I'm Swooning

Have you all heard about the Swoon-along?

Truth, this block scares me... I have Swoon fear....If you have seen much of my blog in the past, I am a big block kind a girl, without a lot of fussy little pieces.... but I had committed to expanding my horizons, tackling more complicated patterns and I started obsessing on the Swoon... and after all, its just a bunch of HST's and flying geese.... uhm, a LOT of HST's. The Flicker group has some great tips, two specific on construction that saved me some time and Advil I am sure.

My first block, in all its Hope Valley glory.  I am loving it! 

Click below to go to the flicker site... over 700 registered Swooners!

Scraptacular

This is my version of Nannett's Picnic quilt as shared this month by Jodi at Pleasant Home.

Rather than sticking to 4.5 and 2.5 inch squares, I added 2.5 x4.5 and 6.5 strips and 4.5 x 6.5 rectangles.... then made the 12.5 blocks.

I included solids as well, and a solid mustard yellow border to keep it bright.

The backing is some wonderful soft flannel that I fell in love... it will be so snugly on the couch!

I want to go find a pine forest to take pictures of this, with lovely mountains in the background, but... well... its a wood fence, and there are shadows of the scraggly oaks ... that will have to do.

Todays PSA

When they say 'check stitching on back periodically'... they mean it is a good idea unless you want to spend 3 hours taking out quilting covering a 32" x 38" area rather than doing something productive with your day..... now back to regularly scheduled programming...

Leaves Fall

I know, its January, most leaves that are going to fall have done so already..

But this is the Leaves quilt, that has finally fallen...

From the UFO list... to the completed category!

WIP 1/18/12

New starts this week:

"Picnic" scrap quilt from Jodi at Pleasant Home's month of scraps.

Worked on this past week:

Quilting done, binding cut for D9P Leaves quilt.

Completed this past week:

Double Hour Glass pot holders rescued from the dark corner of a closet and completed. Also did a Courthouse Steps block as part of Randi's sew along and made it into a pot holder too.

Sitting quietly this week:Rainbow blocks, Chubby Stars QAL, Juki Spring, American Jane blocks, 36 patch QAL, HST project, Storybook Quilt, New Wave, Pinwheel Sampler, 1-2-3 County Fair, Hope Valley round-and-round QAL

WIP Stats for week :started -1, ongoing -12, completed- 2 = 13 total WIP

Stash Enhancement

I visited my favorite fabric stores this week....

The ones downtown, next to the girly clubs... not a nice neighborhood, but wow, was the trip worth it.... The above Grand Revival and Dolce prints by Tanya Whelan still had the plastic wrap on the bolt... It looked like there were about 10 prints total, but I stuck to the ones that could play well as stash and stayed away from the large scale focus prints...

These Anna Maria Horner were also new bolts.... two Garden Party and one Good Folks.

Brown and red Wild Thyme print that I love, and a pink Park Slope print... none of these are new fabrics, but all are favorites of mine, some hard to find, and did I mention they were $3.50/yard? I think I exhibited considerable constraint in getting only a yard of each....

Last, I got 5 yards of this lovely flannel that is targeted to be used for backing on the scrap quilt I started this week... again, $3.50/yard.

The backing is perhaps the only one that I can pretend that I need, but I could not pass up the rest... They were way too pretty to not come home with me.

Scrap 'Picnic' quilt

I have been following along with Jodi at Pleasant Home's Scrap-Along. Last week she featured a great quilt from Feda's Hive, the Picnic Quilt. I got out my scraps and started sorting, finding that most of my stash was earth tones and got started....



I also found that I have a lot of 2.5 strips and not a lot of pieces that were in the 4.5" square range.... so I decided to adjust the 6.5 x 4.5 units to what I had, still using the original, but adding some other configurations as well.

This is the first 6 units, combined to make a 12" block up on the design wall.



I am not sure how big this will be, and don't have a target for completion, but I do visualize snuggling with it on my couch.

Friday - a hot whoop!

This is the block I made as part of Randi's Fresh Squeezed Sew-along.

I wanted to play along but didn't want to totally de-rail my other projects so I made just a single block with the intent to make into a pot holder/trivet.

My husband painted in the kitchen and tiled the back splash behind the stove so I figured this would be my little addition to the updates. I used a layer of the heat resistant batting, but I find it stiff and it makes crinkly noises, so I sandwiched it between two layers of cotton batting. This made it nice and thick and ready to be a resting spot for a hot pot of chili.


Since I was working on pot holders, I decided to finish up these as well. They started as testers for double hour glass blocks. I then decided to sandwich them and use them as FMQ samples. I used two layers of cotton with the intention that some day I would finish them off and they would live in the kitchen where they now reside.

I am sharing at Sarah's whoop link party.


Have a great weekend!

WIP 1/11/12

Well, we are well into the new year, everyone should by getting 2012 on those checks (and all the 20-somethings say 'checks, what are they'). And true to form, I have started 2 new quilt along projects... yea!

