snapshots quilt along!

I've joined the Snapshots Quilt Along! I will be sewing twelve novelty blocks that capture life's happy snapshot-worthy moments! We all take pictures of our pets and our food, right? Well, this quilt includes cat and dog blocks to go along with cake, ice cream and picnic food! We'll also create some outdoor-inspired blocks, such as a hot air balloon, bicycle, sailboat and Volkswagen.

All twelve blocks, borders, binding and backing use Bonnie & Camille's hot new fabric collection for Moda called Daysail. I love the happy aqua, red and navy in this collection. And look at the cool white-on-white print! Would I be weird if I said that the white print reminds me of sequins? Here are some of my very favoritest prints in the collection.

But maybe the best part is that the Snapshots quilt along will benefit St Jude Children's Research Hospital to help advance cures and preventative measures for children's illnesses. Fat Quarter Shop and Moda Fabrics will match up to $10,000 of the donations that are received during the quilt along. I love that, and I'll be making monthly donations right along with everybody else to help reach this goal.

So here's how it works. Fat Quarter Shop will post a pattern pdf which can be downloaded on the 15th of each month. There will be twelve monthly block patterns. The first pattern will be posted on January 15 and will be a yummy, layer cake (y'all remember my cake obsession, right?!) A donation to St Jude of $5 is requested each month when you download the pattern, although, of course, you may donate whatever you wish. And trust me when I say that these highly detailed patterns are well worth your time and donation. I've already started to work on the layer cake. Everything is rotary pieced! Here's a little peek!

You can use your own fabric! So get creative and clean out your stash! Or go ahead and sew with the Daysail Snapshots kit to make a quilt that looks like mine.

I'll post my block each month on the 15th, along with a link to the pattern. Fat Quarter Shop will also have a fun, tutorial video each month to help you sew your blocks. Here is a link to an introductory video that Kimberly Jolly taped with special guests, Bonnie Olaveson and Camille Roskelley to introduce you to the quilt along. (It is fun to finally hear Bonnie and Camille speak!)

I will be sewing along with a great group of talented designers and quilters. I'm honored to be a part of the group, and I can't wait to see their fabric combinations. Find even more detailed information about the Snapshots quilt along (and a preview of all the blocks) here.

I do hope that you'll join me!

(Do you see how I've loaded so many links onto this post? That's because my new computer works quickly and efficiently!!! Yay! Adding posts to my blog is fun again!)

snowman stars

Hi everybody! I have been busy in the past few days finishing up those red and white flying geese for my Due South quilt. And they're done! Whew! I was so happy to be able to move on to the stars. But... to make these eleven stars, I first needed to make another 44 mini flying geese!

Flying geese. Hummm. I really like interesting birds. I even went on a boat to a deserted island in Maine to see puffins! But not pigeons. There are waaaay too many pigeons in this city. I'm not surprised that quilters don't have a 'flying pigeon' block!

I also decided on a setting which will be slightly different from the pattern. My geese are going to fly in different directions that represent my own migratory pattern. I promise to explain that very soon!

The stars will alternate with the geese, like this.

In non-quilty news, my new laptop computer arrived today! I am sure that this will make it more enjoyable for me to write my blog. It will replace a 7 year old laptop that has become slow and unreliable in the past few months. Most of this post was written on my phone. I hope that my next post will be done from the new HP touch screen! 

bring on the snowmen!

I love red and white quilts at Christmas. And I love the Winter Wonderland collection by Bunny Hill Designs for Moda with happy snowmen, stars and trees!

I bought a fat quarter bundle when it first came out several months ago. But I had no idea how to use it! Most red and white quilts seem to be in solid fabrics, or else they're in vintage turkey reds. I searched though photos from the Infinite Variety show of red and white quilts in NYC a few years ago. That didn't help... most of the quilts were done in solids. Then I bought several patterns but none of them were exactly right. Finally, while reading A Touch of Rosie Quilts by Carrie Nelson, I came across this quilt.

I thought that this might look like shattered peppermint candy if it was done in red and white prints. And of course I love peppermint candy! So I had my pattern. 

Once again, I'm using the Fit To Be Geese ruler to create accurate flying geese. There is very little wasted fabric when using this ruler, and even the trimmings look pepperminty!

Winter Wonderland sold out quickly. There is some on the Bunny Hill website, and there is plenty of it on Ebay. If you're lucky, you might even find a few bolts at your local quilt shop. I'll need to buy yardage for my backing before it disappears!

The quilt will need 212 geese, and I've finished 152. The repetitive sewing and trimming is actually a nice break from my previous quilt project - no thinking involved! Just cut, sew, trim, repeat! The quilt will also have a sprinkling of twinkly stars.

Oh, and in case you thought I just made 152 geese instead of sleeping, well, I didn't! I've been quietly working on these over the past few weeks, in between other projects.

A Touch of Rosie might be out of print, but Carrie has just reissued Due South as an individual pdf pattern. It can be purchased for download on her website. 

december finish! have yourself a quilty little christmas

Yay! I've finished piecing Have Yourself A Quilty Little Christmas! Now I really want to take it off of my design wall and have it quilted! 

