Its a Flea Market Celebration!

1000 Hits!  I am having a blast blogging about my sewing adventures and fabric discoveries with you. We hit a milestone this week ...Katie's Modern Nest has had over 1000 visits.  Yeah! It is great hearing what you guys have to say about my thoughts and projects.

To celebrate 1000 hits, lets do a FLEA MARKET FANCY GIVEAWAY!! 
If you've stopped by here before you know I have an obsession with flea market fancy and anything Denyse Schmidt.  If you share my passion and want to win this luscious fat-eighth bundle of pink FMF prints, you've got four chances.  The giveaway will be open until next Saturday at 10am, so you have a week to play.

I'll do a random drawing from the people who:

• Leave me a comment & tell me what makes a blog interesting...what do you enjoy reading & seeing?
• Become a follower of Katie's Modern Nest
• Visit my etsy shop and then come back here and tell me if something speaks to you.
• Link my blog on your website

What's better than a bundle of FMF?  How about TWO bundles of FMF!! 
If Modern Nest gets above 5000 hits this week OR more than 50 followers I'll give away a fat eighth of pink seeds (oh my!) and pink dots too.  Maybe you want to tell your buddies about give-away week...cause I really want to give away both of these beauties.

Most of all, THANK YOU for becoming part of the Modern Nest family!

Hexies without a Headache!

Or "Hexies in a Hurry" 

This is a current work in progress.  I am pretty stoked about this one because there is No hand-sewing, No set-in corners, and No templates.  I designed this elegantly simple quilt for headache-free hexagons. 

It is coming together really easily and I cannot wait to show you the finished product!

I Feel Real

I know I shouldn't need a pretty blog banner and avatar to feel authentic, but it really helps to see my brand coming together.  I worked with a WONDERFUL designer I found on etsy and now my blog and etsy shop have a cohesive feel.  Michele did a great job of creating my logo and giving my "modern nest" brand an identity.   If you are thinking about an electronic face lift I HIGHLY recommend you check out Shella Bella on etsy. 

Do you feel it?  Does Katie's Modern Nest resonate with you? 

Quilting and True Blood?

I think this says something about how quilting has evolved:  Last night I sat hand-quilting my wonky stars while watching a vampire bite an ear off of a werewolf.  Quilting's not just for grannies any more. 

Kathryn commented on my last post that I'd need a lot of patience to get through hand quilting all of my stars...I think i just need more good TV.  I am thinking that a US of Tara marathon might help me get through most of this baby.  Multiples...what a brilliant idea for entertaining the masses!

Hand Quilting

About a week ago I wrote about pushing myself with a quilt that would be hand quilted and really put focus on the quilting as the main part of the design. 

In the mean time, I have been looking at my WIP star quilt sitting on the sewing machine table.  My plan has been to do machine quilting so that I could "get-er done" and out the door to my little cousin asap. 

Something was nagging me about that.  I LOVE the way this quilt top turned out.  The colors are so cute and warm, and the wonky stars are so playful.  I was struggling with the "get-er done" feeling on such a great quilt.  Finally, I realized I didn't want machine quilting...I wanted to emphasize the wonky stars.  There is no better way to do that than echo quilting. 

So after tussling with the decision another couple of days, I decided to dive in.  I am going to hand quilt this one too.  Plus, I can really hone my hand quilting before I work on a piece where the lines will be so prominent.

I've finished the first row of stars, only 6 more rows to go.  Next, I need to decide what kind of design to put in the light pink squares where the blocks intersect.  I am thinking maybe circles or maybe some kind of star. 
What do you suggest?

Hand Sewing Organizer & Clutch

I had a blast this weekend making something I desparatley need... something to carry around my hand sewing and to coral all of my needles, thimbles and what-not.  All of the "organizers" I saw in the store didn't really secure my notions.  I had needles falling out and thimbles rolling across the floor everytime I moved from the couch to the arm chair.  I was dumping my supplies into a plastic grocery sac when I left the house.

...so I made these!  I love how they turned out and even decided to put one or two in my store.  There are compartments for my clippers, needles, thimbles, even seam ripper, marking pencil and my thread.  My favorite part is the fabric...check out the country fair (home dec weight Flea Market Fancy).

I also made one in Red Flower Ribbons with a navy Lining...

I built a needle case built into the closure strap, so that it keeps the needles from poking me.

I Love the Postman

Australia is my new favorite country

Inspiration Struck

I love sewing.  There aren't many projects I don't like.  However, once in a while you strike on just that perfect project when everything flows together just right...the right fabric, the right mood and the right design...that's when sewing becomes truly joyful.

That's how I feel about "Sticks and Stones."  I had been sitting on some really fun Katie Jump Rope fabrics and had been thinking about a pretty elaborate pattern.  I just couldn't strike on the right color combination so I couldn't commit and cut into the fabric.

I was browsing some blogs and ran across this super simple pattern from Moda.  I was inspired at the fun feel of the design and loved how quickly it would go together.  Also, when I thought about how little of each fabric was required, I stopped worrying about "wasting" my precious KJR fabrics on a quilt I wouldn't love.  I printed the pattern, threw caution to the wind and ran upstairs and started cutting right away. 

Of course, I had to alter the design to space my striped more randomly and to add more interest by having my "stones" as part of the design too. 

My favorite part of Sticks and Stones, is in the juxtaposition between the front and back.  

I love the rainbow of katie sticks that sporadically hit the front of the white quilt and, for me, the single blue "stone" really balances the composition.  On the back, I wanted just the opposite.  So I sprinkled stones in a vertical line with just one "stick" on the solid black kona.  Wow, I LOVE the pop of the colors against the black back.

I wanted to emphasize my sticks, so I used horizontal quilting lines 1/4 inch from each of the bars.  I really struggled deciding what color of thread to use for the quilting.  I worried that Black would look like creepy spider webs on the white front.  If I used white on the front and black for the bobbin, I had to worry about the keeping the tension perfect.   In the end, I chose white.  I had to be really careful to have straight lines since it shows up so starkly against the black backing.  I am really happy with the contrast and how it turned out.

The binding turned out really fun, with a KJR orange plaid

Sticks and Stones is now in the Shop

Now, tell me about YOUR inspired project, the one where the stars all aligned and you LOVED every step of the creation. 

Back to Work

All good things come to an end, they say.  So it is finally time for me to say Goodbye to maternity leave and Hello to being a working mother.  The bright side is that I am working from home for the month of June so I don't have to say good bye to my munchkin just yet. 

Speaking of munchkins, he is loving his new bouncy activity seat.  It is garishly huge, and the definition of baby-gear overload...but he loves it so I am learning to love it too.

Unfortunately work is now encroaching on what I'd really like to be doing...sewing.  So this has been a slower week for me with blogging and sewing.  I did manage to work on some bee-blocks for Sew Fun.  Karie, hope you like these crazy nine-patches.  I ran out of fabric so I decided to add a little flea market fancy and a solid pink. 

I think I'd like to make a quilt out of this pattern, maybe make the crazy lattice over at Oh Fransson!  I think I am going to take advantage of this lovely Sunday to work on some bags.  I cannot make em fast enough to keep my sisters and friends happy ;-)