Monthly Archives: May 2015

Sunday Stash - Bits and Pieces

Sunday Stash

This week, I finished the Polkadotamus quilt and got on with piecing two tops, the Bonnie & Camille and a smaller charity top.  Smaller top is below:

I also realized that while I posted the picture of the 1 Hour Basket last week, I didn’t account for that fabric in my spreadsheet last week. Bonus!

  • Used this Week: 6 yards
    • 5 yd for Polkadotamus quilt
    • 0.5 yd for secret project
    • 0.5 yd for 1 Hour Basket parts
  • Used year to Date: 131 yards
  • Added this Week: 0 yards
    • Woohoo!
  • Net Used for 2015: 60.25 yards
  • YTD Used for Charity: 65.75 yards (50% of total used)

See more Stash Reports at Patchwork Times!

HtbaS - Episode 229

I talk about all the finished project pictures that got posted, end of school year happenings, and give a short book review on a YA series.

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WIP Wednesday: I Remembered!

WIP Wednesdays

I should probably just quit while I’m ahead since I finally remembered WIP Wednesday on an actual Wednesday. Amazing times, my friends. Of course the week I remember is the week I can’t show what I’m actually working on since it’s a long-term gift for someone I know reads the blog. Alas. Instead, here’s a picture of a recent finish:

After hearing Tanesha talk about, and knowing it was a free pattern at Craftsy, I gave the 1 Hour Basket a shot.  It took me 43 minutes, but bear in mind that I’ve made A LOT of bags and baskets over time.  I saved the most time by fusing my exterior fabrics to the fleece, and then laying them right sides together and cutting the 3″ gusset notches before sewing.  This also enabled me to stay stitch the end of each stitch line, which might otherwise unravel if you sew and then cut the notches. Ditto for the interior - lay them RST, cut the notches, and then sew the pieces.

FYI, the basket itself can hold a 6 pack of Diet Coke, as seen above.  This is a 5th grade teacher gift, and her favorites are Diet Coke and milk chocolate.  I also included a gift certificate to her favorite restaurant.

If you want a slightly more challenging basket pattern, which is not difficult, but a little more involved than the 1 Hour Basket, I recommend Noodlehead’s Divided Basket.

See more WIPs at Lee’s blog!

Americana Quilt - Finished!

Finished Projects

I put the final stitches on my project from Charlotte Angotti’s “Surprise Yourself” class a bit ago, and decided to be Fancy and use wool batting in it. Since I made it for my mom for “decorating” purposes, I thought the wool would be a good choice since it does not have as much of a memory for folds as a cotton batting would.

Americana Quilt

The premise of Charlotte’s class is that you make a bunch of units without really planning and then figure out how to pull them together. You can imagine how this process goes over with a planner like me. Let’s see, here’s a list of things I dislike in quilting:

  • Leftover bits
  • Feeling like I’ve wasted fabric by having leftover bits.

So my design evolved to make use of pretty much every four patch, HST, and tri-rec unit we made.

Americana Quilt

FYI, wool batting is very foofy. The cats had a great time playing with the bits sticking out from under the top after it was sandwiched.

The other good thing about a foofy batting (technical term is having “loft”), is that it shows off quilting really well. So, you know, no pressure! I did a mix of feathers, orange peel, and some meadering in the background area.

Americana Quilt

All of that quilting is easy to see on the back, which has my one leftover block and some pieces from the fabric my mom picked out for the quilt.

Americana Quilt

Eagle’s Pride Quilt of Valor - Finished

Finished Projects

A bit timely on the finishes this week since it’s Memorial Day and the perfect time to think about making or finishing a Quilt of Valor.

Quilt of ValorThis quilt started, as I’m sure you can tell, with the center panel. I had enough red, cream, and blue fabric to just keep adding borders until it got big enough. I like to think this is in the spirit of the original quilters who made quilts out of whatever they had.

I’ll get this donated to my local QoV chapter shortly so it can be given to a soldier returning from duty.  I hope you all can take a minute today to thank the service men and women who fought, and continue to fight, to protect our freedom.

 

 

 

Scrapitude Scrap-in-a-Box - Finished!

