TGIFF

Welcome to TGIFF!  If it is your first time here, please feel free to look around.  Things are a bit crazy at the moment as I am in the middle of a house move.  But, I didn't want to miss a chance to host TGIFF, so I saved a little something especially for this post.

In the beginning of the year, I signed up for a bunch of fun swaps on Instagram.  I just couldn't help myself, especially when the first few went so well.  After churning out a bunch of minis in a row, though, I started getting a bit burned out.  So, I am happy to share my last swap mini.....




This one is for the Cotton and Steel Mini Swap on Instagram.  The pattern is a variation of the Good Fortune pattern listed for free on the Cotton and Steel website.  I reduced it quite a bit to make it mini sized and I changed the layout just a tad.  I used the Homebody collection by Kimberly Kight, and mixed in some metallic background fabric.  I find it a little funny that the background fabric looks nearly the same as the concrete in the photo.  Now I just need to put a label on this mini, send it off and I will be officially done with swaps for a while.  That is, until I relapse again.

I could also show you a few pics of my house in boxes, something that I am definitely saying TGIFF about!  But, that wouldn't be very interesting.  I will say, though, that my studio had just as many boxes as my entire kitchen!  Scary!

Now it is your turn to link up!  The rules are simple - please only link up finishes and posts that link back to the TGIFF party so your readers can find TGIFF and link up too!

Thanks for reading today,

Jen

An InLinkz Link-up

More mini fox faces - Building Blocks Tuesday

I've been a little lazy/crazy/lazy??  I have not touched anything sewing related in over a week.  Between going back East for several days, and trying to get back into the swing of our normal routine here at home upon returning, I haven't had the chance.  I really need to find time!  I find it therapeutic, and a great way to calm one's mind.  Boy, does my mind need calming at the moment!

I'm sharing a few more mini fox faces today for Building Blocks Tuesday.  I made these a few weeks ago and put them together in a mini for the winner of my Facebook giveaway, Shauna.  It turns out I never snapped a picture of the finished mini, but you can see it HERE or HERE.

These really do come out super cute!

What blocks have you working on this week?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page in your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr and Instagram pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading,

Jen

An InLinkz Link-up

Modern Window Pane - Blogger's Quilt Festival

Welcome Back.  Here is my second entry for this year's Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side.  I am terrible at coming up with names for quilts, but I guess I will call this one, "Modern Window Pane", and I am entering it in to the Modern Quilt category.

I made this mini for the Rainbow Mini Quilt Swap on Instagram.  This mini is about 23 inches square, and each colored block is made of 25 one inch squares.

Speaking of those little scraps, I was getting a little nostalgic as I was putting them together.  Most of the pieces came from my scrap bins, and I used pieces not only from my most current projects, but also from my very first quilt!  So, in a way, this quilt sums up the last few years in fabric. I liked it so much, I decided to make one for myself too.  I'm still showing you the one that I made for my partner because I gave her the best one of the two I made.

Quilt Stats:

Size: 23 x 23 inches square
Pattern: I just threw this together, but I dare not take credit as I have seen several similar quilts in other sizes and colors.
Fabrics: Miscellaneous scraps
Quilted by: Me, using my walking foot and a decorative stitch
Quilting Thread: Aurifil in White.

Thank you for considering this cheery little quilt in the Modern category.  I hope you will visit all the other category pages.  There are some terrific quilts this festival.

Oh, and don't forget to nominate your favorite for Viewer's Choice.


Jen

Rainbow Mini - a finish Friday

It's a finish Friday! and a colorful one too.

Behold!  My finished mini for the Rainbow Mini Quilt Swap on Instagram.  This mini is about 23 inches square, and each colored block is made of 25 one inch squares.

Speaking of those little scraps, I was getting a little nostalgic as I was putting them together.  Most of the pieces came from my scrap bins, and I used pieces not only from my most current projects, but also from my very first quilt!  So, in a way, this quilt sums up the last few years in fabric.  I hope my partner likes it.  I liked it so much, I decided to make one for myself too......

