Finish up Friday! - A Hat Trick

hat trick  

Noun

1. Three successes of the same kind, esp. consecutive ones within a limited period.
2. (chiefly in hockey or soccer) The scoring of three goals in a game by one player.

I've not taken up hockey this week, but I did finish three projects. That counts for some consecutive successes!

First up, the on-going HST obsession. You saw a few versions of this one last week, but here's the layout I settled on. Himself says it might be his favourite baby quilt that I've ever made. I couldn't possibly play  favourites! I was dodging raindrops to take this pic... oh, the things I will do for quilting!

Rather than stitch in the ditch, I decided to emphasize the large teal/orange squares formed by the lay-out. I stitched a quarter inch out.

I'm pretty pleased with the binding...  it's one of the orange versions of that Rain fabric I keep blabbing about. And I used up some more of that teal floral for the backing. I bought a pile of it on one of my infamous Marden's trips to use as backing for the spare room qui-vet and it just seems to go on and on

Second up, Paying it Forward! Way back in January,  Ade over at Chezzetcook Modern Quilts offered a little Creative Pay it Forward challenge to her FaceBook friends. The first five people to comment would receive a crafty something in the mail sometime over the course of the year. The catch - you had to make the same offer to your FaceBook friends. I jumped on the opportunity with both feet! And got this little treat in the mail some time ago...

Lucky me, huh?

Only two people took me up on my offer and I've yet to send them anything... until now! Ms. L is a long-time Girl Guide friend from my days at StFX in Antigonish. She posts the most beautiful pics of her outdoor adventures - canoeing, hiking, kayaking - all over Nova Scotia. Honestly, I don't even feel like she needs to pay this gift forward. Her pictures are gift enough for anyone.

This table runner is based on a Flickr pic from Kelby Sews. There wasn't a tutorial, so I made some intelligent guesses and made it up as I went along. The green sections started out as 5 inch squares and the brown corners started as 2½ inch squares.

You're likely shocked by the fabric choices here... I had a pretty lengthy love affair with Balis so my stash is still chock-a-block full with them. This project didn't even make a dent. I'm loving the binding on this one too. It's a fabric I bought in Hawaii to use in my Honu quilt. Happy memories. I know, I know, again with the binding fabrics. For me, they're like the last piece of the puzzle. They have to be just right.

 And thirdly, Dot to Dot! This one is all Q-A's fault. She brought this fabric to a Quilt Therapy session...

... and it haunted me until I made something with it. I swear, I couldn't even put it away in the stash closet. It traveled from my desktop to the ironing board to the bed in my studio and back to the desktop again. I knew it had to be made into something.
And here it is! A Kona-tastic creation!

The quilting frames the small centre squares and breaks up the dot to dot blocks. I didn't anticipate it turning out as nicely as it did. I'm not always so good at visualizing the finished project when it gets to the quilting stage.
If there had been any yardage of the dots, they would have been the clear choice for the backing. Alas, the two original scraps were only 8 by 12 inches. So Konas it was!

In case you were wondering and/or trying to hold your Kona colour card up to the screen to figure out the colours (never done that... really.), the Konas featured here are (from top to bottom): White, Corn Yellow,  Purple, Lilac, Chartreuse, White again, and Orange. The pink used on the front is Bubblegum (I didn't have a scrap of it left for the back!)

This was my last full week of vacation, so I made the most of it. Mere days to go before I'm back in the classroom and quilting gets put on the back burner... but not to fear, loyal readers! I'll still be stitching away when I have the time and sharing it with you!

To get myself back into the school mindset, I made a little zipper pouch for myself! This one's made with 16 inch zippers using this tutorial from Everywhere Orange. So much fun!

I also made a little something for my classroom... you only get a sneaky peaky though.

 

You'll have to come back soon for Tutorial Tuesday if you want to see it!

Okay, everyone! Step away from the computer/tablet/Smart phone and get to some sewing!

J

Sunny Sew-Day or a Sew-y Sunday?

I guess it was a little of both! Today made Day 4 of my sew marathon. I don't really know what's going on with me in the productivity department, but I suspect it has a lot to do with this being my last week of summer vacation. It hurt me even to type that.

To kick things off, I dove back into my selvage bin. I have a couple of ongoing projects that I pick away at when the bin gets a little too full or I don't know what else to work on. First up, rainbow blocks.

These blocks are made up of four 5 inch blocks. I vary the rainbow gradiation from block to block. I don't have a plan for them... I just like making them! So far, I have three complete blocks like the one below.

And I made two more segments for a future block. Don't you just love selvages?

On to the teal! Apparently, I must make a lot of projects with teal if my selvages are any sort of proof. These blocks are done on a 6½ inch foundation.

 I've got quite a few of them... eight in all... and again, no firm plans for their future! 

Remember those teal and orange HST layouts I shared this week? Well, I fell in love with another layout... who knew there were so many options! This one was from a pic found on Pinterest from Milly Made It.  She also used teal and orange, but darker tones paired with a gorgeous grey. This one's already quilted and bound... you'll just have to wait for some pics.

 I can also tell you that in the past couple days, I've made the a pile of blocks for another baby quilt, inspired by this scrap of fabric I got from Q-A. I tried not to work on it, but it just kept calling me. And it wasn't just the selvage! I'll let you in on the details later in the week!

I also got to thinking about my Crafty Pay it Forward promises that I made back in January and started work on a little something to go in the mail to a certain Guiding pal in Antigonish. Here's a sneaky peaky...

 

As the August days fly by on the calendar, my thoughts are turning to school supplies. It's the best part of September. Who doesn't love a cool little pencil case like no one else has?

 

Yup, those are zippers! I saw a similar idea on Pinterest (Yes, I have more than one addiction in my life.) and decided to whip a couple up. They are a little bit tricky, but I think Miss K and Super K will like them. And it's totally a coincidence that both those special young women have K blog aliases!

The pink one has this lovely Amy Butler print on the back and inside. I really wanted to line it in some way, but I have a hell of a time with linings.

And the blue and purple one has a cool batik that I bought in Alaska at The Quilted Raven. I love to pick up some of fabric or a pattern when I travel. It's fun to use it later and think of the adventure you had to get it. My kind of souvenir!

Now I just have to think of something to make for Mr. J. It just wouldn't be fair for him not to have a little back to school giftie too. But they didn't have enough zippers for me to make a Pittsburgh Penguins colour scheme!

See what I mean? There's been a whole lot of sewin' goin' on!

Hope you had a sunny or sew-y Sunday!

J