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WIP Wednesday: The Stuffing of Grievances

I’m not sure what the opposite of the great Festivus tradition of Airing of Grievances is, but I have the opposite of it this week. I have a glorious two weeks off of work, my wrist is feeling better, and my sewing machine was serviced and ready the following day.  And it is sounding and sewing much better.

So much so that I’ve finished the top and back for my king sized Christmas quilt!  Here is the top, folded up since there’s nowhere in my house big enough to lay it out, and it’s raining outside.

The outer border is a “bold choice”.  In retrospect perhaps I should have gone with a softer print, more akin to the piano key border.  The back of the quilt looks more like the piano key border so if I don’t like the front I suppose I can just turn it over!

I’m also almost done with the nine-patches for the next Quilt of Valor, which it will soon be time to cut up and sew back together.  I’ve also got three smaller quilts to plan for in addition to the pattern writing I’ve got on tap for this week, so no shortage of fun stuff going for my machine.  But first, I’m quilting some of the Harry Potter bookshelf quilt!

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WIP Wednesday - Festive

Still trucking along at the end of the year!  I have all 25 blocks done for the Christmas quilt, and sashing and setting triangles are cut and ready to assemble. I’ve still got a piano key border to assemble, and some small inner borders and the larger outer one as well.  Here’s one of the blocks - it’s 12″ finished:

All of that piecing will get worked on over the next few days as I make another Quilt of Valor with disappearing nine patches as leaders and enders.  There is not shortage of sewing going on!

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WIP Wednesday - Jellyrolling Along

I’m in a bit of a pickle on WIP Wednesday since what I’ve been working on is Christmas gifty and I can’t show it yet. So instead, here’s my jelly roll collection - including two posers: a honey bun and a dessert roll.

One of those I have plans to put into a king size Christmas quilt for my bed, but I’m not committing to whether it’ll be this Christmas or next. 😀

Another will be a trial pattern. Another is just pretty. And another might end up in an article of clothing. And another still will make a cool neutral quilt. And one… I have no idea what to do with. Sigh.

Stay tuned for our November episode of The Stitch where Lynn and I talk about strip quilt patterns (and show off some of her jellyroll stash!).  New episode out on Black Friday, to help entertain you during the Black Friday Sew In, or #BFSI on twitter!

See more WIPs on Lee’s blog!

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Lone Starburst - Finished!

This is has been washed, dried, shown-off, and snuggled under, so it’s practically lived an entire life since I finished it!

This pattern is Lone Starburst by Kimberly Einmo from her Jelly Roll Magic book.

The fabrics that read as solid are actually a burlap print; to add some interest I added in batiks in similar tones. The background is a Kona solid in Ivory.

Although the pattern uses a pre-cut jelly roll, there is still a fair amount of trimming that happens during block assembling, It’s not an overwhelming amount, but worth mentioning if you think you’re getting a pattern that is a sew-n-go rather than sew-n-trim-n-go.

As mentioned, I prefer a non-square quilt, so I used all the trimmings from cutting the stars to make piano keys for a top and bottom border. When Kimberly was teaching the workshop, she said we should just throw away the small trimmings, but if you’ve read my blog for a while you know how I feel about throwing out usable scraps (unless it’s a string - I hate strings!).

Since I used a minky on the back, I kept the quilting uncomplicated.  This is meant to be a snuggly quilt so it’s actually a little bigger than a twin size so it can cover the entire couch.

Or one dog who’s a bit of a quilt hog.

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WIP Wednesday: Burlap and Batik

This week I managed to finish stitching all the blocks for the Lone Starburst quilt from Kimberly Einmo’s class last Saturday.  I’m still in the trimming phase, but here’s one set all trimmed up pretty.  The brown and blue read as solid, but are actually a burlap print.  I’ll working on trimming the rest this evening and then move onto the rest of my retreat prep.

I’ve got quite the assortment of projects to haul with me to the retreat - I don’t plan on doing actual quilting of projects since my set up at home is more amenable to that, but I’ll be doing a LOT of piecing and making a totebag and another large overnight bag for the East Cobb Quilters Guild auction next June.

My goal is to get all pieces cut for the various projects I want to work on, so I can dive right in with the stitching.  I think I might need to make a tangent and make some quick project bags to store the various things in so I can keep them organized, but that’s for this weekend.

I also might be making myself a flapper dress for an event in October. Or I might not - depends on my confidence in making clothes and whether I can find an accessible dropped-waist dress pattern (sadly misplaced the one I had in high school!).

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Sunday Stash - Panels and Blocks

I’m gearing up for my retreat in a week and a half, and have been busy assembling project groups and boxes and whatnot.  I think the most daunting is the collection of “stuff” for fabric postcards, but here’s hoping I remember to pack the different colored thread for it!

When I haven’t been making piles of stuff, I’ve been working on my Lonestar blocks from Kimberly Einmo’s class on Saturday. She’s a lovely, energetic teacher and I love her pattern writing.  I also about two books, a specialty ruler, AND a pressing gadget.  I rarely buy books and gadgets, so you know she’s good! I’ve managed to make the units for 6 out of 9 star blocks, but haven’t finalized my layout yet.

