Scrappy X block

For the Beejeebers bee, I made a scrappy X block for Jamie (who is the author of the tutorial as well).  I should have made the point pieces slightly larger because it looks funny to me with the blue piece being so small next to the purple.  It makes me think that they don't line up.  Unfortunately, the pink on the other side isn't much bigger.  But this does mark the first time I've used starch.  And now, I need to quilt the Round and Round quilt so I can sort scraps and do something with them.

Scruffily pillow

Today, my daughter and I sewed a new pillow cover.  She chose the fabrics and ran the machine while I guided it and told her when to stop and start.  It was a nice and simple project to complete during the weekly grocery shopping trip.  

Using the Scruffily Pillow Tutorial by Rachel of P.S. I Quilt.  We just added a small heart and attached it with fusible web before sewing it down.

2 finished, 1 to go.... and some trees

I spent last weekend trying to make some trees with measurements that could be manageable for 5th graders to sew as part of an art project.  The artist who is helping them is trying to recreate Jinny Beyer's Enchanted Forest quilt.  Not being a big fan of sewing long rows myself and thinking that each student probably would like to have the satisfaction of making one tree, I suggested blocks instead of rows.  We quickly eliminated the tops of one tree being a part of the bottom of the next tree.  I sent measurements, directions and the sample blocks but am waiting to hear back from her as to whether or not she liked any of the tree sizes.  

 My Starburst quilt a long quilt is complete and sent to my SIL.  It reached her during the arctic front so hopefully she was able to curl up and look out at the cold from the comfort of her house.  I wasn't a big fan of the fabrics at first but I really like it.  Totally possible to complete this in a weekend if I were to ignore the other residents of my household which I did not do.

Fabrics: Moda Snow and Northcott Gold Leaf Metallic
Pattern: Starburst by Melissa Corry (the 32" block size)
Quilted by me with a smaller meandering stipple
Backing: Ivory flannel by Kaufman

Size: About 76 x 76"

Nephew #1's  quilt was also finished over the MLK holiday weekend.  My normal quilt holder fractured his foot so we had to trade roles for the picture.  First I present the back.....

 And then the front.

Pattern: Ring Toss by Allison Harris of Cluck, Cluck, Sew

Finished size:  about 66 x 90"
Fabrics:  Nature and Oval Elements, Metro Living, Stof, Michael Miller Ikat,  Dear Stella (the red with white), Odyssea and Kaufman Spot On in Cardinal.  Backing is a Dear Stella print.
Quilted by: me with meandering loops

Even though this involved sewing the rows vertically, and I don't enjoy sewing long rows if I can help it, I would be more than willing to make this again.  It went together pretty quickly after the cutting and the directions were well written.  

Nephew #2 finally has a quilt top completed and the backing is pieced.  Hopefully I can get it basted tomorrow and then quilt it this week.  This is based on Round and Round but with modifications to make it larger and to use the 6.5" squares from the failed attempt at Bizzy Kid.

I separated each block into nine patches and then sewed them together rather than sew rows.  That's just my preference.  I think part of it has to do with having small helpers who like to pick up pieces.  This was not an easy one to put together with helpers around.  I was so close to having 3 finishes within the month of January!

Hope you all are having a wonderful day!

A busy weekend

 I scrapped the Bizzy Kid idea and went with Round and Round by Camille of Thimbleblossoms.  I'm using a completely different method since Bizzy Kid left me with 6.5 inch squares of various purples and blues already cut.  Camille's method would probably have resulted in less trimming, but a bit more fabric waste.  Now I am slowly working through the cutting, pressing and trimming of 225+ HST before attempting to assemble the circles.  It will be a smaller quilt than the original pattern, but I might make the white space a little bigger to make up for it.  We'll see what size it ends up.

 The fabric choices for the Starburst quilt.  Somewhere in the cutting process I realized that the recipient's birthday is January 31st.  How likely is it that I can get the whole darn thing done by then?  So, I decided to see if I could piece the top this weekend.

How easy it was to forget the 200+ triangles to trim in favor of the more glamorous part of quilting.  I do wish I would have chosen a different fabric for the bottom left star.  Green metallic leaves just aren't quite as bold as the red and the brown.  Solids for the stars probably would have been the best idea.  I still really like it.  It is waiting for backing fabric to arrive before I bind it and hope to start quilting it this weekend.  So, I am a participant in the quilt-a-long but on the fast track.  Now hopefully I managed to take all the right pictures for Melissa's assignments.

I also pieced the quilt back for Ring Toss.  No picture yet but that is basted and waiting for me to quilt it.  Perhaps I'll try to work on that tomorrow night.  That won't get sent until Nephew #2's quilt is done. Just not politically correct to send the two kid quilts separately.

Catching up

And now, for some work I haven't posted yet.  My Solstice Stars quilt for my dad.  The stars are composed primarily of Modern Meadow by Joel Dewberry and Hope Valley by Denyse Schmidt.  The blocks are framed with Kona Bahama Blue and the rest of the quilt is Kona Navy.  

 I quilted the negative space with wishbones (for lack of a better term) and custom quilted the stars.  It is meant to be a twin size quilt but my parents currently have it across their bed in the opposite orientation.

 The Spice Market Tote I made for my mom for Christmas/Birthday/Just because.  I also made her a pleated tote with the bird fabric from Cosmos by Laura Gunn.  Again, I did not take a picture so I guess I'll have to do it later.

 Somehow, during a conversation between my husband and mother-in-law I was asked or I offered to make a quilt for my sister-in-law.  I was willing to do so and was thinking of making a quilt for her next, just it was going to be a surprise instead.  In the course of the conversation with her, I ended up being asked to make quilts for both the nephews as well.  Long story short, after many months of waiting to hear what colors they were interested in and what kind of style, they told me their favorite colors and will be surprised by the quilt choice. They live 2500+ miles away and I haven't seen them for 3.5 years so I don't feel incredibly confident in my decisions.

