A Lovely Year of Finishes: March Goal

Does anyone else feel like February went by way too quickly?  Between work, bad weather, and being sick all last week... I really don't feel like I got much done (except buy lots of fabric... but that's a story for a different post, lol).  I have to say, I'm glad it's March, because Mid-Atlantic Mod is only a month away!!!  This will be my first quilting retreat and I'm really looking forward to having 4 solid days of quality time with my machine and other quilters :)


I am a little embarrassed that I call myself a quilter and I don't have any travel handmade products to take along with me to the retreat.  So my March Goal is to make myself an Aeroplane Bag to tote my sewing machine, and maybe a little caddy for my supplies.



I really should make it out of fabric that I already have, buuuuuut... I want it to be more durable so I'm thinking I'd like to use Charley Harper and Bark and Branch canvases.

blocks in various stages of completion

I would also like to finish my Scrapper's Delight quilt.  I have a lot of the blocks made, or in progress, so I'm close to having a finished top.  I can't say for whom I am trying to finish, because I'm not sure if she reads my blog or not... but I would like to give a little lap quilt for her office.  

Since 72x72" is way larger than a lap size, I decided to copy s.o.t.a.k. Handmade's idea and increase the block size to 15.5" (which will produce a 60x60" quilt instead).

With all the colors and pretty scraps, I can't wait to see it together.  I just hope it's not too busy for it's intended recipient :)

Scrap-bee-licious March Queen Bee

I am SO EXCITED to be Queen bee for the Scrap-Bee-Licious Bee this month :)  The hive is composed of 13 amazing ladies, and you should check out beautiful work!

Ashley @ Wasn't Quilt in a Day (IG)
Gwendellyn @ the Rainbow Revolts (IG)
Cath @ Wombat Quilts (IG)
Alyce @ Wonderland by Alyce (IG)
Nicole @ Modern Handcraft (IG)
Rachel @ Lets Begin Sewing (IG)
Nanette @ Yeah I Made That
Robin Sue @ Robin Sue Quilts
Stephanie H. @ Simple Sewendipity
Stephanie A. @ Quarter Incher (IG)
Michelle @ Factotum of Arts (IG)
Laura @ Little and Lots (IG)

So now that you've gone and checked out all of these talented ladies' blogs (and hit follow!), on to my March Block choice.  If you're like me, you have bins literally overflowing with scraps.  That's the whole point of this Bee right?  Hopefully this block will eliminate your smallish squares :)

Holy Scraps, Batman!

This month, I'd like two 12.5" Star Value Blocks by Melissa at Happy Quilting.  I've been eyeing this block for a while and was glad that nobody in the bee has picked it yet :)  Before you look at the tutorial, and get mad at me for asking you sew SO MANY tiny 2" squares, just look how pretty the blocks turn out ::wink::  Also, you can check out this post to see how the blocks will come together

For color selection, the scrappier the better!  Try to choose as much variety in fabrics and colors as you can.  The only change I'd like to make to Melissa's Tutorial, is that I would like black or charcoal instead of gray squares.  That way you can mix the lighter grays in with the Low Volume squares.  I made both of these blocks with scraps that were laying on my dining room table, I didn't even dip into the scrap bins!  I also ended up cutting down charm squares from swaps for the Low Volume and Dark pieces to make things a little easier.  

Cutting Instructions per Block (There is a great chart on the tutorial page, but I'll put it here for easy access):

• For the Star quadrants: choose 8 colors (preferably different prints) -- from the first print cut 1 2" square, from the second print cut 1 2.5" square.  Repeat for each color for a total of 8 squares of each size.
• For the Diamond Pieces: choose 4 more prints (any color, or multi-color) -- cut 1 2.5" square from each
• From a mixture of Low Volume scraps -- cut 16 2" squares, and 16 2.5" squares
• From Black or Charcoal scraps -- cut 12 2.5" squares

Helpful hint: Chain-piece these suckers! lol

If you need any scraps for variety let me know, as you can see, I have more than I know what to do with.  Also, I know the block looks like a pain, but it's really not.  The tutorial has some great tips and tricks for making assembly easy.  Thanks gals, you rock!  I can't wait to see what you come up with :)

TGIFF: SSM#4

Happy Valentines day Lovlies!  I was hoping to post this last week but we didn't have power... no power = no internet = no blogging = sadface :(

Have I mentioned how much I love swaps?  Well I am a glutton for swapping, so I had to participate in the Sew Sew Modern #4 Swap over on Flickr.  Check out the Flickr pool to see all the amazing goodies that have been swapped :)

I can't reveal who my partner was for this round, because she hasn't received yet (the snow + ice + no power made me a few days late sending).

