Tag Archive | Fig Tree

Weekend Sewing Accomplished!

Here I am! Back again after a long break… Last time I checked in, I was going to put the borders on my son’s newest quilt top… Minecraft Mayhem.

But with this one done, I was eager to move onto a little Christmas in July sewing. I had this group of items ready to put together:

And got started on it with some pressing, starching and sorting.

I wanted to add in some blues from the Jingle collection to join with the Little Joys fabric bundle.

And since the Jolly Bar was going to take some extra thought and planning and a bit of a scrappy combination – I started with those. I wouldn’t be able to utilize the fancy Triangle Paper, so I was prepping for the old fashioned method (A squares). “8” is my substitute for my lost “B” alphabitty.

I was able to get 8 blocks from all of the blue/green colors (6 sets in progress shown here):

I will be putting 4 Little Joys pink blocks in the center (which I finished late last night and they look great!):

I’m really enjoying this new project – but to tell you the truth – there isn’t much wiggle room after you trim down the mountain unit to get the quarter inch allowance. The FQS tutorial online makes it sound like you will have more to trim, but I find that I don’t. I also found that my mountain unit can in no way match to the same size as the background “B” piece that gets cut diagonally once. The FQS tutorial makes it look like they do come out approximately the same size, but they do not. When Kimberly is pinning them together, she is matching up the two ends. I have a consistent 1/2 inch difference in length along those long bias ends. Or I am doing something wrong.

Any who…

I also couldn’t jump at the chance to buy these beauties off eBay last week. I have no good reason to get them this early because I won’t be doing a project with them anytime soon – but I really wanted to have them in person to touch and see.

Scrap bag of Farmhouse and 2 charm packs each of Farmhouse and Hello Darling:

Well, I must go. Lunch hour is over… 😦

Jennifer

Stems – A Mini Sampler

Nov21

Hello all!

I’m excited to share my flimsy finish for November’s AYOS quilt.

It is best described as a Stems Mini Sampler. I have worked in three of Fig Tree Quilts newest mini patterns. I put in links to Fig Tree Quilts shop site for each pattern if you want a quick way to buy one for yourself.

Here is a picture of the original pattern design by Fig Tree Quilts:

Now, here’s mine. I used a partial charm pack each of Best.Day.Ever. and Fancy.

First – let’s start with the Mini Stems !

Here is a Mini Lollipop !

And finally – Mini Painted Ladies !

And then put them all together!

This center part came out around 30″x31″. The green grass fabric really looks like grass texture up close. I didn’t pre-test it for colorfast – fingers crossed!

Also, when I started off – I wasn’t thinking that I was going to grow it this much. I had opened up a jelly roll of Kona White for the background and I couldn’t (easily) find a matching white when I got to the expansion areas for the sun and butterflies. So – I made do! I think the quilting design I have in mind will help hide the seam lines, and it will be backed with white batting – not a dark green quilt underneath.

I had everything for this quilt (except the coordinating butterfly backing which I got half off from Hancocks of Paducah) in my stash. Here is what I came across for my border fabric which was PERFECT. One yard each of these two pieces from Swirly Girls for Michael Miller. Probably got it on a Flash Sale from FQS :

I finished the last border around 1:00 am this morning. I should have laid this out on a white bedsheet, but it was really late and I was really tired. The green surround is the bedspread quilt.

Stems Mini Done

Finished quilt size is now around 50″x51″. And it is already earmarked as a Christmas present for my granddaughter who was born in May of this year. I see it as a great interactive play mat for now and hopefully it gets washed a lot and becomes a super soft snuggle blanket later.

I’m really happy how it turned out.

Have you done your Mini Stems yet? Can’t wait to see you in the parade! Hop over to Sinta and Sherri’s blogs on December 1st to see all the wonderful garden quilts – I bet there will be a lot of participation this month!

Enjoy the weekend!

Jennifer

Stems Quilt – A History

Nov18

This month, the AYOS project went rogue and selected a mini pattern from Fig Tree Quilts. I am an official Fig Tree Quilts groupie and have hoards of fabric yardage that is really being wasted in my stash boxes. And quilt kits. And patterns. And nail polish to match the fabric (I don’t even wear nail polish). And Aurifil thread kits to match the fabric … which I bought two so that I might actually open one of them some day.

