I’m actually working on something! Actually two things.

Here’s the beginnings of “One Tote Fits All.”

And I decided I needed a bag based on “Big Zig.” I’m very excited about the fabrics. Brown corduroy, pink cotton, and an Amy Butler lining!

Since I just haven’t been able to fit in a big quilting project, though I really want to, I can do these bags in between hexapi

All my quilt books are posted for sale. I’m pretty excited about them. I love the texture of the soft crinkly quilt with stiff hand torn pages. I’ve always loved drawing on Barry’s engineering paper(it is my favorite color–green), so I added a few pages of it to each book for quilt or knitting pattern designing.

It seems like I’ve been working on photos all day. I had to get my camera manual out so that I could figure out what has been wrong with all my pictures. Everything has been turning out too dark. Now I know all about “exposure compensation.” I’m much happier with my pictures now

Well, before our trip I got my Kona Cotton Color samples that the Denyse Schmidt suggested. (Yes, Denyse Schmidt commented on my blog. If you don’t believe me, check this out!)

So, here’s my stack of squares:

They didn’t come labeled, so I went through with the list they came with and stapled names and numbers to each of them so that when I picked my colors I would know what to order.

The colors of our road trip really inspired me. I couldn’t get over the layers of grasses–the white/yellow of the dried grass, the red and orange plumes, the fresh greens–all against the back drop of deep green trees, gray trunks, and gray blue sky. As we drove I decided I wanted a quilt that was a late summer day, and as I’ve played with my color squares I came up with this color combination:

My photos just don’t do the colors justice…

Anyway, I found these vintage reproduction fat quarters at the New England Quilt Museum which fit my color scheme.

Hopefully soon I’ll get a chance to get underway!

I got some advice yesterday from none other than Denyse Schmidt! It was very helpful advice too. I had looked at Hancock’s of Paducah, but somehow failed to access their never ending selection of Kona cotton solids.

After jumping up and down and calling my husband to tell him “DENYSE SCHMIDT MADE A COMMENT ON MY BLOG!!!” I searched the sight for “swatch” to find the swatch set Denyse suggested. I ordered the set of 5″ squares in every color–that’s 119 colors! There’s also a card with swatches of every color. I got the squares so that (hopefully) I can move them around and experiment with color combinations and find exactly what I want.

I f you don’t have to decide hands on just take a look at the yellows , reds, naturals, greens and blues.

I had also heard that Denyse was going to come out with her own line of fabrics–so I e-mailed her back and asked if it was true. Well, it is! Here’s what she said:

“Yes, I’m doing a fabric line with Free Spirit (they do the Amy Butler fabrics), and I’m very excited about it. Should be in stores next spring or early summer, I’ll have info about it on my website when we get closer to its release.”

How cool!

Anyway, she’ll be watching as we “Quilt Along.” I’m excited to get underway and I’m excited to watch what everyone else does.

I did find a place with most of the Kona cotton solids online. I’m wary of ordering fabric online before I actually see it though.

But, here are some fabrics I would love to have, even without seeing them in real life.

  

I went to a local quilt shop in search of solids and these Amy Butler prints, but no luck. In looking online it seems there isn’t any of that top fabric left either. Bummer. The colors are just perfect for my upcoming quilt!

Well, my Denyse Schmidt book came last week. Yippee!! I’ve been studying and dreaming about what I want to make. Barry really wants one just like the orange “Drunk Love in a Log Cabin” one, but orange generally isn’t my thing. My dad calls me an ‘Earth child’ which totally describes the colors I’m drawn to. Brown, green, gray, yellowish-brown, grayish-green… you know–brown and green.

I’ve been playing with color combos:

brown and green– with the color of dried wispy grass thrown in

dried wispy grass with live green grass, then some green and orange to spruce it up

now, I think this is my favorite– rust and light rust with green, grey, and muslin.

So, all you Denyse Schmidt quilt alongers, I’m declaring my decision. I’m doing “Drunk Love 2 Tone” in rusty-orangy for Barry, with a back pieced like “A Day at the Beach” in calming green, brown and muslin for me.

Now to find SOLID fabric. I’ve been looking… Any suggenstions?

Here it is. It’s 108″x 108″, all cotton with Warm ‘n’ Natural cotton batting. My mom came in May and helped me pick fabric, buy fabric and piece it together. Ty wanted red and khaki, so we picked two reds and two creams and pieced the top like one HUGE log cabin block.

The back is my favorite though.

It’s a bunch of 10 inch log cabin blocks strung together with the blue I used for the binding on a field of red. Mom made the pillow shams with scraps and extra blocks. I think they’re cool.

Here’s a detail of the back.

The quilting took me forever. I had to bring the unfinished quilt in its own suitcase with me to Boise and finish it after the wedding. I spent about 6 hours last Monday finishing up the quilting. My first estimate of how long it took me quilt it was about 12 hours, but now that I’m sitting here thinking it out more, I think it took more like 20. I bound it on Tuesday, and gave it to Tyler and Katie on Friday after we got back from our camping trip and helped them move in to their apartment.

HAPPY WEDDING TY AND KATIE!! I hope you like it:)