The stocking and wrapped candy just might be my favorite block. I spent awhile auditioning fabrics. The pink candy fabrics were easy. But the stocking has several seams so I stayed away from large prints. That meant pulling every single red fabric out of my closet. And then putting them all away. I love the dimensional hanging loop.

Now can we talk about the border? It took days to piece! It's made of four-patches mixed with alternating squares. The four patches measure 2" finished. It's constructed in a really interesting way - I didn't actually sew 1 1/2" squares. It started with a large pile of small squares...

And a few days later, four borders were finished and attached! I love this border with scrappy, controlled fabrics and 360 pieces. 

Now for the specifics. Have Yourself A Quilty Little Christmas was an online quilt along designed by Lori Holt of Bee In My Bonnet. It measures 34" x 46". Many of the block patterns are in her book Quilty Fun. The specific Christmas-themed blocks were designed just for this quilt along, and the instructions for those blocks were posted by Lori on Instagram. They do not appear in a print version. You can find the free instructions for the tree, present, gingerbread cookie, stocking and ornament by checking Lori's feed on Instagram (it's @beelori1) or by scrolling through #haveyourselfaquiltylittlechristmas. It was fun sewing along with many, many other quilters. We all encouraged each other, and I think that it became competitive, but in a fun way. There are lots of different interpretations of this quilt, and they all look fabulous.

My fabrics are a big mishmash of everything in my stash! The only new fabric that I bought was a fat quarter bundle of Sugar Rush by Josephine Kimberling for Blend Fabrics. I used just six of those prints, but they established the mood. So there's plenty of everything else from my stash. I added anything that matched! 

Ok, I'm ready for my next project!

fig tree mini stems quilt

I started and finished another Christmas quilt... in two days! It's the Mini Stems quilt by Fig Tree and Co. It measures just 19" x 25" and it can be made with a 5" charm pack and some additional background and border fabric. There is also a full-sized Stems quilt pattern that uses a jelly roll to create the leaves. I knew that the mini quilt would be the perfect way for me to test the pattern without a major time commitment. As an additional incentive, the mini quilt was this month's quilt along project hosted by A Quilting Life and Pink Pincushion. 

I've mixed red and green prints from several different Fig Tree collections. I used Strawberry Fields, Avalon, Tapestry, and the current Somerset collection. Everything I needed was already on my shelves. I didn't need to buy anything!

Each of those little leaf units measures 2" x 3". The corners are made with a stitch-and-flip construction, and I squared up my corners (with a square Omnigrid ruler and rotary cutter) throughout the process. This helped to ensure that my stems would grow straight up. I did not want wobbly stems! I tweaked the pattern slightly so that I could cut my borders from a fat quarter instead of buying yardage. It worked perfectly. My border is a taupe houndstooth Somerset print. It reminds me of wicker or rattan, and I think it's an elegant way to tone down the reds and greens. 

And Happy Thanksgiving to my US readers! I think that many of you know that I live in NYC, and today I went to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I LOVE this parade. It's magical to see those balloons in real life!

I've attended the parade several times over the years. There are the happy balloons that we all know so well - Snoopy, KoolAid, the fireman, the stars, as well as the newer balloons like Hello Kitty and the dragon from How To Train Your Dragon. The bands play as they march, and thousands of clowns throw confetti at the crowd.

But here are some things that you might not have known. The musical acts perform right in front of Macy's, and only invited guests can watch them. So the rest of the 3.5 million viewers (yes, really!) see floats go by with bundled-up anonymous performers. I didn't even see Kiss, even though they performed at the Macy's stop. And seriously, I am ok with that. After all, I saw Cookie Monster, Elmo and Oscar the Grouch dancing in their house. I saw Mr. Peanut waving from his peanut-on-wheels. Who needs anything else?

Oh, and more details that you don't see on tv. There are metal barricades lining the parade route, and police shut off many of the streets. The bomb-sniffing dog was next to me while helicopters circled above. And yet, the crowd is cheery and friendly. While many people arrived as early as 6am to claim their spaces, I got there just as it was kicking off with Thomas the Train and I saw everything just fine. It snowed and I shivered. Should I mention that there are no bathrooms? But it's really a priceless experience. If you ever have the opportunity to see this, be sure to go, because I can assure you that you and your kids will remember it forever. Happy Thanksgiving!

quilty christmas update

I'm making progress on the Have Yourself A Quilty Little Christmas sampler!

These blocks are SO MUCH FUN to sew. Once I pick out my fabric (and you know how that can take hours!) the blocks go together in no time. Well, except for Mr. Cookie. He took a little longer since I'm not used to working with ric rac. I learned that ric rac isn't scary at all.

I'm a little obsessed with my gingerbread candyland theme here. It all came from that one candy print.

And for my spools, I selected fabrics that would look like ribbons and lace trims. I'm going to be really sad when I run out of this red lacy Flower Sugar print!

And even more ric rac, now on an ornament!

There is still time to join in on the fun! Details for the sew along are posted almost daily on Instagram by Lori Holt, with several new blocks created just for this sampler. You'll also need a copy of the Quilty Fun book. 

