Work Continues on the Short Story Quilt

The Short Story quilt is moving along ever so slowly. It's actually at my sewing machine right now about halfway quilted. But I don't have any pictures of the process. It is coming out ok, but there have been a few bobbles -- like forgetting to leave the needle down when I pivot or forgetting to put the presser foot back down. So that leaves a few weird stitches. Also, when the quilt sandwich is not moving freely and gets caught on the edge of the sewing table, the stitches get tight. But after leaving it be for a while, I don't notice these things as much when I come back to it. Here's some pictures of the quilt top before I started quilting.

Here's the blocks all sewn together.


Here's the border and the corners added on.

Here's the lovely Enzo enjoying the quilt sandwich process.

Green Pottery Collection

I know there was a blog a while back that featured people's collections and that inspired me to share pictures of my prized collections. One of my favorites is the "Ugly Green Pottery" collection. Of course, I don't think it's ugly, I think it's beautiful. But let's just say some of my family members are not as enamored. I have picked these up over the years at thrift stores, antique stores, and a few are new. Most of my collection is Royal Copley. Can't wait to go to the big antique show at the Expo Center this Saturday. Maybe I'll find another treasure!

Here's a general overview of the first part of the collection. It's mostly Royal Copley with a little McCoy and USA Pottery. And, also a new piece from Jonathan Adler.

Here's a close-up of one of the shelves. 

Here's a preview of Part 2 of the ugly green pottery collection. More pictures coming soon.


I'll also post some pictures of my other collections in the next few weeks.

Short Story Quilt

The 49 squares for my next quilt are all made. I'm using two charm packs of Liz Scott's Sugar Pop! and Kona Cotton in Snow. The pattern for this quilt is called Short Story and it is from Carrie Nelson's Schnibbles Times Two: Quilts from 5" or 10" Squares. This is only my 2nd official quilt and the first one I did contained no solids. I liked the way it turned out, but it was very busy and there was nowhere to rest your eyes. So, using solids to offset my love of color is a new approach. I'll get more pictures up once I sew the squares together and start adding the sashing and border.

Patchwork Pillow

A rectangular patchwork pillow based on Posie Gets Cozy's Summerhouse Pillow tutorial. I just love making these. I have so many 2 1/2" squares cut out from scraps. It is so much fun putting the fabrics together. I know they are a little crazy and probably wouldn't go with anyone's decor, but I like them. Maybe I should try and add some solids?

Trying Machine Quilting

Trying some machine quilting on my own after a class with Elizabeth Hartman a while back. Here I pieced together some of the many 1 1/2" squares I've cut from scraps and used some spearmint green Kona cotton between the patchwork strips.

I made four of these rectangles. They are an odd size. Then quilted them using my favorite design so far -- what I call the "mod square". Not sure what I'm going to do with them. Maybe a pillow or a table runner? I've moved on to some other things, but will revisit these soon.

Linen Patchwork Pouch

Here's a zippered pouch I made with linen and 2 1/2" squares of some of my favorite green fabrics. The original instructions called for a hand-sewn lining. I was not up for that so I modified the instructions using a lining that was part of the pouch construction, not a last addition. I think this makes it a nicer looking and more solidly constructed pouch.

Machine Quilted Pillow

Here's the pillow I completed from a class I took a while back with Elizabeth Hartman at Modern Domestic. I especially liked quilting the retro-mod squares pattern in the top orange square. The free-motion quilting (with the little circles) definitely takes some practice. I can't wait to try these techniques on a small quilt I recently started.