Monday, January 30, 2012

still swooning...

How about a little Swoon action to brighten this Monday!  I again spent some time this weekend working on a few swoon blocks, and I am really loving how this quilt is taking shape.  I'm getting antsy to work on nothing but this quilt for the next few days to see how it is going to come together!

Swoon Blocks 1-6

I now have 6 of the 9 blocks completed, and I could not be happier with how well the colors are playing together.  Its just so fun and bright.  I'm tossing around the idea of widening  the borders slightly to make this queen size to keep on one of the beds in one of our spare rooms.  

Swoon Block #5

Swoon Block #6

Now that I have the hang of how these go together, they seem to be taking about 2ish hours to piece plus cutting time.  I find it almost calming, me and my Adele Pandora station rock out while chain piecing those HSTs and geese, and then bust out the pins to line up all those points. 

Speaking of piecing those geese, what  do you doing with all those extra triangles that are left over from piecing your geese (piecing the traditional way)?  I thought for a minute about figuring out the dimensions for the no waste flying geese method, but at the time, I was just plain too lazy to do so, haha.  I was content to let those extra little triangles find a new home in my scrap bin, but I came across emedoodle's idea for almost instant HSTs and thought I'd share!

easy peasy HSTs from flying geese excess

Such a simple idea here!  She suggested just drawing a second line 1/2" away from your line you draw from corner to corner and then stitching on both lines, so when you cut your excess away from your geese, you have instant "pre-sewed" HSTs!   I have a nice stack of HSTs waiting to be made into perhaps some coordinating pillows for my soon to be swoon quilt.  

Hope this was helpful, happy Monday!

Friday, January 27, 2012

seeing stars

FLiQS quilt top

I had a hot date planned with this little mini tonight, and I'm happy to report the top is complete!  I won't turn it over and show you the back, those tiny 1.5" blocks and scant 1/4" seams made for not the neatest pressing experience, but that's our little secret.

FLiQS quilt top

This mini is for my partner in the Fab Little Quilt Swap, which has been organized by the mamas of the Doll Quilt Swap over on Flickr.  After sufficient stalking, I discovered that my partner seems to have similar tastes as me, and blues and greens are colors he/she is fond of, so lucky for me being that my stash of blues/greens is overflowing!  

FLiQS quilt top

I used the Sparkle Punch Quilt Along hosted by Oh Fransson! as my inspiration for this, and just shrunk the dimensions, so that this completed top measures approximately 15"x18".

FLiQS

I already have an idea for quilting this little guy, and I'm thinking of using these pearle cotton colors to accentuate both the stars and the little wonky pinwheels the white negative space creates.  Now just to get a back created and get quilting!

FLiQS

Whats on your sewing agenda this weekend??

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

WIP Wednesday {1.25.2012}

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

This week has been full of lots of sewing.  We had a nice quiet relaxing weekend, without much to do, and you know what that means...time to sew!  I'm honestly just waiting to get sick again, it always seems to happen with big changes in weather, and seeing that we had very cold weather with snow and ice on Friday and Saturday, and then by Sunday and Monday it was in the high 40's, nearing 50 degrees.  In Pittsburgh.  In January.  Just crazy I tell you.  Anyway's here whats new in the sewing room:

New Projects

FLiQS

FLiQS idea

I have been asked to participate in the Fab Little Quilt Swap, which is smaller subdivision of the widely known Doll Quilt Swap over on Flickr, and you all know how I'm a sucker for a swap, so of course I said sign me up!  I have my partner information, and I am so so excited because his/her tastes seem to be right up my alley, and I instantly had an idea I had to try out.

FLiQS mini wonky stars progress

I am using Oh Fransson's sparkle punch quilt along as my inspiration, and doing it mini style!  Each square measures 2" unfinished, with the finished blocks measuring 1.5" finished.  I just had to sew a little square together, to see how it was going to look, and I am just loving this and all its mini-ness!  That little top block of 16 squares measures 6.5" as is.  

