Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Some Finishes

I realized that I forgot to share that I finished the twister quilt binding.  In fact that little blanket is now being used by dolls and bears:


Yesterday I powered out and finished the "I-Spy" quilt I had been working on.  It helps that I am under the weather with a cold and didn't want to be running around the house much...so out came the hand stitching.





I used delicate colors that you can really see up close but they do not photograph so well from far away. Now I just need to throw it in the wash for the nice crinkly quilt look.  I am hoping to have some more finishes this week...but that depends on if I feel like sitting at my machine whilst sneezing and coughing.  :)

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Solstice Star Blocks and WIP Art Quilt

I wasn't sure if I was going to try to do the Solstice Star Series posted over at Fresh Lemons.  She just started it this month and it isn't too many stars.  I kept peeking at the instructions and finally when she introduced the "Whirling Star" which is paper pieced I just knew I had to give it a try.  I really want to get good at paper piecing and Faith over at Fresh Lemons posts really good tutorials.  The first star The Ribbon Star has 4 different colors for each of the points...but I decided to go with just two.  Here is my Ribbon Star:


The second star - The Whirling Star I did in a pink colorway:


I guess I am thinking Valentines Day or Strawberry Shortcake. I also made more progress on my girl art quilt.  I made it from a kit I purchased from my friend Carrie over at Believe Magic.  She makes amazing art girl quilts and sells kits in her etsy shop so you can make your own.  I have most of it stitched in place but am trying to figure out if I like the rays of the sun, butterflies, and flowers, or want to do something different.  So she will probably sit a few days until I get things just right.


To be honest, I was being completely lazy...I didn't want to re-thread with black so I outlined in white. I think she also might need a little white collar for her dress.


What do you think?  Does anyone have a suggestion on how to finish this off?  Lastly, I got a nice early anniversary present from my husband!  He bought me this beautiful collection called "Annie's Farm Stand".  I don't have anything in mind for it yet, but I am so excited!  Isn't it just gorgeous (the image is from Sew Deerly Loved who sells this particular bundle)?


This week it is my goal to: stay up with the Solstice Stars Series, the Half Square Triangle Quilt Along, keep plugging away at the hand-stitching to finish the pink bordered I-Spy quilt, and to finish sewing the Kindle cover for my brother.  I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

A Busy Wednesday

I got my Riley Blake fabric in the mail yesterday and threw them on to wash.  Today I madly went about ironing and piecing so I could finish my first January block. You can find the tutorial for Jenny's January HST block here:  http://incolororder.blogspot.com/2012/01/hst-block-of-month-january.html   I used the 6 inch square method which worked out quite well.  Here is my block (I can't wait for summer so I can photograph outside again):


Next up I got the binding on the front of my twister mini quilt and have it pinned to the back.  It is growing on me.


And lastly I am working on this I-Spy quilt in the evenings.  While I watch Top Chef tonight I am hoping to finish getting the binding hand-stitched.  I only have a small section left.  I have stitching in white on the white half but have decided to go back with some embroidery floss and add color to the designs over there.  I know that quilting is done pre-binding but figured since it is already quilted and I will be going over the same stitching it should be fine *cross your fingers for me*

Thursday, January 12, 2012

What I am up to

The weather outside is terrible lately.  My poor husband shoveled the driveway this morning and came back to a fresh 4 more inches at lunchtime.  Despite the poor weather and very stir crazy children at home I have:

-Ordered my fabrics for the Half-Square Triangle Quilt Along!  I have a huge thing for Riley Blake Fabric hence the RB Promenade collection I ordered:


- Stitched binding onto a quilt I have been meaning to finish. Picture to come soon.
- Secured all of my Dresden Plates onto my background fabric with a zig zag stitch for my grandmother's quilt
- Continued to cut and piece tumblers.  I had it all set up to take a picture but my tiny tot decided to play with my tumblers. What can you do?
- Started playing around with my Twister tool...but oh dear! I am not sure about what I chose. It looked busy but playful at first.  Here it is partially cut.


