WIP Wednesday

I am so excited to be getting back on the WIP Wednesday train.  I have missed taking the time to see everyone's projects and sharing where I am at with mine.  While it seems my WIP list is never ending I thought it might be fun to share just a few of them with you as we kick off 2013!  Did I mention I am excited to be starting a new year in a much better place than where I found myself for most of 2012.

1. Dueling Flurry-this is actually no longer a WIP but a finish.  My mom and I made these as matching Christmas quilts for my brother and sister in law for Christmas.  However in my haste of finishing the week of Christmas I forgot to snap finished photos.  Once I manage to get a few I will share them, I promise.

2. Twisted Fandango-A long forgot WIP but I managed to finish the top and back of this one and it is at the long arm so soon hopefully it will be coming back so I can finish it up and ship it off to a very special friend.

3.  The Farmer's Wife-I haven't had a chance to make any of these fun little blocks for a while.  This one is high on my list for 2013 because in my craziness I have plans to make a second Farmer's Wife Quilt using several of Bonnie & Camille's lines.

4. Hexagons-this is a long term project for me but I'm including it in my list because I want to remember to work on it when I have time.  It's a great long term project but I often forget about it because it isn't something I work on all the time.

5. Sunny Trails-I started this project in January of 2012.  I'm not sure why I stalled out on it because it is a beautiful quilt and I have everything I need to finish it up other than time.

Be sure to head on over to Lee's to see what everyone else is up to.

PS-I am seriously crazy because I have seen all these great scrappy trip around the world quilts popping up today and I am totally thinking about adding this to my list of must do projects.

PSS-My amazing parents got me a Nook for Christmas so if you have read any good books lately please share.  I love to read just about anything so I am on the hunt for new books all the time.

Dueling Flurry

You may remember from way back in December when I made "The List" one of the project I listed was my dueling flurry quilt.  My mom and I made matching Christmas quilts a few years ago and then my mom surprised me by giving me her quilt for Christmas that year.  We decided that my brother and sister in law needed to have Christmas quilts as well and if we each made one it would make the process that much easier.  We decided on Flurry by Kate Spain for the fabric and my mom picked out the Seville pattern Cluck Cluck Sew.  This quilt is made up of three different block types-all of which are relatively easy.  I had the first two sets of blocks done a while back because our original goal was to drop the quilts off to the long arm quilter by the end of July.  Then I procrastinated.  I am not a huge fan of snowball blocks.  I haven't found a trick that works for me and any block that requires sewing a square to a rectangle or a larger square and then cutting it off and pressing back to fill in that space does not get along well with me.  No matter how careful I am when I cut, press, and sew they always seem to go a little wonky on me.  But my mom dropped her top off last week so I knew I needed to get on the ball and get this one done so I took advantage of the three day weekend here in the states to make that happen.  But it must have been a little later than I thought on Sunday night when I laid out my quilt top and started sewing rows together because it is not as evenly distributed as I would have normally done.

First four rows sewn together.  Bottom four rows of the quilt.

I decided the next morning when I got up that I would make it work instead of ripping the seams.  And by happy accident I ended up putting a red square in each of the four corners.  You probably don't remember but the Christmas Quilt my mom gave to me is named Red Square Envy and this is one of the traits of that quilt.  So it seems appropriate that my brothers quilt also has a little red square envy of its own.

Finished Quilt Top

This is the finished quilt top after I got the boarders sewn on and I very much like it now that it is done.  I am particularly fond of the large circles the pattern makes.  I think it is just the right amount of interesting and with it being in Christmas fabrics I think they look a little like ornaments and the squares look like gifts.  Maybe that is a stretch but that's what I see when I look at it.  My mom is going to drop this one off at the long arm next week so she can work a little more Flurry magic into it.  Turns out the snowflake design my mom selected to have them quilted in is also called Flurry.  It may be a while before I have finished photos to show you but at least I can pretty much promise you this one will get finished in 2012.

WIP Wednesday

I've been out of town at a convention for work so I don't have a lot to show you this week but I miss blogging on a regular basis and you know what they say, no better time then the present.  Since I was out of town and spending a lot of time in a convention center and hotel I took along my hexagons for a little hand sewing.  I forgot how much time this project takes.

Hexagon Quilt Progress

I found that I have the best luck with sewing little chunks and then adding them to my middle so that's why this thing isn't even but I think it is coming along okay.  With any luck it will be done by 2016.

I think this one is called Honey's Choice but I'm not sure.

This is the last Farmer's Wife Quilt Along block I made before choosing to pack this one up for a while.  I've been finding these little blocks to be pretty challenging lately and because of that I've lost a little love for this project.  I am determined to finish it and I think if I give myself a little time off when I pick it up again I'll be ready to give it everything I've got and finish it up.  Really I packed it up because if it's out in my sewing room I will like I HAVE to work on it and it takes the joy out of something fun sometimes.  So it's just taking a little nap.

Blocks for Dueling Flurry

 I've been cutting pieces for my half of the dueling flurry quilts.  It looks like I am making my brothers quilt while my mom is working on the matching one for my sister in law.  These are going to be Christmas gifts but our goal is to have the tops pieced by the end of July so that the long arm quilter has plenty of time to work on them.  I guess I better get busy.  We are using Alison's Seville pattern.  If you haven't check out her patterns yet I recommend them for sure.  This is the second pattern I have used of hers and they are just so easy to read and follow.  This quilt looks really complicated finished but its really just the repeat of 3 different types of blocks.  While cutting I needed a little bit of a break and I couldn't help but sew up a few of these super easy blocks.

1st Row of Scrappy Stars

Finally before getting busy with Summer Sorbet I did manage to sew one row of my scrappy stars quilt together.  It's very skinny so I am going to have to make a few more blocks in order to get the size I want but that's okay.  It is going to be a great quilt when it's done.

Be sure to head over to Lee's and see what everyone else is working on.  Lee's taking the summer off from WIP Wednesday but she has lined up some great talent to guest post on her blog during her break.