WIP Wednesday - Where does the time go?

Ack. I've become one of THOSE bloggers. You know, the ones that don't post forever and then kvetch about it? Well, I'm skipping the kvetching and going straight to what I've been working on. Every once in a while the stars align and I have both the time and the energy to sew!

When last I shared about this epic WIP, Technicolor Galaxy, I was assembling the already quilted curved blocks into spokes. I have to admit that I've shown more on Instagram than I have on the blog about this one. If you're interested, you can follow me at A_Quarter_Inch_From_The_Edge. No pressure. Getting those seams just right was a royal PITA. But I got 'er done!

Honestly, I think I measured the center about... well... a thousand times. I was so afraid I'd make a mistake and end up with a centre medallion that was too small to fit in the hole in the quilt. The stuff of nightmares. Thankfully, my "measure a dozen times, cut once" strategy worked. And my freezer paper template worked beautifully.

 Nerve wracking. But here is that (very first block) centre medallion all cut out and ready to go.

All that remained was to make some more bias binding and get that medallion in place! It was a tedious business, but being so close to the end kept me motivated!

As if there wasn't enough in this quilt, I opted to forego the suggested white binding and went for a matched rainbow one. I was a little fiddly, but I think it's worth it in the end!

I can't help but tease you a little here. But I will say that you won't have to wait much longer to see the finished creation.

I'm linking up with Let's Bee Social over at Sew Fresh Quilts. It's been a while! And stay with me people, there's a big finish coming this Friday!

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

WIP Wednesday - A little of this, a little of that...

It's been a while since a WIP Wednesday post... not because I haven't been working on things, but more so that I've been hopping from thing to thing. Here are some sneaky wee peakies of projects I've been picking away at. 

This pic is exactly why I have a Kona stash. I was able to select a 24 shade rainbow without buying a single inch of Kona. I ♥ my Kona stash! Psst... only 17 are shown here!

And once they're sewn together, they're even more awesome. Just you wait until you see what they turn into!

And remember when I showed off this lovely Carkai in my Sunday Stash post and said I already had plans for it. Well, Here we are...

My one little irritation with this fabric is that it claims to be Kona colour matched, but there's nowhere (at least that I could find through extensive Googling) where one can find the matches. Off to my trusty Kona swatches - Storm, Peapod, and Green Tea were the closest matches that were also in my stash!

Then off to the cutting mat and rotary cutter! So many pieces, so much masking tape.

 I bet you can guess who this is going to turn into!

And here's another very wee bit. Can't say too much about it, only that it had to be wee and it had to have green. More on that another day!

I'm linking up today with Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts and with the Canadian Needle & Thread Network.

J

WIP Wednesday - An oldie but a goodie...

With my design wall emptied of QPP Project #1, it was free and clear for me to pull out a long standing WIP. Remember this one? Yup, it's the Polaroid I Spy quilt.

Once I figured out just how many more blocks were needed, I set to trimming. I might have gone a little overboard in the making and swapping of Polaroid blocks. But it was so much fun!

When I was getting ready to cut more coloured strips for the edges, I came to a realization. The offcuts from my other blocks could be used for more coloured edges. Less wasted Kona AND a tidier scrap bin. Score!

Squee! Blocks edged in coloured scraps, all ready to be trimmed during another naptime.

Rainbow happiness!

In other WIP news, I've been stitching away on my iPhone case (though I'm on a little hiatus due to an injured wrist). Many thanks to the generosity of my MMQG peeps, Jeannette @ Stamp Stitch Create and Karen @ Sugar Free Quilts.

Progress so far. 20 of 60 triangles done!

 

I also decided what fabrics I'm going to use for my Quilter's Planner cover. What do you think?

I'm linking up with Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts, as well as with WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced.

J

WIP Wednesday - It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

...at least on my design wall. This week I went all bonkers and started two new projects - one large, one small. Warning... this post turned into a Christmas-y behemoth! ☺

Once I finally decided on what to make with my Naughty or Nice Bundle from Pile O Fabric and set my ALYOF goal for December, I couldn't stop working on it!

I got a little carried away! Cutting happened on Saturday and sewing was underway on Sunday. The hardest part was the element of pre-cuts. When Allison @ Cluck Cluck Sew says there's very little waste, she means it. It also means that you're down to the last ¼ inch on some of those FQs, especially if you're a pre-washer like yours truly. I'd not normally leave a frayed edge, but this time... well, you gotta do what you gotta do!

 

These square in a square blocks came together nicely. Simple but effective!

Next up, the strip blocks. To get that planned scrappy look, I turned my trusty Rubbermaid box. It's great for holding current scraps or for mixing up squares or strips. Just pull two out and sew 'em... unless they look horrid together. Can't have that.

I must have been a little tired (imagine?!) while cutting. I noticed more than one oddball piece. ½ an inch too long, you say? Yup.

 And lickity split, a stack of strip blocks. Did I mention this is coming together quickly?

