Something New Quilt Top is DONE!

One of the many projects I've been working on over the last few weeks is my Something New Sampler.  I had a couple of friends making and teaching blocks for the sampler so I decided to give it a try.  New skills are always a good thing to learn.

And learn I did.  Some of the techniques weren't new for me--applique, reverse applique, sewing scraps to make new fabric, and while I'd never used Sashiko designs before, I'd done plenty of hand embroidery and hand quilting.  But trapunto, bargello and cathedral windows were all things I'd wanted to try but never quite got around to doing yet.

I knew from the beginning that I wanted to set these modern blocks in a more modern layout.  Amy (the host of the whole blog hop/quilt-along) gave layout ideas throughout the series.  I liked her basket-weave layout suggestion and went with that.  Nevermind that it totally hid the fact that one of my blocks came out a little small and I could hide it that way...

But I don't like square quilts.  Nothing against y'all that do, but if it's not for a baby to play on, I don't want a square quilt.  For me, it's just too much width to wrestle with to get it long enough to cover us up.  So I added top and bottom borders which also adds a more modern aspect to the quilt, I hope.

I'm still considering adding a thin khaki border around the outside to bring that color back in one more time, but I'm undecided...

As for quilting, I want to do something that is new for me and push myself since that's the point of this whole QAL.  I'm thinking something dense in the navy areas to make the blocks pop, especially since many of the blocks can't really be quilted in.  I'll do some quilting in the flat blocks, especially trapunto of course, but some don't need much because of their thickness and design.

Look at my mean old cat posing like this is about her...she thinks it's all about her all the time...geesh

Pebble quilting maybe or close-set straight lines?  Maybe something sharp and geometric?  Nothing has hit me yet and said DO THIS!!

I'm open to suggestions...

I'm linking up this top to Amy's finished projects.  It's been fun to see all of the different takes on these techniques from other participants.  There's so much inspiration out there--I'll never run out of ideas of what to make next.  :)

Nearly Wordless WIP

 You know me—wordless?  Not hardly...

But I can try.  So here we go:

I finished up my Something New Sampler and here's a quick shot:

Considering adding a thin khaki border around the outside and scrappy pink/blue binding.  Not sure on the quilting just yet.  I'll be back with better pictures and details tomorrow.

Up next:

  Simply Woven Blocks for Whitney in That Stash Bee.  

Ok--back to the grindstone...

Linking up:

Something New...

I’ve been having trouble finding my voice lately.  You know, the voice that you project on your blog.  The voice that represents who you are and what you’re doing.  The voice that shows the online community “This is me and me is awesome!” 

I’ve been better at balancing the rest of life lately, but I feel like somehow blogging got left out of the mix.  I haven’t been inspired lately to talk I guess.  And I always feel like forced content shows so I didn’t want to go down that road.

I am hoping that as my sewjo came back with a vengeance, my blogging voice will too.  There is a season for everything, and I’m hopeful that this unintended blogging break will soon be over…

In the meantime, here’s a peak into what I’m working on in the most un-contrived voice I’ve got right now…

I’m wrapping up my Something New Sampler.  And that’s a good thing since a completed quilt top (but not completed quilt) is due Friday to be eligible for prizes in this blog hop/quilt-along.  I’m a last-minute kind of girl lately…ok, most of my life.

I finished up the last block today and now I just need to assemble them into a quilt top.  Today I made the Cathedral Windows block.  It was actually from weeks ago but I was kinda dreading making it and saved it for last.

This block is one of those blocks I've always wanted to make someday.  Everyone has that list of quilts to make before they’re old.  Mine includes Dresden plates, a mariners compass, etc.  Yes, I want to say I’ve done it.  I want to have it in my repertoire.

But actually make it??  That’s a totally different story.  Anyone who knows me knows that patience is a virtue I don’t have in much abundance.  And this block needs patience.  It’s not hard to do—just slow and precise.  I may be slow, but I am NOT a precise kind of person.

