A Block Design Challenge Finish!

So last month, Candi issued a UFO challenge that got my butt in gear and made me finish up my Kaleidoscope quilt - a challenge which I am quite grateful for!

Naturally, this month, when she posted her new challenge.. I was totally in. The challenge was simple - design an original block. Only constraint was that it needed to be 12" finished. Easy enough, right?
Uh, not so much. You should see how many sketches I went through.
I finally settled on this pinwheeling situation. I'm not sure what to call it. It was supposed to be a bit more circular in the original design, but I quite like the rounded square center that resulted. I am envisioning it in red and white.. wouldn't it look quite like a peppermint pillow mint?!

Linking up to Candi!

Not Much Shakin' on Wednesday

I've been slacking off lately, in more ways than one. I churned out those gifts and a few other small things and then hit a wall. Then I threw out my back and couldn't move, got better for a few days, then threw it out again. I say threw it out, I'm sure it wasn't that bad, but it did put me out of commission for a few days each time. Sewing, running, cleaning, you name it, it's been ignored. I did get a little pep in my step these past couple of days though and am working on tackling things one day at a time. 

So here's my pitiful list...

Ongoing projects....

12 Month Bee Blocks

None to do...we're taking a break for December!

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along 

Second verse, same as the first. 

Denim Winter Quilt

Cut up some more jeans, need to cut squares and get back to work.

Little Faces Quilt

I ordered binding, that's progress, right?

Commissioned T-shirt Quilt

This has been pieced, sent off to the longarm, received back from the longarm, and is now awaiting binding. It's big and bulky and a lot to maneuver so I'm going to wait until it's done to show off.

New projects...

Quilt Challenge of the Month

with Raccoon Creek Quilts

This is the second month I've participated in Candi's Challenges. October's challenge was to finish a UFO. My goal was to finish the denim quilt, that obviously didn't happen.

This month we were to create a quilt block, any quilt block that we could come up with. The only stipulation was that it be 12.5" (12" finished).

Here's mine!

It's kind of loud and funky but I dig it. I do wish I had used something else besides the stripes though. I think if I make this one again I'll use the fabrics that I used for the diamond shape (the white one and the red one) in place of the stripes. I'll alternate them so the white one will be facing where the red points out and vice versa. 

Candi says this month's challenge will be part 1 of a 3 part challenge. I'm anxious to see what she has in store for us for December!

On Hold...

Christmas Quilt from Christmas Bee

Double Wedding Ring Quilt Along

As pitiful as it is, I'm still linking it up! Happy WIP Wednesday!

Mystery Quilt Revealed!

The mystery quilt has made it to it's final destination, time to show it off!

This one was for a dear friend of mine who recently gave birth to a sweet baby girl.

I thought I had more time to get this one done but Piper decided to make her entrance about 3 months early! So I got straight to work and finished it up lickety split.

She is doing really well for being born so early and continues to amaze all who know her every day.

I'd like to thank Melissa at Happy Quilting for this great Moda Bake Shop pattern, with the nice, clean instructions I was able to get this done and sent to Piper in record time! I hope it helps keep her nice and warm, she has lots more growing to do!

A Little Bit of Behind the Scenes Sewing

It seems I'm in full blown gift making mode lately. I have a few things I'm working on that don't make the WIP Wednesday posts just because I'm afraid to show them off for fear of ruining a surprise for the recipient! 

I'm going to do something different and show them off, and then let that recipient be surprised when it shows up on their doorstep :)

First up is a scarf for an awesome friend. This is another "just because" gift to show my appreciation for helping me out with something. I can't really go into details on what she did because then she'll know it's for her! 

I used this tutorial at Bloom with some Valori Wells Wrenly voile, it just felt right for this particular friend.

Isn't it just cute on Mr. Puppy?

Next up is another notebook. This actually went to the person who I made the first one for.

I went searching through her Flickr photostream after making the original one and realized she had a more sophisticated sense of style.

I got a bit worried that she wouldn't like the fishies and put this one together instead.

And I remembered to put elastic on this one to hold it together!

I'm happy to report that she loves it, whew!

I made a lot of progress on the mystery quilt too. Matter of fact, it's done!

