Oh, Happy Day!

I had the happiest of experiences last night when I got home from work and this fantabulous doll quilt was waiting for me. I had to run and hang it up right away so that's why it's still got the fold marks in it, and you can see the low-rent curtain rod I scooped from the quilt that had previously hung there.

Suzanne, my partner, makes wonderful, wonderful things and I am so very lucky that she made some of them for me.

This quilt's name is Happy Squares ^FQ. I love the play on my name in a couple of places: happy (felicity means happiness), and the FQ is for Felicity Quilts (which Suzanne says is what she called me to herself as she made the quilt). FQ also means Fat Quarter, which is also very happy for us fabric hoarders collectors lovahs.

Check out the closeup (this is Suzanne's photo):

Where to begin? The off-centred colour squares....the grey....the linen...the stitching (including some gorgeous hand stitching in the coloured squares). The binding!

But wait, there was more! "Extras"! It's always nice to receive some extra little goodies and Suzanne spoiled me there, too. 

A beautiful needle book (which I've already loaded up), a sweet pincushion and a FQ of Far Far Away 2. The French accents on the needle book and pin cushion are particularly special to me (did you know I did my undergraduate degree in French Linguistics?).

All in all, a MOST successful swap thanks to Suzanne. I truly, truly love all of my things, but I especially love that I got to "meet" Suzanne and get to know her work because of it. 

Me = happy.

DQS10 Complete!

There must be some kind of disruption in the Space - Time continuum because I, President of the Last Minute Club, have finished my DQS10 quilt and have it all set to mail - self-serve postage label affixed, even!! - TWO DAYS before the deadline.

I'm so very, very pleased with how this turned out.

Here's my process. I had envisioned a sampler in the ROYGBV progression:


Then I pulled fabrics:


You'll notice I didn't use all of them, nor did I follow my original plan of using some black/white fabrics.

Then I began piecing blocks:


I decided on a final arrangement - with a surprise centre block - and asked for feedback on the sashing, thinking only of the blue option.


I got some GREAT advice and chose the Kona Medium Grey for a very skinny sashing (thank you Sonja for the great photo!!):


Quilted it all up. I used my walking foot and just used the seams as my guide. I marked the green block only so that I could follow those curves. Here it is, front:

Back (yes the label is on sideways - sue me):


Closeup of my favourite block:


And the label, using the logo for this round of the swap:


I'm so happy with this finish, I'm linking up all over the freaking blogosphere! Get ready, One Thing One Week at Amy's Creative Side, {Sew} Modern Mondays at Canoe Ridge Creations, and Tuesday Fabric Story - you're all getting Felicity-bombed this week!

WIP Wednesday - Making Progress

It's that time again! WIP Wednesday is here and I have a few things to report.

MADE MAJOR PROGRESS ON....

The DQS10 quilt. Now all of the blocks have been stitched in the ditch all around, four of the nine are quilted, one of nine is marked and I have a vague plan for the others.



I kept the quilting pretty simple and conservative, and used my walking foot. Mainly because I terrified of mucking the whole thing up by getting too fancy with the free motion. So far, so good!


MADE SOME PROGRESS ON...

A delinquent Bee block, and a test for one of the two QAL (Quilt-Along)s I joined.

MADE NO PROGRESS ON....

The New Wave quilt (other than making a block that will be incorporated into the backing) and everything else on my WIP and WIMM lists over there on the right hand side.

BUT THAT SURE DIDN'T STOP ME FROM ADDING THE FOLLOWING PROJECTS TO THE LIST...

Robert Kaufman-sponsored Challenge for the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild. This one deserves its own post - stay tuned!

See what everyone else is up to this Wednesday over at Lee's! It's a great link-up. Seriously. Go. Now.

Got Some Sewing Done

I didn't participate in the Friday Night Sew In because I was too dang tired. I usually sew for an hour or more each night after I put my daughter to bed in any case, but I've learned to listen to my body. If I try to sew when I'm too tired, I make lots of silly errors and it ends up at best a waste of time, and at worst, a disaster.

So when I found myself starting to brush my kid's teeth with a toothbrush covered in diaper cream (seriously) (I've got the Mother of the Year trophy allll sewn up, don't it?) I decided it would be prudent not to come anywhere near machinery of any kind. I read my fantastic book instead.

