Project Monogamy

AKA, finishing a project.

First of all, where the hell did January go? I blinked, and it was over. I had a week off in the middle, a stay-cation, marred by the death of my godmother, who I've known since I was hours old. The world is a sadder, duller place without her, and I miss her like hell. I spent most of the rest of my vacation in my sewing room, losing myself in piecing and color and old episodes of SVU on Netflix. Ask my husband--I was not a joy to be around that week, crying at the drop of a hat, not sleeping well, and no nerves to speak of. I'm on the other side, and I'm grateful I had the time away from work and people to get my act together. I'm also lucky to have a husband who just holds me when I'm a mess. :)

But from all dark places come bits of light, and at the end of the week, I'd finished my first quilt-along. EVER. My favorite fabric maven, Brenda, started a Bust Yo Scraps! quilt-along at the beginning of January, and boy, did I have scraps to bust! I pulled all of my blue, aqua and green scraps, then threw in a few odds and ends in gray and black. I cut and cut and cut and sewed for hours, days. I'm not normally one for sticking with a project to the end, and I'm still not sure what was up with this. Maybe because it was the first quilt I was making just for me, specifically? I don't know.

All I know is, at the end of the week, I had this.

Said awesome husband helped me baste it, and I started working on picking a binding. I thought I knew just what I wanted, until I pulled it out...

Have you ever had a different idea of what a fabric in your stash looks like? I somehow remembered this Tula Pink fabric as being much more green than this, but when I pulled it, it read paler and more gold than I'd remembered. I spent several hours kind of casting around aimlessly, pawing through my stash. I lit on this DS Quilts print, and decided to run with it. Two hundred and seventy-some-odd inches of binding later, I had this...

The quilting, usually my least favorite part, was smooth and easy and pleasurable on this one. I never know how the quilting will go--sometimes the easy stuff takes me ages and plenty of frogging, sometimes the ones I think will be more challenging are fast and easy. I decided to try and take it easy on myself for this one, and just went with straight lines about a third of an inch or so to either side of each block seam. I used Warm and Natural batting, which allows you to quilt or tie up to ten inches apart. My quilting lines are about seven inches apart across the blocks, and it made for a soft and cozy lap quilt.

This quilter finally has a quilt of her own. It has scraps of so many favorites, and it's backed with another DS Quilts print.

My first finish of the new year, AND one that would work really well with Jelly Rolls or Charm Packs, too. It went super fast, and I'm so happy to finally have a quilt on my own--now I can stop stealing the Madman's Man Cave Quilt when we're watching TV! (Although, this quilt, which finished at about 54"x62" after washing, is slightly bigger than the Man Cave Quilt, and now the Madman is whining about needing a bigger quilt, too. *sigh*)

Now, on to the next project! Hope everyone else had a good sewing start to the new year, and I promise I'll try and post again before March!

2011 wrap-up

My apologies for disappearing for the last month of the year. There were many gifts to finish, a house to clean in order to entertain (twice!), and general holiday madness in these parts. But overall, this feels like it was a fairly productive year, and the new year will be one of a number of changes for me...

First, the wrap up. I made a rather ridiculous number of bee blocks this year, doing multiple rounds of several quarterly bees, in addition to rocking out with my ladies over at The Beehive and the Peace circle of Do.Good Stitches.

The Beehive

1. Julies Block #2, 2. Julie's Block #1, 3. February Beehive block for Jo, 4. Andi's Beehive block, April , 5. May Beehive blocks for Kat, 6. Wee boats for Annabel, 7. The Beehive, Belinda's String Blocks, 8. The Beehive, Sheridan's blocks, 9. Tanya's block for The Beehive, September, 10. 3 blocks for Meg, December Beehive11. Not available12. Not available

Peace at Do. Good Stitches

1. do good stitches April, aqua, 2. do good stitches April, green, 3. coin block 1, Peace circle, May, 4. coin block 2, Peace circle, May, 5. do. Good Stitches, Peace Circle, June, 6. do.Good Stitches, Peace Circle, July, 7. Starflower blocks, Peace Circle, do.Good Stitches, 8. bee blocks, do. Good Stitches sept , 9. October block for do.Good Stitches, Peace Circle, 10. do.Good Stitches, Peace blocks, November11. Not available12. Not available

