I've been brainstorming for the right project for my partner in the latest round of the Sew Sew Modern swap, hosted over on Flickr, and I'd been hitting a creative wall, a total lack of inspiration. That is, until I came across an idea in my sketchbook that I had early on when I started the Lucky Stars Block of the Month Club last year - a medallion quilt. As soon as I stopped on that page, I knew it was perfect. The drawing was terrible, and totally the wrong color palette for my partner, so I took some time last night and redrew it, and I have to say, I'm really excited to start working on this.

Now that my Juki has made it home safe and sound, I'm this close to being able to actually get the ball rolling on this one. I'm torn, though...I can't decide whether I should do this one up in all solids, or if I should use prints. I definitely want to use some low-volume prints in the background/gray areas, but I'm not sure about the actual focus fabrics. I think some nice tone-on-tone, small scale prints would be nice, but I'm just torn, I can't decide, so help a girl out - give me your two cents! Maybe that will help me make a decision and start cutting :)

Have a great day! Oh, and I almost forgot - Quilty magazine has a little poll going for their next cover, and one of my quilts happens to be featured on Cover #2 - take a look and take part in their fun poll! Here's a link to the poll in case you want to put your two cents in!

I'm taking part in the current round of the Doll Quilt Swap, and now that the holidays are over and the shipping deadline is fast approaching, I'm working on trying to narrow down my quilty pattern ideas into something real for my partner. I think my partner and I have a lot in common when it comes to quilty taste, but I just can't seem to decide which one of these quilts to follow through with! I'm planning for something uber-scrappy, with lots of fun prints from my stash, but I just can't seem to commit. Does one of these designs grab you and shake you?

It was a quilty kind of weekend at my house - I finished a couple of Farmer's Wife blocks you'll see tomorrow, some bee blocks, and did some quilty designing, mainly thanks to two late nights in front of my sewing machine.  Here's a quickie rundown...

do.Good.Stitches blocks for the Love circle
I filled in for Kate of Needle & Spatula this month, who's in the midst of a big move, and Ara Jane asked for some improv blocks using yellow, brown, pink and khaki.  I was surprised to find a serious lack of browns in my stash, but I found a few and made it work.  I didn't expect to really dig this color palette, since I'm not much of a brown person, but I really like these blocks, and moreover, I like these colors together now that I see them in a block.



do.Good.Stitches blocks for the Bliss circle
Would you believe I've never done a Dutchman's Puzzle block before?  These were my first two.  Michelle is our quilter this month and asked for two red, white, and blue Dutchman's Puzzle blocks.  The tutorial she linked was a breeze to follow, I highly recommend it!

For the Love of Solids swap
So, I spent some time with my sketchbook and then later with my computer, trying to put a few ideas together.  I then realized that I was kind of designing to my own tastes, and while I think my partner and I have a few things in common, I figured that I ought to see if I could get her opinion in the Flickr group.  I'm really happy with a lot of these, and I suspect I might wind up making some kind of variation of all of them at some point, I like them so much.  Do you have a favorite?


I have a question for you, blog followers...do you buy quilt patterns?  I ask because I might (or might not) be working on a pattern at the moment, but it's a bit more involved than my free tutorials, so I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with it yet.  I'd love to hear from you guys on this!

Did you do any stitching this weekend?  Or were you busy outside in the blistering heat?   Either way, I hope you had a great weekend!