WIP Wednesday

i have very little to report for WIP Wednesday.

i haven't gotten much accomplished the last few weeks, fatigue has been seriously kicking my ass. if i'm not sleeping, i'm wishing i was sleeping! i'm trying to keep myself on a regular sleep schedule, which means that i'm often awake when my body/mind want to sleep, and i'm pretty useless in that state. i've been doing a lot of mindless pinning.....



i do have lots of WIPs at the moment, as usual. in fact, i have so many WIPs that i'm kind of scared to list them!


my big WIP at the moment is that i decided to join in on Katy of Monkey Do's Spinning Stars
(pdf) quilt-a-long. i know, i know, don't i already have enough projects on my plate? but it's so pretty!

there are some amazing fabric combinations in the flickr group, and Katy's quilt is going to be oh-so-fabulous in Field Study (with leopard print rings!), but i decided that the web like centre of the blocks obviously made this the perfect halloween quilt... right? i'm so excited!

i hauled out my halloween fabric stash, and so far i've cut all of the A and B pieces for 9 blocks. (sadly, it barely made a dent in my stash...) i'm hemming and hawing on the C pieces, because i'm using the same fabric for all of them, so it seems silly to cut 8 pieces for each star. doesn't it? it just seems like a lot of unnecessary seams! i'm trying to decide what i'm going to do instead.

i've only sewn together one block, so i need to get going on the rest of them. however, i HAVE been sewing with the scraps leftover after i did all of that cutting!



remember last year's halloween blocks? or what about the year before? yes, once again, we're doing a halloween block lotto at VMQG. yay! can you believe that this will be our 3rd year doing this? (our guild is growing up!)

today i sewed my scraps together and made blocks for this year's block lotto. the last two years i've had mine done really early to use as examples/demos at our September guild meeting, but this year i couldn't get it together in time for the meeting (blegh, fatigue). however, Felicity had an awesome example, a mini quilt top she made using the blocks she won last year!

this year's guidelines are the same as last year - make halloween themed blocks that are multiples of six inches finished. so that could be 6.5"x6.5", 12.5"x12.5", 6.5"x18.5", etc. two of my blocks are 12.5"x12.5" and four are 6.5"x6.5", but i think i'm going to keep one of them for myself, so that'll be 5 blocks for the lotto.


(those aren't two nearly identical fabrics, one of them is purple)




(again, the bottom two are actually using purple fabric)



i've also been obsessed with pincushions, and have about 10 in varying stages of completion. i'm making halloween pincushions just for the hell of it, as well as sewing themed ones for a craft fair that VMQG is participating in later this year. i work on them assembly line, which works well, but means that i don't feel very accomplished until they're all finished, and then i feel REALLY accomplished!

i did finish one of the halloween pincushions, because i wanted to test the pattern. i can't decide if i like it, i might change the dimensions a bit for the rest of them. it was unexpectedly really hard to sew the circle perfectly, not sure what that was about.


(halloween pompom trim!!! that's purple too, by the way)





in addition to that, VMQG is participating in a pincushion swap that the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild is coordinating, so i spent one fatigue-addled day searching around the internet for pincushion tutorials and pinning them. if you're looking for a pincushion tutorial - here you go! there are 271 pins in that board, and the majority of them are linked to tutorials. i think i can safely say that i've seen all of the pincushions on all of the internet!




what about you? are you getting anything accomplished this month? do you have a favourite pincushion pattern or tutorial?



linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced and at The Needle And Thread Network!

need a new project? or ten?

can you believe that we're almost to february? we're 3 weeks into january! how did that happen?!!?


there are SO MANY THINGS going on in blog-land these days. i'm a little disturbed by it, to tell you the truth. how do all of these people have time? why aren't they spending their januarys finishing late christmas presents? did they all just throw up their hands in defeat on december 31st? that must be it. and really, good for them. if the presents are late, they're late, an extra month or two won't make a difference. or maybe they said screw the handmade gifts for 2011... i applaud that as well.

i was wishing that i had the time to do a quilt-a-long or two, but that's just not gonna happen at the moment. then i decided to keep track of the interesting quilt-a-longs so that i could go back to them when i DID have time, and there were so many of them that my list turned into this post. if you know of others, leave a comment with a link, please.




there are multiple scrappy quilt-alongs at the moment, and it seems to be good timing - enough people have been quilting long enough to have ridiculous scrap piles!

