» Quilting

What a World ♥

Robin ♥ — Mon, 21 May 2012 21:25:23 +0000

Recently, I received another quilt order from my Japanese friend, Kyoko. We’ve actually never met, but I had the pleasure of quilting for her first-born, Eichi. Now that her second son, Leo, has arrived, she ordered a World -Traveling-Lion theme {Leo, the Lion…get it?}. When I receive orders, I’m often excepting some sort of generic theme and get so tickled when people think outside of the box. It forces me to do the same and get creative. We ran around a few different ideas until I stumbled upon Jill McDonald’s, What a World collection. I’ve never used a panel for a custom quilt, but it felt right and the prints are so colorful and fun. Kyoko wanted lots of color so this worked out perfectly. And she wasn’t afraid of pink, which I love!!!!!!! They arrived from Hawthorne Threads and immediately were washed and dried. Then the cities panel was off to get chopped into 7″ X 7″ squares.

What a World, by Jill McDonald

My plan was always to repurpose the panel. However, I loved the in-between highway markings. They inspire movement, travel and a sense of connection. I wanted to incorporate that in my quilt top design. While checking out eye candy on my favorite quilting blogs, I linked over to this quilt {3rd down, grey & yellow}. It was one of those light bulb moments and I knew what I wanted to do.

This was my first attempt at the layout

I was very happy about the overall vibe. Plus the pattern linked the cities, which made me smile! One problem, where was I going to applique Leo, the Lion? Well, I decided the only solution was to pull out Mexico and give Leo his own square.

Leo has made his debut on the fished top

I was left with the large map and 6 city squares for the quilt back. The map is central and certainly an eye grabber. Again, keeping with the same vibe, I linked the cities.

In progress, quilt back {I ran out of Kona, Ash…darn!}

Off to the fabric store I go…

You could play “I spy” for days with these fabulous fabrics! Jill, you are amazing!

♥ Robin

Scrappy Granny Squares

Robin ♥ — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 00:59:02 +0000

I’ve jumped on the bandwagon with this quilt, thanks to a tutorial by blue elephant stitches. It’s granny squares and I”m going scrappy! I intended to have this particular quilt {in another design} entered into Rachel of Stitched in Color’s Scrap Attack and admittingly, I didn’t finish in time. Honestly, I didn’t even start it prior to the due date. Originally, I wanted to do a mod mosaic design, but it wasn’t settling with me. At first, I kept telling myself, get going! Sew darn it! But, I didn’t. That was a clear sign that the design didn’t motivate me. I resolved to gazing at all the fun and amazing quilts being uploaded on her flickr group. Once the celebration started and official quilts were being showcased, the granny squares were calling my name. Now I can celebrate my procrastination, because really…this quilt is so ME! It reminds me of my grandma, allows me to use a modern element with all the white negative space, and showcases my super sumptuous fabrics. You could opt to simplify the color scheme, but I wanted color. Lots of it. At this point, my imagination tells me that if a box full of color crayons got the flu and puked, this would be the result. However, I do have a plan. The colors are pulled from my favorite piece of artwork that is hanging in our living room. This quilt will share the same room and hopefully fill the space with some modern and colorful country. And the squares are really fun to make! But I’m, quite possibly, the most excited about my quilting plans. I’ve decided to follow direction from Elizabeth of Oh, Frannson’s Orange Peel Quilting. ACK! I can barely handle it. It’s going to be FABULOUS! Here’s the progress, minus a few squares I’ve made since.

Scrappy Squares

Initial Progress

Scrappy Granny Squares

Oh and if you’re curious, here’s my color inspiration…

{please excuse the terrible photo}

So there you have it, my Scrappy Granny Squares Quilt in progress. I’ll be stitching up a few more squares tonight. This top will be finished very very soon and end up at about a full/queen size. Plenty of room for some TV snuggling!

♥ Robin

Hawaiian Flavor {Quilted by Mama}

Robin ♥ — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:53:59 +0000

My sweet mama decided to sew a few quilts and donate the proceeds to her church’s “special missions”, which is for church start-up support overseas. And since my brother {a pastor}, his expectant wife, and my sweet nephew are heading over to the Philippines to start up a new church this summer, it’s extra sweet of her. Now that she’s finished quilting, she’s passed the torch to me for selling…yowza! I’d like to claim that selling is the hardest part, but after looking over her 3D Aloha Shirt Pattern, I’d bet she’d beg to differ!

