Modern Maples in time for fall

Fresh out of the dryer and promptly put to use.  Here is my modern Maples quilt all done up.


I really wanted a quilt with fall-ish colors which are typically not the colors that I gravitate towards.  I do like to have fall decorations around the house this time of year, so it seemed appropriate to add in a fall quilt.

 Modern Maples seem to be all the rage this fall. Seems like everyone is making one of these and I was holding out for awhile until I came up with the fall colors idea.  So then I was off in search of the perfect background fabric which was pretty tough to find.

I ended up choosing a Kaufman Essex yarn-dyed linen in Olive of all colors.  I was really looking for more of a yarn-dyed brown linen which it turns out is exactly what the olive looks like in real life although the pictures make it look a little grey from the distance. So it was the perfect background fabric to pair with my fall colored leaves.  I used various FQs from my stash and assembled the leaf blocks. They are quite large, and since there is so much negative space in this quilt the whole thing ends up being quite large in the end. Which I would’ve known if I’ld read the directions, but you know me, I just dove in and paid no heed for directions.  So, in short, it’s a big quilt but that’s good for snuggling under right?  Case in point…

I also used up some stash fabric for the back, so it was a nice stash buster for me.

My quilting was sort of a freeform waves and spirals in sections. Doesn't really show up well on the pictures though. I used a gray-variegated thread which blended in nicely in most places.

Modern Maples was designed by the awesome Amanda Woodward-Jennings and can be found in the book Pretty in Patchwork Holidays.

That's it for today. Happy Sewing!

Doctor Who Along block 13 – Ood

Ah the gentle Ood ~ they have earned their place on this quilt don’t you think?

Here is block 13 in the  Doctor Who along

My Ood has red eyes as he's a bit possessed, but you might prefer a kinder, gentler, version...

Download the pattern here or get it on Craftsy.
Pattern is rated as intermediate in difficulty.

Additionally, Soma and I have decided to upload all the patterns on each others Craftsy pages, so you can find them all in one place more conveniently (well 2 places actuall). You can find my Craftsy homepage here.  I will be uploading all the patterns to my page in the next few days.

There are lots of great mashups on the flickr page of the blocks people have made so far. Go  check it out! There are going to be a lot of awesome quilts out there! 

Allons-y! 

Focusing on Fall

In Corvallis it has been a beautiful fall.  Lots of sunny crisp days and gorgeous red and golden hues on the trees.  I do love the colors of fall.  I have given in to the idea that summer is over and fall is upon us and I have been slowly transforming the house with fall décor.  My kids usually take care of the Halloween decorations outdoors, so I focused on decorating my mantle, my sewing room and my table.  

Here are a few of the projects I’ve been working on.

I have had cloth napkins for a while, so I finally made a storage box for them.
They were previously in a too-small bowl and sort of a wonky mostly tippy stack on the kitchen table which wasn’t very neat or pretty.  So I took care of that.  Now we have a nice neat way to store the napkins with easy tabletop access.

...And then there were the buntings.

 I made a bajillion of these and most of them went straight to Kari Bruck for her photography studio.  

 But while I was at it, I decided to make some fall and Halloween colored ones. The Halloween one is currently decorating my mantel and another is in my sewing room.

    

The fall ones will go up in November. But  I did manage to give them a test run at a bake sale that my daughter organized.  I love these colors and they spruced up the tent nicely.

Next up was a thanksgiving tablecloth. Not that we needed one just yet, but I’m trying to get a jump on things this year as we will actually be having family over for dinner.  So I dug through the stash, and found this lovely home dec weight fabric by Valori Wells, one of my all time fave lines from her.  Perfect for a tablecloth.  Added some bias binding and voila – a new fall-colored table cloth.  

And as if that wasn’t enough, I finally made myself an apron. Every year at thanksgiving or Christmas as I’m semi-dressed nice and dishing out the last minute fixings, I lament the fact that I don’t have anything to protect my clothes.  Every. Year! No more, I am finally ahead of the game and made myself a pretty little apron.


Pattern is from the book With Fabric and Thread, by Joanna Figueroa.  Such a cute pattern and pretty easy to make.   Plus it’s reversible which caters to my every changing mood.    I might make another one with a Christmas theme, if I can keep up this momentum.  Ha!

Happy Sewing!