cat nap fever

Just some cute pictures for all the cat lovers out there. Mimi (dilute calico) is quite a fan of a good quilt. In fact, she is sleeping on it now (although she moved). Cory (torti) has moved to the other bedroom. This is a cute one because my girls aren't buddies. They don't fight but they like their own "spaces." I guess the blanket brought them together!

lattice quilt - finished!

Being on the roll that I am, I have another finished quilt to post! I first mentioned this flannel lattice top a while ago, when it was hot out and no one would want a flannel quilt. I noticed I said it should be done by winter - ha! That didn't happen but it is done now.

There are thunderstorms outside and the small apartment doesn't lend itself to glamor quilt shots. However, you can see it is done and quilted. I just did wiggly lines all over and used the flower print for the binding. This was for my bestie and she really likes it. The pattern is from Layer Cake, Jelly Roll & Charm Quilts by Lintott. Great book - I've made a few quilts from it and I'm always happy with the outcome!


Now, I have two more quilts to quilt and finish. I am using a "no new quilts before WIP are done" rule. As much as I like WIP, I have way too many! Next on the quilting block are my Sparkle Punch and STARS QAL tops.

lemonade - finished!

I made it my goal this summer to finish some WIP that I have floating around the house and to get the house decluttered and cleaned up. So far I have my room almost done, which is pretty awesome seeing how it is the craft/bed/cat/storage/misc room in the apartment. I'm excited to finish up since I've been organizing my sewing materials and finding fabric I forgot I had! I also destashed a bit and put a lot of my stash in a bag to make quilts for charity.

So, the bright news is - Lemonade is done! I made the top last summer during crazymomquilt's 36 patch quilt along. I had some leftovers from Connecting Threads Sip of Summer jelly roll sampler that I decided to use. What I really liked about the quilts we worked on during this QAL was that we all busted some funky stash fabrics - and the results were always lovely!

I did the binding in orange with white dots. I had more of the sampler left but couldn't find it in the cleaning. As one would guess, I finished the binding last night and found the fabric this morning!

 For the quilting pattern, I decided to try something new. Since "adopting" Bobby, I have enjoyed doing free motion quilting and having the room to move things around. I saw this tutorial for orange peel quilting and thought I would give it a shot. If you have a quilt with a natural grid, I totally recommend trying it out. I practiced a bit and found I was more comfortable doing half circles up and down the columns. This kept them less wonky for me. To each their own! It is gonna look super once I get it washed and wrinkled.

I used a light buttery yellow from Connecting Threads to do the quilting. So very pleased.

grades are in and it's time to sew

I realize I haven't been around the bloggie in a while. The last bit of this semester was kicking my behindie and I didn't have time to get my blog on. However, lack of blogging does not mean lack of quilting!

I have a couple months of Beejeebers to report on. Blocks for April and May: Done!

Makes me wonder if I reported on March. I'll post that baby just in case!

Other activities have focused on finishing UFOs around the house. The flannel lattice quilt is done. Lemonade is quilted and I'm working on the binding. STARS QAL is ready for quilting. Sparkle Punch QAL top (cider punch is what I call mine) is ready to sandwich. Currently quilting a kookie project for my sweetie that I plan to make a little tutorial for - not that it needs it! I'll have to get good pictures of those projects once they are finished.

Once I clear these "almost done" projects, I have a couple lightly started tops to work on in addition to a new project I plan to work on this summer. We'll see how far I get!

new machine

I've been saving my discover card cash back reward for a few years. Once i started sewing and quilting again, i decided it was time to get a machine for quilting. I have my little Brothers (old Brother and New Brother) and they are great but it is hard to quilt tops on them - there just isn't enough room.

I horded my savings and found a little more and bought myself a quilting machine - a midarm Brother (PS1500 if you are interested). I love it!

For my first mission, I decided to quilt a top my best buddy made - this is her first quilt!

 The long neck on Bobby (as my bestie named him) can hold a lot of quilt. I had no problem working my way around this top - it is 4x6 feet in size.

 I laid it out when I finished to see how it looked. The meandering really gives the top a nice texture and sets off the colors. The quilt looks fresh and alive. Who knew this was my bestie's first quilt?

And, of course, Mimi had to come try the top out. She is currently sleeping on it. I need to do the binding and it is all set!

march beejeebers

This is my color mock up for my Beejeebers block for the month - pretty sweet, right? The collected blocks will be put together to look a little like this quilt from Red Pepper Quilts - lovely, eh?

Part of the challenge is to use 48 different fabrics! I have 46 in here - two are fussy cuts from a space-themed fabric and two are from a large scale flower print that doesn't look too similar. The white with little dots will go for the final version and I started chopping the white up tonight to make HST and little squares. The block finishes at 16", so another big block month for Beejeebers! A few members already have blocks done - wowsers!

beejeebers, twister block done!

I finished up my block for Beejeebers this afternoon. With the snow, my morning class was cancelled so I didn't have a lot of work to do. I'm pretending this is on time since February is a short month :)

Here is the final product. This took HOURS!! I spent about half the time tearing things out, a quarter sewing, and the rest trying to figure out if I was using the right white. I love having the option of 10000 different shades of white for sewing, but come on... sometimes I need a break!

This is also the biggest block I've ever made! Good thing since I'm making this for March Beejeebers!