Chemistry Couture

Mapping the Mind for Anne

Anne is a wonderful member of two bees I am currently a part of, Snip.Sew.Send and the Stitchin' Bee.  June was her month for S.S.S., and she requested that we make her a map block.  It could be any kind of map using any technique.

Mine is finally done and on its way to Anne, who hopefully will forgive me for being so very very late.  I did enjoy making this block, though, and since it might seem a little abstract, I'll give you my thought process for coming up with the design.

When Anne sent out her introduction for the Stitchin' Bee, she mentioned that she is married to her best friend.  I find that incredibly romantic . . . and I have read many many scientific articled about pair bonding between two humans, what causes it, and how it is sustained.  For instance, did you know that when you see someone you are in love with your brain sends out bursts of chmicals called oxytocin and serotonin?  These chemicals give you a sense of euphoria, and you are literally addicted to the other person . . . the process also occurs when drug users get a fix :) 

For some couples this chemical reaction occurs for only a few years, for others it can last through their entire lives.  Thinking about this made me remember a book I bought some time ago about human brain development and function: Mapping the Mind, by Rita Carter.  I love this book, its like a cool text book/coffee table book hybrid.  Very easy to read and lots of nice pictures, but very informative and interesting.

The cover of the book has a "map" of brain function.  So this is the image I chose to recreate, using embroidery floss in the colors from the "map of the states" fabric Anne sent to us for inspiration.  I didn't sketch it out first, or anything, I just kind of started working on it.  I did fold the fabric sometimes to get a straight line to follow, but otherwise it was all freestyle.  I really like it.  I think of it as an homage to Anne and her husband, as well as a nod to my love of both science and sewing.  A union of left brain and right brain, if you will. 

So there you have it.  Possibly the coolest and nerdiest quilt block I have ever made.

Forgive me, Anne!  The block is on its way.

It's Been So Long

Guess what!  My dad fixed my computer . . . because he's AWESOME. 

Sorry I've been away.  Theres been lots of craziness going on around here and I just haven't been able to keep up with all my projects.  Hopefully I'm back on track.  Well, I will be as soon as I finish the quilting bee blocks that are already a week late.  Oh my.

Among other things, I started a new job (and I LOVE it), my computer went kaput, and Randy and I broke up.  I know what you are thinking, but honestly the most devastating thing was the computer crash.  I LOST the pictures I took of the last few blocks I made for other people and picture of my niece, and picture of friends from Texas.  Sigh.  As for R and I splitting up . . . sometimes things break and they can't be fixed.  And that's all I have to say about that.

I finally got a picture of all the amazing blocks the ladies of the Sitchin' Bee made for my month.  Behold the moderny goodness:

These ladies are friggin awesome.  Many of them also sent me blocks for the Quilts of Valor quilt top. 

I just need to put them all together, make a samwich and send it off the be quilted by one of the volunteer long arms.  My modern quilt top will be quilted by ME, however, so it may take longer.

Alrighty, then, I need to get crackin on those late blocks.  Sorry ladies.  I'm so ashamed :(  Sometimes life just throws you for a loop and all the fun things gets put aside for a little while.  Back to work!!!

Fabrics for May

May is my month for the Stitchin' Bee!  I'm so excited.  I've decided to do something a little different from my usual M.O.:  I'm sending all of the ladies a bunch of solids and asking for a 12.5 x 12.5" modern block.  The exact interpretation of "modern" is up to them!  The solids were colors I already had (budget, people, buuuuudget!).  Some of them work nicely together, some clash a little . . . I'm leaving it up to each sewer to decide which colors she wants to use in her block.  I can't wait to see what they turn out.  Everyone did such an amazing job on Kelly's beach quilt, I'm so proud of our little group!

Once again, the colors aren't quite right on my camera (I really need to figure that out!).  What appears to be a bright orange on the right is actually a nice pinkish coral.  The dark color is a charcoal grey.  There are two shades of aqua, a nice cream (which looks kind of yellowy here), three shades of purple and a bright yellow.  What do you think?

April Block for The Stitchin' Bee

I finally finished!  Kelly sent out her fabrics for The Stitchin' Bee a couple weeks early, and I'm so glad she did!  She wanted us to use the comic strip fabric and the other colorful stripes and polka dots she sent to create blocks for her "Dysfunctional Family Quilt."  She is lucky enough to live near the beach in Florida and needed a beach blanket/quilt that will accomidate her family, some toys, and maybe a picnic :)  When I think of the beach I think of Mexico and tiles and mosaics, so I used little bits of all the fabrics Kelly sent to make a mosaic block!

