WIP Wednesday: 100 Quilts for Kids Edition

Happy hump day friends!  Welcome to my stop on the DC Modern Quilt Guild 100 Quilts for Kids blog hop.  Last Saturday member from the DCMQG met in Alexandria, VA to sew up some quilts that will be donated to a shelter in the Alexandria area.  100 Quilts for Kids was started several years ago by Katie Blakesley, the 2014 drive runs through September 30, so you still have time to donate a quilt!  If you're interested, you can find details on Heather's blog.  I would also encourage you to check out the other stops on the blog hop:

Lynne @ Tinkingalong

Meli @ Munchkin Quilts

Alyson @ The Hasty Quilter

Carla @ Modernbias

Susan @ Fuller by Design

Katie @ SwimBikeQuilt

About a year ago, I received a giveaway prize from Erica at Kitchen Table Quilting.  The medium flat rate box was generously stuffed with tons of fabric, including several large scrap cuts of Erin Michael's 5 Funky Monkeys for Moda.

Not being a novelty print kind of girl, I wasn't really sure what to do with these cute little monkeys, but when I received the email about the 100 Quilts for Kids drive these seemed like the perfect fabrics to use.  For those who are regular readers of my blog, you all know I quilt at a glacial pace, so I wanted something quick and easy but not just basic patchwork.  So I did a couple Google searches and came up with this adorable jigsaw puzzle block pattern.

 

Here's the layout as of the Sewing Day last Saturday, I forgot some fabric so I had to fill up the blank spaces when I got home.  I certainly got a lot more accomplished than I would have at home though, and managed to complete more than half of the quilt top at the sewing day!

Since the complete stash is still not unpacked, I had to resort to chopping up the scraps of sock monkeys along with other scraps to have enough for the entire quilt.  I threw in some red, lime, and yellow solids and was able to come up with enough for a lap sized quilt.  I decided to go with the 9" block so I had less sewing to do :)

As is my normal fashion, I finished the quilt top last night.  Despite the fabrics not being my taste, I am really pleased with how it turned out.  I just noticed taking the pictures that I sewed one of the strips on upside down (can you spot it?) so I'll have to fix that!  I have a larger cut of the white banana fabric to use for backing, and I was thinking of picking up a few yards of a DS Quilts Fancy Free plaid to complete the back (its on clearance for $7/yard!).  Hopefully I can get it quilted and bound in the next week or so!  I really need to start quilting on a deadline more often ::wink::

I also participated in making a few blocks for the group quilt.  DS Quilts donated a bunch of fabric for the Charity Drive.  Heather had us turn the fabrics into hourglass blocks. 

They turned out so cute, don't you think!  Keep and eye on the DC Modern Flickr Pool, and blog to see our finished quilts!

10 Quilty Little Secrets

Well Hello!  It's been quite a while since I've blogged.  We (finally) bought a house back at the end of April, closed on it at the end of May and have been moving and getting organized ever since.  Work has also been absolutely insane since May... I won't bore you with the gory details, but blogging has been pretty much last on my list.  Now that we're somewhat settled in, I'm starting to get back into a routine.

I thought I'd ease back into blogging by joining up on the 10 Quilty Little Secrets linky party that Amy over at 13 Spools is hosting.  I've really been enjoying reading everyone's, so if you haven't seen them, click on the button to go over to Amy's blog and check it out!

1) I sew over pins all the time.  When I took home economics in middle school, the teacher said it was perfectly OK... I've only broken a needle maybe twice and it's certainly never flown into my eye or caused any safety issues (the thread keeps the broken tip connected).  **this is my personal experience, don't sue me if you get impaled by a flying broken needle**

2) I don't really like "wonky" or "improv", I find it way more difficult to purposefully make something look crooked than to precisely piece things.

3) I don't change needles or rotary blades until I absolutely have to.  Mostly because I can't find my replacements while my sewing stuff is still packed in boxes, and I'm lazy and cheap.

4) I have more WIP's and UFO's than finished projects (quilter ADD...)

5) It completely floors me when I see people practically giving their quilts away on etsy.  I agree with Molli Sparkles' post (original and follow-up) about how quilters (and crafters in general) drastically undervalue themselves.  I doubt I will ever actually try to sell my handmade goods because of this, and the fact that the general public expects low prices for handmade goods.

6) I don't buy quilting books (or books in general)... I borrow them from the library (and get to "suggest purchases" because I'm a librarian ::grin::)

7) I generally don't like Art Gallery Fabrics --go ahead throw rotten vegetables at me-- don't get me wrong, their designs are beautiful and I have purchased some and use them... but... a) I don't find the feel of the fabrics to be luxurious at all, I think they feel thin and cheap and my machine doesn't really like sewing with them.  b) I find their marketing tactics to be off-putting.  AGF designers are the only ones I have seen that exclusively sew with AGF fabrics and that makes me sad... see next point.

8) It really bothers me when bloggers "sell out" and only promote their fabric or sponsors' fabric.  I liberally un-follow blogs that only blog about sponsor's or giveaways, or their own fabric line/patterns.

9) I am terrified of the actual quilting process.  I love piecing and binding, the quilting scares me though and I dread it... probably why I have so many WIP's and UFO's.

10) I don't like making blocks that produce a lot of waste, and I don't like purposefully making extra large blocks just so I can square them up.  If the blocks are "close enough" that's fine by me.  I do however find trimmings so pretty :)