So, I’m not showing ANY up close pictures of this block whatsoever.  Even this felt a little too close but I trust y'all to treat me gentle...please??...  Almost nothing matches up right and if I was making this for anyone other than myself I’d redo the whole block.  But, it is for me, for now at least, and right now, I’m happier with completion than perfection.   

Here are all 9 blocks.

I’m considering layout options but I know I'm going with a navy background.  I bought a bunch of Kona Navy last week at JoAnn with this project and another in mind.  I’m hopeful that the navy will tone down the brightness of some of the pinks and bring balance to the colors.  I’m planning on lots of negative space since the blocks aren’t very wide and negative space and I aren’t the best of friends…I want to like it, and often do on other people’s quilts, but not so much my own.  We shall see….hopefully by tomorrow! 

WIP

I had no intention of not checking in here this week, but I've actually been busy sewing and being reunited with my missing sewjo felt so good I just kept working!

BUT...it is Wednesday so I'm checking in with my WIPs.  What have I been up to this week?  What do I have in progress?

While I usually only work on one major project at a time because it's all I can focus on and get done, I'm working on multiple projects right now, focusing on two.

I'm steadily making progress on Oren's Star quilt.  I've got 7 1/2 blocks done.  Since last checking in, I've finished three blocks and have one halfway finished.  Want to see??

First up--that Starry Path block that although easy enough threw me under the bus and left me to die before the half marathon.  I don't know why I had so much trouble concentrating on it before, because I slapped it together in about 20 minutes this past week.

 Next was a block I'm calling Novel Star because I used Oren's specially-chosen space novelty fabric for.  I'm not big on novelty fabrics because people's "it thing" changes so often.  I'd rather go with a timeless palette that can grow with Oren.  But, what can I say--I love the kid so I used some.  It was a lucky stroke that Saturn ended up like that in the middle square.  I do like it after all, but I'm not planning on using too much of the novelties.

And my other finish is this star from the Summer Sampler Series put on by Faith, Lee, and Katie.  This star is from Faith (tutorial here).  Easy peasy and so stunning.  My kind of block.

Now I'm on Starburst, which coincidentally is Megan's first offering in the Fresh Mini Quilt Club and just happened to be similar to something I had in mind.  Megan's way of doing it was better than mine, so I just shrunk her measurements down to fit my block size.  I do plan on making the 18" square-sized mini quilt that she's designed once I get through my in-progress projects.  I've just got some half-square triangles left to sew up.

I realized in looking at this picture that one gray and one black section are facing the wrong way--it is fixed now!

And here's my design wall to date including leftovers triangles from the blocks making a lovely border.  :)

I'm also finishing up Amy's Something New Sampler quilt-along that she graciously organized and had guest bloggers help out with.  I've got 7 blocks done, one almost finished and one left to complete.  The quilt tops have to be done and in the flickr pool by next week, so I'm doing okay I think with this one.  It's been interesting to try some new  techniques that I may or may not visit again...

Here was my go at Trapunto.  I haven't done the quilting yet obviously, but it's all set for it.  This is an easy and breathtaking technique and I will def come back to this one.

And this--improv curves.  I have an on-again/off-again love with improv, but this was easy enough.  Great tutorial and not bad results.  I just went for this one without thinking too much and from start to finish--this block took me maybe 15 minutes.

Right now, I'm finishing up my applique block.  I HATE this block.  I've done applique plenty, but usually prefer raw-edge because I'm lazy and in a hurry it's my style, but I followed the tutorial and did needle-turn.  Now, it's not the tutorial at all.  It's the fact that I didn't cut my seam allowance/foldover section big enough.  My pieces don't want to stay folded on top, they're not laying flat, I didn't use invisible thread and I'm blah on the showing thread...this block is just a fail.  I'm going to be okay with that and finish it and move on because we can't love them all, but...