New Starts this past week:

(see post)

I also started a new queen sized quilt for our bed and a scrap project via Pleasant Home Scrap along. No pictures of those yet as I am in denial that I actually started them. They are distractions keeping me from my task which is working on the project below.
Worked on this past week:

I got the remaining sections completed as well as the extra strip on the sides so the top is all done, backing chosen and ready, so tomorrow is sandwich and quilting day... targeting Friday for completion.

Completed this past week:

I completed my Nicey Jane jelly roll quilt. I think I will be saving it to donate later in the year.

Sitting quietly this week:Rainbow blocks, Chubby Stars QAL, Juki Spring, American Jane blocks, 36 patch QAL, HST project, Storybook Quilt, New Wave, Pinwheel Sampler, 1-2-3 County Fair, Hope Valley round-and-round QAL

WIP Stats for week :

started -3, ongoing -12, completed- 1 = 14 total WIP<>

Cut the Scraps

Anyone have this book?

Anyone use the Scrap Therapy method of fabric organization?

I heard about the book when Jodi posted about it as part of her Sew Scraps Along. After visiting 5 stores yesterday and not finding it, I called ahead to the only other place I could think of... they had one copy left and set it aside for me. I started reading the 7 steps and kept thinking yep, that's me with the pile and wad of fabrics unable to find anything when looking for scraps. but.... I am thinking of going 2.5, 4.5 and 5 inches. 5 to be used for charm pack patterns which are aplenty, but rather than 2 and 3.5 I am thinking of the larger because those sizes come with the GO.... easy cutting!

Before I start cutting into my pile of wadded fabric scraps, I would love to hear from anyone else that has the book or has used this method for organizing.

scrap block

Randi at i have to say.... has the first sew along tutorial for her 2012 monthly series, a cute set of three courthouse steps block mini-quilts.

I wanted to play along so I made a single block, off set in that I skipped the last round of light fabric, and am planning to use the heat resistant batting and make a pot holder.

Randi does great tutorials so I am looking forward to all the things she has in store for us through the year!

Its Friday, its Friday....

and I have a completed quilt to share!

I made this quilt top on New Years eve-eve. Its a Nicey Jane Jelly Roll sewn and sewn and sewn and sewn and sewn. I have seen this called a Jelly Roll Race quilt because quilt groups stage races to see who completes it first. It is also called a 1600 quilt, because that is theoretically how long the first strip is after the jelly roll pieces are all sewn together. ... that sounds confusing, and its not, so you can check out the directions here.

I found the backing in my stash... I think it matches pretty well in mood and color. The binding was from my stash too, so I only had to buy thread for this quilt!

I am linking today to get a whoop at Sarah's linky party,

and at Amanda's Finish it up Friday too.

WIP 1/4/12

Happy WIP New Year! I cleaned up my list and dropped anything that I got completed in December, which were quite a few... I think I count 6 quilts that I started and completed since my last WIP post in November. So, starting the year with a clean slate and just reporting progress from the past week, here goes!

New Starts this past week:
I caved and grabbed a Nicey Jane jelly roll that had been sitting around forever and whipped this up, the Jelly Roll Race, or also called the 1600 quilt. I hope to be able to share this as a completed project next week.

Worked on this past week: This was #5 on my UFO list for 2012 and I have been working on it since Monday. I had one section done and added another so its half done. Target for completion for the UFO challenge is end of the month and if I don't get too distracted that should not be a problem.

I also worked on my 1" postage stamp over the weekend and you can see it here.


Completed this past week: nothing

(give me a break... I competed 6 quilts last month!)

Sitting quietly this week:Rainbow blocks, Chubby Stars QAL, Juki Spring, American Jane blocks, 36 patch QAL, HST project, Storybook Quilt, New Wave, Pinwheel Sampler, 1-2-3 County Fair, Hope Velley round-and-round QAL

what has 8670 parts?

What has 8670 parts and pieces? A queen size postage stamp quilt. And thats not counting any border, binding or backing.

(My understanding is that a postage stamp quilt is 1x1 inch squares, so I did not qualify.)

I had two section done and ended up getting 4 more done this weekend so now I have 1734 1 inch squares sewn together, leaving a few less than 7K to go.

This was a project started in 2011 with Heidi's Postage stamp qult along.

I thought this was going to be a lifetime project, but now I think getting it done this year is doable. I had some issues because I started the quilt on my old machine and am now working on my Juki with the amazing 1/4 inch foot. The allowance using the old machine was a scant, causing about 1/2 inch difference in the completed strip. I fudged some, I took others apart, and may end up tossing those original 2 sections, but going forward this will not be an issue.

For now all the pieces are back in their bin ready to be put away until I get #5 from my UFO list done. I am trying to start the year with order and discipline, even on day 1.

How about you? Are you starting the year with new projects or working on finishing up some old ones?