Completed Projects


Citrus Berry Punch baby quilt


4x5 bee blocks quarters 3 and 4

In Progress


swoon blocks 1-4

I'm still swooning along, and loving this quilt more and more as each block comes together.  A few people have asked if these blocks are difficult to put together.  While I definitely recommend reading over the instructions a few times to see how things are cut (so you don't make my mistake) and to get a feel for how the blocks go together, each block is made up of a large center square, a few rectangles and a whole lotta HSTs and flying geese, so accurate and consistent 1/4" seams are the key!  So in short, no I am not finding it difficult, time consuming, yes, and a trial of patience to line up all those points, yes, but difficult?  No.  Go ahead!  Give it a try!  You can get yourself a copy of the downloadable pattern here, and join in the swoon along fun!  

Crochet Ripple Afghan- Still crocheting away on this!  I ran out of my first color of yarn, so there wasn't a ton of progress this past week until I could get to the store for more yarn, but I am loving snuggling with my partial afghan as I crochet away.

This Weeks Stats
New Projects: 1
Completed Projects: 2
In Progress:  4

Swoon quilt
Crochet Afghan
FLiQS doll quilt
Farmers Wife QAL
January Bee Blocks
Citrus Berry Punch Baby Quilt

What are you working on this week??  Head on over to freshly pieced and link up!



Tuesday, January 24, 2012

swoon-ing

swoon blocks 1-4

Me and my swoon blocks spent some more quality time  this weekend, and I have to say I'm getting more and more addicted to working on this quilt the more blocks I make!  I am loving how the bright colors are coming together, and there is just something about when all the points line up just so, that brings me such satisfaction.

swoon #3

This might be my favorite block yet.  I just love how the colors work together, and its so bright and vibrant.  The orange is Central Park by Kate Spain for Moda, and the aqua is some It's a Hoot by Momo for Moda.

swoon #4

Block #4 sort of happened by accident.  I had meant for the grey/yellow Amy Butler Midwest Modern fabric to actually be a fat quarter of Heirloom that I received in the Twitter Secret Santa Swap from Nicole, but due to an unfortunate cutting incident (i.e. I didn't read the cutting instructions and miscut my fat quarter, d'oh), I had to improvise, so I subbed in the AB print.  I'm still happy with it, and I think it works well with the pinky/red Innocent Crush fabric, so no harm done, but lesson learned.  Read the instructions! 

These blocks seem to be my go to weekend sewing project, so I'm sure I'll be having a swoon date soon, stay tuned!

Monday, January 23, 2012

4x5 love

I just had to take a minute to share what the post man has been bringing me by the way of some crazy awesome quilt blocks!

Hive 6 4th quarter 4x5 bee blocks

This weekend the post man brought me the last of my quarter 4 bee blocks in the 4x5 bee.  I have to say, this bee is filled with such uber talented quilters, that the blocks I receive each round just floor me, and this round was no exception.  This round, I also met Leona in my hive, and it turns out that she lives about 40 minutes away from me!  I know I said that I wanted to go on a fabric diet, and was not going to purchase new, but I couldn't resist a fabric shopping date with my new quilty friend, so we have a shopping date planned for a few weekends from now to hit up a few quilt shops that I have never been to!

4x5 bee blocks quarters 3 and 4
1. 4x5 Quarter 4 from Naomi/Linen & String, 2. 4x5 Quarter 4- from Jill/Falling for Pieces, 3. 4x5 Quarter 4 from Leona/Oneygirl, 4. 4x5 Quarter 4 from Laura/Needles, Pins and Baking Tins, 5. 4x5 Quarter 4- from Michelle/the Quilter Tortoise, 6. 4x5 quarter 4 hive 6 test block, 7. quarter 3-from charise, 8. quarter 3-from little bluebell, 9. quarter 3-from creationsbyrachel, 10. quarter 3-from stitch 'n' bits, 11. quarter 3-from stitch 'n' bits (2), 12. quarter 3-from seasidestitches, 13. Not available, 14. Not available, 15. quarter 3-my test block16. Not available


Many thanks to all of my hive mates, and to Amy for running such an awesome bee, I cannot wait to see the rest of this quilt come together, its sure to be a good one!  

