Tuesday, June 28, 2011

WIP Wednesday

Wednesday comes around quickly sometimes!

On Ogee:
Squat. It just didn't get squeezed in this week, but I'm hoping to work on it a bit soon!

On Haunted House:
Top's done! Back's pieced! I'm trying to find a space in my house big enough to baste this bad boy. It's 73"x85"... that's massive in my world!
I'm in love. No picture of the backing yet - it's seriously rained every day since I pieced it, and I can't spread it out big enough in my house to take a picture, lol!
It also put me in a mega Halloween mood, so I busted out the piecing for a couple pillow covers:

And the piecing for a table runner:



Since I try to limit the amount of things I have to store - we seriously have NO storage in this house - I'm making my runner reversible. The other side will be Ready Set Snow charms with white corners to create the snowball blocks, and it'll be bound in a green that coordinates with both sides. Yay for only having to store one runner! (No worries, folks, my runners have their own special cupboard, so I don't have to hem and haw about whether this goes in the Halloween box or the Christmas box!)
The Ready Set Snow side is Ready To Go!

On Swoon:
El fin! But... um.. it's rained. A lot. And I haven't gotten a decent photo. Sorry. It's still purdy in a heap, right?


On MHC M&W D9P:
 I've got the rows of three stitched together... hoping to get the 9 patches done and sliced back apart tomorrow night while the husband is teaching his class. I've got a fun idea to make this quilt a bit more special... but you'll just have to stay tuned for that, now won't you?


Somehow, even though I realize what I've accomplished is quite a bit of work, especially considering that I work out of the home, we share a car (which means being out of the house from 6:55 am to after 6 pm most nights... 7 tonight!), and I'm chasing a 2 year old 24/7... I still never feel quite accomplished. I just have so much to do and so little time to do it!

Linking up to Lee as usual!

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced
 


Monday, June 27, 2011

A Sneak Peek - Coming Soon!

Wanna learn a simple way to make this gorgeousness?




Come back this Friday - our friend Karen will be teaching us how!



Thursday, June 23, 2011

Halloween In June Update!

I've been working slowly on this.. a bit slower than I'd hoped, but hey, stuff gets in the way.

I now have a finished Haunted House quilt top! At 73"x85", this is massive for me. Too massive. Couldn't fit it on my fence! Good thing the husband finally mowed the lawn, eh?




I'm seriously LOVING this quilt! I'm so excited to finish it up, though it'll be slow going. I definitely won't have it finished in June. Maybe I can whip out a table runner or something quickly. :)



Rectifying the situation


So I totally caved,

more than once.


fwqal button



DWR Quilt Along



Do you reckon this will keep my design wall busy for awhile?


Wednesday, June 22, 2011

This post brought to you by the letters M and L and the numbers 16 and 53...


First of all, Mom, if you're reading this, stop now. 


I'll give you a second.

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I mean it!!! You're going to spoil the surprise!!


...


...


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*Looks around* Is she gone now?

Yes? 

Ok. So I saw this awesome quilt on Flickr one day a couple of months ago and knew that I HAD to make one for my mom. 

I set my sights on Mother's Day as the deadline. Well, life got in the way and it didn't happen. Coordinating handprints from 16 different people, 6 of whom are in Texas (2 of which were planning a wedding), made it difficult to make that deadline. So I set my new sights on her birthday, today. And I was bound and determined to get it done. Just ask my siblings, they enjoyed the many text and Facebook messages and phone calls I'm sure :)

So, without further ado, I give you my version of Grandma's Hands



I had the tree, grass and sky planned from the get go, but had a little trouble figuring out what other fabrics to use. Mom likes fall colors so Sandy Gervais' Grand Finale fit the bill perfectly.


Can I just say how much I love the little baby hands?!



M and L for my parent's initials. I had a hard time with getting this part just right but with the help of Bree, and a couple of my husband's friends believe it or not, I think we have a winner.



I did a simple pieced back on this one, mom's a simple kind of gal. I didn't stitch the hands on until after it was quilted, so we can add people in the future without it looking funny. I really like how the circles look on the back.



I finished it up late last night. Would have been a little bit sooner but there was a mishap that involved Bug, a pair of scissors and the binding which resulted in some ripping and resewing. Then again, it might not be finished at all if it wasn't for my little sister coming over and helping me with the hands. Reverse applique work is time consuming! Thanks Becky!!


