I've Been Naughty

Look at me! I've been neglecting not only this blog, but all of my quilting projects for several months now.

There is a pretty simple but unfortunate reason for this.

I ended a relationship back in the spring and as a result of that had to stay with my parents in another town for the past few months. All of my quilting goodness has been packed away for that time.

However, I'm happy to say that I have a new place and will be moving in two weeks. Quilt blogging should resume shortly after that!

Finally Finished! ...Cutting, that is.

Okay, okay, you caught me. I admit it. I have an addiction... to quilt alongs. I just can't resist! Every time someone hosts one, I HAVE to join. On top of that, I have my Park Bench BOM club I'm signed up for, and I'm trying to keep up with the Lucky Stars BOM over at Don't Call Me Besty (I'm doing both a 6" and 12" block, and let me tell you, the points on those 6" blocks are driving me crazy)... but it's just not the same as a good old fashioned quilt along! And with the Star Light Star Bright QAL wrapping up, you bet I was looking for something new!

Well, enter Paula over at the Sassy Quilter. She's easily one of my favourite quilt bloggers. She's got amazing tips and tricks for new and old quilters alike. And when I saw the triangle quilt along, I was honestly so excited. Not only did I know exactly what fabrics I was going to use for this project - I actually knew how I wanted to quilt it, before I even got started! And did I mention there's a Flickr group? Well, there is. You can find it here. Oh, and you can find me on Flickr here, if you're interested in photos of puppies and kitties and quilts.

The fabric I'm using is Table for Two by Sandy Gervais for Moda Fabrics. I'm not going to lie, the more I look at this fabric, the more worried I get. I'm scared that this is going to be one of those quilts that, by the time I'm finished, I can't stand to look at anymore. But I keep reminding myself that I was SO CONVINCED this was the fabric to go for, and I'm gonna stick it out. After all, I can always give it away if I hate it (which wouldn't be a bad thing... I don't have enough room for all these quilts. Can anyone else relate?)

Anyway, in case you noticed, I'm a little bit behind. Last week we were supposed to have finished cutting our fabrics, and this week, we're linking up our finished rows. I actually just finished cutting my triangles up tonight (eep!) so I have to do some marathon sewing if I want to catch up.

Linking up this week with Lee at Freshly Pieced:

Bree

Quilt For A Friend

I made a bed quilt for my best friend some months ago (and used my scraps to make a matching mini for his shih tzu). I'll be sharing pictures soon, but in the meantime, I wanted to share my progress on the Ribbon Star quilt I'm making for his mother. Because, of course, it wasn't long before she wanted one! I'm flattered, of course, and though I don't normally make quilts for others I absolutely couldn't refuse this one. I used the Ribbon Star block tutorial from Faith at Fresh Lemons, which is a 12.5" block, but it's a fairly simple block and it should be easy to adapt to any size you need. This quilt will finish at 60x60, which is my favourite size for a lap quilt.

I'm using solids from Connecting Threads. The colours I chose are, in order of lightest to darkest value, Lavender, Violet, Red Violet, and Iris. Connecting Threads' fabric is AMAZING quality, and their solids sometimes go on sale for about $3.50/yard so they're great, affordable stash builders.

I know a lot of people have a love/hate relationship with HSTs - I personally love them. They're so incredibly versatile! The trick is not to trim them all at once - trimming an entire quilt's worth of HSTs in one go would make anyone fall out of love.

One finished block out of... twenty-five! I better get sewing. I will share more of this quilt as I progress.

This weekend, I'm linking up with Fort Worth Fabric Studio:

Bree

Lucky Stars Blocks, January - March

Hello! How's everyone doing with their Lucky Stars BOM? Falling behind? Tsk, tsk! I kid. I'm actually behind, too. I had planned to do both the 12" and the 6" versions, but I haven't even printed out my 12" templates yep (well, I tried, but then my printer ran out of toner...) Don't worry. It's only March, so it shouldn't take that long to catch up, right? Anyway, since I only started blogging in the month of March, I have all my mini 6" blocks to share today.

Holy crap - making those seams match up isn't easy! I LOVE paper piecing and I'm not new at it, but as you can see, my blocks aren't perfect. A year ago I probably would have ripped them out, but now I go by two mottos: "close enough is good enough" (borrowed from Angela Walters) and "finished is better than perfect".

I have no idea what I'm going to do with these mini blocks. I plan to make the 12" ones using s fat quarter bundle of Kona cotton solids in the Slate Rock colourway (which will go to my dad to match the denim quilt my aunt gave him years ago). Or maybe I'll just hold on to them, and create an 'orphan block' quilt some months or years down the line.

Linking up with Lee from Freshly Pieced!

Keep on crafting, ladies!

Bree

I'm Hoping for Some April Showers, Because it's Still the Middle of Winter Here

Hello out there, blogging abyss! I don't know where you are, but if it's the midwest or even, like me, eastern Canada, you know you haven't seen this much snow in years. It isn't all bad though, of course I've used those bonus snow days to SEW! But I am ready for some warmer weather. There's an ice cream shop opening up across the street from us (and I do mean literally right outside our front door), and I can't wait to get some peanut butter chocolate ice cream and sit in the park and enjoy the summertime!

