WIP Wednesday

I think things are *finally* starting to settle down a bit, as I've been able to get a good bit of sewing time in this week. Classes are ramping up, but I feel like I'm in a routine at this point, which makes all the difference in the world. I have a couple of things to share with y'all later - like my finished iPad case - but I want to wait for some good pics. One of the disadvantages of going to work at o'dark-thirty is, well...it's dark. No snapping pictures on my way out the door like I could in the summer.

Completed:  iPad Case; Misfit Quilters Hoop Swap

That's right, I finished my hoop last night.  I can't wait to show y'all....I'm so tickled with it.  Thanks to my wonderful twitter friend Carolyn at Just One More Stitch I was able to add some Pips scraps to add to my hoop.   Can't reveal just yet as it's not sent, but here's little sneak peek:





Ongoing:  TwitterB October Block

I came close to finishing this one last night, but really needed sleep.  The most-awesome Belinda sent us some Loulouthi fabric for inspiration, with specific instructions to not use it in the block, only use it for color choosing.  I think I'm happy with my fabric, but will have to wait and see when it comes together - hopefully tonight.  :)






Ongoing, No Progress:  Same as last week - Black-and-White Quilt and Sierra's Quilt.  *sigh*

And, for once... no new projects.  Though I do have to get busy on my post-Summit swap.  It's due out next week.  Eek!




Don't forget to link up with Lee! 

Happy Wednesday!!

WIP Wednesday

Last night was my first chance to sew since leaving for the beach back in June. It's amazing how time at the machine and some good country music can lift your spirits. I'd been in a funk, but I swear I could feel the stress rolling off my shoulders with each stitch!

It turned out to be quite the productive night as I was able to finish blocks for four of my swap friends. I'm in two right now, TwittterB and a Christmas block swap - but ironically enough the TwitterB block for this month was a Christmas one...LOL! I almost felt like playing Christmas music. :)

The first blocks I finished were for Rene, who's been waiting forever for these. She sent us panels and fabric from Kate Spain's 12 Days of Christmas and pretty much gave us free reign, which I've decided is very dangerous for me. I'm a perfectionist at heart and that tends to trip me up and delay things.


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Did you see the geese?  Get it?  Six geese a-laying!!!  Bwahahahahahaaa.... oh, I kill me... :)

Next up are block for Tiffany - the only non-Christmas ones of the night.  She sent us some adorable fabric with a forest village on it and asked for not-too-busy nine patches.  I used some solids and a moda marble to keep it crisp and to keep the focus on her fabric.




After dinner, I moved on to blocks for Rachel. She sent us some of the ultra-famous Sherbert Pips, which I had never seen in person. She had gone as far as actually cutting the fabric out for us ahead of time (very impressed!) so these were a breeze to sew together.




Next in line are the blocks I finished for Moira in the 12 Days group.  I'm actually pretty proud of myself on these because the fabric came while I was away.  That means for once, I'm not only on-time but a bit early!!  Woo!! Moira used the same block that Laura had picked out a couple months ago, and I can't blame her - they are fun and oh, so easy! She sent the off-white Christmas fabric and the rest is fabric from my scrap bin. Gotta love the scrap-busting blocks.





And now - on a true Work-in-Progress note, I've made a little progress on my Bethlehem Star quilt. I have the strips cut, but no sewing yet.




This is going to be a monster of a quilt, and I'm so far behind I'm almost ashamed. A group of us are working on it together and I'm about three weeks behind due to a delay in purchasing fabric and then vacation. It will be my main focus for the next little bit because I want to catch up with the others. I'm down to only one set of blocks for a swap - I got fabric from my friend Katherine while I was away, too.

Oh, and in case you missed the posts, I finished my husband's Coffee Quilt and Molly's Quilt while away. Finally, some changes to my ongoing WIP list!!

And - on a parting note - I'm missing the beach terribly.  Re-entry is difficult, and I think it gets more difficult every year.  Here's a parting shot of my family, taken on our last night there.  Until next year, my dear Hatteras....




Enjoy your week!

a quick update

The end of April/first of May has been a little crazy, but I've managed to get quite a bit done. I'm working hard on two tutorials to post soon, and I hope to have at least one up by the end of the week, so stay tuned!

I had several Bee blocks due at the end of the month, two for TwitterB and two for the 12 Days of Christmas Bee. (The second for TwitterB was actually optional, but I chose to do it.)