I so can't wait to give this to mom!!

And since I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday and Lee likes to see actual works in progress, here's a shot of some string blocks. I finally started piecing it again, yay!



WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced


Photobucket

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Wet WIP Wednesday

Why "wet"? Cuz this little dude learned to swim without clinging to mommy like a spider monkey on crack this weekend! WIN!

Okay, onto seriousness.

On Ogee:
I actually managed to get past my hangups and finally just start tackling the curves. I have half of them sewn! That means.... 80 more tiny curved blocks to go. But the top half's worth of curves are sewn and back on the wall, and the bottom half have been pulled off and put into the clips of organization!


On Haunted House: The blocks are sewn together in their grid... need to cut borders and add 'em.

On Swoon: Ready? Are you ready? I don't think you are....

the top is DONE.
the back is PIECED.
the quilt is BASTED.
the quilt is QUILTED!




Yeah, I drank a lot of Mountain Dew this week.

On MHC Max and Whiskers: Should I even bother including this in the list? Nuttin'. Big fat nuttin'! But now that Swoon is almost complete, I'll be diving into it.

Linking up to Lee at Freshly Pieced as usual!



Grab a Button:

Monday, June 20, 2011

Houston, We Have a Problem


*GASP*

It's empty!


Guess I'd better do something about it ;)


Friday, June 17, 2011

Swoon! It's a Swoon top finish!

Alright, after WIP Wednesday, I decided I had to finish that quilt top! I still need to piece the back and quilt and such, but it feels great to have the top done. I am quite seriously in love with this quilt top. It measures about 56"x65".

I realized my poor pony was missing a back leg, so I added a bit to the applique. Pieced borders in both Swoon colorways, and here we are:

SQUEEEEEE!!!!!!


Wednesday, June 15, 2011

WIP Wednesday-Julie edition


Julie! Where the heck have you been? 
I know, I know, bad girl making Bree carry the load lately.

I've been in a funk, a major one. One of those "don't want to look at, let alone speak to, anybody" kinds of funks.

I did some heavy duty sewing to try to snap out of it and as our friend Karen would say, I'm no longer feeling funky and feeling more fun-KAY!

So, what did I accomplish?

I managed to finish piecing the Ogee top! Well, almost. I have a border I want to put on it but that won't take long. I had to put it up for a bit and take a small breather from it.


I did add some pink to it, but I did something a little different, you'll have to wait and see. I hope you guys think it's as cool as I did when the idea struck!

I started work on a project involving these


And a few other fabrics which are due to arrive tomorrow via the big brown truck. I can't share it just yet because it's a surprise! Soon, promise!

I also got my bee blocks done for this month, early for once! I'm the "always push it to the last minute" member of the bee. 

These are for Wendi for the Christmas Bee. She asked us to help her create a Christmas Village so I came up with a Gingerbread House


And a Drive through Candy Cane Forest


Fortunately, since I'm queen bee for this month for the Christmas Bee (we have two queens per month in that one) and the 12 Month Bee, those are all I had to make! I needed that small break this month I think.

And since I haven't posted in forever, here are the blocks I made for Carrie for LAST month for the Christmas Bee.

She asked for pictorial blocks so I put together a Christmas ornament (minus a border, I ran out of the white fabric)


And some Christmas bells


And in the spirit of needing something done quick, I made Bug a dress. Tutorial found here.


The tutorial was so fun and easy to do. I LOVE the tied back.


I've already got some fabric picked out to make a few more of these!

And my string blocks are seeing the light of day again! Yay!!


And one last thing. Our giveaway winner, Nancy Sue, informed us today that she received her package of goodies last week. And since I never did show what the secret item was that I was sending with the charm pack, here it is! 


I put together this reversible bag using this tutorial at Moda Bake Shop.


It was fun to do, a bit challenging in some parts though. I had to tweak it just a bit for the enclosure in order to be happy with it.


I love how nice and wide it opens up when set down, makes it easy to find things!


That's it! I still have a few tops on hold that I vowed Bree today that I will finish before I start anything else. Of course I also told her in the same email that I was thinking about joining Elizabeth's Kaleidoscope Quilt Along AND Kaelin's Double Wedding Ring Quilt Along. So, I guess no more after those two!

As always, I'm linking up to the fabulous Lee!

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced