Sister's Choice Quilts

Off You Go, Elizabeth

I got Elizabeth off to the quilters finally.  I swear it took me two weeks to buckle down and get the borders on this quilt!  I put it on my bed and pretended it was all quilted and ready to snuggle under.

Thank you Wendy of Quilting and Life for giving me this wonderful idea.

I picked up my Samurai Squares quilt from my favorite quilter, and as usual, she did a great job.

This is going to be a graduation gift for one of my nieces, and I sure hope she will like it.  I am tempted to keep it for myself, I like it so much!  I like the narrow black containment border, then the raspberry border, then the polka dot border.  It seems so chic to me for some reason.  Maybe it is the Tour d'Eifel fabric, I dunno.  Here is a close up of the quilting.

   

On a separate note, I have to share something that Allyson of Fat Cat Quilts told me.  Remember how I said I tried to buy 5 yards of Patisserie fabric from Sarah's Fabrics in Lawrence, Kansas, but the website lied--they only had 2 1/4 yards?  Well guess what?  It has been 12 days since my purchase and all the uproar in regard to me trying to get a refund (they charged my card for the full 5 yards).  And THEY ARE STILL ADVERTISING THAT THEY HAVE 5 YARDS of that fabric!!!!!!!!!!!  And I was going to give them the benefit of the doubt that they didn't falsely advertise. 

Nautical State Fair

Thanks for all your support yesterday in regard to my very unsatisfactory experience with Sarah's Fabrics in Lawrence, Kansas.  I am happy to say that when I called the shop to give my credit card for the refund, a young woman (who I am sure had been warned about what a b---h I was) was very helpful.  This would be the young woman the boss tried to blame for not contacting me in regard to the refund the boss had meant to mail out but didn't get around to.  I got a refund for the 2 3/4 yards fabric they over-charged me for, as well as about half the shipping fee.  What an unnecessary struggle that whole scene was.

Woo hoo!  Look what is finished!  My "State Fair" Schnibble!  The fabric I used is Odyssea by MoMo for Moda, with some Wonderland (also by MoMo) thrown in.  I seem to be in a nautical frame of mind lately, as these prints have a fishy vibe to them (as does my other favorite fabric, Neptune).  Love the bright colors and the crisp look of the white background.  When I need to use a white, I always use Kona Snow.  I buy it by the bolt so it is always on hand.

Hold on to your seats friends, I am going to try to quilt this myself.  I picked up a new machine quilting book by Mary Mashuta, whose thrust seems to be straight line quilting using your walking foot and feed dogs up.  Foolproof Machine Quilting is the title.  With some luck, and the right thread, and Sharp Microtex needles I ought to be able to handle this.  Ya think?

Hey, guess who left me a comment on my Neptune post?  The designer of the fabric collection, Tula Pink, herself!  She has a website/blog and I highly recommend that you check her out.  Did I mention she is a shoe addict?  Mmm, hmm, that's right.  A kindred spirit.  Please visit her post on the shoes she made her mom .  You will thank me for it, I promise.

Her fabric designs are outstanding and her sense of humor is wonderful.  And her color combinations are sensational.  I am definitely late to the party on collecting her fabrics (aside from Neptune) , but won't let her next group get away from me!

Under the Deep Blue Sea

I have really switched gears with my Neptune quilt.  I started out with the idea that I would use mostly medium and dark fabrics, and not add in a lot of contrasting lights.  That was ok, but well, sorta dark overall.

Then my fabric guru suggested that maybe the addition of some lights would really add something nice to the mix.  And she kindly sent me a collection of six or seven mini polka dot fabrics to try out with my Nepture fabric.

Once I started playing with the fabrics, I discovered I much preferred the blocks with the lighter contrasting polka dots.  I ended up making many more blocks than the pattern called for, which gives me lots of options as to my layout.

I played around all day and stopped with this-- It isn't final by any means, but you get the idea of what the overall look will be.

One thing I learned is that I really do need a design wall.  I am assigning my husband that task, so we shall see what he comes up with. 

