Talking Lunchbox Quilts

I really like making mug rugs!  They’re such a great way to showcase some of my favorite fabrics and use my scraps.  Plus it is nice to have something cheerful to set one’s cup of tea on.  🙂  Here are a few of my most recent rugs.  These belong to various members of my family now.

Years ago I bought this really neat panel of a Sue Bonnet Sue fabric.  I had set it aside knowing that some day I would figure out a way to showcase it.  I liked the colors, the scene of each panel piece, and just the overall whimsical feel of it.

So that was my starting point.  From there I thought it would be fun to pick out a few other favorite fabrics and showcase those in the same way, but changing the size of the squares as needed.  To separate the different fabrics, I made a bunch of the blue and white checked rows.  They kind of remind me of a film strip.

I like how this quilt turned out – the funny part is that this quilt is really, really long!  It is perfect for an NBA player though – there is no way their feet would stick out the bottom.  Too bad I don’t know a single NBA player – and more importantly, one that would love Sue Bonnet Sue fabrics.  Tee-Hee!

Here are some closer up shots…

And lastly my favorite photo bombers!

Linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts  http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/?wref=bif and Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict  http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/?wref=bif

When I finished this extra colorful purple and orange quilt I was a little worried that it was just too much.  I was surprised at how bold the colors were together and thought Oh Heavens to Betsy – What have I done?!  So when my friend Sondra was getting ready to start the quilting, my only request to her was to see if she could tone it down somehow!  Sondra is such an amazing quilter.  Since the colors seemed very Halloween-ish, she decided to quilt in a few cats and a mouse.  It really made the quilt lots of fun and while the quilt is quite purple and orange-y, it is now much better!

This is my favorite kitty 🙂

And then my little photo-bomber!

Another quilted kitty – much easier to see in person, but you can kind of get the gist of it.

More detail of the front.

The whole quilt after Sondra did the quilting.

The idea and block pattern came from Camille Roskelley’s book and is the “Retro” block.

Linking up with AmandaJean at Crazy Mom Quilts at http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/?wref=bif and with Sarah with Whoop Whoop Fridays at http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/?wref=bif  and Link a Finish with Richard and Tanya Quilts at http://richardquilts.blogspot.com/ and TGIFF being hosted by Jessica at http://quiltyhabit.blogspot.ca/2014/01/tgiff-blizzard-finished-quilt.html   Love these link-ups!!  Thank you everyone!

So is anyone else in love with Amy Schimler’s new line of fabric, Jungle Creatures?  I absolutely love it!  The colors are vibrant and her designs are just too fun.  I seem to love every line she does – I think it’s because her colors are great and her animal designs are always super cute.  I can’t get enough of her stuff!

Right now I am working on a quilt top using her Jungle Creatures line.  My work-in-progress quilt top looks really busy, but I like it anyway.  I need to make about 18 more blocks and then I’ll figure out what comes next.  Probably something in black and white to keep all that color contained 🙂  and then more crazy colorful stuff as the outside border.  The block pattern I am using is inspired by a post I saw on someone else’s site last week.  I remember she called her quilt Man at Work, but rats – I can’t remember the name of her site.  Anyway, I thought she had such a neat pattern so I thought I’d try it out with this fabric.  Thank you person with the cool quilt – I should have written down your website address!

Here’s a picture with my little Kevin.  This is before he plucked my work-in-progress off the chair and ran around the house with it like a wild little beast 🙂  He was so pleased with himself!

And then I played with a super fun tutorial that Kathy from http://kwiltypleasures.blogspot.com/p/tutorials.html   Her tutorial is called “Fabric Journal Cover” and it was really easy to follow.  So now my quilting journal has this super fun cover…of course using my new Jungle Creatures fabric!  Did I mention how much I love this fabric line?  🙂

Just linked up with Lee at Work in Progress Wednesday at http://www.freshlypieced.com/?wref=bif and Kelly at Needle and Thread Thursdays at http://www.myquiltinfatuation.blogspot.com/  I really need to figure out how to add those buttons to my sidebar!  Heavens to Betsy!

Believe it or not I only recently discovered Fat Quarter Bundles and the wonderful Fat Quarter on-line shop!  I love being able to buy a whole fabric line but in a scaled down way.  Here is one of the most recent Fat Quarter Bundles I played around with.  Just a very simple block but I like the overall look because of how neat the fabrics look together.  Not sure what to do with this quilt – just something that was fun and relaxing to make 🙂  I am pretty sure the name of the line is Apple Jack (which also happens to be the name of one of my favorite cereals when I was a kid).