So, there you have it.  I've got Izzy's quilt ready to baste and quilt and some bee blocks coming up next.  I promise to TRY to get on here more often, but I am better about updating my instagram feed (usually...) so follow me there if you're just dying to know what I'm up to.  :)

I'll be linking up with Lee so head over and see what she and everyone else is up to this week!

Random

My first random fact today--I'm blogging from my phone today.  so...any weird areas and we'll blame it on that.  I'm running errands with my sister today and so i'm blogging away from home.

I spent some time with some strips of fabric today and have 6 of my 12 scrappy trip blocks completed.  i only took a pic of 4, but i have 6 done and 6 more ready to sew...

I'm glad I'm only making a baby quilt because I'm already wearing out on these...

Winter Storm Nemo is dropping a lot of rain on us today, but the temps are still nice.  Prayers to everyone who will be caught in that storm tomorrow and this weekend.

My race is in 2 weeks.  2 WEEKS!!!!  i feel ready and woefully not ready at the same time.  but i am hoping to meet up with Meesh, so that sounds fun.  Meeting online friends kinda feels like a blind date or something...

I've moved some stuff around in my sewing room and think I like it.  If I can ever get it cleaned up, I'll take some pictures to show it off.

And last before I sign off, I'm skating on thin ice with my internet till the 10th.  We got a MiFi over the summer for internet because we were still on dialup...yep still on dialup, and we only get so much data a month.  So...if you don't hear from me over the weekend know I'm having withdrawls and waiting on Feb 11 to bring me a new month of data!  ;)

WIP Wednesday

Hi all!  Short and sweet today as I'm writing on my "lunch break" before I get busy again.  This week, I'm working on Oren's Star Wars quilt and a baby quilt for our sweet new cousin that was born right before Christmas and I somehow completely forgot to make a quilt for.  Duh...

As I mentioned before I promised both kids a quilt for their 5th birthdays that represented the theme of their parties.  Emma's used Mendocino by Heather Ross since she had an Under the Sea theme and Oren chose Star Wars (he's still obsessed...) so I am making him a star quilt using blues, blacks, whites and grays.  And yes, he is almost 7.  I'm putting the pedal to the metal on this one to get it finished before March 2 when he'll turn 7.  WHAT??  How is that even possible?

I decided to just do a mix of stars and make one easy one and then one more complicated one so as to "even out the load."  For my first block, I went with an Ohio Star which is easy-peasy and a great one to start out with.  I didn't use a tutorial since it's pretty easy to figure out and that was my mistake... See, math has never been my strongest area.  I'm more of a right-brainer and logic, math, etc seems to escape me at times.  Then you add in the fact that I've had a monster head cold all week and yep--I completely messed up.

I  cut the quarter-square triangle pieces at the same measurements as my whole squares and then they were obviously too small.  Guess when I realized it...

Yikes!  Time to quit for the night...

But yesterday I got them cut out again at the right size and this block went together in no time.

Next up--a free block tutorial from Aurifill.  They called it the Jumping Jack Flash block and their coloration was VERY different than mine.  In fact, if I hadn't seen this block made somewhere else in other colors I probably would have never chosen it.  But, I think it turned out just fine in the end.

Notice a problem here?  I didn't either at first.

Ahhh, better.

Still needs to be trimmed up...I just get so excited I forget!

Next up I've got probably the Evening Star and a Wonky Star.  I did the Evening Star in the Summer Sampler a couple of years back (in the WIP basket...) so I'll probably reprint those paper piecing templates and go from there.

Now on to that baby blanket.  I never jumped on the Scrappy Trip Around the World that hit Instagram and Twitter so big because I was working hard to finish up some old WIPs, so I think I'll hit it up now.  Baby Izzie's nursery is in light greens, pinks and browns so I'm using those colors to make my Trip.  Mine will be a little more planned because I know the Mommy would prefer that to a scattered scrappy layout.

