New Quilt - Lotta Organics

I made a new quilt last week.

I named it Lotta Organics because I used two lines of organic fabric along with some Lotta Jansdotter, all of which I bought at The Sewcial Lounge.

One organic line, Commute by Jay-Cyn for Birch Fabrics, is used in the blocks with triangles in the corners.  The other organic fabric, Simpatico by Michelle Bencsko for Cloud 9 Fabrics, is in the binding.

Lotta Jansdotter's Echo is the teal fabric used in the large unpieced blocks - one looks like lily pads and the other like dashes.

I didn't use a pattern, but I was trying to emulate a picture I saw in a magazine.  I completely missed the mark, so my quilt looks nothing at all like my inspiration.

I didn't have any measurements to go on, so I decided on 6" x 9" rectangles and 2" squares.

I put the squares on the corners, sewed a diagonal, then flipped them back.  You can see the diagonal corners on two of these blocks.  I didn't like the way it looked when I put four of them together, because the diamond became too prominent in the design.  The solution was to alternate those blocks with unpieced blocks.

This gives you a clear picture of Lotta (upper left, lower right) and one of the organics (Commute in the upper right and lower left).

Quilting is straight line.

I used six different colors for the quilting.  Each block has two vertical lines and four horizontal lines of stitching.

Since I'm intent on using up as much of my existing fabric as possible, it was a little tricky finding fabric that looked good for the binding.  I finally settled on two different fat quarters.  They're from the same line (the organic Simpatico) so the colors blended well enough.  When piecing, I alternated strips of the pink/orange with the aqua/gray.

The back.  I sure was glad to use up the cups and pears fabric.

The label.

Monday is Fun Day - Elementary School Pens

This past spring I went to a craft fair with a friend.  It was held at an elementary school and the vendors were a mix of adults and elementary school students.  

I bought some Duck tape pens from two different girls.  The two pens on the left were made by one of the girls - she tucked a little "jewel" inside the flower heads.

They're real pens that are wrapped in Duck tape.

I use this Daffodil pen all the time because it writes so smoothly.

Here's a good view of the jewel in the flower.

I think this Despicable Me pen is the cutest.  Not many things are as fun as Minions.

 And here's a Sculpey pen, also from the same craft fair.  This was made by yet another talented young artist.

The top has a large distinct pattern ...

... while the bottom is marbled.

Not Just Another Pretty Face

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.
                                                             --- Confucius

A Walk in the Prairie

We had a beautiful walk in a nearby prairie, admiring the wild flowers.

Spiderwort

Another Spiderwort, because I like them so much.

 

I don't know what this is, but the leaves are huge.  I'm hoping it will bloom later this summer so I can look it up.

Oxeye Sunflower

Compass plant leaves

Asclepias Tuberosa (Butterfly Milkweed)

Yarrow

There were lots more flowers, but those photographs didn't turn out.  I'll have to try again another day.

Monday is Fun Day - Shopping Basket

Monday is the day we look at fun items I've collected from vintage or new sources.

A friend of mine gave me this Piggly Wiggly shopping basket, which she found at an antique store up north.  Everyone around here loves it, and some of us like to see how many can fit in it at the same time.

I (Heart) My Lampshade

I covered a new lampshade this week, using a self-adhesive shade I bought from Jo-Ann Fabrics last year.  The whole thing (excluding shopping for fabric) took about 1/2 hour. 

Craft stores don't sell these lampshades any longer.  After I finished this project, I called around and got the bad news.  Rats!  If I had know this was going to happen, I would have bought all the other ones they had.

I found the glass lamp base at a thrift store last July, but didn't use it until now.  The lamp that used to be here followed my Party Dress Office Chair over to the orange wall in a different room.  So I went to my lamp vault and picked this one out.  It came without a shade, and I was in the mood for a small project. 

I wanted a youthful shade to jazz up the classic base.  The fabric is flannel.  I didn't go looking for flannel, but this design hit my spot and the colors were perfect for that space, so flannel it was.  I thought it might be too stretchy to work with, but it was fine.   

To complement the new lamp, I redid the top of the cabinet. 

I already had this pig planter; a quick trip to the garden center turned up a new little pink plant to make one happy pig.

My little poodle, puzzling over one of the pincushion jars I made.

 It's been rainy lately, and the lit lamp makes it nice and cozy inside.