Friday Finish - For the little fishies

More and more often, quilting is getting eclipsed by, you guessed it, kid sewing. It might not be as creatively satisfying, but I do love seeing DT running around playing with or wearing something I've made for them. This time, it's hooded beach ponchos.

Most of the tutorials I found required a bath towel and a hand towel, but I wanted to use these two beach towels from the collection. (The light is very wonky here... yikes!)

But I did find this tutorial from Fireflies and Jellybeans that didn't require anything extra, so off I went. I adapted it for the size of the towels I had and opted keep the body of the towel (and poncho) as one piece and cut a slit instead of making a shoulder seam. It seemed like a tidier look to me. Instead of pinning the hood to the towel, I used my trusty Wonderclips. Honestly, what did I do before these?

I went back and zigzagged any raw edges since toweling frays like mad. I tried to use the existing finished edges of the towel wherever possible. It not only made the project come together more quickly, but gave the ponchos some fun details.

 I'm particularly pleased with the hood on BT's poncho!

After a week-end of use at the cottage, I'd say I'll be making more of these once DT grow out of them. It's tricky to keep a towel on a perpetual motion machine! GT's poncho is a smidge too long, so I'll be making some modifications before our next swimming adventure! 

I'm linking up with TGIFF @ What A Hoot Quilts as well as Finish Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts. It's a small finish and it's #notaquilt, but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do!

Throwback Thursday {Volume 13} coming soon!

Hey everyone! Next week is the one year anniversary of Throwback Thursday @ A Quarter Inch from the Edge!

On Thursday, August 4th, you'll have your monthly opportunity to link up a blog post about a project from your dark, quilty past. The good, the bad, the ugly... you name it! And along with the usual link-up, there will be prizes from these fabulous sponsors!

 

 Hope to see you (and your quilts) next week!

J

WIP Wednesday - EPP-palooza!

It's been a hexie and EPP filled week here at A Quarter Inch from the Edge!

So much hand stitching!

One of my FAL 2016 Q3 goals was to do  something with my wee little paper pieced fox. He clearly needed friends, starting with this robin. I learned from the last go round and coloured my pattern.

The nice thing about making teeny tiny things is that you can use your favourite scraps from your stash and still have lots left!

 Voilà!

That cute little robin flew up to hang out with the fox on my bulletin board!

I really do love this little wooden roller. It saves me quite a few trips to the ironing board.

 I'll find a home for this gnome!

A day or two later, I managed to do the last two hexies - the mushroom and leaf. You probably can't tell, but there are two green prints in that leaf.

DT and I took a little road trip to my parents' cottage over the week-end. It was lovely to unplug (for the most part) and sew the evenings away after DT went to sleep. Now if only they had stayed asleep.

 

I managed to turn those paper pieced woodland critters and their bright 1 inch hexie pals into this EPP blob. What will it become? Who knows!

I jumped from project to project.  These little hexies just hang out in my project bag for when I have nothing else to work on. I have no earthly idea what they'll turn into. Perhaps a pincushion or two for my guild's upcoming swap?

I also spent a little time on Le EPP. Those fussy cuts make me smile each and every time I work on them.

This blob is destined to become a retirement gift for one of the French teachers I work with. I'm thinking mini quilt or pillow or tote. Ack. Decisions. Feel free to leave me your ideas in a comment!

I'm linking up with Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts, as well as Mid Week Makers @ Quilt Fabrication! 

J

TGIFF - Finding Dory

Welcome to TGIFF @ A Quarter Inch from the Edge! If you're new to my blog, I hope you'll take a little time to explore. Check out my past projects on the tabs or read a little about my  love of obsession with Kona under the Kona Love tab!

This week's project sprang from last week's trip to the South Shore of Nova Scotia. While wandering in lovely Lunenburg, I popped into The Lunenburg Makery and picked up a kit for their row of the Row by Row Experience. One of my MMQG pals was working on it at our last Sew In and I fell in love! And buying the kit was the only way to get the wee Dory Shop sign. I was hooked!

Here's my wee finish - just  13 by 9 inches! 

I opted not to do the entire row this time (or to use my treasured Dory Shop sign). I liked the idea of one happy boat next to what I think of as a fishing stage. You can read a little more about the making of of this mini quilt on this Wednesday's WIP post or on my Instagram feed (@quarter_iInch_from_the_edge).

Taking the paper off is so much easier when you actually remember to shorten your stitch length! I highly recommend it!

 I had such fun quilting the different textures. Here's my start on the woodgrain for the dock.

And the water was pretty fun too! In case you were wondering, that's a traditional Nova Scotian dory. Not just a Disney character, they were used for fishing. When I was a kiddo, my grandfather had a big one he used to row on the lake, often with a gaggle of grandkiddies on board! I might just have to make another in barn red as a reminder of that fine craft!

Now that I've done a few matched bindings, I don't know what I ever worried about. They're nowhere near perfect, but they achieve the seamless visual I'm going for!

I intended to give this mini away, but the more I look at it, the more I want to keep it. One just never knows!

Now it's your turn! Link up your finished projects and spread the TGIFF love by including a button or hyperlink in your post. You can get blog buttons here. Don't forget to pop over to some of the other great finishes this week!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you'll come back on Thursday, August 4th for the one year anniversary of Throwback Thursday, my monthly link-up to showcase projects from our dark quilty pasts!

J

WIP Wednesday - Because quilting doesn't suck...

Some days I get a little down on myself. So I decided to do more activities that don't suck in an effort to bolster my mood. Given that quilting doesn't suck, I've been doing as much of it as I can for the past few days. It's amazing what one can do when they get in the studio for an hour or two!

