Weekend Check In

So here we are, 10 pm on Sunday night.

Seriously, where did my time go??

 

Because of working 12 hour shifts, I actually had a four day weekend.

So during nap time, I rocked out in my sewing room.

 

I finished my February Globetrotting Block of the month, "Venice":

Love the 'Me and My Sister' black and white print in the center:

 

I also put in quite a bit of work on my honey's Civil war Quilt:

I actually put in some serious work on this bad boy.

I finished attaching my square in a square blocks.

Made the 2 inch square borders and added the 1 inch borders.

 

Only four more borders to go...

 

But between the 8 star blocks and the 48 flying geese, I have ALOT of piecing left to do.

So it will remain my work in progress.

 

The sun was shining so brightly here in South East Michigan this weekend, so I took the lighting opportunity and grabbed a few shots of some quilts you have not seen yet.

 

-These were my finishes late last summer-

 

First off, my cop-out Riley Blake block of the month quilt:

(I copped out after the April block)

 

But I totally adore the monochromatic-ness of it.

And, you can barely see it in the pics, but the fabric has sparkles as well... LOVE.

 

And my orphan block quilt:

 

This quilt actually contains orphan blocks from myself, my mom and my aunt.

 

I always think of a farm when I look at this quilt.

You have the split rail fence, the houses, barns, geese, pond, stream, silo, windmill, furrows...

 

You see all that, right??

 

Everyone enjoy your evening!

Olive Progress

I finally had some time tonight to sit down and sew.

 

Between potty training with the toddler and a virus with the baby, this mama has been waaaay too exhausted to sew.

 

I finished cutting out my Mod Olives pieces:

 

 Cutting out these bad boys wasn't hard at all.

 

But...

I guess I should have made some sort of practice piece with my Quick Curves ruler before I jumped right in sewing the Mod Olives pattern.

This being my first time using the ruler, I don't know if this pattern is totally geared for a beginner.

 

But I ripped a few stitches and used ALOT of steam from my iron and got my first six blocks done:

 

And this means I'm ahead of the 4 block a week schedule- Sweet!!

 

It wasn't until after I was pressing my finished blocks that I started to see these little puckers in my solid fabric. 

 

I have to figure out how to get rid of those...

or I'm REALLY hoping that some free motion quilting will forgive those little puckers.

Another little project that is ongoing is my husband's civil war quilt:

I've been working on this quilt since earlier this summer. I get really bored with these little 4 inch squares, so I do a little at a time.

The top five rows are all sewn together, The bottom five are a work in progress.

Once these blocks are all together, then I can start adding pieced borders.

 

I do feel like I was making economy block before they were cool. ;)

 

These little blocks have been rearranged more than once on the design wall.

 

She just wants to help with daddy's quilt.

 

This kid loves her fabric. 

 

Can't imagine where she gets that from!

 

Have a great night everyone!

A little Out of My Norm...

This summer marked our fourth year in our home. It was when we moved from our tiny one bedroom apartment into our own 'expansive' (1050 sq. ft) home that I really got serious about quilting.

 

Since then, my husband has been asking for a quilt. Sure, I made him a quilt while we were still in college together. But my skills have evolved (tremendously) since then. On one of our (okay - MY) trips to the quilt store, he took a liking to the Civil War reproduction fabrics, and has wanted a quilt made from reproduction fabrics since then.

 

So it's been pushed off and pushed off for the last four years... There has been quite a few distractions: other quilts, two babies, and the fact that I am TOTALLY not interested in reproduction fabrics. But, I have collected fat quarters and scraps of civil war fabric and pattern ideas. I may have been completely uninspired, but I wanted to make this quilt for my husband, who does so much for me.

We finally settled on a square-in-a-square block for design.

 

 

I actually had the opportunity this spring to attend a lecture by Jody Barrows at my local quilt shop. She has designed the 'Square-in-a-square" template system that makes your life MUCH easier when attempting the square-in-a-square block:

 

This book and template are fabulous. She gives you the math for an size square you could ever want, she gives you the starting block and strip width and just tells you how to cut. It's wonderful.

I promise you my first attempt at the square-in-a-square would not turn out so nice without this template.

It does get quite tedious, and there is ALOT of trimming:

 

I had a nice little stack of four inch squares,

 

But once they got up on the design wall, those four inch squares did not go far...

 

It's about half as big as I would like it to be... so I guess I need to pound out another 100 squares.

 

Until then, I hope you all have a wonderful evening.