Monthly Archives: February 2014

HtbaS - Episode 169

WIP Wednesday - BRB

Swing JunkiesI’ve been sewing some, but honestly felt the call of Imminent Spring this week so we went to the park and did this a lot.

My kids are swing junkies, and they come by it naturally, as I was one as a kid as well. So far no one has launched themselves off the swing (something I never dared to do myself, unless I fell off by accident!).

When we weren’t hanging at the park, I did do a little sewing on a baby quilt. Here’s a sneak peek of it, although it’s obviously not the full top since it’s a bit skinny.

MidMod Baby QuiltI might be able to finish the top up this week, but I’m not in a real rush since it’s not “due” until March and I’d rather do it right than rush through it since it’s a commission from a friend.

Sunday Stash - Seekrits

I think it’s a bad sign when steam starts coming out of the hole where the cord goes in on one’s iron, so I suspect a new iron is in store shortly. Fortunately, that purchase won’t count against yardage!

I did bring in 2 yards of a navy solid for commission baby quilt, as well as two charm packs just because I liked them.  On the outflow, I have a Seekrit Project I can’t show yet since it’s part of a Brown Bag challenge for my guild, which won’t be revealed until MAY. Sheesh. But, in keeping with the tradition of finishing my high school term papers early, I’m about done with mine, although I have one little part to finish next week to complement the main project

  • Used this Week: 1.75 yards
    • 1.75 yd for Seekrit Project
  • Used year to Date: 70.75yards
  • Added this Week: 3.75 yards
    • 2 yd navy solid for commission project
    • 1.75 for 2 charm packs
  • Net Used for 2014: 17.5 yards
  • YTD Used for Charity: 32 yards (45% of total used)

See more stash reports at Patchwork Times!

Scrapitude - Finished!

Scrapitude - Finished!Well, despite the missing sashing, my version of Scrapitude is done! The final destination for this quilt isn’t quite known yet, but it will get there via an auction on April 12th to benefit Quota International of Massillon OH. It’s a group that my Aunt Darrelyn volunteered for, to benefit underprivileged women and children, particularly children in need of hearing aids.

Their colors are blue and white, so I stuck to cool tones and a mix of blues, greens, and aquas.

Scrapitude - Finished!Since I forwent the sashing as I simply didn’t cut it in step 1, I had extra cornerstone “bits” left over that I pieced into cornerstones for the sashing.  I used a scrappy binding in some of the same fabrics as the blocks for extra scrapitude.

If you’d like to make your own version of this quilt designed by Charlotte, you can find all the steps on Sandy’s blog.

 

HtbaS - Episode 168

I don’t think you could call this my finest podcasting effort, but here it is.  Live action dog happenings! Random recipe descriptions in which I accidentally drop the a-bomb! Spoiler alert: Fred did get to go on his walk, and enjoyed it immensely.

Play

WIP Wednesday - Unending Neverendingness

I’ve been trying to be good about slow quilting and enjoying the process and all that mature, highfaluting stuff other grown up quilters talk about.  I was being good, really, but there is a certain point one reaches when using the same size pieces for leaders and enders and you think, “There is no end to these fabric pieces. Surely, they are multiplying, growing new pieces out of the lint and trimmings.”

Saturday Soiree sashing pieceAnd then in a flurry of “EFF THIS AND THE ROTARY CUTTER IT RODE IN ON”, I gave up on the slow quilting and powered through the piecing to finish these sashing pieces for the Saturday Soiree blue and white quilt.

There are 48 of these stinkers, which I think means I sewed together about a frillion pieces on the bias. It is no wonder I ate half a bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup minis last weekend with all these crazy seams. On a happier note, I grudgingly got on the treadmill and burned off the Reese’s weight as of this morning.

Special interlude by some MoMo toes.

Triple Threat Nine Patch Baby Quilts - Finished!

My guildmate Judi mentioned this Super-Sized Nine Patch pattern at our January meeting when we were discussing charitable sewing as a way to make quick, simple baby quilts.  The basic idea is that with three yards of fabric, and two cuts, you’d get fabric cut for three quilt tops.