I took a page from Dominique @ The Running Thimble's book for these miscuts. In her recent scrappy Christmas quilt, she pieced some of her squares so as not to waste fabric. Mine was to cover some inattention while cutting. Either way, in a scrappy quilt, no one's going to notice!

Then on to the most labour intensive blocks, the 16 patches. This pile of squares makes me so very happy!

I even had to pull the same trick to get one more 16 patch block... I didn't want to repeat any fabric squares! Who pieces a 2½ inch square anyway? Me, apparently.

 In the end, I had eight 16 patch blocks and I love 'em.

Squee! With the other 41 blocks being 8½ inch squares, I'll ready to lay this baby out. Only my design wall is a little small...#firstworldstudioproblems

As for the small project, it's all thanks to BT's profound love of pillows. He drags them all around the living room and flops on them. I figured he needed another Christmas one. You know, because he knows it's almost Christmas. So off to the stash I went for a fabric pull!

Some Sun Print Bike Path in Brown, Kona Latte, C+S XOXO in Picnic Gold, C+S Sprinkle in Black Cat, and C+S  Dottie in Cotton Candy Gold. Look at me using my stash! And there's that Latte from this week's Sunday Stash. I know the suspense was killing you diehards.

Just like with the Dog Gone Cute blocks, I reached for my trusty masking tape to label all those little bits. Honestly, the extra effort pays off in the end!

I ♥ chain piecing.

Lately, I've been hoarding scraps. Honestly, I think whatever ScrapMaster has is contagious. It seems like every project I work on breed another one in scraps. But I'm drawing the line at these. I will not make them into HSTs. I will not.

And here they are!  Some lovely little reindeer!

The  pattern is courtesy of the lovely and talented Lorna of Sew Fresh Quilts. She shared it with us Dog Gone Cute Blog Hoppers as a thank you, but if you'd like your own copy, pop out and pick up the current Quiltmaker 100 Quilt Blocks magazine. Perhaps you'll make all nine of Santa's reindeer. I'm stopping at 3... for now.

What a week! If I keep up this level of productivity, I might even have a finish for Friday! I'm linking up with Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts, as well as WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced. Hope you took a little time away from the Christmas preparations to sew a little something too!

J 

WIP Wednesday - Busy, busy, busy...

It's pretty much always busy around here, but this week, I managed to be busy in the studio! Yay!
First up, a fun little fabric book. Last week, when DT were at the doctor for the dreaded one year vaccinations, GT was entertained for a good 15 minutes by a little fabric book that she hadn't seen before. Clearly, we need more of these! So when one of my Do Bee mates was cleaning out her magazine stash and I spied a pattern for a colour book, I jumped right in.

 I do love digging through my 2½ inch square collection... even if they are a little dated.

I even found these little lovelies.... ugh. Squares from my first quilt, started in the summer of 1998 under the tutelage of Adrienne @ Chezzetcook Modern Quilts.

I got so carried away with making the pages that I didn't take any pictures. They're nine patches of 2½ inch squares. Some are fussy cut for a bit of I Spy fun down the road.

I only stopped to take pics when I had to rip apart a finished page set. I have trouble thinking in 3D and when I sewed it all together, the pages weren't in rainbow order. Unacceptable. And yes, I seam rip with a rotary cutter #quiltylittlesecrets

Then on to the cover... I opted for something totally different than the magazine version. I thought I'd use this handy little ruler.

Turned out that the triangles were too big for my book cover, but the off cuts were pretty much perfect. I love a little quilty serendipity!

They got a good dose of Heat n' Bond and then I appliquéd them in place.

Et voilà... fabric book! It's hard to resist giving it to the kiddos to play with right now. But I'm saving it for Christmas!

I modified the pattern from the magazine a fair bit. Their version was a 16 patch page. I used batting in the pages and fusible interfacing in the cover. Next time, I'd do the opposite!

 

Now that I've got a handle on how to make them, I'm thinking of making a few more. We've got a road trip coming up! 

And since everyone worries that DT is left out of the sewing treats, I whipped up some Big Butt Baby Pants (insert Anja @ Anja Quilts laughing.. she loves the name). Actually, he was low on pants.... that kid just keeps growing! My trusty Wonder Clips came in handy when it was time to hem them.

And here they are in action! The pants that is. DT are always in action. Unless they're asleep.

Though they aren't as cute without the model, these Ocean themed (in cotton) and astronaut (in flannel) pants are pretty damned cute too. The astronauts and stars glow in the dark!

I even managed some time to work on QPP Project #1. Sorry, no pics. Top secret! ☺

I am, of course, linking up with the lovely Lorna @ Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social, as well as with WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced. Hope you got some sewing in this week... I know I feel sew much better when I do!

J

P.S. In case you weren't around yesterday, click on over to read about the new Le Club gift subscriptions from Fridays Off Fabric and enter the giveaway!