After last week's jaunt to Lunenburg, I couldn't resist getting started on my version of The Lunenburg Makery's Row by Row quilt. I kept the yellow and light blue from the kit, but subbed in some Konas: Medium Gray, Silver, and Prussian.

 I love this little fishing stage and it came together quite quickly!

There's always that point in paper piecing when you think, "Oh. This is going so smoothly. Look at me... paper piecing rockstar!" And then you do this. Grab the seam ripper.

I found a dory! Hee hee hee. For those of you not from Nova Scotia, these little boats are called dories. They're a classic style here in Nova Scotia. They even have races with them in lovely little Lunenburg Harbour. It's a big deal!

And since I've finally embraced a shortened stitch length for paper piecing, the paper came off like a dream!

I also made a pile of progress on the doll quilt to go with the recent baby doll basket for DT's Sam & Stella.

And I worked away on my low volume 16 patches... or were they 25 patches? Apparently I should have looked at my previous blocks before making more! *Update - they definitely should have been 16 patch... grab the seam ripper again!*

Setting my Q3 goals for the 2016 Finish-A-Long was also a kick in the pants in the WIP department. If I ever want to finish my Technicolor Galaxy, I actually have to work on it. Go figure. After tidying my studio, ironing my freshly washed purchases, shuffling my WIP cubby... okay, flat out procrastinating... I finally got down to work.

 Getting these first two together felt momentous!

 And I felt downright triumphant when I got to this point!

 As of this afternoon,  I had six of twelve spokes of the wheel done. Yay me!

Here's hoping I can keep up this level of productivity! I'm linking up today with the lovely Lorna @ Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social, as well as with the Canadian Needle and Thread Network. I'm also trying out a new (to me) link-up, Midweek Makers @ Quilt Fabrications. If you pop back on Friday, you'll see a finish of one of these projects and you can link up your own finishes as I host TGIFF! Hope to see you then!

J

Sunday Stash - Off the wagon. And climbing back on.

This strange thing keeps happening. I feel like I have less and less time to sew and yet, I'm still buying fabric. Honestly. How will I deplete my stash at this rate? I've fallen off the Year of the Stash bandwagon. But I'm not beating myself up. Fabric is fun.

Miss K and I had a fun day out this week and headed to the lovely south shore towns of Mahone Bay and Lunenburg. These towns are quaint and scenic, with lovely eateries and shops. One can easily wander a day (or a few) away! Once we chowed down on a tasty lunch at the Biscuit Eater and purused the wares at Northern Sun and The Teaser in Mahone Bay, we headed down the road to Lunenburg, home of the Lunenburg Makery.

Anja @ Anja Quilts has been busy collecting Row by Row patterns and I fell hard for The Makery's pattern. That house with the classic Lunenburg Bump and dories (not the Nemo kind). Though I could get the pattern for free, I bought the kit so I could get the cool little Dory Shop sign! I also picked up some wool felt to get started on this lovely Advent Calendar. 
Lunenburg Makery only carries one line of designer fabrics. Isn't that a shame? Not when it's Cotton + Steel! I treated myself to a few little FQs.
And then that pesky Chris ☺ over at Patch Halifax had to post a pic of a stack of sale fabrics on her Instagram feed. Honestly. Just not fair. I spied that beautiful Lizzy House strawberry print that I've been crushing on since it first arrived in the shop. 25% off? Yes, please! I'm tucking it away for a summer Geranium dress for GT next year!

I have no excuse for this crabby little FQ except for the fact that Himself works with crabs. And when one sees cute crab fabric, one buys it.

I filled in some of the gaps in my wool felt selection in preparation for making this awesome Advent Calendar.

I'm still going to need to order some more colours on-line. And beads. And sequins. I may have (okay... I have definitely) bitten off more than I can chew.

I'm linking up today with the fabulous Molli Sparkles for Sunday Stash #186. And then.... I'm reviving The Year of the Stash, people.  We need a kick in the pants. We need a link-up. It's not to late to grab a hold of the tail gate (do wagons have tail gates?) and get back on. There are still 5½ months left in 2016. Plenty of time to use what's in those glorious stashes. Stay tuned, TYOTSers!

J

2016 Finish-A-Long - Q3 Goals!

It's that time again... goal setting! After jumping on the 2016  Finish-A-Long just in time for Quarter 2, I found it very motivating. Here's hoping Quarter 3 is no different!

Goal 1 - Technicolor Galaxy

Last quarter, my goal was to get up to date on my Skill Builder BOM Technicolor Galaxy. Check! This time, I want/need to get this puppy assembled and bound. For reals. It's been long enough and I want my design wall back!

Goal 2 - Cotton + Steel Christmas Quilt

This one might seem a little familiar.  Yup, it was a goal last quarter too. But this time I'm really going to get it done. Part of my hang-up is how to quilt it. Suggestions are more than welcome!

Goal 3 - Selvage Challenge

I'm going to turn my pile of rainbow selvage blocks into something fabulous for Stash Builder Box's Selvage Challenge. The challenge runs from July 5th to September 25th (perfect for Q3) and all you have to do to enter is post your project on Instagram (yup... I've succumbed to the temptation) using #selvagechallenge.


Goal 4 - Paper pieced hexies

I made one of these awesome wee hexies during my May is for Makers mania. Must. Make. More. And turn them into something! I should set a goal to use a few of those lovely patterns I bought!

Goal 5 - Advent Calendar

 

Speaking of which! I started buying wool felt for this mega project just last week. Can I get it done for the end of September? It's a big goal, but I'm gonna give it a try!

I'm linking up with the goal setting post for Quarter 3 of the 2016 Finish-A-Long.

J