Category Archives: A Little of Everything

Meet Lucy

Here’s my newest teddy in her smock and apron:

lucy bear.jpg

She’s made from a pattern in my Japanese teddy bear book. I haven’t scanned the page for you to see what the original looked like, but I did change things around a little bit and added some clothes to make her mine. She’s my first bear made with traditional mohair fabric. Here paw pads are merino felt made right here in my kitchen. She’s stuffed with polyfil and pellets, so she sits nicely on the edges of things. So, for the past few days she’s been following me around so that I can keep an eye on her.

Too bad mohair is so expensive, because it is much faster to just cut out pattern pieces than it is to needle punch or rug hook them myself.

But, needle punching mohair….

Hmmm….

Look at my comments!

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.

fabric search

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.

gingerbliss 1.jpg gingerbliss 2.jpg gingerbliss 3.jpg

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!

quilt monday

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:

quilt-test-1.jpg

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

quilt-test-2.jpg

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

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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?