She’s expects that since I’ve sold a few baby/toddler quilts online, this shouldn’t be a big deal. I had to laugh, if only that were true. But I hope that one of you sweet viewers might fall in love with one of her creations and feel compelled to help out a good cause. The quilts are listed in my etsy shop and please feel free to email me if you’d like to make your best offer. I’d love to hear from you.

Rachel at Stitched in Color is also letting me submit them into her Scrap Attack Quilt Along/Flickr Group to support all the scrappiness out there. In addition, my mom can get a little taste of the quilting online community, which is pretty amazing! Our generation is certainly lucky to have the internet and talented quilters/bloggers who openly share their latest craft-tastic-ness! I’m especially thankful since my local sewing community is itty bitty…but I live in rural Hawaii, so I’m not complaining!

Okay, enough already! Here’s her charity quilt collection in all it’s Hawaiian flavor. If you’re interested in purchasing, please enter my etsy shop. Remember, ALL proceeds are donated to charity.

Rainbow Fish

48″ X 59″ Quilt Top

Close Up Detail

Binding

Quilt Back

Big Island Aloha

50″ X 66″ Quilt Top

Close Up Detail

3D Aloha Shirt with Coconut Buttons

Binding & Quilt Back

Honolulu Aloha

50″ X 66″ Quilt Top

Close Up Detail

3D Aloha Shirt with Coconut Buttons

Binding & Quilt Back

Golf Big Island of Hawaii – Hualālai

54″ X 66 1/2″ Quilt Top

Close Up Detail

Binding & Border

Quilt Back

Golf Big Island of Hawaii – Hapuna

54″ X 66 1/2″ Quilt Top

Close Up Detail

Binding & Border

Quilt Back

Again, the quilts are listed for sale at my etsy shop. If you’d like to make any of these quilts into a wall hanging, my mama has offered to add a hanging sleeve at no additional charge. Flat rate shipping will be at an additional charge.

My sincere appreciation for your interest!

♥ Robin & Robin’s Mama

Work/Selling In Progress

{Scrappy} Mod Mosaic Block

Robin ♥ — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:12:13 +0000

In spending quite some time pondering ideas for a new quilt for our living room, I think I have the golden ticket! My hubby built me a really nice shelf/quilt hanger and I’ve just been using quilts I have at home for display. None of them are quite right and I’ve known a new project would be under way. But what?

Last year, I was excited to participate in do. Good Stitches {a charity bee}. One particular month, Elizabeth of Oh, Fransson was the quilt designer and I was lucky enough to be a stitcher. I fell madly in love with her mod-mosaic quilt blocks and had fun creating two of my own to contribute.

Do you see where I’m going with this? Oh yessiree, I’m ecstatic to make my very own for our living room display. This will be quite a bit of work, but I’m in no rush. Rachel at Stitched in Color is hosting a Scrap Attack Quilt Along and I think this will be a good opportunity to hold myself accountable for a completion date at the end of March 2012. I’ve never needed help keeping motivated, but it will still be fun to be part of a scrapping community. Speaking of scraps, I’ll be using various fabrics from my 2011 quilt orders and a few other projects. If you’ve ordered a quilt from me, you’ll probably spy your quilt scraps. And since most of my quilt orders are from sweet friends, this will end up being a sentimental quilt.

Luckily, I’ve been hording my scraps, in desired colors, just for this project. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough scraps for a queen size quilt , so I’ll cut into my stash. And since I always order just a little extra to stash away for my personal projects, I should have enough.

There’s a particular piece of artwork above our television that I love. I’m pulling all the same colors from my scraps and their larger counterparts that are stashed away. I’m going matchy-matchy, which I normally hate. However, since it’s a mosaic design with multiple contrasting colors, I think I’ll love it. To be sure before I pour a lot of hard work into a large quilt, I did a sample square. And baby, I think I’m in love.

Love is a funny thing. Sometimes you just know it’s the one. And sometimes you “think” you know it’s the one, but then it’s not. Do you know what I mean? So I turned this mod-mosaic square into a pillow and will hang out with it for a while to be sure. If I keep stealing glimpses from it, then I’ll proceed. If not, I’ll keep searching for another scrappy design. I’m 99.9% sure this is it!

Artwork & Coordinating Fabric

Fabric Scraps from Past Projects

{Larger Stash Pictured Above}

Scrappy – Mod – Mosaic Pillow

Imagine this square as a queen size quilt. Hard work? Absolutely! Worth it? I think, oh yes! And onto some super-duper cuteness, we got a puppy! She’s a golden retriever mix. And do you notice she’s the same color as my flooring? So on purpose! Wow, I did not realize a new puppy would be such hard work. I’m like seriously exhausted! We are house/crate training her. We’ve been very diligent and consistent with her training {thanks to inspiration from Cesar Millan}. Surprisingly, she has learned so much in just 5 short days. Luckily, I am taking her to work with me and hopefully that will lend to a very sociable and obedient dog. At least that’s the plan.

