WiP Wednesday

This week has been slow going.  Partly because I’ve got End-of-School-Year exhaustion, and partly because I just want to have my walking foot in hand!  Dear Mr. Postman, please come soon!

After finished my Hey, Honey Honey quilt top on Sunday I decided to add to my Scraps for Me collection of stars.  This will be star number three and I’m hoping to finish another star tonight to commemorate my first finished baby quilt.  I messed up on the last triangle tonight… of course, but overall I’m happy with how it turned out!

I also thought I had broken my sewing machine going over the center seam… but BerNina held on and pushed through… Thatta, girl!

Other than this star block, the only other thing I’ve done is start laying out Chicopee Strips for my next top.

I love these fabrics.

I want to make a very simple, lap-size quilt for me so that I can practice quilting a larger quilt before I work on the ones I’ve made for other people.  I decided that if I was going to make myself one it was going to have all of the fabrics that truly inspired me to start quilting.  Don’t be surprised when you see the backing and the binding.  I’m pretty sure none of it goes together, but it is mine, and I love it.

This is where I am this WiP Wednesday, but have no fear, I have an exciting post coming later this week to celebrate the kick-off of Beth’s (from Plum and June) Let’s Get Acquainted New Blogger Blog Hop.  I can’t wait to participate in this blog hop over the summer and meet even more bloggers.  I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, and again, and again.  I adore the quilting community and I’m truly excited to be a part of it!

I’ll even throw in some new and exciting facts for you readers that have been here for the long haul… 🙂

Happy WiP Wednesday, y’all – Hope it’s a great one!

Hey, Honey, Honey!

Since I made my granny square quilt top, (which I just realized I never took a “finished” picture of this quilt top… guess I get to be the crazy lady stopping traffic again this weekend) I have been itching to use Kate Spain’s Honey Honey line again.  Seriously, I love her designs.  I loved making a quilt with her Cuzco line so much, that I decided I needed one with Honey Honey as well.  I’ve post my design plan in a previous post, but I finally have actual fabric up on the design wall!

For this quilt, I’ve used two charm packs of Honey Honey and some strips from a jelly roll of Moda White.  Basically, I hate cutting, so this cut down on a lot of prep work.  (No pun intended…)  Plus, I was able to use the whole fabric line, which I love – because there was no way I could pick a favorite fabric.  Plus, I like more chaotic designs.

I cut the charm squares in half, paired them with a strip of jelly roll that was cut to 2.5 x 5 inches long, chain pieced for day, and then ironed them.  (Grrrrr.  I hate ironing, too.)  Then I squared them up to 4.5 x 4.5 inches.  All of them.  But, really, that’s pretty low prep for a quilt top, so I’m not complaining.  It did help that the supplies were already basically ready.

Here’s the progress I made this weekend:

I just love these Spring-y fabrics.  Even if New Jersey forgot about Spring this year, I’m determined to bring some Spring into my life with this quilt.  I’ve yet to name it, and it hasn’t decided who its owner is yet.  I’m thinking that this one will be pretty easy to quilt because I can easily follow the white sections with some straight line quilting and “follow the pattern”.

I have all of the other pieces ready to go, and I hope to have it all ready to piece together this weekend.  I might need to slow down on how many quilt tops I have in the wings to quilt this summer…  I see no rest for this weary teacher…

This weekend I may have also cut my hair shorter and bought a dress in preparation for our upcoming anniversary trip in June.

I bought some bathing suits, too, but I’ll spare you! 🙂

That’s what I’m sewing these days, and tonight I’m off to quilt class to actually quilt something!  So get excited to see some real live quilting here soon.

Today I’m linking up with Let’s Get Acquainted Monday and I can’t wait to see everyone’s projects!  Happy Monday to ya!

Quilting 101: Jelly Rolls

First of all, a little update on the Herringbone Quilt.  It’s coming along quickly, but I’m hoping that I meet Sew Can She‘s deadline tomorrow.

As the Queen of Procrastination I still have quite a lot to do, of course.

Now, onto today’s topic.  Fabric selection.

Many of you have reached out saying that you would like to make a quilt, but you don’t know where to start.  First of all, go you!  Second of all, I felt overwhelmed, too.   This is where I can help.  While I am not an expert, I spend most of my (little) free time these days quilting, researching quilting, reading about quilting, talking about quilting, pinning quilts, etc.  You get the picture.  I want to share what I’ve learned so far in my quilting journey because I know how intimidating it can be to walk into a fabric store and feel overwhelmed.  Now you can just feel overwhelmed by the stunning fabrics surrounding you!

I found that when I started dreaming about the quilts I wanted to make that fabric selection really motivated me.  There’s something about having the fabric in your possession that makes you want to create.  So, now you’re wondering – but what do I buy?  There are all these fancy words I keep throwing around – Jelly Roll, Fat Quarter, Charm Pack, Bundles…  Let’s break down this quilting jargon so you can confidently head to your local quilt store and get started! Each day this week I’ll break down one of these fabric choices and link to some awesome projects you can make with them!

Jelly Rolls

A jelly roll is a great way to get a collection of fabric.  They come with 10-40 strips that are usually 2.5 inches wide by 44 inches long.

Here are some quilts that I love that are made from Jelly Rolls.  This is just to give you an idea of what you can do with the jelly rolls.  Where I could, I’ve linked to the blog or instructions for each quilt.  Just click on the picture:

So, there you have it.  Jelly Rolls.  Basically, half the work is done for you because they are already cut.  (For the most part, but hey, it can’t be too easy or it wouldn’t be fun!)

Oh, and don’t forget, the Herringbone Block is also made with a jelly roll!

Happy Quilting and keep the questions coming!