Wednesday, February 29, 2012

WIP Wednesday...The One Where I Need Help


It's actually been quite a productive week around these parts. 

Mouthy Stitches Swap pouch done and sent out

Mouthy Stitches Swap front


It's winging it's way across the pond so it will be a week or so before I hear if my partner likes it. I'm quite nervous!


I've also been hard at work on my For the Love of Solids project

For the Love of Solids sneaky peek. It's almost done!

It's almost done, I'll share the finish once I get the binding sewn down and finish up the small item to go with it.

This has been my major project this past week

Little Faces WIP

I've got my Little Faces quilt top done, backing done, and it's basted and ready to quilt, whoo hoo!

Ok, here's where I need help. I can't for the life of me decide how to quilt it. I won't tell you what my thoughts are yet because I don't want to influence any suggestions. How would you quilt this one?

Linking it up!

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced


Photobucket

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Mouthy Stitches Finish!


I was so worried that if I showed an entire picture of my pouch for the Mouthy Stitches swap that my partner would know it was for her. You see, I included selvages in it because she had them on her mosaic. I went back and looked at the mosaics though and realized she wasn't the only one who posted projects with selvages, so I figured why not go ahead and post a full picture? 

So I'm happy to say that with 5 days left to the mailing deadline I actually finished a project! Usually I'm the "stay up all night the night before to get it done" type ;)

Here's the front

Mouthy Stitches Swap front

And this is the back

Mouthy Stitches swap back

I love that print from Put a Lid on it so much I used it for the lining too


Inside of Mouthy Stitches swap pouch

My zip ends didn't turn out as nice as I had hoped they would. I followed the tutorial but I still lost my covered ends in the seam allowance. I think my zipper needed to be a bit shorter to make it work. Lesson learned!


Covered zipper end?

Now I just need to fill it with a fat quarter's worth of scraps and send it across the ocean to it's new home. I really hope my partner likes it!


Friday, February 17, 2012

Check This Out!


Remember those string blocks I made for Val over at PinkPlease! for the Heroes Foundation Charity Auction?


Well, she finished the quilt and it is AMAZINGLY gorgeous!! I was so honored to be a part of this project, You should go over there and check it out!



Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Wednesday Again Already?


I know I'm not the only one that Wednesday sneaks up on each week but man, it never ceases to amaze me how fast it comes around! I totally meant to blog this past week about my swap projects, I took pictures and everything! I guess since it's Wednesday again, and they are what I've been focused on this past week, then I'll just share them today!

My partner in the For the Love of Solids Swap likes darker blues, greens and gray. If you know me then you'll know I'm totally not a fan of gray and darker colors. She also likes geometric designs which usually escape me. So I brainstormed, sketched, brainstormed some more and finally came up with a plan of attack. Then Bree pinned a circle of flying geese paper piecing pattern one night and it was the perfect and obvious addition to what I had already come up with.

So here's what I have so far

FTLOS beginnings, not sure where I'm going next with this but it's a start!


It's a bit more wrinkly then I'd like at the moment. I need to clip those curves and hope that it will lie flatter than this. I'm not 100% sure where I'm going next with it, I'm thinking a border in one of the greens, then a border of patchwork squares, then a gray border perhaps? I need to play with it some. Either way it needs to be bigger, it's only 12.5" right now.

My partner in the Mouthy Stitches Pouch Swap is a little easier, her tastes are VERY similar to mine. I figured I could make something that I would want to keep and she would be happy, lol. I can only show sneak peeks so far, in case she's the crafty type and follows my Flickr photos to the blog. There is something in the design that if I show it right now will probably give it away that I'm making it for her. Fortunately the swap deadline is a mere week and half away, so I'll be able to show the whole thing soon!


Mouthy Stitches pouch swap front sneak peek




Mouthy Stitches Pouch Swap back sneak peek


I also focused on more Off the Rail blocks this week, only 4 more left and then I'll be piecing a top together! Here's a quick photo I snapped the other night while in progress. As you can see I had seven blocks to go at this point. It barely fits on my design wall! It should be a nice twin size when it's complete. 


Seeing it up on the wall reminds me very much of my first quilt, the one I made for Bug.


Don't you think so? Well, I have always said this is my favorite of all of the quilts I've ever made!


WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

WIP Wednesday, Did You Miss Me?