Our girl, Kona ♥

♥ Robin

Space Invader Quilt

Robin ♥ — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 01:16:18 +0000

Previous posts here & here.

Yahoo, I finished just in time to wrap this “quilt of awesomeness” and stick it under our Christmas tree for Cheyenne. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the decorative pillow done. Luckily, he didn’t seem to notice or care for that matter. I’ll get the pillow done in the next few days. I’m quite happy with this quilt. Actually, it’s pretty bad ass. Thanks to Elizabeth, I’m pretty popular with my son over this quilt. I was hoping she would post her finished version so I could see how she put all her space invader squares together. Dangit, that didn’t happen. I was on my own. Hopefully I did it justice. I opted for a Kona Coal background as opposed to Kona Pepper and made the space invaders larger. Kona Coal is the loveliest shade of grey I’ve ever seen. I’m slowly converting the boy’s room over to yellow & grey, so this option worked better for me. Plus, it fulfills my Kona Coal crushing needs. One regret, I wanted to quilt a techno free motion pattern, but I ran out of time and fell back on my loopy/puzzle look to save time. I do love the textured look acquired, but wish I would’ve had some extra time to do something different…like this. Next time. Regardless, it’s the coolestestest quilt I’ve ever made. And it’s 726, 3″ squares, holy crud!

Space Invader Quilt

Back: Grey Twin Flat Sheet from Walmart

Space Invader Fabric Binding

Matching Pillowcase: Repurposed pillowcase from Walmart

This one was a blast. I really loved making this quilt. Again, thank you Elizabeth for the inspiration. You are a genius!

♥ R

one down, another to go

Robin ♥ — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:55:56 +0000

I’m still not quite sure how I fit this all in, but I’m so happy to report that I’ve finished Luke’s Extreme Team quilt. He’s still getting a decorative pillow that I have yet to start, but that I can whip up in no time.

::Extreme Team::

{Twin Size Quilt}

Kona in Glacier Binding & Matching Pillow Case:

Next on the agenda, Cheyenne’s Space Invaders Quilt. I’ve gotten through half of the invaders and have another 3 to go. These buggers are too much fun, however slightly time consuming. But I have to say, I don’t mind. They were ingeniously designed by Elizabeth Hartman of Oh, Fransson!, who I love! Once I saw her post on the space invader quilt she was making for her nephew, I knew it was perfect for Cheyenne too. I’m so excited to bring her genius into my home yet again! Yes, I am more or less following her pattern, but I have different colors and the space invaders are larger. The individuals squares finish at 2 1/2″ square. Unfortunately, the pictures don’t do the fabric colors justice. They are so fun & vibrant. Cheyenne is going to FLIP OUT!

The space invader gang, so far:

I had to take a sewing break this past weekend due to the upcoming finals week…ugh! {speaking of, I took today off to study, but look at me…I’m blogging instead} But I’ll be back at it after Wednesday. Oh yay, I’m so close to being done with this semester. I can taste victory!

♥ R

Just Plain Progress

Robin ♥ — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 22:11:28 +0000

Last week was jam-packed with “to-dos.” It’s not often I accomplish everything on my sewing list, so I’m celebrating. Possibly to a fault being that I have 5 papers due by Monday and I haven’t started yet. Not to mention studying for 2 finals next week. Nope haven’t done that either. That’s boring stuff and I’m having fun with my Extreme Team project and yay,we got to take a random family Christmas photo by our wonderful friends Josh & Miho of Fletch Photography. They did our wedding photos and have become new friends. I love when that happens!

Luke’s Extreme Team quilt has been a challenge. I told my husband, “It would be Luke’s quilt to give me trouble!” He laughed because it’s true, he’s our kolohe (stinker) boy! What do I mean by trouble? Well, I sandwich pinned the quilt 2 times and also pulled out free motion quilting stitches for about 1/4 of the quilt. Yup…it was painful! Why? Well, I’ll tell you. Our kids only like to snuggle fluffy polyester blankets. I thought, hmmm…I’ll quilt the top right onto a polyester blanket and forgo batting. Cheap + Soft = Perfect! Not quite. You see, those snuggly blankets are shifty. After I pinned and quilted 1/4 of the quilt, I noticed the massive puckers in the back and the quilt top was squirmy. So I quit. Took the quilt to work with me the next day and ripped out yellow stitches. Luckily, I hadn’t given up and I reevaluated using yellow thread. It was a great concept, but didn’t add enough contrast against the Kona in Natural sashing and it clashed with the black squares. So I bought lovely charcoal thread and found a different polyester blanket that felt more like flannel, but was thicker. This time around, the blanket worked flawlessly. And the charcoal thread is exactly right. Yay! I finished free motion quilting last night and prepped my binding.

