June - A Lovely Year of FInishes

I am jumping back into A Lovely Year of Finishes hosted by my friend Melissa at Sew Bittersweet Designs and Shanna at Fiber of All Sorts.  I know I missed the last couple of months, though they were for good reasons I am ready to jump back into sewing which makes me so very happy.

So my goal is to complete my Michael Miller Challenge for the Modern Quilt Guild.  I finally finished my top so it needs to be backed, quilted, and bound before the deadline.

I know, not the best picture, but my camera has gone mia, ugh.  The back is already pieced so I need to clean off the dining room table to baste it.  Still on restrictions; no bending, lifting, twisting, reaching... so this will be interesting.  At least I am able to be back a my machine from almost a month off.

Flight of the Seagulls take 2

I recently did a remake of my Flight of the Seagulls quilt that I made for Project Quilting in 2013.

The original quilt had a nautical feel with red, white, and blue fabrics.  The flying geese in the quilt and the colors are what helped it be named Flight of the Seagulls.  This time, though, I went with a soft gray and my 30's and 40's reproduction fabrics.  

The swirly gray is from PB Textiles and when I saw it in my LQS recently I had to have it, it matched perfectly with my reproduction fabrics.

As I created this version, I was so surprised how different it looked with just a change in fabric.  It seems so much more calm than the first version. 

I still have to figure out a backing and quilt it.  I am thinking maybe a swirly design in the grey background.  I am hoping to have it completed by the end of the summer.

Project Quilting - Bonus Challenge Update

I feel like I haven't written much lately, but I have been sewing up a storm, working on my Project Quilting bonus challenge, Tradition Times Three.  Here is my progress so far....

I chose flying geese an my traditional block for this project.  I have straight flying geese, swirly geese, confused circle geese, and giant geese.

So instead of just three, I have four sizes in my quilt (and I might add baby geese in just for fun).

You can kind of get the idea how it will look from this layout.  I am working on getting sections sewn together right now so it will be easier to put it all together when I am ready.  

I have a lot of piecing left to do along with a couple other commitments to finish before the end of the month.  I better get sewing :) 

April - A Lovely Year of Finishes

It is time for the April linkup of A Lovely Year of Finishes.  I had to think about this one.  You see, I have an ever growing pile of unfinished tops and quilts in progress but I couldn't decide until I picked up a quilt I pieced last month, backed, and basted it.  It then got pushed aside because I got distracted.

I pieced this quilt from a book panel I have had in my stash for ages.  I framed out the pages with a fun alphabet print also from my stash.  I want to finish this quilt for my April goal.

I am also planning on piecing and hopefully finishing another quilt made from another panel that I had in my stash.

Once these two quilts are finished they will be given to Hometown Heroes , a great organization that is working with families here on the Jersey Shore to Restore the Shore.  They have replaced furniture, paid bills and security deposits, and just done so much to help the families displaced by the storm.  They are still receiving applications for help from families.  My local MQG is also working on a donation quilt for this organization.

So here is to a great month of April and getting these two quilts finished.  

On a roll...

This has been a busy week for me.  I had a few days of the house to myself so I have taken advantage of the quiet time and sewed as much as possible.  I also threw in a little marmalade making.  I am on a crafty roll here.

One big project that I put a huge dent in is Matthew's Christmas present.  I am making him a space quilt using all different space fabrics cut into triangles.

 I had just a bit done the other night, just grabbing them and randomly piecing until I decided I needed to lay it out to make sure there were going to be no pieces touching.

So now this is what I am up to, the bottom 6 rows are all together and I just need to attach the top 5.  Wohoo, I am on my way.

 Of course then comes the basting and quilting, which takes forever, but it will be worth it.  Oh, did I mention that I bought the 3-d space fabric by Hoffman California?  That is the only new fabric that I bought for this quilt (the rest was stash).  It looks cool with the 3-d glasses and some of the other fabrics have the same look.  I am wondering if it has to do with the shading.