But in the meantime, what's a girl to do? I think we all know the answer to that. What am I working on today, you ask? Well, let me just show you the goodies I have in front of me...

Yes! That is some gorgeous April Showers fabric. If you haven't snatched this stuff up yet, I suggest you do so! This lovely fabric line is by Bonnie and Camille, and has got to be my favourite since Happy Go Lucky (who am I kidding... this might be my all time favourite!) I actually have some more of this line on it's way. I just couldn't resist. Also, I highly recommend Camille Roskelley's Craftsy classes, Pre-Cut Piecing Made Simple and Playful Piecing Techniques. These are great classes for beginners, since Camille walks you through the steps of making each of the quilt patterns.

Anyway! What am I doing with this lovely fabric? Drumroll please... jelly roll race! Yes! Jelly rolls are my favourite pre-cuts. Seriously. I think they're extremely versatile, and they're a great, affordable way to get all the fabrics from a line you really love. More info and a great video tutorial on the jelly roll race can be found in this video from the Missouri Star Quilt Company:

Ready, set, go!

Chain piecing the strips together...

Still chain piecing those strips together... phew! Done!

Now time for cutting. I cut my first strip at 56", because I wanted to have a quilt that was going to be as square as possible while creating as little waste as possible.

This is what it looked like after I finished cutting all those strips to the same length and sewing them together.

That's it for today! I think I'm going to add a couple borders to this, but I'm still waiting for the rest of my April Showers yardage to arrive. I'm debating how I'm going to quilt this, but I know it's going to get a lot of use so it's going to be a simple, allover design for sure.

Catch you later, and keep on crafting!

Bree

Two Finishes! One Old, One New

Hello again, quilty people. It's still winter. It's still cold. So I guess it's good that I have not one but two quilty finishes to share today, because I'll be needing a lot of quilts to stay warm. I'm actually cheating a bit, because one of these finishes was completed last summer - but I haven't blogged about it, so it still counts, right? I'm tossing these both into one post because they're both Happy Quilting QAL quilts. If you're not familiar with what I'm talking about (who am I kidding, of course you are), Melissa has hosted several super fun and creative quilt-alongs at her blog, Happy Quilting. I finished the Star Surround quilt last year and gifted it to my mother (where it has been hanging over her headboard because she doesn't want it to get used, lest it gets ruined - argh). So I've just now managed to take pictures of it, after I commandeered her house for the sake of taking pictures. Okay, way too much talk and not enough pictures. Here we go, starting with the most recent finish, my Star Surround quilt (featuring what I had left of my Happy Go Lucky fabric):

I quilted this quilt with a medium density design, using straight lines in the focus block and pebbles in the secondary block.

My best little brother helped me take these shots, but before long we had a visitor - Diesel the Newfoundland dog.

And, of course, what happens when you leave your quilts unattended in a house full of animals? They become a free-for-all at naptime, naturally.

That's it for the debut of this quilt, now onto one more: Star Surround, a 2013 finish.

This quilt was actually my first real go at FMQ, so I went all out. I used one of Leah Day's designs, called wagon wheel, as a background filler, and used straight lines and a flower motif in the block itself. If I had to guess, I'd say there's at least 20 hours quilting time that was put into this small quilt.

That's all I have to share for today - I'm still learning this whole photography thing, so bear with me if these pictures aren't the best. I can't wait for the parade over at Happy Quilting next week. Excited to see everybody's finishes!!!

My Humble Introduction

Hi there, and thanks for visiting my blog. If you stumbled upon me by accident, thanks for visiting anyway! My name is Bree and this blog is, obviously, called Dollhouse quilts, and it is a crafty/sewing blog primarily dedicated to quilty goodness, but with some other craft and DIY related content as well. I'm starting this blog with no goal in mind other than to participate in the amazing and talented online quilting community and get to know some of you wonderful quilters in the process.

A little bit about me: I'm a 21 (and a half!) year old from Toronto, Canada. I try and squeeze in as much sewing time as I can, but I'm also a full-time student studying to be a nurse and work part-time and have a wonderful little family to take care of, as well (consisting of one handsome man and two fur-babies). In fact my crafty adventures started when I learned to knit so I could make my dog (a little miniature dachshund) sweaters to tackle the crazy Canadian winters. I quickly discovered sewing, and sewed my first quilt... again, for my dog. And the rest is history.

I consider myself a modern-traditional quilter: I love the use of bright, bold colours; I love solids, but I also love the quintessential quilt block and shy away from too much negative space. Nonetheless, I appreciate and admire all types of quilting and love to learn about the history of this art form and think there are always opportunities to learn new things.

Also, my quilting space is a small fraction of the 400-square foot apartment I live in. As jealous as I am of all you quilters who have your own dedicated sewing rooms (I'm working on it...) I gotta work with what's available to me. One of my main missions within this blog is to provide tips and tricks for working in a small space. I know I'm not the only one!

I'm going to try and keep this short and sweet and come to a conclusion here. I'd like to part ways with a picture of the adorable little dog that started this all, and my first (ever!) quilt: