WIP Wednesday {11.30.11}

It has come to my attention that not only is it Wednesday already, but it is the last day of November. How in the world did that happen so quickly?? I am slowly realizing that I have roughly 16 days to get everything done before we start traveling again. Oh man. And the list is quite long.

Completed:


Couch Pillow Cover

I will post about this one tomorrow, but it is done! I don't love it, but I am so glad it is finished. 


FWQAL

100 Blocks!!! I think next week I will finish up the blocks! I so can't wait to lay out the top and see it all together!

Still Going:


Hoodie for the little one
Still needs to be made. And I got fabric for another one, although I still need a lining. So I need to cut that one out too.  I hope she doesn't outgrow them before I get them made...

Embroidery 101
I haven't touched it. 

Hubby's Christmas gift
I am actually working on it. Since I realized I only have 3 more days where he will be gone at class all day so I can work on it. It is slow going though. I hope I can get it done in time. 

New:
Stars for Edie

This is the only {sewing} thing I've started. I got it into my head and couldn't get it out until it was all worked out and started. Now I can't work on it for a few days due to other things I have to do and it's driving me crazy. Thankfully I have to wait for a bit more fabric to arrive in the mail before I can do too much so I'll be alright. 

Leg warmers

I know this isn't sewing, but I started knitting these this past week. I love them. I don't know how long it will take me to make them, but that's okay. I am enjoying them so much. Hopefully they fit and aren't too big...I'll wear them either way though :)

On the agenda for December:
Fabric bin (x2)
Stars for Edie quilt
Hoodies (x2)
Gifts for hubby (x2)
Laptop bag
Travel sewing wallet
gift for my sister (x2)
FW quilt
apron (gift)
slippers for the little one
keep up with Skill builder blocks
work on embroidery 101

So I've got my work cut out for me. A little over two weeks to get {most of} that stuff done (and that's just the sewing stuff!). I'm sure going to try anyway. We'll see how I feel about it by next Wednesday, but I'm pretty sure I've lost my mind. For the moment, I have some FW blocks calling my name :) Happy Wednesday everyone!

Skill Builder Sampler: Halfway done!

And cue the return to real life. For a few weeks before everything is disrupted for the next holiday.  I have a definite love/hate relationship with this time of year now that I have a little one. We survived though, and even had some fun! Now I just have to get back in the swing of things.  Anyway, back to the matter at hand.

This month brings us to the halfway point in this QAL. And it is getting to be more fun every week. We have 18 out of 36 blocks complete and we are getting to the hard stuff. This month was all about the paper piecing. A skill that I am relatively comfortable with, but certainly in need of some practicing.

This month we did:

Block #16 - Minnesota
This is one that I had done before in the Summer Sampler. I don't love all the pink actually, but I think sashed with the white/tan polka dots and mixed in with all the rest it will look good. The sweet stripes more than make up for it :)

Block #17 - Starry Night
I love this. The pattern is cool and I love the way the colors worked out.

Block #18 - Circle of Geese
I have seen these all over blogland and I had been thinking about how someday I wanted to try one. Literally the next day I got my chance! It worked out perfectly since there are 12 geese and I am using 12 different fabrics, so I used one of each. I love this block! I would like to {someday} make a whole quilt of these or some variation.

And this is what I have so far

 I am having a hard time getting pictures now that there are so many blocks. They blow away and don't really fit on my walkway and the weather is pretty unpredictable. So I'll have to work that little problem out. I tried the steps this time and it worked fairly well I guess, but it's not a great picture. We'll see. Anyway, here they are! And I can't wait for the next one where we start with applique!

Farmer's Wife - 100 blocks!!!

I feel like I've reached a milestone. My last milestone before being done! This week I pushed through and did two days of blocks and hit 100. That's right, only 11 more to go. I would say I will certainly be done the blocks in 2 weeks. I am so stinking excited! I just love this thing! So here is some FW overload with my 10 blocks this week

#41 - Friendship

Simple. Nice. 

#104 - Wild Geese

I love this block. The rainbow makes an already cool block so much more fun.

#48 - Homeward Bound

I don't love this. I don't know what it is about it. 

#76 - Sawtooth

I always think these types of blocks are weird, but I guess it's nice :)

#13 - Buckwheat

This is one of my favorites. I just. love it.

