Tokyo Trains

When Elizabeth Hartman (Oh, Fransson) posted her Tokyo Subway Map Quilt Along, I knew I had to participate.  First, this is just a great quilt, second I have been itching to do a quilt made from tiny squares, third...Tokyo Trains simply blow my mind.

I've been to Japan a few times on business, and the complexity and efficiency of the train system simply blows my mind. You can see, though my pictures aren't the highest quality, the train map fascinated me. I had to capture on film, the tangle of trains.

Shinagawa Station is smack in the middle of Tokyo.  1 Million people pass through this station each morning and each evening.  It is the strangest thing.  You will be standing in the middle of the largest throng of commuters, rushing to their train and the only sound you will hear is their foot-falls.  No talking...just the sound of "step-step-step" times one million people. 

It is absolutely mind blowing.  You'd never see this in America.

Maybe on the back of the quilt, I'll incorporate some of the signage from inside the stations.  Tonight I am going to peruse the stash and get my supplies together. 

Why don't you join us in the Tokyo challenge?

Lets talk about process

I cherish Sundays.  I get to spend time with my family, avoid work-work and usually can find some time to quilt.  Today I decided to to start a new quilt and I though you might be interested in my thought process.

8:05am Choose fabrics, I have so many ideas:

• Cut into my FMF stash- No, I’m not ready to do that yet, I need the perfect quilt for that.
• Use my oranges, golds and reds… I have some great Katie Jump Ropes and with some Mendicino and FMF it would be beautiful
• Then again, my aqua and reds have been calling to me
• A few castle peeps prints came in the mail this week. I’d love to use more than just two prints though, I might need to order more before I'm ready to make a quilt with these guys.
• Wait…the first fabric I ever purchased was a Hope Valley FQ pack from Denyse Schmidt. I have been itching to dig into those. The cloudy grey undertones would look great with either grey or khaki sashing. Oh yeah, I bought that khaki sheet from Ikea for $4.99 a few weeks ago…that would be perfect.

9:12 am Get inspired while nursing the baby

I’m queen of multitasking (as I am sure most of you ladies are) so while feeding the baby his “second breakfast” on the back porch I begin to surf.

 Starting with flickr and fresh modern quilts I quickly browse and remember some of my favorite designs. I refresh myself on some of the fun tutorials I have seen lately. These were the top contenders this morning.

• Oh Fransson’s crazy 9-patch lattice
• Quilt Dad’s Off the Grid
• Red Pepper Quilts' Sticks n’bricks (love how it looks in hope valley, but I cannot bring my self to copy both the pattern AND the fabric selection…I like to feel more creative)
• Oh Fransson’s New Wave pattern

I cannot say exactly why, but the new wave pattern really resonated with me today.  I like the large pieces of fabric that go into this design.  You really apreciate the beauty of the print with a larger cut vs tiny pieces.  I also enjoy how sashing looks around shapes other than squares.  It's fun and a little quirky.

10:23 am As I iron my fabrics I begin to think of ways to make the pattern unique
How can I take it one step farther? Here are some of my ideas. This is my stream of consciousness.

“Train tracks…crosses…plaid…stripes…zigzags (oh, I LOVE zigzags…maybe I should forget the wave and go straight to zig zags)…what about a plaid, cross quilt? I could make it look like the new wave quilt but build my waves in both directions. Maybe I can figure out how to cut the fabrics like in the crazy-nine patch lattice.”

Then I sketched a few ideas out until one felt good. Notice the baby monitor...the little guy is napping so I have a few hours of uninterupted thinking time.

11:10 am Make a turkey sandwich and get out the colored pencils
I began sketching out my concept and tried out color placement to see how my idea would work.  I liked the idea of creating darker and lighter vertical bands.  It would add subtile excitement while leaving the main focus on horizontal bands of color.

11:42 am Do the math

Before cutting ANYTHING, I do the math. Figure out the size of my finished block. And then mock it up in the actual dimensions to make sure I like my choices.

12:45 pm Blog the Process
\So that’s where I am. I probably need to do a little bit more planning before I am ready to cut into the fabrics. Truly, this is my favorite part of making a quilt. Planning and scheming about what it will become. At this moment, the potential is so endless. I am so full of hope for my new creation.

12:58 pm The baby’s crying
It must be lunch time, so its time to run.  There's a pretty good chance my design will keep evolving so stay tuned!

This is my view

Stranded...not a great feeling on Monday morning at 6:18am. 
I was supposed to be ON this plane, not sitting inside the terminal looking out.

I arrived at the gate 20 min before the flight to find that my seat had been given away, grrr!  It is clear that I am going to miss my 4pm meeting in St. Louis.  The next flight gets me in at midnight, so I'll be tired tomorrow. 