All the little pieces were cut out, laid out on a navy blue background block, and then hand appliqued . . . hence my happiness at having extra time.  I did a few squares each night and then cut away the backing fabric behind the appliques once it was all done.  It ended up being a little larger than 12.5" square, so Kelly will just have to mark out 12.5 and sew along the line.  I would have trimmed it myself but I didn't want to compromise the applique and I wanted her to decide where the cuts should go!

My favorite part?  The little circles I appliqued on top of some of the squares.  I think it looks interesting . . . and maybe Kelly and her boys will have fun looking at all the different parts and patterns in the block.  Oh, just in case you are wondering, the comic strip says "Benji, don't pee in the pool!"

(sorry, the colors are just a little off on the pictures above.  Everything has an aqua tinge!  Thats kind of beachy . . . right?)

April Bee Blocks and Quilts of Valor

The first one you see here is for Heather of the Snip.Sew.Send bee.  She sent me some orange fabrics and very simple instructions for this block.  I love orange, so it was very tempting to keep this one for myself!  One of the pieces she sent was just a little too short so I substituted in a strip from my own stash.  I think it blends in nicely.  It was fun to have such a simple, straightforward block.

The blocks below are for Amy of the Pretty in Pink bee (yes, I joined ANOTHER bee.  In this one you have to use pink fabric, obviously.  How could I resist?).  She wanted those cute little wonky stars I see everywhere and she sent out some Gawjus pink and orange fabrics.  I really loved making the wonky stars. I even pieced both of the centers.  Here is the tutorial she linked us to on the flickr page if you want to try your hand at some.  You can adjust the size of the squares to change the size of the final block.  I might make a couple for the Quilt of Valor I'm working on.

So, more on the Quilt of Valor.  Some of the ladies in my Stitchin' Bee have offered to make and send me blocks to be sewn into a quilt or quilts for injured soldiers (through the Quilts of Valor program, click the link if you want to read more about it).  A few of us know people (or are married to people!) serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, and I thought it would be nice to help out in an old-fashioned sort of way.  The blocks are supposed to be 12.5 inches square in either red and white, blue and white, or red white and blue fabrics.  If anyone out there would like to help out just send me an e-mail and I will let you know where to mail your blocks!  They do recommend that you use only "mature" fabrics, so no cartoons please.  I know, it's hard.  All of my fabrics are very girly and juvenile.  I like 'em that way.

SSS Block for March

 

March's Snip.Sew.Send block is for Tina.  She wants to make a quilt for her daughter, so she sent up lots of pink white and blue strips of fabric and asked for "squares within squares."

I must admit that I really really wanted to take the little kerchief girl square for myself and just "forget" to include it in the block, but my conscience got the best of me.  I included lots of very thin 1/4" pieces.  I've used them in some of the other blocks and I put them in my own quilts, so I feel like it makes the block sort of mine.  Definitely my style.  Overall this block was improvised as I sat at the sewing machine.  Sort of a sew as you go kind of thing. 

I tried to include a few little suprises.  Something you wouldn't see unless you really studied the block.  I hope Tina and her daughter love it!  I'll be putting it in the mail on Monday.  By the way, Tina is doing a quilt along over at her blog.  It just started so check it out and join in!

SSS Block for February

February was Kris's month for the Snip.Sew.Send bee.  She wanted little trees and houses and, I must admist, I was totally intimidated by this block!  That's why I kept putting it off.  It was silly of me, though, because it was a lot of fun to make.  I kept holding the pieces up while I was working on them, showing them to Randy, saying "Look!  Isn't it cute!"  Randy didn't say they were cute, but he did say "Oh" every time I held them up, so at least he was sort of paying attention.

The tree is based off of the flower tutorial that Kris posted on her blog a little while ago.  I didn't have enough fabric to complete the block, but Kris can add more fabric to it when it arrives.

The house is my favorite.  It's a dog house!  And just in case you couldn't tell it was a dog house, I appliqued a little dog onto the block.  So there you go.  If you recognize the colors, I used the scraps from the fabrics I used to make the Zakka pillows.  I love these colors.  Love them.  Hopefully Kris will like them to.

