Quilts For Boston

The second crafty outlet I found in the aftermath of all that happened was an initiative that the guild that I am a member of started.  Several of our members wanted to do something to give some kind of comfort to those most impacted by everything. As one of our members said, she just wanted to wrap people up in a quilty hug. 

As a guild we put out the call for standard 12.5" squared blocks that contained only the Boston Athletic Association's classic blue, yellow and white organization colors.  We threw gray in there as well as many modern quilters frequently use it in their work.  We really didn't know what to expect for a response but what we got was overwhelming! 

We received well over 2000 quilt blocks that were sent to us from 46 US states, 5 Canadian provinces and upwards of 10 other countries.  Quilters of all ages and experience levels responded with over 400 packages, letters, cards and personal messages.  I spent one of our guild meetings reading through a sampling of these messages and was blown away.  The kindness, concern and passion that came flooding in with these was undeniably powerful.  People as far away as New Zealand felt 'our' pain and reached out with open arms.  The guild and all of its members have been deeply touched by this project and the response from the quilting community at large. We ended up with 100 quilts and thanks to very generous quilt shops, bating manufactures, fabric designers, long arm quilters, and volunteers these quilts will find homes with those who truly need a little bit of handmade love wrapped around them. 

I choose to just piece the blocks we received and turn those in to tops as my quilting/long arm skills leave much to be desired.  The blocks we received were amazing and so diverse that at first I had no idea what these quilts would look like but its incredible how something that was touched but upwards of 20 people can look as if it was made by just one.  The quilts are so beautiful and range from very modern to super traditional sampler style quilts.  

Here are the three most recent finishes that my mom and I worked on.

All in the stars! 

Flower Power and Sunshine!

A Modern Sampler.

This was an incredible project to be a part of and we are still working on it.  Some of the 100 quilts will go to the Watertown Police Department, others to other first responders, some directly to victims, some to the families of those lost and the others will be part of an exhibit that the BAA would like to show during the Running Expo at next year's marathon. We couldn't be more excited for the future our little quilts will have!

As always, thanks for stopping by and happy sewing!
~Leah 

To Boston With Love

The second phase of my working through what happened in April was to bury myself in projects.  There really is something restorative about the hum of a sewing machine and the feel of fabric gliding through my fingers.  

Something I sewed displayed in a museum! Eek!

The first opportunity that came along was this amazing Flag Project put together by the incredible folks from the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild. The concept was really simple but was hugely impactful for those of us that participated. One of our local guild members was able to secure the Shapiro Family Courtyard at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston for the display. This was extra special as it was just in time for the MFA's free pass for Memorial Day weekend (free admission for anyone who showed up at the Museum = amazing). 

I jumped on the opportunity to particiapte. 

My flag.

All that was needed was a flag that measured 6x8 that conveyed a message of positivity. I followed what ended up being the most common road and chose to have a heart on my flag and I dipped in to my precious fabrics stash and used some of the Vera Bradley prints I had left over from my quilt (the top has been pieced but no other progress as of yet). I went with bright fun orange, pink, and green and I am so happy with how it turned out... I made my way over to the MFA for the free weekend with my parents (my Mom also made some flags) and was blown away by the sheer number of flags. 

I was actually able to find mine! 

                 

I was looking at the really sweet to Boston with Love chain and there it was taking up prime real estate on the end of a row!

It was so exciting to see something that I made with my own two hands hanging in a museum! I forgot my camera so my phone snaps will have to do but check it out! There were also some really great write-ups about the project in some local papers and on all kinds of blogs, give them a read if you have some time. The participation stats blew me away! 

Some were hearts, some were Boston landmarks and others were words .

It was hard to fit them all in one picture.  The colors, variety and creativity were awesome!

Not to mention a wicked cool glass sculpture!

Check out some of the write ups!

Boston Globe

The Boston Modern Quilt Guild

Artisania (I love her blog!)

Hoarded Ordinaries

Amy Friend's During Quiet Time

Berene Campbell's Happy Sew Lucky

And the flickr Group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/tobostonwithlove/

As always thanks for stopping by, and happy sewing!

~Leah 

Where'd She Get That Phone?!?

