Illness...

I have a yukky chest cold... so in the spirit of laziness, here are some photos of what I've been up to - learning how to free motion quilt, quilting for other people and having a love affair with placemats!

Really? A month?

You may have noticed... I'm a sporadic poster.

I try... I try really hard.... I think about the blog often. I write blog posts in my head during the day, but somehow... they never seem to translate into getting to the computer and where you can actually read them. I follow A LOT of blogs, in google reader and am always excited to get up in the morning and see the new posts. I find so many of you out there SOOOO inspiring, and am hopeful that some of the creations that come out of here, a few of you may find elements you love, that make their way into your quilts or creations.















So - it's fall here in Prince Rupert, and we get some very unique fall weather here. It blows wind and rain sideways... sometimes with hail, and yesterday was one of those days. As a result (or perhaps an excuse?) I hunkered down at the sewing machine, piecing a whole junk load of HST. I'm generally not a fan of triangles - cause it drives me nuts when things don't match.

I knew I wanted to make a block that was inspired by Jennifer's block at Ellison Lane Quilts (and as I look for the link, I discover she has a tutorial posted, if you want to make your own!! (Block Tutorial) I'm also thinking about putting together the supplies to make these into a kit - what do you think?

A sigh of relief...

Because this bag is in the mail on it's way to it's new owner.

This bag should have been finished 4 months ago - or maybe longer. She ordered it in February. She asked for something that was like my laptop bag - so I'm working without a pattern. I modified the way that I make my regular messenger bag, and tried a few new techniques. Some good... some not so good. There was definitely a lot of "frog sewing" (you know... rip it... rip it...) and a few curse words occasionally. There were quite a few days that I just needed to put it down and walk away... (thus the 7 month sewing project).

So... the project is modified from this tutorial here (I have made LOTS of modifications!) The yellow is a dividing pocket for papers, and there is a small zippered pocket on the inside. The outside of the bag (back) has another large pocket, and it's all well padded to protect those important computer bits!

For those of you that are wondering, the external fabric is a home decor weight from my last trip to IKEA, and the lining is the Road to Marrakech (found now in our sale section!) and some Dot to Dot Marigold.

The photos are hopefully in order, front, back and then lining. Yay, it's done!!

Baby Charm Blanket

Another quilting finish from Prince Rupert! Based on the pattern by Elizabeth Hartman, found here: (PDF file!) I used the Hometown by Sweetwater Charm Pack (from fishskin fabrics) along with some Kona Charcoal (because who doesn't love more grey - and the lighter greys were just wrong somehow).
I experimented with quilting with smooth minky - it was my first quilting minky experience. I used the Shannon Fabrics Charcoal in Smooth. I will admit that the price on this minky is quite a bit more than our Telio brand, but the difference is all too apparent when you get to touch them! (for samples, email jill@fishskinfabric.com)
I used 505 spray (which apparently I don't have online and will fix asap!) to stick my layers together, spraying about 12" of batting at a time and then smoothing the fabric over, lifting up and exposing the next 12 " of fabric, spraying and then smoothing down - I did it alone (although this is just a small quilt, about 35" square) and it worked well. Even better, it took me quite a few days to free motion quilt this, and my layers stuck together nicely. If you were wondering why it took me so many days to quilt (which isn't a long time, but I spent a lot of time at the machine on this one!) it is because I asked my husband how it thought it should be quilted - thinking straight lines, wiggly lines, that sort of things. But no, he instead counts how many blocks there are and suggests I quilt one letter of the alphabet on each block, putting I and J on the same block.
Oh.
(Pick something easy why don't you honey?) But, I am nothing if not adventurous in my sewing, so I put on the Free Motion Embroidery foot and off I go - one line per day. There were definitely "oops" and "whoops" moments - still there, for all to see, but i've decided I like it - it was a huge learning experience and I had a lot of fun, and a few glasses of wine, to get through it all!
This is only the second time I've used my new machine to quilt (it's a Janome Horizon and I love it!), the previous time was my Earth to the Stars quilt which I apparently haven't posted about! Guess we need another post!

Our first Batiks!