3x6

1. 3x6 Beehive blocks, Qtr 1, 2011, 2. 3x6 bee block, hive #28, 3. 3x6 bee block, hive #28, 4. 3x6 bee block, hive #28, 5. 3x6 bee block, hive #28, 6. 3x6 bee block, hive #28, 7. 3x6 bee block, hive #28, 8. 3x6 bee block, hive #7, 9. 3x6 bee block, hive #7, 10. 3x6 bee block, hive #7, 11. 3x6 bee block, hive #7, 12. 3x6 bee block, hive #7, 13. 3x6 bee block, hive #7, 14. secret, 15. 3x6, 3rd Quarter, hive 17, 16. 3x6 bee blocks, Q3, hive 21

4x5

Round 1

(Round 2 is still in progress on my design wall....)

One of the significant changes coming is that I'm stepping back from a number of my bees. The Beehive has gone for two years, and we've come to the unanimous conclusion that we've had a lot of fun, learned a lot, made new friends, and challenged ourselves, but life has changed for a number of us and we're ready to move on. I love that group, and I was really torn about the decision, but it ultimately is what's right for all of us, and I look forward to swapping around Flickr with them all in the future.

I also stepped back from the 3x6 after the third quarter, and am debating whether I'll stick with the 4x5 after this round. I will absolutely stick with the Peace circle of do.Good Stitches--wild horses couldn't drag me out of that group!

I'm hoping that changing my focus this year will let me finish more of my own projects, including making quilts with the stacks of bee blocks in my sewing room!

Finally, speaking of finishes, there were a few this year.

A little pillow that I whipped up just before the holidays...

A quilt for my mom and dad

I finished the scrappy Epic Adventure quilt for little Leah

And I completed the baby quilt for Leah's new little sister, Cadie

I also made a set of placemats back in March for the Urban Home Goods Swap, round 3.

And made a special little block for a secret project

That became part of a very special gift for a talented woman (Heather Ross) and her new addition

(picture c/o Mama Spark)

And waaaay back in January, I finished this little baby quilt for my friend Tori's new little boy, Ryan

My resolutions this year, with regard to sewing, are:

1) Finish more projects than I start. Seriously, I have so many UFOs, it's a little embarassing.

2) Use up some of my stash, especially some of the things I've been hoarding. Wonderland layer cake, I'm lookin at you.

3) Finish more projects, full stop. It tends to be my least favorite part of the process, the basting and actual quilting, so I need to push through that and complete more. I'm setting myself a lofty goal of finishing 10 quilts in 2012. Let's see if I can manage that, eh?

4) Make a few scrap quilts. I'm actually tackling this one early on, as I have two scrappy UFOs already in progress, and just need to get moving on the sashing and putting together of tops for these.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy New Year, full of more good than bad, more happy than sad, and many warm quilts. Thank you for spending 2011 with me, and I look forward to seeing you all in 2012.

Left hanging

Didn't mean to leave y'all hanging over here. I've got a camera full of photos and it happens to be in a different county at the moment. *sigh* Needless to say, I've been in a finishing frenzy. Which, if you've been a reader here for awhile, is highly unusual for this mad quilter. A baby quilt and two throws have been finished (pictures pending, obviously...), three pillow tops and another throw quilt top have been finished in just the last week. Saturday night, I have a basting date with the madman and the MadMan Cave floor, and Sunday will be a marathon quilting session. At a quick estimate, I've made roughly 900 inches of binding in the last 3 weeks, and sewn about 2/3 of that already. In fact, I was up until 11 last night sewing and pressing binding.

Needless to say, 6:30 came VERY early this morning! *mmmm, cooooffffeeee*

Once the mad sewing, and wrapping and gifting and feasting is over, it'll be back to business. Deal?

Deal.

Now we can all quit procrastinating and go finish our projects!!

Sunday Stash, 3/13/2011

If you saw yesterday's post, you saw that I actually finished stuff! I know, crazy, right?

I kept some momentum yesterday and finished the last of my Just One Star blocks--13 in all.


Those are all wrapped up and heading to Moda in Texas tomorrow. If you missed it, go check out the Just One Star initiative on Moda's blog here. 100 quilts in 100 days for servicemen/women and veterans through Moda and Quilts of Valor's collaboration. As I've mentioned, the blocks come together very quickly, and it's a great way to do some good without having to try and manage a whole quilt project. If nothing else, it's a quick way to use up a little stash or some of those scraps!

