TLP - September "Killing two birds with one stone" Edition!

Alas, sewing has ground to a snail's pace around here... But there's nothing quite like a link-up/deadline to get one's butt in gear! Last Friday, September's link-up for the Library Project over at Chezzetcook Modern Quilts went live. 5 days late is better than not at all, right?

So, as I blogged about in the August Edition, for my last Library Project quilt, I've opted to make something just for me. It's destined to live in my newly relocated studio (some day I'll do a post on that, honest I will!). Though I've posted a little about this quilt, I will shamefacedly say that I have made nowhere near the progress of our fearless leader, Ms. Adrienne. Ack!

That said, the top is finished! I'm pleased with how precise my piecing turned out... those Kona Silver sections are ½ inch finished. Yikes! But then dear old Honey just hung out on the design wall for a while....

I admit it. I was afraid to trim it square. There's something about the step of trimming that is a "no going back" sort of thing. But today, in honour of getting my butt in gear for the link-up, I trimmed!

And I, and the quilt, survived! It's a little more rectangular than square, but I wanted to maintain the half triangles formed by trimming the sides.

Since it's trimmed, why not layer this bad boy in a desperate attempt to spur myself onward to quilting? Okay... done. I used a modified version of the Almighty Scrapmaster's Spray Basting Technique. She layers and sprays her quilts right on the design wall... which works for me since the floor seems to be long way down these days! I varied my technique a little... I didn't use a mask. Does it count if I opened the window and held my breath while spraying? ☺

I used Moda's Paris Flea Market print as my backing. Now the question - how to quilt this?! In Modern Patchwork, the author FMQed the finished project using a loop and line pattern. I'm pretty sure I want to FMQ, but want something a little more exciting, perhaps to emphasize the individual hexagon units. Suggestions welcome!

Obviously, I'm linking up with the September Edition of The Library Project. My goal is to have this one quilted and on the wall in time for the October Edition! Gotta have goals, y'all!And since it's Wednesday, I'm gonna jump all over the linking up bandwagon. WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced and Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts, here I come!

J

WIP Wednesday - Return of the selvages & Christmas jammies!

It seems like I'm up to my eyeballs in partially finished tasks lately... and not just in the studio. I swear if there aren't some finishes soon, I'm gonna lose my mind! ☺

During some Quilt Therapy time with the Squares this past week-end, I quilted the selvage pillow-turned-wall hanging from last week. I opted to emphasize the chevron-y-ness (yup, totally made up that word) of the piece.

 
I didn't want to distract from the selvages... it's really quite busy... so I opted for white thread. In pictures, it only shows well on the back. But I was amazed at the texture that the quilting added to the front. I think it's best viewed in person though!

And I finally got off the fence and made a decision on how to quilt the Plus Two quilts.

Still only showing you a sneaky-peek... patience, grasshoppers, patience! They're all ready to be trimmed and bound!

I did manage to finish these little cuties...

Christmas jammies! They're from a pattern by Made by Rae called Big Butt Baby Pants. The pattern was really easy to understand (the only mistake I made was purely a result of my own carelessness) and includes 6 sizes ranging from 0-3 months to 2T. What a steal at 10$ for the digital download! Himself was a little sad that I didn't have enough fabric to make matching ones for him! I couldn't resist making another pair. Funny, he didn't want ones like these...

Big Butt Clown Pants! In keeping with the long standing tradition of dressing your children in clothes you wouldn't be caught dead in....

With the leftover scraps of the Christmas jammies (and a number of much searched for matching flannels), I'm going to make the babies a Christmas play blanket.

Babies a couple months old don't really need Christmas presents.... but this one will be quick and make for a good backdrop for the inevitable first Christmas photo madness!

Hope you found some time to sew this week! I'm linking up with WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced as well as Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts.

J

Friday Finish! - Gotta love a zipper pouch!

The September meeting of the Maritime Modern Quilt Guild was last night and we had another fantastic exchange! This time - zipper pouches! The style and size was totally up to the makers. Here's what I whipped up!

When I saw the pattern in Issue 10 of Love Patchwork & Quilting (sent to me by a lovely Global Scrap Bee mate), I knew I had to make it! This is one magazine that could make me break my quilting mag fast... there's just so many good things in there! So tempting!
Anyway...

I whipped up the paper pieced cassette block in short order...even though it was a challenge finding something round to make the cassette reels and getting that little bit of selvage positioned perfectly to act as the label. And then... hmmm.... how to make it into a zipper pouch? Luckily, I remembered those Noodlehead Road Trip Cases I made recently and went for the leftover vinyl in my closet.

I made sure to sneak one of my labels on before I added the vinyl back and bound it...

I'd be lying if I said I'm not tempted to make another one... it was hard to give away! But the deal was, bring a zipper pouch, get a zipper pouch. What did I take home? Why this little lovely!

 It even features a bottom gusset so it will stand on its own and I do love a good owl print!

There were so many lovely pouches flying around... if you keep a watch on our guild's blog, you'll likely see pics of all of them!

J

P.S. I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts... I mean, it's Friday afterall!

WIP Wednesday - It's selvage time!

It's been another week of late night sewing... no matter what I try, I don't seem to be able to fall asleep much before 3 am. Oh well... As I said last week, I'm a little stumped on how to quilt a few of my WIPs, and part of me just felt like playing a little this week, so I dug out the selvage bin...