I've mentioned this a couple time of times on facebook, but thought I needed to gush a little more about our exciting news.

We're carrying Tonga Batiks by Timeless Treasures - and they're gorgeous!! I bought the entire line of Island Punch in yardage, and will over time get more colourways (the same colourways available in yardage as we have in pre-cuts) For now, you can find them all here - as the selection grows, they will be divided into more precise categories to make your shopping easier!


Tonga Strips are a set of 40 2 1/2" strips of fabric, like a jelly roll and come in some absolutely stunning colours (2 of each print). The Tonga Mini's are also 40 prints but are 5" squares, delightfully packaged. Everyone seems to have a different favorite, but we all love a couple! I'm still trying to decide what to make - if you're looking for inspiration for your own, two great resources for free patterns are the Moda Bake Shop or Robert Kaufman

As always, I love to see what you're working on, so send an email, or post a link here or on facebook!

Jill!
(Soon i will learn how to format these so they line up properly! Soon!)

A Finish!

So fantastically happy with the way this quilt turned out. I had my friend Coralee quilt it for me, and she did some funky paisley type pattern, exactly what I had hoped for, adding to the quilt another layer of fabulous funkiness.



After much discussion, I went with a green border in 4 different fabrics, 2 print and 2 Kona solids. I love this border. I also love doing my binding by machine. I love it. It's so fast and tidy, I get the whole binding done in 2 hours (from cutting to finish) and it looks fabulous.


The pattern, in case you haven't seen earlier comments in various places about this quilt, is by Elizabeth Hartman in her book, The Practical Guide to Patchwork. I've restocked this book multiple times in my store, because it's such a fabulous all round great quilting book, especially for beginners (but I use is all the time!) The fabric is Prayer Flag by April Cornell - I used 2 charm packs, 1 jelly roll and some yardage of Moda Grunge from the Max & Whiskers collection. Back is some solid Kona as well as Prayer Flag yardage. I love love love the back.


I also love how it washed up (are you getting that I'm digging this quilt?) and it has already been delivered to it's new owners (with whom I took a yoga class this evening) and promised to sleep under tonight!
Best wishes Morgan & Dinesh - may you have many years of happiness under that quilt!

my design wall...

and the cozy little nook I've created for myself. I'm on the night shift at the hotel again. Two nights a week we don't have staff in the hotel, and so James opens the hotel at 6:30 and sets up the continental breakfast (he does this every morning, thank you!!) we trade each other off through out the day, and then in the evening he goes to bed early and I stay up until after 11pm to do the night audit. Little does he know I secretly love it. It's so peaceful in the hotel right now. It's what I'm referring to as "renovation season" where we only have a few rooms a night and so are working on lots of upgrades to our hotel.

The point of all of this, is that I took a photo of my little nook tonight, and the new pattern I'm working on, a complete original, I'm VERY excited! I know the photo is a little blurry, but it best captured the feel of the lighting in the room. Can you see my two mascots hidden in this photo? (one is a yellow lab, the other a calico kitty)


Been very busy with the store this week, lots of drop ins, lots of on-line orders (thank you all SO MUCH!) and only 4 new boxes of fabric. Over 200lbs mind you, but only 4 boxes. Let me tell you, it's like Christmas on the days that fabric shipments arrive here. Unpacking and remembering what I ordered makes me giddy! (the number of hours I get to spend uploading fabric to the website... not so much!) I'm very excited to introduce our newest fabric selection, the Tonga Batiks We have in stock the entire line of the Island Punch colourway (I'll have them all up soon!), as well as the Tonga Treat Strips (2 1/2" strips of fabric in 20 different prints, 2 of each print) and Tonga Mini Treats (2 5" square cuts of 20 different prints of fabric. I have never sewn with batiks before, but let me tell you, I am very excited to start! (Once I have finished some VERY URGENT projects!)

We also are excited to announce we are offering FREE SHIPPING to all Canadian addresses for the month of September (and hopefully longer - we're trying to figure it all out) If you have been thinking about ordering from us, now is the time to try! It's quilting season and our fabric quality is always high and constantly being praised. See for yourself!