I also made a pillowcase and finished my 3rd panel quilt project (three more are going into the aforementioned postcard projects!) Woohoo!

  • Used this Week: 6.75 yards
    • 5 yd for Jim Shore Christmas Quilt
    • 1 yd for a pillowcase
    • 0.75 yd for sewing machine mat and a pouch
  • Used year to Date: 271.75 yards
  • Added this Week: 3.25 yards
    • 3.25 yd of jelly roll and binding fabric I forgot to log a few weeks ago
  • Net Used for 2014: 177 yards
  • YTD Used for Charity: 102.5 yards (38% of total used)

See more Stash Reports at Patchwork Times!

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Cut the Cake - Finished!

I couple months ago, I tested a pattern for my friend Chris over at Frecklemama called Cut the Cake.  Because Chris is awesome, she actually quilted the top for me and I got it back and put the binding on it this week!

We went with the most recent American Jane line Potluck from Moda for the “cakes”.  It’s got bright colors in 30’s prints reminiscent of feedsacks, and turned out super cute.

This version of the pattern finishes at about twin-size - 72 x 85″.  As I was trying to take pictures the wind kept blowing and turning my clothesline around since the quilt was acting as a big sail.

I fell in love with the tiny chicks and yardstick prints in this line, and it worked well with a lime green solid.  Lime green is known as a neutral in my modern quilt guild.

For the back, we found a great text print (not from the same line), and there was enough from trimming the backing to use for the binding, too.

You can find the pattern for sale on Chris’ website, or on Fat Quarter Shop.  It uses a layer cake of fabric plus background & sashing, and can be embellished with applique candles or flowers to make it extra festive.

 

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Velocity (Comma) Girl Bag - Finished!

I am very pleased to show my latest bag, and now new summer purse, the Velocity (Comma) Girl bag from Sew Sweetness. Pardon the dreary photos, though, since it’s been raining for 4 days now. Bleh!

I used a charm pack of Comma from Zen Chic, pieced into panels to fit the pattern size.  I paired with a grey grunge print from Basic Grey. I took some liberties with piecing to get the pieces the right size, adding strips of the grunge to the bottom of 4 pieced charms for the side panels and the divider pockets (inside and outside).  I love the colors from Zen Chic, so it works for both summer and fall.

For the little piping bit on the exterior pocket, I used that bright, almost neon, orange from my casserole carrier and the Petrillo bag.

 I didn’t make too many other changes to the construction of the bag.  I did sub in Decor Bond, a heavyweight interfacing, for the ShapeFlex on the strap since I like the straps a little more sturdy.

I wasn’t able to find a big metal ring for the one end of the strap, so I bought a two pack of metal sliders at JoAnn’s and pried the crossbar off one of them to just use the rectangle in place of the ring.  It was also a nice way to make sure the finishes on the hardware all matched.

I think if I make this bag again in the future, I’ll add an inch of width to the side panel. It measures 4″ finished, but I think 5″ wide finished would fit better for the amount of stuff I have to haul around usually.  I think adding piping to the exterior seams would give it a little more crispness and definition, too.

But for now I’m very happy with it, and glad I got to use a charm pack I loved but wasn’t sure what to do with!

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Sunday Stash: Hot Stuff

So this happened:

I call this the pile of fabric I landed on when I fell off the fabric diet wagon.  Oh well - my friend Andi was having a really good sale on precuts so I had to indulge in 3 charm packs and a FQ bundle of the Beach Ball colorway of the dots line. In my defense, it’s my attempt to continue to balance out my stash with more warm colors.  The greens in the upper right are specifically for Miss Jingle since I apparently had no medium greens (just hunter and lime, and not much in between).

I did make progress this week, though so I’m still in the positive on using fabric from my stash. In addition to the Monster Mash baby quilt and Namaste mini, I made another My Favorite Bag for a commission for our niece’s friend.  I also finished a skirt for my daughter (no pics yet - trying to catch her in action).

Just today I finished a casserole carrier using a charm pack of Kate Spain’s Good Fortune and some solid orange and grey fabric.  With that bright orange inside, it’s a little safety-vest-ish, but I love it anyway.  I made it for a 9×13″ dish this using this tutorial, and instead of the Insul-Bright, I had some cotton batting and the teflon ironing board fabric (the silver stuff) that I combined instead.

Now, the reckoning!

  • Used this Week: 11 yards
    • 2.75 yd for Monster Baby quilt
    • 0.75 yd for Bloomer’s Mario skirt
    • 3.75 yd for purple Favorite bag
    • 1.25 yd for storage bag for Scrappy Swoon
    • 0.25 yd for Namaste mini quilt
    • 2.25 yd for casserole carrier
  • Used year to Date: 103.75 yards (Holla! Broke 100 yards!)
  • Added this Week: 7.5 yards
    • 3 yd for Beach Ball Dots FQs
    • 3 yd for 3 charm packs
    • 1.5 yd of green for Miss Jingle
  • Net Used for 2013: 32.75 yards
  • YTD Used for Charity: 69.5 yards (67% of total used)

See more stash reports at Patchwork Times!

Here is a random picture of Jett and Morelli from this week that cracks me up. They both look so smug about piling on top of each other.