Here are my fabrics ready to cut and sew:

What are you up to today and this week??

And as always, I'm linking up with Lee:

Something New Comes this Way

I've been participating in the Something New Sampler Blog Hop put on by Amy at The Cute Life.  So far we've done a modern bagello, folding, turning scraps into fabric, reverse applique and sashiko.  And as of last night, I'm all caught up.  Of course today brings two more tutorials, but anyway...

It's been neat to learn new techniques and review old ones in a small one-block size.  I don't have to commit to anything big and the fun 7" x 14" block size is interesting.

So here are my blocks to date:

Bargello quilt block

folded technique quilt block

Scraptastic quilt block

Reverse Applique quilt block--don't have any idea why this one is vertical--I did them all the same...

Sashiko quilt block

Here's my sashiko stitching up close

And here are the blocks together so far--I quickly painted a black background around them to see  what I thought--I'm considering a black background for the quilt itself...

Up this week are both a trapunto-style block and cathedral windows, both of which I'm very interested to try out.  Both are new techniques to me.

There are prizes for those that make any of the blocks and turn them into anything--a quilt, pillow, bag, etc.  So, I encourage you to try out some of these blocks and learn something new.  New is always good.  ;)

I hope you are having a great Monday and I'll be back tomorrow to show off the cake I made for my brother's birthday...  yum!

Something New

I mentioned last week that I was going to participate in the Something New Sampler Blog Hop.  There are all kinds of techniques that are going to be covered from bargello to sashiko to pinless curves.  I'm interested to try these techniques--many of them new to me--in small doses.  Plus the 7x14 inch block design intrigues me as I'm trying to push myself out of my comfort zone this year.

The first block was actually introduced last week, so I'm already a week behind, but that's fine.  I'll just do 3 blocks this week instead of two.  So, up for me this week are bargello by Amy (from last week), a folded technique by Heidi, and a scraptastic technique by Chelsea.

All of the blocks look fairly simple to do so I'm definitely going to be finishing these up this week.  I've said it--now I must do it.  ;)

I decided to go with a color scheme to keep myself from making it too crazy, so after a glance at my color pinboard I went with

via design seeds

And these are the colors I pulled to start with. I'm not sure they match the picture exactly.  I ended up not having much salmon-colored pinks, so I deviated a little.  And their greenish brown became a khaki for me.  Still, I think it's a starting point at least...

I've got that little baby quilt I showed last week finished and drying.  I'll try and show it off tomorrow.  What are you working on this week??

Another Random Thursday

Hello!  It's a cool and wet day around here.  The kind perfect for snuggling under a blanket and reading the day away with a good cup of something hot.  But, I've got some projects I'd like to get done and house that I'd like to get clean before we get to that, so I'm stalling by blogging instead...

Not too much random this week--here goes:

1.  When you trace letters to embroider with a water-soluble pen--make sure it IS water soluble and not air-dry.  Otherwise you'll get halfway through the first name and be out of luck...  Want to know how I know??

2.  It's hard to use your windows as a light box to retrace your disappeared letters when it's cloudy and raining outside...

3.  My friend Debbie is starting a sew-along of her awesome triple zip pouches.  I haven't made one yet, so I'm excited to join in and see what i can do.  I also have a bunch of zippers passed down to me by my Great-Grandma so I'm ready to use them up.  Then I can order some fun colored ones that I've seen all over the interwebs.   The actual sewing starts on January 28--so you've got plenty of time to gather up your supplies and make one too.

4.  I bought some grapefruit the other day (LOVE!) and want to turn it into a tart.  I've been craving one for awhile now.  Maybe this one...

photo via Southern Living

5.  Tomorrow is Literacy Dress-Up Day at school and I got off lucky.  Emma's class each got a word to dress-up to describe.  She got drowsy!  YES!!!  So, she's wearing her pjs, messy bed-head and some slippers.  The words were a mix of easy and hard to show--cowhand (easy), tropical (easy), mammoth (I can just see us making her a trunk...), foe (spy wear??) and frail (Oren said she should dress up as glass...)  So, I was happy with drowsy.  Oren is supposed to dress as a character from a book.  He chose Ty from Dark Life.  He's a teenager that is a pioneer living on the ocean floor in the future.  Honestly, it's a great book, especially for boys.  But anyway, he chose it on his own and sent me to Walmart to get a black shirt and pants to wear as a divesuit.  Now he wants me to get him black boots and a black watch he can use for his sonar measuring.  I told him we'd convert his Transformers watch...

6.  I think this new Something New Sampler from Craft Buds sounds interesting.  The blocks will all be a 7" x 14" size which should be interesting to say the least. I'm trying to make myself do more non-traditional piecing and this one sounds fun.  There are prizes for participation, no matter how much or how little you participate, so that is great incentive as well.

Okay, I'm off to retrace those letters and get busy stitching before they disappear again.  ;)

I'll be linking up with Cindy and all of the other awesome random-thinking bloggers.

WET

I don't know if y'all have heard of a little weather system known as Tropical Storm Debby...but it is sitting directly on us.  It has literally rained most of the last 36 hours.  Yes, Emma played an entire game yesterday in a monsoon.  Yes, Chris coached an entire game in a monsoon, and yes, Oren and I and the other families sat huddled under umbrellas, raincoats and towels to cheer our little girls on in a monsoon.

BUT....our girls played hard and won the tournament!  Yep, they played in HOT and MUGGY weather on Friday and Saturday to make it to the championship game and then defeated our neighboring town in mudbath of a game on Sunday.  The State Tournament is next week and our little girls were so excited to get that trophy and get to go.  There was quite a bit of squealing.

I love these 3!  Oren has been the best mascot this summer, attending every practice and game without complaint and staying out of the way.  So proud of these 3!

 And, it is still raining here, so I am alternating my time today between keeping the kids from driving me and each other crazy and getting a little sewing done.  Please excuse the less-than-stellar pictures that follow...

I finished up my last two Summer Sampler blocks (from last summer...) and decided on a layout.

Here is block 1:

I promise that middle section is not at all bumpy and uneven like in this photo...even I would rip that out and try again!  ;)

And here is block 2.  One thing I liked about making 2 of each block was the ability to learn the design and how to get the most out of it.  Block one is incredibly scrappy because I just cut and sewed.  But Block 2 is made with the same fabric scraps (I cut everything and bagged it up last summer so I could just grab a bag and get sewing), but by knowing the block and thinking, I made everything line up in this one.

And here is the proposed layout:

I am going to add a thin sashing in a bright red solid I think.  That's what Chris suggested and I think he's right.  I've got 4 extra blocks, but they are the blocks with a solid background and I pulled them for the back.  One set came out WAY SMALLER than the rest of the blocks and one set used the red from the Make Life Layer Cake that I started out with and I didn't want the reds to compete.

So, since I actually have some red solid in my stash, I'm ready to get started...right after I take these kiddos for a rainy swim...they've gotta get some outside time or I think there might be some yelling going on around here pretty quick.  Wish me luck with Debby...I thank God for the rain we were in desperate need of, but I am ready for her to move on!

WIP Wednesday

**First a little shout out that GroopDealz is giving away for an amazing Nikon D3100 DSLR camera!  Head to their page  or enter here to check it out!!**

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Now, on to my regularly scheduled programming...so WIPs...I've always got them, but I'm working on trimming them down.  In all honesty, I'm really ready to just say forget it and start something new, but I know I'm so close to finishing with one of them and not too far off with another, so I'm going to get those 2 finished up before I jump into anything else too heavy.