And before I leave you today, I want to say thank you for all the happy emails and comments about the upcoming blogger bundle of fabric that I selected for Fat Quarter Shop. I really appreciate it, and I will share more information and projects when the bundle arrives in the shop.

sneak peek! blogger's choice bundle for fat quarter shop!

I am SOOOO excited to share this sneak peek of my upcoming Blogger's Choice fat quarter bundle for Fat Quarter Shop!

I almost couldn't believe it when Fat Quarter Shop contacted me and asked if I would like to put together a selection of my favorite new fabrics for you. And once I got over the happy shock, I immediately started pulling fabric swatches.

I knew that I needed to have all of my favorite types of prints. I started with a floral focus print, and then added medium-sized blender prints. I then tossed in my absolute essentials - dots and plaid! A white-on-white dot livens up classic white. I finished up with three classic solids that I just cannot live without - hot pink, leafy green and buttery yellow. 

The bundle contains fabrics from some of my favorite upcoming collections:

• Just Dreamy 2 by Zoe Pearn for Riley Blake
• Pam Kitty Garden by Pam Kitty Morning for Lakehouse  Dry Goods
• Wildflower Meadow by Melly & Me for Riley Blake
• Sunrise Studio by Holly Holderman for Lakehouse Dry Goods
• Moda Bella Solids 

These prints are so new that they aren't even in the shop yet! The Greg Jones Blogger's Choice fat quarter bundle will be available in January 2015. I'll share more about these fabrics when they become available, and I CANNOT WAIT to start sewing with them. I'll share some fun, fat-quarter-friendly quilts and maybe even some other projects. 

I do hope that you like the bundle. Maybe you could even give Santa a hint that you'd like this as a post-Christmas gift! Would you like to be notified by Fat Quarter Shop as soon as the bundle is available? Or just want to see more details about the exact print? The bundle is already on their website here. 

have yourself a quilty little christmas

I've joined the "Have Yourself A Quilty Little Christmas" sew along!

Lori Holt of Bee In My Bonnet is hosting the sew along on Instagram. It's a fun way to use the Quilty Fun book to make some cute, quick blocks for Christmas. This might surprise you, but I had exactly ZERO Christmas themed fabrics in my stash! I quickly ordered a bundle of Sugar Rush fat quarters. I don't normally use novelty fabrics, but I'm breaking free of that and I'll have a retro/vintage/kitschy Christmas!

That's my little gingerbread house! I love the easy simplicity of making just one of each block. The fabric placement is the best part. I'm mixing nearly anything in my fabric stash with the Sugar Rush fabric - Bunny Hill's Winter Wonderland, Lori Holt's Flower Patch, Bonnie & Camille's Miss Kate, Pam Kitty Picnic... anything that works together. No rules!

Lori even created a special Christmas tree block that isn't featured in the book. I just had to use the blue and green swirly peppermints here!

Many of us are sewing along with Lori, with absolutely no idea how many blocks we'll sew or how large the finished project will be. That's a lot of trust, but it's been fun so far! And you can join us! Specific block info can be found on Instagram by following @beelori1 and under #haveyourselfaquiltylittlechristmas. While you're there, be sure to see what I'm up to by following me at @greydogwoodstudio. 

scrumptious 100 patch quilt

Remember the fat quarter bundle of Bonnie & Camille's Scrumptious fabric that I bought at Quilt Festival? (I know that you didn't forget about it!) I carried it onto the plane rather than putting it into my checked suitcase. I'd rather lose my clothes and shoes than my new fabric!

Well, it didn't take me long to open it up and start cutting.

I knew immediately what I was going to make! It's a 100 patch block as seen in the Sept/Oct 2014 issue of QuiltMania magazine. It was shown in deep, rich colors, but I knew that it would take on a much fresher look with lots of bright citrus colors. Each square is 1", with a finished block of 10". You won't believe how different this quilt can look with a color makeover.  

QuiltMania magazine Sept/Oct 2014 issue 103

The big question was which background fabric to use. I considered the Scrumptious white-on-white bias stripe (you can see this in the background behind my blocks), but I only have a few yards in my stash, with no idea how much I'll really need. I have a whole new bolt of Kona Snow. Perfect!

It's completely strip pieced, and each fat quarter will make two blocks. I have enough fabric to make this much larger than the pattern! I might add in some Miss Kate scallops (the "sundae" print) just because they're so cute, and they'll add another textural element. I'm also thinking that I might alter the pattern by adding some sashing, which would help to keep the focus on the fabric within each block. The blocks are super easy to sew, but they take me awhile because I use a billion pins to keep them flat. 

Just imagine this quilt in your favorite colors! I bought the QuiltMania magazine at a local newsstand, but it's also available here. 

tale of a quilt festival survivor

I did it! I went to the International Quilt Festival in Houston for the very first time! Do you have a few hours to hear all about it? I'm kidding. Sort of!

I didn't take photos at the convention center because I wanted to enjoy the show without worrying about taking pics, and because many of the booths and quilts cannot be photographed. But I promise to share pics of my purchases!

