WIP Wednesday Scrappy Stash & Bee Blocks

In the nick of time, I got my bee blocks done yesterday.

A wonky star preferably not on a white or gray background.  I just love this block.  It reminds me of Easter.

A bright and colorful wonky log cabin block.

And two raw-edge applique circle blocks. 

When I saw the “Scrappy Stash QAL ” at Ellison Lane Quilts, I knew I had to join. There are lots of great QALs out there that I am trying my best to do (Tula Pink, Bee in my Bonnet’s Row Along, and Tracey Jay’s Treasure Boxes for Charity). Log cabin is my favorite block, and as witnessed here by quilt-cat Oreo, my scraps are out of control.

With school cancelled for two days due to the big storm, I had the kids help me organize my scraps by color so I could get started on the blocks. I have so many scraps it is unbelievable. They were all squished down in the big basket, but once we pulled them out, it was like there was 3x the fabric!

The best part about this project is that I will get my scraps organized by color, and I’m only using scraps for the quilt top so hopefully I will get rid of a lot of those scraps. I was able to come up with enough scraps to make all the colors of the rainbow without having to cut up any other fabric. So far I have 5 blocks done, so I think I need 25 more to be in the running for prizes. Are you doing the Scrappy Stash QAL?

Linking up to WIP Wednesday.

Have a great day!

Costumes and Quilts

My oldest wanted to be a “Goth Fairy” for Halloween.  Luckily her two casts go perfectly with her black outfit.  She picked out the wings and fabric.  I sewed the skirt.

Here’s a little witch on a bike.  She won 2nd place at a fall festival’s costume party!  She was thrilled to pieces.

And the littlest munchkin was just thrilled to be outside in her pajamas!

I practiced a lot of fmq this weekend.  Some is okay, some not so okay, but overall I am happy with the results.  It was fun to try something new besides squiggles.  I don’t know if I could ever get “good” at fmq though.  I find it very difficult and tedious.  I did a lot of seam ripping, too.

This quilt will be living at our house, though, so I’m not too worried about it.  I am making all three girls identical quilts to gift to them during Advent.  I backed this one with flannel so I think I will use different flannel for each so the girls can tell them apart.

I love the cheater panel in the middle of the quilt.  It was designed by Sheri Berri a few years ago.  I just had to have it!

I also got a quilt top finished today during the big hurricane/storm that is coming through Maryland today.  I kept praying the electricity wouldn’t go out so I could keep sewing!

This quilt is for a little boy who is three.  I haven’t decided how to quilt it yet.  I am thinking just squiggles this time, or vertical straight lines.  What do you think?

I hope everyone is staying out of harm’s way and is safe tonight.

TNT Tula Pink Edition

The first installment of the Tula Pink Sew Along is complete!

This quilt top is based on a pattern from the December/January 2011 edition of Quilt magazine.   It measures 68” x 84” and is made from mostly Tula Pink fabrics including Full Moon Forest, Birds and the Bees, Nightshade, and Prince Charming.  There are also a couple of AMH, Amy Butler, and Denyse Schmidt fabrics and some random charms collected from a few swaps.  If you ever have the chance to join a charm swap, you should do it!  It sure is nice to have some choices when you are picking out fabrics for a scrappy quilt. 

This quilt top qualifies for “trying new things” for a few reasons:

• the pattern is from a magazine
• this scrappy quilt looks pretty good and isn’t made from all one fabric line or designer
• I used Tula Pink fabric
• I made it in time to be part of a sew along
• and I’m seriously considering having it long-arm quilted

The last one is a big one for me.  Have you ever had anything quilted for you?  A few months ago I would have pooh-poohed sending it out, but I have realized I like piecing a quilt, but rarely quilting it.

This is the “first installment” because I have bought two—yes two!—Tula Pink patterns.  One is a huge zig-zag quilt and the other is called Snowglobes.  I am not joking when I say I am going to make both of them by the end of the Sew Along!  Are you entering anything in the Sew Along?

Old and New Projects

This Saturday was the DC Modern Quilt Guild’s field trip to Material Girls in La Plata, Maryland.  Five of us met up there to sew and shop and have fun.  I left with these two patterns.

I haven’t opened them up yet, but I have plans to use the Bizzy Kid pattern with some beach themed fabric as a gift for friends who let us use their condo in Ocean City.

As for old projects, I got the top pieced to my Shoo Fly quilt.  Now I just need to piece together all the flying geese I accidentally made when I sewed the wrong squares together in the beginning of making the shoo fly blocks and make the backing.

And as for new projects, yesterday I finished up all the blocks for my Tula Pink quilt I plan to enter into the Sew Along.  Full Moon Forest was my second ever designer fabric purchase and I’ve had two fat quarter bundles since the line came out.  It’s time to cut into it I guess!  I also used some Prince Charming, Birds and Bees, and some Amy Butler and Anna Maria Horner fabrics.

I read a little bit about making scrappy quilts “work” and tried to use all different scales and values of fabric, but I fear I may have missed the mark on this one.  I hope to have the finished top to share later this week.

My friend Donna is having a giveaway on her blog for a pack of Lecien fabrics and a copy of her pattern “Sweet Scrappy Love.”  It would make a perfect Valentine’s quilt.  I hope I win, but you should pop over and enter yourself, too!   The giveaway closes November 2nd.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

100 Followers Giveaway

Well, somehow my the numbers next to the comments were not present during this giveaway and I can’t quite remember how I made them appear last time, but the good news it the winner is number 11, so I don’t have to count too far!

And that person happens to be…

Svetlana Sotak!!! 

When I saw that I had to giggle.  She is definitely my bf in the online quilting world, so luckily I have two sets to give away (I was planning to give the other away when I hit 200 followers, but I want it to be fair, so I’m going to pick another winner who will receive the other identical fat quarter pack of Lecien dots and deer that Donna of Donna’s Lavender Nest generously donated to my blog. She is having her own giveaway right now, too, so you should hop over there after you’re done checking here.

So the other winner is….

Rebeckah Austin!!!

Only 22 more followers to go until I reach 200 and then I will have another giveaway of something super duper wonderful. 

Hopefully soon I will have time to post some progress of my latest shoo fly quilt.  It has been quite a challenge for me to sew the pieces in the correct order.  I think I will never develop Alzheimer's as I am constantly using my brain in new and difficult situations like, hst on white or hst on print.  I can just never picture it in my mind, but the blocks I do have put together correctly are starting to look like something that might turn out really pretty!  This weekend I spent a lot of time listing stuff on eBay (it’s amazing how much clothes three daughters can accumulate over the short span of 7  years and also how many sizes of jeans their mother can go through as she gains weight, then loses it, then gets pregnant again and gains weight…you get the picture!).  So now it’s back to sewing for the rest of this week while we wait for all the auctions to go by.

Have a great week!

Oh Deer Done

I’m excited to share my latest finish.  This quilt was made using Pink Chalk Fabric’s monthly club fabrics—2 charm packs of Oh Deer and coordinating fat quarter solids.  I used a white with aqua polka dot fabric from my stash for all the sashing. 

It measures 52” inches square and is quilted with contrasting blue thread 1/4” to either side of the seams.  I didn’t mark any of the quilting lines and at first I was a little worried how it would turn out, but I after it was binded, I love how it has an overall bright, colorful, homemade look.

I just made up the pattern from the fabrics that came with the monthly club subscription.  I only had a few inches of each of the solid fat quarters left over and very few charms.  I took photos so maybe I will make a tutorial one day. 

The back is this great small geometric print by DS Quilts that was on clearance.  The binding is Madrona Road Sprout in fuchsia.  I machine attached it and used Gutermann color #345 that is a perfect pinky-red match.  According to the Gutermann website, #345 is called “raspberry.”

It feels great to have this quilt complete.  I am about halfway done making all my shoo-fly blocks for  my next quilt and hope to share the top after this weekend.  Enjoy your weekend!

Witchy Woman

I finished up Esther’s witch costume over the weekend.

I did say I was going to use the Urban Prairie pattern, but when I opened up the envelope I nearly fainted because there was tissue paper in there!  So, I pulled out my trusty Pink Poodle Bows Reese Peasant Dress Pattern and just used that instead.  They are basically the same type of dress and I’ve made quite a few from this pattern, so I am happy with the results and I didn’t have to worry about  the “bodices” and so forth that make me sweat.

The fabric is mostly Costume Club I think.  The hat, tights, and broom are from Joanns and I made three roses for the hat from scraps so it’s totally matchy-matchy. 

I have a brilliant idea to use a pair of Bea’s old ballet flats to make glow-in-the-dark shoes for Esther.  I also sewed Bea’s costume and will share a pic of everyone dressed up when we go trick-or-treating.  I’m posting this dress in Elsie Marley’s Kid’s Clothes Week Challenge.  I don’t sew many clothes, but I’m hoping Esther wears this dress around a lot for the next two weeks.

Here are all the squares cut out for my newest quilt.  I’m going with  red, white, and blue, which is a color combo hopefully you can never go wrong with!   Here are all my blocks cut out. 

A few weeks ago for my birthday I got a new cutting mat.  I really love this Fiskars mat because the light color makes the fabric stand out when cutting.  Colors seemed to blend with the dark green color of my old cutting mat, making it hard to accurately cut at night which is when I have time to sew.

Don’t’ forget to enter my giveaway here.  I’ll announce the winner Sunday night.

100 Followers Giveaway

A few weeks ago I was just shy of reaching the 100 followers mark on my blog.  Donna from Donna’s Lavender Nest generously donated this beautiful pack of five Lecien fat quarters from her Etsy Shop to mark the occasion.

To win, just leave a comment that you are a follower.  I will randomly pick a winner next Wednesday.  Open to international followers too.

I finished up quilting my Oh Deer quilt this morning.  It turned out pretty good—now I am just waiting on the binding fabric from the Madrona Road collection to arrive.   I will be working on Esther’s Halloween costume in the meantime.  She is going to be a witch.  I am using the Urban Prairie Dress pattern by Violet Craft and some spooky Halloween fabric she picked out herself.