I still can't show it off completely though. Remember, it has a name embroidered in the middle of it. I'll be back with more pictures once it's received, promise :)

Don't forget, Bree is a finalist in the Riley Blake Designs contest. Go check her project out and if you like it, vote! (Pssst....hers is called Second Wind)

A Riley Blake Finalist!

Squee!!
I'm so excited to get to share this...
Riley Blake has been hosting a Cruisin' With Riley Blake contest for the greater part of this year. I entered my Haunted House quilt into the quilt category, but fell short among all the awesome competition. I was determined not to fall totally flat again this time, so in home decor, I entered my Second Wind quilt... and I'm actually a finalist! *Swoon!*

So, if you are so obliged, I'd greatly appreciate the votes. Hello, fabulous fabric prizes from my favorite manufacturer!!

Voting is located here, and mine is the "Second Wind" entry.

Thanks!

The Bionic Woman: an Update

The bionic woman is now in rehab care at a nursing home for a couple of weeks, until she's strong enough to go stay at my Aunt's home. We're still planning to go for Christmas. My mother went up to visit with her and is still there now, and sent me a picture today.

I decided to send the Ogee quilt up a bit early. Figured she could use a perk-up - she sounded pretty down-and-out the first time I got to talk to her. I'm glad I could bring a bit of comfort and a smile to her face:

I'm still quilting away over here. I've been so distracted with worry that I haven't been blogging much, but I'll be back to it soon!

Another Mini Challenge, Well Sort Of...

Y'all didn't think I was going to let Bree know about a challenge and not try to enter it myself did you?

Well, I almost didn't. I have so much required sewing that I need to do that I was having trouble finding the time for the fun sewing. And the sad thing is that I have so many mini ideas floating through my head and I knew I could put something together! 

Anyway, one of my required projects is a thank you gift, just a little token of appreciation for someone who helped me out. I remembered last night, while I was putting it together, that the requirement for the mini challenge was a patchwork project. It didn't HAVE to be a mini quilt. So I thought, why not enter it?

I usually have a pretty hard time with improv piecing, my brain needs order and symmetry. But this one just really seemed to come together quite easily for me. 

I think maybe it has something to do with these cute little fishies

Here it is all put together and ready to head to its new home!

I hope she likes it!

Here's the link up, check out all of the other fun projects!

A Mini Challenge

I'll admit, I've never really understood the purpose of mini quilts. I mean.. I get table runners, placemats, wall hangings, but just a miniature quilt? What are you supposed to do with that? It's not exactly like there's an abundance of cold dollies needing warmth up in this household of mine. Army men, perhaps.

So Julie showed me this challenge over at Amy Lou Who Sews. Simple enough - make a mini in two weeks, and post about it.

So I did! I was working on a disappearing 9 patch for a coworker, which I stupidly forgot to get photos of before he shipped it off to his mother in Puerto Rico, and as soon as I finished, I started messing around with scraps, and came out with some wonky interlocking stars.

Hey, this is pretty fun! It measures 12"x14.5", which I suppose makes it a slightly swelled mini-quilt. It could be mini-er, but I'm satisfied for a first try, eh?

I also played with some different free motion ideas. I did a sort-of seaweed type of wavy line situation that comes from the inner part of each star. I'm pretty happy with the look, but I'd like to try different types of free motion, too.

The back is a pretty little stripe from From Little Things (as are the materials on the front). Binding is Kona Azure.

(See the fun quilting on the back?)

Linking up to Amy Lou Who Sews - thanks for the challenge, Amy!



WIP Wednesday

Another slow week here. It seems like there just aren't enough hours in the day all of a sudden! I did make a teeny bit of progress on a couple of new projects though so I guess that's something :)

Ongoing projects....

12 Month Bee Blocks

Here is October's block. Stephanie asked for a starburst block, which I've been itching to try since first seeing it in blogland. She had us follow a different tutorial from the original one I have seen that separated it into quadrants instead of halves. I found it really easy to follow. The points don't all line up exactly in the center but she didn't really want them to anyway.

I just got the fabric for November's block yesterday, it's a quick and easy one so I'll be able to knock it out quick. 

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along 

Same story as last week, still nothing new.