I've wanted to go to Quilt Market in Houston for several years, but it's for the trade only and not open to the general public. Quilt Festival IS open to the public. (Quilt Market ran from Oct 25-27, and Quilt Festival was from Oct 30-Nov 2, both at the George R. Brown convention center.)

Last week I received a few messages from other quilters asking if I would be attending Festival. Well, why not? So very late one night last week, I booked my flight, hotel room and the festival admission ticket. 

I arrived on Friday night. My host hotel was buzzing with activity. There were quilters everywhere, including in the room next to mine. (Ladies, I heard every word that you said through the wall but I won't repeat anything!)

On Saturday morning I boarded the shuttle bus to the convention center. It runs all day, every 10 minutes. That's how many quilters are there! I was a little nervous. Could I handle this much quilt activity all at one time?

I eased into the Festival by visiting the exhibitions first. There were SO many quilts! I loved the more traditional quilts in the section sponsored by the book 501 Traditional Quilts.  I was especially drawn to the quilts made of tiny hexagons and the Baltimore Album quilts. The center of the space was dominated by "Ruby Jubilee," which was an interpretation of the Infinite Variety red and white quilt show in my NYC neighborhood a few years ago. 

This is just the retail space!

Now it was time for the selling portion of the Festival. Ok, time to take a deep breath or two...

The selling space had 18 long aisles. Every sewing machine and longarm manufacturer was there, and you could try their machines. There were many, many regional quilt shops and vintage quilt dealers, plus a smaller assortment of stuff that probably didn't belong there - who buys vacuum cleaners and massage chairs at a quilt show?! I saw a few quilting all-stars: Eleanor Burns posing for endless photos, Alex Anderson promoting The Quilt Show, Kim Diehl and Sandra Dallas signing their books. Edyta Sitar popped into her Laundry Basket Quilts booth at the end of the day. 

And I got to meet two of my own quilting all-stars - Kimberly Jolly from Fat Quarter Shop, and Jocelyn Ueng from It's Sew Emma patterns. I've shopped at the Fat Quarter Shop for years, so it was a treat. And I've gotta tell you that they're just as lovely in person as they are on the Jolly Jabber blog and in their YouTube videos.  Here's me and Kimberly in a photo taken by Jocelyn.

And get this - there's a "husbands lounge" with a big flat screen tv, newspapers and magazines.

By now I'm sure that you're saying "WHAT DID YOU BUY?" so let's get to it! 

Attachments for my Brother sewing machine. There's the scary-looking ruffler contraption, and a new 1/4" foot. I know, not too exciting, but hopefully I'll turn into a ruffle-izer.

I picked up a copy of the Penny Candy quilt pattern at the Primitive Gatherings booth, which was oddly staffed by three men with beards and shorts.  

I bought a new tumbler template at the Marti Michell booth. It can be used for finished tumblers ranging from 2" up to 5 1/2", and I like how it has notched corners so that the tumblers are easy to sew together. And they gave me another corner trimmer after I told them how much I use it!

Two quilt books from It's Sew Emma, Simply Fat Quarters and the new Fat Quarter Style. Lots of fresh, happy quilts here! 

And finally, are you ready for this? A fat quarter bundle of Scrumptious by Bonnie & Camille. You should have seen me trying to be all poker-faced when I saw that it was half price! I didn't even think that this line existed anymore!

The fat quarter bundle was just $5 more than the fat eighth bundle! How could I pass that up?!

It was a long day, but SO much fun. I think that you know where you can find me at the same time next year!

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

And now, an Around The World Blog Hop update! Last week you learned all about my work style. Please visit my quilty friends on Monday, November 3 to read all about what inspires them and how they create their quilt projects. I'm sure that they'll have some interesting stories to share!

Rebecca at Cheeky Cognoscenti

Donna at Donna's Lavender Nest

Cynthia at Dream Quilt Create

thursday finish - homestead!

The Fig Tree "Homestead" quilt top is finished! I'm so happy to be able to share it with you today. This is one of those quilt tops that turned out far better than I had expected!

Homestead measures 63" x 75" finished. The pattern is available here, and there is also a kit with alternate fabrics. The houses were really fun to sew once I figured out a trick. There are a few points that need to match on the window/door/roof unit. I had difficulty matching them exactly, and then Pam suggested basting the pieces together, checking for accuracy and then re-sewing them. That worked perfectly, and from then on it was all blue skies and green grass. 

Speaking of green grass, the original pattern used just one green print. I wanted more variety, so I pulled several greens. Fabrics used in this quilt are from two of my favorite Fig Tree collections - Strawberry Fields and Avalon. I loved mixing in the navy and aqua prints.

I'm sure you know all about my dislike of sewing borders onto my quilt tops. But I did it! To make it easier, I buy extra border fabric and cut it on the lengthwise grain. Yes, it means that I buy more fabric than I really need. But it means that I don't need to worry about matching the print when joining shorter strips of fabric. (The leftover border fabric is now in transit to another Fig Tree fabric collector!) What makes this quilt interesting is that the borders on the top and bottom are slightly wider than the side borders. It sounds odd, but it does enhance the horizontal houses. 