This was fun fun fun.  I think I need one of these neighborhood quilts now!

The Bean Quilt

It is finally done.  After months and months of making thousads of tiny stitches, the Bean Quilt is complete!  This is probably the most beautiful quilt I have ever made, and I am so proud to be giving it to my little niece.

 

As soon as I found out that my sister was expecting her first child, I knew I wanted to make a tree quilt.  I don't really remember what started it all, but that was the plan from the start.  The tree itself was inspired by an oak tree that grew across the street from the Starbucks that Randy and I frequented in Austin, TX.  I took a picture of it with my cell phone on the afternoon that Randy passed his defense and became Dr. Randy, Ph.D.  I sketched the tree trunk and branches on swedish tracing paper and then used that as a template for the brown fabric. 

 

I made templates for three different sized leaves out of scrap cardboard and used it to trace and cut out leaf shapes on three different green fabrics and then some random pretty fabrics from my stash (the colors used were picked from a comforter that my sister had in her home.  My mom sent me paint chips that matched the colors in the bed spread).  I tried to keep the ratio at 50:50 green fabrics to colored fabrics because I didn't want it to become too overwhelming or cartoony.  I wanted it to be colorful but still look like a tree!

And then I appliqued it all down using the pin turning method.  The tree trunk was first.  Then I layed out all of the leaves and pinned them down once I liked the look of it, and then appliqued them one by one as well.  When all of that was done (it took a few months . . . really . . .) I cut away the backing fabric beneath the appliques so I ended up with one single layer of fabric. 

I added on the green patchwork border and then made my samwich and started quilting.  I stitched around the outside and inside of all of the leaves, and then stitched rib lines within the leaves so they have a little dimension.  For the tree trunk I stitched around the inside and outside and then added a wood grain pattern, free style.  For the rest of the blue background I stitched some freehand curvy lines and just blended them into the leafy area.  The whole thing was finished off with brown binding.

The back of the quilt is really nice because you can see the outline of the tree and leaves.  The back almost looks as pretty as the front.  The only thing that is missing is the tag I am making with my niece's name and date of birth.  I'm stitching it onto a piece of linen and I'll stitch it down in a back corner as soon as I am done.  The quilt is also unwashed.  I'm going to let my sister wash it in her special baby detergent.

And in case you are wondering, that little patch on the back is a gnome sitting on a toadstool.  I had to add him because I found a little tear in the backing fabric.  I didn't mind at all.  This quilt is meant to be loved and used and patched and frayed and fixed.  It will only add to its beauty and uniqueness.  Homemade quilts get even better with age.  I can't wait until The Bean is old enough to see all the fabrics, and point out the animals and flowers, and tell me which ones she likes best.  In the meantime, though, I'm SO glad to be done with it!

Two More!

I loved the commissioned pink and green baby quilt that I made so much, I made another quilt top with the leftover scraps.  I am done with the original, I just neet to take some nice pictures of it. 

 
I also made up a quilt top in purple and yellow.  This one is pretty bold, but I really like it!

 
I will be working on these when I'm not working on little things for The Bean :)

A Little Here a Little There

A tiny little ity bity sneak peek of the two Bean Quilts I am working on.  What is a Bean Quilt?  It's a quilt for my little niece or nephew who will arrive in the beginning of January.  I am so excited!  I get to make the crib bedding for my sister and my mom (as both will have a nursery, though my sister is the one expecting.  Imagine if my mom was pregnant too!  Wow, weird thought), and I am cruely keeping the construction and colors a secret until I am finished.

I've got all of the makings for the bedding for my mom, and I am gathering little goodies for my sister.  She just sent me some Liberty Fairy Clock fabric to use that I can't WAIT to get my hands (and scissors) on.  I love Liberty fabric.  Anyway, above is the little bit I am willing to show of the quilt for my sister.  Lots of applique.  Thats all I'm gonna say about that.

And these other pictures are the quilt for my Mom.  You can tell that the construction of this quilt is going to be pretty basic.  The prints are Alexander Henry (I found them at Joann's) and the solids are Kona cotton.  It's going to be reversible and adorable and hopefully appropriate for a boy or a girl!  I am going to use some of the same fabric and some new fabrics for the bedding.  Hopefully some of the little details I plan to add will make up for this quilt being a little simple.