March Along Progress

We are a little over halfway through the month, and since weekly check-ins for March Along have not happened, a halfway point check-in seemed like a good idea.

I did very well for the first 2 weeks, but week 3 I got very busy with life. Between kids events, job interview, church stuff, school volunteering, doctor appointments, dance lessons and then getting sick with the Flu (I think), I was just tired out! Sewing did not appeal.

I am still sick, so I think today I will just read my newest Block magazine for my 15 minutes.

Here are some of my efforts this month.

Pieces cut for making a "Farm Girl Vintage" quilt block.

First round of fabric choices for the quilt pattern test.

Squares cut for quilt pattern test. The light where I sew is not good for photographs. See the photo below for truer colors.

Scraps from the quilt pattern test. They look very different in this light. It is pretty true to the real colors.

Diaper clutch made for a neighbor of my mom's.

Shirt appliqued with a little shamrock for St. Patrick's Day.

St. Patrick's Day outfit with a  rosette on the headband  and an appliqued shamrock on the shirt.

2 of 6 rosettes made for St. Patrick's Day. These went to teachers to pin on their shirts.

Drawstring bag made to carry a camping sleep-mat. Later it will house my yoga mat.

Throwback - when I was a kid, I took clogging lessons. I have recently started taking them again with my sister. It is quite fun and funny. We laugh a lot!

 

Fundraiser Bag

I whipped out this messenger bag in 2 days for a scout fundraiser silent auction on Saturday. I really love how it turned out, aside from an oops with the snap being too low.

I put a key strap inside using the same fabric as the interior pocket (now shown).

Fabrics are:
Floral and red dot: Milk Cow Kitchen (Mary Jane Butters for Moda Fabrics)
Blue: Essential Dots (Moda)
I used this tutorial: http://www.noodle-head.com/2011/03/once-upon-thread-tale-of-peter-rabbit.html,
but sized it up a little, added length to the handle for an adult, added pockets, magnetic snap and key fob. I did not do the pin tucks.

 

Sewing like mad!

It seems that I have been sewing non-stop for the last little while, but I couldn't show any of it. I still can't show some of it. But one fun and new for me project is a tote bag with super cute applique that I have had the privilege to pattern test.
Erin Schlosser of Schlosser Designs created it with Melissa at Iza Pearl Design.


Unfortunately I got hung up in my testing when I went to my thread box for my light blue thread and it was gone! I needed it to quilt the front and back of the bag. The quilting is the last step before assembly. So, my bag was stuck in limbo until I could get to the store for more thread. (And I missed my deadline.)
I got thread today and the plan is to quilt the rest and assemble it tomorrow. But in the meantime, you can see my cutie sassy girl that is appliqued on the front.

Waiting patiently for quilting.

 I have appliqued very little previously and with not very good results when I did. But this time I did awesome! (Except for that dainty little mouth, which had me nearly cursing as I messed it up again and again.) But it turned out alright. She has a cute tie that goes on her neck where the scarf "ties" under her chin. Did I already say super cute? Well, can you blame me?

You can see photos of the full bag and the other tester's bags on Erin's website HERE

The pattern is now up for sale as a PDF download or a hard copy in Erin's shop. 

She has a lot of fun patterns and they are easy to follow. I have made the Zoe Messenger bag

and the Floral Clutch.

I have plans to make a Reversible Grocery Tote soon.
Go check them out!


Another item in the works is a baby quilt for a friend who is the wife of my husband's co-worker. The wives of 5D Robotics all get along great and we get together for movie musical night, birthdays, movie premiers, things like that. 3 of those ladies are expecting babies in March, so we are having a lunch to celebrate the new arrivals on the 18th.
This quilt is for the gal who we know is having a girl. There is also a boy on the way (my sister in law), and a surprise baby.

It is not really "baby" fabric, but it is  pretty. I have been hoarding it for something special. It is Tidbits by Kari Ramsay of Fresh Cut Quilts. By coincidence the pattern is from her too, CrissCross, though I think it is a discontinued one. I have had it for a long time.  I think it was the second printed pattern I ever bought. I am not making the full quilt, just 12 blocks instead of 20 and no borders (probably).
 I messed up the cutting so I was forced into doing the blocks the way you see below, instead of all the florals being on the corners. I think it will be okay. There are green and pinks still to come. This is just the yellow and brown set.



I have not worked on any UFOs since I finished the pillow. But that is okay! :) They are not going anywhere.

Have a great weekend!

 

Winner winner!

I won! And I won again! It must be my lucky, um, week(s). Last week I entered a few podcaster/blogger giveaways during the  Black Friday Sew In, even though I was not actually able to sew that day, because of feeling so horrible.
 I won one of the gorgeous Art Quilt books from Jaye of ArtQuiltmaker.com.

I am thoroughly enjoying this book. I am amazed at how creative and detailed these quilts are. Thanks so much Jaye! (And to her hubby for matching me up with this book.)