Now I need to piece the backing and binding and have it sent out to be quilted. I cannot wait to get this one back! And now I'm free to work on Christmas quilts!

around the world blog hop

Hi everybody! Today, I will be sharing more about myself and my creative process as a part of the continuing blog tour that has hopped around the world in the past few months. I'm happy that Rahna from Blooming In Chintz asked me to participate. We have followed each other on Instagram for awhile, and she has made many fabulous quilts. I love the way that she selects fabric for her quilts. So what I am going to do is answer four simple questions about Grey Dogwood Studio. But you will soon find out that those simple questions have complex answers!

What am I working on?

Quilts! I have several projects all going at the same time. I'm sure that's not a surprise. For many years I focused only on one quilt at a time. But having a few projects gives me a choice every day. Do I feel like listening to the radio while appliqueing 6" Dresden plates?

Or maybe I'm already dreaming of a White Christmas, so I make a cup of tea in a Santa mug (yes, in October!) and work on red and white flying geese. These are made of Bunny Hill's Winter Wonderland, and I just started them a few days ago. 20 done and 192 more to go.

And each month I look forward to the Moda Modern Building Blocks-Of-The-Month from Fig Tree Quilts, and I start sewing the very day that the package of fabric arrives.

I've spent a considerable amount of time avoiding the borders that need to be added to my Jumping Jacks quilt! The borders are cut and just need to be pinned and stitched. 

And the Fig Tree Cherry Pie quilt still needs borders, too. I stall forever when it comes to borders!

And for course, the Quilty Fun birthday cake quilt that I made last week also needs borders! Have you download your copy of the cake pattern? It's free and is available here!

Quilty Fun birthday cake pattern by Lori Holt for Fat Quarter Shop

Why do I create what I do?

Humm, why does such a simple question have such a complicated answer? Most importantly, it is the joy of making a quilt. I love being able to have something that I made. I've always been crafty. Can you guess what my favorite toy was when I was little? That big fat box of Crayola crayons with the built-in sharpener. I loved the metallics the best: gold, silver and copper. When I quilt I create something artistic that's also useful - all squishy and cuddly and comforting. I like knowing that I am creating something worth leaving behind, something that will make people want to learn more about me. I'm always pushing to learn new techniques, such as template piecing, working with 1/8" measurements (cut on the bias, even!) and hand applique. Sometimes I enjoy the process and wonder why I postponed it for so long. And sometimes I learn that I dislike a technique, but at least I've tried it.

The best example of boundary-pushing was the Farmer's Wife quilt along a few years ago. I saw the Farmer's Wife book at the bookstore, and it scared me. What, no rotary cutting instructions? I put it back on the shelf. But each time I went to the bookstore I found myself drawn back to it. The very difficulty of the quilt was what made it so compelling. And then the online sew along groups started and I knew that I had to get over my fear of paper templates. I enjoyed making those blocks so much that I kept going and made it king sized! It's probably my favorite quilt ever, and well worth the intense effort. 

How does my work differ from others?

Ok, let's address the big, pink quilted elephant in the room first. I'm a male quilter. I'm definitely in the minority. Each time I visit my local quilt shop I see more men shopping for fabric, and that makes me really happy. But I live in New York City. It's amusing when I visit quilt shops in small towns around the country. People look at me like I'm an alien, and I usually have to tell them that I'm a quilter. And then I head to the shelf of pretty vintage-inspired prints. Aha! That's another way that I'm different. Many male quilters work with darker fabrics or bright solids. Not me. Bring on the florals, dots and ginghams! The fabrics that I return to again and again are by Fig Tree Quilts and Bunny Hill (for soft, mellow vintage), Tanya Whelan's cabbage roses, and almost anything by Pam Kitty Morning and Lori Holt. I also like to mix in whimsical Japanese prints from Lecien.

I'm fairly consistent with a modern-vintage style. I'm very much influenced by vintage quilts of course, plus 1940's, 50's and 60's kitchenware from the flea market, cookbooks, British porcelain, tartans and menswear fabrics. Cakes, pies and candy are a great source of color inspiration. I'm happiest when sewing with bright prints mixed with pastels for balance.

Did you see the cookbook by quilters Amy and David Butler?!

How does my creative process work?

Interesting question! Fabric, patterns and social media all factor into my work. 

I'm like lots of other quilters in that it's all about the fabric. I'll fall in love with a new collection and then spend months trying to find the perfect pattern to show it off. When I see teaser photos of an upcoming fabric collection online, I'll start to think about how I can fit it into a quilt. For example, I'm already thinking about how I can mix the upcoming Pam Kitty Garden and Fig Tree Aloha Girl collections with my existing fabrics. By thinking this way, I'm sure to come up with a quilt that will have my own unique color imprint. I also prefer to work with controlled scrappy fabrics. What might appear to be random is actually very thought out. I try to always include a variety of visual textures and print sizes. 