Denim Winter Quilt

No new progress on this one either.

Little Faces Quilt

I went ahead with the scrappy sashing and got it all put together, yay! I still need to frame it with the scraps and maybe put a blue border around it. Or maybe I should just leave it as is and put a colorful binding on it. Thoughts?

New projects...

Quite Contrary project

This is the one I started last Friday. It will remain a bit of a mystery for a little while longer but here's a sneak peek.

I spent Friday and Saturday night working on piecing it and got the entire top put together. I'd like to try to finish it within the next week.

T shirt quilt

This is a commissioned job I picked up a couple of weeks ago and just picked up the t shirts and got started on over the weekend. So far I have all of the interfacing ironed on to the shirts. 

25 shirts in this one, plus sashing and borders. It's going to be a big one! Fortunately all I have to do is piece the top and then deliver it to be quilted on the long arm. Then she'll give it back to me to bind and it's done! Not a bad deal for my first t shirt quilt because I was already nervous going into it! 

On Hold...

Christmas Quilt from Christmas Bee

Double Wedding Ring Quilt Along

That's it! I promised I would have a couple of new things and hopefully there will be time for some more real soon. I have lots of stuff going through my head, I need to get it out!

Linking up with Lee!

A New Beginning

Finally! The start of something new

This one is going with me to tonight's Stitch and Bitch, hopefully I'll have something more to show you real soon!

And a peek at Little Faces, sashed. 

It's crazy windy outside today so I can't get a better picture just yet. It sure is cheerful up on the design wall though :)

Not much progress on WIP Wednesday

It has been quite slow in the sewing department lately. This commitment to finish up UFOs before beginning anything new is really taking a bite out of me. I picked up the denim quilt again, determined to finish it for these cold nights, and just became very uninspired. I must have stared at it for 3 weeks before finally making my mind up to just work on it already! 

On top of that I've been battling a nasty chest cold. It's been about a week now and just seems to not want to let up. I haven't done much of anything (other than my mommy duties of course) besides lay around and try to rest up. I even quit running for the past week because running with a chest cold=no fun. I did go back out last night and logged a 2 mile run for the first time ever in my life! If any of you are on the fence about starting the C25K program (I know it took me months to finally commit to it), don't be scared of it. It really works! 

In Progress...

12 Month Bee Blocks

November 2 and I still haven't done October's block :( I have a little bit of time though because I have something else to send to my bee mate and she said I can send it all back together. November's fabric hasn't arrived yet but we're making Disappearing 9 patches and I'm and old pro at those ;)

Farmer's Wife Quilt Along 

I'm still caught up, but only to this week. I don't have anything new to show.

Double Wedding Ring Quilt Along

I hate to do this, but I think this may have to move down to the on hold pile until after Christmas. I still haven't bought the rest of the fabric I need to complete the top and still have 50 arcs to piece. I need to get through holiday shopping and sewing so this needs to be put aside. 

Denim Winter Quilt

Here is where I last left off with this one, I had 14 whole pieces sewn down.

And here is where I am as of Sunday night, when I ran out of my precut denim squares yet again. And please excuse the late night messy roomed cell phone pic. I needed something quick to text to Bree to get her opinion on something ;)

It's been very slow going, but I finally made some good progress on it. I have to cut up some more jeans and then cut those into squares to get moving again and well, cutting is not my favorite part of the sewing process. 

Little Faces Quilt

I pulled this from the on hold pile after putting the denim quilt away. I'm playing around with the layout of the top and am having some issues deciding.

My original plan was to sew the blocks to each other and then put a blue border around it, then a scrappy border, then another blue border. Then I started playing and am now thinking about putting a scrappy sashing in instead of the scrappy border.

I'm worried it may get too busy if I do this, though I do like how it looks. What do you think?

On Hold...

Christmas Quilt from Christmas Bee

I know I haven't shown anything new lately. I love that I'm knocking out all of my UFOs but I'm starting to feel like I'm stifling my creativity. I have lots of holiday sewing to do and a couple more pay it forwards to work on. I also picked up a couple of commissioned jobs so I'll be getting to work on some more stuff and will have more to show real soon! So don't give up on me yet, ok?

Linking up with Lee yet again!