Pages

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Sweet Dreams

Today I continued to work on my granddaughter's big girl quilt. Her birthday is January 22. I have to get as much done as possible before we leave for NYC on Friday. When we get back, Son, DIL, and granddaughter will be here for a few days. I will have to get it put away while they are here. Here is my progress so far.
I have the center section pieced and have put on one border. The design is Hexagon Park which is posted on Moda Bake Shop site. I chose fabrics that feature candy, cupcakes, ice cream, dollies, stripes, dots, etc. Here is a closer shot.
I am calling this one Sweet Dreams.

Tomorrow I have to get my act together and get ready to travel. I have my fingers crossed that this storm that is working its way across the midwest won't interfere with our flights.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Today's Progress

I have now completed all 13 blocks in the Blogger's BOM project in my original colorway. I wish I would have known how this was going to look at the beginning of the project. I think I have way too much black, but I started using that as my background color because I didn't have enough gray in my stash. I have played around with the layout on my design wall and I think this arrangement distributes the gold pretty evenly.
I don't have anything in my stash that is appropriate for the sashing and cornerstones. I think I am going to have to buy some fabric to finish the project that I had hoped to complete entirely from my stash. Darn.

I also completed block #7 in the Designer Mystery BOM from Fat Quarter shop. This one was designed by Sandy Gervais. I really like this one. I have liked every one as I have gone along, but I especially like this one.
I have also started working on my granddaughter's big girl quilt for her third birthday in January. I don't have any pictures yet. Sorry.

Every sewing day is so precious to me. When I get back into a new semester I know that my sewing time will really be limited so I am trying to take advantage while I can. We will be traveling to NYC on Friday to spend Christmas with my daughter and her family (I will be meeting my newest grandson for the first time), so my machine time is limited.

Thanks for stopping by.


Monday, December 17, 2012

Another finished top

I have finished the Blogger's BOM with my Christmas fabric colorway.
I made the piano key border 4.25 wide, not the 6.5 of Jackie's plan. It turned out better than I imagined. I am so glad that I stayed with this project. I have backing material so I will get this one quilted soon.

Today I worked on my other colorway for the Blogger's BOM project. I have to finish up block #13. I will have to refigure the finishing details because I do not have enough fabric to finish it up with sashing and cornerstones, etc. Sigh. More math.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

What I've Been Up To

I told you I spent Wednesday and Thursday 'sewing my brains out.' This is what I've been up to. I have been working on Bonnie Hunter's Blue Ridge Beauty as a leader/ender project. On Wednesday, I just sat down and finished sewing the pairs together and then turned them into four patches. It was pedal to the metal time. Yeah, baby! It felt so good!
The pattern calls for 448 four patches. I have completed 460. If I don't like the way some of these look together, I will have some others to switch out.

Also, I have been revisiting the Blogger's BOM project. I got really behind this fall with all of my work responsibilities, so I cut back on my sewing time. I am now catching up with some of the things I had put aside. One of them is the Blogger's BOM project. I have been working on two color ways for this project. I pulled out the Christmas colorway (big surprise) and finished the last two blocks. I also added the sashing strips and cornerstones.
The problem is that I am working from my stash. I have run out of some of the fabrics I would like to use to complete the project. I had wanted to use my background fabric as the sashings, but I didn't have enough so I substituted another stash fabric. Now, the piano keys outer border. I don't have nearly enough fabric that I used in the block construction to use in the outer border. When I tried to use my  background fabric for the sashings, I actually cut 27 2.25x8.5 inch rectangles (I needed 36). Since I already had the fabric cut into strange shapes, I decided to subcut them into 2.25x4.25 rectangles for the piano key border. That is the dimension I used to cut other leftover fabrics. I won't end up with the same size quilt as everyone else, but it will be a finished project.

I spent a lot of time doing the math on this. Math is not my forte, so this consumed a lot of time today. I now have it all planned out, and this is what I have completed so far.

I have sewn one side of the piano keys. I will also cut 4.25 inch cornerstones in red solid. I am already pondering the backing even though I haven't completed sewing the top.

Thanks for stopping by.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Finished House Quilt

It has taken a while for me to chill out after finishing another busy semester. I posted grades on Wednesday morning and spent the rest of Wednesday and all day Thursday just sewing my brains out. Boy, did that feel good. I'll share my progress later.

Today's post is sharing my completely finished House Quilt.
Here it is, laid out on my king-size bed. I am very happy with the result. None of my fears about sending it out to be quilted came to fruition. Whew. I think it looks great.
I sent it to Missouri Star Quilt Company. It took about six weeks to get it back. I knew it would take a while because they were very clear about that when I sent it in.
I asked for gray/charcoal/slate quilting thread. I am really happy with the way it looks going across the houses and in the black border. You can see that I chose to use the same gray polka dot for the binding that I used in the sashing around the houses. I had originally thought I would bind it in red, but truthfully, I just didn't want to buy fabric when I had plenty of the dot left over.
OK, I have no idea how to turn this picture. Sorry. I made the label in the shape of a house. You will see that I included a couple "I Spy" questions just for fun. Those of you who have been following this long saga might remember that when I first started sewing these houses, I unintentionally made three with the door in the opposite position. It really doesn't matter at all, but from that point on, I purposely put the door on the left wall.
Here is a house with a bunny in the window. This one now goes onto my list of finishes for 2012.

Thanks for stopping by.





Saturday, December 1, 2012

Rabbit, Rabbit!

It's the first of December; it's time to say, "Rabbit, Rabbit!"

My house quilt was returned from the quilter yesterday. I am very happy with the result. Today, I have to decide on the binding and get that put on so I will have another 2012 finish. I'll post pictures later.

Thanks for stopping by.