I also made up a little monochromatic improv block for a super-secret collaborative project.


It's off tomorrow to the secret HQ!

Lastly, it wouldn't be a normal week around here if there wasn't a sexy bit of new fabric, right? Right!

I love solids. When I first got into quilting *mumbledy* years ago, solids were still strictly Amish territory. Yeah, I know. Crazy talk. As evidenced above, I've embraced them very warmly! So when Kathy of Pink Chalk Fabrics opened up her Monthly Solids Club, I did not walk. No, readers, I ran to sign up! She offers this in fat quarters, half-yards or yard bundles. I went with middle-of-the-road, and this month, my first bundle showed up, in lucky Irish greens!




Mmmmmmmmmm. So many possibilities. This bundle of 8 fabrics is actually 7 Kona solids and one Moda Bella solid--I use both brands and love them equally. Really, how could I ever choose a favorite--it's like asking me if I love my mom or my dad more.

So what does this mean for the bottom line?

Used this Week: 5 yards
Used year to Date: 8.5 yards
Added this Week: 4 yards
Added Year to Date: 50.25 yards
Net Used for 2011: -41.75 yards

A wee bit of progress!!

I promised a finish...

And I'm delivering!

First finish of 2011, and I feel so good about this. You have no idea.

I started these blocks with no real goal in mind about a year ago. And lost interest after 5 blocks. Set them aside, and played with other things.

But with a friend's baby shower coming up (this Saturday, in fact), I got moving on this project again just after the first of the year.

Piecing, borders and basting on Saturday, quilting and binding on Sunday, and it was in the mail to Georgia on Monday. Sadly, I won't be able to join it for a little Southern-style party this weekend, but I'll be there in quilt and spirit!



It finished at about 36" x 45". And I love it.

Some of my favorite bits...


A bit of Pinocchio Munki, just the perfect color and size.



AB Coriander, Lizzy House Pearl Bracelet from Red Letter day, and Tula Pink Ladybugs...




Hedgies!




Backed with this great argyle print from Riley Blake's Hooty Hoot line, and bound with my favorite KJR basketweave in aqua.

I went with a free-motion meander, which turned out a LOT better this time around. I did find that after switching bobbins once, I had some tension issues. That required some ripping, machine fiddling, and tension resetting, but ultimately fixed it. Only to break my darning foot. /facepalm Thankfully, the Madman got some crazy glue in his stocking this Xmas, and I used that to fix the foot. Everything else went according to plan!

Here's to hoping that my dear friend loves her quilt, and that her little boy-to-be will love it for years to come.

Now, onward to use the rest of my mid-week snow-day (we topped out at just over 18" here, though after a bit of sun it looks like we may get another bit of snow after all /sigh) for some more sewing!

Out with the old, in with the new...year!

A lot of my bloggy, crafty friends are posting huge mosaics of what they've accomplished this year. Not that they're bragging--in many cases, they're as shocked as their readers! But it's left me feeling a little bit out of sorts, like I should somehow be managing to be more productive.

Then I decided that some accomplishments were better than none, and what the hell, I'm celebrating my little triumphs, too!

I've made a pillow cover, a mug rug (my first!), a table runner, tea towels, coasters and a drawstring bag for 3 rounds of swaps in flickr groups...


1. PillowTake 4, take 1, 2. Saavy Seasons Swap gifts!, 3. Urban Home Swap, sneak peek


I've finished 2 baby quilts, 1 small throw (for another swap), and one large throw...




1. Baby quilt, finished!, 2. 398.2 baby quilt, finished!, 3. Urban Home Swap 2, 4. jay's quilt, finished


And I've made lots and LOTS of blocks for my two bees this past year!