I think I got a little carried away with the size on it, well miscalculated.  I meant for it to be about 66 to 68" wide (perfect for a twin), but right now it is measuring around 74".  I know I will be trimming it down and it will shrink a little, but oops.  Well, it will just hang a little longer and make a great quilt to build forts with.

Off to do some more sewing.

Some log cabins

So I spent today working on some of my monochromatic scrappy log cabin blocks to go with the scrappy stash quilt along at Ellison Lane Quilts. So far I have 8 blocks, 4 green and 4 purple.

Love how they are looking. I am excited to see how everyones blocks turn out 

Horse Show Ribbons

A while ago I was sent two boxes of horse show ribbons from my dad's cousin.  She sent me probably over 500 ribbons!  She asked me to create a ribbon wall hanging quilt.  So they sat and sat until I got up enough courage to start on it.  Seriously, I was afraid to start it.

I sorted out my ribbons and well... the kinda took over the entire living room and dining room.

After I sorted them and stared at them for a while.  I needed to have the ribbons tell me what to do (hmmm... now I sound crazy).  I came up with my blocks.  

 They are all made of ribbon, but sewn onto a white cotton muslin for stability.  .   As you can see, the main ones all have writing signifying different places and states that they travel to with their horses.  The center will be areas for her to hang either the rosettes from the ribbons I have taken apart or hang future ribbons that she wins.

Now that I have the blocks done I feel I am well on my way to getting this thing completed.

Now, to keep going with it and not let my sewing ADD take over and move to something else.  

At least this is for my 100 Day Hustle list  :)

A little update

So I finished my Tetris quilt last weekend which will have a post once I get photos all set for it.  I am totally in love with it and it has found a place on my bed, perfect for laying under while I ice my knee for hours.

In the mean time, I did a little playing today and came up with this...

Can you tell what it is?  Em, I bet you can guess :)

I will admit that I totally have kayaking on the brain.  I have officially been out of my boat for a year with my knee issues and I am going through some withdrawal.  So I figured what better way to fix that than to sew something (ok maybe not really, but hey a girls gotta try something to keep her mind busy).  Now that I have the first block down I am going to do some more playing and see what I can come up with.  And I actually have my pattern I used to piece the block, I didn't mess it up (so not the usual for me).  How awesome would a river quilt be or maybe a slalom course... I have a lot to think about.  And if pink polka-dot boat is ever made, I will be the first in line for it.  I mean, I need something to match my pink sparkly helmet.  

Of course I really shouldn't be starting another project while my dining room table looks like this...

I am working on a wall hanging made with horse show ribbons for my cousin.  I was stumped at first because she said I had free range of the style.  I find it easier to be given direction (not free range...eek!), but I have figured it out and I am working away on it.  I did practice with a few plain ones before I started to make sure I could easily sew them.  I just put some strips together and then turned them into this hexagon.  

I had to piece a corner of one of the triangles because the pink ribbon was shorter than the rest.
So much left to do on that quilt, but my goal is to finish it by next week.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

HST/Chevron Top

So the other day I was able to bust out my HST/Chevron?Zigzag quilt top for a wedding gift (I am not quite sure what to call it).  I had been auditioning these fabrics for a quilt for a while and trying to decide just what I wanted to do with them.  And then it hit me... big half square triangles would look great.  (Plus be quick since the wedding is the weekend).

I started this quilt by cutting 4 - 10" squares from each of 8 fabrics (4 white and 4 black).  I put together 1 black and one white and made the HST's.  I cute them apart and pressed them as usual, but here is where I made a major oops... I went right to laying out (because I had help) instead of squaring up.  I told myself, after you lay it out don't forget to square them up, but I forgot and started sewing. I was halfway through when I realized I forgot to.  Oops.  But it all worked out so I am ok now.  

This quilt is a wedding gift for a wedding I can't make it to since it is about 6 hours from home and I still can't drive :(.  I can't wait to show you when it is all finished.  I made a little tag for it, too.  