 

I just finished my African Fabric Quilt!  This quilt was so fun to make for several different reasons.  To start with, the fabrics used were Christmas gifts from my family.  The African type fabrics were from Mike and Erica and I couldn’t wait to use them in a quilt.  In addition, my brother and his family sent me this cool assortment of fat quarters that each member of his family picked out and so I used a bunch of those as well!  The white fabric actually came from two re-purposed old work shirts of Mike’s.  Quite the family affair!

I also really enjoyed making the blocks.  The center blocks and inner border blocks came from patterns in Tula Pink’s book.  I was really pleased with how those two blocks came out with the fabric I was using.  It seemed like the block design matched the fabric in a neat way.

Lastly, I put together my favorite border…my own crazy mixed-up, mash-up.  There is nothing better than a chaotic collection of color.  I love how it just bellows “COLORFUL BRIGHTNESS!” at you!  🙂  My friend Sondra will be quilting it for me soon so I’ll post one more picture when it’s finished.

Linking up to all sort of great sites 🙂  Whoop Whoop Fridays at  http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/?wref=bif   and Needle and Thread Thursdays at  http://myquiltinfatuation.blogspot.com and Crazy Mom Quilts at http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/?wref=bif  and TGIFF hosted by That’s Sew Julie at http://thatssojulie.blogspot.ca/2014/01/tgiff-small-finishes.html   and  Richard and Tanya Quilts at   http://richardquilts.blogspot.com/   Thank you Ladies & Gentleman for letting me share with you!  I love to click on other people’s sites and go visiting!!

Sometimes you just need to snuggle up in a warm, soft dog quilt.  I made this quilt using the dog fabrics from my stash – I’ve got a bunch!  Then I decided to add a few black and white dog bones on top of it using just a simple raw edge applique technique.  I really love all the dog fabrics because they are so cute and colorful!  Plus the back is a dog fabric flannel.

What to wear – maybe those rainbow I Dream of Jeannie pants, or maybe that tie dye shirt, or maybe those skinny jeans… so many options!  Too bad the outfits are only 8 ” tall.  Rats!

Playing with Steam a Seam and fabric sure is fun!  Even though I can’t draw worth beans, I can do quite well with just free handing with a pair of scissors.  Although I’m sure the fashion police would be horrified at my combinations!   You can tell I have a very active imagination and had so much fun making this quilt.  I basically tried to come up with the craziest color combinations possible and the shape of the tops and bottoms were just how I happened to cut them out.  Hope this quilt makes you smile 🙂

Mike and Erica found a really cool new yarn & fabric shop called A Verb for Keeping Warm.  What a great place!  As soon as you walk into their shop, all you see is color and texture.  The colors of the yarns are all so rich and vibrant; it makes you just want to buy one of each!  They also have some unusual fabrics that I haven’t come across before, so of course I had to get a few of those too.

I have been reading Helen Parrott’s Mark Making – Fresh Inspiration for Quilt and Fiber Artists.  What a neat book!  So many great photographs with lots of ideas.  So based on what I have seen in that book, here is something I am currently working on.  My plan is to make the flowers go across the width of the fabric.  After that, I am not sure yet what to do with it – maybe add some things to it to make a pillow or wall hanging?  Either way, I am really enjoying playing with my new yarns!

 

“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.  Boldness has genius, magic and power in it.”  Goethe

If I apply that thought to quilting, it means experiment, have fun and just do it!  That is most definitely my goal for 2014.  One of the ways I intend on doing this is to try something new from every quilt magazine or book I read.  I have already started doing it and have created a couple of interesting things.

This quilt top was inspired by a fiber art piece by Michael Brennand that was pictured in a recent Surface Design magazine.  His piece was created using fabric, wire, and paint on a wood panel.  In his piece, he used a lot of deep reds with bits of color.  This caught my eye immediately and I thought it would be really fun to make a quilt that caught the same color essence.  I really liked how his piece was so saturated in color – so that was what I tried to do as well.  I did add in the black and white fabric in the border though to help make the colors pop a bit more.  This was a lot of fun to sew and I am looking forward to having my friend Sondra do the quilting on it.  I’ll post a picture once that has been completed.

The next piece I fiddled around with was a collage heart.  The little collage heart was inspired by a project in one of Tula Pink’s books.  I think I am going to add a couple of borders to this and make it into a pillow for one of our window seats.  I was thinking about re-purposing a pair of Erica’s bright red jeans for this – that could be fun!  Hmmm… decisions, decisions!

Today I am working on a quilt made from some of the fabrics I got for Christmas.  They have an African flavor to them and I love the rich, vibrant colors.  Here is the center.  I am about to start working on the next block which will go around the center.  Both blocks are from Tula Pink’s 100 Modern Quilt Blocks.

Happy New Year!!