I-Spy Baby Quilt

My sister recently asked me if I could make a neutral baby quilt for a friend of hers.  They were not finding out the gender of the baby, so I decided to make an I-Spy quilt.  I pulled out my crazy stash of I-Spy blocks that I have collected from my stash and from swaps with Polly from Pieces by Polly.

I sorted a handful of squares by color and pulled out 18 blocks from each stack to make 2 nine patch blocks of each color.

After I pieced the top, I quilted some wavy lines along a number of the seams.  I like to add a lot of quilting to baby quilts to make sure they hod up to lots of washings.  I also machine bound the quilt.

I backed it in a fun tree print with a couple teal strips running through.  The binding is a small yellow chevron, adding a pretty stripe along the edge.

I love the colorful quilt among the fall leaves.

I-Spy Baby quilt
31.5" x 42"
Assorted fabrics
100% Pellon cotton batting

Bee Blocks

I've been working on my stash bee blocks lately.  I haven't shared them here in a couple months so I figured I would.

September Heather asked for the Marley Quilt block, free from Craftsy, in aqua, purple, pink and orangey yellow.  I made one and sent it off then jumped in when another member of our hive needed an angel block so I made a second one.

My block

Angel block

In October RobinSue asked us to make a fun scrappy block that she  designed.  I made 3 for her, couldn't help myself (and in case an extra was needed :) ).  I fussy cut the fabrics, too, for added fun. 

 

And this month, November, Rachel asked us to use our words.  She asked for powerful, uplifting words to encourage others.  This block idea is so great and I love it.  I have made two blocks so far and might make one or two more for her, we will see.  I drew out the words by hand in script onto freezer paper and then just sketched the lines to make the letters wider.  Once I had the size I liked I cut the freezer paper into a blob around the letters then pressed it onto the chosen fabric.  Then I cut the fabric to the same size as the blob, then pressed that onto Heat'n Bond light.  (This method keeps me from getting the fusible stuff on my iron).  I then cut out the word from all three layers.  Once it was cut out I peeled off the freezer paper and the paper from the Heat'n Bond and pressed it onto the background.  After I pressed it I used a small stitch and zigzagged around the words.  I feel these are two uplifting and powerful words.  

  

I have loved being a part of Stash Bee this year and I am looking forward to next year.  I have had a great Hive with so much talent in it.  

RSD/CRPS Awareness Month

Did you know that November is CRPS/RSD Awareness Month?  So many know that February is Heart Desiese Awareness Month and October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month (and so on), but few know about RSD/CRPS.

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), previously known as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) is a chronic pain disorder.  It is an extremely painful disorder that tops any pain according to the  McGill Pain Index.  CPRS pain is constant, extremely intense, and out of proportion to the original injury.  The pain is often joined with swelling, skin changes, extreme sensitivity, and can often be debilitating.

If you are wondering why I might be bringing up this topic is because this is something that is very personal to me.  In January of 2013 I was diagnosed with RSD/CRPS.  It has taken me almost two years to be able to just come out and say it, to accept it.
I can't tell you how many times I wished for them to just cut my leg off to stop the pain, which I know sounds horrible.  There are times when it feels like there is a knife in my leg (or even the entire steak knife set), other times like I laid on a pin cushion and can't get the pins out.  And the newest pain is a frozen burning that just won't let up no matter what.  This is a constant pain, it never goes away.

Other symptoms include: (From American RSDHope)
- changes in skin temperature and color 
- hypersensitivity to touch, sound, vibration, wind, noise, temperature, weather, water temperature, etc.
- irritability, depression, fatigue, and/or insomnia. 
- changes in hair/nail growth 
- bone and muscle loss/changes, atrophy/weakness. 
- swelling and stiffness in effected joints.
- throbbing, crushing, tingling, shooting, aching, stabbing, burning pain in the effected area.
- tremors (shakes).
- problems moving the effected extremity/body part. 
- migraines/cluster headaches.