I did get some sewing done at other points over the weekend, and here are the fruits of my labour:



That is a test block for Lynne's quilt along over at Lily's Quilts (interested? see the button on my sidebar). I love love love how quickly this comes together, and how big the block ends up. I'll use this on the back of the New Wave Quilt. I haven't given up on it, it's just gone onto the back burner. I refuse to admit that it's a UFO. Even though I keep putting projects ahead of it on the to-do list.

One of the reasons I'm behind on everything (other than the forementioned re-prioritizing of shiny new projects over old ones...) is that I'm now in three bees! Note to self: Self, that's too many. One of the many pluses of being in a bee is that you get to fondle work with other people's fabric. I was sorely tempted to "forget" send back the extra fabric that I got sent to make this string block. I've never seen most of them before and I love ALL of them!



And I basted my DQS10 quilt. Trying not to freak out about how to quilt it. Or rather, trying to stop fretting that attempting to do some interesting free motion quilting in each block is going to wreck it.



Slowly, slowly, I'm getting there. Goal for this week: quilt the doll quilt. Full stop.

Lining up to Amy's One Thing One Week challenge!

To Sash Or Not To Sash, That Is The Question

With apologies to Bill S. for the title, I have a dilemna (sic - my friend Anne and I always purposely mispronounce certain words, and dilemma/'dilemna' is one of them).

Sashing?

Or no sashing?

If I chose sashing, it would be narrow (say 3/4" finished) - Dear Jane style. The centre block is a surprise for no other reason than I love surprises (well, good ones anyway). For what it's worth, I'm leaning toward sashing. I think the blocks need a little breathing room around them.

Also (again): quilting suggestions? I have lovely lovely thread that matches the background blue. Stippling or something all-over doesn't seem right. A simple something in each block is what is currently speaking to me.

Thoughts?

Edited: Flickr peeps FTW! I had a few suggestions for skinny sashing in a contrasting colour (such as black or grey) - I am using Kona Medium Gray and it looks FABOO!

WIP Wednesday

Oh my goodness do I have a lot of WIPs on the go!

MADE MAJOR PROGRESS ON...

My doll quilt for DQS10. Here's where I've gotten so far:

Only two more blocks to go! The violet one for the bottom left-hand corner - I'm having some trouble finding just the right fabric for this block. My purple stash is sorely lacking. The middle block is a surprise that I'm saving til the quilt's done and I post the final photo.


MADE SOME PROGRESS ON...

My That Girl...That Quilt along. Got another row and a bit done.

(repeat photo from my last post - sorry!)

MADE ABSOLUTELY NO PROGRESS ON....

The New Wave Quilt and the Confetti quilt (formerly machine cover).

ON DECK (aka Works In My Mind/WIMMs)...

Memory quilt for BFF's daughter (fabrics pulled, pattern chosen), Quilt Hope In quilt, etc.

Sorry for the rather boring post; I just wanted to get that organized for myself.

Linking up to Lee's for WIP Wednesday.

Retreat Report

Imagine you're planning to go on an all-day quilt retreat. It goes from 9 am to 10 pm, meals, snacks, coffee/tea/juice are provided. You'll have your own banquet table workspace, plus access to a big table for basting and raised tables for comfortable cutting. Now. Here's the question: how much sewing/quilting do you think you will accomplish in those 13 hours?

Here's my list of projects that I brought along (vaguely thinking I would get most of them mostly (if not completely) done). I've indicated the project's status so you can get an idea of where I sat with them as I packed them up:

1. Drunk Love in a Log Cabin-style Bee Blocks (2) for Nicole in the Maple Leaf Bee (fabric still in mailing envelope);
2. Christmas Tree Skirt ties to be finished off (raw edges needed to be folded in and ties finished with a topstitch);
3. DQS10 quilt (fabric pulled, blocks chosen, one (of 9) blocks pieced);
4. That Girl That Quilt Along quilt (all cut out with 1 row (of 8) of blocks already pieced);
5. New Wave Quilt (all cut out);
6. Memory quilt for my BFF's daughter (fabric pulled (but not cut), and pattern chosen).

Here's what I actually accomplished:

1. The Bee Blocks.

Bee Blocks

2. The Tree Skirt ties (took literally 5 minutes - I couldn't find time to do that before Christmas??? Ugh.)

3. Four DQS10 blocks.

4 more (6½") DQS10 blocks

4. 1 full and 1 partial row of Quilt Along blocks (sorry for the terrible photo). 

