Wednesday, June 25, 2014

WIP Wednesday - Chuggin' along on the productivity train!

Oh, how I love having time (and the energy!) to sew again! With vacation days last week and a Sew Day with the Squares on Saturday, there's been a lot of work done since my last WIP Wednesday update!

Since I finished up the top of my Michael Miller MQG Challenge last week, it was time to get quilting. With all those stitch n'flip triangles, things were more than a little improv-y. The quilting is more than a little unusual too (at least for me!) but I opted not to make it too wonky. One can have too much of a good thing!
All quilted and ready to be bound. For those of you who wanted to see a little more on last week's post, you won't have to wait too long for a Friday to see the finished product! ☺
Next up, a new project! Another Hex n' More project from JayBird Quilts. I picked this up last week on Q-A and I's FART to Avonport Discount Fabrics. If you're intrigued by this pattern, there's a Hexagon QAL on the Jaybird website. It's not exactly like these pillows, but gives you a good idea of the technique!
Off I went to my Christmas stash again to pull these lovelies... I used the tree print (Winter from the Anne Kelle's Jingle line) to select the other colours. Don't you just love Anne Kelle prints? Christmas prints are also a great way to demo new patterns, especially pilows. If they don't turn out perfectly, you only have to look at them for a month or so!
I love how Julie of JayBird Quilts breaks down complex shapes into triangles and simple row construction. When you look at the photo on the package, you figure there will be a pile of partial seams to deal with. Nope... not a one. I've said it before and I'll likely say it again, you can make these patterns without the Hex n'More ruler (templates are provided with each pattern), but the ruler makes it so easy!
I think I'm getting the hang of pressing these seams open. I hardly burnt my fingers with the steam at all! Please don't be too horrified by my use of steam... I just can't do without it!
I loved how the first one looked, so I whipped up a second right away! I haven't squared them up yet... I need to do some re-con on pillow forms first!

And that's not all! I quilted my Cool Stash Strips. The top's been done since March, so it really was time to do it up! I wanted to soften the hard lines of the strips, but didn't want to take on a large FMQ project with J-Boy's Good Old Hockey Game also ready to quilt. We'll call these organic lines, okay?
I raided my strip stash for binding. I save all those leftover end-y bits. They're great when you're making a scrappy quilt. All pressed and virtually ready to go!

And I finished quilting it yesterday! Stay tuned for a Friday Finish on this one too!

Errands and aching shoulders kept me from the machine yesterday, but I'm sure I'll be back at it in no time! I'm linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced as well as The Needle and Thread Network.

J


7 comments:

  1. Amazing what can be accomplished when you're on vacation. I can't wait to be on vacation next week!!

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  2. Beautiful! Just love your cool stash strips quilt! Where did you get those binding clips? I'm still using pins...OUCH... and would like to change to binding clips but they're expensive so I want to invest in ones that are good.

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  3. ooh, hard to wait till Friday. Triangle hexagons- nice but I want to see the wonky triangles as you at least have points!!! ;~)

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  4. you have been very busy.....lovely pieces

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  5. Yay for productivity! I love hexagons and yours are looking good! So does the other projects.

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  6. I noticed that you didn't mention sleep. I'm not horrified by steam but I use a separate mist bottle of water. I've had accidents with my iron spitting out stuff, with the steam, that just won't come off my quilt. Your quilts are gorgeous and I absolutely love your use of colour/pattern.

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  7. Your challenge top looks really interesting and I can't believe how many projects you've been working on! How many hours are there in your day?!

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