WIP, here we go

Well, I just entered this dolly quilt for my niece in the Festival of Scrappiness at Stitched in Color. See my post here for more info.


I also finished a couple of Bee blocks this week.

This one I screwed up the cutting on one unit, whoops! Turns out there is a difference between diagonals. I needed to cut the square on the diagonal before I cut the corners off. Once I cut the corners off, I cut it on the diagonal which apparently was the wrong diagonal so I couldn't sew the corners back on properly. Thankfully the bee host didn't seem overly upset but I sent her some money anyway. I feel terrible about it. The other units and other block turned out great. I hope she doesn't think I'm a complete idiot!

This bee block was for my local bee and I forgot to trim each block to 4" which I didn't realize til after I sewed the borders on. Lots of seam ripping. Thanks to another guild member, I used an eyebrow trimmer to rip seems and it went super fast. What a great tip, you get them from a beauty supply store for super cheap.


Next up....back to the Sparkle Punch quilt. Hopefully I will remember how to make the stars!

Also looking forward to the Zakka Style SAL, I've got plans to make at least two of the projects.

Linking up with Lee.

Scrap Happy

Inspired by the Scrap Attack Festival of Scrappiness and the book "Quilting from Little Things," I made this dolly quilt for my niece. I made it from small pieces of fabric entirely from my "stash." The pattern is called A Step Down and it's half binded, it should be finished by tomorrow.


Can you say "Holy Y-Seams, Batman!"?? Yep, there was no real method to piecing this bad-boy. You could sew chunks together but every brown piece had to have a y-seam. Thank goodness the entire thing is only 15 1/2" otherwise I totally would have given up on this pattern. But I persisted.

Then to add to the fun, I decided to hand quilt it. And not just lines, I decided to stitch little shapes onto each brown square. Unfortunately, I wasn't pleased with how it looked on the back, even though I buried the knots. I chose a white fabric with birdhouses and since I used pink thread, I had all these little blobs of pink stitches that landed in weird places. So I grabbed another random hunk of fabric and added that on the back and machine quilted this onto the sandwich. Overall, I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I think it's a little busy, but for an energetic young girl, I think it's appropriate. I can't be at the party, hopefully someone will notice I put a lot of effort into it!


Here's hoping I win a prize, I'm linking up!

WIP, finished etc.

I finished this giraffe quilt last weekend. I was going to post about it over the weekend, however my crayola washable marker didn't come off in the first wash. Eek! I about had a heart attack. It bled to pink too, not cool on a little boys quilt. Happy with how it all turned out though.


I also embroidered a few onesies for all the new babies in my life. Super fun, super cute. Hope they like them.

Time to get back to the bee blocks. I whipped up this one yesterday. It's Pinball Machine from "99 Modern Blocks." I have three more to work on this week.


Of course I got distracted. I borrowed "Quilting from Little Things" from the library. Whilst most of her fabric choices are different from what I'd choose, her patterns are great. I need more negative space, aka SOLIDS! I am however, going to use this fabric to make a doll quilt for my niece. The pattern is called "A Step Down." It'll be done soon, her birthday party is next weekend. Back to work!!

I'm linking up with Lee.

Second Zig Zag

Here's what I'm working on. This second zig zag quilt is for my SIL who's having a boy in June. Her shower is coming up so I'm hoping to be quilting and binding this weekend. First I have to embroider the eyes, nose and mouth. And finish the tail. (Sorry I couldn't figure out how to rotate this picture, ugh)


However....I skipped working on this today in order to take the boys to the park. We're having gorgeous weather today.

Can you believe he's gotten his top teeth first? Not to mention they didn't show up till he was 16 months old! He has one bottom tooth coming out the side of his gum instead of the top. Goof!


And here's the toddler pushing his brother! Lots of giggling today...until we left, then there was an epic meltdown. Think I'll need a glass of wine tonight after that one.

I'm linking up!

Last Minute Gifts and a Monday Delight

I embroidered these onesies to go along with the hedgehog/porcupine quilt. I think they and the quilt were well received yesterday. Hopefully I'll get to see the quilt in the nursery and these on the baby, that would be awesome!



Again, I stalked the mailman, waiting for a package from Pink Castle Fabrics today. I've been waiting for some fat quarters of RK Essex Linen. Aren't these colors great? I'm going to try some Sashiko, Japanese embroidery, on these fabrics to make bookmarks.

And in that package was some Lechein Japanese floss. Love these colors too!


Lastly, I took a chance and bought a bundle of random solid fat quarters that she was having a sale on. I am more than pleased with this bundle.

Speaking of solids, the ladies in my local MQG got me all excited about this Fabric Club at Pink Chalk Fabrics. Not that it took much arm twisting, I don't have much of a stash so this will be a perfect way to build it up. The dream is to be able to go into my stash and pull out fabric to put together for a block or even a quilt on a whim! Now I have to do a lot of planning before I can create something.

Well less talk and more action, gotta get back to sewing!

A WIP and my third finish

I finished my first (of many) zig-zag quilts. I am delighted with how it turned out. It's outline quilted with Aurfil 28wt in coordinating colors. Funny, right after I finished the quilting I saw an interview with "Mr. Aurifil" and he said he predicts that his heavier weight threads are going to become more popular because quilters are starting to want to see their stitches. Guess I'm trendy, who knew!


I'm really fond of the bright colors and the neutral white with such a graphic pattern. I can see how this will look with patterned fabric too.

The machine applique was worth the work, I love this little guy! Hopefully I can get a matching embroidered onesie done this week to go along with the quilt.

Already in progress is another zig-zag quilt for my SIL. Amazingly, she has picked the same colors for her nursery. Hers will have a giraffe applique instead.


Thankfully I remembered to link up before midnight!

Time to get walking

My thread is here! So excited to get the walking foot going.

Here is the thread for the porcupine quilt:

And for a future Little Apples quilt:

And some thread for a couple of kids quilts in the near future and some basic white/off white.