I also hoard quilt patterns. I buy far more patterns than I'll ever use. Sometimes I just want to see how a block is constructed, and I'll learn a technique that I can apply to a future project. Learning about how that twisted ribbon border was constructed can be useful. I enjoy thinking about how to customize patterns to create something unexpected. For example, Lori Holt's Quilty Fun sampler quilt was designed with a large bee medallion. I reduced the bee to half size and made four of them. And in this quilt, I also challenged myself to include black fabric.

Quilty Fun sampler by Lori Holt

I like to transform patterns for wall quilts into bed quilts by doing the quilty math (with graph paper and a calculator!) - my birthday cake quilt began with just one block and I decided to turn it into a larger quilt. I also like to take patterns and completely change the fabric assortment. For my Butterscotch Tart quilt, I took the pretty, muted color palette shown on the Fig Tree pattern and shifted it into a completely new direction with bright reds, whites and blues from mostly Pam Kitty Morning and Lori Holt. And then I tossed some pink into my patriotic quilt, because, well, why not?

Butterscotch Tart by Fig Tree Quilts

And quilting should be fun! I'll usually try a few test blocks. If it isn't fun, or I don't like it, then I don't proceed. There's too much great fabric and too little time to make something that isn't enjoyable! I recently tried to do a strip pieced quilt. It was so easy that it bored me. That was the end of the strippy project! Sometimes, I need lots of little HSTs or tiny flying geese to keep me interested.

Whit by Carrie Nelson

I love to fussy cut my fabric to highlight special motifs. I'm not afraid to waste fabric if it means that I'll get the look that I'm aiming for. Here, I've cut Lecien's Flower Sugar to give a lacy effect to the mitten cuffs, centered the large floral on each mitten, and centered the yellow floral stripe on the outer border scallop.

Social media is definitely very inspirational. I love to see what everybody else is working on. But for me, the challenge is to be inspired without copying others. We all get to learn a little about each other. We share vacation, food, family and pet stories. It's like having a whole big group of quilting friends all around the world! We encourage each other. And its a great way to quickly get opinions and feedback from my virtual friends, such as "help, which background do you all think is best?"

Thanks so much for visiting with me today. I hope that you've learned a little more about Grey Dogwood Studio. It's been fun (and challenging!) to have to think about who I am and why I do what I do. 

And now, it's my turn to introduce you to the next three bloggers on the Around The World tour! 

These three talented quilters will all be sharing their stories with you next Monday, November 3. So be sure to visit them, ok?

I love the way that Rebecca Grace at Cheeky Cognoscenti works through her quilting process. She explains in detail how she decides on block sizes, alternate blocks and colorways. I always learn something from her. I discovered her blog while doing a search for information about Singer Featherweight sewing machines. I've bookmarked this entry - it's loaded with good tips! 

Donna Moore at Donna's Lavender Nest has a sweet vintage inspired blog, full of my favorite retro prints. She also has an online shop with those hard-to-find Japanese prints, and they're available as individual fat quarters or as custom bundles. And her packaging is lavender!

And my friend Cynthia Horst at Dream Quilt Create is also going to share her story with you, too. I've followed Cynthia's blog for several years and I am a big fan of her quilts. We have similar taste in fabrics (we both love to collect Lori Holt's fabrics) and we really bonded while doing a Quilty Fun sew along together! 

Grey Dogwood Studio is on Instagram! Follow me at @greydogwoodstudio to see all my latest projects, plus the occasional cupcake and cute cat photos!

moda modern building blocks - the first 18!

Yay! I've completed 18 Moda Modern Building Blocks, Fig Tree style!

This month's blocks all featured the Fig Tree Somerset orange with cream dots and Moda Bella ivory solid. It was like making creamsicles!

I have a tip for you when sewing with bias cut triangles. I love using the Marti Michell Perfect Patchwork Corner Trimmer. It gets rid of dog ears before you sew your pieces together, and it helps to make sure that your pieces line up correctly. It's an inexpensive gadget that really works. And it's only $5 from Marti Michell's website. I had one in my sewing box for years and then it mysteriously disappeared, so I recently ordered a new one before I started this project. I used it on all the orange triangles on this square-in-a-square block. 

I can hardly believe that Grey Dogwood Studio is going "modern" with this quilt! But I love the way that the blocks look when they're all combined. I really hope that next month's fabric shipment from Fig Tree Quilts has some red!

And now for some fun news!

Be sure to visit me on Monday because I'm the next blogger on the Around The World blog tour! You'll get to learn more about me, my projects, work style and why I'm different from other quilters. Ever wonder about my inspiration? How I put fabrics together? All that and more!

moda modern building blocks - month 3

It's the third month of the Moda Modern Building Blocks quilt- Fig Tree style!

This 24" star block includes a tiny orange pindot print from the current Fig Tree collection, Somerset, mixed in with Moda Bella solids. I love having just the smallest hint of a print. It warms up the block and makes it a little less "modern" and feels a bit more vintage. And then there's the positively huge 30" star block.

These blocks are so dramatic because of their size. I'll also be constructing three smaller blocks this month, and when it's all finished, hopefully my quilt will look like this:

Image from Fig Tree and Company

The Fig Tree version is sold out, but there is a kit featuring an alternate colorway coming soon to the Fat Quarter Shop. You can also purchase just the pattern and use your own fabrics. The kit and pattern are both available here. 