And had a good look at my selvage inspiration board on Pinterest. I found this little lovely from the Berlin Quilter, but sadly there was no tutorial. I had to put my Q-D skills to work and come up with my own measurements. I opted to make each rectangular section 3½ by 9½ with the goal of an 18 inch finished pillow.

 There's something about working with selvages that turns me into a messy quilter...
Now that the top's done, I'm not so sure I want it to be a pillow. I don't have a suitable place for a pillow of this sort to live... but I do have a few empty spaces on the walls on my new studio. Hmmm.... 

While I was playing with my selvages, I came across a whack of Amy Butler selvages and decided to whip a new insert for my phone case. Himself bought me this lovely clear case for Christmas... I can fill it with whatever fabric I want (though I will admit that I've only had a couple different prints in there since Christmas).
I figured if I made a few inserts at a time, I might change it more often!

I'm linking up with WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced as well as Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts.
Hope you had time for some sewing this week!

J

It's not you... it's me: Why I broke up with my quilt guild

As I write this post, some changes are coming in my life. Big changes. We're breaking up. Not me and you, dear reader, but me and my quilt guild. I've been a member for at least 5 years. I've participated in fun exchanges of blocks and fabrics, attended interesting workshops, trunk shows, and guest speakers. I've learned a lot.

But the magic has waned for me. There just isn't that spark. There are, without question, people and activities that I will miss. But the cons (the old girls' club, differing viewpoints on quilting and life in general, etc.) far outweigh the pros for me.

But here's the thing, people. I'm not a tree. I can leave. If you're in any situation that's not working and that's not going to change, you can can leave. So that's what I'm doing. I'm done worrying about it.

I will be forever grateful to my renaissance friend, Adrienne from Chezzetcook Modern Quilts for having the courage to do what I didn't - start a modern quilt guild in our city: Maritime Modern Quilt Guild. Now I go to guild meetings with an excitement that I haven't had in a long time. I hate to miss it! I feel, for the first time in a long time, that I'm surrounded by like-minded people. At MMQG, I'm not the odd one out any more - the young one, the one who works, the modern one, the one who loves Konas, the one with the blog. We've only been together for a short time, but when it feels right.... well, you just know.



This post is not in any way intended to disparage my (now-former) guild. If anything, it's meant to encourage you to join a guild, any guild. Why? There's so much to see, to learn, to experience. Go shopping for a guild that suits you. And if it doesn't, don't worry. There's no kids involved and you don't have to sell the house. Move on. Keep shopping. If there's nothing in your community, start a guild. Or if that seems like a huge undertaking, find a blog (or make one!) and build your own community. There's one thing you can be certain of: no matter what you're doing, there's someone out there doing it too... and they'd love some company!

J

P.S. If you live in (or near) the HRM and want to give the MMQG a try, our monthly meeting is this Thursday at the newest stop on the fabricaholics fix tour, Patch Halifax.  Check the MMQG blog for more details.

WIP Wednesday - Hexies, and triangles, and baby quilts! Oh my!

As per usual, this WIP Wednesday is all over the road. But tI think the post's title sums it up fairly well!

It occurred to me a while back that Double Trouble are going to need Christmas stockings. Wait. Before you scroll to the bottom to leave me a comment about PRIORITIES, you should know that stockings are an important tradition in my family - one that I plan to pass on to DT (even if they have no idea earthly clue what Christmas is this year). Given how long it took me to decide on patterns and make stockings for Himself and I, I figured I better get to it. Nothing says fun like hexies, right?

My inspiration for this fabric pull was the Ann Kelle Christmas Owls from her Jingle line. Oh no... she's adding more animals to the Urban Zoologie line in November 2014 - and there are foxes. I will be helpless to resist.

I found a stocking template on the Fabric Worm blog and am adapting it for my own purposes. To keep things simple(r), I'm doing hexies for the front of the stocking and using the owl print for the back. One will be lined with a Kona Poppy and the other with Kona Chartreuse. I've got one front done!

And another halfway there... I watch a lot of TV lately. I'm looking forward to layering these and quilting them... I'm tempted to FMQ. Thoughts, dear reader? If yes, what motif?

So that's the hexies part of this post. On to the triangles... which, along the way, will become hexies.

I'm moving a long on my latest selection from the Library Project. These are the second project to make their way onto my swanky new design wall. (Thanks to the DIY stylings of my fabulous husband).

So far, they're a little fiddly and I'm having a tough time figuring out just how many I need to make for my scaled down wall hanging. Currently it's way too big, but with all those triangles and seam allowances, I need to sew together a complete row to get a sense of things. But there's progress... so, yeah.

Now on to the baby quilts! Quilt A and Quilt B of the Plus Two quilts are finished! Okay, the tops are finished and the quilts are layered. But I'm a little stumped on how to quilt them. Luckily, our MMQG meeting is just a week away, as is a Quilt Therapy session with (all of) the Squares. I see quilt consults in my future!

I know I'm not being fair to all of you out in bloggy land, but I want to show them to you as a Finish (two actually)! You'll have to be patient... just like those pesky Squares that DESPERATELY want to know if Double Trouble are be boys, girls, or a combo deal.☺

I'm linking up with WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced, as well as Let's be Social@ Sew Fresh Quilts.
Feel free to pop on over and see what some other quilters are working on this week!

J