wip blastoff!

This past week I have been focusing on finishing my hefty WIP list. One reason to finish them up is because it seems silly to have so many. Why not finish them and make them into something someone can enjoy?

Let's see what I managed this week!

Sparkle Punch is finished! I have to take a good picture but I love how it turned out. The quilting and binding look good with the fall colors.

In the Quilting and Binding category, I should be finishing these up soon. I ordered backing (very cute!!) for the 64 patch top. Snapshots just needs to be sandwiched. I hope to prep both for quilting this weekend. My Blue Tree Skirt is also up here cause I finished the top yesterday. I need to get backing for it.

The plan for today is to finish my Red Tree Skirt. I have to make the big star blocks and the small ones. That won't take a lot of time!

Here is Mimi on some quilts. I had them on the bed not even 5 minutes before she made herself at home.

sparkle punch - quilted

I started and finished the quilting on my Sparkle Punch quilt.

I decided on white thread (closest to the Kona Bone I had on hand - I was itching to quilt!). I decided to try a new quilting pattern. So far, I meander most quilts. Once I went wild and did flowers. For this one, a lot of people in the QAL were doing a zig-zaggy star burst pattern. I set out to do that but ended up with zigs, zags, and some boxy shapes. It was fun to try out and I think my end product looks really cool with the stars.

The top has some great texture and I can't wait to get it bound!

This is my first week getting things together for Try New Things Thursday! Woo! I even figured out how to get the button!

tetris - week 3

We're now at the half way mark with the Tetris QAL over at Happy Quilting. This week's game brought in many "L" blocks compared to other shapes.

I spent more time thinking about color and value this week and really like how the block looks. Most of the top row are blocks that will carry into Block 5 once it is posted in a couple weeks. Thinking about shapes a bit more, I should have carried a middle shape or to over into Block 4.

Here is my playing grid. I can't believe I'm half done! I've been joining the big blocks as rows are finished. I hope to finish the quilt by the end of August for my sweetie's birthday!

mod mosaic ... making progress

I've starting finishing my mod mosaic quilt from Beejeebers QAL. This might be the biggest task I've ever taken on in my quilting experiance. Too many choices to make!

I really like seeing finished quilts from bees. It is almost like a homecoming - seeing your block hanging out with its new block buddies forming a beautiful quilt for your friend to enjoy forever. In other words, that is my motivation to finish this up!

I started laying them on on my bed. I found that cheap flannel backed plastic tablecloths work really well for laying out quilts. The blocks stick the the fabric a bit, so when you are done you can fold up and move your project without disturbing your layout. I feel that laying this out might be a task to do with a couple of friends and a big floor space. I think I want to layout the front and back at the same time!

In the meanwhile, I started framing the blocks. I realize now I should have requested this, but oh well. I have a bolt of Kona White so it isn't really an issue. This might be an issue of slow and steady wins the race!

I'm in the process of interviewing for jobs (I have two this week!) and trying to finish up the WIP pile. I gave a glimpse of my pile the other day but managed to find MORE WIPs when my friends came to stay with us for the weekend. If I'm feeling brave at showing my WIP I will post those later this week. Maybe it will be good motivation to get them done!

snapshots

I finished the front and back of my Snapshots quilt. The pattern, in Hartman's The Practical Guide to Patchwork, was very fun and quick to put together. Her quilt was black and white and I loved how the white in the print blocks bleed into the white squares. I started collecting red and white prints and the rest is history.

I really enjoyed the pieced back. I can't believe I'm saying this, but this is my first time doing a pieced back! I asked DR to pick out the solid to go with the red and white coin stacks. Naturally, she picked soft yellow. It reminds me of a fast food restaurant!

One thing I really enjoy when I'm putting tops together is using these little pins to help me keep all my blocks in order. The little white flower beads have a letter on them and they slide onto the safety pin.  I'll use them in order (A - B - C and so on) on my blocks once I'm happy with the layout. I can then pick everything up, match blocks for seams, and whip through the whole stack at once. Iron and lay out in order again. I find it is much easier than the classic "cell phone picture method." I bought these at JoAnns in the quilting notions section. They aren't expensive but about every two months they will put all the quilting notions on sale for half off - that is the time to buy!

wip - on the board!

 Despite my goals to actually finish projects this summer, it seems I'm doing a better job of starting projects instead.

I've been working on my Snapshots quilt (pattern in The Practical Guide to Patchwork) for a couple of weeks now. I have all of the rows matched with another row and sewn together. Next up is taking and sewing three sets together to make the blocks. I'm really liking how it is turning out with the red and white prints.

I also have this simple log cabin quilt that I'm working on. This was inspired by a need to sit and sew something not complicated for a while. I have 12 blocks done now and plan to make several more for a full sized top. This is also busting my Connecting Thread's Golden Afternoon strip sets and charms that I managed to collect.

 My last summer top is from Beejeebers. I have all but one block in but I went ahead and picked out my solids for the front and back. The patterns is Mod Mosaic from Oh, Frannson! Once side will be set is Kona Celery and the other side in Kona Khaki. I am debating about going to another store to find a blue to replace the khaki. Just seems like something brighter might be more fun. Anyways, it is time to start taking risks!

And last is the "to quilt" pile. I tend to go in spirts with the quilting depending on when I can find time to lay them out and get them pinned.  One is my wonky star top (ohfransson) and the other is a postage stamp top I put together with some odd strips.

I'm pretty sure I have a couple other projects floating around but finding them would take some work. I'll go hunt them down once I finish these!

tetris QAL - week 2

Today marks the start of week 2 of the tetris quilt along. I've been waiting for the next block to come up and decided to do all the prep work of cutting my charms out so I wasn't scrambling at the last minute to find fabric to chop up. I recently decided to clean out my stash, removing most of the lower quality fabric so that I could focus on making quilts with better quality fabric. My friend and I have been using it for making projects and other sewing adventures, so I pulled some of the nicer stuff to make my charm stash. This is 81 SETS of 4 charm squares! I went a little nuts and have a lot of options to pick from!

 I then set to placing my pieces. This week Melissa made it a little tough with a few of those weird "ziggy" pieces in a row. But I managed! I started a grid for "carry over" week to week. Block 1 is week on, block 2 is week 2. The A-B-C blocks are ones I was thinking of adding to balance the size of the quilt, but I haven't made those. I might move them to the other side where I do have pieces hanging out!

 After picking fabrics, I laid it out and sewed my block together. Here is it! It lacks contrast in value. I should think of these things before I start sewing! I was focused on color.

Here are weeks 1 and 2 together. The yellow box and pink "t" piece are carry overs. I'm really like it so far!