Saturday, April 17, 2010

Random Acts of Quilting Kindness

I mentioned a while ago that I am participating in a Block of the Month sponsored by 3 Creative Studios. Last month when I posted the picture of my block, I mentioned that I am running out of one of my fabrics and I have not been able to find anymore.
Well....

What a great group! A few of them checked their stashes and one of the quilters sent me fabric from Belgium! How nice was that? I am thrilled. The fabric is not an exact match but it is really close and I think will work out great.

Don't you just love quilters?

Happy quilting!
Kate

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Naming

Naming things is hard. Take for example, naming children. There are tons of books and web sites to help parents name their child. It is something that every parent agonizes over- what is the best name? How do I name my child something special, that best represents who they are?
Patterns are the same. How do you come up with a name that is unique, and best represents the design?

Recently, I have been working on two of our newer patterns. And they have had a few names!

The first one has been around since last year, and we have been tossing around a few names. One was Flower Pot Purse. Not so great, but since the bag shape resembles a flower pot....
Isn't it cute though?

So after a few fits and starts, it has a new name. Sweet Pea.
It's a long story about how we got there, but it is to be part of a small series. The other pattern we have been working on is another bag. A hobo style bag. So, of course, it's first name had Hobo in it. I wanted to name it after my daughter Alyssa and since we were using charm squares for one version, it's early name was Alyssa's Charming Hobo Bag. A little wordy!

Then to be cute, we tried calling it a Boho Bag. So it was Alyssa's Boho Bag. Nope. Stike Two.
Without a good name, the pattern sat around for a while. We designed other things and ignored it.
Can't do that with kids!


So, now it will be called Sweet Alyssum. Today I was working on a charm square version of the bag using a charm pack I bought a few years ago. It is in bright, spring colors and very fun. I cut the charm squares, pieced them together and then quilted the outside fabric. I love it!


Here is a close up of the quilting I did- I used a fun stitch on the machine and some great varigated thread.







Then I cut out the bag pieces. It was hard to cut into the fabric- it was so pretty!
And I may have to figure out what to do with the leftovers... there is not much, but I hate to throw it away!


So, here is one side of the bag. Won't it be great? I can't wait to see it all done!


Happy quilting!
Kate