This was my initial fabric pull (sorry IG pic).  I wanted my patchwork to mirror the Pennant print from KOI.  When I started cutting, I decided to take out the Salt Water print because it didn't look great cut into tiny 2.5" triangles, it was a little too olive drab to fit in with the other prints.  I also ended up adding two other KOI prints for variety.

In-progress (also from IG). I ended up staggaring the rows to try to mirror the inspiration fabric :)  And I went with a scrappy low volume background.  The flying geese are 1.5x5.5" attached to another 1.5x5.5" strip of low volume.

And here's the finished pillow.  I am so pleased with how it turned out.  Especially since I just cut and sewed, with no pre-planning.  It still ended up square!

I did an off center chevron following the point of one of the geese.  The lines are 1" apart done in a hot pink Gutterman thread.  I also zig-zag stitched the binding on, because inevitably I miss a few spots on the back when machine binding with a straight stitch.

I finished off the back with the Pennant print and did a simple envelope closure (I'm too much of a chicken to try an invisible zipper!)

For the "small item" I took my scraps and made some scrappy coasters, they're so cute :)

And what swap would be complete without some extras :)  I included a lil' twister ruler and a cute ball of variegated Perle cotton.  Since it's headed overseas I wasn't sure what the restrictions were on sending food, so I opted not to send any candy along this time.

I hope you like it partner!  I had a great time making it for you!!!

Linking up with Thank Goodness it's Finished Friday!

Mommy Plus One Quilt

I am so excited to share with you not only my first finish of 2014, but my first quilt finish ever!

My best friend, Laura is expecting a little girl March 4 and as soon as she told us she was pregnant, I knew I had to make the little one a quilt :)  The great thing is, with all the snow days we had in the beginning of January, I was able to finish it before her shower.

Laura originally told me that she wanted pink and purple as her color scheme, but when I started laying out the pluses it looked too two-dimensional with only two colors.  So I took a cue from the Erin McMorris fabric (lower right in the above pic) and pulled some peach into the quilt.

I tried to lay out the fabrics so that they were pretty evenly distributed between the different colors and shades.

I quilted it with a Pumpkin Seed walking foot design which took about 2 days, but mostly because I wasn't very comfortable with wrangling a quilt under my machine and it took me a few passes to get the hang of it.

It's backed with lavender Minky (you can also see the quilting better on the solid side) -- which is sooooooo soft!  I think I just might back all my quilts in Minky!

The binding is a Riley Blake polka dot that matched the Minky.  I machine attached it using the tutorial from CluckCluckSew.

There are a lot of firsts in this quilt for me, and I am so proud of it.  It has definitely given me the confidence to have a great (ahem lovely) year of finishes this year.  I hope baby girl gets lots of use out of it and that she loves it as much as I do!

Her mama was very happy with it :)

Quilt Specs:
36" x 53" finished dimensions (3.5" finished squares)
fabrics from a variety of designers including Riley Blake, Violet Craft, Heather Ross, Erin McMorris
backed in Minky
stitched and quilted with Gutterman thread







Linking up with A Lovely Year of Finishes! and TGIFF!

A Lovely Year of Finishes: January Goal

2013 was a year of building skills and dappling in multiple projects that struck my fancy.  2014 will be my year to finish projects!  In order to hopefully keep myself on track, I am going to participate in a Lovely Year of Finishes.  I didn't really get into the blogging world until last summer so I missed out on a good chunk of the party last year.

(IG pics ahead since I generally work on things in the evening and I'm terrible at taking in-progress pictures)

My best friend is having a little girl, due in March.  Her shower is January 11.  So my challenge after the new year was to finish a baby quilt in 10 days!  Save the fact that I have not yet finished an entire quilt, I've been working my tail off to get this gift finished :)
 

The quilt top is finished, and I spent the weekend working on quilting.  I think the only thing that allowed me to get this done is the 1 1/2 snow days we had last week.  I hope to have it completely quilting, bound and finished by Thursday (I have to since I'm leaving for the shower in PA Friday night).

