W.I.P Wednesday

I finally finished the last baby quilt I needed to for the year! Now, don’t think that means I’m done or have no other projects to do. I still have to make both girls’ quilts, and a quilt Peter {which will be the same as the big boys’ sailboat quilt}, and I’m sure there are a few others, but at least none of them are as pressing as the two that I did finish.

I had planned on making the most recent quilt from my stash, but I just didn’t have the brain power to think about all of it. Then I was sitting there thinking about what pattern to use, but didn’t really have the brain power for that either. Obviously, I knew I didn’t have a lot of brain power for anything.

Then I came across JediCraftGirl’s quilt on Instagram: Come Sail Away with Me….and I loved it! It looked simple, but awesome…and I like simple but awesome! I then headed to the quilt shop down the street {can’t tell you how huge a blessing it is to literally have a quilt shop down the street from your house, especially when it is the ONLY one within an hour’s drive}. I walked around a bit and settled on Fig Tree and Co’s Somerset line.

I did figure this was an easy enough pattern that I could come up with it and alter it, as needed, on my own…and I was right. Opened up my trusty Electric Quilt 6 and got to work! I managed to have the top together pretty quick, but then I was procrastinating about pinning the whole thing, because I didn’t want to sit on the floor at 39 weeks pinning the quilt and go into labor while Matt wasn’t home.

It only took me a week past when the recipient was born…I thought that was pretty good, considering the last quilt was given 8 months after the baby was born. I really just wanted to have it done before our little one was born, so that I didn’t have to be trying to finish it with a newborn.

I loved how the rounded edges came out…it makes binding a touch easier too, when you don’t have to miter every corner and worry that things are pulling too much one way or another.

Voila! There it is, all done and ready to gift!

W.I.P. Wednesday

For the past couple of months I’ve been working on a baby quilt for a friend, but I didn’t dare share it on here…unless she stopped by for a visit. I bought the fabric in February, but it wasn’t until the middle of April that I actually worked up the gumption to start! I went with Folklore by Heather Rosas for Camelot. OH, the reds, the turquoise, the coral! And a decidedly VERY Germanic pattern….perfection!

The next part is never my favorite part…deciding on a pattern. I don’t understand why this is always so hard for me, but it’s definitely my least favorite part. Of course, it doesn’t help when I decide on a pattern that I then have to alter and change it to make it do what I want it to do. For this project, I ended up going with ThimbleBlossoms {Camille Roskelley} Fireworks…it had nice big blocks, that were intricate enough without being over the top, but I had to refigure the cut list for what I was specifically doing.

Then I begun….deciding on what colors would be in what blocks and where…

Which pieces would be fussy cut to make the centers of each block…Cutting all of the pieces out….And finally starting to stitch them together….

I pushed…hard.

This quilt needed to be done before I left on vacation…

Or at least all of the machine work did…

And let me just say, sitting on the floor with a then 34 week bump to pin a quilt is not the funnest thing in the world…

But it was done…ready to stitch down binding and hand tie. I tried this new tutorial on how to cut bias binding..it worked, but I felt rather befuddled by the whole thing…no idea why.

Labeled {which I NEVER remember to take a picture of}, photographed and ready to ship…

It arrived at it’s intended this past Monday. I still love the fabrics…I may just have to buy more so that I can make the girls some fun skirts from it, because it’s just that awesome!

I still have another baby quilt that HAS to get done in the next month, but I have no ideas about it and haven’t even started. At some point I suppose I do need to get the quilts made for my own children…not sure how that will go with 5 kids.

**Linking up with Lee at FreshlyPieced.com

W.I.P. Wednesday

It’s done! Finished the baby quilt that I’ve been working on for the past few weeks! Yay! Of course I ran out of all my label making supplies; so, I gave the quilt, then asked for it back so that I could finish the label…classy.

We even had a sunny day so that I could take it outside to get some pictures! I did decide that sitting on the floor pinning quilts isn’t going to be happening much longer, so I need to get a move on and get these other 2 baby quilts finished so that I don’t have to.

Always doing some stretching while working on a quilt…

I always love a quilt that comes entirely out of my stash of fabric, which this one did. I had it all sitting there, just waiting to be pulled together, and it pulled together quite nicely. I’m loving the shots of orange!

Since this quilt is done, I started working on my next quilt or at least buying the fabric for it.

I was perusing FatQuarterShop.com the one day an found the absolutely most perfect line of fabric Folklore by Heather Rosas for Camelot Cotton. It was so perfect that I just HAD to get it; Matt agreed. I love it so much, that I may just have to buy a few yards of the red, so that I can make the girls some skirts or dresses from it.

I’m actually planning on repeating a quilt I’ve made before, the first quilt I made. I think the pattern is going to be perfect for it. When I made it the first time, it was a bit of a struggle, so I’m curious to see if my skills have advanced over the past 5 years. I am going with the original pattern, so it won’t have the extra borders on it.

I haven’t had much time to actually sew lately: I’ve been working on a project in the mudroom {more on that soon….I’m hoping to finish the project this weekend} and suddenly a couple of little boys don’t always want to take a nap.

How’s your Wednesday going?

**Linking up with FreshlyPieced.com

W.I.P. Wednesday

Due to a series of fortuitous events, I managed to get the baby quilt top that I was working on DONE! Yay! It just so happened that on Sunday night 2 of the kids stayed at my parents and the other 2 at Matthew’s parents, then we had a good dumping of snow {12” +}…so no one wanted to venture out, which mean I had the WHOLE day home…ALONE! Woot! Woot!

I got up, and got to work! One of my favorite kind of days: Snow and sewing!

I had spent the night before cutting apart all of my HSTs, so at least that was done. I ironed them all, got them all laid out and then the dog laid on them and made a mess of my organization: GAH!

I got them all figured out again and then it was piecing the columns and stitching the rows together!

I’m glad the top is done, at least now I can work on the hand tying sitting on the couch in the evening. The hardest thing about quilting is that I can’t do it during the day, because of the kids, but I don’t want to sit in a room alone at night, when my husband is home in the evening. At least now there’s handwork.

I’m rather pleased with the top…I’m loving the turquoise and the orange together. Not sure what color I’ll bind it with, but I’ll figure it out!

*Linking up with Lee from FreshlyPieced.com

W.I.P. Wednesday

It’s been a long time since I’ve done a W.I.P. Wednesday! I’ve been going through withdrawal, and now I’m at the point that I really wanted to start again, but feel like I have no idea where to begin. This fabric sat on my table for over a week before I actually decide to maybe, possibly, do something with it!

It’s definitely hard to get back into something, when it’s been over a YEAR since you’ve actually worked on a project. I also have so many quilts that I need to make in the next 4 months, that is a bit overwhelming.  It’s kind of like walking into the room that catches-all and not knowing where you’re supposed to start to make order of it. You’re faced with making a choice: Soldier-on and do the job OR close the door and forget about it.

I decided to soldier-on…

The pattern is from Camille Roskelley’s book Simply Retro, the “Fresh” quilt block. I’ve loved the quilts in that book, but this is the first that I’m actually doing, and of course I’ve changed it….I wanted smaller blocks, and only 4 of them, so it took a bit of math {gah! I don’t like math!}. Fortunately, I can figure out the dimensions with my EQ6 program, the only problem is, that it always messes up the count of how much you need to cut…I always end with extras of some and short of others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did have a little helper yesterday afternoon, James: He decided he wanted to try his hand at rotary cutting {which put my heart in my throat}, but he did pretty good with it. After the kids were in bed I worked for a bit longer on the blocks, but I wasn’t making myself crazy about it.

Linking up with Lee @FreshlyPieced.com for WIP Wednesday!