I am super excited! My iPhone finally has a snazzy home.  I have seen these cases around, here and here, and loved them.  I finally ordered one (I have no idea what took me so long!) and spent the past few days laying out my design.  

I had a lot of fun with my colored pencils and graph paper.  

I am really in to argyle and geometrics at the moment and I’m loving all things nautical so I really wanted to work those two together.  What I ended up with is the notion that I need waaay more than just one of these cases. The design I decided to stitch was my 11th idea. Yikes!

As usual, when I went diving through my floss to pick my colors I got overwhelmed so I turned to my go to color guide Design Seeds.  Have you guys come across this yet? 

OMG I love it! The photographs are beautiful and the color palettes are stunning.  I have a pinterest board specifically set up just for this website.  I love it! No surprise here, but I found the perfect color combination for my project!

I drew up some chevrons, stripes, diamonds and argyles and ultimately decided on my diamonds.  It reminded me of a true basic cross stitch and I liked it most because I could use all the colors that I wanted to! I purposely moved the repeat of the design off the center just to make the edges a little more interesting. My first design included ecru borders but you really couldn't see it against the white case and I had also drawn the orange diamonds to be tight x's like the blues but when stitched it just looked too dense. I went back to the drawing board, added some white negative space and opened up the orange to be every other stitch and got what I was looking for.  It took a lot longer to stitch up than I had anticipated but I am really happy with the result!

I can't wait to be that person when I whip out my phone and show off! ;)

As always thanks for stopping by!

Aaaand have a safe and happy Easter!

~Leah 

A Great Way to Greet the Day

I live in a space with lots of funny angles and slopped ceilings which means that I don't have a ton of tall wall space.  It makes decorating a little difficult since in some places standard frames don't fit so well or the shadows/light is really bad so what I want to put up doesn't get the view it deserves.  One of these such spaces is where I hung my latest finish.

I have always been a fan of Dame Edna and when I saw this pattern by Serious Floss I just had to have it! Sometimes buying my patterns online makes me nervous (I've gotten a few duds) but I was willing to risk it on this one.  I modified the colors just a little bit to match my existing paint job and used some seed beads that I had on hand instead of the metallic thread and I just love it!

See what I mean about an odd little spot! Its actually right in my sight line when I wake up in the morning so it is almost always the very first thing see so it makes for a great start to the day.

Here she is up close and personal, I used some silver gray ribbon to dress up my hoop.

There are so many great patterns out there now that are fun, modern and very wallet friendly and I have found some new designers (well new to me) lately and am very excited for my next couple of projects.  

I'm on a little bit of a roll at the moment so I hope to have more to show you soon.  

Until then, thanks for stopping by and happy stitching!

~Leah

Even More New Threads!

At the last quilt show I was at I picked up a few new embroidery patterns by a designer out of Australia and when I finally pulled them out last month to stitch one up I didn't recognize the threads she called for.  I brought the pattern to the stores closest to me that carry threads other than the normal DMC stuff but no one knew anything about them.  So I then went to ETSY and after an exhausting  ;) 5 minute search found a seller (also based in Australia) that had not only the thread but also the color I needed. 

It took some time but its finally here.  It feels so different than any other floss I have ever had, it is so silky and smooth.  The color is gorgeous in person and I can't wait to stitch with it! I'll post some pics once I'm well on my way with the project.  Just a few things to finish up post-Christmas (man did it come fast and blow by! Yikes!) and then I can start up on some personal projects.  

I have lots planned for the winter and I can't wait to hole up and get stitching!

Anybody else have any plans?

~Leah 

Fun Mail!

What can I say I'm a sucker for a good sale and while I was away on vacation I might have slid a little online shopping into my fun filled sunny days.  The day after I for back there was a package dropped on my porch that was very appropriately labeled...

All wrapped into one package was a ton of stitchy fun.  I got myself a new hoop, some needles, some patterns, a pair of new scissors, a trio of patterns and most importantly some new floss.  

Since Sublime Stitching announced their floss launch I've been curious to work with it and their latest sale gave me just the chance.  

I haven't had the time to break it out yet but I will let you know as soon as I do.

I hope you all have some fun mail land on your porches as well!! Its back to the grind for me tomorrow,  its crazy that vacations always seem too short no matter how long they are.  

Hope all is well with you and thanks for stopping by!

~Leah