Sewer's Block?! Check...

I still have Block 5 sitting~ half sewn, mind you~ on my cutting table.  My last post was the 9th of August, when I got the pieces cut out.  I have since run out of steam!  Guess that's what happens when summer vacation ends & an entire classroom need to be set up & prepared for.  Sewing takes a back seat...

...well, and I also didn't help my cause much by starting on a knitting project right in the middle of trying to get this UFO finished.  So, it looks like I'm partially to blame.  But the yarn is *so* exquisite, I just couldn't *not* start this project... If you are ever looking for a high quality yarn (without breaking the bank)... look no further then my good friend's Etsy shop.  Go here~ and buy yarn.  She's amazing! I bought the blue yarn... it's merino & silk. Just divine.  Not being a very good knitter, I hope that the shawl I'm making comes out nice enough to showcase the yarn. I'll turn into a yarn-snob real soon after working with this stuff....

Right now, I'm torn with how to spend my evening... sewing... or knitting... choices, choices, choices!!! The yarn won out the other night; so in fairness, I should probably finish the block.

WIP shots:

Block 5... in it's half-finished glory... 

My shawl... hope I don't have to tear it out & re-start... 

Of course I realize that the more I blog about my unfinished projects~ the more they *stay* unfinished... so I should get back to work.  But, one last note: am reading a fabulous book (The Friday Night Knitting Club) & would encourage any of my girlfriends to read it; wonderful book about why we all need that close group of friends-- no matter how happy we may be with our spouses.  Many thanks to whomever left it in the teacher's lounge at the end of last school year after cleaning out their classroom... I'm loving it! 

Back to work... Happy quilting! (...or knitting...)  :o)

A UFO from a UFO?! Oh No!!!

Well... sorta... my infamous Celestial Star UFO had these paper pieced log cabin blocks to accompany it as a border.  I've since changed my mind on that approach~ but what to do with all these already-pieced blocks?!  Well... since the quilt is going bed size... why not make a coordinating sham to go with it when it's finished?!  Brilliant!!! What resulted is the sham top... which is technically (because it's sitting in partial form) another UFO.

The things multiply!!! They're like dust bunnies!!!

Co-ordinating pillow sham for the Celestial UFO quilt...

Here's another shot of it~ the colors are a bit truer here... and I think it's a bit closer, too.

View #2  :o)

Now, back to work on the blocks... I got one cut last night & (now that the child has decided to actually *sleep*), I am going to sew it up! That'll be Block 5 with 3 more waiting in the wings. 

Happy Quilting!!! :o) 

Bright & Cheery... or Cheery & Bright?!

Either way, the baby quilt is finished!!! What a perfect break from UFO-ing this little project has been. Of course, it's back to the UFO at this point... but, I have 2 other baby quilts (ironically, both for girls as well) to consider when the need for a break arises again.  We'll see but I hope to have the 8 blocks done before the end of summer vacation.  I have a week remaining.  I should get my rotary cutter in gear!!!

Here's a photo of the finished quilt top...

Top: There's a methodical arrangement to the blocks; I really tried to lay them out randomly.  It's just not for me.  

So, onto the quilt backing... I used just about all of the 2.5" strips that were in this fabric family.  I'm still not sure what's going to become to the extra strips or 10" blocks... But I'm sure they'll make their way into some other quilt at some point. :o)

Backing: Randomly placed strips of fabric; I had better luck with random placement on this side of the quilt.

There you have it!!! A finished baby quilt~ all within one week.  That might be close to a new record.  I chose to not quilt it but rather tack it down with yarn; more of a comforter style finishing.  [Been years since I've done that as well... maybe this was a retro quilt?!]

Anyway... here it is all folded up & ready to be sent to a new loving home. :o) 

Pay it forward!!! 

One question remains: who gets it?! :o) 

Happy Quilting!!! :o)

Never Realized How Much I Missed Lace...

... I had a boy.  Don't get me wrong, I *love* making boy quilts; he has the coolest road play-mat quilt in his room as well as two others I've made for him thus far.  But today, in working on the bright colored baby quilt, I realized how much I missed the finer girlie things!!! Rather then doing a traditional binding~ I'm using a really pretty eyelet instead.

See~ pretty lace eyelet... girlie, but not overly girlie... 