Finished Projects,

I ventured forth at my own risk last month and finished the Scrap-In-A-Box top on my own before Charlotte released the last clue.  I’m pleased that mine didn’t come off too far from her own design.  I did 2″ sashing that finished at 1.5″ instead, and seem to be missing the 1 1/2″ squares for the cornerstones (and had the 1 1/2″ HST units in surplus).  It worked out because I just sewed two of the HST units together to make a square for the cornerstones.

Scrapitude Scrap in a Box

I hate being the sort of quilter that makes a good looking quilt and then spends the next 30 minutes telling you where all the mistakes are. So I’ll only spend 30 seconds: when I sewed one of the units wrong, it worked out okay for the main blocks (making them more “blocky” and square-ish), but I didn’t replicate the mistake on the setting blocks.  It’s not that obvious to the quilt muggles, though, so I still like it.

Scrapitude Scrap in a Box

Since it’s going to a teacher, I was entirely on board with using the Sweetwater math fabric for the inner border.

Of course it’s a modern quilt with this pieced back:

Scrapitude Scrap in a Box

 

Now I just need to label it and wrap it up!

Sunday Stash - Pinkalicious

Finished Projects, Sunday Stash,

This week, I got caught up on my Harry Potter blocks and tallied up “Pinkalicious” in the finish column, and I’ve got Polkadotamus under the needle.

Harry Potter BOD block 1 frillion.

And now, Pinkalicious! I stuck with straight line quilting since it was a fairly modern aesthetic.

Pinkalicious

Pinkalicious

  • Used this Week: 3.5 yards
    • 3.5 yd for Pinkalicious quilt
  • Used year to Date: 125 yards
  • Added this Week: 0 yards
    • Woohoo!
  • Net Used for 2015: 54.25 yards
  • YTD Used for Charity: 65.75 yards (53% of total used)

See more Stash Reports at Patchwork Times!

HtbaS - Episode 228

This week I talk about making more “made fabric”, what I got done at my retreat and sew-in, prepping for the ECQG quilt show, and what’s coming up in the next few weeks and summer!

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WIP Whoopsday: I Really Did Think About It Yesterday

WIP Wednesdays,

I swear, multiple times I thought I should post WIP Wednesday yesterday, and alas, got the end of the day with a glass of wine and the Survivor finale and bupkus. So here’s what I’ve been working on.

Catching up on my Harry Potter POD blocks from the last two weeks, and working on this week’s.

Harry Potter POD blocks Harry Potter POD blocks
I put together some pink “made fabric” at my retreat last Saturday, and turned it from a hideous blob into something kind of cool.  Here is my hideous blob of pink fabric scraps sewn together (apologies for crappy lighting since I took photo at night):

And then I chopped it up, because there is no ugly fabric, just fabric not cut small enough. Add some sashing, and voila!

I’ll get this sewn together as a top at my sew-in tonight.  I’m thinking that I’ll do some straight line quilting on it to keep it modern feeling, and possibly use lime green thread for some contrast.  I might stick with white, though.

Sunday Stash - Polkadotamusness

Sunday Stash

This week was fairly productive with the quilt retreat I had on Saturday.  Before then, I finished my Sidekick tote (pics coming when it stops raining).  I prepped a couple projects, and managed to almost finish a the Polkadotamus baby quilt top and complete 4 zipper pouches. I also worked on the applique for 2 of 6 blocks to finish Bonnie & Camille, and sewed together some pinks scraps for some “made” fabric.

Polkadotamus is the same pattern as Frilly, but with applique in the middle of the plain blocks. It’s a commission quilt for a friend’s new grand-niece or -nephew.

Then today, I got industrious and finished the final border for the Quilt of Valor I’ve been puttering on, and quilted and bound it.

  • Used this Week: 7.25 yards
    • 0.75 yd for Sidekick Tote
    •  1 yd for zipper pouches
    • 5.5 yd for QoV panel quilt
  • Used year to Date: 121.5 yards
  • Added this Week: 0 yards
    • Woohoo!
  • Net Used for 2015: 50.75 yards
  • YTD Used for Charity: 62.25 yards (51% of total used)

See more Stash Reports at Patchwork Times!