Feeling a Little Quilty

I never had any desire to quilt, or even thought much about it. I always thought I didn't have enough patience for it. Well, that's all changed. I think I'm officially hooked! I even joined a block swap, The Modern Siggy Swap. The block looked simple enough that I could even do it! I chose to use prints from Art Gallery Fabrics' Sugar line.


Next on my quilty project list was a quilted patchwork camera strap cover for a girlfriend that recently moved away. I used Amy's tutorial and just tweaked a little bit.


My other obsession as of late has been pot holders and oven mitts! Yep, only because one day I realized just how bad I needed new ones. Pot holders are the perfect little "mini quilts" to get you started if you're new to quilting. You can practice fun quilt blocks and your binding. I made my first log cabin block on my first pot holder. I totally cheated on the binding and machine stitched it because I was nervous about hand stitching it.

I really wanted to make one like these and wished Elizabeth had a tutorial for them. Well guess what!? She then posted this tutorial. I quickly got to work. I chose to use a layer of Insul-Bright and batting, instead of the canvas and used fabrics from Patty Young's Flora and Fauna line. But after using it a few times, realized I actually needed a couple layers of Insul-Bright.


On this one I thought I would try my hand at free motion quilting. It definitely takes some practice. My stitching is uneven in a lot of places, but I have to say that it was so much fun! I really like how the stitching ended up looking like the bees' flight path!

I even made a set of oven mitts!

On another note, I recently got to meet up with a bunch of inspirational, crafty, quilty, talented, fabric-loving ladies! I've gotten to know Monica recently from Twittering with her and last Thursday, she invited me to meet up with her and a bunch of others at the Old Spaghetti Factory. I was a little nervous at first since I didn't know anyone except for Jona. But that changed as soon as I got there! Everyone was so fun, I felt like I had always known them. Besides me and Monica, there was Heather, Mo Bedell, Terri, Tammy, Violet, Joan and Jona.
After dinner, we headed over to the Portland Modern Quilt Guild meeting where we learned all about hexies. I had never made a hexie, but thanks to Monica, I have a new little obession!