Jodi from Pleasant Home is running a Sew Scraps Along with tons of inspirational posts, links to tutorials, prizes and so much more.

Rachel over at Stitched in Color is doing a Scrap Attack Quilt-a-long, with weekly tutorials and/or interviews with other bloggers. and if you finish a scrap quilt by the end of March, you can win prizes!

justabitfrayed is doing a scrappy quilt-a-long with a specific pattern, and it's so pretty!

however, the most popular Quilt-Alongs by far are star or sparkle themed. HUGE trend for 2012, obviously! (and isn't my little group quilt cutting edge then?)

Chelsea from Pins and Bobbins is running a quilt-a-long for the Made In Cherry star quilt designed by Sarah Fielke

Faith from Fresh Lemons is doing a sampler style quilt-a-long that's all different star blocks, called Solstice Stars.

Jeni from In Color Order and Megan from Canoe Ridge Creations are coordinating a Sparkle Quilt Along that's super cute.

Elizabeth Hartman of Oh Fransson is running a quilt-a-long for her pattern Sparkle Punch.
here's a pillow top made up by flickr user GoingSewCrazy. isn't it gorgeous!?

Hannah from Heartbreak Homestead has posted the first block of her Starry Skies Sampler Quilt project, and it's very lovely.


and vintage sheet stars!!! Holly told me about this yesterday, and i'm so in love! Sheila at Thought and Found is creating a stunning star quilt, with blocks that she's designed as well as blocks designed by various guests. i know i totally don't have time for such an ambitious project, but oh my goodness!

if you're not into stars, you still have a few other options...

Jeni from In Color Order has started an HST block of the month for 2012, so you could do that instead!

or how about the Swoon-a-long that Katy from Monkey Do is organizing, using the
Swoon pattern by Camille Roskelley?

or the monthly mini-quilt sew-along that Randi at I Have To Say is doing for 2012? each quilt will start on the 2nd tuesday of every month, and the supply list will go up about a week before that. january was courthouse steps, don't they look lovely?

Sarah from Narcoleptic in a Cupboard is in the process of designing a really lovely quilt as well, called the Stained QAL because of the quilt's stained glass look. you can see the original quilt here.

Jenna at Sew Happy Geek is doing a modern/traditional mixed sampler style quilt-along that looks awfully cute. 3 blocks have been posted so far, and the flickr group is so pretty!


Kim's Crafty Apple is coordinating a House and Tree Quilt-Along that could be super fun! there will be 16 blocks total, all designed by different people, and each block will contain either a house or a tree, or both. Two blocks have been posted so far, and more are coming! i saw a sneak peak of the block that will be released on January 31st and it's GORGEOUS! seriously, i think i'd be happy making 16 of that same block.... as everyone in the VMQG knows, Terry's pretty amazing.

or maybe you'd rather focus on colour for your theme? Pantone released their official colour of the year, and it's "Tangerine Tango" Ali from a²(w) and Erin from Two More Seconds are hosting a Tangerine Tango Quilt Challenge, complete with two categories and awesome prizes! the flickr group is already starting to look pretty fabulous... and i'm not even an orange fan!

and if you're thinking that your freemotion could use some help,
Leah from the Free Motion Quilting Project has started a new project for 2012

and Sew Cal Gal is also doing a year-long Free Motion Quilt Challenge, with monthly prizes!

or how about something completely superfluous? QuiltJane is hosting a "Dress up your Roll" contest. Yes, THAT roll! it is possible to make toilet paper covers that don't involve ruffled dresses and half barbies - just think of them as mug rugs in tube form! you can enter as many times as you like, and the international prize is pretty damn fine. my toilet paper roll might be needing an outfit...



so. feeling motivated? you've got lots to start with!




apparently Fat Quarterly blogged about some of these the other day.... i'd say that this will be a lesson to me on getting my ass in gear and not leaving drafts in blogger for weeks at a time while i add to them - and on keeping up with other blogs - but frankly, i haven't learned anything! it just means that great minds think alike, that's all. right? ;)

not much to update for WIP wednesday!

hello blogland!


so, what's new? what did i miss? i highly doubt i'll manage to get caught up right away, so if you posted something fun that you think i should see, pop me an e-mail, kay?


