I Love December!

Only one post made here in November!
Time spent sewing was in short periods. It is easier for me to work on blocks when my time is limited, and the bonus is that they are pretty gratifying :-)
I finished up Sew Sweet Simplicity Block Two:

Of course, November did have a NewFO. I've been following the Cascadia Quiltalong Mystery over at Humble Quilts. The big reveal was last week and Lori shared a photograph of the little antique doll quilt that she based the QAL on.
Unfortunately, I selected a background fabric with too little contrast for the patchwork.
I thought there would be more background used in the setting, but not knowing is the challenge of a mystery QAL.  
At this point I sure wished I had used a different color!

For the save, I divided the center panel up and added a bit more negative space all around. Then I brought it in the dining room for brighter lighting:

 It looks very Easter-ish, eh? 

 

I used every last bit of that green. The backing will be pieced with some of this lovely rose print that I was gifted with last week. This finish will be my final goal finish for ALYOF, December 2014!

Another fly-by month whizzed by and my projects are uncharacteristically scattered about. I do tend to work on several things at a time, but this is out of hand! Even amidst unfinished projects, I have new piles evolving as I consider new projects I want to make.
Like the placemats for Mom.
Yes, on the floor.

As much as I love to make new blocks and small projects, a strict diet is in store for 2015. My plans are to finish a dozen or so of my projects, simultaneously foregoing all NewFO's (Is it true that Barbara is no longer condoning new projects every month ?).

To help me focus a bit, I'm thinking of participating in the 2015 Finish-Along.

Yes, I need all the help I can get ;-)

Adrianne will be hosting from On the Windy Side!

I have seen some progress lists from participants in the last couple years, and some of them are so long they'll make your head spin! I will need to come up with a simple way to set some goals.

 

For now, I will try to prepare for the holidays, and ENJOY them!

After all, 2014 ain't over yet!

 

Linking up this Wednesday with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.

 

Thank you for reading today!

Please enjoy a 10% discount at RedLetterFabrics, good thru December with the coupon code: BLOGGERDISCOUNT

A Wrapped up Zipper Bag Inspired by the Bird's, & my JUNE GOAL!

I whipped up this little bag over the weekend, using a tutorial I found at El Petit Taller. I was inspired to make a quick gift for a bird-lovin' friend when I came across this cheery fabric. Super quick and easy to construct, especially with the instructions and photos (isn't the internet amazing?).

Here is the backside:

I made only a couple changes to the tutorial:

Because of the directional fabric, I pieced the top piece before sandwiching it.

I cut the inside piece a half inch longer than the instructions so it would cover the entire length of the seam. I do love a bag with finished seams!

If When I make another, I will make the handle tab an inch or so longer, and perhaps a bit less wide as well. This is the larger of two size options that were provided (I had to make sure the birds had plenty of room to shine!), and I think the smaller one would be easier to open and close. Or, perhaps I would try folding the edges in only half as far, creating a bit more shallow, and wider pouch. I think that would give less curve to the zipper, and therefore easier to unzip and zip.
I want to try the smaller version !

I wish I had timed this - it was seriously fast! The quilting took the longest, then stich zipper to edges, fold ends in and stitch, then turn right-side out, and Bob's your uncle!
Overall, I am quite happy and so is the recipient;-)

Looking ahead, I must get more focused for June accomplishments - NO more distractions!

My goal for AYOLF is to clear my design wall! Flight Plan blocks have been taking up most of the space for more than a month now, so it is time to make a final decision, press the blocks, and assemble. I can opt to continue as planned, following the pattern for Flight Plan:

 OR, go with the option I am leaning toward and make these big stars instead:

My official goal for the June goal setting party at AYOLF is to complete the quilt sandwich!

Thank you for reading today!

 

Linking up with WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced!, where Lucy is guest-hosting today!

WIP with a finish goal for April

Sometimes fabric seems to go forever!

MORE leftover baby blocks! Square in a Square setting

Last year, I cut into a Layer Cake of nursery prints (from Quilting Treasures?). Without a plan in mind, I whipped up a bunch of nine patch blocks using a speedy method I shared here. It was one year ago almost to the date - I finished two baby flimsies at that time..

Baby Nines!

I completed the first quilt in short order, Baby Nines, & was really thrilled to sell it in my Etsy shop.

I came across the second flimsy last week, added a simple border and sandwiched it. It is unnamed officially, but reminds me of the railway, so I have been calling it Railroad Baby...

Railroad Baby has been selected as my one main goal for a Finish in April with AYOLF over at Fiber of All Sorts.

I was still left with 24 blocks, and yesterday I played with the square-in-a-square idea, pulling four fabrics that seem to suit them all well and hopefully pull them all together.  Here is a close up, so you can get a nice peek at my new Three Blind Mice (Catnap) fabric. ..