Did I mention we received the opportunity to be one of only 5 quilt stores in British Columbia to carry a FABULOUS line of blenders? More next time....

Choices....

So I've been piecing and piecing and planning.... And realized that I could have flipped this and created the pattern with any colour in the middle (I know...duh, but to actually play with it while it was on the design board. I guess this is the sort of thing people use those EQ programs for! Anyway... I tried two options and took some photos, and now have to make a decision.

I do love the way Tula has laid it out in her pattern Field Study as well as the fact that it's a REALLY quick and easy quilt to make up, and has a small, medium and large size - plus, it would be GREAT for featuring a larger print, customizing it to each kidlets preferences? That being said, I think I'm drawn to the green center, keeping in mind that the end of the quilt will hang over the end of the bed...


What do you think?

- also, I'm so sorry that the photos are turned but the program I usually use to change my photos is randomly deleting them so I'm not so keen on playing! :) Jill!

Exciting News!

We just found out yesterday that the next cruise ship thursday (August 18th) is going to be full of QUILTERS!! Are you kidding me? And I only have one room to cram them all into? I'm in the process of renting out some storefront space on 3rd Avenue, across from the City Hall, and will have "fishskin fabric" open for business. It was our intention to open downtown for a week later in September, once we had time to do an advertising blitz. Now I'm thinking we should just make hay while the sun shines, and stay open for a week, especially since I have both front desk staff here right now.

Busy Summer Days....

Full of hotel management, organizing, re-organizing and sewing. I've been busy at my sewing table using a fantastic Tula Pink pattern. I was very excited to have it arrive in the mail, and when I opened up the pattern and saw the layout, done with solids, I think I might have squealed a little. About 2 minutes later I was down in the fabric store picking out a large armload of Kona solids (I used curry, mustard, snow, pear (organics), basil, spruce, caribbean and teal)


I love how it's coming together. Have you noticed it's massive?! 90 inches long! I was wanting to quilt it myselt, although that may be a bit too much of a challenge. I'm thinking the back will be peiced with the bits I cut off from HST. I like it a lot though... now to just get through a mountain of paperwork to get back to the sewing table!

I also have a couple of front & backs that need to be put together into quilts and quilted, as well as one laptop bag to get the finishing steps done on - I just want to make the strap adjustable and need to spend some time figuring out the way I want it done. I was also playing with some square in square blocks... each one I did got a little wonkier until they were something else entirely. Still madly in love with the first block and kind of meh about the other 3.


W.I.P. (Works in Progress):
5 - 1 bag, 2 baby quilts to be quilted, 1 zigzag quilt, 1 sq2 blocks

Finish:
none - but heck I'm having a good time!

Finally...

I've been meaning to blog for ages, and yet I never seem to get around to it. It's not that I'm BUSY, just that there always seems to be something else to do. But, for the moment, I don't have a quilt up on the design wall (it's so WHITE!!) and a quiet moment to myself at the hotel.

I've been doing lots of piecing while I've been in Prince Rupert, although not a lot of "sewing" or "quilting". I have a laptop bag that desperately needs to be finished, as it's future owner is waiting for it. I also have a few boxes of U.F.O's that I need to get to (although i don't think it's terrible... one children's quilt, one blue & grey quilt & a Summer Sampler - more in a future blog)



That being said, I have completed the front & back of my solids quilt!! Finally!! (Coralee, I'm sending it with James to you... no rush, we'll talk!) I'm not quite as happy with the back as I was hoping, but it was all a bit freehand and random and hopefully I'll LOVE it when I get it back from the fabulous Coralee. I haven't decided how to bind it yet... suggestions??

Weekend Quilting Retreat

Just came home from a fabulous weekend at the Rough Acres Camp in Houston, BC. The retreat was hosted by the Cut Loose Quilters & let me tell you... it was a heck of a lot of fun! I spent my weekend working on a top secret wedding present, but had the opportunity to learn a new method of piecing a block, which were all then pieced together to make a quilt for Japan. (I think we had enough blocks to make 2!!)

The food was fantastic, the games fun and silly and let me tell you that I giggled my bum off watching everyone Zoomba! (is that what it's called??)
I forgot to bring a fully charged battery in my camera so I don't have too many photos, but here are a couple!!

1. my view for the weekend :)

2. The quilt is by Amy D - from a round robin... can you even believe how beautiful it turned out?!!? she's still going to applique some leaves the branch!

3. my momma came out from PR for the weekend, so glad she was there, had a GREAT time! Thanks mom! (she made some BEAUTIFUL pillow covers, and I forgot to take a photo... hopefully she'll send me one and I'll show you!)
4. my mom said I looked like a deranged miner in that bunkbed photo :)

sneak peek!

Using Prayer Flag by Kate Spain (oh... how I heart you Prayer Flag!)




I've started the planning for my quilt top...



and gathered up all the necessary supplies... this photo is after round one of sewing & pressing!

Future in blogland...

So... I'm reading the blogs again, and saw a great idea, to help me focus some of my projects and get them finished...

Canoe Ridge Creations documents her WIP's (Works-in-progress) like this:
This week's stats:
Last week's total: 5
New Projects: 3
Finished Projects: 1
This week's total: 7

So, I thought I would look at my projects on the go, take some photos (or share some photos and figure out where I'm at!

Without further ado...
A busy week here,
I finally finished the turquoise border on E's wedding quilt



I also used up some of my Central Park scraps from my placemats (still unfinished) to make this cute "Mug Rug" - a very mini quilt, with enough room on it for your mug of tea or coffee and a sweet treat alongside! It's a quilting project that you're encouraged to get all crumbly, and best of all, no rules! It can be any size, any shape, any colour combo... whatever you like! I've seen some great ones with applique that I love... little teacups and embroidered sayings. Perhaps one day!

here's mine... (I used my quilting foot to finish the binding this morning!)



I tried out a new technique early in the week (or maybe last week) from Elizabeth Hartman - seriously, go check out her blog Oh Fransson! She's utterly amazing. It's a technique for quick piecing those itty bitty little squares, and makes the corners line up PERFECTLY. Check it out here.

Here's where I'm at so far...



I did a bit of playing yesterday, after our kitty cat let it be known that she needed a quilt too. So, out came the scraps bag, and I read a bit in Stitch magazine about piecing wonky blocks. I took that idea and instead of a pillow, made a quilted mat - my first real attempt at machine quilting, and I had a lot of fun doing it!



So what now? Well... I need to piece a back for e's wedding quilt. I also chose some charm packs & jelly rolls from a couple collections... one will be a summer quilt for our room (queen size) and one for my friend m's wedding quilt. Plus, there are a couple of different block styles I want to play with. Guess I had better get back to my sewing machine!

So, here's where we're at -
This week's stats:
Last week's total: 4
New Projects: 3
Finished Projects: 2
This week's total: 5


Previous to this week - Placemats, Sherbet Pips Quilt (twin), grocery bags out of recycled materials, e's wedding quilt
New Projects - Rug Mug, Cat Mat, Jellyroll competition quilt (planning)

Fabric store makeover :)

After a very heavy pack up, and a dark snowy drive home, my husband and I arrived safely in Houston on Saturday night, at about 10:30pm! That wasn't so bad at all. However, the van of course did NOT get unpacked that night.
Sunday morning (yesterday) I was happily ensconsed in my arm chair (that I'm in right now) surfing my favorite sewing blogs (check them out on the right! -->) while my husband started unpacking the van. Eventually (it took a few loads mind you, of him lugging heavy totes of fabric into the house) I hauled myself out of my chair and helped him unload.
This is the result:



Now, with the fabric room in chaos (as I had dumped out my scrap fabric totes so I had enough containers to go to PG) there was NO WAY I was letting my bolts head back upstairs without the fabric room being cleaned. We have two lovely pets, but Abby is a very friendly (but usually shedding) labrador, and Nomad is a very lovely, but nosey, kitty. So, a solid 4 hours of work later, the room was clean, shelves were assembled, bolts arranged lovingly on the shelves, pre-cuts stylishly displayed and my hubby was out walking the dogger.