City Sampler Quilt

Here is my version of Tula Pink's City Sampler Quilt.  In the original design, there are 100 blocks.  I made 64 blocks because 100 felt daunting at the time and larger than the size that I wanted. 

The two ladies who roped me into making this quilt in the first place set a challenge for all of us.  The challenge was to complete one block a week (which didn't last long once we got hooked) and to make all of the blocks out of leftover fabric from previous projects. 

Because I was a newbie when I started this quilt I didn't have a lot of scraps, so I had to raid other's thrown out pieces of material.  

Just between us, I dipped my hand into my mom's private stash of delicious fabrics. 

The material isn't the only thing that makes a quilt a piece of art but the quilting itself. 

I free-motion quilted each block differently, to help define my fabric choices and the makeup of the block. 

Every quilt is officially finished when your name tag is added to the back. 

Let's make this the bee's knees. 

Fungi Painting

Ever since I found some really cool fungi growing on a stump when I was emptying the kitty litter pan last spring, I've wanted to paint it.  I would like the refer to encounter as "Beauty by the Cat Dung Pile". 

But even more so, I wanted to paint it for a very special person in my life.  Because love is like a fungus, that grows on your heart.  Awe, wait, what?

Come October, I finally found the ambition to go ahead and start, intending it to be a Christmas present.

I had an old oil painting based on this weird reading I had to read in my painting class in college,  sitting in the back of my closet.  I was never in love with the painting and thought that it was time to turn it into something that I actually like.

 The painting below is the dreaded inhabitant of my closet.  As I recall, I think that the woman in the story was turned into some sort of woman/worm hybrid slave that was forced to create silk in her body.  I don't know, it was a weird story that was a struggle for me to get through.

I started anew.  First by painting over the old painting and then sketching out the new on the hand-stretched canvas.

I then added a colored base.

From there I worked on it section by section instead of on the whole because there was a lot of blending of wet paints to be done before the acrylic dried.

I had my operation set up in the dining room for the duration of its creation.  Every time my boyfriend would come over to the house, instead of covering it up (because I was too lazy) I would slyly have him avoid the room entirely.  Actively trying to limit his exposure to the house beyond the kitchen.  In some instances, the house in general, just in case I couldn't trust the secret being revealed.

I am proud to admit that it worked, he says he loves the painting (the sign of a good boyfriend), and it is currently hanging above his bed (the sign of an even better boyfriend).

Let's make this the bee's knees.

Katie Cat Top

Last year, I decided that I was getting tired of buying cheap clothes that lasted one wear before they start to shrink or fall apart on me.  Dresses are the worst when it comes to shrinking...tall woman problems. 

Not having a lot of money to spend on high-quality clothing, I made the decision that I needed to start dealing with my clothing problem to the best of my ability.  

With not much thought, I decided that I would make my own clothes.  I'm surrounded by beautiful fabrics every day that not only can be used for quilts but clothing as well and I know two highly intelligent women who know a thing or two on how to make garments so... why not? 

I started by designing a sleeveless crop top that buttons on both sides. 

Then I roped my mom into helping me figure out how to make it. 

And BABAMM! I now have a top that won't shrink or fall apart on me in the near future.  A top that I can happily say I made myself.

Let's make this the bee's knees.

Baby Quilt

What do you do when you own a fabric shop and am invited to a baby shower for your boyfriend's niece to be?

You make a baby quilt of course!

I started out wanting to make a simple but elegant quilt with this cute animal panel fabric by Gingiber that we have available in the store. 

From there I decided that I would frame the creatures with green and pink fabrics from the same designer.

Because I had an even number of animals and an odd number of blocks, I had to create something different for the middle of the quilt.  So, like the pinterestite that I am,  I took to Pinterest to figure out how best to make a heart.  Found a design I liked and modified it to fit my quilt block, and voila! Cute little heart.

I was all set to finish the quilt right then and there when my mom told me it was too small for a baby quilt.  I thought this was rather dumb because babies are small anyway so what did it matter?  

But like always she got in my head and I started second-guessing myself.  She had recommended adding a simple border but I thought that was too boring.  

In typical Katie fashion, I had to find a way to go above and beyond my expectations for myself.  That is when I thought of Susan Daniels, a woman who inspires me with her continuing creativity, who came into the shop one day and showed my mom and me a baby quilt she had put together with triangle tabs going around the border.  

