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!

Scraps for Me

There are so many exciting things coming up for me on the quilting front.  Tomorrow I get to hang out with my favorite quilty people and Monday I start my very first quilting class taught by Melanie!  For some reason, I thought the class started last Monday and I was so depressed last Sunday when I realized I had a full week to wait.  I’ve bought my fabric and I can’t wait to see if my vision comes together!  I can’t wait to learn how to completely finish a quilt – especially since I have such a back log of tops to get completed!  I want to get my quilts out to my people.

After quite a few weekends with work getting in the way, the hubs and I finally got to enjoy some quality time together.  I am LOVING this weather.  Thank god it’s getting warmer.

We’re pretty adventurous people, and we enjoy trying new things, but there is one thing we’re pretty routine about: Bagels.  For the past five years, we’ve had a bagel on 90% of the Saturdays or Sundays.  When we lived in D.C. we used the time to plan for the upcoming week at work, and then we moved to New Jersey where there are actual bagels.  Omg.  You have not had a bagel until you’ve had one.  I don’t know what I’ll do if we leave this place!

Tonight I have a new project I want to start, but I’ve finally finished the first two Scraps for Me blocks – up next will be the Cuzco block from my Herringbone quilt and a Love Lives Here block from my Cathedral Window quilt.  I can’t wait to see them!

 

For the second block, I left the paper on until it was completely sewn together:

The seams on this one are so much more precise:

I’m so glad I thought to do this Scraps for Me quilt, as a scrap book of all the quilts I’ll make for others.  It’s already making me so happy,, and it’s a fun project to celebrate finishing another quilt!

I hope you’re having a restful and crafty weekend!

WiP Wednesday

We’re back to my favorite day of the week!

This week, work has been crazy.  I’m also really feeling my decision to work 7 days last week.  Dumb.  Just dumb.  Therefore, my sewing this week has been less productive, but I’m still hooked on Paper Piecing and I can’t wait to have a little bit more time to finish a few more of these Lone Star blocks!

I finished the first scrappy block of my Scraps for Me quilt:

Caught me, I still have to sew the four quarters together.

(Still, I’m obsessed.)

You see, after this block, I found a helpful tip.  Leave the paper on until ALL of your blocks are sewn together.  That would have been helpful to read before this block!  If you get into Paper Piecing – follow this one piece of advice.  Words of wisdom, friends.

For this block, I followed that direction…

Sewing the sections together with the paper still attached:

It was so much easier to line the seams up!

This will be my second scrappy block made for my Scraps for Me quilt from the leftovers of my first baby quilt.  I love the Bella line and I’m glad I’ll still be able to enjoy this fabric even after I ship off the quilt.  I debated whether I should mix up the paper piecing blocks for this Scraps for Me quilt, but I decided after talking with a friend that with all the fabrics, that would get too hectic!  Plus, I just really love this Lone Star block!

I wanted to get more of this new block done last night, but then I cut off the wrong piece and my bobbin ran out.  I took this as a sign to shut it down for the night.

Because really there’s enough work on my design wall to keep me up all night:

Chaotic and crazy: Just like me!

Happy WiP Wednesday, friends!  Thanks for stopping by!

Scraps for Me

Today I was sucked into the black hole otherwise known as Pinterest.  I swear, once I start, I just can’t stop.  If I made one tenth of the things that inspired me on Pinterest, I would be an old, old lady.  Then I saw this pin:

SAY WHAT?

I wanted it.  Then.  Now.  Yesterday.

Paper Piecing has been on my “to-do” list, but kind of like eating healthy for a month is on my “to-do” list.  It’d be nice if it could happen… However, my desire for this block outweighed my laziness.  Hooray!

Luckily for me, it’s a free block by Anna at Six White Horses, and I immediately downloaded it from Craftsy.  Then, I looked up a great Paper Piecing tutorial by Faith at Fresh Lemon Quilts and watched a few videos on You Tube.  (I also watched an episode of the newest season of The Real World… Yes, sometimes I think I’m still in college!  At least now I know that is most definitely not the real world.)

Then, I got straight to work.

Finishing the first “piece”.  1/8 down…

I was a little nervous piecing together my first two blocks, but I have to say it: this is the best my seams have ever looked.  Ever.

(Yes, there’s a mistake in the top right corner, but I kind of like it when the first block I make in a pattern has a mistake.  It helps me appreciate my “firsts”.  I didn’t feel comfortable taking out an entire seam, so I just added to a piece and I figure quilting will cover it up!)

So, why Scraps for Me?

WELL, when I saw the scrappy goodness of the original Pinterest pin a new quilt clicked.  I love the different fabric lines that I’ve used or bought to make quilts.  However, I know that most of them will be heading to other homes.  While this is one reason I wanted to blog, to keep track of what I have made, I thought why not keep the scraps as well?  And, so, this is the beginning of my Scraps for Me quilt.  This quilt could take one year, or years, depending on how fast I make some quilts.  (And, yes, actually quilt and bind them too! I know, I know.)  With each quilt I make, I’ll take the scraps and create a scrappy paper pieced block.  I’m actually pretty excited about this because I’ll be able to keep a piece of all the quilts with me and still enjoy the fabric lines that I’ve bought over time without making an entire quilt.  Maybe I should call it Scrapbook?

Genius.