Happy Who-lidays! Wait, It’s January?

Since today is January 21, 2019, you can look at this posting in one of two ways ~ either I’m a little late sharing this holiday banner for last year or I’m super early sharing it for this year’s Christmas season. Are you a bobbin half-empty or a bobbin half-full person?

In any case, I created this Happy Who-lidays banner to get additional experience appliquéing letters using my embroidery machine. There were a few bobbles along the way, but by the end I think I had it down. Plus, it’s hung up pretty high so you don’t notice 😀

wholidaysbanner

This was one of those projects for which, since it was mostly practice, I didn’t want to purchase a lot of materials. The white denim is the only new fabric and that’s because I wanted to see how a heavier cotton embroidered. But all the scrappy red, pink and black fabrics were from my stash. The cord and baker’s twine were left overs and while I didn’t have enough black buttons, but I did have a can of black spray paint and a supply of extra buttons  – problem solved!

To kind of tie this post back into the New Year, my “resolution” was to try to use more of what I have on hand for projects this year, like with the spray painted buttons. I mentioned it’s January 21st, right? Three weeks in and I’ve already failed ~ there’s some new fabrics for my stash in the mail as we speak! Maybe I can change that resolution to posting about my projects sooner instead…

Advertisements

It Doesn’t Get Eddie Vedder Than This

You know that feeling when a someone asks your advice on a custom quilted gift idea and you absolutely nail it? Yeah, it doesn’t happen every time, but when it does…

Customer Carrie N. was looking for a special gift for her sister ~ her sister who may be the world’s biggest Pearl Jam fan. First row seats at multiple concerts every tour biggest Pearl Jam fan. My suggestion? A quilted backpack. Carrie liked that idea because her sister did a LOT of waiting in lines for those exclusive tickets.

We both wanted the Pearl Jam “stick man” logo embroidered on the backpack, but finding the right guitar fabric was surprisingly hard. I eventually sourced some out of Canada of all places. This is the final piece –

PearlJamQuiltedBackpack

I don’t post identifiable photos here on Snip-Itz, but Carrie did send one of her sister opening the gift. It’s literally the most surprised I’ve ever seen a human being. 😲

As Carrie said,

Best reaction I have ever seen to a gift. Lol. Thank you

***

Want that kind of response to the gifts you give? Contact Whimzie Quiltz and let’s get a special gift for your loved one started!

Meet Lucy #TeamWhimzieQuiltz

Wanted to introduce everyone to Lucy… we adopted her last week and she’s still adjusting to her new home, but I think she’s going to be a great fit as the newest (and furriest) member of Team Whimzie Quiltz!

lucy

We knew we wanted to adopt again after losing our latest kitty last fall, but I didn’t want the new cat to look like either of the animals we’d loved in the past (that’s pics of both of them curled up in Whimzie quilts.) So we were already leaning towards adopting a black cat.

 

I also had a couple of names picked out, Spenser if it was a boy (from the Robert B. Parker novels) and Lucy if it was a girl (from Donald Johanson’s 1974 Australopithecus afarensis find.) When we saw this gorgeous girl online at the San Diego Humane Society – already named Lucy! – she seemed a perfect match.

She’s almost 3 years old and has lived with two families already. We have a soft spot for difficult to adopt animals, especially those who have been abandoned or returned to the shelter. But, even though she’s super shy and will take some time to get comfortable here, we know our quiet house covered in quilts will end up being her forever home.

NYT Best Seller List Here I Come

The second printing of “A Quilter’s Christmas Carol” has arrived!

secondprinting

It only took 6 years for the first printing to sell out 😀

I must have finally gotten the SEO right, though, since over 60 books sold this last holiday season. And with this reprint I’ll be able to fulfill dozens more orders for happy readers/quilters like Savannah, who wrote

I just sat down to read it, I love it; I can tell you that it will definitely be a favorite of mine for all year, it’s a wonderful reminder of why we quilt

These new copies are already listed in the Whimzie Quiltz Etsy shop ~ get yours early!

 

Celebrating the Quilt Holidays ~ National Cuddle Up Day

Did you know that all year long there are special days set aside on the calendar to commemorate  quilts, quilting, quilters and quilt-related activities? The are known as the Quilt Holidays and here at Whimzie Quiltz we celebrate each one… Let’s party!

 

Today, January 6th, is National Cuddle Up Day! So curl up with your favorite quilt (or quilter 🙂 ) and snuggle in…

balloons

Don’t have quilt? I’ve got you covered! (Tee hee)

Contact deidre [@] whimziequiltz.com about having a custom Whimzie quilt made just for you or someone you love and you’ll be ready to celebrate in style when Cuddle Up Day returns next year!

Holy MotherForking Quilt Balls

When I started this The Good Place quilt in January 2018 the best show on television was mid-way through Season 2. I really hoped to have the quilt finished before Season 3 debuted, but life got in the way and it wasn’t finished until now…

TheGoodPlaceQuilt2

I don’t make a lot of modern quilts, but the bright pastels of Michael’s frozen yogurt paradise called out for a contemporary quilt design. The overall pattern here was inspired by a layout in Amy Gibson’s The Quilt Block Cookbook, mixed with appliques representing each main character.

For anyone who doesn’t watch the show (though you really should!) the applique designs include

  • Eleanor ~ What the fork? catchphrase and her love of shrimp
  • Michael ~ frozen yogurt
  • Chidi ~ Trolley Problem philosophical challenge
  • Tahani ~ floral dress (with an AIDS ribbon for her philanthropy)
  • Janet ~ cactus*, and
  • Jason ~ Blake Bortles jersey

Of course, I had to add the original, happy green “Welcome. Everything is fine.” greeting, too!

pottedcactus(*For those who think one cactus for Janet isn’t enough, I invite you to turn this quilt over and check out the backing fabric. Using this colorful potted cactus fabric is one of my all-time favorite quilt top / quilt back matches!)

When it came time to quilt the top, I stayed with the modern vibe, using mostly straight lines and pebbles. The initial lines went from side to side; once I’d covered the entire top, I removed it and turned the quilt 90 degrees before putting it back on the longarm to add straight lines from top to bottom. This was the first time I took a quilt off the longarm mid-project and am pretty pleased with how it turned out. I do think, though, that had the initial quilting not been as dense as it was (the lines were 1/2″ apart) the mid-project removal might not have worked as well as it did.

While I’d like to think that creating this motherforking awesome quilt should itself be enough to get me into the real Good Place, I may have lost some points because of how long it took me to finish. Still, it’s not like I used Facebook as a verb (-5.55 points) or rooted for the New York Yankees (-99.15), so maybe I can curl up with this quilt in the Medium Place if nothing else!