mini quilts for the alzheimer's art quilt initiative

The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI) is one of my favorite charities to support. The work they do to raise money for Alzheimer's research is amazing, and I have my own growing collection of quilts that I've purchased from their site over the past year and a half. I've been wanting to donate quilts to AAQI for quite some time, and last month I finally did.

I made two mini quilts---each one is about 9" x 11"---from scraps in my stash. For each quilt, I hand-stitched monochromatic hexagons together, and then machine appliqued them to the background. I did dense straight-line quilting on each and machine bound them (my first time!). 

Both quilts are now for sale on the AAQI web site, here and here, and all proceeds from their sale go toward Alzheimer's research. If you have the chance, I definitely recommend taking the time to browse the Quilts for Sale page, as there are a lot of really beautiful quilts on there, made by many talented quilters.

P.S. Happy Father's Day to my dad, to whom both of these quilts are dedicated.

a look at fabric screen printing

 

Have you seen this gorgeous video on fabric screen printing, featuring the gals behind Ink and Spindle? Their printing set-up is enviable, and I love the system they've rigged up for drying fabric once it's been printed on!

(Video by Artisan Magazine.)

do. Good Stitches: Arkansas Traveler Quilt

I've always loved this quilt by Ara Jane of the blog You Know What I Love? So when it was my turn to ask for blocks from my do. Good Stitches circle members back in January, I soon thought of Ara Jane's gorgeous quilt, and asked everyone to send me an Arkansas Traveler block, using this image for color inspiration. (You can find a great tutorial for the block over here.)

I fell in love with every block that was sent, and assembled them into this baby quilt, which I quilted with an imperfect, one-inch grid. For the backing, I used a well-coordinated floral print that I picked up from the $2.97/yard table at the fabric store I worked at a few years ago. The binding is scrappy and bright.

The quilt washed up crinkly and soft, and will be donated to Project Linus this Saturday during the Make a Blanket Day that's happening at Spoonflower.

Have you recently finished anything that had been sitting in your WIP pile for a while? If so, please share in the comments---I'd love to see!

Each month, I make quilt blocks for the Wish Circle of do. Good Stitches, which our group then turns into quilts that we donate to Project Linus. You can see all of my past blocks here.

do. Good Stitches: May Blocks

Here are my crazy star quilt blocks for Erica, made up of pinks, oranges, and yellows, with low-volume prints in the background. This is the first time that I've used low-volume prints in a quilt block, and I really like the results. Next, I'd love to make something similar to this. Do you have any favorite quilts that incorporate low-volume prints?

Each month, I make quilt blocks for the Wish Circle of do. Good Stitches, which our group then turns into quilts that we donate to Project Linus. You can see all of my past blocks here.

2013 umbrella prints trimmings competition

These days, I'm pretty much smitten with screen-printed fabrics. I love the look of one and two-color prints and I love being able to support independent designers who produce their work by hand. One of my goals for the year is to incorporate more screen-printed fabric into my work, so when I saw the posting for this year's Umbrella Prints Trimmings Competition, I decided to enter for the second year in a row (you can see my entry from last year here). I love Umbrella Prints' screen-printed fabric, and this competition is such a great motivator for me to cut into fabric I typically hoard.

I mulled over my options of what to do for weeks, and this past weekend I finally decided to make something from my growing to-make list: a drawstring bag using Jeni's tutorial.

For the front, I scaled down Faith's Greek Cross block from the Summer Sampler series and made a mini quilt block.

I sewed the remaining scraps together at random to create a panel for the back, and used chambray for the remaining panels.

I lined it with a Denyse Schmidt print that complemented the Umbrella Prints' fabric in both style and color, and used up some leftover Kei Honeycomb Dot binding (originally made for this quilt) for the drawstrings.

Voting for the competition starts Saturday and runs through June 5. To vote, simply pin all of your favorite entries over here.

Will you be entering the contest this year? If so, please share a link to your entry in the comments; I'd love to see!

P.S. You can see some of my photos from the recent Portland Quilt Market over on Instagram! You can find me there under the username @saltyoat. 

striped zipper pouch

I never had a chance to blog about it in December, but for Christmas, I made my mother-in-law a zipper pouch using Pink Stitches' excellent tutorial.

I've made a few zippered things recently, and I've enjoyed tackling my fear of sewing zippers (turns out it's not so bad).

The green stripe and lining are Lizzy House's Jewels, and the raindrop fabric is from Erin McMorris's Summersault line (which I bought way back here).

P.S. Here's my other recent attempt at sewing with a zipper: leather and canvas foldover clutch.

flying geese pillow class

There are still a few spots left in the Flying Geese Pillow class I'll be teaching in the Spoonflower Greenhouse on Thursday, May 9. If you live in the area, I hope you'll join!