#tula100

Sara over at Sew Sweetness has just posted the first 3 blocks of the #tula100 quilt-along. You can see my blocks posted over there! And if you haven't joined yet - you should!

 

I wanted to tell you about my planning process for my final quilt.

 

 

I chose Tula's Skyline layout for the inspiration for my quilt. In true COL fashion I couldn't make this quilt just as it was written- I had to give it my interpretation. :o)

 

I played around in illustrator and designed my own Skyline. It looked a lot more like Tula's when I started but since I wanted to include all 100 blocks it has changed quite a bit. I also knew I wanted to do a color gradient/rainbow of sorts. This has also taken on a few different versions before deciding on this final layout.

 

 

 Tula's new collection ACACIA is gorgeous. And much like her other collections, for me it was love at first site. I based my rainbow on this collection since I'll be using it primarily in my quilt. Since I don't have it in my grubby little hands yet I used her brochure from market to shop from my stash. 

 

She uses a color palette that works well with prints from her other collections without being too matchy-matchy. Once I figured out the colors I was going to use for each row of the quilt I filled them in with color and named them.  Here is what I came up with:

 

 

 Tula's forward in the book expresses her desire for each of us to make the book ours by writing notes in it. So I did. :o)  I tallied up how many blocks of each color I would need for my final layout and went through the book writing in which color that block would be. Some of them follow closely the colors she used, others don't.

 

 

When I'm done with all 100 blocks I'll have the perfect amount I need for each row without having to re-make some and get rid of others.

 

If you'd like to play along with my layout, feel free. Here is a list of the colors I used as well as how many of each block I will be making.

 

10 Teal

12 Aqua

9 Lime

8 Yellow

10 Orange

6 Coral

7 Hot Pink

9 Fuschia

11 Lavendar

8 Purple

10 Navy

 

HAPPY SEWING!!!

Market Mayhem- Portland 2013

Thursday morning we got started with setup. I set a goal of being done by 5pm. With 4 sets of hands I was sure we could get it all done. I know I'm smiling here but...actually, it wasn't that bad.

And just as I planned we finished right before 5! And the finished results were just as I imagined them to be. Those seats were the piece de resistance. I picked them up not far from my home. We had to dig them out of 3 feet of snow behind someones home. But after stripping them of their old fabric, cleaning them, re-painting them and covering them in my fabric they looked as good as new. And better yet, they were so comfy!

 

I often talk about the ideas that find their way into my brain. It's so fun to watch those thoughts and ideas become a reality. I had the huge frames from a previous market. I simply attached rope lights to them and printed posters of my feature films. :o)

 
My inspiration was a black and white movie theatre with only my fabric as the punch of color. TECHNICOLOR was spelled across the screen in various prints. A few extra movie themed props completed the look.

 

By far the highlight of my week was winning the Second Place award for Best Single Booth!

(the hubs said it even topped seeing the salmon! :o)

I couldn't have done any of it without these wonderful people! I'm so blessed to have them in my life. Thanks Mom and Dad and Husband for putting up with this Crazy Old Lady! :o)

Portland!

So last weekend was quilt market in Portland, OR. It was awesome as always but took a lot out of me. The minute we drove away on Sunday evening I started getting sick. I've been battling a nasty cold the last few days but I'm finally getting to that post-market to-do list. Top of the list: Recap Blog Post. Prepare for picture overload!

My crew this year consisted of myself, my husband (aka The Hubs), my Dad (a spring Quilt Market veteran of 4 non-consecutive years) and my Mom (who has only visited market in SLC to see my booth).
Since we knew we were in for a few days of hard work we decided to play while we still had the energy.

My Dad booked an Urban Tour for us. We loaded into a van and cruised all over Portland. It was so neat to hear all the little tid-bits about life in Portland. First thing we notices was how polite people are- especially drivers. Utah could learn a thing or two from those Portlandians.



Another thing I noticed was the abundance of purple houses. I think I counted 9 of every different shade and hue of purple- and then I quit counting. :o)

 

After lunch we loaded back into the van to head into the gorge to see some waterfalls. Doesn't my husband look thrilled to be there with me!? :o)

 

This is a pic of Multnomah Falls. SO GORGEOUS!  Next time we'll take the short hike to the bridge. After shopping in the gift shop we didn't have enough time :o(

After the falls we headed up to Bonneville Dam. And of course my husband started in with the "dam" jokes (Welcome to the dam tour. I'll be your dam tour guide. Have any dam questions?) It never gets old. Or does it?

The dam has fish ladders to the salmon can still get upstream. It also has windows down below the visitors center so you can see them swimming by. This is obviously a replica but we saw several GIANT fish swim by. It was really cool. Later in the week I asked my husband what his favorite part of the trip was so far and his answer was "the salmon"  :o)

 

"Tut tut, it looks like rain." Me and my cute Mom trying to keep our hair dry. :o) Of course in Portland you always have to be prepared for rain. Although we had rain everyday it usually didn't last long and the temperature was still nice.

 

 

The only time we actually got to see Mt.Hood was on our drive into Portland. (excuse the poor quality of my cellphone through our dirty windshield :o) All the other days were low rain clouds so it remained hidden. It sure is a site to see though jutting up all by itself surrounded by valley. Just Beautiful.

 

I think that's enough pictures for now. I'll get to the "market" part of our trip tomorrow. :o)

 

Tula Pink 'City Sampler' Sew Along!

As soon as I saw this book I knew I wanted to do a sew-along. I've never joined in on any others
because I was afraid I wouldn't follow through. But this time is different- it's TULA! I quickly contacted my friend Julie or Jaybird quilts to see if she wanted to do it with me. She was all in but told me she'd already seen buttons for a sew-along with this book. So I contacted Sara of Sew Sweetness and she really is so sweet. She agreed to let Julie and I join in their parade to present the sew-along. Joining us is also Gina of Ginapina and Kim of My GoGo Life. Not only am I excited to sew the blocks in this book, but I'm super excited to be associating with these fabulous ladies!

So, wanna Tula-Along with us?
Visit SewSweetness for all the details HERE!!!

ELIZABETH HARTMAN!

In the midst of market-prep I snuck away for an exciting event. Elizabeth Hartman from Oh Fransson! was our guest at the SLMQG . There was no way I was going to miss it! And I'm sure glad I didn't. Here's a few of my favorite phone pics fro the evening!

 

Elizabeth is cute and always moving when she talks (like me!) I had a hard time getting a pic without her arms a blurr or her mouth in the middle of a twisted word.

 

I love this pod quilt. Gorgeous color!

 

She brought a couple pillow forms she's made and talked a bit about piecing letters and applique.

 

My favorite. :o)

 

Such a cute pillow! I want!

 

And another close up. I can't resist those "E's" ;o)

 

This quilt is GORGEOUS!

 

and I LOVE the back.

 

Even though this quilt is called Owl Eyes it looks like Sukie is holding her nose to stinky hard boiled eggs. :o)

 

This quilt is anything but stinky. Look at this close up!

My picture is actually of the back. You should see the front. :o) 

 

 

I love these...trees. Mountains? whatever they are they're fun!

 

The back can be a quilt of it's own. LOVE!

 

Check out the woodgrain quilting. Elizabeth does all her own quilting on a domestic machine.

 

LOVE!

 

And the blurry back (sorry!) This quilt is FABULOUS!

 

A few years ago I tried playing around with this idea. I could never come up with a way to execute it. Elizabeth did an AMAZING job with this quilt.

 

Most of the quilts Elizabeth showed are from this book. You can go HERE to order a copy for yourself. I lucked out and WON a copy at our guild meeting. :o)

 

Ok, now I have to get back to work.