Damn...Ran out of fabric

I promised I would share the process...no matter how frustrating...so here I go:

So when I made Caroline's butterfly quilts, I accidentally read the directions wrong and made enough butterflies for three quilts instead of just one.  Fortunately, my dad's friend Debi said she needed some little girl quilts for some new girl babies, so no biggie.  I just figured when I had the time to catch up on some other projects, I would go back to these quilts and finish them.  In case you don't recall, I made the butterflies on top of a background fabric of white with small sage polka dots....sooo I know I had some to complete the other two quilts that I started.  I spent Sunday piecing together the sashing for the first butterfly quilt and managed to do so with no problem, ensuring I used all the scraps that I had strewn all over the table.  Then I started with the second quilt.  Utilizing scraps went well until I reached the last row of sashing.  I couldn't find enough of the background fabric to finish.  Panic ensues.....I start going though my stash in the back bedroom for more.  No luck.  I frantically search the kitchen table for scraps or a lucky 1/4 yard of fabric left....none were found.  Then started thinking back to where I got the fabric in the first place. I tried all the local quilting shops.....NONE...even close to my fabric.  I scoured Etsy, Ebay, and any of my typical online fabric shops....nothing.  Ugh.

I then had a dose of reality....really, I am talking about one stinkin' row that would be different.  Does it really matter?  Only I or another quilter would know the difference.  So I started thinking what to use in its place.  White muslin?  Another polka dot that is similar?  Sage solids?  Needless to say my anger and frustration was heightening.  This isn't that complicated of a fabric.  Why is it so hard to find? I called a couple of fellow quilters to explain my frustration.  All had great ideas of what to do in this situation, but then my perfectionist nature started taking over again and I wanted to make these quilts well...not half assed.  So, in a last ditch effort, I drove to JoAnn's to try to find something close that would work, or I would just use white muslin on the bottom.  When I got there, I spied a bolt from afar that seemed to be my fabric.....I started getting really excited as I ran over to grab it.....and.....FOILED.  It was the same sage polka dots (that seemed to be in the same size as my fabric) on the white background....but it was flannel.  Ugh.  I stared at it for a while in the store trying to decide if the texture in fabrics would be more glaringly obvious than using white muslin.  I wandered the aisles a bit more and found a similar fabric again but the polkadots were much larger...and it was quilter's cotton, not flannel.  Which one would look better?  I decided to purchase a 1/4 yard of each, take them home, hold them up to the squares and then decide.  This agonizing decision took two days of thinking about it.

That day I received a book

Denyse Schmidt: Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration: 20 New Designs with Historic Roots

While thumbing through it, she talks about quilts and their historical roots.  Quilts original purpose of using up scraps and using what you had.  Many antique quilts have mistakes in them or a fabric change because they simply didn't have enough of their primary fabric, so often you will find a row or random square of a different fabric.  This gave me the inspiration to finish my quilt rather than agonize over it not being perfect.  Isn't the saying, "its not a quilt unless there is a mistake?"

Ultimately I decided to use the flannel fabric that looks nearly identical to my original background fabric.  I showed a couple people who all agreed it blends in nicely.  Only an experienced quilter would notice...or if you could tell the texture difference when you run your hand across it.  This event has taught me something important about quilting and being a member of the modern quilting world.  Don't worry if it isn't perfect.  Sometimes our "imperfections" are what make things more beautiful.  Here is a picture of the flannel mixed in with the original background fabric...hopefully you cannot tell the difference:

I've also been holding out on showing you some quilts.  As you know, a couple of them were to be used as gifts, so I wanted to show the recipient first...how selfish of me!!  Anyways, this one is another one that I finished a while ago with the intent of giving it to my friends Steph and Darren.  They were recently married and just bought their first home in Petaluma....always deserving occasions for a new quilt!  I chose the Fig Tree and Co. pattern "Clovers" to feature some great modern fabrics that I had been itching to use.  I loved the orange lotus flowers and some of the gardening type fabrics that I chose...plus I had many coordinating fabrics that reminded me of my friend Steph, so I thought this quilt would be perfect for her.  I used this really high quality muslin as my background fabric and pieced bright blues for the border which I really think bring out the oranges in the quilt.  I had fun quilting the random organic lines across the length and width of the quilt.  It was a different style I had seen on some of the blogging sites online, and I think she will appreciate the art involved with this quilt.  Well, Steph and Darren....Enjoy!  Congrats on your marriage and your new home!