Free Motion Quilting in Charcoal

Kona in Glacier ♦ Binding

Extreme Team-ed a Walmart Pillow Case

::Extreme Team:: Progress

Next, a decorative pillow to tie it all together.

And just for fun…

Happy Holidays!

{Photographed by Fletch Photography}

♥ R

Extreme Team + Space Invaders

Robin ♥ — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:58:43 +0000

I’m so happy to be quilting for my boys! In spending so much time quilting for everyone else, I’ve been convicted to quilt for our home. Luke and Cheyenne are best buds and worst enemies, so it would come to no surprise that they love completely opposite things. Luke (9) is A.D.D. to the max and needs constant activity to keep him busy. He’s an extremely gifted, natural athlete and has enough bravery to scare any mother half to death. He’s been begging me to make him a coaster with dirt bike fabric. I know, coaster? Well, it started with our oldest, Isaac (12), borrowing mine and I eventually made him his own with a fun squid print. So naturally, Luke wanted one too. Yes, I’ll make sure to also make him a coaster, but I thought I’d go big and really surprise him for Christmas. I found the Extreme Team line by Michael Miller {love him} and I bought enough for a twin size quilt. Since the boys are growing so fast and thus will need to upgrade their blankets within a few years, I didn’t want to make anything to intricate. I felt using 10 1/2″ squares would be perfect. He’ll be able to enjoy the large prints and it’ll be easier for me too. I made quite a few different squares for interest and I really like how it came out, totally boy! I’ll be sashing the squares with 2″ finished sashing in yellow or…? I was completely committed to yellow but now that I have it cut out, I’m not so sure. I think I’ll swing by the fabric shop one more time for a quick meander before I stitch the top together.

Luke

Extreme Team 10 1/2" Squares

Contemplating Yellow Sashing

Next, I’m working on a Space Invaders quilt for Cheyenne (9) who is my computer tech savvy, A+++ smarty pants. That being said, he won’t dare ride a bike for fear of falling. Yes, he’s my calm and cautious sweetheart. I’m positive Cheyenne is the greatest lover of video games that ever existed. If it was up to him, he would have no time limits and be able to game all day, every day…scary! So naturally, when I saw Elizabeth Fransson’s recent post, I completely freaked out. And yes, the space invader fabric was completely sold out online. I emailed about 15 different etsy shops that had made items from my favorite space invaders print. I lucked out and found a wonderful etsy shop that was selling space invader placements and happened to have extra yardage to sell me. What a score!!! I’ve also picked up my Kona solids for the magnified, pixellated space invaders and I’m so ready to have fun with this quilt! It’s not like me to copy another quilter, but this time I can’t help myself. I just hope I can finish this one before Christmas!

Luke & Cheyenne {Camping}

Space Invaders

So there you have it…my {WIP} for the month of December! And trust me, these aren’t the only projects on my list…yikes!

♥ R

The 12 Days of Christmas

Robin ♥ — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:30:27 +0000

Happy Holidays!

Last week, I was searching around etsy land for space invader fabric {btw, I found some} and happened across a sweet panel fabric of The 12 Days of Christmas. I had been entertaining the idea of making a Christmas quilt, so I took a closer look. Although this was hardly enough for a quilt, the panel was on sale for only $2.50. I couldn’t pass up the deal and although it wasn’t my style, I knew I could repurpose it perfectly. When the panel arrived no one was more excited than Carmen. She remembered a book at her grandma’s house telling the story about the 12 days. Of course we had to borrow the book just to retell the story and get into the Christmas spirit. After singing the song, what feels like a million times, I started to work on repurposing.

original panel

I decided to cut out the 6″ squares leaving 1/2″ border all around. I found a Kona solid in my stash and used it as 2 1/2″ sashing for a more modern feel.

repurposed using 2 1/2" sashing

I proceeded to quilt using a free motion technique and my oh my, these projects whip up quickly! Next, finding a binding with all the right colors. This was an unexpected surprise and I’m so happy I still had enough left!