I mean you can't take a trip down memory lane and not want a memento for your yourself!  Plus it is just as easy to make 2 at once.

I quilted it using my walking foot and one of the more decorative zigzag stitches on my machine.  I learned how to do this in Jacquie Gering's, "Creative Quilting with Your Walking Foot"class (affiliate link**) on Craftsy.  She shares some great tips on how to keep those quilting lines straight!  It is an excellent class if you haven't checked it out - one of my favorites for sure and one I keep going back to for reference.  I reviewed it a little over a year ago HERE if you want to know more.

On to the next mini!  I'm currently working on one for the Spring Fling Mini swap, and I need to get going on my Outlander Craft swap item.  I have several ideas wandering around in my head, but I haven't started anything yet.  Oh yeah, and then there is the Cotton and Steel Mini that needs to be made and 2 fun minis for the winners of the 500+ giveaways.  So, I hope you like minis because it seems like that is what I'm doing around here for a while!


Thanks for reading today,


Jen




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Rainbow blocks - Building Blocks Tuesday

Today, I'm sharing all the tiny blocks that went into my mini for the Rainbow Mini Swap.

These are all 5 inch blocks finished.  Those were some tiny scraps!

Given that I am showing you these in mosaic form, I doubt the final layout of the quilt will be much of a surprise, but I will be showing you that on finish Friday.


What blocks have you working on this week?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page in your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading,

Jen

An InLinkz Link-up

Foxy Finish - a finish Friday

I am just under the wire here, but my fox mini is done!

(This is a miniaturized version of Elizabeth Hartman's "Fancy Fox" pattern.)

Even though I finished the quilting on Wednesday, I couldn't sew at all yesterday, and hand binding takes a while.  Luckily, I had a bit of time today.

The shipping deadline is Monday, which is of course a post office holiday, so really TOMORROW!  So, I am really just under the wire here.  I have all my goodies ready to go, so it's off to the post office!

***UPDATE: Shipping deadline is actually Friday (for those of you who read my post earlier and panicked).  I guess I wrote down Monday on my calendar so I wouldn't be late.

I really hope my partner likes this quilt.  If she doesn't, I might cry because I didn't get to keep it myself.  I suppose the cure for that would be to make one for myself, but who has time for that?


Thanks for reading today,

Jen


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Happy Mail Day - IG Mini Quilt Swap

At the end of last week, I received the most delightful package from my partner, Shonna, in the the IG mini quilt swap hosted by Sandy at Curly Boy.

Isn't her quilt just stunning??  I must admit that once people started posting about having received their quilts, I started stalking the hashtag for the group wondering what unclaimed quilt might be mine.  There were so many truly wonderful quilts, but I secretly hoped Shonna's quilt was headed my way.   I can't describe the excitement I felt when I opened up her package and saw it.

Speaking of packaging.  Even Shonna's packing looked gorgeous.  I've definitely learned a bit about presentation from her for future swaps.  I am usually just hoping that my stuff will get to where it is going, and stay dry.

Oh, and the goodies!  Extras are usually optional in most swaps, and I always try to add some fabric and/or another handmade item to my packages, but when receiving a package, I never really expect much.  I am usually blown away by the generosity of my partners.  In my survey, I mentioned that I would love a few charm squares from my partner's stash in colors I need for my next hexy project.  Well, not only did Shonna give me 3 cuts of fabric in those colors so I can cut several charms from them, but she also included some Tula Pink's Foxfield and Moonshine charm packs.

There were also some sweet treats included.  The Rolo's disappeared into the belly of at least one child before I could taste them, but those Milk Duds were mine all mine.

The quilt now has a place of honor on my wall of minis.

This is just a temporary layout as I have discovered some more mini's that I can hang.  That one on the right that says "Jennifer" was from my first swap a few years ago - the Name Game Swap. Ah, the memories! As you can see, there is also room for more.....