So, when the ladies hosting Another Year of Schnibbles (and a little bit more) announced November’s pattern was to be the mini “STEMS” … I was certain to participate.

I made the full size, traditional STEMS quilt in 2011 using the Strawberry Fields collection (also by Fig Tree Quilts). It was the first quilt I made since my two quilts in college and it jump started me back into quilting again.

I made it as a friendship and support quilt for my longtime friend and college roommate, Valerie.

Valerie had been diagnosed with breast cancer, but she lives and teaches high school students in another state. Valerie and I are the type of friends that will always be friends even if we don’t talk on the phone but once a year or more. Thanks to Facebook, we have the sharing of family photos and stay in touch. She will always be my best friend when I recall my time at Texas A&M, but I’ve known her since 7th grade.

ANYwho… when I heard about the diagnosis, I wanted to give her something extra special so she would know I was thinking about her. I knew it would be a quilt. And it would be the STEMS quilt pattern by Fig Tree Quilts. I hired Diana Johnson to do the longarm quilting on it (she quilts a lot for Joanna Figueroa).

This was the year before I started this blog, so I have never shared these pictures with you before. Here goes…

Lots of pictures…

You know the colors are much brighter and more beautiful than I’m showing … right? Darn cell phone camera.

I just love this Strawberry Fields collection – don’t you? I have a fat quarter bundle that will stay perfectly intact…

Didn’t Diana do a wonderful job, as always? I had no experience in hiring longarm quilters, so I asked Joanna if she would share Diana’s contact information and she happily obliged. Diana does quilt for other people, it turns out! 🙂 Or at least she did this for me in 2011.

So… now that you have seen my big Stems quilt … I am ready to show you my AYOS mini stems quilt for November. See you soon!

All my best,

Jennifer

Summer 2014 Coming to a Close

Aug10

Hello kind friends and readers. Thank you for the patience and for checking in periodically to see if I would show up again. I’m still here. Time just decided to go into overdrive this past month. It has been just over a month since my last post, but not a lot of things accomplished in the quilting realm.

Work is busy. The kids went to summer camp every day and got to swim every day, which they loved. But that is over now. We just came back from a vacation getaway to Moody Gardens in Galveston, TX. It wasn’t a far drive from home, and in fact – my husband made an early morning trip back half-way through to get some cheaper snacks for the hotel room and a few forgotten items. Most of the time was spent in the water. I’m very tired of being wet and bound in a swimsuit. I bought my first swimsuit in 8 years for this vacation and I couldn’t believe how much those things cost. Especially ones that offer the … ahem… full coverage that I was looking for.

On a very sad note, I don’t think I mentioned that all 5 of our kittens tested positive for Feline Leukemia (FeLV). This is like contagious cancer for cats. It doesn’t spread to humans or other animals, like dogs. I had to go through the sorrow of losing 3 kittens in one day, then another kitten three days later. They are just over 5 months old and they fall so fast. All four that have passed had respiratory distress due to fluid building up in their bodies and starting to choke out their lung capacity. We have one kitten left – Olaf. When I took her in with the other sister, I had noted the night before that she had some cloudiness in her eye. The vet said it could be a tumor starting or just an eye infection. I have since taken her to the kitty ophthalmologist and they prescribed some steroid drops for two weeks to see how she reacts. They don’t think it is a tumor (relief). Her eyes are looking better already, but she will always have this underlying condition that I can’t control and at this point and I am so sad to know that at any time she may not make it past another few days. FeLV opens the door for infections or cancers to just come right in and take her down. We are doing what we can within our means to give her a comfortable and happy life and right now she is good.

So, I had been busy and depressed and not in much of a mood to sit and sew. Because that is usually a happy time for me. I don’t normally do ‘sad sewing’ or ‘angry sewing’, if you know what I mean.

There were a few days here and there that I found myself doing some piece work.

Here is my design wall today. I completed my two twin blocks for 2013 DM BOM – block #10. Next to it is the first block of the 2014 DM BOM series

Here is my cutting table at the moment:

I am working on Block #11. The folded stack of fat quarters is for another quilt that I haven’t started yet. And the clear envelope on the right side of the picture holds the first shipment from Fig Tree Quilts of the MODA Modern Building Blocks BOM program!

