WIP Wednesday: Excuses. Excuses.

I have a million excuses as to why I have been so quiet over here.

Working full time and children make up most of my excuses.

 

I was able to sneak away on Saturday to join in on drop-in sewing at my favorite LQS.

I spent most of my time jibber-jabbering, but was able to finish paper piecing half of my star:

I found this free template at Six White Horses. She has some awesome paper piecing templates.

This template has been slightly tricky-

My biggest problem has been cutting the right size pieces of fabric for my template.

It should be easier on the second half.

 

I would love to sit down to my sewing machine sometime this week.

It might have to wait until Friday night.

 

I HAVE to get my squares cut for my Amy Butler Charm Swap.

I am the queen of meeting deadlines.

I hope to get them sent out to Rachel on Friday during my lunch hour. 

 

Another WIP continues to be my Lilly Pilly quilt.

She is waiting patiently to be sandwiched, basted, quilted, and bound.

We'll get there...

 

Have a wonderful evening, everyone.

I'll be linking up with Lee.

 

 

Another Friday Finish!

Say What?!

That's right, for the second Friday in a row, I have a finish to share.

(We might want to mark this on the calendar, it's not going to happen again for a while- lol)

This is my quilt that I made with the Scrappy Stash Quilt Along hosted by Jennifer at Ellison Lane Quilts last fall.

I had a strong start with this quilt - and was working hard to have it finished in time to be part of the link party. But, being 8 months pregnant at the time, I developed complications that kept me on bed rest until the birth of my #2- weeks after the QAL was finished.

So even though I was not eligible to win any of the fabulous prizes that were handed out, I still ended up with this fabulous quilt.

This backing did give me a little grief. See that 5 inch strip along the right side? One should always make sure her math is correct and that the backing is wide enough for the quilt top- BEFORE she spray bastes it together. :)

I step back and look at this quilt and am so happy with its outcome.

This quilt was made 100% from my stash. The gray solid was actually a 90's mottled black and gold print that my mom handed down to me.

 I am so happy that I flipped this around and used the back - gives a much more modern feel, for sure!

 

This is also my first attempt at machine paper piecing. I drafted my wonky flying geese on freezer paper- it was WAY easier than I thought it would be.

I even figured out the math to make the triangles to set my log cabin blocks on point

 (All you need is Google and a Calculator)

I guess I feel that this quilt is a sign of growth for me as a quilter. And the finish is a sign that I can find some balance between my busy young family and sewing time.

 

I did back and forth quilting lines within the log cabin blocks. With the geese border, I wanted to create a sense of movement, so I added what I felt was a "breezy"quilting design.

I just love this luscious texture that I got after the washer and dryer.

 

I also have a confession: This is the first time I've ever used a cotton batting. I can totally see and feel the difference, and love the results.

 

Have I used the word 'love' alot in this post?

Guess that's why Melly + Quilts = Love.

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

 

I'm linking up with Pat Sloan for Show and Tell Thursday and with Quokka Quilts for TGIFF!

 

First Quilt Finish of 2013!

I finally have a finish for 2013!

This is my Valentine quilt that I started back in 2009.

The quilt top has been sitting in my basket these last three four years, just waiting to be quilted.

This pattern for this quilt is called "Celebrations."
I bought it at one of my favorite quilt shops in the area, The Quilters Garden. I believe that it is designed by someone 'in-house' at the quilt shop.

AND... I did actually finish this quilt before Valentine's Day!!

 

Speaking of Valentine's Day- I did manage to get my sweet #2 all fancied up for the holiday. I stitched a few rosettes together, added buttons, and glued them to an elastic headband.

Then I dug through my stash and came up with this darling tiered skirt.

I used this tutorial  by Makerland.

(There is a little math involved if you are using the US measurement system)

She's going to be 3 months old tomorrow, can you believe it?

 

Anyway, the lovely folks at Riley Blake posted their BOM video this week, and I was able to assemble my paper pieced block for February:

I am loving the monochromatic look on this heart.

It did take a little thought when planning out my paper piecing.

It was a good opportunity to whip out the colored pencils:

A couple firsts with this block:

1. I used the fusible interface method of applique.

2. I hand stitched my applique to the foundation block.

Super easy!

So now my January and February blocks hang out next to each other on my design wall.
I totally love this mystery block of the month idea.
So excited to see what block will show up next.

And I'm totally loving the machine paper piecing right now.
I might be loving it so much that I might take the Farmer's Wife plunge.
But more on that later.

I hope you all have a wonderful night.

I'm linking up with the lovely Pat Sloan for Show and tell.
And with Vickey with Gingersnap quilts, who is hosting TGIFF this week.

 

 

 

Sunday Snippets!

Just snippets of the weekend tonight.

What a wonderful weekend it was!

My sisters came to visit.

I had a great balance of productivity and relaxation.

I found this little guy at a craft show Saturday morning. I completely fell in love with this vintage planter turned pin cushion.

What a fabulous idea! 

I had the opportunity to sit and work on some hand stitching. Hoping to finish this project before Thanksgiving!

My camera died before I could get to my design wall... BUT the quilt top for my scrappy stash QAL is assembled.

I took my freezer paper and drew out my wonky geese paper piecing that will be bordering my log cabins.

 I cannot wait to get this finished!

I haven't been this excited about a project in such a long time!

Have a wonderful evening everyone!

WIP Wednesday: I've returned!

After my little week and a half break, I've finally returned!

A crazy work week, a cold, and this whole 8 months pregnant thing can really put a damper on my blogging!

My WIP continues to be my Scrappy Quilt Along. All of my blocks are assembled, and I have sketched out a layout. I am determined to use my stash for this whole quilt. I wanted to stick with a modern theme- so I picked a gray mottled piece that I had buried in there.

The fabric makes me think of granite, with black and gold flecks. I'm not quite sold on it - so I flipped the fabric over and got a mostly solid gray with light black flecks.

I WELCOME your thoughts and opinions on this!! 

 My mom and her 'quilting cronies' - a more traditional quilting bunch- prefer the front of the fabric.

 I just can't decide...

Then I tried my hand at machine paper piecing. I have an idea for the outer border of this quilt - so I played around with some wax paper and scraps:

 It was really easy, but I have a hard time keeping the grain right.

Are any of you experienced with machine paper piecing? Is grain something I should worry about when doing this?

My little guy automatically adopted the above piece as his own. He had an absolute meltdown when mommy took her flying geese back. (Life is hard when you are 14 months old.)

So, because this piece was practice, I Made a pillow for him:

 Of course, now that I made him a pillow, he hasn't looked twice at it...

 

I also got a package of 7" zippers... will be great for Christmas goodies!

 Check out Zipit for some awesome prices and selections on zippers. They were awesome to work with!

My sisters, mom, and I had our craft show this weekend:

 I made a stack of burp cloths and took my schnibbles and created pom-pons out of them.

 Unfortunately, the shoppers were not in the market for burp cloths on Saturday...

Everything I made was from my stash - so I did not count out of pocket expenses.

The table split 4 ways was $5 per person.

My grand total profit was -$3.

There will always be other craft shows :)

 

Anyway, we had a fun little Halloween. No trick-or-treating this year...

Next year, when mommy is not 8 mos. pregnant, we will all have fun trick-or-treating!

I'm linking up with Lee for WIP Wednesday: 



 

And with Sachiko's Link Party:

  And I made it through Blogtoberfest!  

 

Have a great Halloween Night my friends!