So what am I working on today?  This baby right here, my Summer Sampler Quilt from LAST SUMMER.  Doh!  I've got one block to finish (well 2, because I made 2 of all of them) and then I can piece the top.  So, here I go...I've got to rip all of the piecing off on this one and stitch it together, then just the last one to do...  Wish me luck!

Emma's district tournament starts Friday morning, but I'm going to try to have quite a few finishes to show off by then, and by finishes I mean block finishes not big finishes, but whatever.  A finish is a finish, right?  Help me out and say yes!

Suki's over at Lee's guest-hosting WIP Wednesday today, so head over and check it out.

WIP Wednesday

Hey y'all!  I'm back with some sewing progress!  Now that Homecoming and Chris' birthday are over, I've got a little time to sew.  I've got a bunch of new projects in the works this week so that's been fun to finish up a few older things to start on the new.


Completed Projects:
--Last week I finished up my Fall Pops quilt.  That takes one from my UFO list and moves it to completed!  

Works in Progress:

--Summer Sampler Quilt--I'm in the home stretch on this guy.  I've got 1/2 of an Evening Star to finish up (turns out, I'd only made one!) and then two Kansas Dust Storm blocks till I've got all of the blocks done.  So, not exactly home stretch considering I've then got to sash them all, sew them together, make the backing, quilt it and then bind it, but whatever...  ;)  But, nearing up on finishing the blocks feels like a big success!

--Like I mentioned above, I've got some new projects this week.  For my Scrapbuster Swap, we're making wonky stars for Christmas.  

Block and tutorial found here

I signed up for 10 in the scrappy star category, but decided I'd really like to have 10 scrappy stars and 10 solid stars, so I'm working on making both...only problem:  they've got to be mailed by Nov. 10!!  AAAAHHH!! So I'm spending the day cutting and thinking and hope to spend tomorrow sewing and pressing!  This is a great low-commitment swap group, so if you're ever looking to join something new, check it out!

Sorry about this picture quality...it looked fine till it uploaded on blogger and I don't have it in me tonight to redo it.

--I've been thinking a lot lately of joining up in a quilting bee.  I love do. Good Stitches and thought it would be fun to do something similar but where I got to keep the blocks.  This month, I signed up with the Nubees Block Swap Group.  And I'm so excited!!  In this group, you're grouped up with 5 other people and you tell the group what you'd like as far as color goes.  Then each hive member makes 5 of the same block, just swapping the colors used for whatever each person requested.  Does that make sense?  I've got my mosaic of blocks I like done and ready to post.  I don't really have anything specific in mind with this project, so I just randomly chose the first 10 quilt blocks I liked on my flickr and pinterest boards.  I requested bright colors and the 3 I chose were red, yellow and blue, but said I didn't really care if others were added.  I can't wait to see what my hive-members request so I can start planning what I want to make.

--Speaking of do. Good Stitches.  Shannon gave us this block for the month in colors of aqua, turquoise, bright orange and grays.  I've got my fabrics set out and am ready to sew...next week or the week after!  ;)

tutorial found here

 --Mittens--I've taken another knitting break.  I'll never make it the year of the knit if I don't keep working, but I've got project fatigue on the mittens and am ready to do something else.  Isn't that always the way it is with me? ;)

Poor, lonely Unfinished Projects that have been cast aside:

--"Sent with Love" postage stamp quilt.  My swap blocks are back and I'm just finishing up a few things before this one comes back!

--Mosaic Swap quilt.  Actually, I think this one needs one more row sewn on before I can quilt it.  But I haven't touched it in like 4 months, so I'm not sure on that one.  ;)

--My Sewing Room Sampler.  I will finish it, but right now, it's taking a back seat to my other projects.  


  I've got some time tomorrow blocked off to sew before Chris and I spend the weekend at the beach to celebrate our birthdays!!  Hopefully I can get A LOT done, because I've got deadlines starting to hang over my head and that is not how I roll!    

   And as always, go check out Lee and all of the lovely quilters that link up!