Monthly Archives: August 2014

The Slightly Less Unruly State of Things

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For the past 4 weeks, I have been chugging along at finishing about 2 quilts a week.  They were small quilts, mostly done, and I have gotten good enough at machine binding that it doesn’t embarrass me to finish quilts this way. 

This weekend my pace got a lot slower.  On Saturday we went and lived a bit of life with a trip to Weston, MO.  So I really had only one full day of sewing (cue tiny violin).  Plus I hit the part of my to-do list that required making quilt tops, not just quilting and binding. 

I have a friend who has daughters for whom I have wanted to make quilts.  One of them really would love a minecraft quilt.  Which I wasn’t too excited about – because it would need to be a biggish quilt (well, bigger than a baby quilt – she is 9 years old) and it would be with just solids.  But over the last week I have buckled down and am almost done.

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I ended up having a lot of fun with this quilt.  I LOVE the color combination of the blues and pale greys and beiges.  And I used up some white on white fabric, which I can’t imagine I would use otherwise.

The quilt for her second daughter is going to be “pixelated” also – using the Scraps, Anyone pattern from KC Project Linus.  I only allow myself to use one of the awesome KC Project Linus patterns “for personal use” if I also make a quilt FOR Project Linus using the pattern.  So add that to my list.

With not even getting one whole quilt done last weekend, I think I have to adjust my to-do list expectations for August.  I had wanted to get done with everything except for just-for-me fun sewing, but there is no way I can get done with 8 Project Linus quilts by the end of the month.  That was crazy.  So my goal is to get through 4 so I am caught up for the year, and make the rest once-a-month as planned.

This is where my list is:

1. Irish Chain Interrupted – still need to be liquid enough to send this off for quilting.  WAY too big for me to do at home.
2. Warm Star Project Linus Quilt – DONE!!  🙂
3. Bluebird Park Triangle Project Linus Quilt – DONE!!  🙂
4. Minecraft Diamond Sword Quilt – Almost done quilting
5. Shades of Blue Pixelated Quilt – Piecing in progress
6. Teal Star Project Linus Quilt – Top done, need to baste, quilt, bind
7. Shades of Yellow Pixelated Project Linus Quilt – Just in my head – to pay for the karma of using pattern for #5.
8. SD’s Brick Quilt – I really do need to make quilts for my own kids.  I don’t think it bugs them as much as it bugs me, but I want to get a quilt for at least one of them done this month.  Or at least pieced.  This one will need to be sent off for quilting.

Once I get through this list, I can focus on some selfisher quilting projects.  Which is good, because the list is GROWING!! Windmill quilt, gypsy wife, new living room wall hanging, single feather wall hanging, hexagon placemats – oy, so much to do!

Bluebird Park Triangles – A FINISHED Quilt

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20140804-195722-71842018.jpgThis thing.  Sigh.  I was so excited when I started this quilt.  I bought the Child’s Play pattern, two charm packs of the sweet Bluebird Park collection.  And then about an hour in, I started to hate this quilt.  

  • I didn’t like how much fabric was wasted making the triangles (although the method of using charm squares is pretty ingenious).
  • It was so frustrating how I couldn’t get the points to match up.  grrr.  I was just not ready for this quilt from a skill level.
  • I HATED the teal background I had chosen.

I started this quilt for a friend who was having a baby boy and then decided it was too girly for a baby boy, and that I didn’t like it.  I powered through getting the top pieced and then I put it away and made her a different quilt.  That was October of last year.  Officially making this my oldest WIP.

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I really hated having it hanging around, mostly because if I could just buckle down, it would be a fast Project Linus finish, and as the months have moved along, I have fallen behind on my Project Linus goal.

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Sooo yesterday was the day.  I basted, I quilted, I bound.  And I am very happy to say I really like it after all.  The straight line quilting has softened the mismatching points, the fabric line is just so sweet.  I used some of the hedgehog print from the line as a binding (part of a color bundle-of-the-month thing) to use up stash – and it isn’t the best – but I have grown to like how the hedgehogs wander on and off the binding.  

I am thrilled to have this quilt completed.  Project Linus #6/12 finish for the year.

Warm Star Baby Quilt – A FINISH!

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Boy oh boy oh boy oh boy!  I am so thrilled with the progress I have been making with getting some WIPs done.

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This is a completed quilt that began life during my orange-pink-red-yellow obsession.  And then it sat for a bit.  Over the past week, I added a yellow and red border – using up lots of scraps –  and quilted and bound.  

I did straight diagonal cross hatch for the quilting, bound in scrappy orange, and backed with one of my favoritest fabrics in the world – a DSQuilts print from Joann.  Just LOVE this fabric.  

20140804-195724-71844123.jpgThis is my 5th Project Linus quilt for the year.  Woot!  I am getting caught up.  Uh, did I mention woot?