1. Flying Geese, for Jo, Dec. Beehive , 2. 9.5" block for Belinda, 3. 18.5" block for Belinda, 4. Beehive blocks for Mel, 5. 2 Blocks for Feb Coast to Coast bee, 6. Beehive blocks for Bec, February, 7. Beehive block for Bec, February, 8. Jennifer's block for March, 9. March Beehive block, for Kat, 10. May CtC Block Party block 2, 11. May CtC Block Party block 1, 12. Beehive May block for Julie, #3, 13. Beehive May block for Julie, #2, 14. Beehive May block for Julie, 15. CtC Block Party April block for Tracy, 16. String blocks 1-4, Andi's July Beehive blocks, 17. string block 5, Andi's July Beehive Block, 18. Amy's June Beehive block, 19. Susan's blocks, July Coast to Coast Block Party Bee, 20. Bibi's Block, C2C bee, August, 21. CtC Block Party block, September, for Wendy, 22. Beehive block, September, for Angela, 23. Oct Beehive block #2, for Karlyn, 24. Oct Beehive block #1, for Karlyn, 25. Sheridan's block #1, 26. Sheridan's block #2, 27. Sheridan's block #3, 28. Sheridan's block #4, 29. April Beehive block 1, for Tanya, 30. April Beehive block 2, for Tanya


So, while not a lot of finishes, still plenty of sewing. Since I figured out that quilting at the dining room table is so much easier than trying to do so at my little sewing table in my office, I hope that I'll be able (and willing) do quilt and finish a number of my works in progress before it gets too warm to think about quilting for awhile! Here's to more finishes for 2011! Have a safe and happy New Year!

Baby quilt, done!

I took a few pictures of the baby quilt I finished this past week before it went on to the baby's mama. :) 7 weeks til there's a little girl to go with it!



The sun was not cooperating this week--anytime I wanted to take a photo, it hid behind the clouds until I put the camera away!



It's a simple strippy quilt, a variety of 2.5" width pink strips at varying heights. I used a few leftover jelly roll strips, but mostly cut into stash for it. The dark brown is Kona Espresso, of course. I have a love affair with it, true, but the nursery colors are also to be pink and brown, so it was perfect. It has a thin border of Espresso around all 4 edges, and the binding is the same color. The back, not shown, (d'oh!) is the pink stripe with dark brown flowers from Anna Maria Horner's Chocolate Lollipop line. It was perfect!

The final quilt was about 38" wide and 48" long. Perfect for snuggling a little girl!

This also makes finish #4 for Jacquie's Spring to Finish challenge. With one week left, I'm going to try and finish one more project!

Spring to Finish: Finishes 1 & 2

This challenge really has been the kick in the butt I needed. I've nearly completed a third project, and that will put me at 1/3 through my list. Crazy!

I don't want to show everything, on the off-chance that my super-secret swap partner reads my blog. Said partner is a quilty/crafty idol, and I worked really hard, so I hope that s/he likes what I made!


I promise that once it has safely arrived at my partner's home, I'll share the full monty. :D

Starts and finishes

Two posts from me in one day? What's the world coming to?! Can you tell I'm on vacation??

We finally got a sunny day here in CT, so I took a few pictures of the finished coin quilt...


(We'll pretend my office isn't really that messy, ok? As PW would say, don't be like me.)

I love this quilt for so many reasons. I rather wish I was keeping it, so I see something like this in my future... It's backed with some gorgeous turquoise and white fabric from Jennifer Paganelli (I had exactly 2 yards of it, so there's also a strip of royal blue and white Kaffe Fassett dots, also seen in the coins on the front.), and bound with Amy Butler dots in Slate. I made sure that this wasn't a very "girly" quilt, as the recipients are a Marine and his new wife--their favorite colors are blue and green, she's a very modern kind of girl, and they're moving down to NC in the next month or so, so I wanted all of that to be reflected in the quilt. The bride's mother is a dear friend, and I've known the family for about 5 years now--how time flies...


I really love how the quilting turned out. I did randomly spaced straight lines along the off-white sashing strips, and then an argyle-type diamond along the coin strips. Have I mentioned that I love the Amy Butler dots? I'm delighted beyond belief that they're being re-released later this winter.



Gratuitous binding shot. Oh yeah...


I'm also getting to start on something new in the new year... I may have mentioned I have several friends who are all expecting between now and July, so I'm getting a jump on some baby quilts.



I love the brown and blue combos with the off-white sashing. These are both destined for a little boy quilt. I have stacks of fabric hanging around at the moment, waiting to become quilts. Do you do that? Go through and put together stacks, just to see what they look like together?



All of my Heather Ross fishes and seahorses hanging out together with a couple of solids, and some dots I can see using for the binding. Would make a cute little quilt, no? Oh, the possibilities...

Snow Day!

