Thanks to everyone that took the time to enter. Thanks even more for those of you who have chosen to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, or through a blog feed. Stay tuned for some fun things around here.

In the meantime, it’s time to announce the Winners!

The first prize is for the Color Card Pack and the winner is:

Number 367 is Julia whose favorite color is red! She will be able to pick out all of her favorite reds with all her new color cards!

And, the second winner is:

Number 675 is Emily  who says:

“I love Kona’s because of the selection but I am also in love with Art Gallery solids! Fav Kona is papaya, fav AG is burnt orange, thanks, I love both of your giveaways ”

Emily will be taking home this fun little quilt:

Congrats Julia and Emily! I will email both of you shortly. Thanks again for everyone’s entries!

XO
Latifah

(If you’re looking for the GIVEAWAY DAY post click here!)

_____________________________

I can’t take credit for this quilt. I was one of many LA Modern Quilt Guild members who participated in making this quilt a reality. An officer for three and a half years and one of the founding members of our guild Katie A. is moving out of state in a few weeks and we wanted to send her away with a little piece of us. I think it’s pretty amazing that 37 people contributed in some part to this quilt. Lori L. acquired all the fabric, I sketched it out and pieced the top, Megan E. quilted it, Hollie L. bound it, Tess H. made a hand embroidered label and 31 other people helped to piece the cross stitch and improv blocks for this stunning double sided quilt. It was made in Katie’s favorite colors of pink and turquoise. She loves personalized things so we thought she would love the cross stitch letters that spell out LAMQG Hearts KATIE. We made it pretty big at approximately 80″ x 80″ so that her whole family can snuggle under it .

I was afraid that we didn’t have enough contrast in the letters and the background so Megan chose to quilt around the cross stitch blocks so that they would pop. They do and look even more like cross stitch.

And the second side of this double sided quilt feature sixteen 20″ x 20″ improv blocks.

We heart you Katie! You’ll be missed!

(Thanks for the 683 entries to win! This Giveaway is now closed!)

So, excited! I’m participating in Sew Mama Sew’s Giveaway Day and have two fun giveaway packs that you can win that are all about color. There will be one winner for each prize.

First of all, if this is your first time here, thanks for visiting my blog! I’m starting to post a bit more here and you can also find me on Instagram, Facebook and Flicker under the name thequiltengineer.

Now, for the prizes! First  is a color card pack. If you sew or quilt with solids, color cards are invaluable for picking just the right colors for your projects. In this prize pack you will receive a Kona Cotton Color Card, a Michael Miller Cotton Couture Color Card, a Free Spirit Designer Solids Card and a Moda Bella Solids Color Card!

Second is a fun baby quilt in my favorite color – green! This was a fun quilt that I made exploring the Half Rectangle Triangle technique.

1. Just leave a comment below telling me what your favorite line of solid fabric is and what your favorite color is.
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3. Become a fan on Facebook, or follow me on Instagram (thequiltengineer). Leave a comment telling me which one you did.
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A few notes about the contest:

OK. This will be one of the many quilts that I’ll be posting about that I’ve made in the last year or so. This one was a quickie. Well, sorta.

Last year the LA Modern Quilt Guild was lucky enough to host Elizabeth Hartman of the blog Oh, Fransson! I don’t take many classes but, wanted to take one with her because, well because she’s Elizabeth Hartman. I picked the Text Class where we learned two different techniques for adding text to quilts. One was an applique technique and the other was for pieced letters.

First of all, if you ever have a chance to take a class with Elizabeth don’t hesitate. She is patient, thorough and pretty much all around awesome.

Because of the million and one projects that I have in process at any one time, I didn’t want to have another project to add to my WIP list. So, I wanted to finish enough letters in class for a completed project. Plus, I needed a gift for a friend that was having a baby. I wanted something clean, nice, and simple for a new baby girl and her family. My friend Lori who took the class with me suggested “shhh. . .” for the words and the quilt idea was born.

I used a color combo that I was digging at the time: mint, purple and orange. Well, I think I still dig it. A lot. The top half is a print called Mountains in Mint from the Monsterz line from Cloud 9. I LOVE this line.

And the bottom half has the characters that spell out  “shhh. . .” appliqued on. They’re really fun because each of the letters are patchwork.

For the pieced letters part of the class, I thought that it would make a fun label out of my initials that would go on the back of the quilt. And, I thought I was being smart by choosing the larger pieced letters. I figured I could finish them because they would be less tedious to piece. They were less tedious but, for a label they look sorta ridiculous. Oh well. I added my little easy Spoonflower label so that my initials would make a little sense.

Fun simple quilting, with the top half quilted with straight line quilting. And the bottom half quilted with wavy lines.

It sorta looks fun from the back.

I chose a binding that was pieced with my favorite fabrics from each of the three colors. You’ll notice in the other pictures the corners were also rounded which adds to the simplicity.

