Tasting Table Tuesday - Mountain Quilt Progress

This Pennsylvania Mountains Baby Quilt is almost done.  I finished piecing the top earlier in the week...

It was WAY too windy to take it outside for pictures that day, so I laid it on the floor in a sunbeam instead.  Not the best shot, but the best I could do at the time...  but at least you get the idea...

And I just love how the colors pop when I hung it in the window with the sun shining through the fabric!  Looks like a stained glass window, with the seam allowances looking like the lead strips on the glass.

Yesterday I finished quilting the center section.  I don't like to quilt baby quilts too densely, so they stay nice and soft and cuddly, so I just went with a simple loop design.  Then I marked an interlocking heart design for the borders and hope to get that part quilted today.  Then it's on to the binding and this one will be done!

Cheers!

Tasting Table Tuesday - iPad Stand Review

I don't have any new exciting pictures to share of my projects today (not to say I haven't been working hard, but you're probably tired of seeing pictures of cut-up neckties by now) so I've decided to write a product review instead.

I bought an iPad recently and I love it and use it all the time.  But I found myself struggling to hold it comfortably so I started looking for some type of easel to put it on.  I found lots of patterns and tutorials to make my own, but who's got the time, right?  And none of the designs were quite what I was looking for.

Then I saw this one...

This is an iPad Pillow and it's from an Etsy shop called ComfyiPad. (picture by ComfyiPad).  The design seemed perfect, so I took a chance and ordered one.

I LOVE MY COMFYIPAD!!!!

It consists of two parts - a harness that straps around the iPad and a cylindrical pillow.  The two parts stick together with velcro and can be secured at any angle you want and will support the iPad either vertically or horizontally.  What an ingenious design!  (the pictures of the gray one are mine).

 As you can see, it even works with the Smart Cover on my iPad!  You just have to be careful how you position the elastic straps so they don't get caught in the hinge.  But it works!

 Mine is gray, but Brenda makes these in several different colors, and the elastic and velcro comes in white or black.  For more information, visit her Etsy shop here, and to learn more about Brenda and her shop, be sure to check out her About page.  I just love peeking inside peoples shops and seeing how they work - it's so interesting!

I leave mine on the coffee table, or my sewing table most of the time.  Just flip over the Smart cover and it's ready to use.  I can prop it up on my lap, or even on my belly if I'm lying on the couch!  Works in almost any position.  Thanks Brenda, for a great product!  (and it's very reasonably priced too!)

Cheers!

Tasting Table Tuesday - Another Pennsylvania Mountain Quilt

The first of the Family Ties quilts has arrived safely at it's destination, and my clients couldn't be happier.  It always makes me feel so good to hear back from a happy customer.  They have selected the background fabric for the next three quilts, but for a quick change of scenery, I'm squeezing in a custom baby quilt before I start the next one.

You may remember this post about a series of Pennsylvania Mountain Baby Quilts I've made for a return customer.  She loves to give these baby quilts as gifts.  They are quilts that are reminders of the beautiful mountains in this part of northcentral Pennsylvania, and because they don't exactly look "baby-ish", they will last as these kids grow up.

My client always gives me a color palette for each quilt, and this time she has requested lavender, sage green, light blue, and gray.  Here's what I chose...

It's hard to get the colors to show up correctly, but I've selected some assorted soft, silvery grays for the "sky" of each block, and pastel shades of lavender, blue & green for the mountains.

I make my mountain blocks using my own method of piecing, that starts with 2 squares - a sky fabric and a mountain fabric.  Each pair makes two half-square-triangles that I slice, trim, shuffle, then sew back together to make a mountain.

The border fabric is a gorgeous batik that contains ALL of the colors in this palette.

More on that in a future post.

Now I'm off to lunch with "the girls".

Cheers!

Family Ties No.1, finished

The sun is out and it's a beautiful day, so I took the opportunity to take some pictures of the finished Family Ties quilt, as promised.  I'll be saying goodbye to this one tomorrow as I ship it off to it's new owner.  I hope they enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed making this one.  The collection of ties they gave me to use is just fantastic.  The prints and colors really bring this quilt to life.  It's difficult to do it justice with my amateur photo skills, and looks much better in person, but at least you get an idea...

Tasting Table Tuesday

Although the Family Ties quilt is officially finished, it poured rain today so I've been unable to take it outside for a photo shoot.  But the weather looks good for the rest of the week so I'll try and post some finished pictures in a couple of days.

But just to tide you over, here's a few shots I took during the binding stage...  First I cut TONS of strips for the scrappy binding (after fusing interfacing to the back of all the ties).  I like to trim the ends to a 45 degree angle and chop off that little "dog ear" before I sew my strips together.  I just find the strips go together so much easier that way.

A roll of finished binding long enough to go around one quilt...

Stitching the binding to the top of the quilt...

Then I machine-stitched-in-the-ditch from the front to finish the binding.  I'm SO glad I decided to go with the scrappy binding on this one.  Wait till you see the finished pictures and see how it completes the quilt!

Cheers!

Fabric De-Stash Sale

My daughter bought these fabrics at our local quilt shop and has now decided not to use them, so I offered to try and sell them for her.  After posting them here for a few days, I'll list them in my Etsy shop, so if you want any of these, please contact me asap...

Free shipping within the USA.

There's a total of 5 1/2 yards plus 2 charm packs (36 five-inch squares per pack) in this first bundle.  All are from the Northern Solitude collection by Holly Taylor for Moda.

Grab the whole bundle for just $48.

Or how about a charm pack of Louisa by Terry Clothier Thompson for Moda.

40 five-inch squares for $5.

And last is a charm square pack of Renewal by Brannock & Patek for Moda.

40 five-inch squares for $5.

Tasting Table Tuesday

It's a beautiful fall day here in Pennsylvania.  I've watched this vine on one of our maple trees gradually turn from green to this magnificent red.  I can see these colors becoming the inspiration for a quilt, can't you?  (I once learned of a website that would generate a custom color palette from your photograph, but I don't remember the name of it.  Can anyone refresh my memory???)

Speaking of leaves, the first Family Ties quilt came back from the long arm quilter yesterday, and I really like this leaf design she quilted on it.  It softens up all the straight lines in the design of this quilt.

Now I'm ready to start working on the binding.  I plan on making a scrappy binding out of the tie fabrics.  We'll see how it goes...

I should head into my Cotton Cellar right now and get started, but I've got a pot of soup simmering and leaves that are begging to be raked.  Can't pass up this sunshine, so I'll sew tonight instead.

Cheers!