My Inspiration for Make Mine Modern Swap

My Inspiration
Originally uploaded by Our Ilan & Quinn

I am taking part in a swap Make Mine Modern ( see button on sidebar) and we were asked to collage things that inspire. Hope you enjoy!

Favorite Little Quilt Swap

So I finally joined Flickr to showcase all my pictures for you all. I never realized the addictive nature of Flickr in terms of becoming lost in piles and piles of ideas and inspiration. I am already hooked on checking out my favorite blogs every morning but Flickr? It is a really neat way to connect with other craftsters and participate in swaps....and yes, I joined one. Or two. Ok. Three. But then quickly unjoined the third. So just two.

I have always wanted to make mini quilts (as mentioned before) so now I get to make one for someone else and get one in return! This is what I came up with.  Check the Favorite Little Quilt Swap out to see past entries. There isn't much posted for round 2 yet but it is neat to see what people swapped last time. K. I typed "neat" a lot. It is early. My kids don't get the concept of sleeping in. We enjoy 3 to 4 hours of darkness in the morning before the rest of the world wakes up. It is kinda nice. Kinda.

Tee-pee for Ilan

I have always wanted to make a Tee-pee for Ilan. This one was a long time in the making.  I wasn't daunted by the level of difficulty as it appeared to be straight forward to do. I was simply daunted by the amount of fabric needed. Part of me wanted to use a heavy unbleached duck canvas, something that looked neutral and would fit into any decor. But that didn't seem very fun for a little boy. Instead I waited until heavy cotton twill came on sale. I picked a nice dark navy and bought Thomas the Tank fabric to make little train patches....of which haven't been put on yet. Well, honestly they were on there with stitch witchery but Ilan pulled them off. In my rush to have it done for Christmas I didn't stitch them on and it didn't take long for them to come off. I will eventually get the tee-pee completely done, perfect for a little boy who loves trains. It's coming, I promise!

Stitched in Color: Blogger's Pillow Party

I have been looking for something to swap or participate in "Blog land" to encourage me to practice new techniques or simply for inspiration. I found a the Blogger's Pillow Party from Stitched in Color and realized I made the perfect pillow a couple of months back! I am so excited! My first entry for anything!

So here goes!! I have always loved the look of fabric yo yos and I love working with linen. I had picked up some heavy weight linen on a trip to Seattle and came up with this. I handstitched three yo-yos along with 2 flat circles. Then I stitched around the applique with embroidery thread. I didn't make the cover removable out of sheer laziness...or maybe I was just eager to get it done! I used Anna Maria Horner's technique for "super circles" found here. It is a really easy technique that doesn't require basting around the circle...I show anybody who cares to listen. I also used the same technique for Quinn's quilt. Thank you, Stitched in Color for throwing such a great party!

  The pillow resides in our bedroom.

Quilt for Mom D.N

I picked up a charm pack, Fandango by Moda and discovered when sewn together on their own,  it doesn't amount to much of a quilt. I combined it with a soft cotton and came up with this. I have attempted to hand quilt from time to time and always ended up tearing it out and resorted to simple lines on the sewing machine. This time I persevered and kept up with the stitching and am happy with the results. I didn't quilt the border and left it loose...next time I would quilt more lines but I lost my gusto. However, I really enjoyed making Christmas presents this year and hope that next year I will continue. It was busy trying to get everything done but well worth the effort!

Coasters and a mini quilt in progress

I got a new sewing machine for Christmas and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! My old machine chugged away, slipping and faltering over thick laters of a quilt sandwhich, had no capabilities for free motion quilting, had to go! It was good while it lasted and was good for general sewing but I have always wanted to do a stipple effect on a quilt. I decided to practice on a set of coasters I made. I was in too much of a hurry to bind the little squares with a proper quilt binding so I just backed them with burlap. I am pleased with the result! I hope to deliver them to their owner (a friend who just moved in to a new to her house). By the way, I love you hun! Thank you for the wonderful present!

I love the book Whip Up Mini Quilts and absolutely love this collection of mini quilts.

So this is my first mini quilt in progress.

Quilt for Mom A.K and Quinn

I am a regular visitor to Film in the Fridge and love her simple quilts using tiny squares, especially this one!
The one shown on fitf's blog is made with yummy Echino fabric and I had really wanted to make one similar for Quinn (Ilan had 3 made for him before birth, Quinn, 0. Second child syndrome). I did end up buying Quinn some helicopter Echino fabric for his first quilt but ended up doing THIS!!! I am pretty proud!

I actually ended up using a pattern from Anna Maria Horner's book "Seams to Me". I just modified it to a smaller crib/toddler bed size. I am addicted to quilting now that I have ventured to do it properly in terms of peicing, sandwiching and basting. I used to be only brave enough to hand tie quilts. I am so enjoying the process that calls for a bit more patience on my part. I used to only sew things that took a few hours of my time. Now I can't seem to find a block of time that long so venturing down to my sewing "sauna" (more to come on this later) to do a 20 minute power sew, lends well to quilting. I now am satisfied to do a bit here and a bit there. It all gets done eventually...however slowly, I am proud to say.