Anyway, I love the predominantly light "backgrounds", but think it is really interesting to mix up the placement of the "lights" and "darks" in the blocks.  Plus, I like the look of tossing in a low contrast darker block (a red/blue or a green/aqua) here and there for some spice.

I am going to pick up all these blocks, which are now spread out on the bed in the guest room, mix them up really well, and start all over again with my layout in a week or so.  Why do I have to wait a week?  Because I ran out of material for the setting triangles and had to order some online!  Blah.  I hate that.   

Speaking of ordering fabric online, and because I am feeling chatty, I want to share a recent experience with you.  If you don't like complaining or ranting of any kind, stop reading now.

I went online searching for some fabric that I had not bought enough of, but wanted to get before it was completely gone from the planet.  The fabric was the French map fabric from one of the Fig Tree groups.  Patisserie, I think.  I found  a shop that claimed they had 5 yards of it.  Sarah's Fabrics in Lawrence, Kansas.  I ordered it and paid with my credit card.  Full price, not on sale.

Then I got an email from the shop owner, saying they only had 2 1/4 yards, did I want that?  Guess they don't update their website all that frequently.  I would hate to think that they advertise that they have more of a certain fabric on purpose, but now I am not so sure.  I said I would take the lesser amount, and to please credit my card.

Oh, no, sorry, said the shop owner.  Can't do that.  Would you like to order something else, since your card has already been charged for 5 yards of fabric?  Um, no, I would not.  After some argument, she said "We will issue you a refund check".  Huh?  If you can take my card for a purchase why can't you take the same card for a refund?

Shop owner emails me back to say fabric has been sent, refund check will follow "shortly".  This was May 30. 

I received the fabric promptly, but it has been 10 days and there is no sign of a refund check.  So I emailed the owner again, who I had been corresponding with.  She said she was "on vacation", and no one else at the shop had the authority to issue a refund check.  Then she proceded to *blame her staff* for not telling me she was on vacation and the check would be delayed.  Excuse me? 

So, I got cranky and emailed her that she was wrong to blame her staff, it was she herself who had been dealing with me, and she herself who indicated the refund would come "shortly", and she herself who made no mention of a delay due to any vacation.  And when the heck could I expect my refund?  And that they had misrepresented themselves with me from the get go.  And that in this economy, I was surprised that customer service was not a higher priority for their small business.  And that with all the fabric purchasing I do online, I have never experienced anything like this.

Guess what?  She emailed me back and said I should phone the shop and her staff will issue a refund to my credit card that I used to make the purchase in the first place.  She had originally stated she would refund a portion of the shipping charge as well, but now was not willing to do that.

Can you believe it?  Have you any argument in defense of this bone headed shop owner?  Please, if you can see her side of things in any way shape or form, explain it to me.

Neptune by Tula Pink

If you didn't buy any of this fabric collection when it was readily available, I am truly sorry for you.  Truly.  I am deeply sorry that I didn't urge you more strongly to buy it when you could get your hands on some.  So sorry.  I will endeavor to be more on top of things in the future.

Neptune by Tula Pink for Moda.  Unbearably adorable.  The colors are aqua, navy, coral and acid green.  Each print in the collection has some sort of a nautical theme, but it is so subtle, you have to really search for it.  See the submarine, coral and fishies in the green print in the photo above?

 

Can you see the sea turtle in this print above?  You have to look for it!

This circle design is really little life preservers.  Cute much?

Here are a couple more prints from the collection-

Well.  I started a quilt out of this fabric quite some time ago, and recently brought it back out for a finish.  My pattern is Sweet Escape by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company.

 

I was all gung ho to get this quilt top finished, and then, once a dozen or so blocks were completed, I came to a disenchanted halt.  Why?  Because I didn't have enough contrast in some of my blocks.  I complained to the right people however, and a very clever designer friend, suggested that I needed some light background polka dots in the mix.  And she sent me some.  From her stash.

And it made all the difference.  Hello baby.

