WIP & a snow day!!!

I haven't done a WIP post in a long time... they were starting to feel a bit oppressive when I did them weekly. But this Wednesday, I find myself with some time on my hands. Why, you ask? It's a snow day - an honest to goodness, school cancelled, hang out in your pj's snow day!!!

The WIP I'm most excited about today is probably my blog! I just figured out how to add images with links to my sidebar! I've seen it on lots of other blogs, but couldn't quite get the hang of it. So exciting! Now you can see the Guilds I belong to as well as some on-line fun and shenanigans I'm up to! But the quilting, you say? Yup, there's some stuff going on there too!

This week-end, I started a Christmas-y hexie. When I've got one of these on the go, I can't seem to think about anything else and, of course, I had to sneak in a couple of Konas. It's destined to become a pillow top and I think it's almost there. Maybe just one more row on the top and a few more down the side.

I'm also quilting along with Canoe Ridge Creations (as you can tell from my sidebar!) The quilt top is finished and the backing is washed. Perhaps today I'll get it ironed and ready for layering. See... I wasn't kidding about the snow day! The clothes line was too wet and icy to hang it!
On the week-end, I whipped up a table runner for my Nanny for Christmas. It's layered and ready to quilt once I get my dear little machine back home!
In terms of other projects that have been hanging around for a while, there's my Toes in the Sand quilt. Just four more blocks/beaches and I'll be putting together the top. Obviously, the photo wasn't taken recently! Those poor hostas are under a blanket of the cold white stuff today!

 I'm linking up with WiP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. Another first for me... I'm not exactly sure how it will work!

Happy sewing and/or shoveling all!

J

Quiltin' Along on a Week-end!

Fabrics chosen. Check. Pieces cut. Check. Up next, sewing! This whole quiltalong thing is even more fun and motivational than I thought it would be! In case you forgot what I chose, here's the Kona money shot for this post! Charcoal, Capri, Wasabi, Persimmon, and Punch. Yum.
First off, the Punch and Persimmon chevrons. I won't go into detail on instructions. You can head over to Canoe Ridge Creations and read for yourself (only not right now, okay?) Out came the trusty Frixion pen to mark the background squares. The purple showed surprisingly well on the Charcoal.

Then I had to slice off the excess triangles. Q-A will not be pleased at this "waste" of fabric. I'm already plotting how I can re-purpose those off cuts into something else... probably another baby quilt!

First step done. Doesn't look like much, eh?

But with the opposite side of the block done, they really start to look like something!

On to the Capri and Wasabi blocks! I have never made this large a HST. Never. I had to include my hand so you'd have a sense of just how freakin' big these are.

That's all the complex piecing done... now I can make blocks! These "blocks" are 20 inches square. It's tough to call it a block when it's that darned big... but given how quickly they go together, they do feel like blocks. Halfway there! Please ignore the design floor and focus on the Kona-y Starburst-y loveliness.

 I've never made this large a quilt with just 9 blocks! ☺

And as I sat down to write this post, with the December sun setting outside my window, I realized that I forgot to take a pic of the finished top. Oops! But I'm sure you'll come back again, dear reader. I mean, there's still quilting and binding to go on the Canoe Ridge Creations Starburst QAL! Himself announced that he really likes this one. He'd even go as far as to deign to use it as his couch quilt (for the LazyBoy... but we still call it a couch quilt!). As if he'll be able to pry this one from my hands once it's done!

Are you quilting along anywhere these days? Know of any good ones coming up? Please share in a comment... I think I might have been bitten by the QAL bug!

J

Sew flippin' busy!

It's been a busy week... when isn't it? No one ever says, "Oh yeah... this week just crept by. So slow, so relaxing." But it was momentous in a few ways!

To kick off the week, I had a meeting of Mariners Quilt Guild on Monday evening. I'd really been looking forward to this one because the theme for the weekly strip exchange was Konas. Ahh... Konas. I kept wondering what fun and exciting colours I'd get to take home with me! Wonder no more! Here's the haul!

If I'm being honest here, I'd say I was....underwhelmed at the selections. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that, but brown? There are 271 colours to choose from. Oh well. 

Now the game of Name-that-Kona begins! I'm pretty sure these are Cardinal, Carrot, and Orange from front to back.

 And these purples are lovely... if a little reminiscent of something I finished this summer.

 The blues and teals probably make me happiest... mind you, I did contribute that lovely Capri on the right!

 I was feeling so jazzed about the Kona exchange that I prepared for the evening's program. Quelle surprise! I chose some Konas. These are actually my most recent fat quarter of the month selection from Sew Sisters... Emerald, Medium Grey (really, that's the best name you could come up with?), Jade Green, Ash, and Pepper (from front to back).

The program was a folded star block... here's how far I've gotten! I need to stitch down the outer edge of this layer before I can add more triangles.

I'll keep you posted on this one! I'm more than a little afraid of the circle appliqué for that covers the edges of all those triangles. Appliqué just plain 'ole makes me nervous...

On Tuesday, I did the next step of the Canoe Ridge Creations Quilt Along - cutting! I had some troubles getting the pieces required out of the yardage given. Q-A determined that in order to do so, you'd need a 41 inch WOF. Not easily achieved, especially if you pre-wash. Luckily, I had bought a little extra and only needed more Kona Punch. I'm pretty excited that Q-A and Q-B have decided to jump on the QAL bandwagon. Now if we could just get Q-D interested. You could always do it all in reds, Q-D!

And then came Wednesday evening! The highlight of my week! "Wednesday, A highlight?" I hear you saying... most people don't feel that way, I know. But this Wednesday was exceptional. Amidst a nasty Nova Scotian November rainstorm (the kind where the wind howls all night and you're drenched to the skin from a 10 metre dash from the house to the car), we had the first meeting of.....
The Maritime Modern Quilt Guild! 

It's so fun to be in on the ground floor of something new... something made just for those of us who are quilting with a more modern aesthetic! There were a number of bloggers around the table (you can check out their blogs on the sidebar of the MMQG website).... so cool to meet them in person! We were small in number (just 7 in person and 2 via video link), but we made some big decisions about the direction of our guild. Monthly meetings AND monthly sew in's! I can hardly wait until January...we're keeping it simple and taking December with it's myriad of commitments off!

I can't say I got a tonne of actual sewing done this week, but I sure was thinking about it. I've even used it as a carrot to get the first stage of my mountain of report cards written. Speaking of which, enough blogging about it... time to get some sewin' done!

Hope you found time to cram in a little sewing this week! If not, better luck next week! ☺

J