WIP Wednesday Deja Vue

Well it's Wednesday again and I don't think this weeks update is much different from last week.  Suprisingly enough I am home from work again this Wednesday due to snow.  Last week it was only 3 inches but this time we have close to 10 inches.  I will admit that is better than the 12 plus they were predicting.  I sure am glad I don't have to leave the house for anything.

I haven't been doing too much sewing this week.  Something about the snow just makes me want to cuddle under a quilt in my pj's.  But I did manage to sew up 3 more blocks for my APQ Quiltalong Quilt.  That brings my current total to 10.  The half way point.

I've also been doing a great job of buying more fabric through the #thegreatfabricdestash over on Instagram.  If you are looking for something special go check it out.  I've found several out of print items that I've been wanting for a long time.  That's it for me-be sure to head over to Lee's to see what everyone else is up to.

WIP Wednesday (Snow Day)

I think I can count on one hand the number of times in my adult life I have ever gotten to stay home from work because of a snow day.  We are much more likely to be off for a hurricane than snow but none the less today is offically a snow day around here.

Yes, you can feel free to laugh at the tiny amount of snow on the ground that has closed up everything here in Virginia Beach.  I know it seems silly to those of you who deal with snow all the time.  We just don't have the equipment here to treat roads so a little bit can bring everything to a stop.  But I'm looking at it as a great opportunity to stay inside with some soup and sewing.

I haven't done much sewing since last Wednesday.  I managed to finish two more APQ Quilts Along blocks.  The first because I needed a distraction from the great big fabric destash that was happening over on instagram.  I've given up trying to avoid it though because people are still posting to the hashtag.  Honestly I've found a few goodies over there myself.

So that's what I'm up to this week.  Be sure to head over to Lee's and see what everyone else is working on.  And if you have snow where you are today I hope you get a chance to stay bundled up with some homemade soup.

WIP Wednesday

I started working on the #apqquiltalong this week.  If you don't know about it, it is a quilt along being hosted over on Instagram by the good folks at American Patchwork and Quilting.  It really is a super cute quilt and there are a lot of people working on it so there is tons of help if you run into trouble or if you just need some extra inspiration.  Lissa designed the quilt and this post shares a little of her inspiration.

I made one block up first even though I knew chain piecing was probably the way to go on this one.  I tend to make some pretty silly errors sometimes and wanted to be sure I didn't do that on a whole bunch of blocks.  So here is my first block I posted up on Instagram all proud like.

Lots of people liked my photo-I may or may not have even geeked out a little lot when Camille herself liked my photo.  But then someone pointed out that top right block needed to be turned.  I was like say what, and looked again only to see a second mistake as well.  This of course meant spending some time with my seam ripper.  Not my favorite thing to do but I made it work.

Much Better!

Once this block was fixed I was ready to set about sewing my next 4 blocks together.  I had sewn all of the small parts up on Sunday night so Monday after correcting the first block I got busy sewing those next four.  I thought things were going great and I was so excited at how they were turning out.  I made a mistake on row 3 that required me to take out two seams each on two blocks because I had reversed the fabrics but no big deal.  I kept trucking along and got the first four rows sewn together when I looked again.  Wait that doesn't look right!?!  Sure enough I had twisted around the little nine patch in row two and four on all four of the blocks.  Not happy with my seam ripper or myself I took the blocks back apart.  It was getting late but I was so close to being done before I noticed the mistake.  I may or may not have stayed up until one in the morning putting the blocks back together but it was so worth it.

I'm using the Scrumptious bundle that I got as a Christmas present from my brother and sister in law with some good old Kona Snow.  I ran out of Kona though so this project is now on hold while I wait for some.  With one local stored out of business and the other closed while they move to a new location I had to order it online.  Of course there are worse things than fabric shopping.

I think the green and blue one in the second row is my favorite.

What are you up to this week?  Be sure to head over to Lee's to see what everyone else is up too as well.

WIP Wednesday

It's hard to believe that it is Wednesday already.  I haven't been doing a ton of sewing this week but I did start a gypsy wife quilt over the holiday break.  I say started but in reality I've only made one block.  There are several errors in the pattern book and so I found myself pretty frustrated right off the bat.  Patience is not something I'm very good at.

So I made my first block and luckily thanks to a fellow instagramer I knew to be on the look out for a shading error on that particular block.  So my first block turned out fine.  Not great and probably not as perfect as I would have liked.  But I moved on to my second block.

