WIP Wednesday...slow progress still counts, right?

Hi all!  I'm taking a quick moment away from sewing to actually post!  I've had progress in the last few days, but it has been slow.  I knew I had a ton of swap and bee blocks to get out the door this week, but I put them off till the last minute, and you know how that goes...

Well, the zigzag blocks and I got into a fight over accuracy and size, so into the garbage they went, yep 4 of them!  I didn't have time to redo them (or the patience really), so I looked through my Modern Blocks book and decided on the Binary design (pg. 22).  So...I cut out fabric for 10 blocks since I was in two hives this month and got to work...

They're not my best blocks ever if I'm being  honest.  Usually I work just fine up against a deadline, but not so much this time.  I think it was the cutting.  I don't think I cut things just as precise as needed since I hate that step the worst and I had so much to cut.  Oh well.  Hopefully the girls like them and don't hate me forever for being off a quarter of an inch.

**Also, sorry about the photo quality...it makes them look even worse!  I swear, they're not this bad.  I'm in a rush to get to Oren's teeball practice and don't have time to fix them.**

Next up was my Modern Blocks Bee.  Kaysi sent us a bunch of blue strips and told us to just combine them in any form to make a block.  She's making a modern strip quilt for her bed.  I cut the strips into smaller pieces and just went for it with no hesitation or over thinking.  Needless to say, I had a little squaring to do when all was said and done because my rectangle block looked more like the beginning of a semi-circle, but I think it worked out okay.

Then, I finally got around to making our do. Good Stitches blocks this month for the empower group.  Shannon requested colorful string blocks, so that's what she got.  Here are my two.

I LOVE string blocks and don't know why I don't just make them for bees.  They're simple, striking, and quick to do.  Once you unpick the fabric you sewed to the middle wrong EVERY TIME...Oh is that just me??

So, anyway, I've got much more progress to make in this sewing room, but before I tackle anything else, I'm going to do a full overhaul of my space.  It is a mess!  And that's saying something because I tend to live in a state of mess without noticing.  My husband is dying laughing and nodding his head right now if he reads this.... ;)  Anyway, it's past the point and I know it will make me and Chris happier to have it organized and not looking like a fabric monster got sick and threw up all over the place!

And after that visual, I'll leave it with you.  Make sure to head over to Lee's page to see what actual progress looks like in a week from both Lee and all of the other awesome ladies (and gents) that link up.


If you don't hear from me soon, don't worry.  I'm sure if I don't show up at supper one night, Chris will come find me buried under a pile of fabric stash...  ;)  But for now, I'm off to teeball it up with Oren.  I love these very busy days at the ball fields.  What memories they're making!

WIP Wednesday

Look at me actually getting a post written on a Wednesday!  Life is crazy around here between school, ball, church and life in general, so I took the day off from volunteering and I freed up a couple of hours.  Those hours could have been spent cleaning house, but that's not as fun is it?  :)

It's been awhile since I posted a WIP Wednesday post, so I'll just go with what I'm actually working on and leave all of those untouched progress alone for today.  Let's keep it cheery, shall we?

So, in my sewing room this week you will find:

--do. Good Stitches December Quilt--As I've mentioned, I'm making progress on this baby.  I got it quilted yesterday, so now I just need to cut binding strips and get this one done!

Emma held this one up for me and then Blogger turned it sideways, so let's pretend its right and move on, 'kay?

--NuBees Block Swap--I'm in 2 hives this month for this cool group and I ended up caregiver in both!  haha!  'Cause I've been so on the ball with my own sewing lately, right?  Anyway, progress pics had to be shown yesterday for one of the hives and I've got one block done.  I'm going with a zigzag design for both hives to save my sanity.  I know the new cool term for these is chevron, but I've been in love with zigzag quilts for years, so I'm just going to keep calling them that, okay?  I was chevron when chevron wasn't cool!  I do have all of my fabrics picked out and ready to cut.  I just need to find time to make 9 more of these bad boys in the next couple of weeks.  I'm thinking 1 or 2 a day...

And as for actual progress being made, that's it right now.  But I do have my sister's present out and ready to get started on when my bee blocks are all done for the month.  After my NuBees blocks, I've also got my modern swap block and 2 do. good stitches blocks to make, but they are such fun and easy blocks I'm saving them for a rainy day.  :)

As always, head over to see what our gracious host, Lee, is up to this Wednesday and to check in with all of the other lovely ladies (and gents) who link up to WIP Wednesday each week.

Finishing up some WIPs

So far this year I've seen a few friends post that they were participating in Rhonda's  Finish-a-long.  It's a link up party where you commit to finishing up a few WIPS during a quarter of the year and then at the end of that quarter you link up with your progress on these projects.  There are even prizes for finishers!  Wow!  Just the kind of motivation I needed.  But, I missed the first quarter, so when I saw it was time to link up for the second round, I jumped on it.  I'd really like to empty out my WIP basket so I have no guilt when I want to start something new.  Even if I just finish things to donate or give away...at this point, I just want them out of the basket, you know?

So, I'm linking up with 3 WIPs I'd like to finish up this quarter.  I'd like to do a lot more than that, but considering my sewing progress lately, I don't want to jump the gun.  ;)  So, for this quarter here's what I'd like to finish:
1.  My do.Good quilt from December (sigh)
2.  My sister's Christmas present (again, sigh)
3.  My Summer Sampler quilt-a-long from last summer (noticing a pattern of shame here...)

We need to include pictures of what we're working on, so Carrie (my sis)...stop reading here!

1.  I'm in the middle of quilting my do.good quilt, so that should be done soon.  I went with a meandering looping pattern in a soft pink.  I debated about this for a few days because of the number of colors in the quilt, but there was so much pink, I just decided to go for it.  I should finish this up today or tomorrow and start binding soon.

2.  For Carrie's Christmas present, I asked her to pick out a fat quarter bundle she liked from FQS and I'd make her SOMETHING from that line.  Well, she doesn't know, but I bought the whole bundle and am in the process of making her a quilt for her couch.  They are still decorating their new home, and I wanted to make her something for her living room to provide comfort and love.  I got about a quarter of the way through piecing this bad boy before I lost all interest in working on it...

3.  My Summer Sampler is so close to being done.  I've got 2 blocks left to make and then I'll need to piece them together, quilt it and bind it.

So, while 3 items might not seem like much, these are 3 projects that have been weighing on me and waiting to be finished.  Wish me luck!  And don't forget to head over and check out all of the others linking up.  Let's encourage each other and get some finishes!!

p.s.  I am having some serious issues with Blogger right now and how they take my pictures that I work to edit and make them look nice and then shrink them all up so they look like I'm using a crappy camera from 15 years ago.  Anybody feel me on this one?

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Everyone!  We spent the day worshipping our Risen Savior, chowing down on a delicious dinner, playing, reading, resting and swimming.  My kind of day...  Hope yours was wonderful too!

Perseverance is the key word

I don't know if this happens to anyone else, but do you ever get something set in your mind and then if you have to change it, you lose interest in finishing a project?  What I mean is this, in December I asked my wonderful do.Good Stitches Empower Group ladies to make me lovely heart blocks.  They did and I loved them all!  Seriously, I'm in love with these girls and their sewing skills!  I got the blocks all laid out like I wanted and I was ready to sew them up...but I had to order some sashing fabric first.  While waiting for my fabric to arrive I found that Ronit set her quilt (the October blocks) almost exactly like I was thinking of doing...great minds think alike, I guess.  But now I wanted to come up with a new plan so as not to appear to be a copycat.  And that's where the problem set in....

I quickly chose a different layout with tilted-square sashing.  My fabric arrived.  I layed it all out and liked it.  But I didn't like it like I loved my original idea.  And so this project languished.  It got caught up in the Christmas craziness and then the lack of any sewing mojo to be found...  It sat and collected dust while I finished other projects and tried to find motivation (I mean other than the motivation that my other bee ladies would like to see the quilt produced that they worked hard on and that the January quilt is already done and sent off...)

And then last week I decided that me and the hearts were going to get over ourselves and make a quilt.  So, I cut sashing strips, then cut them at angles and sewed sashing around each heart block.  Then I sewed those blocks together and today I made a quilt top!

Oren took this pic for me this afternoon.  His little arms weren't long enough to hold the quilt open, so we switched places...not bad for a 6-year-old, huh?

I'm going to do some sheet shopping this week to see if I can find one I like for the backing, because I don't need anymore hold up with trying to decide on a backing layout and this is a big quilt.  BUT...if I need to piece one, then I will do so, because I am ready for this baby to provide some comfort.  Both to it's intended recipient and to me for checking it off my to-do list!

So, now that I can see the end in sight with this quilt (other than the basting, quilting, and binding) I get to choose a new block, because I'm up again next month to lead.  I think this time I'll go with something I can lay out and go...  :)

Has this problem ever happened to you and did you persevere and finish or toss it in the UFO basket where it's still quietly hiding?