WIP Wednesday

I got my Twisted Fandango quilt back from quilter and I am working on sewing on binding so I can send it off to someone special.  It's a gift for a friend and even though I intended for it to be a farewell quilt when she moved it has turned into a quilt for so many more occasions than that but I know she will still love it.  I promise to show you photos when it's done.

In the mean time my aunt has commissioned me to make a baby quilt for my second cousin who is expecting her first child.  So I thought I would share a little bit of my planing process with you guys.  And I'll admit I am scared to death of this quilt for a lot of reasons.  The biggest one being I have never made a commissioned quilt before and the pressure of knowing someone is requesting this special gift and paying for it has me breaking out in hives.  While I am confident in my abilities I am also my own worse critic.

Dena Happi

I started with this photo of bedding that is on my cousins registry.  I wanted something that would coordinate but not be super matchy.  The first fabric I picked was the Michael Miller Forest Life in Watermelon which features some very cute owls and other wild life.  From there I built my fabrics around the colors.  I am still planning to add in a few more but I'm starting with these.  It is so hard to match fabrics online that I want to see how these look and then decide what else I am going to need.

For the pattern I sent my aunt several photos of baby quilts that I thought she might like and we ended up choosing this one as the starting point.  I am considering changing it up some by replacing some of the large squares with 4 patches and possibly changing out some of the rectangles into stacked squares just to add a little more depth and interest.  I had even considered going with a scalloped border but since the owls will be the backing I think it might look funny from the back and think I might skip the scalloped border but I am still considering rounded corners.  Have any of you used rounded corners?  What do you think?  I'd love any feedback you guys have because this one needs to be perfect.

This baby quilt was made by Christine @ Punkin Handmades

Be sure to head over to Lee's to see what everyone else is up to this week as well.

WIP Wednesday

How is it that it is already Wednesday.  I feel like the week is flying by and I am getting no where.  I haven't sewn a stitch.  But I have more WIP's to share so I thought even if it takes me a few weeks to talk about all of them putting it out there would at least get me to be accountable to what is really going on.

Scrappy Stars is a quilt that has been in the making for a long time.  It is one of my very first online bee quilts.  I have the first row sewn together but I still need to make a few more.  Although I have an alternative plan worked out that wouldn't require me to make more blocks and would still look really cool.  I think I might go that route since I am likely to get the quilt finished sooner this way.

Do you remember the Summer Sampler?  It's been a long time since this one wrapped up but I still only have a handful of the blocks done.  Mostly because the rest of them require paper piecing and I don't do paper piecing.  I am hoping to learn and I'm even thinking about joining this BOM in hopes that it will teach me.  Are any of you doing this?  What do you think?

Also, what do you do with WIP's that you know you are never going to get to?  I have several that I would love for someone to adopt but I don't know where to begin with that sort of thing.  I can't just throw them away.  Does anyone know of groups that take blocks or finished tops?  I tried searching flickr but the only group I found looks to be inactive.  I'd love your ideas here too.

Be sure to head over to Lee's and see what everyone else is up to.  My suspession is they are all being far more productive than myself.  Even if it is with the Scrappy Trip Along mania.

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.

Hello 2013!

Okay so you know how people use the expression "as excited as a kid at Christmas" well that is my feeling today.  Here we are on the brink of a new year and honestly I can't wait to get started.  2012 was not good to me in a lot of ways but I wouldn't trade all of those bad minutes for a second because I got some really great memories, opportunities, and experiences in there too.  No need to hash out all of the details here but I am excited as a fat kid with cake to start 2013 with a brand new set of goals and a shinny new calendar.

Summer Love (Part 1)

The group over at the Old Red Barn Quilt Along has taken a break from quilt alongs and issued a quilt challenge throw down.  You can find the details here and it isn't too late to join in on the fun.  I really wanted to participate but I'm not sure I will have enough time to finish up my quilt top before the deadline of the 31st so I am working on this project with that deadline in mind but am not fully committed.

So step one was to choose a color pallet for inspiration.  Of course I still had tons of those pinned from when I was considering joining the Dead Simple Quilt Along a while back.  I poured over color pallet sites for days but in the end I kept coming back to the same one and decided to just go for it.  I had talked with an online friend about this same pallet around the time of the Dead Simple Quilt Along and had mentioned how much it reminded me of Fresh Cuts.  Of course being the fan I am of that line I still had some prints sitting in my sewing room.  I ordered a healthy does of Bella Solids to go with the Fresh cut pieces and then I was ready to get to work.

 This pallet reminds me of Summer and for some reason I just kept thinking about summer love.  You know that easy kind they talk about in every country love song ever written.  And that made my think about carnivals and Ferris wheels.  Yeah I know it's not a very new concept but once it was in my mind I just couldn't shake it and decided to just let it be the inspiration it so clearly wanted to be.  I searched and searched for a block that gave the feeling of a Ferris wheel without being a literal interpretation.  I couldn't really find anything that I loved but in the end decided to use a block by Elizabeth.  I think it loosely resembles a turning bucket shape.  And so my summer love quilt has begun.

Find My Fabric

Sometimes I am asked to review services that would benefit my audience.  And while I have never participate before because I am only willing to share products I would use myself.  I did decided to share this site with you.  Although the following is my opinion of Find My Fabric, I do need to disclose that I am being compensated for this review.


Have you heard about findmyfabric.com?  It's a pretty cool search engine just for fabric lovers.  I had the chance to spend some time on the site and wanted to share with you all the pros and cons I found.  I hope you will take the chance to look around on the site and that you will bookmark it for help in finding products you may be looking for in the future.

I really like the easiness of the search feature.  If you know the name of the fabric you are trying to find you can just type it right in the search box and it will search 100's of stores and return a list for you.  One of the best parts is that it displays the prices so no more clicking on links to compare who has the best price.

The one drawback to the search I found that it wouldn't be fair if I didn't tell you about is that the site only searches for the product in stores that are registered with the site.  These means some of those more obscure fabric sites may still be missed.  If you have friends or family that have online stores be sure to tell them about the site so they can check into registering.  The more stores that participate the better this site will serve all of us in the sewing community.

Another cool feature the site offers is the ability to search using something similar to facial recognition technology.  Say you have a piece of fabric and you don't have the selvage and you can't remember the name of it but you are having one of those OMG I am short of this fabric and I have to get more pronto moments.  Come on I know I'm not the only person that happens to.  You can snap a picture and upload it to the site.  The computer then runs that photo through the system and returns similar images.

I tried it and while it did find the fabric I was looking for it also gave me some other interesting products as well.  I searched for a gray polka dot and was a little surprised when rulers popped up on my screen.  So the technology may not be perfect but over all it was a success.  And ultimately I think I would rather it give me more options than be so specific it might risk not returning my desired fabric.  The rulers it showed me did after all have gray dots on them.

The site is still in a bit of a test phase right now but I know I will be bookmarking it and using it to find what I am looking for in the future.  Having all of the pricing alone in one spot is sure to save me some time and energy.  So go have a look around on the site and be sure to let me know what you think.

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.