And, most baby gifts from me get a ball. Dad’s and babies generally love these more than the quilt. And they are pretty easy to whip up.

I know, I’m blogging. Miracles do happen, huh?   I don’t have much of an explanation but, life happens, ya know? Like almost a whole year of life. But, that means I have a TON of things to post about because I’ve been quilting my way through life. Anyhow, here’s the first one.

Some of you saw photos from the first version of this quilt, Neutral and Neon at QuiltCon in Austin in February. I really did love that quilt. Apparently one of the QuiltCon attendees really loved it too. She contacted me after the show. But, with the original quilt going to travel in a Modern Quilt Guild traveling show (and a secret desire to keep it for myself when it comes home) I decided that I would remake it for her.

I thought about just using the first as inspiration but, when I thought about when you fall in love with a specific piece of art – you only want that piece. So, I tried to make as exact of a version of this quilt as I could. It’s pretty close. . .

I shipped it out yesterday and was able to snap a few photos before it went out:

This quilt was inspired by an accidental stacking of fabric of Yoshiko Jinzenji and Suzuko Koseki. I attempted to make the traditional clamshell modern through fabric choice and layout.

I chose various cotton, linen, and linen blend fabrics to coordinate with the Jinzenji and Koseki fabrics.

A tiny 1/4″ binding helps to frame the quilt but, just barely. It’s perfect for this quilt since it will be used as a wall hanging.

I chose to quilt this with irregular straight lines which gives a very modern organic feel to it.

The 8″ clamshells are all machine pieced.

Yes, that’s a coordinating bag.

And a custom printed label.

I love how the seam allowances on the clamshells show through the back of the quilt. I’m glad that I’m so diligent about pressing – didn’t know it would show through like that.

What’s a commissioned quilt without official paperwork. Right?

I hope she likes it!

You may have seen the grocery bag and produce bags I made for the LAMQG Tote Swap. Well, look what I got during the swap! Total SCORE! It was made by the fabulous Lori L the Secretary of the LAMQG and a very good friend. I realized I hadn’t shared any pictures and wanted to do so before it got too dirty because this baby is used often! Lori always comes up with the most inventive things. The bag is designed to look like a shopping list and it’s double sided! The front is for when you go to the grocery store.

Vodka? Check!

Shopping List Tote by Lori L. for LAMQG Swap

The back is for when you go to the fabric store. Brilliant!

Shopping List Tote by Lori L. for LAMQG Swap

Thanks Lori! It’s been used for both.

Many of you saw glimpses of this quilt in the tutorial on the Modern Quilt Guild blog but, it wasn’t quilted yet and I literally just showed a peek of it in the tutorial. It’s a very simple quilt using HRT’s that makes for a quick baby quilt. I love the color combination of the coral-ly reds, pink, citron and gray! I think I’ll definitely be using it again.

Kite Tails Quilt, Latifah Saafir

This quilt layout completely reminds me of kites in the idyllic image in kids books with the bows on kite tails blowing in the wind. Kinda like this:

I have been struggling SO much to get decent pictures of my quilts. Does anyone else have this problem? Please let me know I’m not alone. But, the stars (and the clouds to be honest) all lined up perfectly today to allow me to easily take a few decent shots.

Kite Tails Quilt

This quilt is pretty small at just 34″ x 36″ but, it was made specifically for the tutorial. It would be perfect for a tiny baby girl though.

Kite Tails Quilt

The backing uses three of my current favorite fabrics. I’m sort of in love with the Timeless Treasures Crosshatch Sketch fabric – like, in all of the colors!! The upper left corner fabric is one of my favorite colors of the Crosshatch Sketch called Citron. To the right of it is Simon & Kabuki Juicy Blossoms Gray Dot (which I desperately need to find more of). And the bottom is Laurie Wisburn’s Modern Whimsy Circles in Saffron.

Kite Tails Quilt Back

The quilting is super simple.

Kite Tails Quilt Detail

The binding is Kona Coral.

Kite Tails Quilt Folded

And, last but, not least my go to label when I’m too lazy to create a real one.

Kite Tails Label

I’ll be back soon!

This week we’re going to look at a fun little tutorial that I wrote up on the Modern Quilt Guild blog for making HRT’s. What is an HRT? Well, if a Half Square Triangle is an HST shouldn’t a Half Rectangle Triangle be a HRT? Plus, Half Rectangle Triangles is just too many syllables so we’ll just call it the HRT. The fun thing about HRT’s is that they are maybe even more versatile than the HST. [Geeky side note: Since a square is a rectangle, isn't a HST technically also a HRT? Just sayin!]

This week I’m going to show you a few quilts that I’ve made or am working on using HRT’s. Plus, I’ll fine tune the tutorial a bit so that you too can make long skinny HRT’s with minimal fabric waste.