Friday, January 20, 2012

Citrus Berry Punch baby quilt: complete




Citrus Berry Punch baby quilt

Pardon the crappy indoor pics, but I had to get this off to the auction committee, so crappy indoor pics were the best I could do!

Citrus Berry Punch baby quilt

I can't believe it's taken me until now to put together a simple scrappy square patchwork quilt, but I must say it will not be my last.  I am loving how all the colors play together, and the simplicity of the piecing really lets them stand out.  

Citrus Berry Punch baby quilt

I raided my yellow, green and orange scrap bins to start with, and then added a few pops of aqua and red to add some visual interest.  I incorporated a few scraps of some of my absolute favorite prints, (hello Tufted Tweets), and with the pops of light grey (my newest obsession) to work as a neutral, this just screams "happy" to me.  

Citrus Berry Punch baby quilt

This quilt is headed off to our local heart association chapter's annual Heart Gala to be auctioned off along with this pretty cool Mamaroo.  I'd say this package is headed to one hip mama.  

Citrus Berry Punch baby quilt

I'd been wanting to try out Bertha's walking foot, and I thought this was the perfect quilt for it.  I straight line quilted 1/4" on either side of all the seams, and let me just say the ease of my machine/walking foot combo has restored my faith in straight line quilting.  

Citrus Berry Punch baby quilt

On an aside, this quilt makes me happy for another reason, in that it came entirely from my stash!  Even the backing was from stash, and I even pieced together scraps of batting instead of buying new, which worked like a charm.

Quilt Stats
Name:  Citrus Berry Punch baby quilt
Size: 36" square-total of 144 finished 3" squares
Fabrics:  Assorted scraps in greens, yellows, oranges, greys, aquas and reds from my stash.
Binding:  Aqua leaf print 
Quilting: straight line quilting 1/4" from each side of every seam, done by me

{Sew} Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations

I will be linking up to Sew Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations, head over and check out all the modern quilty goodness!

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

WIP Wednesday 1.18.2012

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Oh Wednesday, so we meet again.  I feel like we just did this, what, last Wednesday??  Anyways, I would think after a year of participating in WIP Wednesday, the shock that Wednesday always seems to roll around much too soon would have worn off, but it hasn't.  Here's what I've been up to...

New Projects

Swoon

swoon block #1

swoon block #2

A gal only has so much willpower.  After seeing all the amazing swoon-spiration in Katy's Swoon-along flickr group, I just had to join in the fun.  I am proud of myself that I'm working 100% from my stash (with the exception of buying more solid as needed), and resisted the temptation of doing a little fabric shopping.  More on my Swoon blocks here.

In Progress

Citrus Berry Punch Baby Quilt


I'm EBB here...thats Everything But Binding on this little guy.  He's all quilted, and binding is on the agenda for this evening.  

January Bee Blocks

do. Good Stitches-Inspire circle January

do.Good Stitches-Inspire circle January

These blocks are for Amanda in the Inspire circle of do. Good Stitches.  She asked for Sawtooth star blocks, so I put together these sort of nested stars.  I'm really happy with how these turned out, especially that teeny tiny 3 inch star!  

Jeni sent along some awesome It's a Hoot fabric for our Mod Stitches Bee, and that's on the agenda for this week also.

Ripple Afghan


I've been crocheting away while we feed our obsession of The Big Bang Theory (we recently saw the "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock" episode, and the hubs is now obsessed with finding ways to use this in real life, HA!)  I'm about through one set of all 8 colors, I'm thinking three repeats should make it large enough for a nice snuggle size, so I'm about a third of the way there!

This Weeks Stats:

New Projects: 1
Completed Projects: 0
In Progress: 5

January Bee Blocks
Citrus Berry Punch baby quilt
Swoon Quilt
Crochet Afghan
Farmers Wife QAL 

Pop over to Freshly Pieced and add your WIPs!







  

Sunday, January 15, 2012

do you swoon?

Have you seen the super awesome swoon pattern??  I picked it up a while back at Fat Quarter shop, where they have an instant download pdf version.  It's been sitting on my shelf for some time, needing just the right kick in the pants to get started on it.  