Here is a close-up of Block #11 that may be finished tonight:

Here are the pattern covers for Block #12 (the last block) and Block #2 of the new series that will be done next. I will be caught up after these are done.

I’m super excited about Fig Tree’s version of the MODA Modern Building Blocks quilt. It was offered through their website a couple of months ago, but it sold out quickly. Fat Quarter Shop is also offering this as a kit in September 2014. Here is a link to their site for that kit (click here).

A lot of the blocks will be made in the MODA Bella solids (like the original), but Joanna is also going to mix in some of her small prints and tone-on-tone fabrics from her newest collection called Somerset

In the first shipment, we received three cuts of Bella Solids. This fabric will be used to make five of the blocks in the pattern. One large block (36″) and four 6″ blocks. Their program is a total of 7 shipments.

Finally, I leave you with a super silly picture from our vacation to Moody Gardens. I love these kids!

Again, thanks for stopping by for a visit. I appreciate all of your emails and comments and hope to see you again very soon!

Jennifer

A rare Home Ec project

Mar24

Good grief, when will Spring finally get here? I’m still wearing my fleece jacket at work and bundling up the kids for school in the morning.

One bright spot of Spring is a window valance that I completed last week. Well … completed … just means that I have the top done. I need to actually QUILT it … Picky, picky.

I was inspired by a post from Sherri McConnell of A Quilting Life (click here to see it). She had taken the pattern by Fig Tree Quilts called Canned Pears (you can buy it here!) and made a wall hanging. I looked at it and thought that it would also play well as a window valance in our kitchen – but I liked the look of the offset pears in the main pattern.

Here is my window valance outside on a community bench:

And a little closer:

I scaled down the pattern size about a third to make it fit 5 pears with a mini-charm border. The whole thing ended up around 40″ x 18″ (roughly).

All of it was made with the Mirabelle collection by Fig Tree, with just a few squares of Honeysweet in the top border row.

Here is my old window covering. Very, very sad. It is a just a twin sheet we had that was folded and clipped up to a cafe rod.

AFTER: New, custom Fig Tree Window!

LIGHT ON

Pear Valance 2

Another LIGHT ON:

LIGHT OFF:

The lighting in my kitchen is really bad for this – so just take my word for it that the colors are bright, springy and wonderful!

I already have the backing, just need to layer and quilt. This is my first project for the home that isn’t a standard quilt. I’m so glad I took a chance!

Thanks for visiting! See you soon!

Jennifer

New tool – or Scrabble anyone?

Jan15

Last week… Fat Quarter Shop offered a weekly Facebook sale that I COULD NOT RESIST. I have been doing really well in my new fabric purchases … but last week they offered all of their Fig Tree fabric at 50% off!! I usually buy 1/2 or 1 yard of each fabric in Fig Tree collections, but I had not done Honeysweet yet. That was all I needed! While I was in my shopping ‘high’, and in my burst of BOM activity, I decided to throw into my shopping cart the Alphabitties notion from FQS.

I’m also preparing Block 7 of FQS 2013 Designer Mystery BOM. It is a cute house block, but it has a lot of pieces to it. However, they mostly seem to be straight cut piecing. And Block 8 is due in my mailbox any day now. so I better get started… 🙂

FQS BOM Block 7

The Alphabitties notion seems self explanatory – but just in case, Kimberly Jolly of FQS has a tutorial on YouTube that I’ll watch tonight to see if there are some secrets (I hope that copied link works, if not click here to go to the FQS website for this notion and follow their link). Or I could start a Scrabble game with my kids…

These are brightly colored, hard plastic squares (but not completely inflexible) that help you label your little piles of pieces. Specifically when you are working on patterns that are drawn up by “It’s Sew Emma”. The FQS DM BOM also seem to be a good fit because they also put the fabric cuts into letter order… see below (blurry I know). Each cut of fabric will be assigned a unique letter, which you can then place your Alphabittie tile on to keep you from remeasuring the pieces when you go to put it all together. If you have done any of their patterns or these BOM projects, you know what I mean:

so – that’s my plan for today/tomorrow/Friday. I’ll let you know if I enjoyed using these new tiles.