*I totally did not mean to cut off Camille’s face in this picture, but it seemed to have happened without my knowing.

W.I.P. Wednesday

I’m also {almost} done with another baby quilt!

I don’t recall if I ever shared a finished picture of my sister’s baby quilt, but here it is. It’s the best I have.

I realized something though…that I’ve been very BAD about keeping track of what fabrics I’ve used in my quilts, so I have no idea when I need to get more most of the time! This quilt was made using Kona’s Ash as the grey, the patches are Legacy Studios Calliope – Monotone Leaves, Journey Easy in Floral Breeze, a batik I had a fat quarter of, and a gradient yellow from I don’t know where . The back is a flannel Sultan Hill by Demetria Hayward for RJR Fabrics 2010 {I use this for all my baby quilts – I think I bought 10 yards originally}.

The new baby quilt that I’m working on is from the line Lavender and Lace from Troy Corporation for Riverwoods Collection. I had planned on using the collection Lavender and Cologne, but it hadn’t released yet, and I found this line in the quilt shop down the street. I’d rather give them the business anyways {it IS quite convenient to have a quilt shop down the road}.

I’ve been posting a few teasers here and there on instagram under the hashtag #arrowheadsamplerquilt. I should be able to finish this quilt this week, which would be fantastic, because then I can get started on the girls’ Easter dresses {using the Summer Breeze By Bella Blvd For Riley Blake Designs}. And, yes, I watch Downton while sewing…iPads are great for this kind of thing *wink-wink*

Here’s a peek at what it’s coming out like….my helper was a bit distraught at what I had asked her to do.

The patterns are from the book Jelly Roll Sampler Quilts, which has a ton of beautiful patterns, all of which you can just pick and choose by size and go for it! I used Arrowhead and the Union Square blocks in this quilt. I still need to slap a border on the quilt, hand tie it and bind it, but it’s only Wednesday, right?!

Linking up with

W.I.P. Wednesday

If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you know that I’ve been working on a new baby blanket, from the book Growing Up Modern by Cluck Cluck Sew {aka Allison Harris}, pattern Sweets. This quilt went together really fast, which is the entire premise of this pattern book. I think I could’ve made the whole top in a matter of 2 hours, but I had a few distractions to deal with and a week in between that left me with no time to do any sewing.

I had a bunch of fabrics in my stash that I knew would be perfect for this quilt, just the right colors! I did have to buy a neutral though. The book suggested white, but after my last white baby quilt, I wasn’t doing that again! So I went with Kona Solids’ Ash: PERFECT! Black would’ve been too harsh; the grey just sets it all off perfectly.

The other day, the kids were napping and I just wanted to get the top finished so that I can get it tied and packaged up and ready to go! My machine started giving me trouble: The thread cutter wasn’t working and instead of doing nothing, it was twisting all the threads up in a mess and pulling the fabric. I had the machine apart twice before I was able to do something {don’t ask me what} and it worked again.

Then before the kids came down from their naps I raced out into the cold to get a picture….

It’s not quite as Technicolor as this, but it is pretty close: I’m going to try and get a better picture of it once the binding is on. I love how the yellow POPS! against the other colors. This is really not my “style” of quilt, but I absolutely love how it came out! I think it would’ve been better with a few more fabric types, but I’m still pleased with it.

Linking up with

W.I.P. Wednesday

I managed to get quite a few things started and finished since my last post. The kids’ Christmas outfits are sitting patiently by waiting until Christmas Eve, the jammies were finished just in the “Nick” of time for St. Nicholas Day, and I got the binding stitched on the boys’ quilts…I’m now just hand stitching it down.

I love how the boys’ quilts came out. There are a couple of spots of quilting, that I would’ve done differently {more symmetrically}, but they’re beautiful still. Once they’re finished, I stitch the label on them, and pack them away until next year…when, hopefully, the kids will all move into their big kid rooms!

