WIP Wednesday

Yesterday was a soggy, rainy day. I have to force myself to be productive on days like that. I'd much rather spend the day on the couch with my laptop.  

I did manage to get two Wild & Goosey blocks done. That brings me to 20 out of 25 I need for my wall hanging. This riot of color was the perfect antidote for the crummy weather.

Quilting the Farmer's Engineer's Wife is at the top of my priority list. I have to add one more large piece to the back, then it can be basted. I will be trying Sharon Shamber's method of using boards to keep the parts square and flat. I haven't decided yet if I'll thread- or pin-baste.

In the finished column since my last WIP post, I have added another QOV for a cousin 

and a graduation gift for a friend's daughter.

I'm participating in the modern fabric postcard swap on Instagram. These are the 4x6" postcards I will be dropping in the mail later today. It was fun playing with the color and fabric choices of the recipients.

 I printed 4" New York Beauty blocks from EQ7 and added 2" of extra background on one side. I wasn't sure if I could piece such a small curve, but it wasn't too bad. I pinned a lot!

Have a great day!

Lea's Graduation Quilt

 I can finally show you the second stacked squares quilt. Remember the blue one I made for my cousin? The red one is for Lea, who will be heading to Catholic University in a few weeks.

Lea's mom, Janet, is a good friend of mine. Way back in February, we went shopping for fabric during a snow storm. She had originally considered a t-shirt quilt, but Lea wasn't ready for her shirts to be cut up. The lone shirt that we included used to be her brother's. We had fun shopping for reds, whites, blacks, grays and some fun cardinals.

A few extra  blocks were added to the back.

The quilt was finished in time for graduation, but it wasn't gifted until last week at her graduation party.

The quote on the label is a song lyric that was supposed to be including in Lea's graduation speech, but it got cut in the last edit. It still works.

 

Janet and Lea wore blue to coordinate with the party colors. I'm the short one in pink.

WIP Wednesday

 I only have a few minutes, so I'll quickly report on three finishes this week.

These fabric boxes will be filled with graduation gifts for my friend's daughter and her friends. If you haven't tried making one yet, check out my tutorial here.

I stitched the label onto the graduation quilt today. Here's a peek at the back. Full reveal after it has been gifted.

And the liturgical stole is done, too. This design was actually plan B. More pics soon.

All deadlines have been met, so I can start sewing for fun soon. That's not to say that these projects weren't fun, but you know what I mean.

WIP Wednesday

 Hello, everyone! I'm still here, just not sewing very much these days. My part-time job is going well. I don't know how people find time to quilt after working full-time. This job thing is really cramping my quilty style!

I needed to buckle down last weekend and make progress on this Stacked Squares graduation quilt for a friend. I picked up a fresh box of safety pins yesterday at my LQS that will be closing soon. (I could cry!) All my old pins are tired up in another basted quilt. It was quicker to buy new pins than to finish that other quilt. Anyway, the batting is in the dryer to relax the folds, then I'll be ready to baste this one.

By the way, by cousin received his blue Stacked Squares. His latest prognosis is quite good and he's hoping to attend a family reunion in August. Thank God!

 

There's another deadline looming on a project I haven't even started to cut out yet. It's something I've never made before (a liturgical stole), so I'm procrastinating. I'm running out of time, though.

 

I've been slowly making progress on the scrappy spool blocks. I've been piecing them as leaders and enders. 

 

I've completed 27 of the 48 blocks and my mitered corners are improving.

Wednesday will always be a day off for me, so we'll meet here for weekly updates!

Richard's Stacked Squares

This quilt is being shipped to my cousin today. I'm hoping it will bring him some comfort through cancer treatments. Cancer sucks.

So, back in February, I went fabric shopping with a friend. We bought the same focus fabric- mine in blue, hers in red. I knew it would be perfect with the stacked squares pattern from the Moda Bake Shop. I didn't have pre-cuts, but even with extra cutting, the top came together really quickly. Like two days. I know I get a little obsessive when I'm piecing. It's my happy place!

The quilting had to wait until after the wedding and baby quilts were done. The free motion quilting design compliments the pattern perfectly. 

The back is mostly the focus fabric: iHaus from Cloud 9 Fabrics. The solid blue is Kona Pacific, the dark gray is Kona Charcoal, the taupe is not Kona. The other prints are an assortment of fat quarters from stash. There are a couple of prints with flowers, but I hope it's not too girly.

Bound in charcoal. Labelled, washed, and ready to go. Yeah, this photo was taken before washing. It's crinkly and cozy now.

Stacked Squares

60" X 76" (after washing)

Started 3/31/15 

Completed 5/10/15

Pieced on Singer Featherweight 221

Quilted on Bernina 153

 Working time 5 days