A Snappy Start to the New Year (Lauren)

Hello, fellow stixers! 2014 has gotten off to great start here in Portland. Well, at least as far as quilting goes – the weather could use a little improvement. ;) Just rain, rain and more rain here. Although a week ago we had a little sunshine, which chased some of my winter blues (shouldn’t they be called greys since it’s caused by all this grey weather?) away. Thank goodness! But the one great thing about all this rain is that I’ve stayed inside at least one day every weekend and worked on my quilting. And what have I been working on, you ask? A boatload of snappy squares! Hahaha! They might not be the most complicated quilts around, but they sure are fun to make.

During my time home over Christmas I told Mom that this would be the year of the stash – this would be the year that I help use up some of her stash. So, when leaving Volcano for Portland I stuffed my suitcase full of fabric that had been sitting around just waiting to be used. And I have successfully completed my first goal of the new year – complete four snappy square quilts! The first snappy square was comprised of Dr. Suess fabrics we bought about two years ago. I spent one weekend cutting the fabric out and a second sewing the quilt together. Not too shabby. :)

The second snappy square is actually two snappy squares. A few years ago, Moda came out with a line of Christmas fabrics that Mom absolutely fell in love with, called Jovial. Well, somehow we missed buying the fabric in store and had to resort to online

purchasing. In a fit of…excitement…Mom and I went online and purchased a ton of Jovial fabric including a stack of 4 ½ inch squares, yardage for the backs and borders of two quilts, and a stack of ½ yard cuts of every fabric in the Jovial line. It turned out to be a very impressive haul utilizing three different online sites including eBay. In the end, we had more than enough Jovial to make two quilts (one for me and one for Mom) and at least a couple of bags. As so often happens, this fabric was set aside and time passed. But, it remained one of Mom’s favorites and when it came time to choose fabric to take to Portland with me, I immediately thought of it. I packed all that wonderful Jovial fabric into my suitcase and made matching mom and daughter Jovial snappy square quilts! After another weekend of cutting and two weekends of sewing, two more snappy squares were complete and I had finished three in the new year. But, more was still to come.

My fourth and final snappy square of 2014 was made from scraps Maria gave to Mom from a snappy square she made for a friend last year. The fabric was also Christmas themed and made a beautiful quilt. I’m not quite sure what the plan is for this new quilt, but it feels great to use up some a little more of the stash and

use up all the leftovers of the fabric. And by this time I had perfected the art of the snappy square and was able to finish the cutting in the morning and the assembling of the quilt in the afternoon. Once you know all the tricks to making the snappy square, it’s an easy and fun one-day quilt.

Since I finished my final snappy square in early March, I have been busy forming a new Portland branch of Stix – Twigs! I have been giving my friend Laysan some sewing lessons since fall last year and recently had two more friends ask for lessons. Both Katie and Rebecca are brand new sewers and I’m having a blast sharing my quilting knowledge with my friends. So far we have had one group lesson with Laysan and Katie (Rebecca’s first lesson will occur soon) – Laysan working on a small project and Katie learning the basics of tools, ironing, cutting, and sewing a nine-patch. Since then, I’ve started Katie working on her first quilt, which included a fabric shopping trip to Craft Warehouse (where we bought all the fabric for her quilt for only $35!) and her first full lesson on cutting. In two weeks we will begin sewing and are working to get her quilt done in time for her second anniversary in mid-May as the quilt is a gift for her husband on their second anniversary. I’ll keep you all updated on how Twigs proceeds and will post something soon.

For my personal projects I am working on a wall hanging from a kit I bought at the Portland Quilt Show two years ago. So far I’ve got most of the cutting done and will soon begin sewing. More on that to come as well! I’m continuing to work through my personal stash (thankfully only comprised of complete projects at this point) and Mom’s. I’m committed to helping Mom work through her stash and am expecting some more fabric to come my way on the parents’ next trip up to Portland.

I hope you are all having equally fun and successful starts to 2014. I miss you all! Enjoy yourselves and keep sewing, Stixers.