Katy is hosting a Swoon-along  over on Flickr, and you know how I'm a sucker for a quilt along, so I figured now's as good a time as any to get swooning!

swoon stash fabrics

In an effort to stick with my "use my stash" resolve, I picked through my fabrics, and came up with these 18 prints that I'm planning to swoon with.  I'm going to stick with the pattern design and use two fabrics per block, however I was certainly temped to go scrappy after seeing some awesome scrappy swoon blocks in the group pool (like this one)!

swoon block #1

This was my first block using some Anna Maria Horner Good Folks Filigree Meadow (green print) and some DS Quilts Collection Sugar Creek Kitchsy Tile in Cornflower.  I just love how this block comes together, now mind you it is massive, measuring about 25" per block, so it takes a little time to construct, but with only 9 blocks to the quilt, it's not so bad.

swoon block #2

And this is the second block I have completed, using some It's a Hoot and Alexander Henry Farmdale.  I'm planning on doing one to two blocks a week, but its hard to resist cutting in to that stack of fabrics and seeing the blocks take shape!

Are you swooning along also??

Friday, January 13, 2012

Citrus Berry Punch :: quilt top


This messy stack of fabric has quickly turned into this super simple, yet sweet baby quilt, in what seems like overnight.

Citrus Berry Punch baby quilt top

Citrus Berry Punch baby quilt top

In all of the quilts that I have made, I have never put together a simple square patchwork quilt, and I thought with the amount of different fabrics I wanted to use, this simple design would fit the bill.

Citrus Berry Punch baby quilt top

I started this quilt using only yellows, greens and oranges with a touch of grey because I needed it to be gender neutral, but on my design wall it just looked sort of blah.  I decided to add a few pops of red with some of my white/red fabrics, which helped the "blah"ness slightly, and on a whim tossed in a few aqua prints which I think really make the quilt and give it life.  

Citrus Berry Punch baby quilt top

This quilt has some of my favorite fun prints, and a few of my absolute last scraps that I could find in my stash, like that little square of Tufted Tweets Birds on Dot, and of course the green chairs.  Just enough fun a whimsy for a pretty gender neutral baby quilt.  

Citrus Berry Punch baby quilt top

As this weekend is the hubby's weekend to work, that means I get the entire weekend to sew!  On the agenda is getting this little guy basted and quilted.  I've been wanting to try out Bertha's walking foot, so I'm thinking some simple straight line quilting following the seams will do.  

What are you sewing this weekend?


Wednesday, January 11, 2012

WIP Wednesday {1.11.2012}

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Time for this weeks recap.  I finally feel like I'm back in my normal sewing "groove" after the settling down from the  business of December, and it feels nice.  It's nice to be sewing what I want to sew and not things I feel like I need to sew.  Here's what I've been up to this week!

Completed Projects

4 x 5 Bee blocks

4x5 Hive 6 Quarter 4 blocks

These were just shipped off to their new homes this morning.  More here.  

New Projects

Baby Quilt


For the past few years I've put together something hand made to donate as an an auction item for the Heart Association Heart Gala.  This (messy) stack of fabric is quickly turning into a sweet gender neutral baby quilt.


Believe it or not, I have never made a simple patchwork square quilt, and I've been wanting to put one together for some time, so I figured why not now.  I am loving the mindless chain piecing and how quickly it is coming together, I should have a quilt top put together any day now!

In Progress

Wavy Crochet Afghan


I am so so glad I made my mom taught me how to crochet.  I've always been a knitter, but I'm finding crochet to be a little more mindless, and much quicker than knitting an afghan this size!  I love that its finally getting to a point to serve as a mini blanket while I am working on it, and I am so in love with the colors.  I'm sort of meshing this tutorial and this tutorial and I think its coming together quite nicely.

This weeks progress:

New projects: 1
Completed Projects: 1
In Progress: 4

4x5 bee blocks
January Bee Blocks
Baby quilt
Crochet Afghan
Farmers Wife QAL

Whats on your WIP list??  Head over to Freshly Pieced and link up!