pictures and words

A mini quilt gift - for a book and a quilt lover.

 I started this project in January, and it's kind of fitting that I finish it in December.  

 Most of the little bits were gotten in scrap swaps and other random swaps.

Thanks to all of you who helped me with getting all different bits for this!

 More fabulous mail!  Another scrap + small handmade item swap.  My partner spoiled me and gave me a gorgeous pillow cover and well over a FQ worth of scraps!

My husband is having knee surgery in January to repair a torn ACL, and because he doesn't want to be bored and alone in the living room, we are moving the house around!  I was not excited at first, but then he talked about a real sewing corner for me and a new desk with shelves... then I got into it.  He's also building a new computer desk and two side tables.  

While he will be busy building, I will be busy hand sewing.  Putting the finishing touches on my Hexy MF top.  Still wobbling over the quilting part.  Katy's original quilt has all the flowers quilted individually with a different design... I'm not sure if the local quilter here can do that.  I looked up a few other hexagon quilts and thought that maybe, just maybe I can hand quilt it.  

Any tips for hand quilting before I get bogged down and never finish?

a bit of this

Did you know that today is Giveaway Day over at Sew Mama Sew?  There are 5 categories of giveaways - so many blogs and so much stuff being given away!  I participated last year, but opted out this year.  Instead of having a 'mass' giveaway, I am planning to have a follower giveaway within the next 2 months.  

Lucky you who follow me.

I actually had a very productive weekend.  Well, weekend is a bit of a stretch, it was more of a day.  Saturday.  I finished piecing together all the hexy flowers for the Hexy MF last week and on Saturday I crawled around on the floor with my 9 month pregnant belly basting the hexies to the quilt top fabric.  My husband kept looking over at me as I grunted and huffed and puffed my way up and down and around.  

But it's basted and I've already secured one side to the fabric!  At least the stitching part I can do while sitting.  

I might even get this quilt done this year!  

One question for you then - 

How would you quilt this?  

Hand quilt?  

Bring it to a quilter?  

Organic straight lines?  

Swirls of some sort?  

Really, I have no idea and could really use some suggestions.

On Flickr, I had posted a picture that I was ISO blue and purple scraps.  Some wonderful Flickr people helped me out and swapped with me for some of their scrap stash.  

This is what is becoming of those scraps. 

I'm making a feather quilt from Anna Maria Horner's pattern.

Originally, I had intended it to be for little D, but now I think she will be gifted the Hexy MF (hubby thinks it's too pink for our bed - I might agree from his point of view) and this might be a long-in-the-making quilt for us.  That means I will have to find a lot more scraps. 

Making feathers from scraps is a lot more time consuming than making them with strips.  I have to make each piece separately because most of the scraps are not long enough to piece together and then cut in bulk.
So far, I'm okay with that though.  I like the idea that no feather will be the same as another, and yet, they will all be blue and purple.
I was thinking of doing a gray stem and putting it all together with something like Kona Champagne. 

Or I'll just have to buy some fat eighths off Etsy along with some scrap packs... 

Or find some more people to swap with... 

Wanna swap with me?

WIP Wednesday

I'm not very consistent in posting my WIP's, especially not on Wednesdays, but hey, I actually have something to show this time!

I have never taken any kind of quilting class, and most of what I learned, I learned online from blogs and other great quilters.  But, this past Monday, two friends and myself participated in Stack n Whack class at a local quilt shop.  I went not just to learn something, but mostly for the fun.  And we had a lot of fun since it turned out it was just the three of us there that day.  

I also got something started.

We had to find a fabric with a 12" repeat and I found this one from Pat Bravo called Fashion Mood in Bright from her Bespoken line.  I paired it up with her coordinating solid and ended up with these blocks.

I will admit, that on Monday I only got 4 blocks done and I made another sewing day out of yesterday and finished off the other 4.  I also have the triangles cut and just have to piece the top together and add borders and I'm finished the top.  

I'm also still plugging away at my Hexy MF quilt.  So far I've pieced together two strips for the top.  

Kinda nice that I can piece this together from the comforts of my rocking chair.  It does get a little clumsy since the strips as slightly stiff with the papers and they are pretty long. 

Coming along nicely though!  Just this stack left... 

I also have some dresses to make as a result of the tradeshow I attended last Saturday.  I've started cutting them, but was gone so far this week so I didn't really pay much attention to them yet.

I'm also still working on this one too!  

 

32 weeks and counting

Don't you just love self photos?

a bit of this and that

Yay! My Pretty {little} Pouch Swap partner, Alisa from Making More with Less, received the package I sent out for her!  Now I can show you the back side of the pouch.

I wrote her name on the back with fabric marker and then embroidered her name, using what I think is the stem stitch, on the pouch.  She had asked if her partner would do this because then she'd be guaranteed no one else in her house would claim her pouch. 

The whole lot: I included some chocolate and a small stack of solids and prints.  I can't remember exactly how many I cut, but for every solid colour, I included a coordinating print. 

And just because I always like a post with pictures, here's some things I've pinned lately.  There are so many quilty things I want to try, but I really have no reason to try.  

I mean, I don't want to make a quilt of feathers or modular cathedral blocks, I just want to make a few! 

source

source

well, maybe I want to make a whole bunch of these feathers... not sure what for yet...

source

I first saw this block on Flickr with color and fell in love with the coloured version.

What do you do if you want to try a technique or block, but you don't want to make enough for a quilt or something? 

and I'm done!

I was so excited to finish the pouch for the Pretty {little} Pouch Swap that I broke my own rule and sewed past 9pm.  

On the plus side, I finished the pouch and I absolutely love how it turned out!  I kept waving it around in front of my husband who was also duly impressed.

On the down side... I broke my rule and as usual, something happened.  I cut my finger with my rotary cutter.  Typical.

Remember, I chose to join the advanced ranks?  I was a little nervous about this pouch meeting advanced specifications, so I made it using three different challenges for myself. 

1. I did some relatively difficult (at least for me) piecing with lots of parts.  Not a perfectly straight result, but still looks good.

2. I did some paper pieced applique - something I very rarely do.  I do paper piecing often, but not much hand stitched applique.  Again, not perfectly lined up, but lets just focus on the colour here, and you won't even notice.

3. I added some hand stitching to both sides.  I was a little stumped on how to add hand stitching to the star, but I think it worked out good.  On the back side, I tried a stitch other than the simple running stitch to embroider my partner's name on the pouch and I also love how that turned out.  

Course, I can't show that part yet because she might just check my blog and that would ruin the surprise.

It is a square pouch finishing at 8.5" on all sides.  

I really hope it meets my partner's expectations of an advanced pouch swap.