks, hubby picked up the slack. Thankfully. If I'm being honest I really didn't miss not having to do them either. 

Now to get all caught up on Melissa's Irish Chain Twist quilt along. Cutting out the petals for the appliqued chain blocks took a little perseverance, but I did it.  I decided to do fusible applique, a little easier right now. Not that I'm into hand sewing, except bindings. This weeks assignment was to stitch the appliques to the blocks. I used my favorite method, machine applique using invisible thread. My thread of choice is Superior's monopoly thread.

My flash quit working on my camera, so until I get a new one I used my phone to take this one. Not the best picture quality though. 

Irish Chain Twist QAL

The next part of the QAL is to make the improv blocks. Simple enough right, BUT I had to keep reminding myself not to line my ruler up just go for it. With only a little bit of hand slapping I had all my blocks trimmed to 5 1/2 inches. I love my rotating mat sure made things a lot easier. 

The blocks go together quickly. With trimming time included it only took 2 1/2 hours. Now I'm all caught up and can work on other projects. I am enjoying this QAL the directions are well written.

Irish Chain Twist Quilt-A-Long

I've decided to do the Irish Chain QAL. Melissa over at Happy Quilting is running the QAL.  I've never made an Irish chain before, but I love the look of this quilt.  You can find out all about it here.

I going to be making it in greens, my favorite colour, and purple with a white on white background. I'm going to be making the lap size.  

This week we were to cut all the pieces. Done! I did cut the background 6x6 squares in half on the diagonal after I took the picture.