Fabric & Friends Friday

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So I dreamed about fabric last night.  For real.  My husband, daughter and I were in some small town and came upon a quilt shop that was open 5am-8pm everyday.  They served cinnamon rolls and they had a "guys area" where all the husbands could hang out and watch TV together.  They had room after room filled with bolts of beautiful fabrics, many of them being hard to find prints.  I pulled bolt after bolt off the shelves and bought them all.  My total... $4.23.  That's when you know that this really was a dream! LOL

Through the awesomeness of Facebook, I have reconnected with a lot of childhood friends.  Rachel, was a girl I sat by in first grade.  She always wore the prettiest dresses that I still remember loving.  Turns out, she also loves fabric, quilting and sewing.  It's always such a small world!  She recently discovered Fabricworm and in that discussion she asked me about other online fabric shops I love.  So here we go...

• Fat Quarter Shop ~ my first discovery and dive into the online fabric world.  They have great service, an awesome pre-cut selection, good sales, and fast shipping.
• Fabricworm ~ my supplier of new & unique fabrics.  Cynthia puts together great fat quarter, half yard, and yard bundles.  She always has a great selection of Japanese prints here and here...
• Fresh Squeezed Fabrics ~ Randi is one of my favorite bloggers and she runs an awesome shop!  She  has a great selection, unique bundles, and has some pretty darn good sales too...
• Pink Chalk Fabrics ~ my newest obsession!  She actually irons the fabric before it ships.  I have never had a crooked cut of fabric from this shop.  She has an awesome selection of both designer prints as well as Kona solids.  There is always a good sale selection as well.  A new favorite!
• Whimsiedots ~ last but certainly not least!  Mandy is of the nicest shop owners I have met.  She has a flair for putting together vintage sheet sets and bundling them into beautiful sets.  She has great service and fast shipping.  Another one of my new favorites!

These are my suppliers who support my fabric addiction ;)  I know there are lots of good shops out there so I'd love to hear about your favorites too!

Have a happy Friday and a wonderful weekend!  I'll be working on quilting a new quilt that I hope to share with ya'll next week...

WIP Wednesday {Hexagons}

Pin It A work in progress...

This happy hexagon table runner will be going on our coffee table.  I am hand quilting the outline of each hexagon with purl cotton thread that contrasts nicely.  I love hand quilting, it's one of the reasons I fell in love with quilting three years ago...  I'm anxious to finish and display this project so I could machine quilt this but that just seems strange to go to the trouble of making all these hexies by hand and sewing them together by hand only to finish it off by machine.  But that's just me... :)

Have a happy Wednesday!!

Old + New

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I have fallen for vintage sheets from Whimsiedots.  They are easy to work with, have interesting colors and patterns, and they are relatively inexpensive.  It's also no secret that I love the modern fabrics.

So what could be better than combining the two into a quilt??  And as cheesy as it might be, I think it's fun to make cross blocks out of the old  + new fabrics. :)

This is my newest favorite color combination... purple, yellow, and gray...

Sunday Stash

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Sunday Stash
Originally uploaded by That Girl, That Quilt

Vintage sheets + new favorite fabrics = a fabulous new quilt in the works...

A New Quilt!

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I am so happy with how this quilt turned out!  It is already in the hands of the recipient and I'm pretty sure it is a keeper. :)

It measures 60 x 70 and it is the largest quilt I have made so far...

I used close to 800 yards, yes 800 yards, of thread!  I vastly underestimated the amount of thread it would take to quilt these lines.  I also underestimated the time as I put close to 8 hours of quilting time into this quilt.   Quilting wasn't difficult, it was just time consuming.  Line... after line... after line... LOL

I quilted my first line following the seams of the patchwork and from there I spaced them .25 - .50 of an inch apart.  I had my reservations at first about quilting straight lines or organic lines on wonky blocks but I absolutely love how it turned out.  The blocks were busy enough by themselves and I think that the straight lines gave the quilt a modern and cohesive look.


I branched out and tried some new techniques with this quilt ...  I used a basting spray for the first time and I think I will use it again.  The wonky blocks are also new for me.  I'm a perfectionist at heart so "wonky" was a stretch; a stretch that I am glad that I made. :)

Thank you all for your encouragement, suggestions and comments as I made this quilt.  It is so nice to have my blogging friends!

Almost...

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I greatly underestimated the amount of time to quilt this quilt!   I also underestimated the crazy amount of thread it would take.  But I am happy to say that I am almost finished.  And I love this quilt.

I can't wait to get the binding on and show it to ya'll!

FMF... OOP... HTF...

Pin It If you know what those abbreviations mean then you might be a fabric junkie.

