WIP Wednesday

Okay I'll admit this one came around much faster than I had expected but for good reason.  I was busy getting newborn snuggles from this little gal.  My new niece-aunties rule!

Over the weekend I thought I would be able to finish up the quilt for my mom that I'm lovingly call Candy Corn Awesomeness because of a comment on one of the early photos of the quilt over on Instagram.  I thought we had everything we needed for this quilt when I went shopping in my mom's stash because we had the perfect amounts of everything except an outside border.  When I was making it I noticed this really pretty purple in a couple of the fabrics and thought we could trade out the fabric she had for binding to use for borders and then use a eggplant purple for the binding.  However we were about 4 inches short.  So this one is sitting waiting it's last border until some fabric comes.

Since I couldn't finish those borders I figured I might as well still finish some borders.  So I pulled out my Dream Big quilt (pattern is in Camille's first book) and added the borders onto it.

After that I had just a little bit of time and I wanted to make the most of it in my sewing room.  But my sewing mojo seems to have left again.  I thought it was going to stick around for a while this time. At any rate I pulled out all of these projects hoping inspiration would strike.  Only one has a deadline so it was pretty much open season.

In the end I turned back to my Flower Girl Quilt and managed to sew up two blocks.  That brings me to 5 blocks out of the 25 needed for the quilt.  So I'm making progress.

That's it for me this week.  Head over to Lee's and see what everyone else is sewing up this week.

WIP Wednesday

I don't know if I've ever been more happy that a Wednesday has come up on me so fast-but with a new niece scheduled to be born tomorrow I am already counting down the hours to Thursday.  I can't wait to meet her.

I haven't done a whole lot of sewing even though I had a sewing date last Thursday and then spent lots of time sewing on Friday after work.  But since then the sewing room has been pretty quite.  I blame it on the return of cable television this week.  I did however manage to make some progress on the Jelly Bean Quilt.  I'm a little over half way done piecing the top.  The further I get on this one the more I like it.  It's outside of my normal color zone but it's been enjoyable to have a little something different to work on.

I also made my first round of blocks for the #iheartbandcsamplequiltbee over on Instagram.  This quilt was inspired by Camille's orphan block quilt.  We were all assigned to hives and each month we are making blocks for two other bee members.  My plan for now is to make at least three blocks each month so that I will have one for my own quilt as well.  I'm hoping to make this one nice and big.  Hopefully even queen sized for the guest bed.  Which is conveniently located in my sewing space.

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

WIP Wednesday

Hello!  I hope you are all having a great week.  Mine got off to a slow start but we are on the down side of the hill now rolling into the weekend.  It's been a busy week and my finger is pretty much numb from sewing down binding but I'm hoping to give it a little time to rest over the next couple of weeks before starting on the next project.

That does mean that I finished up the binding on both a baby quilt and my apqquiltalong quilt.  You can see the APQ Quilt there getting ready for some crinkle magic so hopefully I'll have a chance to grab some photos and show you something pretty for finish it up Friday.

I also managed to finish up my tinyswoon for the thimbleblossomsminiquiltswap.  This thing measures only 24 inches square.  I have plans of adding a really thin boarder so nothing is lost in the binding.  Abstract baptist fan quilting and piped binding in pink and aqua.

The quarter is for size reference

I did start a new project as well.  I went shopping in my moms stash because she is nice enough to let me do that sometimes.  And as luck would have it she had the perfect amounts of fabric for this quilt.  The only thing missing is a boarder fabric but since she had a charm pack from this line as well I'm thinking about doing a patchwork border that I think will look great with this quilt.

I think that is all I have going on this week.  Head on over to Lee's and see what everyone else is up to.  Fair warning though-most weeks I end up with inspiration overload doing that.

WIP Wednesday

I haven't done much sewing on my machine this week.  Remember all those quilts I was telling you about last week?  Well I got one box on Friday before heading out for a last minute trip to the races and then I had the other one waiting for me when I got home on Saturday evening.  So most of my time this week has been spent binding and I can't wait to show you guys the finished quilts.

Here's a little sneak peek of what I'm binding.  I've managed to finish both the baby and mama pips so more photos of those coming soon.  It's been a rainy week here so I haven't had a chance to take photos.

I also manage to finish a few more steps on my tiny swoon for the #thimbleblossomsminiquiltswap over on Instagram.  I'm excited about the way this one is coming together but with each step I feel like it is going to be harder to give away.

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

WIP Wednesday

I can't believe it's already Wednesday again.  I know I say that A LOT but it's amazing how quickly the weeks are flying by this year.

My sewing time this week has been spent getting a head start on my mini quilt for the #thimbleblossomsminiquiltswap over on Instagram.  I knew as soon as I signed up that I wanted to make a scrappy swoon mini.  I've been wanting to make a scrappy swoon for a long time but one of the problems of not having a "stash" to speak of is that it's really hard to make scrappy quilts.  I'm following the tutorial from the scrappy swoon quiltalong but I scaled my pieces down to finish at one inch.  I didn't do any math so I'm still not sure how big this will be when it's done.

I have managed to make it through step 5 so far and hope to have the top pieced by Friday because come Friday I have a whole lot of binding to sew.  I have five quilts coming back from 2 different long arm quilters and they are all suppose to arrive on Friday.

I borrowed this photo from Abby who was kind enough to show me a sneak peak on Instagram.  This is now my favorite quilt to date and I can't wait to have it back and finish it up.  Unfortunately for me it will be the last one to get done because the others are all gifts.  Two of which are for babies and we all know they aren't going to wait on their quilts to be done to make their entrance.

I'm using my leftover pieces from this quilt for the tiny swoon.  Waste not want not, right?  It's hard to believe these tiny scraps are all that's left of my Scrumptious Fat Quarter Bundle but at the same time it is satisfying to know that I've used it instead of hoarding it.

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

WIP Wednesday

It seems like another week has flown by.  I finished up the custom baby quilt on Sunday and boy was I glad to have that off my plate.  Working on a project you don't like and then knowing the person isn't really going to appreciate it sure makes it no fun.  I'm glad to have that one done and off to Sarah to work a little crinkle magic on.  Once that was done I started thinking about what to work on next.  I landed on my Flower Girl Quilt Kit.

I made up the first block on Sunday after once again replacing my iron.  My old one spit rust or something on my fabric and stained it.  Luckily I had just enough to cut around those spots but I knew that was the final straw.  In an attempt to make this one last a little longer I also bought a jug of distilled water.  Has anyone had any luck with that?

I managed to squeeze in two blocks yesterday.  The first one I made up and posted to Instagram.  When I looked at the photo again I was a little disheartened to see that the print in my leaves were running in two different directions.  It was driving me a little crazy so I made some new leaves and took the block apart to fix it.

I was also lucky enough to snag a spot in the I heart B&C Sample Bee.  I'm in hive 3 with some other wonderful ladies.  I can't wait to see what blocks everyone makes.  One of my favorite things about Camille's original sampler is that she used some little blocks mixed in to fill the space between some of the larger blocks.  So to get started I made 2 sets of baby pinwheels.  These will finish at 4 inches each.  Not super tiny but I think it will be a good filler.

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

WIP Wednesday

Wednesday continues to sneak up on me every week.  I haven't been doing much sewing this week.  The need to make this baby quilt that I'm not excited about has robbed me of my quilting joy.

It's looking much better and it's half way sewn together now.  I know just a couple of hours could have it finished and I just need to buckle down and do it.

Today was also the shipping deadline for the strawberry swap.  I was very lucky to have a partner in this swap that wasn't specific about what they wanted.  It can me the freedom to just create something.  She said she was a fan of Bonnie & Camille and Tula Pink.  I love both of those designers but they are pretty opposite ends of the spectrum for me.  In the end I went with Bonnie & Camille because it felt more strawberry-ish.  Is that a word?

I had a lot of fun putting this little pillow together.  The strawberry block is from the Strawberry Social pattern.  It's a super cute pattern but I wasn't prepared for how small the pieces were.  That's what happens when you just start something and don't read all the directions first.  Is it rude to tell your partner if they don't like what you made to send it back?  Cause I really like this pillow.

I also had a need to do some baking this weekend.  I use to love to bake but being married to a diabetic I don't do very much of it because neither of us should be eating goodies like this.  For some reason this weekend though I needed to make cookies.  I tried a recipe for salted caramel chocolate chip but they didn't turn out as I had hoped and most of them ended up in the trash bin.  I couldn't find the caramel bits so used the alternative of buying the cubes and cutting them in fourths.  They were too heavy and sunk to the bottom of the cookies which caused the caramel to burn before the cookies were really done.  Anyone have a good recipe or tips to keep this from happening?

I guess that's it for me this week.  Head on over to Lee's and see what everyone else is up to this week.

PS-I just noticed this is my 300 post

WIP Wednesday

I can't believe it's already Wednesday and that the summer break for WIP Wednesday is already over.  I had been on a big roll with my sewing projects but I think I might have run out of steam.  My MIL asked me to make an owl themed baby quilt for her & you know when you aren't really keen on something it makes it hard to want to do it.  I don't know why I'm not feeling the love for this baby quilt but well if we are keeping it real around here I'm just not.

I started out with this after being inspired by a quilt on Instagram.  Right away I was second thinking those stripe blocks.  I thought I could use the cheater print from the line to get the same effect but it wasn't working for me.  After a quick poll on Instagram I removed the cheater print and instantly it looked a lot better to me.  I'm still not loving it but I think it will work and I won't be embarrassed to say I made it.

While I was waiting for the fabric to arrive for that baby quilt I worked on the Dream Big pattern in Swell.  The pattern is from Camille's first book so it counts towards my challenge.  The swell fabric was tracked down for me a few years ago by an online friend and I finally got around to using it.  I just need to add my boarders to this one.

The pattern calls for 3 boarders made up of two different fabrics.  These are the 3 fabrics I have to choose from.  I'm not sure but I'm thinking dots, flowers, dots.  I really like the gingham but I'm afraid it will feel a little to picnic table cloth.

That's it for me today.  Head over to Lee's and see what everyone else is up to.

WIP Wednesday

I had a relaxing weekend at the lake but I didn't get to do much sewing this past week.  When I got home I had this lovely package waiting for me.  I was so excited to dive into it but forced myself to start laundry and unpack the suitcase first.  It was great motivation to get that done.

Inside was my Snow Blossoms Quilt.  This is the first quilt I had sent to Sarah (Crinklelove) and she did a great job with it. (More on that in a later post).  Last night I made lots and lots of binding.  I never thought binding was that hard but ever since I switched to using a diagnal seam to join the pieces I have had a lot more trouble.  It seems I have to use my seam ripper every third piece or so.  I don't know why I can't seem to get it right but it causes me a lot of frustration.  I did however manage to get it done and get it sewn to the front of the quilt so now I imagine I will be spending a lot of quality time hand stitching it down in the back. It's a big quilt coming in at 83 by 83 inches.

Other than that I spent some time getting the backs of my Jelly Filled Quilts ready to go to the quilter.  I'm trying out several new people right now in hopes that I will find one or two I really like.  I plan to do a full review of each of them as I get my quilts back so I'll keep you posted.  The baby quilt finished at about 40 inches wide so I just sewed a piece of muslin down one side of my back fabric to give them the extra room necessary to stretch it on the frame.

That's it for me this week-be sure to head over to Lee's and see what everyone else is up to.

WIP Wednesday

Happy Wednesday!  It's been a little difficult to get back in the swing of things this week after having a nice long weekend.  As we were expecting hurricane Aurthur here on Friday the picnic I had planned to attend and lots of local fireworks were canceled.  But that just meant I had more time to sew.  First up I tackled the Pips Quilts.  I added a few more rows to the large one and then a made a matching baby quilt with some of the more subtle colors from the line.

This one is getting a 4 inch boarder all the way around to bring it up to 42 by 37 1/2.  The larger version ended up at 69 1/2 by 71.  Nice and roomy should mom and baby just want to share.

After that because I can't seem to focus on just one project and because the 12 I currently have in progress just didn't seem like enough I started something new.  This is the Swell pattern from Camille's second book.  Still plugging away on that challenge to make all of her patterns.  I had two Moda Candy Bars of City Weekends plus 1/2 a charm pack and some scraps that I commandeered from my mom-leftovers from a baby tumbler quilt she made.  I only have enough fabric for a 3 by 3 layout which will end up somewhere around 36 by 36 and I have a yard I picked up in the great destash over on instagram for a boarder.  I'm thinking it will be just enough for a baby quilt or table topper and I'm good with that.

I am using the white and yellow polka dot from the line in place of a solid.  I have to admit since venturing out from my typical solid snow first with the pale green, then bright orange, and now with a print of all things it feels good.  I'm not planning on breaking up with snow anytime soon but it is good to have some variety.

That's it for me this week.  Head on over to Lee's and see what everyone else is up to.  And if you are on Instagram be sure to check out the Auction @quiltingfairy is hosting on Friday.  There are lots of hard to find fabrics & homemade items to be had and the proceeds are going to help a member of our quilting community after the loss of her mother in law.

WIP Wednesday

I missed all of you guys last week-but sometimes I just don't have anything to share by the time Wednesday gets here.  I do a lot of my sewing quilting on the weekends and so if I have a super busy weekend I might not have anything to share come Wednesday and then other times if I am feeling super motivated I can get a little time with my machine in after work during the week.

The hubs was out of town on Friday night so I treated myself to Sushi and had fun quilting.  My quilting ADD was in full effect and I couldn't settle on a project so I managed to piece the first set of pinwheels for my Dilly Dally quilt.  Then I thought maybe I would give Juggle another go but I only managed to add one row.  That does bring me to the 1/2 way point but I need to do more cutting before I can make anymore progress on that one.  I snuck one more Scrappy Trip Along block in there as well.  And then I needed to do some cleaning so that was the end of the fun for me.

Then on Saturday I got a chance to head down to my parents and my mom helped me out with making quilt backs for several (okay 5) quilts that needed to be done.  I typically like to piece my backs.  Nothing fancy but I usually will use some blocks from the front or another fabric so I can avoid trying to match up a pattern reprint.  This time though I just used one print and I didn't match them up.  They still look okay and once they are quilted I doubt the seam will even be noticeable.  But I think on the next one it will be back to a pieced back, it just makes it feel a little more special to me.

I'm not sure why but when I was doing the math for this one in my head I made a bit of a mistake.  The quilt top is 83 by 83 and so when I seamed the two lengths of fabric together I only had a total of 3 1/2 extra inches on the sides.  Most long arm quilters like 3-4 inches per side to get a good stretch on the frame and there is no way I was quilting this one myself so I ended up adding some muslin to one side to make it big enough.

My mom also gave me her Sherbet Pips Jelly Roll and since we had 11 yards of fabric for backing I knew I wanted to make my Jelly Filled Quilt Along top bigger and then it seems I just couldn't stop.  I still need to add one more row and thanks to some smart friends on Instagram I think I have a plan to make a baby quilt that matches.  Maybe my SIL and soon to be niece would like these as matching quilts.  My SIL loves all things pink and I think this one would do the trick.

That's it for me this week-I hope all of you in the US will enjoy your 4th of July and that all of my Canadian friends had a great Canada Day!  It looks like we are going to trade in our fireworks for a hurricane this year.  Head over to Lee's and see what everyone else is up to.

WIP Wednesday

 Today is another one of those days where I think I can't believe it is already Wednesday again.  I've been doing a lot of sewing this week but I'm not sure I am making any real progress.  I've been super distracted in my sewing space which means I tend to start a lot of things all at once.

In my quest to make all things Bonnie & Camille I started working on Dilly Dally.  There are over 80 HST's in this quilt.  I made this big stack but have yet to trim them up.  The bug I had last week is still clouding my brain and making it somewhat difficult to focus so after sewing up these units I decided precision piecing probably wasn't in the cards and moved on to something else.

I picked up some Chicopee and Florance scraps over on the great fabric destash.  I knew after seeing this quilt by my friend Leanne that I really wanted to make a scrappy trip along using Chicopee but I thought for sure I had missed out on the collection.  I was lucky enough to find scraps in the perfect size on the destash and by adding in my hope valley I should have just enough.  After I made my second block I thought about calling it quits because I wasn't sure I really loved it but after some Instagram encouragement I kept going and I have four blocks done.

Feeling guilty for starting something new I figured I should finish up one of the active projects in my space. So I finished piecing together my Turning Twenty Again blocks.  I don't have floor space large enough to lay this one all out so it's going to have to wait just a little bit to get put together.  I'm thinking next time I go to my mom and dad's I will take this along to finish.

Finally this week I put up a post about my Complications Quilt since so many of you had asked for help making one similar.  You can find the information here and here.  If you make one of these I'd love to see it.  Leave a comment or tag it with #patchworkpuzzle over on Instagram so I can check it out.

That's it for me, head over to Lee's to see what everyone else is up to this week.

WIP Wednesday (Lots of Bonnie & Camille)

I've been doing a good amount of sewing this week so I am excited to have several projects to share with you guys.  First up though I should tell you about this crazy challenge I accepted.  As I was starting yet another project in Bonnie & Camille fabrics using one of Camille's patterns from her second Craftsy class one of my friends commented that I was going to run out of things of their to make.  Of course in my wackadoodle mind all I heard was "CHALLENGE" to which I replied Challenge Accepted.  I thought I already had a pretty good start anyway.  I mean I've made things out of all but one line of theirs to date.  But then I started looking up Camille's patterns and man there are a lot of them.  I made a handy dandy spreadsheet to help me keep track.

The good news is I have a couple of friends over on Instagram who have made this an unofficial personal goal as well.  This means I have some good company and motivators to keep me going.  So the Juggle Quilt is the one that got this started.  Since I was so thrilled with the way my Snow Blossoms Quilt turned out using something other than White or Snow I decided to mix it up again and use the orange solid from the Scrumptious line with these hexagons from Happy Go Lucky.  Let me tell you, in theory this quilt is pretty easy.  But those pieced hexagons are stretchy and they seem to be giving me a hard time when it comes to matching up the seams for the rows.  Everything looks good and then one of those completely throws me off.

So to avoid total frustration on Sunday because sewing with a headache is never fun I picked back up my Turning Twenty Again blocks and made a little more progress on those.  I finished up all of the individual units that make up the blocks but I am still working on sewing the blocks together.

I posted this photo on Instagram on Sunday.  The plastic pieces in the picture are part of one of my plastic storage bins that got broken.  Between that, the headache, and the two broken needles it was probably good that I put away the Juggle Quilt.  I'm at the half way point on it so I don't think it will take me too long to finish it up but its one of those projects I'll have to work on when I have a little extra patience.

And last but not least, Abby started an impromptu Jelly Filled Quilt Along over on Instagram.  Well since that is one of the patterns on my challenge list and it does have the promise of being a pretty quick finish I decided to take that one on with the quilt along.  Something about sewing in a group is always so motivational.  Tuesday night I broke out the Sherbet Pips Jelly Roll I'd been hoarding (since before yardage was available) and matched up my pairs.  I made a test block to start with because everyone seems to measure precuts a little different and I wanted to make sure I was accurate before cutting all the pieces.  That one test block quickly grew to three.  I'm excited to get to work sewing up the rest of these blocks.  I'm thinking it might be the perfect winter quilt for my niece who will be joining the family in September.  That is if I can actually part with it.

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