In retrospect it's probably not this blocks fault.  I had pieces that seemed too big for the place they were suppose to be.  And then those points just won't match up right.  So I'm in the process of making this block again.  And with that I am seriously thinking about making a test block of each one first because see I've dug deep into my most horded fabrics for this one.  We are talking original flea market fancy, nest, original lush, and even some Heather Ross prints in there.

But what would I do with all of those blocks-this is not a quilt I see myself really making twice.  Thoughts?

In other news if you read along with my on a regular basis you know one of my goals for 2014 was to do a 30 day paleo/gluten free challenge.  Well I started on Sunday-let's call it clean eating.  I'm not really going for a die hard Paleo diet but I pulled most of my recipes from their sites.  I plan to do a weekly recap because I don't want to bore you all to death with my ventures.

Head on over to Lee's and see what everyone else is up to this week.

Authentic Piece of Cake (Finish It Up Friday)

I actually finished this quilt the week of Christmas but since it is done and I haven't blogged specifically about it yet and it's done I thought it would be a great first Finish It Up Friday post.

I named this one Authentic Piece of Cake because it is a combination of the name of the fabric line and the pattern.  Authentic by Sweetwater and the Piece of Cake pattern from Camille's first Craftsy class.  I knew I wanted to make a quilt for my stepbrother in law and his wife because they are two of the most wonderful people you will ever meet.  They recently took orders to Boston and I knew they needed something extra warm to snuggle under.  She was an environment science major and rocks the cutest dreadlocks you will ever see so I knew I wanted to stick with neutral colors to suite them both.

I actually cut the pieces for this quilt over the summer while we were on our family vacation at the lake.  Call it sentimental but since they couldn't be there this year I wanted them to know I worked on it in a special place.

I didn't get a lot of great pictures of this one-completely ran out of time to snap a photo of the finished quilt but this one is sans binding and shows the quilting pretty well.  I was so lucky to find something that echoed the backing fabric so well.  That backing fabric and binding were also lucky finds.  The binding was the very last piece I could find on etsy.

So that's it for me but be sure to head over to Amanda Jean's and see what everyone else has finished up this week.

Welcome 2014

I love seeing all of the blog post popping up right now with reflections on 2013 and new goals for 2014.  I remember this time last year saying I wasn't going to set goals I was just determined that 2013 would be better than 2012.  In many ways it was a much better year but I still have a long way to go.  Each step along the way I am learning more about myself, what is important, and what I really want to do next.

Looking back at 2013, I didn't accomplish as much as I had hoped.  In many ways I feel like my sewing mojo was missing more often than it was present.  I did notice that there seemed to be far fewer quilt alongs and swaps than years past or maybe it was just because I was feeling overwhelmed and missed out on many of them.  In a lot of ways I think maybe I can be a lazy quilter.  I want to quilt and make pretty things but I also want to sleep in on Saturday mornings and veg out in front of the TV when I get home from work.  In the end I guess it really is just about priorities.  If I want to make more then I have to just make that a higher priority.

Looking forward to 2014, I'm feeling more confident in my ability to commit to things and if I put it out there then I am a lot more likely to follow through.  I can't say that I will do all of these things but as I look at what I want to accomplish next these seem like some pretty good guidelines.

Complete a 30 day Paleo/Gluten Free Challenge
     This is completely nonquilty but I have found myself very frustrated lately with the number of days I spend with intense migraines.  I could also stand to thin out (as they like to call it in Paleo forums) so I have decided to embrace this.  My hesitation is in true "paleo" there is no dairy and I am in LOVE with cheese.  I'm thinking of doing a somewhat modified version and just paying attention to the types of dairy that we consume.

Write a tutorial
     I have shared two very short tutorials here on my blog.  Patchwork Pinwheel and Setting Seams but I think I have even more to share.  I hesitate a lot of times with this because rarely am I making something completely new and typically there is someone out there who can put it so much better than I can but I am determined to try this year.

Finish more Quilts
     I have 2 quilts at the long arm right now and 3 more in my sewing room just waiting for backs.  So this should be a fairly easy task-especially when you consider that I only finished 4 quilts in 2013.  My dad made this amazing quilt rack for me for Christmas and it will hold 11 quilts (at minimum) so I really want to add some more quilts to it.

Try More New Things & Remember it's Only Fabric
     I can talk myself out of just about anything.  I get so scared that I am going to make a mistake or that I won't like something in the end.  I need to take more chances!  Embrace things and remember it's only fabric after all.  Instead of waiting for the perfect project I should just make some of the ones already on my list.  If it's a pattern I like and fabric I love it will all work out in the end so no need to keep putting it off waiting for everything to be perfect perfect.

What about you?  What are your goals for the new year?