After purchasing fabric for the two boys, they saw London Tube by Zen Chic and really liked it but it was a bit too late.  I did purchase the pattern and I'm not impressed by the lack of directions.

Nephew #1 chose red, platinum and gold.   I chose to have some artistic license on his colors a little bit and some might call the colors red, yellow and gray.  I didn't run into the metallic dots until after fabric was cut and I didn't really want to go there.  The pattern is Ring Toss by Cluck, Cluck, Sew.

  Besides Kona White, there is Nature and Oval Elements, Metro Living, Stof, Michael Miller Ikat,  Dear Stella (the red with white), Odyssea and Kaufman Spot On in Cardinal.  Hopefully this will be an acceptable interpretation of colors.  Now I am waiting for the backing to arrive.Nephew #2 chose blue, purple and pink and my husband chose Bizzy Kid also by Cluck, Cluck, Sew.  No pictures yet, but I am now waiting on some lighter blues and purples because my purples and blues in my stash are really dark.  The whole quilt was way too dark.  And I've been struggling with the incorporation of small bits of pink as his mom asked to minimize that for the day when society might tell him that it isn't cool for boys to like pink.

My sister-in-law's chose cranberry, gold, green and brown as her colors.  I had to ask style for further clarification and she chose Northcott Stonehenge Gold Leaf Metallic fabric.  Melissa posted about her Starburst quilt-a-long so I thought it might be the perfect match for her fabric choice and my guess at her more traditional styling.  My goal is to send the two boys' quilts together since it would not be politically correct to do otherwise.  I bought enough fabric for one block right now and intend to go back shortly and get the rest for the top.  

The block  didn't seem to take too long for the size of the block.  This is the 32 inch option.  I think I could do another king size quilt with nine blocks like this.  I am not sure why I am unable to realign this line of text.  Oh well.  The fabric fairy should visit on Wednesday and make it financially feasible to purchase the rest of the fabric needed for the quilt.  It'll be a mass FMQ party for me soon with these three and one other one that is ready to start tomorrow night.  

 Erica requested blocks inspired by Amanda Jean's birch trees quilt. Two very scrappy rows and one fairly coordinated fabric collection row that is tiny.

This made me want to organize my scraps, have the ironing fairy come and make them flat to work with and actually make a quilt with all scraps or start some sort of ongoing scrap quilts.  I now just have three WIP, the three above, which doesn't seem too overwhelming.

And finally, my mom and I took my niece and my daughter to the local sewing studio to make gnomes.  I don't have a picture of the finished gnomes at the moment but will try to snatch it from her clutches after I charge the camera battery.  The arms were stitched but the legs still had the pins.  It was quite a bit of fun and I did less of her sewing this time around than before.  

My productivity should drop off again as I go back to work.

Productivity

Now if only I had won the Powerball jackpot and could stay at home to be crafty and productive all the time...  In my first three days of winter break, I've managed....

6 Plucky Pantry boxes from Ruby Star Wrapping.  I used curling ribbon rather than cloth ribbon as that is what I had on hand already and didn't want to face Joann's or anywhere near the mall in the last two days before Christmas.  The ribbon is totally reuseable...

 I do have to say that simply sticking things in boxes and tying with ribbon took a lot less effort than wrapping paper, but the steps to getting to the boxes being ready for stuffing was more work.  My goal is to do some throughout the year and not wait until the last week before Christmas next year.  Lucky for me, I have 6 complete already.

A Pleated Tote bag using Ellen Luckett Baker's tutorial.  I used the same Heirloom print for both the outside and the inside since it has been sitting in my stash for over a year.  It was pretty quick and wonderful since I had all the supplies on hand for once.  I now need more fusible fleece and another trip to Joann's to get that.  I think I might use some ShapeFlex interfacing on the handles next time.  The Amy Butler Spice Market Tote's handles just seem a little more sturdy than these with the fleece.

 A Washi dress for me using a print from Indie by Pat Bravo.  I need to unpick the side seams and reduce the front skirt a little bit.  It seems to be wider than it needs to be.  But, I am happy that I made a dress for me.

There should also be a picture of a Spice Market Tote for my mom using some Nigella by Amy Butler.  I remember thinking that I should wait for morning to take a picture but then I wrapped her present a few minutes later.  Perhaps I should take the camera over to the house when we go for dinner in a few minutes.  Then I can take a picture of the quilt for my dad and my mom's bag.  Hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas.

Staples, glue and sewing

 My quilt group at work had two baby quilts to make this fall.  The second one we decided would be Interlocking Stars/Sparkle Punch using Superstar by Riley Blake.  I am not assembling or quilting it.

 The first one used up some random fat quarters from Joann, Kona Sky and Animal Alphabet from Moda on the back.  The layout was decided by my 5 year old with a lovely monologue about the boy blocks and the girl blocks sitting at school.  I wish I would have recorded it to keep.

 

  A Broken Herringbone block for Joelle.

My first real experimentation with the glue gun, a fabric ornament from V. and Co. tutorial.  I learned that the low temp $3 glue gun is worthless and am waiting to try again with my mom's spiffier glue gun. I'm now thinking it might be time to invest in a glue gun.

The string pillow with the leftovers from the charm packs used for the ornaments.  

The staple gun was pulled out to finally attach some of the prints from Cosmos by Laura Gunn to a few canvases.  Hopefully it won't take me as many months to actually get them mounted on the wall.

And now back to the staple gun.