#97 - Waste Not

I had been waiting for this one, and I love it. It lived up to all my expectations and was even easier than I thought

#93 - Swallow

I was surprised how much I like this one, but I really do.

#110 - Wood Lily

This is almost the same as the spider legs block. I like it a lot, but man are those pieces tiny. I think they end up something less than an inch.

#62 - Old Windmill

I don't really get this block because the pattern isn't defined enough for me I think. But it looks nice.

#109 - Windows

I actually don't like this as much as I thought I was going to considering it uses my favorite purple, but it is still pretty. I think it is just too much light purple.

And in honor of my 100 block milestone, another collage.

It is so crazy to see them all together like that. I am used to seeing a couple at a time and the rest stacked up. Don't get me wrong, it's a very nice rainbow stack and I enjoy looking at it daily, but it's just so huge to see them all at once. I think my mind is going to explode when I am done the top haha. Anyway, now back to family time and a second thanksgiving dinner :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you a day of food, family, fun and much to be thankful for :)

WIP Wednesday {11.23.11}

I can't believe tomorrow is Thanksgiving! And this morning we get to take a nice long drive to spent it with family. I have been working like a madwoman to get things done and I did pretty well. I got {almost} everything on my list done, so I'm feeling pretty good about it. Now, next week things may not be looking so accomplished...

Completed:

Ikea Quilt!!

So glad this is done, and I really love it! So bright and wonderful. 


Thanksgiving shirt for the little lady

Better pictures of this to come tomorrow, but for now, this is the peek. 


Skill Builder -block 18

I love this block. It is just great. And I had been wanting to try one so this was perfect :) And now this QAL is halfway done!


FWQAL

90 blocks!(technically more since I made the others earlier this week, but don't have pictures of those prepared yet, so we'll save those). I am so close to done. Only a couple more weeks!

Still Going:

Couch Pillow Cover

I am so close to finished hand sewing this! Then I just need to put a back on and slap it on a pillow form :) By next week I hope!

Hoodie for the little one
It is cut out finally! Maybe next week I'll put it together. No real rush I guess since I think it will be big.

Embroidery 101
Nada

Hubby's christmas gift
Nada

New:
Nothing I can think of.


It feels like I did more than that since I've been always going this past week, but I didn't do too bad.  And now, wish me luck on a 3.5 hour drive with a toddler who hates the car! Here's hoping we don't hit any bad traffic!!

Ikea quilt: Finished!

It's finished! And I love it!

I finally got done sewing down the binding and can call this one done. I still have to wash it, but I decided it was best to get pictures while it wasn't raining since the forecast is pretty wet this week (although I was fighting some serious wind anyway). I don't really think the pictures do the bright wonderful colors justice though.

This quilt is made up of ikea fabrics that I found on sale at a LQS last year. After tossing many ideas around I decided that I would combine two ideas and do plus signs in the center and tumblers as a border and it worked out great! So that the mainly white fabrics wouldn't get lost in the background, I used some red and orange to make them stand out. I wasn't totally sure how it would work out at the time, but now I love it.

Part of the problem with the back was that I had wanted to find one of the large scale prints to use but I couldn't find it. So I settled on stripes out of the red and orange I used on the front.  The quilting was another issue I was stalled on. I was going to do some sort of FMQ but I couldn't decide and in the end I just went with some straight line quilting. I'm happy with it, but I kinda wish I'd tried something new. It's fairly small, measuring about 47x58 so it went pretty quickly. I actually did use the wavy stitch on my machine on either side of the small red border and it looks pretty cool. I am determined that I will try some organic wavy line quilting on a quilt sometime soon! The binding is an awesome black and white dot. It frames it wonderfully and really goes with the crazy fabric I think.  And that's about it I think.  Here is a close up of the back where you can really see the quilting more.

Now I have a stack of Echo calling to me, wishing to become a nice couch quilt. But who knows when I'll have time to get that going. So many ideas, so little time. I guess I should go clean/pack/bake/chase my toddler. See you Wednesday for the weekly round up!

Farmer's Wife - Week 17

Yay Friday!!! And yay Farmer's Wife blocks!! Clearly I am overly excited today :)

This week I made another 5 blocks. I am up to 90(!!!!) now. That just seems so huge! Believe it or not I am hoping to spend 2 days working on them soon and get at least another 10 done and hit that 100 mark! I think I am pushing myself to do it more as I get more and more excited to see them all together. I am just loving all these rainbow blocks and I am so anxious to be snuggling under them. I feel like it will just be a little piece of nice warm joy in my living room.