Here are the TwitterB blocks, made for Jessica:

They are ticker-tape blocks, and this is my first try at it. As you probably guessed, this is the first tutorial I'm working on. It was a lot of fun, even though it was quite different than any block I have ever worked on.

The next set are for Jodie as part of the 12 Days of Christmas bee:

I made the star by using the Starflower Block tutorial over at Ellison Lane Quilts.  I played with it a bit in that I only made one block and her directions are for two.  Normally, I would have done two blocks for efficiency, but Jodie specifically requested two different blocks and she also asked us to not use additional fabrics.  In hindsight, I had enough of the colored prints leftover to make a second block for myself, but I didn't want to chance it going in.

The tree block is my own, and it is the second tutorial that I mentioned.  It was fun to figure out a block from scratch...I'm slowly developing a fondness for graph paper and pencils...LOL!

My apologies (again!) for the horrid lighting in these pictures.  I hope to have that resolved soon as a electrician friend of mine has agreed to install some lighting for me.  Woohoo!

In other news, I have four more blocks done on Jane's Black and White Quilt and the yard is looking better. Hubby planted all of our new plants yesterday and we'll have pine needles down by the end of the week. He tried to do that yesterday, too, but the man we buy them from wasn't home. Even with the black fabric, though, it still looks better. Will be sure to post a final pic.

Have a great hump-day!

progress report

Things have been a little nuts here, and I'm heading to Atlanta for the weekend. Not much sewing, but I did get a few things done on my checklist (see it over on the right?) and started on two others. Boy, it feels good to knock off a few things!

I finished basting Matt's coffee quilt earlier this week - Sunday, I think - and it's downstairs ready to quilt.  I had debated about long-arming it, but I think I'm just going to go with a straight-line quilt now.

The accomplishments for the week are my four blocks - two for a local Block of the Month I am in, and two for my church group, the Pinedale Quilters (PDQs).  I used the BOM pattern for this month for all of them, because it's easy that way!  :)

The blocks on the top are the BOM ones, with the fabrics that the quilt store chose.  I'm not partial to the Civil War type colors, but I'm doing them anyway. The other two are the PDQ blocks... a boy block and one with polka-dots.

I was also able to start a couple of projects. The first is a ticker-tape block for my TwitterB group. I had never even heard of this type of block before...much less tried it. It's slow going, for sure, but I am enjoying the process.

Finally...and I've been waiting to start this one...the Spring Quilt Along with Above All Fabric. I got started a day late, but still managed to get my sashing and borders cut and arranged one of the nine-patches.

Now...three days with no machine. Can I make it????

twitter B

A month or so ago, I stumbled across a darling blog called "All Things Fabulous" by Jenni20 Designs. The post that caught my eye?   She was starting a Twitter Quilting Bee. Twitter?..and quilting?? I admit, I was curious.

Her reasoning was simple - our quilty ancestors would get together from time to time and quilt. One part  helping each other out, the other part pure social. She had a great point. I had a twitter account long ago but quickly abandoned it. This got me thinking, though, and I jumped in.

The requirements were almost effortless: Make a block a month and tweet. I mean, does it get any easier?  Basically, each month one person will send out a fat quarter to the other 11 ladies. The 11 receiving the FQ make a block from it and our stash fabrics, then send it back. And we tweet. I've met some fabulous ladies from all over - including Germany - and it's been fun chatting with them.

And, bonus...we get to keep the leftovers from the fat quarters.  Great stash building and stash using, all at once.  I think I'll term it a stash makeover.  :)

As the organizer, Jenni took the first month. She started us out with a bang, sending out this beautiful piece of fabric:

I immediately loved it and my mind started racing as soon as I saw it.  After trying out several color and fabric combinations, I ended up with this block:

Jenni had told us she favored the blues and greens, so I tried to stay with those, and the orange just sort-of flowed with the rest.  The block pattern is the Scrappy Hedgerow Block from Oh, Fransson.  This was a real comfort-zone stretcher for me as I hardly ever put my own fabrics together.  I'd venture to say that 95% of my projects are from pre-cut bundles and/or bundles that someone else put together for me.  I've never been comfortable picking out fabrics.  But, I'm learning.

I'll be posting my blocks here as I go, but if you'd like to follow the group, check out our Flickr pool.  There are some very talented ladies here.

I hope Jenni likes her block.  I mailed it out last week and I'm looking forward to the April Fat Quarter.  Of course, I'm already trying to figure out what I want to do for my month, though I have plenty of time.  If I remember right, I'm February 2012.  I guess I get to work on patience, too... LOL!