Giant Nine Patch Baby QuiltsGiant Nine Patch Baby QuiltsI ended up using some girly prints for mine, and they turned out pretty cute.  The pattern calls for sandwiching right sides together envelope-style, rather than traditional binding, so they went together very quick.

It works great with big prints, although I don’t seem to have a lot of those in my stash.

Judi also pointed out that instead of 3 yards of fabric, you could use 3 fat quarters and make placemat sized tops, so I might try that for some Meals on Wheels placemats this year.

Lilac Hill Two-Fer Quilts - Finished!

Waaaay back in 2011 I got a jelly roll of Lilac Hill fabric, and decided I would use it as 2 -1/2″ square sashing around 10 squares of fabric in a king size quilt.  I was going to do trapunto quilting! Applique! Fanciness!

Lilac Bits QuiltsI quickly became overwhelmed with the project, although I had the sashing pieced together into strips of 6 2-1/2″ squares and a lot of 10-1/2″ squares of green and purple.  And those sat in a box for about two and a half years. In the past month, I’ve been thinking of these cut up pieces, and wondering what I could do with them.

I ended up turning king-sized pieces into 2 lap quilts.  The first I call “Lilac Bits”, and uses the squares cut from the jelly roll, and some 2-1/2″ green strips I had cut for binding.  I can tell it’s an old UFO because I now cut my binding at 2-1/8″.

Lilac Bits QuiltsI put a border on it from a small floral print in the line, and some more of the 2-1/2″ squares for cornerstones.

Of course this is a modern quilt because the back is pieced (an inside joke at my guild). The purple and green HSTs were actually the setting triangles that were cut for the king-sized quilt.  The large lilac print was originally meant for the border of the king-size quilt, and the other green fabric is a piece of the same fabric from the old binding strips.

This one is quilted with an overall meander, since it’s super scrappy on the front.

Disappearing 4 Patch QuiltFor the second quilt, I ended up using the 10-1/2″ squares I had cut to make some disappearing four patch blocks. I ended up with 36 blocks that finished around 9-1/4″, I think.  For this block you’d ideally want more contrast between the two colors in the block, but the subtle effect is okay for this line, in my opinion.

This one is quilted with all straight-line quilting and has a scrappy binding.  The backing on this one is also scrappy, with more of the purple lilac fabric, a large piece of brown floral from the line, the last two HST blocks from the setting triangles and some more 2-1/2″ squares thrown in for good measure.

Disappearing 4 Patch Quilt

The pictures aren’t the best, but the sun was FINALLY out for long periods of time after Clusterflake, so I’m not complaining!

Smitten Kitten Totebag - Finished!

IColorful Cats Totebag‘ve been eying the cat blocks that Elizabeth Hartman has been doing on her blog since she started the quilt along, but wasn’t sure that I wanted to commit to a wall quilt of cat heads in my house.  Once I asked if Good Mews needed any more prizes for their Catsino Night fundraiser, and got an affirmative answer, inspiration struck and I thought they would be purr-fect for a totebag (tip your waitresses!).

I made a total of 18 blocks for the two sides in a mix of polka dot prints.  I used some of my lime houndstooth from my Super Bolt mega-purchase, and a fat quarter of random cat fabric I’ve gotten from somewhere for an interior zipper pocket.

Colorful Cats TotebagTo jazz it up a bit, I also made a zipper pouch to coordinate using the Open Wide pouch tutorial from Noodle-head.

Colorful Cats Totebag
Although I don’t have pictures, I can verify that the totebag will fit one (1) fourteen pound cat.

Sunday Stash - Powering Through

Despite a busy week at work, I’ve managed to finish a couple projects: a disappearing four patch quilt in lap size, and a totebag for zipper pouch for Good Mews’ Catsino Night next week.  The sun it out and my camera battery is charged, so I should be able to get pictures of all of them soon.

  • Used this Week: 13.25 yards
    • 5 yd donated for a project for a friend
    • 2.5 yd for totebag and zipper pouch for raffle prize for Good Mews
    • 5.75 yd for Disappearing Lilac Patch quilt
  • Used year to Date: 69 yards
  • Added this Week: 0 yards
    • Woohoo!
  • Net Used for 2014: 19.5 yards
  • YTD Used for Charity: 32 yards (46% of total used)

See more stash reports at Patchwork Times!