Lecien Tag Sale

this is my Lecien Tag Sale quilt (Lecien fabrics, pattern by Miss Rosie). paul thinks the colors are totally not me 'cos it's so subtle & pale, but i really love this one--it's on our bed right now. (that's my sophie sauntering in front)

in a roundabout way--this quilt started my blogging obsession. i came across the Miss Rosie pattern book at Joann's and really liked the traditional patterns with a twist, and the colors/fabrics that Carrie Nelson, the designer, chose. i googled Miss Rosie , but she didn't have a web presence then (this was around 2 years ago) but i did come across a blog called Sister's Choice and it was like a new world opened up--where people took pictures of their quilts and fabrics and talked about stuff that i was interested in! plus, the twins were still little and i was house-bound a lot so had lots of time to surf the 'net (and no energy to actually sew). btw, Sister's Choice is still one of my favorite blogs--lots of pretty pix and lots of posts. and Miss Carrie Nelson now has a wonderful blog LaVieEnRosie which is also a fave. (i know there must be some way to link to them from the text but i haven't figure it out yet so look on the sidebar and click over to them from there.)

i bought the fabrics from Fat Quarter Shop soon afterwards--again, having found out about FQS (great selection & customer service) from reading the blogs--and spent a ton of money (qualified for free shipping, for those of you in the know) --this Lecien line was on sale --it's a Japanese fabric and pricier than the american fabrics. i think it's called Durham Rose but not quite sure.

this is the back of the quilt. it's not very exciting but had to show my first (and probably last!) attempt at dying fabric. i didn't have enuf fabric for the borders, and when i went shopping online, that line of fabric wasn't on sale anymore. i found a fabric, also by Lecien, that was on sale so i figured it should be somewhat similar. it ended up being too white (the problem with buying fabric online) so i decided to dye it with coffee. not having done it before, and not believing in taking the extra step to test it first, i brewed a really strong pot of coffee and dunked the whole piece (3 yards) --it came out way too dark. so i tried soaking it in bleach which did almost nothing (i didn't want to soak it too long in bleach in case it weakened the fabric too much). so there it is on the back--the dark strip in the middle. sigh.... and it smelled pretty funky for awhile--bleach & coffee don't mix! i ended up buying the blue fabric that is from the original line for full price. sigh again. but oh well, i love how it ended up looking.

i know this is wordy for just one quilt but i figure quilt-geeks would appreciate it :-)