Phew, it feels good to finally finish this quilt - it's been a long time in the making! Dream On by Urban Chiks was one of those lines that came out right around when I started quilting, and while I really liked the watercolor, vintage feel of the line, I had no idea what I was going to do with it, so I just started collecting it. Ultimately I wound up with several half-yards, four charm packs, and still no plan.

Fast forward to earlier this year when I was packing for The Stash Bash...I had decided that I wanted to start using the collections that I've been just hoarding for the last few years, like this one, and so I grabbed some of those charm packs, cut up some of the half yards into charms, and brought them with me to The Stash Bash, planning to make a larger version of Jeni's patchwork chevron quilt. I was aiming for something simple where I could use larger pieces and finish it quickly.

At the Stash Bash, I plowed through making my nine patch blocks pretty quickly, and stocked up on a blue solid to use as my background fabric. Admittedly, I kind of hate this shade of cornflower blue. It's just too...dusty, I think, for my liking, but it does work well with the charms, so that was it. I started making my half-square triangles, only to find I was one nine-patch block short. So I improvised, and used some complementary fabrics from friends to make one extra nine-patch block. It doesn't stick out the way I worried it might, thankfully.

By the time I left Atlanta, I had a finished quilt top, which was an awesome feeling. I then got home and spent a few days unpacking, thinking about how to quilt it, and feeling quite stumped. I made a back using a patchwork cheater print from Dream On as well as some of my leftover fabrics, and basted it, then let it sit. And sit some more.
Right before I left for Quilt Market, I decided to sit down and get started. I decided I wanted to do some heavier quilting in the solid areas, using some different FMQ stitches, and then do a simple echo straight line in the patchwork. I found a blue thread that matched pretty well and got to work. I managed to finish one solid chevron before I left. Then, when I came home, I got back to it, but it took a while. I got bored really easily working on this one, which isn't like me, so it took a while to get through all of the solid chevrons, then no time at all to straight line the patchwork.

Quilt stats
name: Dream On Chevron
size: 84" x 108"
fabrics: Dream On by Urban Chiks
pattern: Patchwork Chevron by Jeni of In Color Order
quilting: various FMQ stitches, including swirls, loops, and a stipple in 50 wt Aurifil color #2805; straight-line echo quilting on patchwork chevrons in white 50 wt Aurifil
binding: Dream On stripes in pink
backing: mish-mash of leftover Dream On prints


I'm happy with how it all came together, and I'm going to be happy to give this quilt to someone later this year when her birthday comes up. These fabrics just remind me of her, so I really think she's going to love it. Next, I want to try to think about what to do with my Wonderland stash. Wonderland is the first collection I ever hoarded, so it's kind of extra special to me. I definitely want to do something special with it, but I'm just not sure what yet. Time for my thinking cap.

What about you - do you hoard collections and then stare at them and wonder what to do with them, or is it just me? Have a great weekend everybody! And Lucky Stars BOM subscribers, check your inbox tomorrow for the June Lucky Stars block!

It's starting to feel a little bit like a sweatshop in my sewing room - I've been working on a lot of the same thing the last week, which is a bit unlike me. I'm trying to plow through my end-of-the-year preschool teacher gifts as well as some of the recipients on my Pay It Forward list.

I love Anna's great Divided Basket pattern. Have you made one yet? I highly recommend it, Anna's patterns are so easy to follow. I've officially made four of these baskets now, and I love each one dearly. I guess that's what happens when you use fabric you love. :)


The first one I made was for Marla, as a part of a post Stash Bash swap, using some of Ellen Luckett Baker's first line for Kokka, Stamped. I really love the colors in this one, and I was so pleased with how easily the whole thing came together. Seriously, I think the fabric and interfacing cutting took more longer than the actual sewing!



Then I decided to cut into some of my favorite Ruby Star Sparkle by Melody Miller for a PIF (pay-it-forward) gift. I only had a half-yard, so on the back side of the basket, the phones are upside down, but I think it's kind of endearing that way.

I wanted to do one more PIF (pay-it-forward) gift basket, so I pulled out a stack of Anna Maria Horner fabrics, and grabbed the one on top, a cut from Innocent Crush. As soon as I picked up the stack, I knew who this basket would be for (but I'm not telling yet!!). Because Innocent Crush is a quilting weight fabric instead of a canvas or home dec fabric, like the pattern suggests, I used two layers of interfacing for extra stability - Pellon Fusible Fleece, as the pattern calls for, and a layer of Pellon Craft Fuse, another fusible that I tend to use a lot of. It worked out quite well, so I will definitely do that again if I use a quilting cotton for this pattern.


The last basket I worked on put some new fabric to use - a cheater Kokka patchwork fabric I got in Portland at Bolt. I saw Susan, the owner of The Quilt Asylum, walking around with this bolt, and she was generous enough to let me have a half-yard off of it. The lining is an Aneela Hoey print from Sew Stitchy, which I thought would make a cute lining for this divided basket. It would make a great scrap basket, don't you think? I've decided now I definitely need to make one for me if I wind up giving this adorable one away.



What about you? Do you like to sew the same project again and again? Have a great Wednesday!

Many of you commented last week about my surprising rule against fat quarters, and I realized that while I wrote this post a while back, I apparently never published it. Whoops! So, here it is, my Dear John letter to fat quarters. Have a wonderful day!

Dear Fat Quarters,

It's not you, it's me. No, that's not true. It's you, it's totally you. I can't put this off anymore. I simply have to break up with you, because there's just not enough of you. Seriously, 18" x 22" is just not enough for me anymore. Because every time I make a quilt, or a pouch, or a bag, I go to reach for you, and you're just too small. Or worse yet, I cut into you, thinking I can make it work, and I can't. And then I get crabby, and there's just no need for such madness!

So I'm calling it quits. No more fat quarters for me.

Instead of falling for cute displays of you in quilt shops (I'm talking to you Modern Domestic!) and grabbing piles of fat quarters, I'm going to stroll right on by you. I'll pick up a bolt instead, and get a nice big half-yard cut, because a half-yard is just so much more usable in my stash than a measly, tiny fat quarter.

So, when I pass you by, don't look at me, Fat Quarter. Because you'll just be disappointed. There's no longer a place for you in my stash.

xoxo,
E

P.S. -  I'm talking to you too, Fat Eighths and Charm Packs and Jelly Rolls. Persona non grata!

P.P.S. - It's entirely possible probable that I will break this rule. For Oakshotts, at the very least...and maybe uber-expensive Japanese fabrics...