The first quilt in the series is a quick baby quilt made with the long skinny HRT’s that I call the Merge Quilt. Ever since I was able to accept that Green was my favorite color, I always stash great green fabrics when I see them. I also have a pretty substantial collection of grey prints as well. So, when I saw the super cute Green Owl fabric by Annika Wester for Kokka I knew I had to make a quilt with all my green and grey fabric! I love this quilt and think that it is quite unisex. I have an idea for a much larger quilt using HRT’s of the same dimension but with lots more solids and a little less juvenile. If I can only find the time!

(Now that I’m posting this I realize that all of my pictures are blurry.   So I’ll have to update this and share a few clearer pictures with you later. But, I’ll go ahead and post it for now.)

Here’s the clearest shot:

A little detail of that great Owl fabric!

The blurry front.

The back – also blurry.

Merge on a turtle.

I’ll take a few better pictures and post them soon!

XO

Sometimes, I sit and try to remember what my life was like before the Modern Quilt Guild. It’s only been 2, almost 3 years since we started the LA chapter but, it is such a part of my life that it seems like it’s always been there. Good friends, great outings, weekends away, shoulders to cry on, laughing till it hurts, sharing life with people who love the same things as you do! What more can a girl ask for?

I can’t wait until our Los Angeles Modern Quilt Guild meeting tonight! My mom is in town and I’m bringing her so that should be fun. And our swap committee has organized our first swap of the year. It’s a white elephant style Tote Bag swap in honor of Earth Month. The main rules are that it has to be awesome and that it has to include some patchwork or quilted element. This is what I made. Well, the bag not all the goodies inside.

Grocery Bag
Not quite a tote but, it’s a great reusable grocery bag AND I made 4 reusable produce bags to go with it so I thought it worked. I chose to make a grocery bag vs. a tote because it can fold or roll down nicely to fit in your car without taking up too much space. When it was finished I thought the bag was a little small so next time I’ll enlarge the pattern. So cute though! I think I want to make a bunch for myself to use to go grocery shopping!

I started to make my own pattern but, in the interest of time I used the Simplicity 2806 pattern for the grocery bag. I liked it because it looks like a grocery bag and it had a lining which I needed because I wanted to include patchwork on the front. The only changes that I made to the pattern were the patchwork piecing on the front of the bag, I didn’t include a pouch, and I added a french seam on the bottom. Easy great pattern though!

I got to use a random combination of a lot of my favorite fabrics. The background is Kona Coal and the lining is Alexander Henry Heath in Tomato. The patchwork on the front includes Art Gallery Pure Elements Lemonade (a new favorite), Lotta Jansdotter Echo Woven in Espresso (love this), more Tomato Heath, Connecting Threads Taupe Solid (yummy), Kona Robins Egg (I use this way too often), Timeless Treasures Crosshatch Sketch in Nectar (perfect in all colors), Robert Kaufman Metro Living Dots Blue (the perfect blue) and last but not least the green is a print from Liesl Gibson’s Lisette Collection at Joann’s (LOVE).

Produce Bags
For the the produce bags I found this great tutorial. I followed it roughly. I used netting instead of the “scrubbie mesh”. I used the rough dimensions. I would probably make some of the bags larger. I made my own ribbons which I would make a little different next time so that they’re not so bulky. But, what I LOVE about the tutorial was the way the bottoms of the bags are sewn. Genius! Overall I love how they turned out and I know what I’ll do differently next time. I need at least a half dozen of these as well. I guess I’ll have to add it to the list!

For the straps I used Lemonade again, Kona Robins Egg, and Persimmon Shot Cotton.

I personally love it! I’m just concerned that everyone else’s “Tote’s” will be a lot more complicated compared to my simple grocery bag. Is it awesome enough? Let’s see how many times it gets stolen tonight! (Question: Ummm, can you steal your own gift in a white elephant gift exchange?) If you’re in LA come join in on the fun!

Hey you guys! I’ve missed you. Seriously.

I’ve been working on my blog relaunch for awhile and the time has finally come! I had neglected it and it didn’t have a real focus so I decided that I needed to take a break, step back and look at it and decide where I wanted to go with it. Being pulled in so many directions it can be hard to maintain a blog. BUT, I decided that it really is important to me. And, I’ve heard from so many of you asking me to do the same. (Thanks for the encouragement!) So, here it goes.

To start out on the right foot, I’ve planned out a fun next 13 weeks for the blog. Each week will have a sort of a theme. There will be lots and lots of quilts and other sewing projects, maybe even a few tutorials, and a ton of giveaways.

Fun Giveaways over the next 13 Weeks!

For giveaways, I’ve pulled a bunch of things from my own stash but, I also have goodies from some wonderful sponsors: Pat Bravo/Art Gallery, Free Spirit, Michael Miller, June Tailor, Moda, and Janome. Lots and lots of fabric, books, rulers, color cards, project packs and at the end of the thirteen weeks, there will actually be a sewing machine given away! I’m thinking of making the sewing machine giveaway through a modern quilt blog scavenger hunt! I’m so excited! More details to come soon!

XO