Starlight Garden

2015 Project Quilting Challenge 5:  
My Favorite fabric

title:  Starlight Garden

pattern:  Starlight by Gina Fornecker

made, tied, and quilted by:  Colleen C. Yarnell

size:  56" x 64"

location: Lewisville, NC

inspiration and process: 

When I heard favorite fabric I first went to my Denyse Schmidt shelves.  Yes I said shelves-I'm a little obsessed.  But nothing was inspiring me.  I already decided on the pattern which had been sitting on my cutting table since Gina gave it to me.  It had large stars and squares to showcase larger prints.  So I looked at my other favorites. And pulled out a Melody Miller Cotton & Steele print.  

Aqua with gold dots and flowers along the edge.  

I wanted to use the sparkly part as two of the stars. 

 Then I looked for another favorite to showcase in the larger star and found a fav Amy Butler Soul Blossoms print.  Last I knew what to use in those background squares-my bundle of Anna Marie Horner Pretty Potent!  

I redrafted the pattern so it would use my 8.5" and 16.5" square rulers.  It also brought it down to a nice lap quilt size.

Sofia helped with the cutting of course,

and supervised while I sewed.

I figured out the layout and worked hard to have the directional prints go the same way.  

I then looked for a backing fabric and found another favorite Amy Butler Soul Blossoms fabric.  Im really trying to sew with my stash this year.  I'm always buying favorite fabrics and need to use them!  I have enough of the bak print left to mach a mathing pillowcase.

I decided to tie it as a legacy to the quilts my Grandmother Myers made for me.  

Plus my tied Amy Butler charm square quilt is one of my favorites, so a smaller throw will be nice to cuddle.  

Sofia helped me pin the quilt layers to the floor,

and tie it with a variegated wool yarn.  

A little friend liked the Anna Marie Horner flowers too.

I also quilted an outline inside each of the stars.  

It makes it a little more secure without taking away the puffiness of a tied quilt.

I found another favorite Amy Butler print, one of her Martini Dots which I love to use as binding.  Some have such overly bright unusual colors and they set off the bold prints perfectly!

and of course I bound it with a little help from my friend.

I have already snuggled under it as I couldnt resist sleeping under it last night!

keep dreaming...Colleen

Sofia checking out the stack of fabric and projects at the end of the cutting table.

Kitty Love

I love when my quilting challenges overlap.  A two for if you will.  

Project Quilting 2015 challenge 4:  Have a Heart

plus

Kitten Mini Quilt Swap 2015

equals

title:  Kitten Love

size:  28" x 27.5"

sewn and quilted:  Colleen C Yarnell

pattern:  original

inspiration:  I had been pulling all the kitten fabrics from my stash.  My partner favored rainbow and it had been in the back of my mine but I couldnt get a handle on it.  Enter Project Quilting challenge this week where you have to have 12 hearts in your design.  Then my friend Sarah was working on a 

charm square heart quilt and I channeled my swap quilt from last January into a heart idea.

We had snow/sew days last year when I made this and we had 4 snow/sew days this week!

Here is the fabric pull I started with.  

Then I fussy cut all the cat fabric into 2.5" squares.  Two fabrics required 4.5" squares.  

Then I pulled out my scrap boxes and cut a rainbow of 2.5" squares and some three inch squares for the hst. I also pulled low volume prints and cut background squares including some heart fabric.

I laid it out on the small design wall over my machine.

I pieced it Bonnie Hunter web style, two columns at a time.  It went together very quickly!

I decided to use part of a Pam Kitty Morning selvedge that had 11 hearts on it with the big heart that would be 12!  Though with the heart fabric in the top and back there are a bazillion!

I turned my design wall around and basted the quilt on the flat side.  No crawling on the floor!  The backing was an old VIP Cranston print of red with tiny white hearts.

