Dresden plate as requested

      I have just finished my first dresden plate quilt! I was very nervous to start this, I thought these were super crazy difficult. I found out that I actually had fun cut and sewing all the dresden blocks together and they went together fairly well for the blocks. My oldest daughter requested a Dresden plate quilt with an ocean feel.

     What I did have difficulty with was placing the blocks together so that all my dresdens matched up correctly. No one told me there was to be more math than usual involved!! A hint if you've never done this, (1) if the pattern calls for seams to be 1/4in make it a scant 1/4in seam and (2) make sure all of your beginning and ending points are the same distance from the top of your square. Again, my seam ripper was my best friend!

   

  
  The pattern is called "Triple Deck" from the book
Thoroughly Modern Dresden by Anelie Belden. I purchased this book last year and very happy to say I finally finished my first project from it and am excited to start another! 





Coming soon.....a finished quilt block for the raffle quilt.


     

Grow your blog 2014

If you have found your way here from the grow your blog party, Welcome! And a great big thank you to Vickie at 2 bags full for hosting this wonderful event.  

          My name is Regina and I live in Northern California with my husband and 2 beautiful daughters. We love the ocean and all of it's abundance but when I am not playing at the beach I love to play with fabric. I am fairly new to sewing and quilting, I started after joining a local group who create a fundraiser quilt each year for our local fire department. I made my first applique block with them and was hooked!
         I created this blog as a way to chronicle my creative journey and meet new friends. I love surfing through quilting, sewing and yarn blogs to draw inspiration from and get ideas and how to's. The people that I have met so far through blog land have been extremely supportive and helpful in many ways and I hope to meet more wonderful people!

This is what I have been working on this week. If all goes well, this will be a Dresden quilt as requested by my oldest daughter!








   And, I spent time putting these little lovelies together, although I don't have a specific plan yet! I just had so much fun cutting and sewing these that I kept going until I ended up with a hefty stack!

That's all for now, I hope you enjoy looking around my little piece of blog land!  Comments are appreciated and I will respond as promptly as possible. 

Regina

What kids can teach us

     After much ado, I finally finished this quilt for my youngest daughter. She had picked out the material on one of our shopping trips about a year ago.

     I seemed to have a love hate relationship with this quilt! I struggled and struggled with the points of the triangles, putting it down to do other projects instead many a time. All the while, my daughter asking "Are you ever going to finish my quilt??"

The funny thing is that while I didn't like the way it was turning out, my daughter kept at me. She thought it was pretty and wanted me to finish it. I pointed out all the mistakes I was making and showed her what is was suppose to look like but she wouldn't budge....I even offered to start a new quilt for her. To all of my protests, my daughter told me "I like this quilt, It is perfect because it is made by you".

     What a smart kid! And she's right! It doesn't have to be perfect. Don't get me wrong, I am in no way a perfect sewer or quilter but my mistakes are usually small and not too noticeable. But with this quilt my mistakes are huge! But I went with it and finished it for my daughter.

     I call it "beautiful imperfections".  The pattern is by Jay Bird quilts. 

     Again, this is completely hand quilted. I even quilted a saying along the top and bottom edges "Remember to always find beauty in life's imperfections" in glow in the dark thread! And it really does glow in the dark!!!

       
     I tried to show the wording here but it's really hard to see. Bad camerawoman!! Guess I am going to have to add "learn how to take better pics" to my  resolutions list this year!  

My most recent finished projects

     Hello again! This is late in coming but I just wanted to share my most recent finished projects!

     

   
      First up is "crazy quilt" which was by far the funnest to make! It went together well and I have to admit this is the first quilt I didn't have to use my seam ripper on, lol! This was machine pieced and hand-quilted with a meandering stippling in the middle, flowers along the inner border and a fleur de lys pattern around the outer edges.

     My next finish is a project that I started at Fabric Fest and I am very happy with how this came out!

       This is called "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows" and is designed by Sue Daley. She really is a great teacher and I truly enjoyed myself learning many new techniques and highly recommend any of her classes.

Paper piecing madness

What am I working on this week you ask? Lots and lots of paper piecing! I was lucky enough to take a class from Sue Daley on paper piecing while in Las Vegas. She was such a great teacher! Originally from Australia, Sue is the queen of paper piecing. She does beautiful work and provided us with many tips on how to create beautiful quilts quicker. Yeah for me because I have to admit, I do love instant gratification projects!                                                                                                                                              

             

These are made with Riley Blake polka dots and gingham. The bright colors are so vibrant and placed together really do make you think of rainbows and sunshine!

This pattern can be found on Sue's website Busy Fingers.  The best thing that I learned from her class was how to cut multiple shapes at once with acrylic templates. What a time saver!  

 I really like paper piecing because of it's portability. I can take a small amount with me in a bag and work on these everywhere. But, my favorite place to sew is sitting on the couch in the evening with my family and I got a lot done there with some help from my friend!

Fabric Fest 2013

          I just got home from attending the first annual Fabric Fest. This was such a great event put on by Riley Blake with over 300 sewers in attendance. The first night started out with opening ceremonies in the vendor hall. There were lots of vendors, food stations and of course fabric galore! I know this sounds a bit silly but I was a bit starstruck throughout this event! 

                                                               Eleanor Burns and I

           I am fairly new to sewing and found myself walking among designers and bloggers that I have been following for the entire time! I got to meet and talk to a few of my favorites and was so happy to find everyone so nice and friendly!
    
          I learned a lot at this event as well!! The classes I attended were: Big Stitch Quilting by Andrea Goddard, Retro Travel Bag by Melissa Mortenson and Sunshine Lollipops and Rainbows by Sue Daley. These instructors were great at walking you through the steps of their projects and taught us lots of tricks! I came home with the starts to 3 projects and lots of ideas and inspiration.

          I was also fortunate to meet some really nice sewers in the classes who helped me with even more tips and tricks, thanks so much! What a wonderful group of women! 

A little side note: check out our new residents!  

They are living in the trees on the back of our property. There are 4 adults and 5 babies. Every morning they fly (more like flop!) out of the trees to our well house and then start scavenging throughout the neighborhood. Then every evening I watch them fly back to their nest.  

That's all for now, 

          Regina

Ode to Frida quilt completed!

This took some time but I am happy to say that I finally finished the "Ode to Frida" quilt and am very happy with how it turned out!

 This quilt is lap-sized and completely hand quilted with a small meandering flower pattern. I am super happy with the look and feel of this quilt.  I took a machine quilting class at my local shop and yes, I am still hand quilting! I guess you could say I need a lot more practice on the sewing machine!

I have a Huge pile of un-finished projects and need to get to work!  But I always feel good as I complete them so hopefully more completed projects to come soon....