To be diagnosed with this has been kinda overwhelming and a blessing.  I mean, I finally have an answer for the pain and for the crazy sensitivity that causes me to not be able to wear pants or have my sheets and blankets touch my leg.  I know that there are other people out there who can understand with what I have been going through.  How mine started is not very common, it took over a year to even figure out what was going on.

This debilitating pain is why I quilt, why I sew every day.  Sewing has become the best therapy for me, helping me to concentrate on something when everything else is overwhelming.  This month the Jersey Shore Modern Quilt Guild will be creating orange awareness ribbon blocks to be made into a quilt to donate to the RSDSA, an organization that funds research for RSD/CRPS.

Who would have thought that a simple injury could turn into something that is life long, that I will struggle with forever.  At the moment, there is no more running, hiking, climbing, or boating.  I struggle just to walk any real distance or drive any real length of time.

I do have hope that with continued treatments I will one day be able to be somewhat active, that I will be able to work and lead a normal life.  That my pain will be under control and I won't want to cry every time the wind changes.  I even hope that I might be able to tolerate jeans again, oh to just pull on a pair of jeans and a cute pair of heels is a dream that I hope will come true.

Monday, November 3, is Color the World Orange Day.  A day to wear orange to support those fighting this disease.  It is a world wide event.

I know this is a long post and it is very personal, but sometimes it just makes you feel better to share something, to put it out there for others to maybe gain a better understanding.

For more information check out RSDSA or American RSDHope.  And the Color the Wold Orange event page.

Garden Maze Quilt - Bloggers Quilt Festival

I am sharing with you today a very special quilt that I created which was inspired from a picture of a wall in a magazine.  This quilt has many hours of work into it and I am excited to share it with you.

This quilt is called Garden Maze.  The green in it makes me think of a hedge maze.  Green is not usually my color that I go to but when I decided to see if I could make this quilt it was the largest piece of fabric in my stash, 3 yards.  It is a pretty green batik with leaves.  The white is Kona white.

When I started the quilt I made some squares of strips and quickly realized that it wasn't going to work how I planned.  The lines were not lining up and causing me a lot of stress.  I was able to, after much stress, cutting, adding, mumbling, and frustration, figure out how to make it all work.

I had the top finally completed in July and let it sit for a bit while I decided how to quilt it.  

In August I pulled it out again and set to quilting it.  I did a squiggle stitch in all of the white lines of the quilt.  This is quilted on a home sewing machine, a Singer.

I just popped in a couple audio books and went to town.  This took just over 14 hours to quilt it.  It was a bit tough to wrestle it through the machine, but thanks to spray basting it there was no shifting of fabrics as I shoved it through.  (Seriously, shoved!)

I am in love with this quilting ans so proud of how even the stitching is.  

I know, lots of pictures, but I can't help it.  

Following all the lines was not easy.

I backed it in a solid white and just love how the quilting really pops.  The design really stands out.  

Love all the quilting!

I bound it in a batik green which frames both the front and back so well.

Garden Maze 

63" x 64"

Batik green and Kona white

Pellon 100% cotton batting

Coats and Clark machine quilting thread

So in love with this quilt! 

I am entering this quilt in to Bloggers Quilt Festival in the Large Quilt Category.  I hemmed and hawed over where to place it.  I knew, though, that I had to enter it.  I am super proud of this quilt.  

Head over to Amy's Creative Side and check out all of the amazing quilts in the festival.  

Batik Strip Quilt

So it has been a while since I updated my blog and I have been crazy busy sewing away.  So over the next couple of weeks I plan on posting my projects and sharing the number of finishes.  Also talking about my grand plan for my quilting.  

To start my project sharing I think I will start with a quilt that I began in the beginning of the summer.  I started to become overwhelmed with my ridiculous amount of scrap stash so I figured this supper to join in the Purge quilting that was going along.  I began with my batik scraps.  I pulled out a bunch of 2.5" strips that were left over from projects, collected from my LQS scrap bin, and from scraps from the AQS show.  I am an equal opportunity scrap saver, anything over 2.5" square was used in this quilt.