Working to put the top together was a small nightmare.  Because I quartered the strips, and then turned them to make a smaller square, it meant that I had seams going in every which way that did not want to co-operate when being sewn together.  My machine didn't appreciate some seams facing up at the same time others were facing down... as a result, it pulled a bit. It took a little longer then I wanted for the top to get pieced, but the extra time was well worth it in the end.  Most times people never see the back of a quilt top... they normally see only the finished product.  Check out the crazy directions of all the seams!!!

This would be the back of the baby quilt.  Just about as neat looking as the front! I'm a bit particular about ironing & making everything clean & crisp.

So, I'm off to piece the back with the 2.5" strips of the same fabric as the quilt... Will post pictures of the finished product soon.  My camera's giving me grief about uploading; I think the cord is going bad; took too many tries & wiggling the connecter.  *dislike*

Hope your weekend is going marvelously... I'm back to my machine & iron... the backing awaits... and I'm sure you probably wish I had posted a picture of the finished top! Haha!!! Stay tuned... 

Happy Quilting!!! :o)

New project, anyone!?

With my two quilts off to the long-arm quilter... and a huge dent in my wallet accordingly... what better way to celebrate accomplishment of getting half the UFO stack finished then by starting a new quilt?! Seriously~ I have new fabric that simply *must* be used.

But before we get to the series of what I've been up too tonight with the new quilt... let's look at the prep work to get one of the quilts ready to go... last night (thankfully), I measured by backing fabric for my king-sized bed quilt.  Most certainly *not* the 4-6" extra on all sides necessary for quilting.  Oops!  I suppose in the last 9 years my eye for measurements has ben refined a bit more than when I started out.  So, at 8:10pm, I'm hopping into the car to run to JoAnn's to buy backing fabric. It's a long drive to town & I made it 15 minutes to close; and had a 40% off coupon.  Sweet! So, 120" muslin backing... check.  King-sized batting... check.  Quilt top... check.

One ready to roll.  This morning I worked on getting the other one ready~ the Bits 'n' Pieces Starburst quilt.  Silly me~ I didn't check to see if I had enough batting for that quilt before my emergency trip the night before.  I used the old muslin backing that was supposed to be for the king-sized quilt... cut that down just a tad~ perfect for this one.  The batting was another matter.  Nothing says "yay" like having to piece together batting & trim it down.  At least the batting I bought for the original king-sized quilt went to good use.  Thank goodness my eye has improved!!!

Mira approved of this quilt.  She's *always* getting into my quilting! 

Anyway, after the trials of getting everything ready~ it barely fit into my big bag that I made for taking "stuff" to quilting class.

My quilty-Claus bag... stuffed to the brim! 

Much relief that these two babies are off to be finished properly.  She asks for a 6-week turn around.  For me, with one of these having sat finished & patiently waiting for 9+ years, what's another 6-weeks?!  Seriously~ more than fair.  Everything will be done for Fall & the Starburst can get mailed to my dad; probably in time for his birthday.

Aaahhh... onto the new project. Some of the fabric I got from Connecting Threads in this last order goes totally against my grain.  I am *not* a bright fabric type.  However, I have pregnant friends. :o)  So in a bold move (for me!), I am making a baby quilt out of these bold fabrics.  

Start with 10" blocks... split into 3 groups of 6 fabrics. 

So I did *no* arranging of fabric on this... I pulled them out of the package & laid them out exactly as they came.  I only pulled out the 2 black fabrics; I'm not that daring quite yet. Maybe later.

Layer them all carefully & cut them into 2" strips; 5 units per original block.

So I *thought* I'd make this really cute strip pieced quilt... almost a Rail Fence pattern. Daisy-chaining them together made sewing 15 blocks a total walk in the park.  Probably the easiest sewing I've done in a while.

The blocks as sewn~ they'll be squared off later. 

Next logical thing to do is to lay them out how you're thinking of sewing them.  Except, I hated it.  It looked cheesy & not very exciting.  So now what.  I've got 15 blocks sewn up with no idea what to do.  

Guinea pig cutting.  That's what!  I took one of each pattern & cut them into quarters.  Re-arranged the blocks & this is what I've got... 

Sew much better then my original "thought"... 

They're not sewn yet & the rest of the blocks will need to be squared out & quartered. Once all the blocks are sewn, I'm going to have a tough time with the final layout.  But, so far, so good.  I've got a package of 2.5" strips in the same fabrics.  Quite possibly this quilt will be reversible.  Which is fine with me because I wouldn't have a clue what to do with the left-over fabric!!!

Seeing as though it's past Midnight... I ought to call it a day & try to catch some Zzzz's! 

Happy Quilting!!!