More QAL blocks - bottom row is missing some frames

As usual, my eyes were bigger than my stomach, quilting-wise. Thirteen hours seems like such a long time!! I felt like I should have walked out with ALL of my stuff done! 

Oh well. The best part of it all wasn't what I got sewn, it was who I got to spend the day with:

Flickr Friends on Retreat

While I wasn't as productive as I (admittedly delusionally) hoped, I had tons of fun and got a little sewing done, too. I'd call that a success.

Back in the Saddle, Kinda

Sniff cough noseblow sniff....you get the picture. This cold is hanging on. It might even have been two colds back to back, that's how bad it is.

I'm sort of back to the land of the living, and I've been doing a little bit of sewing.

I couldn't resist all the fun that's happening over at Quilt Story's Block Party so I am on the bandwagon, baby!


This Snail's Trail is my entry in the Traditional category. Lousy nighttime photo and all...


Bonus: it is the beginning of my Doll Quilt for DQS10! Too bad my math was off when I resized a 12" block to what I thought was 6" - this ended up 5½" unfinished. Oops. Maybe I won't do the calculations in my head next time. What? I'm a banker, people! I should be able to do some basic math upstairs. Not tonight, obviously.

Speaking of DQS10, here are the fabrics I think I'll be working with:

The solid is Kona Robin's Egg Blue and I like how it looks with that rainbow of fabrics. My plan for the quilt is a 9-block sampler with each block using one of the fabrics plus the solid. The centre block is going to be a surprise! Stay tuned!

DQS10 Mosaic

In case you're not active in the Flickr quilting community, DQS10 stands for Doll Quilt Swap 10. The 10th iteration of this wonderful swap has begun!

It's a secret swap, so your partner doesn't know that you're making a quilt for him/her, and you don't know who's making one for you! So, how do you know what to make for your partner?

You stalk them! Well, not exactly, but along with your partner's name, you're given their blog (if they have one) and their Flickr photostream where you can have a look and see what kind of things they like to make and receive.

A great way to help your partner to know more about your likes and dislikes - or to help guide them toward making something that's really going to hit the spot - is to make a mosaic of your Flickr favourites. Here's mine:


Ecelctic or scattered? I guess it will be up to my partner to decide that! I can't believe how much my tastes have changed in the past year. I've fallen in love with quilts made from solids (have yet to make one for myself, though), and more "arty" type pieces. What hasn't changed, however, is my love of certain motifs: birds, circles, trees, leaves...those are all still going strong. I really do want my partner to make me something that reflects them as opposed to just something that I would like or make myself.

And in case my partner follows this blog (doubtful): please, please make me a mosaic. Or favourite a few more than the 5 photos you've got in your favourites stream. Help a swapper out, wouldja? Update: we have mosaic. And I have inspiration. Yay!

Some Recent Felicities

Did you know (before I included a definition in my blog header) that felicity means "happiness"? When I chose to name my blog Felicity Quilts, I was going for the intentional double meaning: it's a blog about my quilting AND about the fact that this hobby truly makes me happy.

Anyhoodles, here are some quilty things that have made me happy in the last little while.

1. I GOT IN! Yippeee! I am excited and terrified and happy and worried that I've bitten off more than I can chew. All natural reactions to getting into one of the (in my opinion) best swaps on Flickr, I'd say.

2. I got tagged. Twice! The lovely AJ and the lovely QuiltyGirl (Nikki) both tagged this here blog with a blog award.

 
Intended to recognize the "smaller" blogs without lots of followers (i.e. fewer than 300), the Liebster Blog award is a way to get the word out about blogs you may not have heard of, but are worth checking out.
 
By accepting the award/tag, you commit to tagging 3 to 5 other blogs. Without further ado, I am happy to introduce you to:

BlueberryGabs Jody is a fellow Canadian which makes her awesome already, obv., and her blog is pretty cool, too. Check out the beginnings of a gorgeous FMF quilt.
Sleepytime Sewing Leigh does her sewing like me: during naps and after bedtimes, and I completely relate!
Katie's Korner This is a new to me blog that I discovered via Naptime Quilter's Workshop in Progress. Great photos, fun writing and fresh projects.
Pitter Putter Stitch Brooke's projects are lovely, and I really enjoy all of her wonderful process posts.

These nominations were like getting a big hug, and I am truly honoured - thank you AJ and Nikki!! Now all of you go check out those blogs! Go!