Binding

I could sew small projects all day long! They’re so fun & the reward is only a day away!

the 12 days of christmas

wood dowel/rod insert

I certainly hope you are enjoying the holiday season and finding special ways to add charm & jolly into the season. We had so much fun during Thanksgiving and I was reminded how truly awesome my family is. Next, I’m working on an Extreme Team quilt for Luke, our 9 year old son. He’s going to be STOKED!!!

Happy Holiday,

Robin

Get Moving!

Robin ♥ — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 00:36:05 +0000

I’m finally able to admit I’m overwhelmed. It’s not that I don’t have moments to relax or that I never catch up on X Factor, I do. Things are simply hectic in general. I go from thinking about my obligations at work, mentally straining over my weekly college work, feeling guilty about being away from home, house work {oh the dreaded 2nd shift}, what’s for dinner, homework with the kids, bills, social functions, Dr. appointments, quilt orders {which I’ve officially put on hold}, fitting in fun/family time, etc. It’s a lot and I wish I could just turn it all off. I’m at the point where nothing is as enjoyable as it used to be because it’s all a chore. Ugh, I hate thinking about things like that. I’ve decided that my attitude needs improvement. My smile needs some polishing. I’ve got to fit in some ME TIME! This has everything to do with elimination and making time for my health. In the last 2 years, I’ve put on weight. I’ve been telling myself, “Your schedule is to blame” and “It’s temporary”. Although that may be part of the problem, simply acknowledging it isn’t enough. I’ve never been the girl who could eat anything and not exercise. I’ve always had to work hard to maintain a healthy figure. That meant eating right and cheating smart + consistent exercise. Given the current pace of my life, that’s not been happening. Plus my sweet husband loves me whether I’m + or – 40 lbs {he better!}, which hasn’t been motivating. This situation has been weighing heavy in my heart and taking up way too much thinking time. Not to mention, I saw the picture! You know, the one that you get tagged in on facebook that puts everything you’ve been trying to hide by wearing hoodies and sweaters in 80 degree temperature right smack in your eye…yeah that picture! It’s time to get active. Yet, I’m scared. I’ve done this once or twice in the last year and I’ve failed miserably. First time, I was a few months away from being married and decided to lose 20 lbs before the wedding. I was super committed and in 2 weeks dropped 10 lbs. Then I feel out of our master bedroom sliding glass door. Random? Yes! I fell 5′ onto my back and sliced open my left leg. Unfortunately, our deck was being replaced and my fall couldn’t have been at a worse time. Hello E.R.! Goodbye treadmill! There went the exercising and my diet quickly reverted back to whatever sounds good must be good. Then randomly, I decided to start eating better and convinced myself I’d make time on the fly for exercising. Well that never happened and eating good didn’t last for more than a few days. It’s ridiculous! I’m such a hard-working, dedicated, strong-willed person and I’ve NEVER had a hard time sticking to a conviction. I went from 145 lbs to 173 lbs after giving birth to my son 9 years ago and lost the weight after 3 months of hard work. I can’t understand why I can’t just get on it! I don’t think I’ve ever dreaded something as much as I am dreading finding my way back to me. When I see myself in the mirror, I don’t recognize myself. It’s amazing what extra weight can do to your face. In a way, I think the visual disconnect has made me not care about myself. It’s as if I’m not responsible for the person in the mirror because it’s not me. Nothing improves. Where have I gone? Logically I know what needs to be done and expressing my feelings and understanding how I got here isn’t going to do me squat! It’s time to get my butt in gear. I’m putting down the treats. Avoiding the tricks {diet pills beware}. Getting moving.

This means:

The laundry will have to wait.

You might find my house messy {serious pet peeve}.

I might have to slack here & there on homework.

No more McDonald’s dollar menu on the fly.

{Frappe Mocha, I will miss you!}

Quilt orders are currently on hold.

Exercise 5 times a week.

{My work out videos might wake or keep my family up…too bad!}

Weight Watchers to keep me accountable about my diet.

If I say I can’t eat your holiday desserts, don’t force me. I’m fragile!

No E.R. visits!

I can do this! I have to do this! The enjoyment of my existence depends on it! Okay, enough of the dramatics. I just miss my waist line. Miss feeling pretty. Hate being self-conscious. Who wants to think about themselves all the time? Not me!

♥ R

PS. Keys, I’m sorry for the extra bashing while I typed. It’s just being vulnerable is sort of painful for me. Love, Me!