Peas In A Pod

Patriotic Palette Blog Hop: Modern Flags

HI Everyone!

Well, it's been a while since I blogged.  So sorry. But I'm back...at least for a moment!  (Please make sure you read to the end of the post for a giveaway opportunity!)

I was recently invited to participate in a blog hop with Paint Brush Studios fabric.  I was really excited, because I love their solids.

I don't know if you have tried their solids yet, but if you haven't, you should!  They have a very nice hand, kind of silky.  I really like how they feel, cut, and sew.  Therefore, I was delighted to participate in the blog hop.

These are the fabrics I received:

The colors are:  French Blue, River, Patriot,Tomato, Claret, Crimson, and White.

Hmmm....so, now, what to make?

I have been working on trying to sew some of the patterns I already own or to sew from books I own.  I recently purchased this book:

There are so many patterns in this book that I want to try, and they all pretty much use solids.  If you are wanting to give solids a try, this would be a great source of inspiration for you.

Inside this book is this pattern:

The pattern is called Sweden, by Brigitte Heitland.  I love it.  I decided I would make a smaller version of this quilt with the fabrics Paint Brush Studios sent me.  I decided I'd do all red stripes, but throw in a blue stripe in each block, placed randomly in the block somewhere.

 And here is my completed quilt:

I'm calling it Modern Flags.  I had a lot of fun piecing it.  I quilted it with lots of straight lines in the white spaces.  It was really hard to quilt long straight lines on my longarm.  I started by by using my channel locks so my longarm would only move horizontally. This was  great for making a perfectly straight line, but if your sewing wasn't perfectly straight (and believe it or not, mine wasn't...lol), it was very obvious.  So, I switched to using rulers instead.  I had a hard time keeping those straight, too.  My ruler kept sliding on me.  So, my lines are not perfectly straight or perfectly spaced.  I just gave up on that and let it be very imperfect.  I decided it looks okay, as long as you are riding by on a fast horse.  LOL!

My neighbor was gracious enough to allow me to use her beautiful fences and chicken coop to do the photo shoot. I did a scrappy binding.  It is mostly the darkest blue, but with shots of the medium red thrown in.  In part, that was because I didn't have enough blue, but also because I wanted to have shots of red in the binding.

I am not sure if you can tell from the photo, but I joined the red binding to the blue with a straight seam rather than a diagonal seam, like you usually do when joining binding strips.  I did that because I thought it would be more in keeping with all the other straight lines in the quilt.  I thought a diagonal line would be very out-of-place on this quilt.

We share a driveway with our neighbors, and I love the bunting my neighbor hung on our gate.  I had to get a photo of the quilt there, too.  I'm using this quilt as a decoration right inside my front door.  It gives a nice patriotic feel to the house as soon as folks walk in, which is great, because we have out-of-town guests arriving today for the holiday.  We are so excited to see them.

I hope you like what I did!  Thank you to Brigitte Heitland for writing such an awesome pattern, and thank you to Paint Brush Studios for allowing me to play with their fabrics.  I just love them.

GIVEAWAY TIME!

This wouldn't be any fun without a giveaway, now, would it?!  How would you like to win a set of 7 fat quarters from Paint Brush Studios?  They have been so gracious to provide a set of these 7 fat quarters as a giveaway.  If you'd like to win your own red, white, and blue fabrics to work with, please leave a comment here on my blog telling me what your favorite way to celebrate the 4th of July is.  Leave your comment by midnight on July 6, 2017.  I'll draw a name on Friday, July 7, 2017 and announce it here on my blog as well as on my Instagram account.  (Check out my account....you'll find me @stephiepeterson.  You don't have to follow me to win.  I don't like giveaways that require that, myself.  I only want you to follow me if you like what you see.  If you do, I'd love it if you followed me.)

EDIT:  THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.  THE WINNER WAS KATHY H!  CONGRATULATIONS, KATHY!  I'VE SENT YOU AN EMAIL.  PLEASE SEND ME YOUR MAILING INFORMATION SO I CAN MAKE SURE YOUR PRIZE GETS SENT OUT TO YOU!

Good luck, and Happy 4th of July!  I love America...I love all her strengths and warts alike.  We live in a great country, and I'm proud to be an American!

Until next time,

Stephanie (AKA Mama Pea)

Sample Gibson Block Mid Century Modern Bee

 

Hi Everyone!

Just a reminder that my palette of fabric is up for vote in the March Madness Mad for Solids Bracket competition over at Paint Brush Studio still today!

Here is my palette--

You can read about my inspiration for the palette here.