But wow does it get really really busy when you twist the fabrics!


I have enough to try again...next time I think I will put a dark solid gray (and take out the gray fabrics I already have in there) to allow the pinwheels to stand a little more on their own and pop!  Right now I feel like  you can't really focus on anything. Live and learn right?  I think this will be fine as a little doll quilt when it is done.  The girls adore the colors.

I am hoping to post finishes soon and then start playing with my lovely solids stack! Does the weather affect your quilting mood or progress?

Saturday, January 7, 2012

I Love Fabric Mail!

I ordered fabric from Pink Chalk Fabrics for the first time.  I am so happy I did!  My order was perfect and arrived quickly.  Here is what showed up:


I ordered the Winter Solstice pack of solids that they are offering!  I love the colors and am going to attempt a solids modern quilt with it.  Underneath it are a few yards of Kona white.  Yay!  I can get back to finishing up the Dresden plate quilt.  I can't wait to finish that one and send it off to my grandmother.


I also ordered two of the Half Moon Modern charm packs!  I keep seeing these around and just adore them!  I am going to attempt to make a little twister quilt with them.


My twister template showed up the same day.  I found this one at The Fat Quarter Shop!


And my off topic purchase of cute diaper covers and Rockin Green laundry soap from Abby's Lane!  Abby's Lane is awesome and offers free shipping to anywhere in the US! This mail technically counts because it is "fluffy mail" right?  Yes, I am a cloth diaper mom and I adore all the cute diaper prints out there.  Unfortunately, I was late to the game so I had no size smalls in my house...so of course it follows that I had to pick up a few cute little ones.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Friday - New Beginnings and a Finish


I decided I am going to join in this Quilt-Along over at In Color Order.  Now I just have to choose my fabrics.  I am trying to decide if I am going to go with a collection of pre-cuts or just try to put together a few from my stash.


I also started another project to utilize my scraps.  I have been slowly cutting my scrap basket pieces into tiny tumblers in the evenings and even started piecing a few.  The leftover smaller cuttings I am cutting into a stack of 1 and 1/2 inch squares to make yet another scrap quilt from.  I will try to have progress pictures of the piecing soon.


Last but not least I decided just to make my evening star block into a pillow for my girl's.  I overstuffed it so that over time it would be just right.  It seems like pillows tend to get flatter over time especially when they belong to two little girls.  So Last night I finished that one up.  It was my first finish of the year!  YAY!  I really want to finish quilting and binding some quilts that have been piling up, but I have a sick little one I can't be too far away from right now.  Stomach bugs stink!  What are you all finishing up or working on?

Monday, January 2, 2012

Paper Piecing - New To Me

Kate over at Swim Bike Quilt posted a Summer Sampler series that included the "Evening Star".  This block right away struck me as something I just HAD to try!  After organizing fabric into scrap piles and cutting off and throwing away unusable excess I decided to give it a go to try to bust some of my scrap stash. Here is how it is going.  I am loving it...it isn't perfect...I still need to figure out how to get the triangles to line up better...but I love the look of it. Now the dilemma remains...do I leave it as a cute little wall hanging or do I just keep using my scraps to create something larger.  I am leaning towards larger though I was hoping to finish it quickly.  I really am in
desperate need of a trip to the fabric shop!  I am out of my usual solids and kona white...except scraps.  I helped my friend out right before Christmas donating about 5 yards of my nice kona white to help her finish her quilts.  Now I am stuck with a bunch of Dresden plates which need a home and well if I make this one larger I will need more for this project as well.  I read somewhere that not having a lot of finishes in the previous year will hopefully mean a whole lot more finishes in the next year.  I love that!  I am so adopting that.  This year will be the year of finishes for me.  I am going to finish and share a bunch of quilts I have been meaning to quilt or bind with you all this year!