 

 

State Fair

Hey, did anybody besides me jump right on the June Schnibbles project, State Fair?  Talk about a cute pattern.  I have had this on my To Do list ever since it was released.  Terrific selection Sinta and Sherri!

I had a layer cake of a collection called Odyssea by MoMo, an adorable Japanese designer for Moda.  MoMo's designs are always whimisal, colorful, and ever so slightly surreal.  Two of her other collections are Wonderland and Freebird.  If you are not familiar with her, do check her out at the Moda website .

Since I have a good amount of the fabric to play with, I plan to make the Schnibbles more quilt sized.  The blocks are super fun to make, since you have lots of opportunities to combine the cute fabric strips into your block.  Another nice feature of this block pattern is that it is made larger and meant to be trimmed down.  That always leads to wonderful accuracy.  And just see how all those troublesome pinked edges are getting trimmed right off.

I am just using my six inch square Omnigrid ruler for the trimming step.  It is going quickly, and in no time I finished quite a few blocks.  How cute are these? 

As I was mentioning yesterday, it seems that these days designers are being true to their designated color palettes, and when I found I needed some extra pinks for State Fair, I pulled what I needed from another MoMo collection, Wonderland.  It all works perfectly together!

Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall

I have been playing around with fabric, patterns and ideas this week.  Quite often after I do a diagonal set (Elizabeth), and a lot of half square triangles (Elizabeth), I am in the mood for some simple piecing and a straight set.  Here is a pattern I am thinking of making.  Looking Glass by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company.  Lots of nine patch blocks, strip piecing and a simple setting.  Ahhh.  Easy peasy, just what I am in the mood for. 

It's been awhile since I have used any of my Fig Tree fabric collection, so this is what I came up with.  Instead of brown and pink as shown on the pattern, how about green and butterscotch?

 

I have commented to my friends recently that it seems to me that fabric designers are sticking awfully closely to a certain color palette that has come to define their collections:  red, blue, light blue, and white for Minick and Simpson; coral red, butterscotch, green, butter yellow, peach for Fig Tree; pink, brown and red for 3 Sisters----etc etc.  There are many reasons for this, which I will go into in a later post.  One positive aspect of this repetition is, for instance, one Fig Tree collection goes very nicely with another Fig Tree collection.  In other words, you can mix and match!   You only have five butter yellows from Fresh Cottons?   And you need nine?  Just pull four yellows from Dandelion Girl and Bob's your uncle. They all work together.

That is basically what I did above,  using Mill House Inn and Patisserie, two groups from Joanna Figueroa's Fig Tree Quilts for Moda.  The two background prints are Fig Tree as well, from a much earlier group called Urban Indigo.  It all coordinates beautifully.  And my favorite piece, the border fabric from Patisserie.  "French Countryside".

Maybe I'll do some cutting this week.  Maybe not.  It sure is fun playing around though!

I Know It Was Right Here Somewhere...

Now that Elizabeth is all done (except for those last borders), I thought I would pull out another piecing project I started a few months ago.  My Mojo/Ridiculously Cute Basket Blocks.  I had completed all but three blocks; 33 out of the 36 I needed for the top.  But, what the heck?

Where were my units for the last three blocks?  I looked high and low.  I looked everywhere I possibly could have mislaid them.  (Except for the boxes I packed and put into storage last month when I was cleaning out my sewing room).  I could not find those units anywhere.

This is a good example of why it is a good idea to have a bit more fabric than you actually need.  In case of an emergency such as this!  Whew.  I was able to make three more 4 1/2 inch half square triangles for the basket bases and cut out the yellow polka dot for the side and top units.  Thank goodness I still had all the 2 1/2 inch half square triangles in my project box.  But even if I had lost them as well, I think I could have squeaked by, making more out of my leftover fabric.

 

So glad I was able to pull that one out of the fire.  Tomorrow I will get those last three basket blocks finished and get going on the scrappy lattices.

Update on the home front:  morale is low, but we have not abandoned hope.  My husband is very resourceful, and I am confident he will rise like a Phoenix after the latest setback of being laid off yet again.