This past weekend, I went shopping in search of some upholstery fabric. Any chance to visit NYC's garment district makes me happy. It takes me back to my days at school and hanging out in designer showrooms. And it's a vibrant reminder of the great design creativity that comes out of our country. I only needed to visit one store - Mood Fabrics!

You might have heard of Mood Fabrics. It's where the Project Runway contestants shop. The store was positively buzzing on Saturday afternoon. It's on the second and third floor of an unmarked office building. There are bolts of silk taffeta, shirtings, upholstery fabrics, organzas, satins, burnout velvets... I kinda wonder why some of those outfits on Project Runway are so ugly when the designers have access to all this great fabric!

All that fabric shopping left me hungry for a cupcake! That problem was quickly solved with a visit to Sweet Revenge in the West Village. Sweet Revenge is a tiny cupcakerie that also offers light lunch food, and has special pairings of cupcakes with wine or beer. There are never more than six cupcake flavors, and they're all amazing. I had a "Dirty" cupcake - dark chocolate cake, rich chocolate ganache and dusted with cocoa powder. The cupcakes seem very adult - no sprinkles, no pink and no gummy bears here!

I'd like to thank you for the great response to my Quilty Fun birthday cake quilt last week. I really appreciate the comments and emails that I received. I'm happy that you were able to celebrate with me!

quilty fun birthday party!

Happy First Birthday, Quilty Fun! Welcome to my stop on the birthday blog hop! 

Quilty Fun by Lori Holt has quickly become my go-to book for fun, scrappy patchwork designs. Seriously, I would like to make everything in this book! The book contains clear, easy-to-understand diagrams for creating the row quilt shown on the cover, plus ten additional projects ranging from pillows to runners to quilts, all using rotary cutting with no templates. 

To help celebrate the first birthday, Lori Holt has created a special, fun birthday cake block!

Mmmm chocolate layer cake. My favorite! I was so excited to print out the free pdf of this pattern's cutting instructions, and I immediately started sewing my birthday cake. But I liked it so much that I needed another piece of cake. How about a red velvet cake?

And because I have so many favorite cake flavors I just kept going! Anybody want a piece of strawberry cream cake?

Before I knew it, this happened. Twelve cakes with rainbow sprinkles sashing!

Who wouldn't love a fancy cake for Valentine's Day?

Or maybe a pretty birthday cake with fanciful buttercream rosettes?

Could I tempt you with a slice of chocolate mud cake?

Seriously, you are going to LOVE making these cakes. One would be cute as a pillow. Three would make a great birthday table runner. Or go crazy like I did and make twelve (or more)! Download the FREE copy of the Quilty Fun birthday cake pdf pattern here. You can also view all twelve of my birthday cake blocks on my Flickr page.

But don't leave yet because the birthday party is just getting started! Here are some of the amazingly fantabulous patterns in Lori's book. There's the full row along quilt that I made last year.

I loved making the Snowball Fight table runner. I really need to have this quilted before Christmas!

And the Quilty Fun book also has directions for Lori's signature bee pattern. Here I've reduced the size of the bee and made a quartet of them!

I do hope that you'll help me in celebrating Quilty Fun's first birthday. Pour yourself a nice hot (or cold!) drink, download the birthday cake pattern and start stitching!

Thanks for stopping by today. Be sure to visit the Fat Quarter Shop for a copy of the Quilty Fun book. Their blog will also have links to all the other bloggers participating in the hop. And drop by to see what Lori is working on here. I'll see you soon!

sashing the homestead

Yes, finally! All 20 Fig Tree Homestead blocks are finished!

Isn't this the quirkiest house block? I've never seen anything else quite like it. It's almost an optical illusion. I really love those Fig Tree blues - the sky and navy prints.

I started the sashing last night. But I just wasn't paying attention to what I was doing! Often the simple sewing is where I make the most mistakes. There was quite a lot of unpinning and unsewing going on. My biggest hurdle was getting the horizontal seams of the grass to line up from row to row. It was easy to fix with a little concentration and pins. 

It's amazing how much abuse those poor 1 1/2" strips of sashing fabric had to endure!

And after all that effort, I love how it's coming together. This quilt is going to become a favorite! I just need to add two outer borders and it will be ready for quilting.

Thanks so much for visiting me today. I'm always happy to have house guests (heehee get it?!).

friday finish - whit!

Meet Whit!

Whit by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. is finished! Maybe I should say that it's almost finished. After quilting, it will become a European pillow sham for my bed. To get the correct size for a pillow top, I needed to cut the border strips 2" wider than the pattern. And of course that meant that I needed to buy another 5" of background fabric. Grrrr. Luckily, Donna shipped extra fabric to me in just two days! (I could have joined my leftover fabric strips to get the right length, but I really didn't want to see the seams.) 

Whit measures 26" square. Each Flying Dutchman block is 4". I used Flower Sugar by Lecien - most of it is current season, but I tossed in some older pastel favorites, too. And for extra visual texture, I added 1/8" mini gingham from Riley Blake. I love how it coordinates perfectly with the florals. 