I randomly started piecing the strips together into a long strip as if I were creating a jelly roll quilt.  I sewed the strips together with straight seams, but you will notice there are angle joins, too.  Those were already pieced and just added in as scraps.  It was an anything goes quilt.

As it was coming together, I was not so sure about the mix of colors since it ranged so much, but figured why not give it a chance. I am so glad that I kept going with it.  I kept sewing the pieces together then adding those together, and so on until I had a really long piece sewn together.  I have no idea how long it was, I just figured long enough.  I then used the jelly roll race technique and sewed the strip to itself.  That continued until I had a squarish quilt top.

For the back I chose a light purple batik I had gotten from an estate sale and added in a strip of dark purple batik I had sitting around that was a gift from a friend, Jane.

Once I had it all sewn and basted, I decided on a loopy figure eight for the quilting.  This was the last quilt I was completly able to quilt on my Simplicity machine.  The next quilt I worked on it broke, so this quilt has a special place in my heart.

The quilt is hand bound with a scrappy batik binding.  So many colors are in this quilt.  I can probably make at least another 2 tops like this and not put a dent in the batik scrap stash.

Batik Strip Quilt
Cotton fabrics
Pellon 100% cotton batting
48" x 48"

Orange Peel QAL Finished!

I finished up my Orange Peel quilt last week that I had been working on this summer here and there (Previous post).  I started it back when Jess at Quilty Habit announced an Orange Peel Quilt A Long.  SInce this summer I had been on a scrap kick where I wanted to purge and use as much as my scrap stash as possible I figured this was another great use.  I am so happy with how it turned out.

I am in love with the scrappiness of it.  It is full of floral prints that I would not generally use, but I had collected them from my LQS's scrap bin and they went so well together.  I added some scraps of low volume prints that I had to settle the business a bit,

Some of the orange peels are appliqued with decorative stitches and some are attached with the quilting.  I used the fusible method to hold them on until I was able to stitch them down.

There is a lot of quilting on this little quilt. but I feel it is really fun.

There is only one complete orange peel circle in the entire quilt.  It just happened that I filled in other places with pieced blocks, half square triangles, and solid blocks.  

The back is also pieced from the left over scraps.  It felt so good to use so much from my scrap stash!

To finish the look, what is better than a scrappy binding?  I seriously love how this one turned out.

Orange Peel Baby Quilt
31.5" x  36"
Cotton fabrics
Pellon Cotton batting
Machine pieced and free motion quilted by me

Check out the other great projects that are linked up on Jess's blog!

Around the World Blog Hop

Last week i was tagged by my friend Helen at Till We Quilt Again  to join in on the Around the World Blog Hop.  Helen is a great friend that I met last year when she came to a meeting with the Jersey Shore Modern Quilt Guild.  She is so talented and does beautiful quilting and we hit it off right away.  I am totally jealous of her long arm skills :).


This blog hop introduces you to bloggers that you may not know and are happy to have found through your quilty friends.  So I get to answer a few questions about myself and at the end of the post I will link you to three of my favorite bloggers and next Monday they will do the same thing.  It is great to go back and check out the previous links.

Aunt Carol's Blue Wave Quilt

About Me
I have been quilting on and off for 16 years (I didn't realize it was that long!)
I live in New Jersey along the shore and I am proud of my Jersey Girl status.
I have 2 amazing parents, 2 great sisters (and a brother in law), 2 awesome nephews, and a fun clumsy silly puppy, Maggie.
I love white water kayaking, you might be able to tell from my background photo and my blog name. (Though I haven't been able to boat for little while now).
I am co president of Jersey Shore Modern Quilt Guild

Flight of the Seagulls

How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I am not sure how much my work differs from others.  My style I say is a twist on traditional.  I sew how I feel at the time.
I love flying geese, but I don't like them to be all uniform, I like for them be every which way and all different sizes.
I love to use color and patterns and have no fear of trying something different.
I rarely use solids in my quilts, I like the texture that pattern gives quilts.
I have what I call "Quilting ADD" where I can not stick with one project for long, I need to have options when I sew.
I am mostly self taught and I think that is part of my fearlessness.  :)
When I have something set in my mind that I want to do, like fmq, I just sit down and do it without a second thought.  I feel I can do anything if I put my mind to it.