Hope you are having a great hump day!

Jennifer

It’s 2014 – Happy New Year!

Jan2

My family tried to stay up to watch the ball drop in our Central time zone, but one by one, we failed. My husband went first (I don’t think he really tried, it was only 9:30), then my daughter at 11:00, then my son at 11:45, and myself finally succumbed at 11:55 I think. Oh well, we all made it to today!

I am hoping to do something quilty every day this year. Blogging doesn’t count, so this will be a fast post. And these pictures below don’t count, because I did the work last night.

Here is Block 4 of the FQS Designer Mystery BOM for 2013. I love that dimensional look of the yellow print ‘frame’ behind the star:

It feels a bit odd to switch into this color scheme after working so long in the antique red, creams and tans of Midwinter Red. But it is so uplifting too to change gears! I continue to love AVALON by Fig Tree Quilts.

I got both blocks done and made some extra bonus blocks with the half square triangle leftovers:

I had a total of 16 remnants when I made the block of half square triangles. I used 8 to make the two pinwheels and the other 8 in a pattern to form a flower around a polka dot center. Not sure if or when I will use them, but I think they will come in handy when I am faced with two sets of blocks to make two quilts and I have one finishing kit.

I hope you had a great start to the year and have lots of quilty plans as well. Must go now, I have some quilting ‘me time’ to get to before we get to bed!

Jennifer

2013 Wrap Up!

Dec31

Last day of 2013! It was a big year for my family, on different levels. My children started 1st grade and Kindergarten, which are two big milestones. We bought our house, which we had been living as renters for over 3 years (thank goodness we don’t have to move!). My grandmother moved from my hometown to live with my aunt in Dallas, but she is doing well. We became pet owners again (from zero to 5 cats is extreme – anyone need to adopt a cat??). We all got another year older, but no health concerns.

Our Christmas rotation is now complete, with a visit this past weekend to Dallas to continue our family tradition with my grandmother and extended family. Every first cousin, Aunt and Uncle were present. We were only missing two second cousins, and the step cousins. Actually, it was a pretty successful turnout for shifting the location after 42 years from four hours away.

I asked for quilty things from my family and they took my wish list to the store for me. Couple of great books, a magnetic pin cushion, 3 yards of Kona White solid fabric (plan to work on the Lori Holt quilt along) and a FQS gift certificate!:

I also tried to put together a last minute gift, but didn’t make it. I did finish the table topper and pieced backing, but I ran out of time for the quilting part. This is a pattern called “Winter Seeds” and it was on my bucket list all year.

I used the fabric collection “Winter’s Lane” by Kate & Birdie Co for Moda. Beautiful ice blues, grays and saturated reds. The pattern was from The Crafty Quilter and her blog … click here to go to her post.

Here are some more pictures. I machine appliqued the ‘orange peel’ shapes with a tight top stitching and matching thread.

I pieced the back, but had to ‘make do’ with one small rectangle due to my shortage of that fabric. I should have used a primarily white alternate piece. I may replace it before I quilt it:

And here’s the top and bottom in one picture:

There will be some waste of the backing, but if you look at the Crafty Quilter’s blog pictures, you will see how it all comes out. It’s perfect!

Now that Nantucket was completed, I am moving on to my other BOM projects. I am three months behind on the FQS DM BOM 2013 quilt. I started on Block 4 yesterday and have gotten the pieces cut out. Like the other months, I am cutting out two blocks from the one set of fabric. I was able to get everything I needed, but I had to add the smallest amount of background fabric, which I had from an earlier month.

This morning I finished the center star portions with the surrounding strips. Next is the red/striped flying geese units. I want to get this block done tonight!

I’m so thankful for my family and friends and I look forward to all our new adventures in 2014. I hope you have a great evening tonight and I look forward to visiting with you again next year!

All the best,

Jennifer

New BOM Spoiler Alert!

Jun15

Forewarning! I received my first shipment from FQS for the 2013 Designer Mystery BOM yesterday, and I couldn’t wait to open it!

Before I do, I’ll give you a chance to avert your eyes and come back later if you are waiting on your own shipment and want to see the first block as a surprise.