This was a fun quilt to make! Nice little blocks and short border strips. I usually dislike the process of pinning borders, but 26" borders - I can handle that! 

The Another Year of Schnibbles sew along is hosted by A Quilting Life and Pink Pincushion, and you can get all the details about how to join the group here. 

And now can I start a new quilt? I am dying to cut into my new Christmas fabrics

I'm linking up today with Finish It Up Fridays at Crazy Mom Quilts. 

flying dutchmen

Sixteen Flying Dutchman blocks are done! They're for my Little Bites "Whit" mini quilt. Why is this block called Flying Dutchman, anyway?! Wikipedia says that a Flying Dutchman is a legendary ghost ship that can never make port and is doomed to sail the oceans forever. Maybe this refers to how I felt doomed to make 128 mini flying geese forever?

I'm kidding, of course. The blocks were actually really quick and easy to construct once the geese were completed. There's nothing complicated here. Each block measures 4" finished. I was a little concerned about getting my points to match in the centers but they turned out really nicely.

It took some maniacal focus on Thursday and Friday nights to get these pieced. I spent the early part of last week in Dallas on a business trip - hence, no sewing for three days. This is an annual trip where I train and motivate a group of 75 people to sell my company's products throughout the holidays. It was quite a production, in a hotel ballroom. I had special music, snacks and decor, and I even did a costume change mid-lecture! It was hysterical, but hopefully they all learned something, too. Then I rushed back to NYC to meet with another retailer. So it was a temporary break from my normal life, but sometimes I gotta do the real job!

I'll leave you with a shot of all 16 blocks. They're ready for sashing, cornerstones and a border! A finish is coming soon!

floral flying geese

The flying geese have arrived! I've got 32 sets of 4 matching geese. They'll finish at 1" x 2". Yeah, I know. Crazy. They took longer to make than I had expected - they're super easy to make and trim with the Mini Fit To Be Geese ruler, but they're a little tedious. I also make them in color groups because then I have a feeling of accomplishment ("Yay, all the red geese are stitched!")

Ok, now that they're sewn and trimmed, I need to decide on a setting. First there is the Flying Dutchman variation. I love these. The blocks look scrappy, but they're really perfectly controlled. It does mean that my points will all need to meet in the middle correctly.

And then there are the straight rows of flying geese going in opposite directions. I really like these too! I could do them either randomly mixed up like I've shown here, or I could arrange them in an ombre rainbow setting.

So which will I choose? I'll think about it for a few days, because once I start sewing there's no unpicking!

moda modern building blocks - month 2

Howdy, everybody! I recently returned from a short trip to New Mexico (yes, again!) and immediately got back to sewing. It was exciting to find an envelope from Eric Figueroa at Fig Tree and Co crammed into my tiny mailbox. That could only mean one thing - the September fabric pack for the Modern Modern Building Blocks sampler arrived!

Last month I made one 36" block and four 6" blocks, and this month's fabric made an 18" block and four more 6" blocks. Working with Moda Bella solids is fun! I don't think that I've ever used solid fabric for blocks, so this is a bit of a stretch for me. I love that tiny coral pindot fabric from Fig Tree's recent Mirabelle collection. It adds just a bit of texture without being too overpowering. 

The Flower Sugar fabric for my Another Year of Schnibbles "Whit" pattern also arrived while I was away (I could barely open my mailbox!) and I quicky starched and cut it. Here are my fabrics, just waiting to be sewn into flying geese.

So when I wasn't sewing or blogging last week, here's what I was up to. My sister took me on a trip to New Mexico to celebrate my upcoming birthday. She's traveled around the world but never to the Southwest US! First, we visited Taos Pueblo, which has been continuously inhabited for over 1000 years and has no running water or electricity. 

And we had to have a snack at the pueblo. I love this sign. 

No running water or electricity, but they managed to find Sue Bee honey and a plastic tablecloth. That cracks me up. 

Then came a 2 1/2 mile hike in Bandelier National Monument. It's breathtaking to see caves carved out of ancient volcanic ash where primitive people made their homes. There are still traces of their artwork thousands of years later (swirls, zigzag serpents, and... people with marshmallow heads?).

We saw these sunflowers EVERYWHERE we went, growing wild and out-of-control along the highways as well as in the park.

Surely this volcanic ash home could use a nice quilt with pointy-points and heirloom quilting?

After visiting the Bradbury Museum in Los Alamos to learn about the secret mission to create atomic bombs during WWII, we then stopped at Camel Rock, just outside of Santa Fe. We joked about how silly this rock formation looks, but after driving by it 8 times we decided that we just needed to get a closer look. I think that if you look at it head-on it turns into a cobra instead of a camel, but never mind. I wouldn't want Camel Rock Casino to have to change its name!

And, of course, we spent time in Santa Fe, where the annual Fiesta was taking place. And the green chile pepper harvest was being roasted in giant rotating metal drums. We really had a great time. I got to spend time in one of my favorite locations with my favorite little sister!