I straightline quilted it up and down and across.  The binding was

I hope my kitten mini swap partner will love this quilt!  Funny thing is I have all these awesome rainbow miniquilts I have made and given all by my Rainbow Forrest one away in a swap.

keep dreaming...Colleen

Sofia was my trusty helper, sitting and sleeping on the stool beside me as I worked.

Projet Quilting 2015 challenge 3: ufo/orphan blocks

So this has been a rough week.  I just could not do a large project.  But its my goal to do each challenge.  So another Saturday /Sew day happened!

So this is my basket of Denyse Schmidt scraps.  Many of these came from my friend Lee of May Chappell.  In the bag were these orphan block pieces.  A tiny pieced square on point in a square and some hst.

I also acquired another mini sewing chair.  I still haven't decided if I will paint it or not.  What color would you want a sewing chair painted?  Here is the new one sitting next to the one I have already painted.  It has some gross cushions, old poly threads on the holders(the kitten has since thoughtfully carried around the house), and cuticle scissors in the drawer(yuck).

The one I already painted sits next to my sewing machine and holds my tools and bobbins.  Even holds my phone!

So here is what I did with the orphan blocks.

I turned the little pieced square block into a walnut shell filled pincushion for the seat cushion.  Then I use the HST units to make a little quilt top.

I did not put batting in the quilt but pillow turned it and then quilted it.  And here is the sewing chair newly cleaned and dressed out.  Did you see the cute little drawer?

I added a little pieced hst block to line the drawer where I stored some sewing machine feet.  You can see the spools and bobbins, scissors and seam ripper that store neatly within reach when sewing.  

As you can see it can also hold you phone!  Sofia had to get in on the picture action!  

title:  The Sewing Chair II

size:  miniquilt 6"x4"  pinushion 4" x3"

inspiration:  My orphan blocks, scraps, and this marvelous sewing chair!

sewer:  Colleen Yarnell

pattern:  original

Keep dreaming...Colleen

Sofia's Care Bear likes to sit in it too!

February Goals, yes I said Goals!

I haven't wanted to set sewing goals in a long while.  I've been going through a stretch where everything just seems to be too much.  Work has unsettled me in a way it shouldn't.  I try to hold on to the good of teaching but the stress just seems to get worse each year.  Add in illness, you know viruses and flu and infections.  Its almost been ten years since I was diagnosed with cancer and I am still a Lucky Duck dreaming.  But I get tired of getting every sickness that comes round.

But enough of the depressing talk.  Sofia is waiting to hear my goals for February.  Goals.  What I want to accomplish.

1.  Project quilting challenge #3.  I will complete it!

and I am linking it up with a Lovely Year of finishes.

Some additional goals in the back of my head will be to sash my Swoon quilt, 

quilt my camper quilt,

and make some more blocks for the American Patchwork and Quilting four patch quilt along.  I talk about that more later.  Also make double blocks asked for in this months Do Good Stitches Aspire Bee.

January's double 9 patch blocks for Aspire Bee

I also have a February birthday package to mail out by the middle of the month.  And a Kitten mini swap to work on.  Hope to continue my goal to blog at least once a week, too.

linking up with 

keep dreaming...Colleen

Sofia, queen of the ironing board

Project Quilting 2015 challenge 2: Sunrise Sunset

title:  Sun Colors

pattern:  Original created and sewn by Colleen Yarnell

quilted:  by me with Aurifil 40wt in yellow on my Babylock Sofia, design freehand drawn with chalk pencil

fabrics: hand dyed from stash, background is woven

binding:   hand dyed scraps

inspiration:  pulled all sunrise/ sunset hand dyed from stash.  Thinking about doing strips that became hst.  thinking of how the sky looks when kayaking in Canada.  

Hand dyes from the 1990s, some made my me some purhased from Sherry Wood

I subcut the strip sets but then decided to turn them into hst

Sofia helped with the layout of the HST

Using the yellow 40wt Aurfil made the quilting really stand out.  I am please enough to put it into the living room quilt display lineup.

keep dreaming...Colleen

Its tiring for Sofiasewing and quilting all day.