I finished this quilt in record time (for me at least).
I cut the first pieces Friday evening and took the finished quilt out of the dryer first thing Monday morning.   It helped that I had a strict deadline (even if it was self-imposed), and that I abandonned all housework for a few days.

Though far from perfect, I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out.  I love the simple blocks and bright colors.

It has been gifted to a co-worker and his wife (both architects) and their new little one.  

A combination of solids from Moda, Robert Kaufman, and Michael Miller.   Inspired by a quilt by B. Perrino.  Backing is Olavi in Blueberry from Lotta Jansdotter's new Glimma Collection.  Somewhat straight line quilting 1" apart. Finished quilt measures approximately 42" x 60".

color studies. inspired by work of b.perrino. 

My first attempt turned out a bit too neon.  It's much brighter than the photo.  But I think the second has potential. I replaced one of the oranges with  yellow, substitued the other with one less zingy and added in pale pink. 

Hopefully this will turn itself into a baby quilt by Monday.

For our spring sale this year, I thought we'd play along with Fat Quarterly's Modern Madness fun as their reader's pick the best fabric collection of 2012.

To kick things off we're offering store-wide discounts of 20% off all purchases with code madmod1320, 25% off purchases of $64 or more with code madmod1325, or 35% off purchases of $200 or more with code madmod1335.

Store-wide discounts are good through March 13th or when Fat Quarterly annouces their starting lineup of 64, whichever is later!

Now here's where it gets interesting:

As the Modern Madness field narrows, so will the sale, with discounts increasing by 2% with each new round but just for the fabric collections we stock that are still in the running for the 2012 title. Collections that have been eliminated from the competition will be dropped from the sale.    

Waiting may get you a bigger discount - but on select collections only - so shop now to take advantage of the discount on older collections, and come back later to get the best deals on 2012 favorites.    Sale ends when the final winner is announced.

FINE PRINT: Discount threshholds are based on the cart total, not just the total value of fabrics eligible for the discount. Discount codes are case sensitive and are entered on the shopping cart page. Please allow for up to 12 hours for discounts to be updated after round advancements are announced on the Fat Quarterly Blog.

This was definitely not on my project list, but I finally succumbed to the madness and started my own trippy quilt, which has turned out to be exactly what I needed - easy and quick sewing with cheerful fabrics. 

I cheated and used a jelly roll from Sweetwater's Lucy's Crab Shack Collection. In case you're curious, you can get (13) 12" blocks made from 2 1/2" strips from a standard jelly roll with two full strips and about 8" of each 42" strip left over - enough for some scrappy fun on the back. (To take advantage of the full strip, making an 8x8 grid would yield (10) 16" blocks from one jelly roll). 

 If you're making your own scrappy trip quilt, here's a tip I picked up from Monica over at Happy Zombie - after sewing your six strips together, cut the first strip off BEFORE sewing the fabric tube together. Unfortunately, I was too far along to take advatage of her brillance, but certainly will next time! 

I haven't decided on an overall layout yet, or if I'll break out another jelly roll to make more blocks, but I'm excited with the results so far.

This cat, by the way, is NOT helping. 

And neither is this one. 

I've been delinquent.   
i finished up two more swoon blocks several weeks back.  
it was a windy day.... not the best for a photo shoot, but here you go, blurriness and all.

eye candy.
oh, how I love pearl bracelets.   
several of these beauties with be appearing 
in the shop over the next few months.
I can't wait!

anatomy of a sewing room.

With all the room shuffling that's been going on around here, I managed to get a new sewing room / office out of the deal.   Previously my sewing things were divided between the basement and an alcove off the kitchen, and the computer desk was in a corner of the dining room.   Here are some shots of everything co-habitating in what we now simply refer to as The Room.

The shelves were moved up from the basement, where they had a similar function of fabric storage.
On the top row are "mini-bolts" made from foamcore with fabric cuts in the one to three yard range.   I hate to admit it, but some of these are fabrics I've been hoarding for years!  Next are books (when they aren't strewn around the house), a bin for scraps, and other randomness.  Below the books is a cubby with folded fabrics that haven't made it onto mini-bolts yet.
Then, across the bottom we come to The Bins.  The bins on the left are for 1/4 to 1 yard cuts, organized by color with special bins for polka dots and Kaffe Fassett woven stripes.  These are my go-to bins for just about all my sewing projects - scrap quilts, zipper pouches, you name it, they pretty much all start here.   The bins on the right (also sorted by color) are for scraps that I refer to as "too tiny for anything practical".  (Although to be fair, many of these scraps are several inches in size, which is definitely practical!)  These typically get used for anything small and scrappy or improv, or that special accent applique.

To give you an idea about how ridiculous I am, here's a photo of some recently culled and pressed scraps.  See that little blue on white polkadot in the center?    1/2" x 1"   I've got my sights on it for a snack bag.

The sewing table got located in front of the window, along with two rolling carts, which house - you guessed it - more fabric.   This time in the form of current or future projects, solids, linen, precuts, and special fabrics, including Heather Ross and some prints a friend brought me from Japan.  There's also a basket for my yarn collection.   These carts get placed to either side when I'm sewing - one with the iron and the other with a small cutting board.  That's the fat cat looking out the window on the left.  The door in the corner leads upstairs to the new attic bedroom.

The office part is much less interesting.  Typical book shelf, computer desk,  cabinet with printer.   One of the carts can double as an extra table top for paperwork, which is handy. The design wall also found a spot in this corner.   Nothing too exciting up there right now, but you can tell I've been thinking about the color green!