Hi friends!

I’m so happy!  I finally got this one off the design wall.

If you’re new here and haven’t seen me talk about this yet, this is the Sparkler quilt designed by Lee from Freshly Pieced.  I did change fabric placement of the pattern up a little bit to really play up the tessellation design. And because I like to make things more complicated than they should be.

This quilt is for my eldest son, who likes all things science and technology related. I haven’t decided on a backing quite yet, but the Mercury print (in dusk) from Alison Glass’ Sunprints it currently topping the list.  I just really want to add SOME color to it!

Also, I wanted to share with you all a little bit about Periscope. If you haven’t already heard, Periscope is an awesome new social platform where I get the chance to interact with my followers live. I broadcast from my studio and you can follow along and comment as I go. If you can’t watch live, broadcasts are up on Periscope for 24 hours following the original ‘scope’.

It’s been a really great way to connect with some of the awesome members of the quilting community and with other fiber artists.

I’ve been on there sharing fun talks, tips, tutorials and behind-the-scenes action, so download the app and find me under the username @laurelandpine

If you’ve missed out so far and watch to see some of my scopes from the past couple of weeks, check out my Katch account. 

Happy sewing (and Scoping!) ~L

This week, I’m linking up to:

(A special thank you to Kelly from My Quilt Infatuation for featuring my Sparkler quilt last week!)

Happy Friday, everyone!

It’s time for Color Play! This is always such a fun part of my week- posting my bundle and seeing what Trina’s bundle looks like. They are always so different, and it’s really fun to compare.

If you’re new around here, you can pop on over to my Color Play Friday page to read the rules and see our pictures from past weeks.

This week’s picture is one of mine. It was taken last spring at a ladie’s tea party we had at my pastor and his wife’s house. He grew up as a landscaper and they landscaped together in their ealy years, so this garden is always gorgeous. Add tables covered in quilts, antique shelves filled with teacups, and little ones running around in their pretty dresses… so much girly fun.

Before we get to the palette and bundle, here’s a picture of the walkway leading into the party- how magical is that?!

This picture was hard for me because there are so many colors. I tried to only focus on the colors that were really popping out at me: the greens, of course, the yellow and orange tones of all the baked yummies and the blue frosting on those delicious cupcakes. I really was hoping to get in the pink frosting and the red from the quilt on the back table, but they were not as prominent as the other colors and in this game, we’re limited to eight!

Here are the links to this weeks fabrics:

Timeless Treasures, Sketch Basic in Pine

Ana Maria Horner, Sealing Wax in Peridot

Brenda Ratliff, Pie Making Day, Lattice in Key Lime

Victoria Johnson, Whisper, Dashes in Butterscotch

Victoria Johnson, Whisper, Leaves in Butterscotch

Sarah Filke, Enchanted, Yellow Scatter Flowers

Petit Collage, Forest Parade, Mini Flowers in Blue

Jeni Baker, Curiosities, Curious Bunnies in Calm

A note about scale:

• While I think scale is a very important part of fabric selection, the fabrics shown in my Color Play images are not always perfectly to scale. I don my best, by you should always double check scale before ordering!

Be sure to check out Trina’s page to see what she chose for this week.

Are you enjoying Color Play Friday? We’d love for you to get in on the fun and create your own Color Play post! You can create a bundle of fabric, select yarns or embroidery threads or create a project inspired by our photo. Use the hashtag #colorplayfriday on social media to join in. Be sure to let Trina or I know you’ve joined so we can be sure to link up with you.

Here is next week’s photo:

It can be found on our Color Play Friday Pinterest board and is titled NYC Bus Tour.

Happy Sewing! ~L

Hi friends!  It’s been forever since I’ve given you a progress update on this quilt. I had to set it aside for a while while I waited on some fabric.

Here’s the story: my Joann’s has a limited selection of Kona cotton that I like to buy using my 50% off coupons. It’s a total steal that way, if you want one of the colors they have. I bought a half yard of Kona Charcoal to see if it was going to be a good match for this quilt.  It was, and I was thrilled and started piecing blocks, planning on heading back there the following week to buy the remainder of what I needed. Well, when I went back…. you guessed it: out of stock. So I waited, and waited…

Unfortunately, that was about the time that the Seahawks fabrics were getting put out and someone at Joann’s decided that Kona Coal was a perfect Seahawks grey. That meant bolts and bolts and BOLTS of Coal and no Charcoal. I swear I’m not bitter about the whole thing, but I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to look at Kona Coal the same way.

Eventually, I got over the idea of getting it half off and ordered online. It arrived super quickly, and I was able to get going right away.

