1 and a 100

Earlier this week, we had our LAMQG meeting.  The meetings are always great, but I have to say, my favorite meetings are swap reveals - and that's what this one was!  Flickr has the ever-popular Urban Home Goods Swap, which I've never joined, so back in March, when our officers announced that the LAMQG would be having our version of that, I did not hesitate to sign up!  We got our partner assignments, and I got assigned Katie, who's awesome.  Out of the things she listed, I ended up choosing to make her a table runner and a bunting for her baby's room.

She listed some of her favorite fabric lines and designers, so I based a lot of my decisions on that.  She said her favorite fabric line was Central Park, and some of her favorite designers were Joel Dewberry and Sanae (who I had never heard of), so I got a little of those 3 things.

I made the table runner reversible - the one side being Chrysallis by Sanae, and the other side features some Joel Dewberry mixed with solids.  I wanted to use Essex linen in natural, but the store I went to didn't have that, but they had it in white, so I used that.

I've really been wanting to try piecing curves, so that's what I did for the Chrysallis side.  I was pleasantly surprised with the results, considering I thought I would totally mess it up!  It didn't lay totally flat after it was pieced, but I figured the quilting would flatten it out, and it did. 

For the Joel Dewberry side, I wanted to do more of the plus design, like I did for one of my Valentine's pillows.  Amazingly, I had these solids in my stash that I think look so great with the Dewberry prints.  I like it so much, I'm going to make something for myself in this same color scheme!  FYI, the solids I used were Kona Aqua, Kona Sand, and a shot cotton.

I really went back and forth with how to quilt it, so I mixed it up and did criss-cross quilting throughout the pluses, and then just straight parallel lines outside of the plus section.  I used painter's tape to help me keep the lines straight.  Oh, and I used my new favorite thread color - it's Mettler 844, and you can get it in the big spools.  I just like how it contrasted against the white linen.

For the bunting, Katie said she wanted pink and green, since it was for her baby's room.  So I used a little Central Park, that Joel Dewberry herringbone print (which is one of my all-time faves), and some other things I had in my stash.  I'm usually a very matchy-matchy person, so when the greens and the pinks didn't totally match, I wanted to scrap it, but I pushed myself to just put it together and see how it turned out, and I think it all works together nicely!  I wanted to do something a little different than the triangle bunting, so I found this tutorial for a Scalloped Fabric Garland, and knew that's what I wanted to do.  For the bias tape, I wanted it in linen, but didn't even know if it existed, so I started searching for it online.  I found some on Etsy, and noticed that it would be sent from an Asian country (I can't remember - Thailand, maybe?), so I got the idea to check my local Japanese fabric store, and sure enough, they had some!  I was pretty excited.  But it was the small bias tape, not the extra wide, like the tutorial called for.  So getting all the pieces in there was pretty tedious.  Please excuse my messy bookcase.

So Monday was our big reveal!  Here's a couple of pictures of me giving Katie her table runner.  

As for what I received, when I heard that Brianna had my name, I was pretty excited, because she is a very meticulous and precise sewer.  Everything she makes is so beautiful!  She made me a sewing machine cover, which is what I really, really wanted, and I absolutely love it!  I have this same Echino print, but I've only used it to make stuff for other people, so now I have something for me using this fabric!

There was a story behind this!  Brianna and I both have Brother sewing machines, but she didn't know if mine had a handle or not.  So she emailed Melissa to see if she knew.  She didn't, so Melissa emailed my husband to get him to find out.  As Brianna was explaining this, I suddenly remembered my husband randomly asking me a while back in my machine had a handle, and I thought it was very strange, but didn't really think too much about it.  I think everyone got a good laugh out of the story, and for me, that just makes it so much better!  Oh, and when I came home from the meeting that night, my husband got all smug and said, "So, how do you like your sewing machine cover?" 

So here's a couple of pictures of it in use.  I have no excuse for the mess, except that I'm messy!

It was a fun swap, and I think everyone was happy with what they got.  Check out the LAMQG's Flickr Group, and see all the great pictures Nichole took of the meeting.

If - and that's a big if - you're still reading this, and you're wondering about the title of this post, it's referring to a couple of milestones.  The 1 is because I realized the morning after the meeting that it has been one year since I started going to the LAMQG, which means it's been one year since I started quilting, and since I started this blog (it's funny for me to read that first post)!  The LAMQG, and the talented people in it is what got me quilting, and quilting is what I love to do now!  So that's a pretty big deal to me. 

The 100 refers to this being my 100th post.  I can honestly say that when I wrote that first post exactly a year ago, I had no idea that I would still be doing this, but I'm very glad that I am.

Two milestones in one post!

So....

I'm feeling like a giveaway.  I want you to pick a number between 1 and 100, and leave the number in the comments.  In one week (May 11), I'll have my husband pick a number.  Whoever gets the closest without going over the number he picks will win something.  Not sure what yet.  But I'll make it good.  It'll be some kind of fabric bundle.  I'll announce the winner on May 12.  Good luck!