It is cold and rainy here in southern Maryland, just the perfect weather to curl up under a quilt.  Have a great week!

Finish It Up Friday

I just started a new project a few nights ago and already have the top almost finished!

My husband and kids helped me lay out all the blocks last night.  It was truly a family affair which was kind of fun.  It was also interesting to hear my husband talking about what he likes in quilts.  Turns out, it’s a lot like what he likes in ties, which is not really my style.  I also took photos of how I keep my layout straight in my mind.

I put a tiny post-it on the left-most block in the row.  Then I stack them all from left to right and pin the post-it through all the layers.

Then I can transport and store all the blocks in my sewing room without the fear that my kids will trample them and mix up the order.  One thing I have not figured out, though, is how to chain stitch in order.  My brain just cannot do it.  In fact, although I *always* stack from left to right, I still write “L-R”  on the sticky note just to keep my brain straight and avoid any panic attacks!

I also thought I’d share one of my bee blocks for September.  I am glad that month is over.  Both bee blocks I had to make were paper-pieced which is not my favorite.  Bea really liked this design, so maybe a similar quilt is in my future, but these blocks that use strips seem to use twice as much fabric as the finished product which kind of aggravates me, although they are pretty.

On a totally unrelated note, my kids are really into these Bizu bracelets.  Have your daughters seen them at school yet?  My daughter is in first grade and all the kids seem to have them.

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday on Crazy Mom Quilts.  I am off to get some exercise on this beautiful day.  I have lost over 30 pounds since May.

Have a wonderful day!

Modern Butterflies

The Maya fat quarter bundle I saw online was calling my name this spring.  I kept looking at it and looking at it, and finally after a few weeks of drooling over it, I just went for it and bought it!  I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with the fabric, but I came up with this little lap quilt after using my Kona aqua and a few Alexander Henry crossweave fabrics I had in my stash.

 

Now, I started this quilt at the end of May.  This n That Fabrics is having an Awesome Autumn Challenge and I decided to use these fabrics as my inspiration. 

I cut all my fabrics and made the quilt top (and added a few more from my stash), but getting from a top to a basted quilt sandwich is always a big hurdle for me.

Once I got this quilt basted, it only took two nights to quilt it.  I have to say the quilting I envisioned (and practiced drawing for a half hour before attempting to sew it) didn’t turn out quite as I had hoped.  I did free motion waves vertically and horizontally. 

Now for my favorite part!  I had all these little triangles left over from trimming my butterflies.  I couldn’t just throw them away and my scrap basket is overflowing, so I made some flying geese to liven up the back.  I still have plenty more triangles to make more flying geese…maybe a modern baby quilt?   The other backing fabric is Summersville, as is the binding.  It coordinates so well with Maya and  of course is orange, which seems to be my favorite color lately.

I’m not one hundred percent sure these shapes look like butterflies or more like arrows.  But no matter what, it was fun to make up the blocks.   You can see the other quilts in the challenge on their Flickr Group. 

I used spray basting again and machine attached the binding as usual.

The quilt measures 50” x 57”—the perfect size for a lap quilt.

Field Trip!!! {plus a discount}

On Saturday, October 20th, the DC Modern Quilt Guild will be meeting at Material Girls Quilt Shop in La Plata, Maryland.   Never heard of La Plata?  Well, it’s the town I was born in and graduated high school from!  And I happened to be in the same high school class as Amy, one of the owners of the most beautiful modern quilt shop in the area.  The shop is a family affair and her mom and sister also work there and they are the friendliest and most knowledgeable ladies around!

The sewing lounge will be available for our use from 10-4 that day.  Don’t worry, the shop machines will be put out of the way, so you can bring your own machine to work on whatever projects suit your fancy.

The lounge is a huge space with plenty of room for everybody!

Or perhaps you might be interested in a little retail therapy?  Amy is generously offering anyone from the DCMQG a 10% discount on all merchandise except machines—the shop carries Bernina by the way.

This wall has some awesome patterns.  Material Girls has all the Cluck Cluck Sew patterns, and Bizzy Kid and Pow-Wow are on my list of must-haves!  But this wall of patterns is only the tip of the iceberg.  Everywhere in the store you can find patterns and samples to inspire your creativity.

If Chicopee or Madrona Road are on your wish list, look no further!

And with Halloween around the corner, you might be interested in some Tula Pink Nightshade!

For the batik-lovers out there, Material Girls carries an extensive collection of yummy batiks.

There is also a huge section of sale fabrics in the back of the store.   Everything is marked 30% off with a one yard minimum.  I got some Heather Bailey Fresh Cut and Nicey Jane. 

Not sure where La Plata is?  It’s about an hour from Alexandria, just south of Waldorf on Route 301.  Directions can be found here.  There is a nice sandwich shop in the same building and plenty of restaurants within a mile or two.

Hope to see you there!  Leave a comment if you plan to attend!