On to blocks! This weeks weren't too bad. The first couple had quite a few pieces, but it could have been worse.

 #101 - Wedding Ring

So many pieces! But it came together nicely. And I got a little king face in there without even trying :)

 #36 - Flower Garden Path

 This was a bit scary. I was quite worried that it wasn't going to meet right in the middle, but I think it came out alright. This was definitely the hardest of the bunch to piece. I had to make sure I kept laying it out to make sure I had things in the right place, and I still ended sewing one upside down and having to rip it out. But I made it and it's pretty.

#106 - Wild Rose Square

This is one of those blocks I feel like I just keep making over and over again. I guess they are slightly different, but very similar. I do like the yellows for this. 

#5 - Bat Wing

This is such a simple block with great impact! And this is pretty much my favorite purple fabric every so that helps.

#84 - Spool

I didn't think I would like this one, but I am surprised how much I do. Another super simple block. I think I had it together in like 10-15 minutes, including cutting it out. Which was a nice note to end on since I was squeezing it in at the end of naptime :)

They are all looking great. I guess it's about time for another collage of all the blocks together, so I'll have to get on that. I kinda have this little hope that in the next month I'll have the quilt top together. But that might be too ambitions. We'll see I guess. But for now, I must get back to my to-do list. Which I really need to stop adding to (hello thanksgiving t-shirt for the little one!). Happy Weekend!

Drawstring Bags

I love to make useful things. I really do. And this one idea I totally can't take credit for. The other day, Becky over at The Thompsons, posted about using Leila's tutorial to make some drawstring bags, one for her sons wooden blocks. It was then that the brainwave struck and I realized I could just make a drawstring bag for my little lady's blocks. She has a Melissa & Doug set of alphabet blocks, and the velcro stopped sticking, so something had to be done (don't ask me why it didn't occur to me before).

I looked at that tutorial, but I decided that I wanted something with a lining so that I could do some more piecing and not have so many raw edges. So I settled on Jeni's tutorial over at In Color Order. And I love it! It came together quickly and easily and is actually the perfect size for the blocks. I loved it so much I decided to make one for me to hold knitting projects!

I used scraps I had for each of them. I love the little owl fabric I used for the little lady! I don't even know where I got it at this point, but it works perfectly and the bag has a boxed bottom so it stands up with the blocks in it and makes it so much easier to put them away. And mine is leftover pieces from my pink and brown quilt.  I was apparently on a pink kick this week. These little bags are great! I am even thinking about making some to give gifts in. But I guess first I have to make sure the gifts would fit in them haha. 

Now I guess I should go get something done. See you tomorrow for some Farmer's Wife blocks!!

WIP Wednesday {11.16.11}

Oh hey there Wednesday, how are you? I kinda can't believe it's been a week already, but here we are. And I got a lot done too. Or at least I feel like I did and that's really all that matters :)

Completed:

Nikki Tote

I love love love this thing! I can't wait to pack it up and use it!

Drawstring Bags

More on these tomorrow, but I love them. They are so handy. 

Skill builder - block 17

This might be my favorite block so far. Or maybe second favorite. Either way, I love it. Even if I didn't think it through all the way and the aqua/white aren't exactly where I intended.

FWQAL

I got 5 done this week bringing me up to 85!

Still Going:

Ikea quilt

It is quilted! And the binding is attached! Now I just have to hand sew it down and it will be finished! I can't wait, I love this quilt!

Couch Pillow

I did some good work on this one this week. I got all the whole windows done. Now I just need to figure out how exactly I am doing the rest. I have an idea, I just hope it works! I am liking it more and more as it comes together. 

Embroidery 101
I didn't get beyond printing out the first design. It's not even transferred. Oh well.

Hubby's christmas gift
I will probably get moving on this the week after Thanksgiving. 

Hoodie for the little one
Nada. Didn't even look at it. 

New:

Nothing really. I have a couple half-baked ideas, but nothing I'm actually working on.

I have to figure out exactly what I need done before we leave next week and what I am going to bring with me. Either my couch pillow cover or my hexies I think (which I just realized right now I never put on my list....oops!). Although once I get down to Jersey and can get a hold of my dads circular needles (since I don't have the size I need), I will be all about knitting some leg warmers :) I can't wait!