Swoon #1 & #2

A productive weekend in the quilting world, although I probably could have done more. I said goodbye to the little brother as he headed home. He treated me to extreme oohh-ing and aww-ing over each little piece of my Swoon (which I finally started!).

I was completely spoiled by him. Every time I would sew something together I would say "Step 3!" and make him look. He helped distract Neti and when I was later baking him some homemade biscotti and shortbread I lost an egg down the garbage disposal. Angrily I said, "Man! This is just not my day!" and he immediately retorted, "What are you talking about?! Look at your beautiful quilt!" Gotta love brothers! I wish he could stick around here forever.

So here they are! Swoon #1...

... and Swoon #2

I obviously have some trimming to do. I love how much fabric choice makes a difference. They are exactly the same pattern but the blocks look so different! I can't wait to see the rest of them come together. I have two mini projects I need to squeeze in between the Swoon-ing for the SMQG. I joined the Madrona Road Challenge and have an idea for a very literal take on the line. I also have to create a nametag for the SMQG meetings and can't WAIT to play with some embroidery and fun designs.

Swoon Count:   2/16 Complete

Happy Crafting!

Pieces Galore!

I spent the majority of the weekend hanging with the brother and hubby and not crafting. When they were fully immersed in video games, however, I would sneak over to my sewing table and cut fabric while interjecting clever, relevant comments about the game. Cutting seems to be all I've done for weeks now! Totally worth it, though. I finally finished cutting!! Disclaimer: Sashing has not yet been cut yet do to some strategic placement needed on my part. I have some math to work out once all my blocks are together. Regardless, CUTTING DONE!

Look at all those squares and rectangles! Yay! Once finished I took a quick break and then quickly laid out what one block would need.

Look at that! All those squares/rectangles needed for just one block. Sixteen to go! I didn't start the sewing yet but everything is ready to go. I anticipate putting together a minimum of three blocks this coming weekend. Can't wait to see it form. I think the boys find me slightly insane counting blocks and constantly referring to the pattern. Soon they will see it's totally worth it. 

Happy Crafting!

Patience is a Virtue

Cutting, cutting, cutting, cutting, cutting. No kidding, my wrists hurt from cutting so much. I am prepping my Swoon quilt!

You may have remembered me mentioning it earlier and not only that but I am enlarging it, hence the greater amount of cutting needed. From 9- 2ft x 2ft squares to 16!

I've definitely run in to a few issues with piece size due to the wonkiness (word?) of the fat quarter set I got. I am barely squeaking by on some of the pieces and may need to work some magic when it comes to piecing together. I left that problem for future me and just continued chopping away.

It took me two weekends, off and on, but I got all of my fat quarters cut! Yay! I finished just last night. This left me with only needing to cut the background fabric. Buh, buh, buuuuuhh...

Look how much fabric it is!!! What a pain to figure out how to cut. On a lighter note, my brother is in town! He's at the end of this long fabric train (hi JP!).

The cat LOVED how much fabric was there. Obviously.

And she delighted in tormenting me. Glad someone (aka the brother) was there to witness it all.

Regardless, I finished cutting all that gray into strips which will then be cut down into about a million squares (a more accurate number will be added soon, but's a lot). It's all much more manageable though in strips, which is great. Maybe another weekend of cutting then it's off to the races!

Both the brother and hubby thought I was crazy cutting all those little squares. I'm excited to show them how it all comes together. I can't wait to see it, especially king sized.

Happy Crafting!

2012 Wrap-Up

Happy New Year!

 

This post is a mish-mash of projects hurridly finished and poorly recorded as well as a new jumpstart into 2013. I got a lot of remarks (mostly from my aunt) that I hadn't updated the blog in ages! This was said while across the table from me, but I guess my cat projects weren't there to show off, so here you go, Auntie Lou.

 

 

The year finished in a whirlwind of finished projects I wanted done prior to Christmas. I made it! But in doing so, I did a poor job of recording evidence that they are finished, at least in the blog sense.

 

My sister convinced me to make a dress I wanted the "right way" by doing it in muslin first. Thanks, Devon! Even though it mostly fit I did make some alterations prior to diving in to the real thing.

 

 

I, of course, had my usual "helper" throughout the process.

 

Let it be known: I will not be making clothes for myself again for at least another year. This is awful! It turned out nice but it was so tedious. So boring. Not enough payoff in the end. I'm leaving the clothes to my sister. Not my cup of tea. I'm a quilter thru and thru.

 

Moving on to the mother-in-law's gift. I got some great fabric I knew she would love and figured if anyone would use a table runner it would be her! I went to work piecing it together.

 

The pattern called for X's and O's blocks, which were a lot of fun to make.

This is the basic finish, although I added two color borders around the edging equaling a 1.5" solid border and bound in white.

You can kind of see the borders in the picture below, though you may have to look past the cat, who obviously wasn't for quilting at that moment and was more for petting.

 

Here's the table runner and 6 matching coasters all packed up for Christmas. I finished binding it Christmas Eve, just before packing it. Close call, but I managed.

 

 

She loved it!

 

I also finished Baby Hailey's quilt (who is close to arriving) and hand delivered it to mom, dad, and big brother. This is literally the best "finished" picture I have. I know, I know. Sorry. See it here.

 

 

After a whirlwind travel from Seattle to DC to So. IL to Seattle the hubby and I spent one day getting 2012 closed up with errands and spent New Years Day snuggled up in new fabric!

 

By new I mean "stashed" as I've had this fabric for months and have just been waiting to work with it. With all the gifts and little things out of the way I can now focus on a major project. My very first king size quilt! I'm making a modified Swoon with Quilt Blocks by Moda. SO EXCITED! I got the fabric washed and dried and paired. I spent yesterday napping, ironing, napping, ironing and got all the fat quarters ready for cutting. There are one or two pairs I'm absolutely in love with.

 

This next weekend should be a blast getting the cutting started, although I have a feeling all I will be doing is cutting as the size of this quilt is monstrous compared to the recent baby quilts I've cranked out. No more babies to speak of, so I'm on a hiatus. For now.

 

Happy New Year! I'm so looking forward to what this year will bring.