Modern Mini

Why do I write/create what I do?
I love to loose myself in my quilting and creating.  It makes me forget my stresses and helps with dealing with pain.
Being creative has always made me happy and when I feel my worst it pulls me to a happy place.
Quilting something that I share with my mom.  She joined me in quilting just 2 years ago and it has really brought us closer.  We share most of a stash (we have some that is our own, too) and go on fabric sprees together.  I love to bounce ideas off her.
I am thankful to have to time and support to spend as much time sewing as I do.  I seriously sew almost every day.  I don't know what I would do without it.

Modern Strings
(Look for this one at AQS Quiltweek TN in the BadAss Quilters Society Exhibit)

How does my writing/creating process work?
My creative process is so different as I work on different quilts.
One way is I have multiple notebooks with sketches in them.  As I have a quilt in mind, I draw it out then start writing out the measurements and working out the math on what I might need in terms of fabric.  I like to break down cuts and blocks, too, sometimes.  Midnight Geese was drawn out then broken down to know what I needed to make to create it.

Midnight Geese

Another way is when I have a day that I don't feel like thinking, I pull out a box of scraps and start playing.  My last couple play quilts came from nautical scraps I have amassed in a large bin.  I just start laying out pieces on the design wall and sew the pieces together when I feel they look perfect.  Out to Sea baby quilt was created in this manor.

Out to Sea

Sometimes a doodle turns into a quilt.  I make the doodle part then add to it.  Flight of the Seagulls started as a half drawn quilt that just grew as I worked on it.  I have no fear to change things as I work if I feel that it looks better that way.  (This quilt will be in the BadAss Quilters Society display at AQS Quiltweek in IA)

Flight of the Seagulls 

I love to join in on challenges, too, because I feel it also adds to my creative process.  Project Quilting is one of my favorite challenges.

Frittata Quilt, a Project Quilting challenge quilt

What am I working on now?
I have a number of quilts in progress right now that includes quilts for fun, quilts for friends, and quilts for challenges. (Seriously, Quilting ADD)  And little fun things for my nephews.  I am also part of Stash Bee so I have blocks to make every month for my bee mates.

On the design wall are circle blocks from my month of Stash Bee, my DWR in pieces, and some random blocks for different projects.  See my kayak block? :)

My orange peel quilt for the Orange Peel QAL at Quilty Habit.  Made totally from scraps.  One of the random just playing with fabric quilts.

I haven't blogged about this quilt yet, but one that I am loving more and more as I look at it.  I think I might call it Maze.

Here are the three blogs that I have chosen to share with everyone.

My friend Melissa at Sew Bittersweet Designs creates amazing and beautiful quilts.  She has written a number of patterns that I have had the privilege of testing for her.  One of them I had accepted into the Quiltfest of NJ.

All Framed Up on the Jersey Shore
Melissa's pattern

Diane is a great friend from the Jersey Shore Modern Quilt guild.  She is my co-president and makes beautiful quilts.  I love working with her during our sew-ins.  She blogs over at My StudioQ.

I wanted to tag my friend Peggy who blogs at Stitchin With Peg.  We live in the same town and shop at the same local quilt shop, but I have never met her in person.  She makes beautiful quilts!   (I didn't get to ask her first, oops, but check out her pretty quilts.)

I have photos all over my blog if you are interested in taking a poke around and then head on over to the blogs of my quilty friends.

Tetris Quilt

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you liked learning about how I create my quilts.