Little Update...

Sneak peak of what I am working on...

It is a quilt that needs to be finished by tomorrow... I should shave started sooner.  But I have to say that if it wasn't for these crutches and my knee this would have been totally finished already.

Now I have to ask, has anyone else had issues while sewing when they are on crutches?  I mean the getting up and pressing and the sitting back down and then there is the pedal for the machine... good thing I have great control with my left foot.  Oh well.

Now that I think I have sufficiently frozen my knee with my polar care cooler, I think I will try and get some more done.

Works in Progress

So while I am off the sewing machine for a bit I have decided that I should must make a list of all my work in progresses.  I have been a busy bee lately, making up some little quilts for my sister's colleagues and making sure things were finished and cleaned up before my surgery.  So while cleaning up I found I have a lot of projects going on...

Hawaiian Quilt - same as last time I mentioned it.  I need to get some white on white hibiscus for the backing and maybe a nice piece of yellow.  I have decided I will hand quilt this with a design out of my Hawaiian quilt square book like it is just one giant square.

Matthew's Space Quilt - a large pile of fabrics.  I need to figure out the design on this, but I like the idea of having circles in it.

I-Spy Quilt - Still collecting fabrics for this.  I can't wait to get it done for my nephews, it will be great for them to watch movies under.

Retro Quilt - Well I did a little work on this and it has been upgraded from a small bin to an under the bed box, wohoo!  I have all my fabrics in there with it so I won't accidentally use them on something else.  I am planning on this being full/queen, but we will see when I can't stand working with the 2.5' squares anymore.

Hexagon Quilt - Well as I lay on the couch with my polar care cooler I keep stitching up my hexagons.  I am going to go across the quilt fading from one color to another.  I would love for this to be bed sized, but we will see because it will take forever!

Mom's Pillow Shams - Still in the piecing stage.  I have one top almost done and the second one is all ready to be but together.  All the hst's are sewn together and trimmed just waiting.  

Mom's Polka-dot Quilt - All fabrics stacked on my shelf in a pile waiting to start.  She wants all hst's.  They will be larger then the shams because 4" is too small for me to make a queen size quilt with.  I am thinking a finished size of 5" will be good.  

Mom's Hand stitched Pillows - Hand-stitching done, pieces cut and ready to be sewn when I am better.  Need to make the piping for the edge.  (I think she wants a plain accent pillow too, but she will have to wait on that)

I recently ordered some charm packs of Peak Hour by Riley Blake and I have an idea for those.  I also ordered some Lucy's Crab Shack charm packs by Moda.  Oh my goodness do I love this!  I am going to make the patchwork chevron quilt with it.  I am sad because I only ordered 2 packs though, so I will have to hit my LQS when I can to see if they have any of this line or something fun to match it.  I am thinking a light orange or light blue for the solids.  I also picked up a yard of a camping print from Dear Stella that may go with the crab shack in the quilt.  

I also sent off today a fun little package for  my one friend's little girl.  Layla will be one on the 30th so I did a little hand stitching and sent it to her.  I will have a post soon about my hand stitching that I have been doing while laid up.  

I also finished up a fun quilt for my sister that I need to write about last Wednesday.  Can't wait to share that fun one with you.  It has primary colors and solids.  I am starting to like solids more.  

My LQS is moving :(  but having a sale :).  And the best part of the move is... they will be closer to me!!!!  :D  Instead of an 8 minute drive it will be more like a 4 minute drive, haha.  I don't know if that is good or bad.  I am going through withdrawal, though, I haven't been in a week.  Hoping to convince someone to take me this weekend, there is a fabric I want to make a wedding gift for a friend and I don't want it to be gone, it has been in the sale room.  And since I had my right knee fixed, there is no driving until cleared by the doctor and that is still at least a week away.  

Well that is the end of my super long post.  Not so many pictures, but at least I have written out a list of things to do.  I am off to make some more hexies.  

So this is my current view...