like i said in my last post, i've been away. i actually stayed with relatives who have internet for part of my trip, but i didn't find much time for the computer. i visited one grandma in the hospital most days, did a little bit of thrifting, spent time with most of my relatives, but especially an aunt and uncle that i don't usually get to see much of, ignored my grandfather's incessant nagging and grouchiness, went to a mini reunion with second and third cousins who i haven't seen in years, searched my grandma's house for family photos to scan, and on the day that i was supposed to leave, took my other grandma to the hospital, rescheduled our flights, and sat there all day waiting for test results. it was an eventful trip!

i also managed to sew quite a bit, which is really the biggest reason why i didn't use the computer - when i wasn't spending time with family or sleeping, i was sewing. i tried one grandma's machine, which was an annoying singer that was high shank and took weird bobbins, so none of my supplies would work, plus it had crappy tension, then i hauled my other grandma's machine out of the basement, an old kenmore that will probably work well if it was serviced, but is all seized up now, and finally borrowed a cheapy brother from one of my aunts. it was very basic, and occasionally skipped stitches, but was my best bet by far.

i finished up my ornaments for the Trim The Tree Ornament Swap on flickr, and a few others beside, and i'll post them soon. i'm going to go mail them tonight. i also started on a mini quilt, and worked on a couple of hand work projects, but none of them are finished yet. which is okay, because today's wednesday, which means WIP Wednesday!

this is one of the hand projects that i'm still working on -




before i left, i was working on a tree skirt for my parents, based on Monica Solorio-Snow of Happy Zombie's tutorial/quiltalong posted on Sew Mama Sew back in october. i have the top finished, and need to spray baste it. it's made using a vintage holiday tablecloth, and red linen, so i think it needs the added stability of spray basting.



i'm pretty happy with it so far, and impatient to finish it up.



i had a few finishes before i left, the Bleach Discharge Bats wall quilt, and my Outfoxed "Improv is Foxy" quilt. as for the rest of my WIPs.... nothing to report!!



as for recent finishes, i plotted out a quilt today. i started doing it on the plane, but got tired of the guy in front of me leaning back and making it impossible to open my laptop entirely! i finished it up this afternoon after a nap in my own bed with my Sofie-bean (sooo good!).

which do you like better?





i'm linking up to WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced - don't forget to go check out some of the other projects linked up!

Finally! Fat Quarterly QAL Quilt!

It occurred to me a few weeks ago that if you were only going by what I post here, you’d probably be wondering why the hell I’m so involved with a quilt guild, since I seem to do so little quilting. You’d be totally wrong, but I wouldn’t blame you at all. It’s funny actually, since I’ve been so obsessive about photographing and recording stuff I make for years now, way before blogs took off. The problem is, quilts don’t fit on my dressform!

Living by myself, and not being able to convince my sister to model for me, means that I don’t always get good pictures. My apartment isn’t big enough to have a quilt’s worth of wall space clear, and I don’t have a nice lush yard like some bloggers. I’ve considered taking my quilts to the park across the street, if only the park had a clothesline....

So a few weeks ago, on a rare non-rainy day (we’ve had the wintery-ist spring here, it’s miserable), I got myself organized, took a stack of quilts over to my parent’s house and forced my mom to stand in front of the cherry tree holding them out. Finally, pictures!!


Now I can try to catch up on posting some past projects!
This is probably the oldest project. I posted a few in progress photos, but I realized that I’d never photographed the end result. Remember the Fat Quarterly Quilt-a-long? And my pretty quilt that I was making out of vintage linens?


I finished it, and it’s been hanging out on my couch with me for months now.







Sofie’s decided that it’s hers. I actually had to wash it before I could take pictures, it was so covered in black and white fur.

Here it is entirely.



I quilted it with wavy horizontal lines. I used a stitch setting on my machine, so it was super easy. The stitch could have actually been wider, but my walking foot needed a larger open area!


I added some appliquéd hexagons scattered across the quilt. They were sofie’s fault actually – she loves the quilt so much that before it was even done, she kneaded at it and pulled the threads in one of the blocks. I’d already started quilting, so it would have been a huge hassle to replace it, so I covered it up! Besides, as much as I love hexies, I’ll never get around to actually handsewing them all together for anything, appliqué is a much better use!




The back is a full sheet with pink roses, very simple, but you can see the quilting I did.