I am in a bee with some friends, and this is my month.  Here is what I'm asking my beemates to make.  I sent them some fabric from this palette so we could all work in the same fabric.  My sample block to them was as follows:

I asked my beemates to make a block full of half-square triangles laid out like this, but in any random color order they wanted.  They could use my inspiration photo as a guide or just make something up.  They can make it mostly blue, mostly tan/gray, or all mixed together like this.  I can't wait to see what the send me.  I'll sash the blocks with a dark gray to resemble the metal window frames from the photo.

 

If you like my color palette, I'd love your vote!  Even if you like the other color palette better (it's beautiful), please go vote!  There are other palettes competing today, too.  You may want to check those out, too.  There are so many beautiful color palettes for your inspiration!  There will be prizes for those who participate in the voting, so go check it out!

GO VOTE HERE!

Voting ends on this "game" tonight (April 5, 2016) at 11:59 pm Eastern time.

Have a great day!

Mama Pea

Stephanie

Gibson Bundle for Paint Brush Studio March Madness

 Hi Everyone!

Well, today and tomorrow my bundle for Paint Brush Studios is up for vote!  You may recall they are having a March Madness event, with brackets and voting for different color palettes.  Read more about the event here.

Here is the palette I chose (the color numbers are listed below the photo).  As you may recall, I am calling this combination "Gibson."

121-010, 121-011, 121-014, 121-016, 121-020, 121-022, 121-141, 121-050

Here is the backstory to my selection.  I think I already mentioned that a short while ago, my munchkin (she does not like to be called Sweet Pea anymore...what am I going to do??) tried out for a position in one of the workshop (nonperforming) bands in the Kalamazoo Academy of Rock.  Super exciting day.

The Kalamazoo Academy of Rock is housed in a building that used to be the Gibson guitar factory.  Many famous people have used Gibson guitars.  Perhaps the most notable one is Carlos Santana. 

This old building is a pretty neat historic site in Kalamazoo.  The Kalamazoo Academy of Rock is up there on the second floor to the left, where those turquoise and white windows are.

 

When we walked in, I saw those windows from inside.  They are right behind where the band plays.  They are awesome.  I loved them.  I was inspired by them!  I selected my palette based on them and hope to make a quilt based on them.  More on that, as well as a little more about the building, later.

If you want to see all the color palettes, please see their blog post about the event.  All the palettes are listed there.

If you like my color palette, I'd love your vote!  Even if you like the other color palette better (it's beautiful), please go vote!  There are other palettes competing today, too.  You may want to check those out, too.  There are so many beautiful color palettes for your inspiration!  There will be prizes for those who participate in the voting, so go check it out!

GO VOTE HERE!

(Voting on my bundle ends on 4/5 at 11:59 pm EST, but there will be other bundles up for vote if you miss the deadline!)

Thanks for your help!

Mama Pea

Stephanie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paint Brush Studio March Madness

I was recently asked to participate in a fun activity.

Paint Brush Studios and Fabri-quilt, a new fabric company, is holding a March Madness event, where 16 folks were asked to choose a fabric palette of colors from their line of solids.  The community will vote on their favorite palette, and palettes will advance in a "bracket" competition.  The winner will receive a yard of each color of fabric in his/her palette!  There are also prizes for randomly selected community members.

Read more about the event here.

I got treated to a color card of all their fabrics.

These were my choices.  A nice palette to choose from, huh?  Which 8 would YOU choose?

I'll show you what I chose in a future post.  But if you want a sneak peek at my palette, as well of all the others, please see Paint Brush Studio's blog post about the event.  All the palettes are listed there.

Voting started today for the first groupings of palettes. Go on over to vote. There will be prizes for those who vote (random selection)!  You might want to get in on the action!  My palette is not up for a vote today, but I will let you know when it is.  I'll post some photos and the back story on that day.

Have fun voting and good luck to all the participants!

See you soon!

Mama Pea

Stephanie

Mid-century Modern Bee Blocks

I am a member of a bee called the Mid-century Modern Bee.  I love being in this bee, as there are some really talented gals in it with me.  (I never quite feel worthy, to be honest.)  You have to be at least 50 years old to be in the bee (hence the "mid-century" piece) and a modern quilter.

Each month, we make blocks for the "queen bee" that month, and we are supposed to blog our blocks when we do.  I have been pretty remiss at blogging them.  I'm trying to change that.  I did a blog post about my January through March blocks over on our bee blog.  If you'd like to see them, head on over to the Mid-century Modern Bee blog and check it out.

Happy Easter!

Mama Pea

Stephanie