New Wave Quilt

I finally finished this quilt! I had the quilt top done about a month ago, but didn't quilt it until early March, and finally buckled down last Sunday and binded it. For my next quilt I'm going to treat myself and bring it in to have someone else finish it :)

The fabric collection I used is called 'Meadowsweet 2' by Sandi Henderson. I was drooling over the fabric collection last February in one of fabric-hoarding posts. Although I mentioned in my last post that my favorite batting is by The Warm Company (Warm &White, and Soft & Bright), I admit I used 'Soft N Crafty low-loft batting' for this particular quilt. It was all they had left and I was desperate! Though it looks okay in the pictures, I wouldn't use it again. It was hard to work with and I got a lot of uneven bunching. After that experience, the very next day I ordered myself a jumbo roll of Warm & White batting - 40 yards all to myself! >:-)

Here's how the back looks. Instead of buying 3 yards to cover the back (which can get expensive at $10.50/yd), I compromised. I bought 1 yard of printed fabric and cut it in half lengthwise to make the middle strip, and then I used white muslin for the sides (which is usually $4-5/yd).

This is a great quilt for displaying your favorite fabrics! You can find the pattern for the New Wave Quilt here, by Oh, Fransson!

Happy Quilting!

$900 towards Japan Relief Efforts!

I wanted to say a big THANK YOU to all that participated and supported my mini auction. Even if you didn't bid, thank you for reading and spreading the word - it means a lot! I am so happy that this auction was a success, and that it's going towards such an important cause. You all are the best!

Congratulations to Rebecca from beautiful Hawaii (I'm a tad jealous of the quilt ;)! I will be contacting you shortly via email to arrange shipping and donation details. And I have great news...thanks to my generous in-laws, Rebecca's donation is being matched by them. And then on top of that, the company I work for will double that total! So the total donation going toward Japan Relief Efforts comes out to $900! Thank you everyone!

On a different note, because of the auction I haven't blogged in a while so here are a few updates:

I received my latest batch of fabric from Moda! The above collection is called Strawberry Fields by Fig Tree Quilts for Moda. If you liked the Quilt for Japan design, my next Moda Bakeshop tutorial will be on how to make that quilt. It's a really simple pattern that applies the 'stack and whack' method so there's no measuring involved - just stack, cut and sew!

As it only requires one layer cake pack to make the quilt top, I will also be hosting another fabric giveaway along with the MBS post, so please stay tuned if you're interested. :)

I've been spending so much money on batting that I finally bought myself a jumbo roll. I had to have my husband carry it up to my sewing room. This is Warm and White batting - it's one of my favorites because it quilts well and it doesn't shrink as much . My other favorite batting is called Soft and Bright. If you have any questions, please leave a comment and I'd be more than happy to answer.

Lastly, some of you asked if my faithful furrball, Paige, kept me company as I stayed up until 2 am working on the Quilt for Japan last weekend. She sure did!

Happy Quilting!

Quilt Auction! Proceeds go towards Japan relief efforts

This auction has ended.

As mentioned in my previous post, I am auctioning this quilt and all proceeds will go towards relief efforts in Japan. I will ship this quilt to the highest bidder, and your donation will be matched 100% by the company I work for. To make a bid, please leave a comment to this post with your donation amount and a way for me to contact you*. This auction will end on Friday, March 25th at midnight. Donation will be accepted through Paypal (they accept all major credit cards).

Donations will go towards Direct Relief International, International Medical Corps, or UNICEF. If you choose not to participate in this auction, you can click the links above to find alternative ways to donate.

"On March 11 a massive 9.0 earthquake hit northern Japan. The earthquake, one of the largest in the country's history, triggered a 23-foot tsunami that battered Japan's coast, killing thousands and sweeping away cars, homes, buildings, and boats." - Amgen Foundation Japan Earthquake & Tsunami Relief Program




My mission over the weekend was to finish this quilt so I can auction it off today. Mission accomplished! You can see the making of this quilt on my Quilting in the Rain Facebook page (link to the right).

I've never done an auction like this, so I'm crossing my fingers that this will be successful. :) And don't forget that the highest bidder's donation will be matched 100%! Thanks in advance to those who participate...every bit helps!

*If you do not feel comfortable leaving your email address in your comment, please send it to me via email at quiltingintherain@gmail.com so I know how to contact you. Also be sure that I know which bid is yours!

Fabric treat and a quilt for Japan

Yesterday after work I came home to this sweet little fabric treat in the mail...what a way to make my day! I'm totally psyched about it and can't stop looking at its cuteness! Kirsten N., all the way from Australia, made this iPhone sleeve as a thank you for my last fabric giveaway. A huge perk about this sleeve is now I have an adequate excuse to finally get an iPhone! (the phone in the picture actually belongs to my husband ;-p) If it weren't for Kirsten I'd still be living in the stone age, so thank you for that as well!

Not to change the subject so suddenly, but I wanted to give you all a heads up about my next project. I'm on a mission this weekend to finish a quilt for Japan. I'm sure you've all heard of the recent earthquake, tsunami and potential nuclear disaster in Japan; well, here's a small way you can help AND get a quilt in the process. The company I work for is having a fundraiser where they match donations 100% and all proceeds go towards disaster relief in Japan. My mission this weekend is to finish a quilt and then auction it off via a blog post. I will ship the quilt to the highest bidder, and then have my work match your donation 100%.

I will be using the Sunkissed collection by Moda. Please stay tuned for my quilt for Japan so you can participate in my little fund raising auction. Every bit helps. Also, I will be posting Facebook updates this weekend as I make the quilt, so if you haven't already, you can 'Like' my Facebook page by clicking the link to the right :).


Thanks for stopping by...and happy Friday! Wish me luck on my mission... :)

Finally finished!

The clouds were kind enough to part for a few hours so I could snap some pictures of my finished Rainy Days quilt :) I thought I'd do a quick post on how I finished it up. Above is when I was binding it... I was able to use scraps from the quarter yard cuts to make up all the binding. When binding a quilt I use to throw the yards and yards of binding up and over both of my shoulders; however, now I suggest wrapping it around a ruler, or something (other than your neck), so you don't get tangled up... death by binding would be a sad way to go.. :-}

Here it is on my quilting frame. If you follow my blog you'll notice I like to post pictures of my quilts set up on the frame because it's not something you get to see often. I got a few comments asking what my frame is and how it works. The frame I have is called the Imperial Quilting frame and is compatible with my sewing machine (i have a Pfaff Grand Quilter and love it!).

Basically, I can plop my sewing machine onto the frame and secure it onto a carriage that glides up and down the frame. Since the carriage can glide up and down the frame, it allows the sewing machine to easily maneuver over the quilt sandwich (which you don't need to baste), as shown above. It's not computerized quilting, as I still need to use the handle bars to guide the sewing machine. For those of you that don't have a quilt frame and do all your quilting on a table top, I admire you! It's something I just couldn't get use to! Anyway, I promise to post a video soon of me using the frame so you can get an idea of how it really works. :)

As always, I quilted stipples. :) I just can't get myself to do anything other than stippling. I started with loopy-loops, but a split second later had a change of heart. :-p

And here it is, quilted and binded! :) I'm really happy with how it turned out. Don't forget to make one yourself, here's the pattern!

Happy Quilting!

Gray and Gloomy

Not only did it rain all weekend, but it stayed dark and gloomy without the slightest break of sunshine. Bodie stayed by the window all weekend watching the rain and day dreaming of long summertime walks. I guess that's typical Seattle weather for ya!

I admit the rain allowed for good quilting weather; however, it was SO gray and dark outside all day that I couldn't even get a good picture of my finished Rainy Days quilt. :( I took several photos of the finished quilt, and my husband and I even came up with crazy lighting contraptions to try to brighten the room, but we still couldn't get a decent picture. So in short, I apologize for not having the finished photo up yet but it will happen! My plan is to score a decent photo after returning from work this week, and thanks to daylight savings time that extra hour of daylight should help! :)

On a different note, you may have noticed the new "Finished Quilt" button on the right hand side of my blog. This is something I've been meaning to put together for a while now. It captures all of the quilts I've made since I started this blog April of last year, and it also includes some photos of quilts I made prior. There's a few more photos I still need to take to complete the collection, but I'll get to them eventually. I will continue to update that page with my latest quilts.

A great benefit about blogging is it captures all of the completed projects I've done throughout the year. But above all, I get to meet awesome folks like yourselves who encourage me to keep at it :o)

Have a great week everyone! Hopefully you're getting more sunshine than I am (I recently learned I have a vitamin D deficiency!)

another late night quilt session

Finding time to quilt when you have a day job pretty much leaves you with two options: late night quilt sessions, and oh so short weekends. :) I'm at it again, quilting in the wee hours of the night.