This is the Sparkler pattern from Freshly Pieced.

I’ve changed up this pattern a bit to play with the tesselation deisgn. I’ve got a few more four-piece blocks to finish, then it should come together really quickly.

I’ll be on Periscope later today to show the Sparkler Quilt and give a quick tutorial on how I made my design wall. If you’re not on Periscope yet, you should be! Come on over to Periscope and follow me @laurelandpine for some inspiration and behind-the-scenes of my fiber adventures!

Also, I wanted to give you a quick update on the Quilt of Champions. I’ve finished the binding, have bought a quilting hoop, and will be starting the hand quilting soon.

And can I say that the lime green in this quilt makes it a bit of a beast to photograph!? I swear it doesn’t look this blue in real life!

I’ll be checking in later this week to talk more about my current embroidery project.

Happy Sewing!, ~L

This week, I’m linking up to:

It’s Friday, which means time for another Color Play post!

If you’re new here, Color Play is something I do each week with Trina from In An Otter Life.

Here are the rules:

1. Each week, one of us will select a picture from our joint Pinterest board. These are all pictures that one of us has taken on our adventures.
2. We each create a palette using colors from that picture
3. We then create a bundle of 5-8 fabrics that is inspired by that palette. They don’t have to be an exact match to our palette, and we can throw in contrasting or accent colors, but the bundle should look inspired by the palette.
4. We don’t see the other person’s palette or bundle before we both post on Friday.
5. That’s it! It’s going to be so fun to see what we each come up with.

Today’s photo is from the Metropolitan Market in Seattle and comes to us courtesy of Trina.

I chose this photo because of all the wonderful fall colors in those bouquets. The days are getting chillier here and I wanted to celebrate that by playing with some reds, oranges and yellows.

This fabric bundle went in a completely different direction than I expected. Given the range of colors in the palette, I was worried that I would end up with something that looked like a Kindergarten classroom (lots of bright, primary colors).

But even though I chose vivid colors, they are all pretty light in value, making it look a little more mellow than the palette. Also, the grey background in the floral print really calms the whole bundle down. (And I have to point out that I didn’t completely ignore the dark, slate grey of my palette! See the little grey flowers in the far left print?)

Here are the fabrics in my bundle:

Kelly Ventura, Flora 

Lizzy House Jewels

Amy Butler, Bright Heart, Oh Dear in Coral

Amanda Jean Nyberg, Good Neighbors, Peaks in Orangina

Amanda Jean Nyberg, Good Neighbors, Two Tone Stripe in Lemon

Don’t forget to stop by In An Otter Life and see Trina’s bundle!

Would you like to play along? You’re welcome to join in the fun by using the #colorplayfriday hashtag on Instagram and Twitter.

~Happy Sewing!

Hello friends!

Have you heard about the new Periscope app? I first heard about it on a post from Night Quilter where she tells about a Studio Hop in which she participated. Basically, you can use it to live stream to your followers whenever you want. I thought it was a great way of connecting, but didn’t join up until a couple of days ago.

Well, I love it.

You can follow people, and when they’re broadcasting live you get a notification on your phone.  You can either connect live or watch the ‘Scope’ anytime in the following 24 hours, after which they’re gone.  I’m told you can use the Katchme app to make your videos available permanently. I’ve downloaded that app, but haven’t used it yet so I can’t tell you how it works!

I’d love it if you headed on over to watch my Scope or become a follower if you missed it this time around. I’m really excited about being able to connect with you in a new way.

And since this post doesn’t have any pictures yet, here’s some quilty eye candy to tide you over! This is the rainbow portion of my stash.

Happy Sewing! ~L

Hello friends! This week, I’ve been settling in to the school year. I miss my kids already, but having a quiet house sure does help me get more work done!

Yesterday I finished the machine quilting portion of the Quilt of Champions. If you’re new to the blog, check here and here for some of the the previous posts about this quilt. This was my first real English paper piecing project, my first applique project, and my first hand quilting project…. all wrapped into one! I haven’t started the hand quilting on this yet, but the appliqued sphere will be all hand quilted.

(I have to say that the wonkiness in this picture comes not from poor craftsmanship on my part, but a really bad job hanging the thing. I promise its straight in real life!)

I will be buying my quilting hoop and making final decisions about thread colors in the next couple of days.

 I’m going back and forth between contrasting the thread color or blending it with the piecing. I like the idea of contrast, but I don’t want to distract from the beautiful design that’s already there.

The binding on this will be lime green.

Make sure to stop by again at the end of this week to see my latest Color Play Friday post!

This week, I’m linking up to:

Happy    Sewing!

~L