I was inspired.  And it's freaking adorable. 

And a little bit of a pain in the butt to put on, but well worth it. 

I then bound my quilt with the same fabric I used for the heart to frame it all nicely.  I even tried my hand at sewing the backside of the binding by hand, which takes a while but comes out a lot nicer than if I had used the machine. 

This small, baby quilt took me 13.5 hours to make plus $65 in materials.  If I had to price it, I would say it's worth about $335.  

What many people do not understand is that homemade quilts take a lot of time, effort, and money to make.  That the ones you buy in stores like Walmart or TJ Maxx are massed produced by people who barely get paid for their efforts.  So, when you walk into a quilt shop and start complaining about how much the quilts cost and get a weird look from the proprietors or other quilters; you know that odd expression you catch on our faces before we have time to fake a smile?  That look of you having four heads is because you're being clueless and rude.  

Quilts are works of art that have a lot of thought and love put into them.  They are meant to bring about a series of emotions and desires.  When one is made for you, a loved one is showing you how much they care and how special you are to them.  Quilts are timeless and often unappreciated treasures that are meant to be cherished for the rest of your life.

I'm extremely grateful and glad that I was able to make this quilt for the new addition to a lovely family and that it was well-received.  I hope it will bring her comfort on gray days and make her smile on sunny ones.  That it will dry her tears and vanquish her fears.  But most of all I hope that the majority of the baby spit-up will wash out. 

Let's make this the bee's knees.

Simple Picnic Blanket

You know what people don't do enough?

Picnic!

That's why I decided to make my own picnic blanket.  Not only that, but it adds some color and originality to the inside of my car where I keep it just in case I need an emergency picnic blanket. 

 If you want to make an extremely easy and relatively fast picnic blanket then this is perfect for you.

 All you need is a pack of 10" precut fabric.  I chose one that I liked from Moda and spent forever organizing them into rows.  Hello perfectionist.

Then all you need to do is sew them together.

I added a border and cornerstones to give it a little something-something.

Then I backed it with a dark fabric to hide the dirt that I will inevitably get on it while picnicking, stitched the front and back together in the ditch between squares, and bounded it with a cute green binding. 

Voilà! An easy yet cute picnic blanket! 

Perfect for picnicking anywhere your heart desires.

Let's make this the bee's knees.

Dog Bandannas

                         (Sadie)

Lately, I have gotten the doggy bandanna bug and have made an unbelievable amount of dog bandannas. 

Why?

Because look at how cute they are! 

                                   (Ally)

A year ago one of our fabric reps gave us a bag of last seasons sample fabric and I have been racking my brain for what to do with it since. 

Finally, I decided that some of the fabrics would look cute as dog bandannas and would be fun to sell in the store. 

So while listening to Rhys Bowen's "The Royal Spyness" series (I recommend if you like a posh female by chance detective in the early 1930s) I hashed out a ton of dog bandannas. 

I even designed my own label to add to them.

These bandannas are cool because you can slip your dog's collar through them, ending your worry about them falling off. 

The dog bandannas are available for purchase at Bloom, 724 Main Street Margaretville, N.Y.

Let's make this the bee's knees.  

Trout Tales

Last year as a benefit for the little village of Margaretville, BAM (Business Association of Margaretville) hosted a garnished trout event.

The premise of the event was that different local artists could apply to get a wooden cut out fish.  They would then decorate the fish any way they sought fit as long as it was appropriate.  The fish would be put on display all over Margaretville for the summer.  At the end of the summer, they would be actioned off and the majority of the proceeds would go to BAM to help fund the village-wide events they put on every year and the village decorations.

Last years theme was trout and I was lucky enough to be able to paint a fish.

I was inspired by Vincent Van Gogh and painted one side of my fish using him as my inspiration.

But then I got bored and couldn't possibly recreate the opposite side of the fish to be the same.

So I went in a different direction and painted it with flowers since it was going to be displayed outside of our fabric shop, Bloom.

At the end of the summer when the fish were being auctioned off, I was asked to be the Vana White of trout and help sell off the fish.

Lisa Scalf, the genius that she is, gave me a mermaid costume she had made in the '80s while she was studying at FIT to wear.

Let's make this the bee's knees.