Lizzy House Catnap, purchased on Ebay $6.99 yard. Sale is over, but it is still a SHOP worth a peek, & I just noticed some nice Tula bundles offered..

MMM, so cute! I think this last baby quilt will be 'Scrambled Nines' :-)

Thank you for reading today, check out more Work in Process at  Lee's Freshly Pieced (and a great giveaway this week too!)

Work is Progressing

Scrappy Carpenter's Square II completed this week!
114 pieces for a 12" block! 

Oh how I Love to slip a bit of my favorite vintage prints in with current fabrics ;-)

I was giving this cutie a final press, and thought of Hydee at Splish Splash Stash. She wrote an interesting post last week about the now-common practice of pressing seams open when piecing..

I have found I am much more accurate lining up intersections when I press to the side and nestle seams as I have always done. And I like that after pressing to the side, the seam intersections are then visible , making it easier to avoid cutting off points when joining rows. I do think that our wise old-timers are also onto something when they tell us that the seam will be less stressed when the thread is protected by a seam that is not exposed by being pressed open. However, as you can see in my photo, I do still press seams open when I join rows with lots of pieces.

 I make sure to use a bit tighter stitching when joining rows that will be pressed open, and I avoid quilting in the ditch on these seams as well. There will be a few short segments of the open rows that will be in the ditch for this block, but I will stay just off the actual seam line. This will be a larger set of pillows quilted in a similar pattern as the set I made for my Scrappy Carpenter Block Tutorial.

Saturday is coming up fast and I am busy preparing items to sell at SewMarketStreet, a bit of a parking lot sale hosted by my LQS. I think I may be over-preparing, however anything I bring home again can then be posted on Etsy the next week. I made seven more sets of Scrappy Carpenter II Pillow Kits. And if they still don't sell at Etsy, I will be 'stuck' with enough squares cut & ready for a full size quilt- it's a win/win!

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday, and looking forward to visiting other quilter's goings-on!

Two new Barn Quilt Blocks, and a New QAL!

I am so excited about the barn blocks my husband and I have been working on! I finished painting two of the Churn Dash blocks, and will soon be adding a 'Barn Blocks' section on my Etsy shop as part of it's makeover. These are two of my faves so far:

24" Barn Block made of Rebar and Sheet Metal

 

I snapped a photo & added Ty as a shop member today....

Ty enjoys working in his slippers, as do I :-)
He is into modern furniture & metal wall art - http://tekilounge.blogspot.com/
The blog is new, so he would LOVE a comment if you make it over there!

Of course, I am still stitching as well! Yesterday I stumbled upon some purty blocks made with the new Stashbuster's QAL at Linda's Quiltmania. Never one to avoid a new distraction, I jumped right on the bandwagon and whipped up the first two blocks. Her tutorials were easy to follow, and I love the modern designs.

Block from Week One, (I made them a bit bigger @ 16")
These are not joined cuz I decided to add a few more & complete a baby quilt.
 

Block from Week Two; I am going to make three more - blue, yellow, and green - for a baby quilt.

Check out Linda's Flickr group to see what other quilter's are coming up with! If you follow my blog, you know that I often enjoy mixing vintage with modern, and this group seems to have a mixture that I will feel comfortable posting with in either style:-)

Linking up with Lyn at BOM's Away,

As well as Lee for WIP Wednesday!

A bit of Mondrian Inspired Goings On



Piet Mondrian Inspired Wall hanging, 27" x 24"


A quick wallhanging stitched up for my hubby!

Self-threading needle makes tucking tails a breeze, right at the machine!

First I made these little mugrugs so I could play with threads and patterns. You can probably see where I ripped the stitches from the upper right one, not liking the design I stitched in. I tried several patterns before I settled on the simple wavy lines. I am getting more accustomed to my Juki. It is faster, and the pedal touchier than my old Bernina, and I am still working to improve with consistent speed and stitch lengths.

These coasters were photographed on the Mondrian-inspired coffee table Ty made this month...

Piet Mondrian inspired mugrug coasters, 6" Sq

Ty is busy preparing for Art in the Park, a HUGE Fine Art show coming up in Boulder City, NV.

RU curious what is up with the Coca-Cola Crate?

Poster pic ripped from website

 

He does a lot of unique furnishings, and the little green side table is one of my recent favorites..

 I also love these...

Today he is busy making a resting bench. The seat is gorgeous redwood. Likely, it will be appreciated by at least a few of the 100,000 people expected to attend.

 

What I am most excited about are the quilt/barn blocks he is producing...

I will post a bit more about these soon!

 

Regarding Quilting this week, I am preparing a Carpenter's Wheel block Tutorial.