Paige was more than ready to go to bed, but she's a trooper and waited up for me as she always does. :)

One quilt down, and one more to go! I hope to finish quilting my Rainy Days quilt tomorrow night. I've already prepped the backing, so all I need to do is throw it on my frame and quilt away. I'm tempted to just bring it in and have the quilting done for me, but that costs money that I'd rather spend on fabric :-}

I wanted to say thank you for your comments on the Rainy Day Quilt; I absolutely love reading your comments! I try to make patterns that are simple because 1) it breaks apart a quilt that may seem daunting and turns it into a doable project and 2) there's just not enough time to quilt! It's great having a quilt top pattern that you can finish over a weekend.

I have another simple pattern in the works that I hope to post soon that uses charm squares, so stay tuned. Anyway, that's it for now. Just wanted to pop in mid-week to say hi!

Happy (late night) quilting! ;)

Rainy Days Quilt

Remember these fabrics I bought last month when I went on my business trip? Well, I finally used them! Living in Seattle, this Rainy Days quilt seemed very appropriate. :) I wanted to share this pattern with you in case you wanted to make one. It's a super-duper easy pattern (seriously, only 3 steps below!). If you want to use the same fabric collection that I used, I recommend buying them here (Rainy Days and Mondays is an older collection so most places don't sell them anymore).

Finished quilt top size: 47.5" x 57"

Materials:

• Eight 1/4 yard cuts of varying prints (fat quarters work too)
• 1 1/4 yards solid white fabric (I used white muslin)
• 1/3 yard binding
• 3 yards backing

Step 1 (Cutting) - From each 1/4 yard print of fabric, cut four 6"x10" rectangles. You will need a total of 30 rectangles, so choose one print where you will only cut two rectangles from it.

Next, from your 1 1/4 yards of white fabric, cut (70) 2.5"x10" rectangles.

The quickest way to cut all 70 rectangles is to fold your 1.25 yards of fabric in half lengthwise so that it measures roughly 22"x45" (it should already be folded like this when you buy it from the bolt). And then fold it in half lengthwise again so that it measures roughly 11"x45". With a ruler and rotary cutter, cut 2.5" strips along the length as shown below, until you have a total of (18) 2.5"x44" strips. Then, sub-cut each strip into four 2.5"x10" rectangles.


Step 2 (Piece together your blocks) - One block is made up of one 6"x 10" rectangle, and two 2.5"x 10" rectangles.

Using a 1/4" seam allowance, sew each 2.5"x 10" strip to the 6"x 10" rectangle as shown below. (Sew with the correct sides facing each other, and then press open with an iron).

Repeat the above until you have a total of 30 finished blocks.


Step 3 (assemble the quilt top) - As shown below, arrange all 30 blocks into 6 rows of 5 blocks each, making sure to alternate the position of each block. Click image below to enlarge.


Lastly, sew all 5 blocks together in each row, and then sew each row together. (Using a 1/4" seam allowance, sew with the correct sides facing each other, and then press open with an iron).

I told you it was easy ;-) If you end up making this quilt, I'd love to see it! (quiltingintherain@gmail.com)

Happy Quilting!

Bundle of Joy

I had been tracking this package stalker-style and greeted the UPS man before he even had a chance to get out of his truck. With how bad my fabric addiction is, I'm afraid one of these days my husband will find me huddled in a corner petting a jelly roll, referring to it as "my precious" like Gollum.

I just love receiving bundles like this... :)

This fabric collection is called "Dolce" designed by Tanya Whelan by Free Spirit fabrics. It's not a new collection, but it was on sale! Last I checked they still had some on sale, here. Anyway, more fabric to inspire me and to add to my stash.

Speaking of my stash, I thought I'd give you a glimpse. This is about 1/3 of my stash. The two bigger baskets on the middle and bottom shelf are where I throw my fabric scraps. My latest and greatest additions found a home on the top shelf. :)

The basket on the top left are fabrics 'next in line' for a quilt. In fact last night I finished a quilt top using Riley Blake's Rainy Days and Mondays collection. I'll be posting that one soon. :)

Anyway, that's it for now. Just a quick mid-week post to say hi and happy quilting!