Bree mentioned my computer was on the fritz last week. My kids decided it was thirsty and gave it a glass of milk. I opened it up and cleaned it out and thought I got it all, but a pop and hiss later and it was a goner. I have the WORST luck ever with computers. Fortunately it happened right before we were expecting our tax return so I was able to get a new one fairly quickly. I went with a desktop this time, an all-in-one so it wouldn't take up too much room and so I could hang it on the wall and the kids couldn't hurt it. I ordered it on Monday of last week, and it got here Wednesday. I was so excited, I ripped it open and plugged it in, and nothing. It wouldn't turn on. Did I mention that I have the worst computer luck? So I had to send it back and wait for a new one, which arrived yesterday. I was so nervous and worried that it wouldn't work either, but surely my luck can't be THAT bad, right? So, with baited breath, I plugged it in and hit the power button and hooray! We were back in business. So far I LOVE this new computer, it's a touchscreen which is pretty awesome. And it's compact and doesn't take up too much room, especially since it's hanging on the wall. Space is very important in this tiny house of mine. Keep your fingers crossed I can make this one last longer than a year!! I have to keep giggling at myself too, I'm so used to a laptop keyboard that when I need to move the mouse I automatically move my thumbs down, looking for the touchpad. This will take some getting used to I think. 

So, what have I been up to? 

Remember in the beginning of the year I said I was going to relax and take things slow, enjoy the process more. So that's exactly what I've been doing. I quit working in assembly line style. I found I get bored when I do that and start counting how many more pieces I have left to do. That's not enjoying the process!!

I started on a new quilt using the Off the Rail pattern by Julie of Jaybird Quilts. It requires lots of strip piecing (this is where I realized that assembly line piecing was boring).



And some fussy cut squares. How did I not notice that quilt hanging on the line in this print before now?


I have roughly about 20 blocks out of 30 done on this one.

I've pulled more fabrics for the Farmer's Wife quilt. We took a break over the winter and are starting up this week. I need to make 12 blocks to catch up.



I worked on this a bit the other day, pulled the fabrics in the morning and cut some of them that night. Once I quit enjoying it, I stopped. I have to say this new mantra of mine is working quite well for me, it's nice to not hate a project.

I also finished piecing all of my arcs for the Double Wedding Ring and ordered the solids for it, they'll be here tomorrow! This one will take a LOT of cutting, by hand, using scissors, before I can move on it some more. 


Here are all 254 arcs




I've also been doing some brainstorming and sketching for a couple of swaps. I've joined both Round 2 of For the Love of Solids and the Mouthy Stitches pouch swap. My pouch partner has tastes very similar to mine so I think she'll be easy to please. My solids partner is going to be a bit harder I think. Her taste in color palette is quite different than mine and her love of geometric designs has me thrown for a loop. I think I have a good idea of what she will like though. I'm waiting on some fabric to arrive before I can get started, I'll share more on these later!


I'm linking up to Lee this week, it sure has been awhile since I have!



Wednesday, February 1, 2012

WIP Wednesday

Lots of new projects this week... I finished up Bent Rainbows last week and haven't touched a stinkin' thing since! But since Lee's WIP Wednesday posts really help keep me on track, I figured it was high time I get back to it.

So this week - new projects! I have my first-ever-super-secret project in the works, and I'm beyond excited. The fabric is below... who can name it? Hint... you can probably search the posts I've made and found the manufacturer listed in 8 out of 10 posts.





I've also joined up on a Pay-It-Forward post from facebook, so I'll be doing a bunch of little projects coming up. I finished a tote bag and an ipad cover this weekend - as soon as they reach their recipients, I'll post pictures. :)

So, let's see.
In progress, 1. We have the super secret quilt project with the awesome fabric above.
9 pay-it-forwards... one down. 8 to go!
Kid's quilt... remember when I talked about him wanting to sew? Yep, haven't cut that yet. I'm working on cutting it down to 3.5" squares so we can start sewing soon!
Oh! And a Swoon Quilt! I'd made some of these blocks for the back of my KSQA quilt, and really quite like the look. They're massive, so I've scaled them down to 18" blocks. I've mostly finished pulling fabrics - got a little more to go - and then I'll be starting on the construction!

My progress feels pretty lame right now, gotta be honest. I just had so many finishes in December, and spent most of January making clothes for our camping trip... It's like I'm starting fresh! But hey, fresh is good.

One question for y'all...
if you had 1.5 yards of 60" chalk cloth, what would you make?