Bloggers Quilt Festival-- a new baby quilt

I'm so excited to be able to share a new quilt for this spring's Bloggers Quilt Festival!

My sister-in-law is expecting a little girl next month. I may have 4 children of my own, but I am VERY excited to finally be an aunt. So a special quilt was a must.

It's a simple design created from half-square triangles. I used a variety of prints in navy, teal, soft red, coral, and yellow, based off the fabulous navy Tsuru floral. The light value fabrics are a spinoff of my much-loved mixed neutrals-- this time I used soft pink shot cottons, some Nani Iro double gauze, and off white Kona solids. I think the mix lends a sweetness to the quilt without being overbearingly pink.

I backed the quilt with a Kaffe Fasset shot cotton in Apricot. It is so incredibly soft! The binding is a fun teal floral I found at Jo Ann fabrics. I had originally planned to use a navy binding, but I'm not one to follow plans.

I always feel so funny naming quilts that I give away-- but for the sake of the festival, I've named this one "Welcome to Nunaka." It has particular meaning for the family. But Nunaka also means "a good place to live," and my niece is certainly going to be greeted with a whole lot of love.

Welcome to Nunaka

Category: Baby Quilt

Measures: 40" x 48"

Pieced and Quilted by: Me! 

Thanks for visiting! And have a great weekend.

Super Tote!

A couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to be a tester for Anna Graham's new pattern-- the Super Tote!

I love all of Anna's patterns. They're always well-written and have unique details. The Super Tote pattern is no exception. This bag has a curved gusset, elasticized inner pockets, side pleats, and a recessed zipper.

I ordered a fabulous Anna Maria Horner linen print for the main fabric of the bag. Then I shopped my stash. The gusset and handles are Essex Yarn Dye Linen in black, the accent panels are Alexander Henry's Heath in black,  the lining is Momo Freebird Ovals in blue , and the inside pockets are Anna Maria Horner's Shattered in punch.

The pattern came together very smoothly, even in its testing stages. Anna did something new this time around-- she created illustrations for the instructions, as opposed to using photographs. These diagrams make every step very clear.

My Super Tote had its first outing last night when we went to watch Avery in our citywide 6th grade band concert. I knew we would be at the arena for a few hours, so I loaded the bag up-- in addition to everything you see here, it also held snacks, a blanket, and my purse! It was comfortable to carry and opened really wide when we needed to dig in to get supplies. A+ for usability AND looks!

The Super Tote pattern is available to purchase now through Anna's pattern shop at Noodlehead. If you need a big bag for summer, trust me-- this is exactly the pattern you need.

geranium

I finally joined in on the Geranium Dress craze. And I can't believe how easy it was to make these two tunics for Charlotte. That Rae is a genius.

I used an older Alexander Henry print for my first one that I've had in my stash for years.

And for my second, I used pieces of fabric from Leslie at Maze & Vale, paired up with some grey chambray.

The best part about sewing baby clothes? They take hardly any fabric!!! My least favorite part of sewing clothes is cutting out the pieces, but with baby sizes, it's a breeze. Now I wish Charlotte's entire wardrobe was handmade.

Happy Easter (baskets)

Happy Easter!

I've been meaning to make the kids all coordinating Easter baskets. For years. I finally got my act together yesterday and made it happen.

I found some coordinating fabrics in my stash.

The pattern is adapted from Anna's Divided Basket pattern. Essentially, I left out the divider and the pocket, and shortened the height a bit. I wish I had used heftier interfacing-- without the divider to hold the middles in, they're a bit floppy. But they work just fine for Easter baskets.

I also made Cooper a Chewbacca softie I've had on my list since I saw it on MADE.

The pattern is from Draw Pilgrim, and so easy! I subbed out furry felt for the body and used nail polish for the silver on the bandolier. It came together in about an hour.

I hope you're having a great day! I'm busy cooking up food for a couple of family parties later. It's busy, but luckily I have Charlotte's chocolate bunny to keep me fueled. How nice of the Easter Bunny to leave it for her, even if she's not old enough to eat it herself.

screen printing, part 2

After my attempts on Saturday, I decided to tackle photo emulsion.

I worked up a quick design based off the block print I did at QuiltCon. I manipulated it in Photoshop and created a repeat.

I printed the design on inkjet transparencies at home. I got great advice to layer two transparencies together to make the black areas more opaque. Making the artwork was originally very intimidating, but it ended up being easier than I thought.

There are tons of tutorials and videos and articles on the internet about exposing screens. I like this one from Lil Blue Boo (is there anything she CAN'T do?), but she used sunlight. It's not an option here in Alaskan winter. So I followed other recommendations from a lot of different sources to try to figure out an exposure solution.

The first two tries did not go well. The first time, I tried to expose the screen using a 150 watt bulb.

It did NOTHING. An hour and 15 minutes of time and all I had was a blank screen at the end! The second time, I tried Rob's old 250 watt halogen shop light. It didn't look like it did much either after the 30 minutes of burn time. Once I started washing out the screens to try again though, I did see the image! It was just washing away since the screens were underexposed. So I knew something was going on-- my light just wasn't strong enough.

In researching, I also learned that I had probably put too much emulsion on my screens the first time-- look up at that first exposure picture. See the streaks? Plus I had used a piece of cardboard to spread it. I paid careful attention to do a very thin layer the second time, using the squeegee in the kit, when I coated my screens. They dried much more evenly.

I should mention that throughout this entire process, I was posting pics on Instagram and receiving invaluable advice and encouragement from friends. It made my failures much less frustrating. One bit of advice I got was to try a 500 watt halogen shop light. Early this morning I braved our snowstorm and trekked to Lowe's to pick one up. 

 

I busted out the UV glass, rigged it up in my sewing room and took a deep breath.

My exposure time was only 13 minutes with this stronger light. Success!

The rest of my morning has been spent trying to figure out the best methods for printing. I'm having promising, but mixed, results. More advice from Instagram led me to put more padding underneath my fabric, and I just might have to head out in the snow again to find a wider squeegee. Mine is 9" wide and I've got a 12" wide screen, so I have to do overlapping passes. 

Learning this process has been so much fun! I've got a long way to go with figuring it all out, but I'm sure I'll get it right eventually. I hope you're having a great start to the week! As always, thanks for stopping by.