I made a label using a bit of kona cotton and a strip of one of the sheets from the front.

quilt-a-long progress...

i'm puttering away at the quilt-a-long project, working on it in snippets as i feel up to it, and i'm actually doing pretty good, considering how crappy i've been feeling!

i finished sewing and pressing all of the blocks, like i mentioned in my last post, and then i had to think about how i was going to lay them out.

i don't have a design wall, or room to put one up, and while i know lots of people use their floor, there's no way my back would've handled that this week! i decided to try laying it out on a smaller scale....

i took the pattern drawing of the quilt top, and played around with it in photoshop. i'd divided my blocks up by the main colour, and had piles of white, pink, green, blue and purple. i counted how many i had of each, and then coloured in that many blocks on the pattern drawing. i had some blocks that were stripes, and i wanted to make sure that i kept them right side up, so i added the little stars on those to keep myself organized.



then i took the pattern drawing and played around with it a bit more. i decided to go with the idea suggested in the flickr group and alternate every second block, and i wanted my diagram to indicate that, again so that i could remember to keep the stripes going the right direction.



i printed out both pages, and used my paper rotary cutter to cut out the coloured blocks. i played around with them, arranging them on top of the pattern diagram.



once i was happy with my layout, i transferred my decisions onto the blank diagram.



THEN i laid the blocks out on the floor! i knew i was going to have to at some point, but as it was, i did one or two rows at a time, taking breaks in between. i followed the colour order i'd decided up with the paper, and tried to mix up the fabrics and shades.



because it was laid out on the floor, it was hard to get a good view of it from a distance. i took some pictures of it, and used a filter (palette knife) in photoshop to make the designs less noticeable, so that i could focus entirely on how the colours looked together.



i decided there was a bit too much pale blue in the middle, and switched a few blue blocks around to spread it out more.

once i had the order i wanted, i labeled them all with masking tape. i could have just piled them up in rows and labeled the top block, but i wanted to be able to chain piece them, working on all the rows at once.


and then i stitched the rows up, pressed them, then stitched the rows together, again, a little bit at a time. i pinned the rows carefully, so that my seams would meet up, and actually basted a few stitches at each intersection, to be sure that it was right before i sewed it with my 1.8 stitch.

and the top was done! huraay!!



this is a kinda crappy photo, but it's the best that i can do for now. i don't have much free space in my apartment to take pictures! the seams definitely won't be as noticeable, when the top is laid against batting instead of a dark green fortrel curtain!



after all that, i can't decide if i like it or not. i think i'll probably end up liking it once it's all finished, but now i'm kind of feeling blegh about it. we'll see!

Quilt-A-Long!

in other quilty news....

i jumped into Fat Quarterly's Quilt-A-Long!



i've been working on so much stuff that's required planning and thought and MATH lately that i was super into the idea of a project that had instructions and would be simple to do, and when i ran across it, i instantly wanted to join in. i started late, but i'm almost caught up!

the first blog post talks about what materials you'll need, the second post a week later gives you cutting instructions, in the third post they gave the assembly instructions, and yesterday's post was the top assembly.

i've spent a bit too much on fabric lately, so i didn't want to go buy more, but i really wanted to use fabrics that fit together, ya know? the idea was to use a jell roll or fat quarters, but none of the quilt stores near me sell jelly rolls, and since i was already late i didn't have time for shipping anyway. and i didn't feel like my fat quarters were cohesive enough.

someone at the guild meeting on thursday showed a piece they were working on using vintage sheets, and a lightbulb went off in my head! of course! i have TONS of vintage sheets, because i've been collecting them for a few years now (i even joined a swap of vintage sheet fat quarters last year!). i keep planning on making quilts with them, but never seem to think of them when i'm starting a new project. though they're different colour schemes, most of them are fairly similar in style, perfect for this quilt!

so i off i went to my parent's house, where the majority of my fabric is stored, and i went through my sheets and pillowcases. this quilt uses so little of each fabric, really, and since i have about 2 rubbermaids full, i had lots of variety! i skipped goldy yellow/green/brown toned sheets, and any that had super flower powery bold prints, and still ended up with a great selection.

this is where i was at yesterday afternoon -

my 39 finished blocks


and the remaining 41


by the time i went to bed last night, i'd finished sewing the last 41 blocks, but they still need to be pressed. (that's tonight's job) then i'll need to plot out which ones will go where, and start sewing the rows! some folks in the fat quarterly flickr group are talking about rotating every second block, to reduce bulk at the joins, and i think i like that idea... we'll see!