Whit's End

A Few New Projects

admin — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 03:31:17 +0000

I admired Alicia Paulson’s Daisychain ABCs Crewelwork Sampler when it was released in April and I finally decided to try it out for myself. Since the kit sold out long ago, I purchased the pattern and then picked up my own supplies. The Appleton Crewel Wool is from Wooly Thread and I went with some Kona Cotton in Ash for the fabric. I finished two letters today and it’s going a lot easier than I thought it would!

Last year, my boyfriend bought me a card catalog for my birthday. Ever since I’ve been meaning to make some art with the old catalog cards and I finally got around to it this weekend. Inspired by these pieces from Sarah and Bendrix, I cut hearts from the cards and glued them onto plain white paper before framing it.

I’ve also been playing around with paper-cutting. Over the weekend I experimented with some patterns in square blocks to possibly use as decor in our bedroom.

Grandma’s Attic Quilt Progress

admin — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 05:23:46 +0000

I posted here earlier about finding some fabric in my grandma’s attic. It was all calico and country-looking, not really my style, so I decided to incorporate some solids and lots of white for a more modern design. Using this tutorial from p.s. i quilt I got to work constructing lots of half square triangles!

These squares are all sewn up and ready to be sliced in half.

And voila! A (mostly) done quilt top. Ignore the errant threads and not completely matching points! I’m going to add a white border all around, then need to sew together the quilt back, baste, quilt, and bind.

Flickr Faves: July 22

admin — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 01:56:41 +0000

1. Solid Challenge AAMQG Detail, 2. Sticks and Stones, 3. Rip, Rip, Ripping fabric challenge, 4. Dresden Gone Urban 2011 (Back), 5. Sam’s quilt, 6. Black Opals quilt, 7. 3LC in process, 8. Kona Challenge, 9. KHQ back view, 10. IMG_4883, 11. baby Ingrid in progress, 12. Chartreuse and Raspberry, 13. seaglass quilt top, 14. Broken Dishes Quilt top, 15. solids challenge quilt top, 16. love those geese!

Thrift Store Finds

admin — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 22:33:55 +0000

I usually like the idea of thrift store shopping more than I actually end up enjoying the whole experience when I go. But I was feeling adventurous last weekend and decided to try out one of the smaller thrift stores in the area. I’m glad I did! I unearthed a few treasures for not too much cash.

Cute silver tray for jewelry holding.

Silk scarf.

I am in love with this belt.

Little yellow dish, which I will be using for some succulents.

Very art deco-y looking sugar and creamer set.

And this AWESOME steamer trunk! It was only $15. I nearly died.

The inside is pretty cool, though it’s a bit rough around the edges. Now just have to figure out what to do with it…

Projects in Progress

admin — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 19:07:24 +0000

Um, it’s July already? When did that happen? I suppose I’ve been making steady progress on my quilting projects — besides my three completed quilts, I have three quilt tops (two with backs) done and four others in various stages of planning and cutting. Here’s what’s coming down the pipeline…

Denyse Schmidt Hope Valley quilt

Zig Zag Quilt with a custom bundle from Fabric Worm

Liberty quilt

Russ and Chelsea’s Wedding Quilt

admin — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 05:02:21 +0000

When I found out that one of my best friends from middle school, Chelsea, was getting married, I knew I wanted to make them a quilt. It had to be special because she’s a dear friend and it had to be cool because she has an amazing design sensibility. I decided to go ultra modern with a bright, solids-only quilt with strong lines. I was highly influenced by a rug from Tree Fall Designs and this driftwood art by paintsquare on Etsy. It’s primarily Kona Cottons (seafoam, candy green, spruce, coral, gold, and natural (I think?)) with a couple scraps of other naturals and a linen. I also did some hand embroidery (for the first time!) to personalize it. And it’s meant to be a lap quilt, but I don’t remember the exact dimensions — something around 50″ by 70″, maybe?

Anyway, here it is!

And here’s the happy couple

Monochromatic Quilt

admin — Tue, 10 May 2011 01:53:30 +0000

When the Modern Quilt Guild announced its second challenge, the monochromatic challenge, I knew I had to participate. My mind immediately jumped to whites/naturals, so I started collecting fabrics before solidfying a design.

I decided to base my design on a sort of plaid pattern, with interweaving stripes of various widths. I started with an Illustrator mock-up, which I’ve just begun experimenting with as an initial design tool. It’s working quite well!

Next, I drew up the design on graph paper to get the sizes all set and figure out how much fabric to cut. If I don’t write everything down, I inevitably forget a crucial piece, so my notes sometimes get a little intense and probably don’t make sense to anyone else!

After almost giving up on the whole thing when I first started the quilting — my initial plan was a bit too ambitious — I’m super pleased with the result!

I didn’t end up winning the challenge, but that’s fine with me (check out the winners here). The challenge forced me out of my comfort zone and pushed me to make the first quilt that’s entirely mine, from fabric selection to design to final execution.

Scott Pilgrim Cross-Stitch

admin — Sat, 07 May 2011 23:40:44 +0000

I haven’t done a cross stitch since fifth grade and forgot how long it takes! Still, I love how it turned out. It’s the 8-bit video game version of Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers, based off a design by ~ashleyl0413 on DeviantArt.

Grandma’s Attic

admin — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 04:08:43 +0000

Last week, I took a trip to Memphis, TN to visit a bunch of family, including my grandma and various aunts, uncles, and cousins. They are in the process of sorting through 60 years worth of possessions, some of which I got to take a look at while I was there, including the sewing stash. There were lots of wacky fabrics from the ’60s through ’80s, but I did find a few pieces that will make a nice quilt.

I’ll probably incorporate some pink, maroon, and blue solids in there as well.

The coolest find were these hand sewn quilt blocks. According to a note with them, they were made by a great-great-great grandmother in the late 1800s. I wish I knew more about them — why only six? — but my grandma couldn’t remember their story.

Things I’m Loving Right Now: April 1

admin — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 01:08:10 +0000

The gorgeous weather we’re having in Santa Barbara — 80 degrees and sunny!
So much gorgeous and ingenious DIY inspiration on Pinterest (let me know if you need an invite!)

Source: poppytalk.blogspot.com

The Doctor Who series five soundtrack (nerd alert!) — can’t wait until series 6 in three weeks!
My upcoming trip to Memphis, TN to visit family