And here are the kids in their jammies! We had to pull out one pair of bottoms from last year for Ellie, her nightie kept hiking up on her and she was getting cold at night. I had to bribe them with chocolate to get this picture.

Linking up with Lee at FreshlyPieced.com

W.I.P. Wednesday

I picked up the boys’ quilts last week!!! I have yet to pull them out and look at them, but I will have to this evening after the kids go to bed. I’ve got a couple of things in the works. Next week is St. Nicholas Day, which means I’m in the process of making PJs for the kids {I guess it’s going to be a tradition}. I had bought a TON of fabric last year, with the intention of making ALL of us PJs, but that didn’t happen, so I had plenty to use. I did decide to do something different, the girls are getting nighties, the boys are getting pants.

Growing up my Oma made my mom and I beautiful matching nighties with buttons on the front and puffy gathered sleeves, hems down to our toes, they were beautiful. I cannot find a pattern like that. They were probably from the same pattern that my Oma used when my mom was a little girl. Someday….

In the mean time I wanted something simple and easy, and since I couldn’t find a pattern that I loved I started searching for alternative methods. I found one using a t-shirt that was too short, and adding the skirt to the bottom. Bingo! That’s what I did. I had a few trials and error, I haven’t sewn kids clothing since LAST Christmas.

I took the shirts that I used as the tops for last year’s PJs, trimmed the bottom and stitched on a skirt. Ellie’s is still super long, but I’m not sure if I want to hem it further or not. These will probably fit them for a few years, since the top is so stretch, which was somewhat problematic with sewing. I’m not at all familiar with sewing with knits, but didn’t feel like investing too much time and energy into research.

I still have the boys’ pants to do, they’ll have the same shirts from last year too {there are perks to intentionally buying clothes that are too big…they last longer}. I think I’m going to use a current pair of pants as a template, because last year it was a nightmare trying to find an easy template that was free.

So, what’s on my list of things to accomplish in the sewing department:

• Start and finish the boys’ PJ bottoms
• Alter the kids’ Christmas outfits from LAST year {yay for them coming out too big…I just need to move buttons and let out hems}.
• Cut bias binding for the boys’ sailboat quilts and stitch on
• Cut bias binding for MY quilt and stitch that on
• Start working on a baby quilt for my SIL…{I can’t start until this fabric is released though}
• Figure out what I want to do for the girls’ quilts…I’m thinking a sampler, but I want to put their names on them the way I did the boys {but not with the call signs}

And add to this list the rest of the Christmas stuff I’d like to do. Christmas is going to be low-key this year, I’m not even sure how much we’re going to do with gifts. We’ll have our tree, doing that Sunday, and stockings and Christmas lights and cookies, but I don’t think I’m putting up my village {James will break it} and I’m not doing a ton of baking. I do need to get our Christmas cards finished and mailed, but that won’t take long. I really do love this time of year.

What’s on your to-do list for the next few weeks?

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced today, for WIP Wednesday.

W.I.P Wednesday

This is more of a finish than a WIP, but I’m going to count it. You won’t mind, right?

I shared a few weeks ago about the baby quilt that I was working on. I got it finished and in the mail last week, just a few days after the recipient was born. I even somehow managed to do that despite my machine giving me a love F04 error code {that the repair place couldn’t figure out}.

Front…

and Back…

I love the back panel on this quilt…it’s so fun! I have decided one thing while doing this quilt: White makes me nervous….extremely nervous. I did my usual double thickness of cotton batting, then hand tied with embroidery floss…I just think it makes for a cozier quilt that way.

On to the next one! I have to work on a quilt for my sister in law, but the fabric I’m using won’t be released until January…so that gives me plenty of time to procrastinate figure out what pattern I’m going to do. AND, AND next Tuesday I’m picking up the boys’ sailboat quilts and my Heartland BOM quilt!! So excited!

Linking up with Lee at FreshlyPieced.com