Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Little Houses, HSTs, and WIPs





If you have read any of my recent posts, you probably know that I am organizing a blog hop for new bloggers that begins next Tuesday, May 22nd!  All the information is here.  As part of the hop, I am going to be posting  the weekly calendar, updates, and highlights from the participating bloggers here in a Blog Hop post every Monday starting next week.  I am really looking forward to it and I hope you will join us either as a participant or a visitor!  


I just looked and even though I have been working on my blog everyday (updating the Blog Hop page, coordinating the calendar . . .), it has been almost a week since my last post so I actually have two finishes to share today.  Oh, and since one of the suggestions for the Hop participants is to create a collage/mosaic of their favorite projects, I decided to try making some for today's post.


Up first is a Little Houses Doll Quilt.  I'm linking this up with Amy's Creative Side One Thing, One Week Challenge as last week, I added my goal of piecing these little houses to her challenge.  I actually ended up finishing up the quilt last night.  The main fabric is Wildwood by Erin McMorris in fuschia and the binding is Dream Dot in Clementine from Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane collection.  


I used my walking foot to do the wavy lines and stamps with a fabric marker for the writing.  


To illustrate how I put together the houses, I made up two collages using Picasa.



My other finish from the past week was this baby quilt.



And here is it in a collage I made using Big Huge Labs.

The quilt is a combination of HSTs and 5" squares.  I used Kona Charcoal for the binding and a bright pink Aurifil thread to machine stitch the binding with a zig zag.  I don't think I've ever used a solid color before for binding but I think I will again (especially if it combined with contrasting thread.)  The backing is Kumari Garden by Dena Designs.

Lastly, I used photoshop to create a collage using some great photo templates from Pugly Pixel.  She also has a tutorial on how to use the templates.  I'm new to photoshop (I downloaded a free trial) so I'm still working on this one but I wanted to mention it here.

As for my WIPs:


I've been cutting out 5" charms to make a patchwork quilt (with a bit of I-spy in it.)

A few months ago, I made a patchwork quilt using a charm pack from Aneela Hoey's A Walk in the Woods and used Swirlybuds in Deep Pink from Heather Bailey's Bijoux for the binding.  (I can't seem to get a good picture of the red inside or outside - any suggestions???)  This is one of the many quilts I use for my 7 month old when she is in the stroller and the one I get, by far, the most oohs and aahs which is probably why those charms are on my sewing table.   (If you need one, here is a great tutorial from Oh, Fransson on how to cut charm squares from yardage.)



While I've been cutting the charms, I've also been cutting strips from the same fabrics for another Log Cabin - I want to make one with sashing this time.



I think this post ended up a bit long!!!  So, I'll end with this question - how do you create your collages/mosaics?

And, please check back here next Monday and join some fantastic new bloggers for the Let's Get Acquainted! Blog Hop - spread the word!  Or grab a button - from the post or my sidebar.

Please check out my Links page to see where I like to link my posts.



17 comments:

  1. I use Big Huge Labs for mosaics and have always found it fairly straightforward. Haven't tried the others you mentioned.

    Love your charm square quilt can see why it gets lots of admiration when you are out and about.

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  2. Big Huge Labs is all I've used too....great projects! Looking forward to the blog hop!

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  3. Beautiful makes! Looking forward to the blog hop, just pondering what I am going o blog about ;)

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  4. I use Picasa, but I think I have to check out Big Huge Labs. I saw your zipper pouches featured on Quilt Story today - how fab!

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  5. Beautiful work!
    You are very creative

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  6. I'm a Big Huge Labs girl, myself. Love your projects, Beth. Great colors! Congrats on the Quilt Story feature too!

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  7. Wow some great projects there! Loving the quilts they look great. Such summery looking fabric I see there.
    I use big huge labs for mosaics =D

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  8. I love your little houses! I've never tried stamps or fabric markers on a quilt. Do they hold up well in the wash?

    I have no photography suggestions, but I'm planning to read all the comments you get and try some of those things. I am definitely lacking in the "good photos and mosaics" department!

    Looking forward to the start of the blog hop! Now if Blogger would only give us back the "follow" button so I could follow some of these awesome bloggers, life would be complete again!

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  9. Your little house quilt is too cute! I use Big Huge Labs, but I'll have to try Picasa because I use it for all my other photo organizing. Whenever I have some more time (like 5 or 10 years from now) I'll learn how to do stuff in photoshop. So excited about the blog hop!

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  10. Im new to your blog ... :)
    nice work with this quilt! i really like it
    thanks for sharing

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  11. cute projects, Beth!! those little houses are adorable!!

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  12. Wow....I LOVE the little houses quilt! Darling!

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  13. I love your two little quilts - very cute! Whoop whoop!!

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  14. i love your little houses! those floral fabrics remind me of vintage sheets!

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  15. Darling : ) I agree, there is no place like home!

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  16. The house block is so cute! Thanks for the tutoria

    L

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