Sunday Stash #5: Black Friday

Did you take advantage of the proliferation of Black Friday-Cyber Monday deals last week?  I sure did...  I really don't need more fabric, but who can resist such juicy deals :)

I am definitely not in the habit of stashing solids, so I forced myself to stock up on some.  I looked at fabrics I already had in my stash and checked out Pink Chalk Studio's "What Goes with What" to find some coordinating solids since I've realized it's a pain to buy solids on when I need them, then have to wait for the mailman ;)

Top: Kona Poppy, Kona Melon, Kona Carnation, Kona Cedar, Kona Parsley
Middle: Kona Wasabi, Free Spirit Solids Chartreuse, Kona Bonsai, Kona Kale, Kona Cypress
Bottom:  Free Spirit Solids Parrot Blue, Cotton Couture Aqua, Cotton Couture Periwinkle, Kona Amethyst, Kona Petunia

I already had purchased some solids to go along with my Dogwood Petals quilt, but I wanted to round out the stash, and also get a few of the new Kona Colors -- Kona Kale is definitely my new favorite :)

I also allowed myself to order one half yard bundle from Etsy.  I could have definitely purchase several, but I had willpower this time and limited it to one.

It came down to AMH's new "Dowry" Line, or Rashida Coleman Hale's "Koi."  Since Dowry was just released, and Koi is getting harder to find, I decided to get Koi now and maybe I'll ask Ryan for Dowry for Christmas ::wink::

Last but not least, I waited in the hellishly long line at Joann's at 7:30am on Black Friday.  I took a number when I got there, chose my fabric at a very leisurely pace, and still ended up waiting about 45 minutes get my fabric cut.  I really didn't have anything going on though, so it was totally worth it.

Fabrics from Julianna Horner, Denyse Schmidt, Cloud 9, Stonehill Collection, and Legacy Studio

I snagged up a bunch of stash builders at 40% off, plus the 25% off coupon.  I also got 7 yards of printed flannel that I hope to put to good use after the holidays.

I think I'm done buying fabric for the rest of the year.  I'm debating whether I have the willpower to go on a fabric fast in 2014... not sure I do, but I'm sure going to try.  Did you snag up any hard-to-resist deals?

WIP Wednesday -- Scrap Attack edition

I've been terribly remiss in my blogging lately.  Things are finally calming down at the library, but with the Holidays things are busy at home... a girl can't win.  This post should really be all about the holiday sewing that I'm doing, but I haven't even started it yet.

Instead I've been playing with my prolific scrap pile.  I posted this pic on Instagram last week (play along with #scrapbagofshame).  I really don't know how I generate so many scraps considering I have yet to finish a quilt... but i do, so I'm turning them into useful things.

Have you looked at Sunday Morning Quilts?  They have so many beautiful scrap projects in the book that I thought it would be a good starting point to try to tame this pile.



I started with the Scrapper's Delight quilt  because I have lots of strips and strings and I was thinking it would be a good charity quilt and opportunity to practice FMQ.  I have three blocks complete, and many in progress blocks (yay chain piecing!)  I'm loving how they're turning out so far :)



I got so tired of sorting through the huge scrap pile that I decided to try another project from the book -- scrap storage baskets.  They're coming together really quickly from my larger scraps.  I've been using the Quilt as you Go method to make the panels instead of sewing a slab then quilting. 

Since this was spur of the moment, I just need to get the correct interfacing for the lining and then I'll have the red complete.

 I didn't plan the orange slab as well, so it has some random scraggly bits that I'm hoping get lost in the seam allowance.

In other QAYG scrappy news, I finished my Modern Scrappy Bits item.  It's Jeni Baker's Half-Square Triangle Pouch tutorial but made with QAYG panels.  Didn't it turn out so cute?!

My partner asked for low volume and aqua.  Surprisingly I didn't have that many aqua scraps, so I'm happy I was able to come up with enough to add some color.

I'll probably table these projects for the week because I'm hoping to catch up on the rest of my commitments for the month (bee blocks, swaps), then get my Christmas stockings sewed up :)  What have you been working on?

Linking up with Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday