weeknight quilting

Spring Storage

It has been a tough winter. Can I get an Amen? The weather almost everywhere has been cruddy. Our weather has been better than most, so I can’t imagine how hard this winter has been for some areas of the US. I think the snow and freezing has passed (knock on wood), and coincidentally things are getting better for me and mine.

* Our defunct bathroom is about to be funct. And somewhat stylish. It will be done soon. Can’t wait.

* My job is getting better. It has been the worst… a combination of monotonous mind-numbing tasks, limbo, and swallowing my pride day after day after day. But it is getting better. Probably should knock on some wood again.

* A bunch of expense is behind us. I have been watching money flow out at an alarming rate. I am very much looking forward to belt tightening to save for a new roof. No, really, I am. Christmas, birthdays, subfloors – all paid for and a bit of a spell before any spending is needed. And I have plenty of fabric. Ok, more than plenty. 😉

I started this little hexagon joy a few weeks ago to avoid other sewing projects I wasn’t so much into – mostly quilting tops and, ahem, a certain feathers quilt with a shit ton of paper piecing. It started with some doodles…

and then I got a 1/2 hexagon template from Missouri Star Quilt Co and pulled out all the fabrics that reminded me of spring and summer… purples, blues, greens, pinks, blues, yellows. Yum. And I cut up some of my precious Tim Holtz Dictionary.

When figuring out what I wanted to do, it looked so much better on paper in my mind, with the hexagon points running across the table. And so there are 22 points to bind… and then this became the project I was avoiding.Manning up, I bound and bound and bound. It really is not very good, but the overall effect is ok, and I “level upped” my point binding.

The table runner fits over my leaf perfectly – looking like it is storing summer in its hexagon cells. And I think it goes pretty darn well with my dining room wall hanging (and BIG bottle of Maker’s Mark DH got from my parents for his birthday :).

And one more gratuitous picture… as soon as there are any garden flowers, there are going in those espresso cups to scream that spring is here. Heck, I might even put hunks of my lawn in there if it starts to green up… any spring, any plant life will do.

Tiny Rainbow Heart

When I finished Polly’s quilt, I wasn’t quite done with rainbow hearts. I loved how happy the simple patchwork and, well, rainbow, of colors made me. So I made a tiny one. It is the first installment on my mini quilt rod that DH installed for me. Love, Love, Love that man. I have room for two more quilts which I will start working on once I get through the feathersqal deadline. That will take all of my spare time between now and midnight on Friday.

Back to the rainbow heart… the piles created while making this quilt are almost prettier than the finished product.

I recently stocked up on a lot of low volume prints. I used to dislike low volume prints… now I can’t get enough of them. Marking my words right now that I really don’t like solids or low volume prints with colors. So in a few months I think that means I will love them.

Puppy Love Rainbow Heart Quilt

My parents’ pup turned two this year – and she didn’t have a quilt of her own. I know!! She is a working dog – going to and fro HMS Beagle everyday, so a quilt for her spot is a good thing.

I wanted to make her a heart because i loooooooves her. And I loved every minute of making it because I love the rainbow color scheme – definitely causes happiness.

I quilted in the ditch and diagonal both directions and machine bound it so it would be tough for a little puppy girl.

I think she likes it.

The state of things: frustration, delay, too much to do

I have a lot going on. My sewing eyes were bigger than my sewing stomach.

Too Much To Do

The deadline for my three-zip pouch partner swap is fast approaching. I have made two pouches – one for my mom that was pretty, if not a wee bit wonky –

the other abysmal – gorgeous fabric but with super wonky zippers and top stitching and zipper tabs that disappeared.

I need to do the real thing this weekend, plus I think I am going to make one for a friend for her birthday out of Anna Maria Horner Field Study fabric that is so beautiful it could make you cry…

Next, I need to catch up on #feathersqal. I have 1.5 sets of blocks to sew (K, M, N) and then sashing. I have until 3/14 to finish my top to hit the QAL deadline. I think I may take the weekend off from this project. I love the quilt – it is going to be truly fabulous, but it takes brain power and time – two things I am lacking a bit of recently. I *might* have cheated and sewed some of the strips together with completed blocks. It is really soo frickin’ cool!

I am participating in the Color Intensive class given by Rachel @ Stitched in Color and I know there is a delicious project that starts tomorrow – the project that enticed me to sign up for the class. So… I’ll do that on… um, extra Sunday? It would be so great if we got an extra Sunday this weekend! I will need to wait until the assignment is posted… but right now I am thinking I will use this GE F’ing ORGEOUS AMH fabric with these fancy pants trims.

This… which I finished in early December and dropped off to the quilter, still isn’t done. I wish, wish, wish I knew how to sew something this big on my home machine. Because I really, really want to have it. My favorite fabrics – and gorgeous gray. Patience – I was told I could call back on Monday to check on it.

Frustration

I was zipping along on this hexagon table topper, but the last few rows are very wonky. I want to be done with it so I can have it for my table and kiss and love it, but I won’t be happy unless I redo the wonky rows. Need to make a date with a seam ripper. Sigh.

Sooooo… three-zip pouch, feathers QAL, stitched in color class, unquilted quilt, seam ripping hexagons…. so, um… last night I brushed all of that aside and started a new project.