I've signed up for 2 more mini swaps in the next few months. I'm still picking out my patterns for the  mini's I plan to make, and I'm already contemplating what extra's I can include to live up to Shonna's excellent example.

Thanks again Shonna!

And thanks for reading everyone,

Jen

Modern art inspired Mini Quilt - a Finish Friday

Quilter in the Closet: Modern Mini's inspired by artists, this one was inspired by Mondrian

I finished another Modern Mini.  This one was inspired by Piet Mondrian, who you can learn more about here at the Moma site..  I've seen all kinds of Mondrian inspired things, including a mini petit four with a Mondrian-like interior!

When it came to quilting this mini, I stared at it a long time.   I didn't want to interfere too much with the pieced design, but I didn't want to just SID either.  In the end, I decided to try something new - thanks again to the Craftsy class by Jacquie Gering called Creative Quilting With Your Walking Foot (affiliate link).  In the class, she discusses trying out some of your decorative stitches for quilting.  Add that influence and a piece I saw in a recent Stitch Magazine on how to create your own plaid fabrics and well, this quilt was quilted.

I rather like the effect!  And I might have to try out that technique again soon.


Thanks for reading today,

Jen


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**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links

15 Shades of Gray - Building Blocks Tuesday

It's not exactly a block this Tuesday, but I've made another modern mini.  I'm calling this one "15 Shades of Gray".  I pulled every solid gray color I had, and added a couple of black and snow pluses too.  It is amazing how much diversity gray has - there are brownish grays (like Mushroom), and blueish grays.  That one that looks light blue is actually clearly a silver color when you put it next to an actual light blue.  They all look gray until you put them next to each other and then you can really see what other color they have mixed in.  This was a fun exercise.

As you can see it is even basted and SID'd, I just need to figure out how else I am going to quilt this one.  Any suggestions?

What blocks have you working on?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page in your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading!

Jen

An InLinkz Link-up

Creative Quilting with Your Walking Foot - a class review and a finish Friday

I've got two finishes to show you this week, and a class review!

Josef Albers inspired modern mini quilt

This is one of the modern mini's I started in March.  I chose several modern artists and made mini quilts inspired by their work.  The quilt above was inspired by Josef Albers and his Homage to the Square series.  Those are all Kona solids, and I quilted it using a radiating lines design with my walking foot.

Next up, is a mini inspired by the work of Mark Rothko.  I used a mixture of Kona solids and Free Spirit solids for this one.  I quilted curvy lines with my walking foot.  I just love the texture it gives to the quilt without throwing the simplicity of the piecing design off balance.

Rothko inspired modern mini

The piecing and color play of these minis were not difficult; however, deciding how to quilt them was a bit of a challenge.  I was afraid that my usual "quilt the daylights" out of a piece would ruin the simple lines of the piecing.  Lucky for me, a solution presented itself when I took a new Craftsy class by Jacquie Gering called Creative Quilting With Your Walking Foot (affiliate link).  Jacquie teaches how she likes to quilt her beautiful modern quilts, using her walking foot.

I feel using a walking foot takes a little stress out of quilting.  With free motion quilting, you have more variations in design possibilities, but you have to constantly be thinking about consistent stitch length.  The walking foot is essentially designed to give you consistent stitches.  If you thought you would be limited to just straight lines, you are wrong.  Jacquie shows how to do curvy lines like the ones in my Rothko quilt above, as well as circles and spirals.  There are also segments for radiating designs like the ones in my Albers inspired quilt above, turning designs, how to quilt text into your background (like she did on her Building Bridges quilt below), and even a segment on how to use some of your decorative stitches with your walking foot.  Want to know how to do matchstick quilting?  It's covered!

quilting text into your background like this on "Building Bridges" by Jacquie Gering

This class would be excellent for someone just learning how to quilt and who might be a little timid about free-motion quilting.  It would also be great for someone who does a lot of free-motion quilting and might want to change things up a bit.  Jacquie shows you that there are multiple looks you can achieve with your walking foot and that you aren't limited to straight lines in the ditch.  I really enjoyed the radiating lines segment, and I am really looking forward to trying continuous spirals on my next modern mini.

Jacquie's teaching style is so relaxed.  If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know I am not very friendly to the idea of "Quilt Police".  That's not to say I am a "rules are meant to be broken" type of gal either.  It is just that I quilt to have a creative outlet and to have fun.  If I allow myself to get too weighed down with "should's" and "always" rules, it becomes a little less fun for me.  Jacquie does an excellent job of teaching you how she does these techniques, without any egotism about it being the only way.  Plus she is light and funny.  I feel like I could spend days with her and the time would just fly by.

I highly recommend this class!

Thanks for reading today,

Jen


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Moving on - Building Blocks Tuesday

Continuing my "study" of abstract modern artists, I made this mini quilt top inspired by Piet Mondrian.  (You can read a little more about him HERE at the Museum of Modern Art website. or HERE at Artsy's Piet Mondrian artists page)

I think I have done enough squares and rectangles now, and will be moving on to other shapes and forms of modern art.

I find it interesting and exasperating that these mini modern art quilts are so easy to piece together, but the hard part comes when trying to figure out how to quilt them.  I want to keep things simple, but I also want to know it is a quilt by doing something neat with the quilting designs.  It is a tough balance and I'm not confident I am finding it.  I will share some finishes in a few days when I get them bound so you can judge.

What blocks have you been working on?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page on your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading!

Jen

An InLinkz Link-up

My Monet quilt - Pantone Quilt Challenge entry

Behold!  My last minute (and only) entry for the 2014 Pantone Quilt Challenge.

I've been planning this one for weeks, but was just able to get to it this week.

This wall quilt measures 19 inches by 15 inches and is inspired by Monet's Houses of Parliament series of paintings.  I used fusible to create the scene, then quilted the daylights out of it!

Now before you think I am the bee's knees for coming up with this idea.  I must admit that for a couple of weeks there, I was surrounded by purple Houses of Parliament.  It was one of the more recent projects that I taught to my daughters' classes at school through the Hands on Art program.  When Anne at Play-Crafts announced the Pantone color challenge the same week I was painting and teaching this purplicious project, I knew it was fate that I would attempt to make one in quilt form.

How did I do?  If you like what you see, head on over to Play-Crafts to see all the other awesome entries.

If you are interested in a more detailed step by step how I made this quilt, I took photos along the way and here is the tutorial so you can make your own.

Thanks for reading today,

Jen


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Squares - Building Blocks Tuesday

Continuing my little experiment of creating minis inspired by some modern artists, this week I've been inspired by Josef Albers.  You can learn more about him HERE at the Metropolitan Museum of Art site.  While he had many different series of paintings, the one I concentrated on was the "Homage to the Square".  It seemed fitting for a modern quilt.

I first made this 20 x 20 mini, but I really wasn't sure if I liked the colors I chose.  Albers has a whole color theory that I almost completely disregarded, so I tried again with these blocks....

I think I may sash them in black.  What do you think?

What blocks have you been working on?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page in your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading!

Jen

An InLinkz Link-up

Modern minis in March - Building Blocks Tuesday

As suspected, I haven't really been working on blocks for any new projects this week.  But, I do have a block-like mini top to share.

This is my Rothko inspired mini.  If you would like to learn more about Mark Rothko, click HERE to visit the National Gallery of Art's website.

I'm afraid my photo is a little dark at the top, but that red is the same all around the exterior.  I am still deciding how I am going to quilt this mini, but I think it will be very simply; most likely straight lines.

You may be asking yourself why I created this in the first place.  Well......I am making something for a family member who really enjoys abstract modern art, including Rothko.  So, I challenged myself to come up with several mini quilts inspired by modern artists.   I hope to make several and see what comes of them.  Even if modern art isn't really your thing, I hope you don't disappear while I share periodically.

So, what blocks have you been working on?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page in your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading!

Jen

An InLinkz Link-up