The other prize was from Debbie at a Quilter's Table for participating in the Tuesday at the Table link up in November. You should go check it out, because there are some really great things in that link up. Donuts, Cookies, Soup, quilty things and much more.
I won a stack of fat quarters of Joel Dewberry's Notting Hill in the colorway of my choice generously provided by Jennifer of Knotted Thread.  Here is a link to her shop, Where you can get some too!  I picked the poppy colorway.

Image from http://aquilterstable.blogspot.com/2012/11/another-look-and-giveaway.html

Normally I would have jumped right on the Magenta. Those colors are so me! But I decided to expand my horizons and went with the Poppy. I already have a plan in mind for them. :) I have never had a chance to use any of Joel Dewberry's fabrics and I am super excited!
Thanks so much Debbie!

 

Quilt Along Blocks and goodies

I actually got my blocks done for the Beginner's Quilt Along done before the new block was posted this week! Yay! Miss K is potty training which for now means we stay home all day for at least a week. She watched Finding Nemo today so I worked on my blocks. I am terrible at quarter square triangles. They were fine until I had to square them up. You can tell, especially in the bright block, bottom right, that at most of them are squared wrong. But this is about learning so I am okay with it. I will need to practice these though.

BQA 11

BQA 11B

In other news, I got to meet Julie Herman on Saturday at her book signing at Quilt In A Day quilt shop in San Marcos. I completely forgot to take a photo with her. She is very nice and I wish I had not been so distracted by my little one running around the store so I could have taken more time to chat. There were not a lot of people there to attend the signing, but plenty of people shopping. They had a back room where you could buy fabric by the pound! I got a little less than a pound and spent about $10.00 on it. The yellow is about 1/2 a yard (it has a seam in it), the blue with red dots (Michael Miller is about 3/4 yard, the white with blue and red dots (also Michael Miller) is just a bit over a yard and the batik is a little bigger than a fat quarter. The alphabet fat quarter is the one Miss K chose for me to make something for her.

I am really excited about the book. It has great patterns in it and the instructions seem really well written. We shall see when I have to actually use them, but it looks promising.
I also signed up to do the Fat Quarter Shop's Designer Mystery Block of the Month. I got 3 blocks at once since it started in June, which hit my "Mad Money" rather hard, especially with my quilt shop visit this weekend. Now I have some number crunching to do. :)

I hope you all have a creative and great day!

 

I'm a winner!

The Henry Glass Blog, The Sewing Cabinet, had a giveaway a couple of weeks ago and I won! They sent a BUNCH of this really cute Halloween fabric by Debbie Taylor-Kerman called Delightfully Frightful.

Yardage galore!

Panel 1

Panel 2

This is going to be so fun to play with! Thanks Henry Glass Fabrics!!

WIP Wednesday: February/March

Not a lot happening with the UFO pile, and I keep adding projects. :)
Such as...

 
I have plans to start a new quilt with the above fabric that I may or may not be taking the class for in May, so I am not officially adding that one to the list yet.

 
My Dad's birthday gift is probably not going to make it for his birthday at the end of March but I am going to try. He is getting a Rocky and Bullwinkle quilt. We used to watch this with him when we were kids and when I saw this fabric I knew I had to make something for him. Yardage was scarce (not that I looked very hard) but the Fat Quarter Shop had a fat quarter bundle and half a yard of the white. I tried to think of something to make with this fabric that he would actually use and came up with an apron (he is the cook in the family), but making one with fat quarters did not appeal to me, so he is getting a lap quilt. And I am probably going to strip quilt it for time saving. I am not going to use the daisy fabrics, and I supplemented with some other fat quarters, in yellow, and white with black. I have a sort of plan sketched out and hopefully I can make it work. I am not so great at math.  :)

I recently started using my earbuds with my iPhone, even though they really hurt my ears. I have been listening to the History Quilter podcasts (http://www.historyquilter.com/) and I can't hear well enough without them when I am sewing. I also put one in one ear to listen while I drive. (A bit naughty, probably, but I can't hear them otherwise.) So I want a pouch to keep them in so they don't get lost in the abyss of my purse. I plan on using the tutorial here.

I have really enjoyed Susan's podcasts. She talks about a wide variety of quilting topics historically speaking and also shares about food and her life in general. I like how real she seems. I have no other experience with podcasts and as soon as I am caught up on hers I will be branching out.

And now, back to topic...

This has been my most recent Work in Progress

. 

I finished up one of 2 zipper pouches and was really pleased with how it turned out. (I posted about them here.) I am hoping the second one goes well too. I plan on finishing the second one this week. I just have assembly left.

I finished hand quilting the In-Spur-Ation quilt, acquired fabric for binding, and there it sits.
 Note to self (and you all): Remove painters tape used to hold down quilt for basting immediately after it is basted. Yes, I left the tape on the whole 18 months I worked on it. NOT a good idea. And actually I probably won't use tape again. I don't think it helped a whole lot.
 
I did get a back made for the table topper, but I have since put that aside, because the table was dismantled and the TV moved to an end table. I still plan on practicing my free motion quilting on it. It just became less of a priority.