Darren and Steph's Welcome to Your New Home Quilt

Darren and Steph's Quilt--back

I enjoyed the organic lines used to quilt this fabric....It was interesting to do and I like the outcome a lot

The quilt of all "reds" is pieced and ready for quilting as soon as the three butterflies are done.  I have already decided what I will do for the "orange" quilt...I want to do a large zig zag chevron across the quilt utilizing some linen that I have as the background.  Should be a really pretty combination.  Until then, happy crafting everyone!!!!

His, Hers and a little Princess

I've been so busy.  The wedding finally came and went this past weekend in Los Angeles...you know, the one that I gave up pizza and tots so I didn't look like a whale.  I did manage to lose some weight...but not the pound a week I was hoping for.  But, quite honestly, I didn't work out as much as I should have.  So, oh well.  Back to tots and pizza.  I really enjoyed the pizza I broke the trend with.  We ordered some while doing arts and crafts for the wedding down in LA, and it was rather tasty.  However, I broke my tots fast today at breakfast, and it was a little disappointing.  I guess that is a sign that I really don't need them.  Oh well.  I think the one thing that helped the most with losing weight was this stupid bite guard that I am being made to wear 24/7 for the next three weeks.  I lost the most weight in the last week than I did over these past 5 months.  Who knew, if you would just make it impossible for me to eat, drink and talk, that I would finally drop some pounds??

Anyways, I have been so busy crafting away the past few months.  I kept it a secret from all of you (five or so) people out there, but I made "his and hers" quilts for my sis-in-law and new bro-in-law as gifts!  As they are two of the five who read this, I didn't want to give away the surprise, so I didn't blog about the journey on making those.  But to recap, the piecing went together really quickly.  I did hawaiian fabrics using the Planeterium pattern in Elizabeth Hartman's book, The Practical Guide to Patchwork.  Hers were in shades of turquoise, pinks, sages, and yellows and featured sea turtles, her favorite.  His featured prints with "woody" cars (which he loves) and colors of turquoise, royal blue, red and teal.  Even the quilting went well....a simple stipple in variegated thread.  The only bummer stitching them was that my machine decided to crap out while doing the binding.  Fortunately, we took Estelle into Meissner's Sewing Center to receive a tune up right before heading to Europe.  So while I drank beer and ate waffles, Estelle was receiving the love and care she needed to keep on going.  I also decided to pick up my mom's Bernina when I was in the bay area after the trip, so I went and had her serviced as well.  I decided mom's machine shall be named "Betty."  In case you aren't picking up on the reference, all my machines are named after actors from the "Golden Girls."

I like the outcome of both....each unique but they look very similar.  I think the couple was happy with them too.  Hopefully, they will take pictures of themselves wrapped in the quilts, but until then, let me present the His and Hers quilts!!!!

"His" Quilt....front

"His" back

Stipple technique....getting better, eh?

"Hers" quilt front

"Her" quilt back

Aren't the sea turtles cute???

I also worked diligently at finishing my first "princess" themed quilt.  I was asked my my coworker to make a Disney Princess quilt for his daughter who is enamored with the Disney Princess characters.  My lack of girly characteristics made this quilt a bit of a stretch for me since I do not own a lot of pinks and purple fabrics.  So I purchased some cute pink/purple prints with castles, crowns, and unicorns on them to go with the Disney Princess fabric I found online.  I used a cute pattern I found on Faith Jones' blog, Fresh Lemons Quilts, called Nancy's Cabot's Antique Tile.  It went together really quickly and I found the quilting to be fun too...simple loop-dee-loops across the horizontal width of the quilt.  I was told by my co-worker that his 4 year old daughter loved the quilt and hasn't put it down since.  I brought it to work to give to him, and I think I may have even gained a couple more customers from the quilt!

Sofia's Princess Quilt

I had fun with the cute Loop-dee_loop quilting style

I decided to try to whittle down some of the stash that I would start quilting a "rainbow" of quilts.  My next quilt would predominantly feature red fabrics.  The following quilt will feature oranges.  Then yellows....etc.  I would like to get the stash down to a more manageable pile so that I can start quilting what I want to quilt....and not necessarily the random fabrics from mom's stash.  I started working on the red quilt....a modified log cabin design.  So far it is coming out really cute.  And, i was able to dive into a ton of this off white muslin that mom had four or five yards of that I had no idea what I was going to do with.  It looks great with the reds and I cannot wait to see how the quilt turns out.

Back to trying to organize the craft room and quilting my way through mom's stash.  Let me know if you have any crafty requests....I would love a new challenge!

Happy Crafting!!!