Once again, the weatherpeople were way off-base. Instead of the sleet and rain we were supposed to get overnight, I woke up to this:


Which is about 5 inches of snow. Which then turned over to freezing rain late this morning. Being the brain-trust that I am, I decided that perhaps my 30 minute commute in this wouldn't be such a good idea. My husband proved me right by calling me just after I woke up to tell me that he, in his 4-wheel drive, had almost slid off the road three times in the three miles between us and the nearest highway on-ramp, but that there was a spin-out two exits down that was slowing things down even more.

The hell with it. So I'm home being productive instead. I baked brownies this morning for the annual book club Xmas party being held tomorrow morning. I also caught up with my blocks for December for my bees--technically, my new bee, the Coast 2 Coast bee, doesn't start until next month, but Katie was a bit busy and figured she'd go ahead and give us some extra time to get our January blocks started. Thank you, Katie!

Katie sent out pink and purple fabrics, and asked for 6.5" stars:


A little glare-y, given the cloudy conditions today. I hope she doesn't mind the Maverick star to go with the Friendship star!

And I went ahead and made some speed-pieced Flying Geese for Jo, for my Beehive bee this month.


Jo also wanted Circle of Geese blocks, but I don't paper piece well, so I made one set with fabric she sent (the blue) and made a second set with some brown Katie Jump Rope stripes I had--her colors are awesome, blue and brown and white. I had a great time making them, learned a lot and love the tutorial for the quick geese blocks, which you can find here.

I also thought I'd share some of my swaps since my last post.

From my 4 Seasons Quilt Swap, I got this great little applique quilt from Leah. I can't applique, and I have a profound respect for those who can. Isn't this adorable?



And rounding out my end of a swap for Swap til you Drop (STUD) on Flickr, I sent Julie this little mini, made with some of the Frolic by Sandy Gervais I got in the Moda Sampler Box from FQS's giveaway this fall.

It was my second attempt--my first had too many points, and they didn't match up terribly well, so I scrapped it and started over.

From Julie, I received a sweet little quilt made of Joel Dewberry fabrics. The picture she posted on Flickr, here, is better than any I've managed to take so far.

Now, off to work on this month's STUD swap quilt. I was going to take December off, but this month's theme, Minis Go Green, was too good to pass up. We're recycling, using scraps, and have to use something that is not "standard" quilt fabric. We're not allowed to use anything new, and since I have hella scraps to use, I figured this would be a great little opportunity.

Hope everyone else is enjoying their Wednesday!

Photo landslide post

I've been busy! HONEST! And I finally was home while the sun was shining, to show you that I can actually finish projects!



I was on vacation a week ago, and I sat down and watched scary movies and bound my table runner--now it's ready for the Thanksgiving table! It's 4 wonky square-in-a-square blocks from John's quilt-along round of the ORBC quilt alongs. It's bound in dark olive, and quilted in cream/amber variegated thread. I'm actually quite pleased with the whimsy of it.


Then there's this:

My Christmassy swap quilt for the 4SQS autumn group. It's getting mailed out to its recipient this week. YAY! I'm actually really happy with the result. Just the tiniest bits of wonk. There IS a story to this, but that would totally give away who the recipient is, so I'll hold back on that just a bit longer.




And I have coin sets!

These are going together for a friend's daughter's wedding quilt--less than 2 months, and I want this one off my plate well in advance of the big day. Especially since it takes me about a year to hand-tack binding to the back of a quilt... >.< Hoping to have the top finished this week. We'll see.

And then the mail-lady came today, and brought me presents!!


I finally caved and snagged a charm pack of MoMo's Odyssea, since I have such a love-affair with Wonderland. I thought maybe I'd use it for a baby quilt. And then, since I was thinking baby quilts (I have several friends who are either expecting or trying), I saw the charm pack of Love U by Deb Strain, who I LOVE, and snagged that, too.

And I timed it just right, and Fat Quarter Shop agreed to ship them with my prize from their give-away last month...

You ready for this?

I won one of the Moda Sampler Boxes! Here it is, all nice and tidy, before I get my grubby hands into it. 12 mini charm packs of 2.5" squares, for 12 of the new spring lines from Moda. Can I just tell you how freaking excited I was to win this? I giggled and squealed and flailed like a little kid.

And these will be perfect, since I just committed to another mini quilt swap. (We won't talk about the new bee I joined that starts in January, ok?)

I think I need an intervention. :D