Little Quilts Cocktail Shakers and a giveaway

Hello there, fans of Amy, Sarah, sweet little quilts, cocktails, and Liberty!  Welcome to my stop on the Little Quilts blog tour, where I will happily gush on and on about how much I am enjoying this addition to my quilting library.

I met Amy during my first foray into swapping back in the Flickr Doll Quilt Swap. I was then introduced to Sarah and her beautiful work shortly after when these two talented ladies teamed up for their Dollies on Line pattern company.  Amy's Mrs. Schmenkman Quilts was one of the first blogs I followed years ago and she thrilled me one day with a sweet unexpected gift prompted by a mini quilt I'd made. I knew right then, that she was my kind of people.  Something tells me that I will get to meet both of these amazing quilters next year in person.....

So, if you've been following along this blog tour you already know that the tour is a swap!  Each of us has a secret partner for which we are making a quilt from Little Quilts. Prior to receiving my copy, I had already decided (based on the Amazon "take a look inside" photos) which pattern I'd use. Then my book arrived: cue indecision.  I wanted to make ALL THE QUILTS! Really! That rarely happens with me and books. Every pattern appeals to me. I know this will be my go-to guide whenever a swap comes around because there is definitely something for everyone and plenty of room for customization with fabric choices, fussy cutting and expanding to larger-sized quilts.

planning, planning, planning

Having recently acquired a bumper crop of Liberty tana lawn F8's, I was anxious to use some of them in this special quilt. I paired them with that other British fabric I love, Oakshott Colourshotts. After marking several pages in the book, eventually I returned to my original idea because my little brain just loved the idea of an all-British cocktail shaker quilt: A James-Bond-ish Shaken, Not Stirred table runner.

I think these two kinds of fabric really enjoy each other's company. The foundation piecing for the cocktail shaker shapes is very straightforward and not at all fiddly as far as paper piecing goes. It's actually a great project for a first go at this technique.  Can you spot the teeny Hello Kitties in the border print?

"Shaken, Not Stirred"

The runner finished up at 16" x 31".  Hopefully my partner has a suitably sized coffee table or side board, or even a bar!  Of course, there is always the awkward skinny wall option for hanging a table runner. 

I quilted the runner with a gorgeous blue Aurifil 28 wt thread in a straight line diagonal grid pattern that parallels the piecing. And I used this perfectly-suited Laurie Wisbrun print from my stash on the back!

To see what everyone else is making for their secret partners in our blog tour swap, have a look at the other stops listed below!  If you don't have it already, ask your local quilt shop to stock this wonderful book for you...then organize a swap with your guild or quilting friends!

If you'd like to win a copy of Little Quilts courtesy of Sara and Amy's publisher, leave a comment and let us know if you've ever made a doll or mini quilt before!  I'll close the giveaway October 4th and chose a random winner.  To win, you MUST leave your email address in your comment if it is not linked. If I can't contact you with one click, I'm afraid I have to chose another winner.  Good luck!

September 1: Amy and Sarah

http://mrsschmenkmanquilts.wordpress.com

http://thelastpiece.typepad.com

September 8: Pam Vieira-McGinnis

http://pamkittymorning.blogspot.com

September 15: Nedra Sorenson

http://cactus-needle.blogspot.com/

September 22: Lynne Goldsworthy and Krista Hennebury

http://lilysquilts.blogspot.com

http://poppyprintcreates.blogspot.com/

September 29: John Adams

http://quiltdad.com

October 6: Katy Jones

http://imagingermonkey.blogspot.com

EDITED TO ADD: comments are now closed, and congratulations to commenter #63, Kathy, who has won herself a copy of Little Quilts!

Rearranging

Last post you read a little about Operation Grandma and Grandpa visit. I am pretty proud of our efforts to get ready for their stay, so I thought I'd share a little of what went on here. Our spare bed is really a pull out sofa in the family room (the only room with a TV in our house). Since my parents are visiting for 3 weeks, we felt they really should have a room with a door for privacy and proper bed to sleep on!  A plan to clear out my sewing room was put in motion, with D enthusiastically embracing the project and suggesting that after the visit, she could move her bedroom downstairs and I could re-establish my sewing room upstairs in her tiny bedroom. Alas, her 17.5 sq. ft. gain is my loss.

