Inspired

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Tuesday, May 7, 2013

I get my inspiration for my quilts and designs from all things that surround me. Sometimes when I get back to the drawing board I still have an idea in my head, but I have forgotten where exactly it came from. My latest quilt idea fell upon when while searching through good old Pinterest! I haven't been able to get this amazing print made by Allyson Johnson, out of my head.

STRIPES AND ARROWS Art Print by Allyson Johnson 

Isn't it awesome!! Allyson has this design for sale in her Socitey6 shop, on multiple items!

A few weeks ago when I stumbled into one of my new to me LQS, here in Hawaii, I saw Lotta Jansdotter's Finn Sunspray stripes & instantly knew I had found the perfect fabric to recreate my own version into a quilt! I also came across some Dr.Seuss, wonky, black & white, stripes to create the organic look of the chevrons. 

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As you guys know, we're still living in a hotel (but hopefully only a few more weeks until our house is ready) and I haven't done much quilting on my Bernina in almost a year, since I've been longarming, and I'm an instant gratification kind of girl a lot of the time so Miss. Bernina go to do the piecing & quilting again! She ran beautifully, as usual. I used my favorite thread, Aurifil 50wt, to piece, quilt, & bind this project, it always works like a charm!

I quilted simple, wavy, organic lines to keep the interest in the quilt top, by using my walking foot.

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For the backing I used the "Life Defined" print in the Sunkissed collection by Sweetwater for Moda.  

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The binding is one of my favorite Andover stripes, but I've never been able to find more...so if you know where I can get some, let me know! :-) As you can see, it gets used in many quilts!

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I also tried a new (to me) batting in this quilt, that came recommended, Quilters Dream cotton batting. & let me tell you, it feels amazing & drapes so wonderfully!!

And last, but not least, we can't forget my hand sidekick, helper, Bella! It's a tough job supervising all these projects and fabrics.

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Hope you're having a great week!

14,000ft

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Sunday, April 28, 2013

14,000ft is the height that hubs and I decided to ditch the perfectly good airplane we were in yesterday and plunge to the ground. Sounds fun right? Well it was absolutely AWESOME!

Just jumped out of a perfectly good airplane at 14,000ft! #badass #skydiving #hawaii

We had 60+ seconds of straight free-fall before the chute opened, then several minutes to glide back to the ground. The view was the most fantastic thing I have ever seen! We jumped from Mokuleia, on the northwestern shore of Oahu. Scenery consisted of mountains on one side & crystal clear ocean on the other! SO gorgeous! We had such a blast & we're ready to do it over & over again, possibly even considering doing it as a regular hobby! 

If you ever get a chance you should try it! Words can't describe how exhilarating it was!

Now on to some quilty business. I'm happy to say that the Jaybird Quilts, Fast Forward quilt top that I've been working on here and here is now complete!! It was such a fun, easy, user friendly quilt. I can't wait to get it on the longarm, in the next couple months!

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 Now I'm off to play with some new goodies I've been picking up at a few LQS. What are you guys working on this weekend?

Friday Favorites 4.26.13 Boston Style

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Friday, April 26, 2013

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Have you seen this awesome movement the Vancouver MQG has put together? It's a great way to make a fun little project & send some love & support to Boston. Many Modern Quilt Guilds across the world have joined in, including mine, the Oahu Modern Quilt Guild.

I thought I would take the opportunity today to show you what I've made so far & show you some of my favorites I've seen to date.

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To Boston with Love, from Oahu!


And now for some of my favorites:

Friday Favorites 4.26.13 Boston Style

You can find the To Boston with Love flickr group here & on Instagram at #tobostonwithlove.

Happy Friday!! xo




Happenings

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Thursday, April 25, 2013

Like the new look? I have to say I'm pretty pleased with all the bold, new, beachy colors! It's feeling a little more like my new home in paradise.

The basics: We're still living in the hotel & I'm still working on this, Jaybird Quilts, project. But! Good news is the quilt top is so close to being finished, I can taste it, we are still finding cool places to check out & yummy food to eat, & one of our cars arrived today! Of course I can't leave out another awesome quilt shop that I came across!




I forgot to mention a few Saturday's back about the awesome Oahu MQG sew-in! All of the ladies are just wonderful & the sewing space we were in provided endless Hawaiian sunshine & greenery. I almost felt like I saw sewing on a veranda. Amber was smart enough to snap this cute photo of she, I, Melanie, & Mai (I borrowed this picture from her blog).

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As you can see the t.v. armoire is doubling as a design wall for the time being & I'm sure this hotel iron hasn't seen this much use in it's whole life, but I have to say, I am impressed with it's heat quality.


Believe it or not, we still have yet to make it to the beach, but I did drive all the way up to the North Shore & at least get out & take a look around. I passed by all the really nice, sandy accesses & decided to check out an area of what is igneous rock.


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Yummy Pho.

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I came across yet another great LQS! The shop is huge & has a great variety of not only quilting cottons, linen/home dec., garment materials, but also notions! Love, love, love it! & being from North Carolina, I've only once seen this much Echino in one place, aside from my trip to NY.

You're probably wondering why there is only one picture, but I was too busy chatting away. haha. I'll try to get some more pictures when I go back to give you guys a real tour.

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& of course we can't forget Miss Bella! We've been hanging out at her new favorite place a lot! Isn't this doggie pool just awesome!

So what projects have you guys been working on?

Don't forget to follow me on Instagram for in the moment happenings @bluprinttextiles . Happy Thursday!

Hidden Yardage

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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

This evening I went to check out one of my (new to me) LQS, Hidden Yardage, in Honolulu. You can find their online shop here. Owners Laurie & Dana opened this adorable, quaint, modern shop just a few moths ago that sports a diverse collection of fabrics, to include echino!

They offer some great classes, open until 8:30pm, and open Sundays! Doesn't get much better than that! Not only do they offer quilting cottons and classes, but garment fabrics and classes as well. To top it off, they even have a nice stock of Berninas for use, that are included in your class prices so you don't have to tote your machine with you if you don't want to! So lets take a look around.

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Owner, Laurie

Hidden yardage

And you know I couldn't leave without some goodies! I found the cutest, girly fabrics, which I was low on, so I was excited to get my hands on some!
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If your live on Oahu or are visiting, you really need to check out this gem of a store!!

On my way home from the quilt shop, I made a slight detour to Target, my favorite. & look at this awesomeness I came across.

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It think this little notebook is going to be great to easily carry around with me to sketch on the go & the graph paper is perfect for quilt blocks.  I love the washi tape too! All of my washi tape is still packed and in route here, so that's a good excuse for some more right?