Challenge Progress

I was happy to get this top pieced yesterday for the Modern Quilt Guild challenge using these fun Michael Miller prints. It's only 24 X 28".

The Rhode Island MQG gave us a fat eighth of 5 prints plus one solid. What was left over from piecing the front was pieced into the back, slice and insert style. I bought the coordinating green print last week on a quilty road trip with Julia.

Julia has been taking crafty breaks from cleaning her room and playing with fun charm squares. She's debating whether to piece them into 1/2 rectangle squares or 4-patches.

This time of year, I succumb to Peony Envy! Driving around town, I've been known to yell and point out all the peonies. I lucked out this year and have a few gorgeous blooms of my own. The biggest one was growing out from under a pine tree. Maybe I should sprinkle pine needles around my other plants.

Have a beautiful, colorful weekend!

WIP Wednesday

 It was a week of starts, but no finishes. Starting is more exciting for me than finishing!

Today, I took a paper piecing class with my friend, Jackie Kunkel. She presented a trunk show to Ninigret Quilters last night and taught a cactus flower table runner class today. I got four units done. I'm hoping that my curved seams will improve as I do the remaining 12 units. I have some puckering, but it's not bad enough to rip out (in my opinion).

I started working on my challenge piece for the current Modern Quilt Guild fabric challenge. I designed it in EQ7 and I'm pleased with how it's coming together. It will be on the back burner for a little while as I work on the AMB blog hop piece.

 

Julia is home from school for the summer and already has her own WIP. She picked up some charm packs from Jackie last night and started playing. 

 

Also on the short list, I have another prom dress to hem for a friend. This is not something I would want to do for a living, but I'm happy to help when I can. If you have a dress to hem this season, take a peek at my tutorial. It works with sheer fabrics, too.

If you haven't already done so yet, jump back to my post from Monday and enter the Orange Giveaway for Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day.

 

Time to surf!

How low can you go?

I was reading blogs last night and came across Amanda Jean's low volume mini. I loved it so much, I immediately dug out my pile of low volume charms from a swap last year. That was at 8:30pm, while watching the Les Miserable 25th anniversary concert on PBS.

Once I had selected some charms (25, to be exact), I figured I might as well start cutting.

Then I had to piece some sample blocks. They were so quick, I kept piecing!

I texted Julia a picture of the completed top at 11:00pm. I couldn't stop there!

At 16" X 20", it was easy to grab a low volume fat quarter for the back. There were some batting pieces laying around from earlier in the day.

The free motion orange peel quilting was quick, but far from perfect. The thread broke a couple of times, which was just annoying. I think I need to change the needle.

I headed back to the stash for binding at 11:30pm and chose a tiny check in citron.

(I chose two more charms, folded in half and stitched into the top corners to hold a dowel for hanging.)

I sat down to watch David Letterman and hand-stitched the binding to the back.

The final stitch was taken at 12:30am, watching the Dropkick Murphys, not a low volume group!

My version is lower volume than Amanda Jean's, but I really like it.

Have you ever been so obsessed about a quilt that you couldn't sleep until it was done?

Catch-up Monday

 It's been so long since I've done a real blog post, I feel like I need to catch up before I can move forward. Please bear with me!

I finished two small quilts on Veteran's Day. I'm really happy to be enjoying both of them this Christmas.

Quilt #1 is the Red & White quilt from Sew Many Ways' red & white charm swap. It's living on the back of the couch, and I've cuddled up with it a few times already. It doesn't have a cute name yet. Any suggestions?

Quilt #2 was a Pat Sloan quilt along that started with a charm pack, and is now hanging on the kitchen wall. I call this one Charming Christmas.

Debbie convinced me to try making donuts, so when I saw a donut pan for 50% off online somewhere, I had to buy it! They were yummy, but really just donut-shaped muffins.  I'll need to try again.

 I was taking pics of something else and spied this little Dresden ornament that my mother made many years ago. Cute, huh?

It's hanging on our very first artificial tree that we picked out at Home Depot on Black Friday. I always used to take pics of the kids at the tree farm, standing next to the tree we had chosen, so I felt like I had to continue the tradition!

Pete turned 17 last week and immediately enlisted in the United States Marine Corps! We are so proud of him for making this commitment to serve our country. His birthday gift from his recruiter was the 19-page SF-86 form!

In this "Only in Rhode Island" story, Pete and his friend, Ryan, met James Woods backstage at a Dr. John concert. The kids mostly know him from his voice role on Family Guy. 

"Oo! Piece of candy!"

 I'm not sure if I've mentioned that I'm on Threadbias now. You can follow me here. I was motivated to finish those two quilts because I joined a UFO group. Thank you, Threadbias friends!

Cora's Quilt

 Yay!  A completed quilt!

I brought it outside as soon as the label was done.  It was a gorgeous day, but the light was a little harsh.  Some day, I'll learn how to use my new camera!

It is for a new baby in my husband's office.  

(The baby doesn't work in the office, her dad does!)

Her name is Cora Mae.  Isn't that sweet?

 

 Yesterday was quilting/binding/labeling day.

 I used my go-to loopy quilting pattern.  It took a little over an hour and 3 bobbins to quilt the whole thing.  It's so crinkly and snuggly after washing!

Focus fabric: Riley Blake, Happier by Deena Rutter

5" charms from stash and 4x5 fabric swap

 34" x 51"

 Two years ago, I made a quilt for Cora's big brother, Jude.  It was fun to go back and see how much my own "little" boy has grown in two years!  He's away at camp this week, or I would have had him hold up this new quilt for me.  He's still pretty goofy!

Lucky Charms Part 3

My mother and nephew were here for pizza last night. When my mother arrived, I was cutting out the fusible applique shapes. Here's how our conversation went.

Mom: What are you working on now?

Me: It's an online sew along.

Mom: What's it for?

Me: I don't know. I just liked it.

Mom: Don't you have other quilts you should be working on?

Me: Yes.

Mom: It looks like Christmas. She's using blue?

Me: Well, it's a charm square project, so you use the fabrics in the pack, not necessarily blue.

Mom: Well there is blue on the pattern. Bill is home and he brought you flowers.

Me: Oh.

Mom: It's not your birthday or anything.

Me: Uh huh.

So, my husband a place called the Rose Shack on his way home from work. Every once in a while, he stops to get me some, usually on a Friday. I guess he loves me!

And, yes, I have a list of other projects that I need to start, mostly for family:
a wedding ring quilt (didn't buy the fabric or pattern yet)
a baby quilt (waiting for Dr. Seuss collection)
a commissioned tree skirt (need to buy more fabric)

It looks like I'll be buying fabric this week. Yay!

Charms In Progress

I've been working on Pat Sloan's Lucky Charms Sew Along. The sections are pieced and the center is waiting for applique. My charm pack was small, so I had to pull from my stash to supplement. So far, so good!

Ready for the next step!

A case, a pouch and some charms

I received my needle case from my swap partner and it is lovely! The talented Sylvia hand painted a gorgeous rose that she embelished with thread. I will use it for all my portable sewing projects. Thank you, Sylvia!

I'm not afraid of zippers anymore! I used Noodlehead's gathered clutch tutorial, with some added advice from the Flickr swap discussion boards. I will be testing out various zippered bag patterns to show my nephew's fiancee. She asked me to make cosmetics bags for her bridesmaids, so please let me know if you have a favorite small bag pattern.


Pat Sloan started a quilt along today called Lucky Charms. You can find it on her website and on the Old Red Barn Quilt Along Flickr group. Jackie gave me this charm pack the last time we got together and it will be perfect for this little project.


It's going to be a beautiful weekend here, so we'll be at the beach!