I'm a silver lining girl and I appreciate that this means I can go home and nurse my baby 3 extra times today.  Small blessings, right?

UPDATE
It's now 6:45pm and I am in Phoenix.  Yep, I was finally able to get to phoenix but my connection has now been delayed an hour & a half.  So that puts me arriving in St. Louis at 1am.  That 6:30am meeting is going to come really quickly.  (I am tempted to quit the day job and become a quilter...there's money in quilting right?)

When to Sew...When to Sew?

Now that my lovely maternity leave is merely a hazy dream, I am back to work with a vengeance. On one hand it is great feeling productive, and working on "important" things. On the other hand, I miss sewing! I've been squeezing in some hand sewing at night, and a few hours on the weekends but I miss my daily sewing time. There is just something meditative about the hum of the machine.

I did squeeze some time in over the 4th of July to make these blocks for "Sew Fun" for Jess.  She asked for blocks inspired by Denyse Schmidt's Drunk Love design.  She sent some beautiful Amy Butler prints.  They just make me think of spring. 

When do you find time to sew?

This is where I sew...

I thought I'd show you my sewing spot.  I'm new here.  Before I claimed this room 2 months ago, my poor family had to eat on the couch because the dining room was my sewing space.  I have to admit that I hesitated about moving my sewing upstairs...though there was a whole guest room waiting for me I worried that moving my sewing away from the family would leave me disconnected.  I liked hearing my hubby watch UFC fighting in the other room...I liked seeing the dog on his bed and watching the baby bounce in his jumper.  But I HATED the way my fabrics kept getting in the way of life...and kept getting crumpled when we pushed them out of the way.

You know what, I do miss those things. But I love what I found upstairs. My sewing room is not just a place for my fabrics and my mess it is a place for ME. My CD is in the player, I chose the pale yellow walls that look like the sunrise and I have found a haven. In my room, I can spend a (very few) quite moments all to myself at the beginning of the day while the rest of the house still sleeps.

My favorite part of this room is all of the light I get through the 3 windows. It is wonderful for playing with fabric and gives such a fresh feel. Being on the second floor allows me to look out the front window and feel connected to the neighborhood. While I press seams, I see the kids playing ball. While I make bobbins I see the neighbors pulling out of their garage (again) to run to t-ball practice.

Looking at these pictures, I realize how some of my most favorite things have come to live in this room. Of course there is my beautiful fabric and prized sewing machine. You'll also see my favorite green vase (a wedding gift that has never actually had flowers in it) my DS quilting book (LOVE!) my new selvage pin cushion (FMF of course...thanks Cindy) and the very first "modern" pillow I made.  And Pete!  Pete has lived with me since 2003 and is the perfect sounding board for new ideas.  It was not intentional, this amalgamation of favorite things.  It is as if they just migrated to the room of their own accord.  Each item in this room moves me.

What inspires you about your sewing space?  

And the Winner is ....

Today concludes the fabulous Flea Market Fancy give away!

 The winner is Arnden who said "I think seeing other peoples design processes and finished projects make a blog interesting. I like to know why people choose the colors and fabrics they used." So Arnden, email me with your address and I'll send this delicious fabric your way!

We didn't quite get enough traffic for me to give away the second set of FMF, but I'll tell you what we'll do. I am going to keep the Fabulous FMF giveaway, Part 2 going. Once KatiesModernNest gets 50 followers or 5000 hits, I'll open up the give away again and we'll put the pink seeds and pink daisy dots back up for grabs.  So keep on visiting!

Half Way There

Just one more day before the Flea Market giveaway ends. 
I'd love to give away the fat eighth of pink seeds and dots and we are about half way to the goal of 50 followers. If a lot of friends stop by, we'll make it! 

Every year growing up we'd camp at the beach for a full week around the 4th of July.  Hotdogs, gritty sand between your toes and running around in a bathing suit for a full week.  You'd leave camp with browned legs, freckled faces and red white & blue fingernails.  I can almost feel the summer sun on my face right now.  This year we've got a new baby so a beach party is a little beyond us.  These days a low-key barbeque and pool party is more our speed. 

Over the long weekend, I hope to finish another row of hand quilting on my wonky stars quilt.

It is challenging when I get to an area where 4 blocks meet up.  The seam is just so thick, it bends my needle (#11 betweens).  Then my bent needle sends my seam in a wonky direction. 

I adapted by not sending the stitch all the way through the quilt when I am directly on an intersection.  That seems to be cheating a little bit, but it keeps my quilting line straight and my needle too.  What do you do when you get to one of those tough seams when you are hand quilting?