 

 And, I have to admit my NewFO projects look the same as last month (!)

Pretty even though there's been no recent progress...  Hang tough, but maybe don't hold your breath...

It has been a busy month, and a busier one coming up, but in a great way!  

Amy, of Crafty Shenanigan's would say we are feeling very GREEN around here.

And that is a good thing.

 

Linking up with:

 

Barbara, Cat Patches NewFO's. 

 

Lee Molli over at, Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday

Photo Editing Online

Blocks I am playing with from current WIP's & UFO's!

Ta Da! My first photo-mosaic!

I finally played around with PicMonkey this morning to check out the features of their online photo-editing software. Yay, it was easy to navigate! I have been making do without editing software on my PC for a year now. How nice that so many options are available at PicMonkey.

And I will now be able to add a name to photos so I can be found,,,
 no matter where my photos are found:-)

Do you use online editing software?

This little accomplishment has made my heart sing, can I get a Whoop Whoop?

A Label for Madeleine

A bit overdue, and well worth the wait, baby Madeleine was born July 18th!

I promptly pulled out her A Shower For Madeleine and began embroidering her 'label' along the backside of the binding.

I have a bit to learn about embroidery (!), so I did have to rip out my first attempt. This is looking better with only one strand of floss. Her full name is long, & I will add the DOB, Made with Love (of course), and I get to sign it with the title 'Grandaunt'. I wasn't certain my correct relation and called my mom, who has a genealogy passion, and she cleared it up for me. This adorable little girl is my nephew's first baby:-)  I think the label will run about 18" when complete.

Today is my husband's birthday. Not that it snuck up on me or anything, but last night I pulled out some fabric for a quilt. For this project, I will need more black on white, maybe a bit of blue on white, and more white on blue.

Some of these I have saved over the years, with Ty in mind. And I tore into a Reunion Cake for some of those. I have been collecting various reds for some time now for a red and white quilt. I recently swapped 10" scrap lots with Astrid, who blogs at Red, Red, Completely Red . With a name like that, I thought she may have some fun stash to swap, and she did not disappoint!


From Astrid's Stash to Mine!

From my Stash to Astrid's!

 Last night, I explained to Ty that I do not have a gift. He likely thought I was kidding (he loves gifts, and I try not to disappoint!), until I pulled him into my sewing room, and showed him his new quilt.
I showed him the picture I was inspired by, with a zigzag type of pattern I had in mind, from and old issue of Miniature Quilts Magazine.

 

I detected the slightest hmph, and my pulse quickened. This is far from the Mondrian Quilt we have talked about so much over the years. So I whipped up a quick layout on EQ6, and he tweeked the design in a more Ty-like fashion.

Before bed, we talked about changing one column color, so this morning I colored in some options, this being my favorite:

 

I should be able to spend some time on this tomorrow. Today is All-About-Ty-Day :-)
We are excited his sister and husband are in Vegas, visiting from Alaska.

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday:-)

 

 

OP Fabric Score!

I have always been a budget quilter, and love Make-Do quilting. My fabric collection is borderline excessive, and since I have been out of work I have done a bit of de-stashing, but it seems I just can't stop adding as well. I often have good intentions of re-sale when I score great fabric, then trouble parting with them once I get them home and washed. I spent $28 yesterday, and I am not sure I can let go of any of my finds, but maybe I will be hungrier next week (!)

 



 2yds each of Glacier Peak by Benartex, 2yds Ricky Tims, 4+ yds of Art by the Yard, and 1yd each of Moda dots. + 1.5yds home dec from Ikea.

 

 

 

I found this great quilt of vintage fabrics (pic is folded in half). I love that it is unlined and lightweight, & knew right away I would keep it since it is perfect for desert weather. It had never been washed, very simply tied and with no binding. It is so kinda ugly that I absolutely love it.

I think the same quilter made these next two baby quilts:

 Yesterday I completed the Vroom Vroom quilt for my good friend's good friend's toddler.

It finished 39" x 53".

 I had intended to machine bind, but as is usually the case for me, I just couldn't do it, and stitched it up while watching movies with my hubby.

 

Today's Work in Progress is Terry's Quilt (my father-in law). I completed the blocks yesterday and chose a solid tan fabric for sashing to make today. My mother in-law requested a soft quilt to replace Terry's current quilt which is badly tattered.

 Terry lives in the foothills of the Cascade Mountain Range, in Washington State, so when I found this print yesterday (yes, included in my $28 purchase!) I thought is was perfect for the backing. It is soft & kinda flannelish in texture. I am not sure there will be enough however. I will play with piecing options after I wash it today.
It is slightly more tan than the pic and will go well, so my heart is set on it - I hope it works!