Teaching: Classes, cake, and more classes!

This first official week of summer has been so busy! My son's out of school, so summer camp has begun, I have had great friends visiting from out of town, it was my birthday (I love yummy birthday treats!), I took a class, and I taught a class. Whew! Just typing that makes me tired. So, with all that going on, I haven't had much of a chance get any real sewing done...but the ladies in my latest Improvisational Basketweave class did!

Improvisational Basketweave Class at New Pieces Quilt Shop
I never get tired of watching people create.  It's wonderful to see the different color and fabric combinations that people bring to class.  This was a great group, and we had such a great time!  If you'd like to see the pictures in detail, click on over to my Flickr set!

I went shopping.

So, I bought a couple of things.  It was kind of an accident...you know how it is when you start looking around on Etsy.  And, I ended up just HAVING to have the antique green trim from Maison Maudie shipped to me. (From France!  Don't you just love the Labrador Retriever stamps that were on the package?)


And then, the day before it came in the mail, I found this "Fleur d'Paris" by Henry Glass fabric on sale.  How could I say no?  Now they live on the shelf above my work table.  What to make!?!

Quilting Small.

This week I finished three mini quilts...otherwise known as "pillows."

Quilted Pillow Fronts

I might even like the backs more than the fronts.

Quilted Pillow Backs

If these pillows look awfully familiar to you, maybe you've seen these pillows, which I made a couple of years ago.  Like the first set, these are also made with designer sample book fabrics, but just a bit smaller (each pillow is 18" square).  I LOVE working with designer sample books.  It's like having the most gorgeous charm packs.

Thank you, Heart Handmade!


Thanks to Mandie for featuring me today on her blog, Heart Handmade.

Completed: Another Improvisational Quilt!

I started working on this green, white and red quilt during one of my improvisational quilting classes.  I was inspired by this quilt made by Martha Jane Pettway.  You may remember a similar green and white split log cabin quilt I made last year, inspired by the same quilt.  Well, these two are similar, except that they're completely different!

Green and Red Split Log Cabin Quilt

I used a combination of cottons and linens in this one.  The off-white cotton I used on the front is Robert Kaufman's Kona Crush, which is fast becoming my most beloved fabric of all time. 

Green and Red Split Log Cabin Quilt

The backing is pretty simple.  Some really silky feeling blue chambray, a panel of home dec. weight pink floral, and more of that lime linen.  The quilting shows up so well on the blue chambray!

Green and Red Split Log Cabin Quilt

The lime green linen is from a towering stack of linen banquet table cloths that I purchased from my favorite local re-sale shop.  I just picked up a couple more yesterday, so be on the lookout for more work using dark khaki green, mustard yellow, and purple linen. (Don't worry too much, it probably won't all be in the same quilt...but you never know!)

Green and Red Split Log Cabin Quilt

By the way...this one's for sale!

Antique Half Square Triangles

This is another antique quilt that lives at my Mom's house.

Another of my Mom's Lovely Quilts

The fabrics in this one remind me of the calm, sepia tones that are popular in Japanese quilting right now.  Right before I posted this, I found the cute brown fabric with the little colored red balls has been almost exactly reproduced by D's Selection fabrics from Japan.  What a crazy coincidence that my friend, Mary, just happened to purchase some of it the day I was writing this post!

Anyone know what the name of this block is?  I found one similar to it called "Birds in the Sky," but it only had 3 half-square triangle blocks.  This one seems more like the entire flock of birds, not just a few... (I admit, I'm too lazy to look through hundreds of blocks to find the name, but I'd love to know!)

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