Yup, yesterday I had my second knee surgery for this injury I got back in September 2011.  Amazingly I am feeling so mush better than I did at this point after the first surgery in October.  (Lets say that the anesthesia that time and I did not get along at all!)

I have learned that I need to stay off the computer when I am taking my quarter of a painkiller (yup I am a total lightweight).  I ordered myself some fabric today.  I ordered 2 Peak Hour charm packs from Poppy Seed Fabrics.  I also ordered myself some Lucy's Crab Shack charm packs from Intrepid Thread and a yard of Dear Stella Campground, too.

I have also been doing some more hexagon work.  I sewed only about 10 today, my little box is starting to get full.  Luckily, I have been stockpiling some projects that I get to post about while I recover.  I miss sitting at my machine already.

Fabrics fabrics everywhere...

As I am sitting at the dining room table trimming some half square triangles (which I feel like I have been doing for days!) I look up and just had to laugh and the fabricy mess that is here.  This is not my normal sewing space.  Everything is usually done upstairs in a bedroom where my machine is, but sometimes it is nice to be able to just spread out.

This is my view from where I am sitting.  I only have about 10 HST's left to trim, hooray!

A view from higher up.  I didn't mention in the photo that my hand stitching for the two pillows are under the baby quilt I am taking to my sister's house.  

The fabrics for Mom's pillow shams are Michael Miller's Going Coastal Sea Star in light blue (the navy is there too, but was only auditioned).  Also, By the Sea by Marcus Fabrics (the navy with the shells) and the white is a white on white nautical called Ramblings by P&B textiles.  Also auditioned is Starfish by Stella Design and a light version of By the Sea.  Starfish by Stella will be one of the hand-stitched pillows and the navy By The Sea will be the other.  

And just for fun here is a pic of most of what came out of my scrap bag...

By the time I took this picture I already cut up the pink and purple and pulled out the white for the baby quilt.  But there is still so much there!

And to give you an idea of how much is there for $5, that fun blue wavey (Surfin' Monkeys by Benartex) is just short of 2 yards in pieces ranging from 9"x11" to 9"x45".  Can't beat that!  

Some hand stitching

This weekend I worked on some hand stitching.  I headed to my LQS for a weekend sale and dragged my mother with me.  I should know by now that taking her with me is never a good thing.  I always spend so much more when she goes.  She saw a pillow pattern that she loved with hand stitching on it so I bought the pattern and started it this weekend.

Here are the two panels.  You only need one for a pillow, but after I completed the first one on just plain white I was informed that she wanted it on the white on white nautical... ugh.  So I started again.  

Plain white 

These are the two that I completed the stitching for.  I need to go back to get the rest of the fabric for the pillows because they were out of the fabrics already.  I was told they will be back in this week.  

White on white

She also decided she wants some shams for her new bedding in the same colors that will be in these pillows.  I love how my mom loves to add to my project list.

So I am not much a fan of hand stitching, but I was surprised at how easy it is and what a difference it makes.  I think I am going to play with it a bit more.

I am linking up with Linky Party Tuesday at Quilting by the River.  

Puddle Quilt

So after I finished Cindy's quilt I decided I loved the pattern so much that I decided I just had to make another with solids.  I don't do much with solids, but I figured I would give it a try.  I cam up with this top.

Solid blues and purples, I am calling it puddle quilt.  I had picked out a back already but when I went to lay it out I had wet hands and the blue came off on my hands!  I was not a happy camper.  I washed it in synthrapol, but the color faded so much that I didn't like it anymore.  I guess that is why it was on sale for $2 a yard.  I went to my LQS and found an even better backing so I need to get it sandwiched so I can quilt it up.

I also recently won a giveaway at Ellison Lane Quilts.  I won a great jelly roll of Vintage Modern.

I am in love with the colors of this fabric.  I can't wait to break into it to make something for myself :)

For now I am working on some hand stitching.  Making up some more hexies and doing a fun pillow I will post up about later this coming week.  

Hope everyone has a fun weekend!