WiP Wednesday

The name of the game this week is Bee Blocks.  Bee.Blocks.All.Day.Long.  I’ve had so much fun working on Bee blocks for Robin Sue of RobinSue Quilts and Stephanie over at Simple Sewendipity this week.  They aren’t finished quite yet, because Stephanie’s Block got me side tracked!  (It’s all your fault, Steph!)

First up, Robin Sue’s awesome block, the My Stars Align block, from Stitching and Bacon.

Do you like the fabric selections?!  Of course I have to include Chicopee in every bee block.  Duh.

And then, Stephanie’s block: Little Vines blocks by Elizabeth Hartman.  This block is going to be awesome as a quilt.  I’ve had so much fun diving into applique, and now that the fear as been conquered, I’m all in.  All. in.

This was the first Bee Block where I solely pulled from my scraps and it’s awesome.  I had so much fun pulling out fabrics and it’s great to know that you can truly just use your scraps and love what you create.  Which is a duh, but worth noting.

Petals everywhere!

I’m getting better with each one, but I’m still unsure about the bias tape step…

And this is where I got side tracked…

Last night I busted out my Soul Blossom fabric and started making more petals.  Once I started this applique I had to make another project.  I just had to.  I can’t wait to finish this one off!

But that’s the best part of Bees… learning new skills!  I hope to be all caught up this weekend, and I’m still so thankful for this wonderful group of quilters to learn from.  Every month they’ve picked amazing blocks!

WIP Wednesday

Woohooo, my Chicopee Quilt is almosttttttt finished.  This weekend my sew-mo-jo returned, and I was able to get this beast basted.  (I did a terrible job – I didn’t realize corduroy was this tricky, y’all!)

(Put extra pins in corduroy- note to self in the future)

After talking to a few friends, I decided on straight line quilting for this.

Love it.  Also – props to my mom for choosing this thread color when I made my first Chicopee quilt.  She is the thread master and I’ve yet to make a Chicopee project without using this thread color.  Gorg.  Also, I’m pretty sure that when I did straight line quilting before I told y’all to never let me do it again.  It’s just so pretty when it’s done!

And now she’s all quilted – so tonight’s it’s binding time!

I think my husband likes it…

Tonight I’m auditioning binding.  It’s down to the Duet Dot in Chicopee or solid cerise.  I can’t wait to put this on my couch!

Linking up with Lee for WIP Wednesday!

WiP Wednesday

You guys.  Last night, I got to eat dinner with Michelle of Factotum of Arts.  She and her mother are in NYC having fun, and they came into Newark last night to meet me after work.  It.was.awesome.  Bless her sweet mother, too, for listening to our quilt lingo for hours.  Last night was the best moment – it was such an window into why I’ve loved blogging and what the best part of this journey has been.  Now, I just need her to live closer all the time!

The husband’s quilt is almost finished.  Almost finished.  Woohoo!  A while back, my girl Sarah posted a comma plus quilt, and I was smitten.  Now,  my husband has his own.  I’m so glad that I shared Sarah’s quilt with him, because he LOVES it.

He loves it so much that he hasn’t complained once that my sewing table has taken over the living room for days.  This.will.never.happen.again.  Unless I make him another quilt.  Which will never happen again.

I absolutely adore the square quilting, and I’m so proud of myself for just going after another FMQ design.  I’ve made 7 quilts so far this year, and I’ve FMQed 5 of them with unique designs each time.  This year I really wanted to get better at FMQing and I’ve loved trying out new designs.  Squares were extremely liberating and fun, plus they went super quickly.  BONUS.

It’s hard to photograph the detail on this quilt because of the low-volume fabrics, but the texture is on point.  I’m so glad that this quilt will be staying in our house and that I’ll get to see it everyday!

Oh, and you know how were disagreed over the quilting?  How I wanted to quilt words…

Yep, got some in there.

Now onto the binding!

WiP Wednesday

You guys.  Progress is being made on my Block Party Chicopee quilt, and I am smitten!  At my last NJMQG meeting I passed out 12 sets of flying geese blocks.

Gorgeous, right?

Right after handing these out, I left for Spring Break so I haven’t had a chance to start make the additional 12 blocks for the finished quilt.  However, bee mates have started posting finished blocks on Instagram!

I’m so excited I can’t even stand it.

Of course this inspired me last night to begin prepping for the blocks I have to complete for this quilt.  I am ready to have this quilt on my couch because one can never have too much Chicopee in their living room.  Am I right, or am I right?

Chilling with the Housewives.

So now I’m ready to sew!

As a side note, I watched the most recent episode of The Good Wife while marking these flying geese last night.  Does anyone watch that show?  If so, email me so I can have someone to debrief with!  Quilt on, friends!