I opened up my Robin’s Nest block 2 package, and pressed out the background fabric needed for the center applique. Once my center is done, then a little fussy cutting and applique of the round of scalloped border.

After this step, it will be some piecing for the next border round.

Ok … now – are you ready? I got Block 1:

And another picture:

Although I never started 2012 DM BOM, I wasn’t going to let this one get away from me. I have already cut out the pieces for Block 1. One thing with FQS exclusive BOM programs – they give you LOTS of fabric. I am going to cut out two sets of blocks from each month’s delivery. Here are my pieces for this month:

I have plenty for two blocks and I put the left over fabric back in the clear envelope. Can’t wait to get this pieced later today.

Also decided it was time for new rotary blades. Joann’s is having a ‘firefly’ sale and most everything I was interested in is half off. So, I got this 5 pack of blades for only $18, which is a great price. Plus their storage containers are also half off. Here’s my loot:

Project wish list as of today (no particular order):

Block 1 FQS DM BOM
Block 2 Robin’s Nest
Special quilt for a new high school graduate
Blocks 9-12 Blogger Girls BOM
AYOS for June – Dulcinea Schnibbles
Quilt my own tops – 10 Little Things, Hat Trick
Away From Home – Tree Block #2

How’s your summer wish list shaping up?

Thanks for visiting,

Jennifer

Another Friday, Another late night opportunity

May3

Fridays are particularly special for me because I have no hesitation to stay up late working on my quilt projects. I can get the kids tucked in, and then it’s all about “me time”. Yes, I do have a husband, and he does live with us. However, he has no capacity anymore to stay up past 9:00 pm. So – I get to go a little retro and pull late night sessions like I was in college again.

First – I wanted to show you what I have in my shopping basket right now with FQS.

There is a new collection of backgrounds/neutrals that really caught my eye. It is Linen Closet by Renee Nanneman.

I have two favorites in this group … the bees and the pins:

LinenCloset Bees

LinenCloset Pins

Both of these come in two colorways – light gray and wheat. I’m thinking the ‘Pins’ fabric will be a perfect background to go into the next Vintage AYOS pattern, called “Gentle Art”.

Gentle Art Pattern

If you were following some of the quilty blogs late last year, there was a big sew-along on another thread spool pattern. Although I had my fabric all picked out for it, I never got around to starting it. Now I have another chance for redemption – because I do think a “Spool” wall hanging is a must-have for anyone with a spare bedroom corner of a sewing room. The May AYOS pattern is called “Gentle Art”. You can purchase the PDF pattern through Carrie’s website by clicking here.

My thought is to browse through my vast collection of charm packs and jelly rolls of vintage Fig Tree fabric (perhaps Allspice Tapestry or Mill House Inn) and get started on this one as soon as I get my order in from FQS for the background. I was so inspired by the parade of quilts this week, that I am going to really study this pattern to see how I can make it my own.

Finally – I suppose it is time to get started on my Halloween BOM that I have collected over the past six months. I ordered the Sew Spooky BOM from Suzanne’s Quilt Shop and have all the components now, except for the backing. You can find this BOM at a lot of online shops, just search for it on the internet.

Isn’t it adorable? Some piecing, some applique, some fussy cutting and an accessory kit to go with it. Then I came across a new collection of Halloween theme fabric, called Spooky Shadows, while browsing “What’s New” on the FQS site and I believe I have selected this to be the backing. Cute – yes?:

Ok, I guess that’s enough on my plate for today. Hope you are getting excited about some upcoming, quality “me time”.

Have a spectacular weekend and thanks for stopping by today!

Jennifer

Seams Crazy

Quilting and Family – both crazy!

Tag Archive | Fig Tree

Weekend Sewing Accomplished!

Stems – A Mini Sampler

First – let’s start with the Mini Stems !

Here is a Mini Lollipop !

And finally – Mini Painted Ladies !

Stems Quilt – A History

Summer 2014 Coming to a Close

A rare Home Ec project

New tool – or Scrabble anyone?

It’s 2014 – Happy New Year!

2013 Wrap Up!

New BOM Spoiler Alert!

Another Friday, Another late night opportunity

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First – let’s start with the Mini Stems !

Here is a Mini Lollipop !

And finally – Mini Painted Ladies !

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