Sigh. But I saw a pattern, flash of inspiration and started this little quilt for a little girl I owe a gift to. It is so simple and beautiful and fun – and uses stash fabric. Can I get a woot woot? Seriously, that extra Sunday would come in so handy right now. For now, I am going to ignore my to-do list. See if I don’t!

Thursday Therapy: Gift Boxes

Today is a two-fer. I missed posting last week – I didn’t miss sewing, I just missed posting.

Last week I made this little beauty – the super versatile gift box block pattern from Shape Workshop. So fun to make – and I *might* have been in the Valentine’s Day spirit when I worked on this one. Lots of pinks and reds.

A couple months ago I made this simpler version.

And I made this entire baby quilt using the pattern. As I continue to sew, sew, sew, I am pushing myself with lots of techniques and patterns. But it is nice to come back to things that I know I can’t jack up.

(What is Thursday Therapy? Every Thursday in 2014, I am making one block from Shape Workshop for Quilters by Katy Jones, Brioni Greenberg, Tacha Bruecher, John Q. Adams. Because the best defense is patchwork.)

Happy Birthday, Mom!

This is a close-up of one of my favorite things in the world – my Ginger Jar wall quilt my mom made me. The applique and quilting are gorgeous. My mom seems to effortlessly bring joy and love and beauty to everything she touches. I aspire to be my mom – to be as kind as generous as her, to make my kids feel as loved and supported as she always makes me feel, to set a table as well as her, and to quilt as well as her. She is and always has been my inspiration. Happy Birthday, Mom!

I made her this triple-zip pouch from this tutorial. The fabric is gorgeous. My top stitching and zipper sewing need some work. But my mom loved it – I know my mom will love anything and everything I make for her. I am very happy that I have that kind of mom.

Arrrrghhh!

This is a quilt for the pending baby of my cousin Josh. I really love this quilt. The theme for the baby’s room is Pirate. I asked Josh’s mom what the theme was when I was thinking about the quilt to make, and it was duh, Pirate. Josh and his wife take pirate-themed vacations where they dress up like pirates – like I said, duh.

The pirate quilt was fun and easy to make. Fighting against using negative space, I tried to come up with a design that would use the amazing pirate-themed layer cake that I bought for the quilt. But the fabrics were just too bright and busy. I realized this when I sat down to start piecing together my (already) cut pieces. So DH agreed to take me to the fabric store where I bought an awesome steel grey. I ended up using a lot less of the layer cake, but what I did use, really does shine now.

And the back is AMAZING. I love this fabric. I added a clumsily-appliqued anchor on the back.

And there are ships… and parrots… and sharks… and treasure. Arghhh!

I am starting to hate looooong strippy sashing less. It helped that this one only required width-of-fabric strips. I also couldn’t love the grey more. Greys are the bomb. All in all, guhreat project. As soon as I find the power to do it, I am going to write up the pattern for this one. If nothing else, I think I will want to remember how I did that one the next time I find a set of super busy prints I want to use for a baby quilt.

(Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish Friday. Woot!)

Thursday Therapy: Framed Windmill

Since I got home from work yesterday, all I have wanted to do is dig into the Kristyne Czepuryk Blogger’s Choice bundle that showed up in the mail yesterday.

I drifted off dreaming of those dreamy fabrics. But I made a committment to myself to clean my closet today. And I did. But after that herculean task, I was exhausted.

But the call of the fabric was too much. So I thought I would do an easy block. Sigh. Don’t cut and sew tired, my friends. I sewed the little triangles onto the wrong ends. Seam rip. I cut the 45 degree angle on the back instead of the front of one of the rectangles. Seam rip. I seamed rip the wrong seam. Seam rip. And then I ended up with an 11.5 inch square. So a little gold border got added.

This ended up being an adorable little block, even with the random border. And now I am going to go to bed.

Fabric Fancy: Glasses

Today’s fabric fancy all started with this post on Red Pepper Quilts. I love love love her quilts, and I can guarantee that whatever fabric she backs her quilts in, I will want a million yards of it. I usually am able to resist, but I absolutely couldn’t with that Julia Rothman typewriter print. Which followed too much time trying to track down where to buy some. Short answer: nowhere. I couldn’t find any place that had any. I am holding out hope for my next trip to Sarah’s fabric in Lawrence – that store can hold hidden gems.

But my trip to a bazillion online fabric sites yielded some other finds. I totally got suckered into the glasses trend. The damage is limited to these little bits. There are probably a dozen other glasses prints out there, but these will do for now.

I know they will make it into my “Favorite Things and Raccoons” quilt that I am slowly working on. Because one of my favorite things is my new glasses… these new specs were winding their way to me the same time this fabric was…

I think the geeky glasses might be one of my thangs.

#feathersqal #kindness

A mixture of weather (good) and gastrointestinal distress (bad) meant less than the normal amount of sewing. Still a lot, but not a, let’s say, “crazy” amount. I did find time Saturday to work on my feathers blocks for the Feathers QAL – I still am a week behind. I am not fast at these, but they are fun. And the accuracy of the blocks is ta die for.

In addition to creating all the prettiness, I love how supportive and kind and generous people are with their encouraging comments when I post something to Instagram. Truly awesome. And I love seeing all of the other quilters’ fabric combinations. I am very happy I dove into this one. Sewing and kindness – can’t beat that.

My blocks E and F, mostly with fabrics from Joel Dewberry’s and Anna Maria Horner’s true colors lines. That pink medallion fabric at the upper left is my new favorite fabric.

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