WiP Wednesday

A while back I put out a call for help for how to use my Chicopee fabric for an upcoming Bee.  Well, I’m Queen this month, and now I’m chopping it up!  You all had so many wonderful ideas, but every time I would get close to committing to a quilt block, it didn’t feel right.  OR someone had already made it.  For this, I really wanted to make it original.  (Don’t tell me if I’m not.)

This was the very first bundle of fabric I ever bought.

But, don’t worry – my chicopee shelf is still pretty stocked.

Since this was a Bee quilt, I decided I should iron my fabric to ensure that my cuts were perfect.  Yes, yes I do usually skip the ironing step.  This is a no judgement zone, people.

Then, I decided to take over the kitchen.

And the husband has now seen it all.

Doesn’t this just make you so happy?

The quilt plan is still coming together – and I’m hoping to make a test block this weekend!

Plus, scraps.  Scraps!  I can’t wait to put these to use!

Chicopee doesn’t go in the trash ’round here, y’all.

Gypsy Wife Quilt

I didn’t think I was going to make the February deadline for blocks.  However, once I got started making these beauties, I couldn’t stop!  Now, I don’t want to wait – this quilt is addicting.

For February, Michelle laid out the Color Wheel and Pinwheel blocks.  Get ready for some seriously fun blocks:

Two words: Fussy Cut.

I thought I was going to hate the mini pinwheels – surprise I LOVE this block!

Still got my cerise in there – AMH style!

So, there you have the February blocks!  Now that I’ve realized how much I love these blocks, it’s going to be hard to pace myself with this quilt.  Who else is doing this QAL?!

 

WiP Wednesday

This week I’ve been in need of some sewing machine therapy.  Thank God for the baby quilts.  This was just the size project I needed to work on, and let’s be honest, that I had time to work on this week.

The hubs was oh so gracious to let me use his floor…

I decided to try some FMQing on this top, especially since I’m making it for a family member and they are more forgiving.  Plus, I’m only going to get better if I practice, right?

I love these little boxes!

Binding is up next  – not sure about this binding choice…

WiP Wednesday

With Big Bertha’s temporary return  we’re quilting as much as we can!  For February, I’m hoping to finish quilting three quilt tops.  Two of the tops are already basted and ready to go, and the other top is almost finished.  This Cuzco Chevron quilt top was made last January as part of the Sew Can She chevron challenge.  Yes, I’m just now getting around to quilting it.  I wanted to try FMQ on this one instead of straight lines, so I held out until I had my new machine.

I’m loving the texture of the stipple.  It’s been a little challenging to keep the stipples the same size, but the beauty is that you can’t tell because the quilt is so busy.

I just had to take a break to get a picture of this … the purr of the machine put him to sleep.

Quilting is done… time to square it up!

What tips do you have to make this part of the process go smoother?

Linking up with Lee for WiP Wednesday!

WiP Wednesday

My husband’s quilt is definitely underway.  I am loving this quilt, and my husband has definitely approved it so far.  Again, this was heavily influenced by Sarah over at Georgia Girl Quilts, with only a few different low-volume prints that I thought represented my husband.  At first I was making each individual block, and then I wised up and remembered chain piecing.  Duh.

First up, the blacks and greys.

Then I made the yellows:

Which gave me a chance to break up ironing.  I hate ironing.

Almost finished:

I only have one more block to make using this amazing math print I bought just for the hubs.  Such a nerdy man.

It’s a good thing he loves this fabric, because it’s the most expensive piece I’ve ever bough. $10.00 for a fat quarter.  I sure love that man…

I can’t wait to finish this top completely and figure out what backing fabric to use.  I think I’ll take him to the quilt store and let him pick it out.  Date night!

WiP Wednesday

My love affair with the Kaffe Stripes is continuing.  In fact, this might become an all out affair, where I go all in, blow my fabric budget, and buy yards of these beauties.  GAHHHHH, where is my trust fund/sugar daddy/winning lotto ticket?!  I just want to sleep, drink coffee, and make pretty things.

After prepping these quilts, and learning that it will be another two weeks without my machine, my wonderful friend Melanie let me borrow her machine.  It’s nice to get a chance to piece while I’m waiting to quilt.  That way I won’t be too behind once I get it back.  My goal is to have a few quilts basted and ready for when I get Big Bertha back.  Then, it’s on!

It was such a great feeling this week to be able to sew again.  I was going stir crazy without the hum of a machine.

Y’all.  I can’t.  At first my husband was not digging this, and then he saw this and he said, “Are you sure you don’t want to keep this one?!”  hahahahaha.  If I had my way, we would have 50 quilts in our house.

Does anyone else watch Parenthood?!  Because nothing makes me happier than when Aiden from Sex and the City comes back.  My God, I love him.  Do you sew while watching TV?

All of the rows are ironed and pieced, and now I’m just waiting to baste this bad boy.  I cannot explain how much I love this quilt… and it does look rather nice on our guest bed…  I know I planned on making two of these, but you might be seeing a third sometime this year… or even a fourth one.