First order of business was to set up a temporary sewing station in the family room. Ta dah!

Might as well decorate while I'm here, right?

I moved all my rolling plastic drawer carts under the stairs in the playroom and left my fabric shelves, design wall and doll quilts on the wall for now.  I sort of stalled at this point and had to bring in my husband for the final push (no emotional attachment = easy ditching of crap). He packed up all my batting into a huge Rubbermaid bin for relocation to the crawl space; the table was dismantled and went into storage, too.

Finally, a full 24 hours in advance of G&G's arrival, we had a bedroom!

Complete with quilt gallery!

Posts may be sporadic over the next three weeks......hope you're all working on fun projects!

Variegated Thread Selvage Quilts

I'm at retreat. Well, not yet, but by the time you read this I will be yucking it up with my pals, sewing up a storm and sampling everyone's chocolate stash when they're not looking. Because my Krista Sista's have traveled so far to come (K2 from Seattle, K3 all the way from Anchorage via Seattle), I really wanted to show them how much I appreciate their friendship. So I made them each a 14" x 20" quilt in their respective colours.

This one will head home to Alaska on Monday with K3

Give me one good reason why I shouldn't bind every future quilt in this Joel Dewberry Heirloom print? It absolutely rocks for binding!!

I've made several Chinese coin quilts with my selvage collection, but ages ago I 'favorited' this quilt on flickr and asked permission to use it for inspiration. I made my spools slightly less wonky, but free-cut the angles on each side of the spool top and bottom. Those strips for the wooden spool were made using selvages from French General fabric (which I think has the most beautiful selvage that is totally worthy of using as a design feature!). I just love the idea of these 'variegated thread' spools functioning as fabric memory quilts - a sweet reminder of all my favourite fabrics. I will definitely make one for myself!

Here is K2's quilt, which I hope will reside in her Seattle studio.

I wanted to keep the quilts a surprise, so I've scheduled this post to go live after I've gifted the quilts. I'm so excited. Isn't it a great feeling to give someone a hand-made present? Even more so in this case because I am pretty sure they'll really like them!

I also have another teeny item for the three of us. I'll post a photo once we're all together with those ones, though. They have to do with identification. You see, with three Krista's in one room, there is bound to be trouble. When K2 visited me last year, my husband started the numerical reference (I think I got K1 only because he knew me first - NOT because I'm the, ahem, oldest). K3 is clearly the youngest by a longshot though, so in her case I'm sure being #3 is just fine with her!

I hope you're enjoying your weekend as much as weeeeeeee aaaaaare (gloat, gloat). I'm only doing that because your virtual smacking is having no effect on me whatsoever.

The Talented Mrs. Goldsworthy

You may know her as Lily's Quilts. Or quite possibly Lynne. Maybe you think she's my Giddy Aunt. Likely, she'd answer to Smart Ass.

One thing is for certain, you all know who she is. The one who does the redonculous circle things. And the skinny linny's (those thin white strips that outline all manner of shapes in the blocks she makes). Of late, she's been the Queen Of All Things Hexagonical (yes, I am fully aware of the world hexagonal, thank you very much, but if you've seen what she's doing to those poor old hexagons, you'd use Hexagonical, too).

I just think she's FABULOUS. Because look what she sent me:

If I wasn't acutely aware of her insane productivity, I might accuse her of being lazy for not putting a label on it (I'll take that matter up privately with Mrs. G). I have no choice but to make up my own name, so I'm calling it Killer Triangles (killer meaning wicked cool). I could look at it for hours and still notice new strips of wonderful, special fabric.

In keeping with her overachieving ways, of course it is totally reversible.

"the back!"

AND, as if that wasn't spectacular enough, Lynne also sent me one of her trademark Union Jacks (this is what I'd asked for in the first place for our little swappy - certainly I never expected TWO quilts). Jeez Nigel, now I'll have to make her something else. All I sent was a weenie passport pouch!

Lynne once excitedly tweeted that her Hochi Mappy Yum Yum had arrived and now I cannot possibly think of Monica's fabric as Happy Mochi ever again. Hochi Mappy has a mischievous ring to it that just makes me giggle (and I'm pretty sure that's okay with Monica).

Thank you so very much Mrs. Goldsworthy.

Krista

xx