I completely missed the Flea Market Fancy craze because I wasn't quilting or sewing when it came out.  And then by the time it was out of print I hadn't caught on that it was going to be so incredibly expensive or hard to find.  Ultimately, I had resigned myself to the fact that I just wasn't going to have any because I was not going to pay $50 for a fat quarter.  My husband loves me bunches but if I spent that kind of money on such a small piece of fabric, he just might draw a line... through my name on the bank account. ;)

And then I just happened to be looking on Etsy today and look what I found!  Two fat quarters for $15... total!

It's a good day in fabricland...

Bad Habits

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Maybe I'm the only one but if the quilt police found me, I'd definitely be in trouble like Barbie here.  Hubby was in my quilting room last night and he just shook his head at the mess.  I tried to explain my creative process... not interrupting the flow of things... and he laughed and tried to convert me to the clean-as-you-go kind of person.

So here I confess.  Here are my bad quilting habits:

• I rarely pin when piecing.  It's faster to just stick the fabrics together and go.
• I hardly ever square up my blocks perfectly... I have for my current quilt and just might be a believer!
• I let my scraps pile up and I don't organize them well at all... see Barbie drowning in them above.
• I don't pre-wash.  Ever.  I wash after my quilt is done.  So far... so good.  Plus, this is my excuse for buying high quality (that's code for designer) fabrics. ;)

What would the quilting police find you guilty of?  I can't be the only one... LOL

PS: no Barbies were harmed in the making of this post.  I just happen to share my space with an equally creative and crafty 6 year old...

A Quilt Top...

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The top is finished... the backing is pieced... and...

...I know how I'm going to quilt it!

How?

It's a surprise!!

Can't stand not knowing??

Follow along on Flickr!



Thank you to everyone who shared their input.  Points were made that I had never thought of and I SO appreciate all the encouragement and wonderful ideas.  The blogging/quilting community really is a wonderful place!

Help!

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Remember this quilt?

Courtesy of staying up until 1 AM this morning, this quilt top is almost done and I'm trying to figure out how to quilt it.  This is the biggest quilt I will have machine quilted... it's approximately 60 x 72.  There are other blocks mixed in that have larger amounts of white sashing around them but I don't have a good picture of the final top yet so just use your great imaginations!

How would you quilt this quilt?  I have done a random stippling on my last two quilts and I am comfortable with that technique.  But then I'm always looking for new ways to branch out.  I like the organic line quilting like this so I'm really considering this method as well.

What do ya'll think?  And I'm open to other ideas as well...  Thanks!!

Something new...

Pin It ...to me!

I love Etsy and I found this shop, Whimsiedots, the other day.  She specializes in vintage bed linens among other things and after browsing for two days I decided I had to try some.  I have a new quilt in mind with new colors, some that I don't have in my stash.  And seriously, I really don't have these colors in my stash! ;)

Purples...

Yellows & Greens...

I have never worked with bed linens in quilts so I'd love to hear your experiences.  I love trying new things and there is something about these linens that just make me happy!

An Easter Dress...

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I hope everyone had a nice Easter!  We sure did. :) 

I made my daughter's dress; only the second dress I have ever made.  I love to sew and I am a pretty confident quilter.  Sewing clothes, on the other hand, makes me nervous and slightly cranky. 

I am happy to say that the dress was a hit!  I loved it and most importantly my daughter loved it... I think you can tell by the picture!

I got the pattern from The Handmade Dress .  The pattern is very well written and easy to follow.  She has other patterns that I am definitely planning to use.  Cute shirts... skirts... more dresses... :)

I used Amy Butler Belle fabric for the main fabric and then the pattern suggested using a vintage handkerchief or dishtowel for the apron but I had neither. So I gladly substituted a small piece of vintage-to-me Amy Butler Temple Flowers for the apron that I won in a giveaway from Live A Colorful Life.

I love spring and the chance to work with bright and girly fabrics.  And now I'm back on task to finish a manly wonky nine patch quilt... :)
 
I hope everyone's week is off to a great start!

Sneak Peak...

Pin It Here's what I've been up to...

This is one of my commissioned quilts and I'm finally making progress!  I am really happy with this so far... :)

And these are just beautiful!

I cut these from our front yard yesterday.  My iris are in full bloom; the purple now and the yellows are about to bloom. 


I love spring and I need to enjoy it because it's only a matter of time before it's 105 degrees-Africa-hot here in Texas.

I'm headed to my sewing room to make my daughter's Easter dress... Happy Easter to ya'll!

Score!

Pin It One of my favorite online fabric stores, Fresh Squeezed Fabrics is having a huge sale. 

20 % off everything kind of huge! 

On top of that, she is having a giveaway on her blog, I have to say..., for a $50 gift certificate to her Etsy store.

Today is the official end of the Stashbusters challenge and I guess you could say that I um... celebrated. ;)

I got this...

And these...

AND these!

Aren't those hedgehogs the cutest?!?!

I hope my husband doesn't read my blog today... ;)