I also bought some yarn because my daughter is sure she can teach me to crochet. Never mind that 2 other people have tried. I can't crochet. Did I mention that I hate touching yarn?  Stay tuned. :)

Here is a little summary of some of my projects and the state they are in.

WIP Summary


Completed tops hangin’ out:
Sliced Coins (I have fabric for a back, or it may actually be a back. I can't remember.)
Neutral Mediterranean (no back, I think)
Table topper to put under my TV (back is present and accounted for)

In Progress:
Zipper pouch
1 special doll quilt
4 vintage sheet doll quilts
Binding the In-Spur-Ation quilt (have fabric, need to make the binding)
Rocky and Bullwinkle Quilt

No progress in 30+ days (UFOs):
Advent Calendar
Tree Skirt
Cherry Sweet Road to Ireland – quilted & needs to be bound
Sherbet – quilted & needs to be bound
Bliss – Needs borders
Block of the Month - sashing et al.
Hot Wheels - finish the plan find the black fabric
Skill Builder QA - Put on long term hold. I just don't have time for it right now. I think I will catch up my WIPS before I start again.
MOTP QA - sashing
SuperNova - make more than 1 block!
Very Hungry Caterpillar
+ a few more...

Need to start:
T-shirt quilt
earbud pouch
2 Sliced coins
Dishmat


This month's stats:
Completed projects -
a bunch of dish towels
1 place mat
3 travel sized pillowcases
1 pin cushion
1 Zipper pouch
2 stationary sets (papercrafting, not sewing)

New Projects:
3



I'm linking up at Lee's Freshly Pieced blog. Go check it out!

It came!

This picture does not really do this fabric justice. The light is terrible. :P
This is Good Fortune by Kate Spain for Moda (at least it is some of the line). I ordered it from  Burgundy Buttons.

I love them in person as much as I did on the computer screen. The bamboo is WAY lighter than I expected so I am glad I got the dark floral to use as an alternate. The ones with the orangey/coral will probably not be used in this quilt.
I don't know if I can wait for May to cut into this. Especially since I spent some of next month's fabric allowance, that was earmarked for class fees on fat quarters for my Dad's quilt today.
Since I was in the area this morning, I started the 2012 San Diego Cruisin' Quilters Quilt Run at Quilt in a Day in San Marcos. I won a pattern while I was there. I really should not have spent money, but I was short on fabric for my Dad's birthday present so I did. And now I don't think I will have enough left in my budget for the class fee. I have been SOOO good with my mad money saving to make this quilt and take this class. I have total buyers remorse for the purchases today, even if it is for my Dad.
But there is nothing to be done about it now, so I will move on and work on my quilts.

Ah, I love that fabric!

New Fabric

Have you seen Good Fortune?

Image from http://stores.burgundybuttons.com/-strse-4324/Good-Fortune-Fat-Quarter/Detail.bok

(Click here for the pdf to see the whole line) 

It is a fairly new fabric line from Kate Spain for Moda. I stumbled across it while perusing Burgundy Buttons for fabric to make the Come What May quilt by Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts. I am hoping to take her class in May, so I am collecting what I need over the next few months to ease the hit on the budget.
Good Fortune has a fresh color palette for me to try. I am usually drawn to the coral/orange and yellow colors that are in this line, but in the spirit of trying new things, I chose to keep with just the purples and blues. I might have added some green too, but I don't remember.
When my fabric arrives I will post pictures of what I chose. I hadn't planned on sticking with one line for this quilt, but online shopping makes mixing and matching hard. I think I will be happy with my choices though.





I liked my shopping experience on Burgundy Buttons. There prices are really good, and their selection was great. I loved that most all of the fabrics I clicked on had a link to the pdf of the whole line.
I just got notified via email that my order has shipped. Can't wait to see it in person!


*(This was not a paid or solicited post for anyone mentioned here. I just wanted to share.)

New goodies!

I had a rockin' week when it came to mail.
First came my fabulous rainbow of hexies from Beth at A Wandering Minstrel I, also known as Threads 'n' Patches.

Photo from Wand'ring Minstrel's Flickr Photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/sonic_echo/

(I had to borrow her picture due to technical issues here.)
 Then I got the Reunion Layer Cake I won from Elizabeth at Don't Call Me Betsy, when she did her birthday giveaway. It is a really cool line. I need to think of something really great to make with it. It came from Pink Castle Fabrics.

Picture from http://www.dontcallmebetsy.com/2011/12/so-this-is-what-31-feels-like.html

(Another borrowed picture.)

Then I got the goodies I ordered to make a surprise for my Dad's birthday. We used to watch Rocky and Bullwinkle with him when we were kids. I had to get this fabric because it reminded me of him.

(Sorry for the lame picture. Like I said, technical issues. I had to take this with my phone and email it to myself. Blogging from my phone is not going well.)


I also got the pattern Come What May that just came out from Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts.
I hope to take the class this May in San Marcos at the Quilt in a Day shop.Getting the pattern was step one. I have 4 more months to spread out spending my mad money on my class fee and getting the supplies.