W.I.P Wednesday ~ August 29, 2012

I spent a day and a half working on these stars at my quilting retreat. Sadly this is only 1/3 of the blocks I need for the center of the king size quilt I am making for my bed. I love the stars and the fabric, and I can't wait to finish! However, I still need to make 296 more flying geese to finish this project. I have 112 flying geese waiting to be trimmed and sewn into blocks. I will get there. Eventually. This will be a good exercise in patience.

Fabric = Rouenneries Deux by French General for Moda

Friday Finish ~ Quilting Retreat

Last weekend, I went on a quilt retreat at Quilting on the Rim. It was great! This is the second year I have gone, and I loved every minute! I took a large project that will take me a while to finish, so I didn't finish much. I did have the forethought to know that I would want to come home with at least one finished project. So I took this tree skirt. It is an instant gratification kind of project, and after making close to 250 flying geese, instant gratification was necessary. I will show you the flying geese W.I.P. next week.

I have since decided that this will not be a tree skirt, as I don't want to cut a hole in the middle. I am going to use it as a table topper or wall hanging.

Pattern = Star Medallion Tree Skirt by Deonn at Quiltscapes
Fabric = Holly Jolly by My Mind's Eye for Riley Blake (white is from my stash)

W.I.P. ~ August 15, 2012

So this isn't my W.I.P. This is where I am going on a quilt retreat! I went last year, and loved it! I am sure I will love it again this year!

My W.I.P. is the fabric I have been cutting. I have spent the last week cutting fabric so I can spend all my time sewing when I get there. Hopefully I will have a finished project to show you when I get back.

Fabric = Rouenneries Deux by French General

Have a great weekend!

Next Project

Now that my Halloween quilt is all but finished, it is time to start thinking about my next project. 

As soon as I saw Little Black Dress, I knew I had to make a quilt from this line! So pretty!

The pattern is Marigolds by Fig Tree & Co. I think these two will pair up nicely. Don't you?

Can't wait to get started!

W.I.P. - August 8, 2012

Here is a glimpse of my Halloween quilt. The top is all put together, and I love it! However, it is smaller than what I want, so I am debating what to do. Add borders? Add more rows? I don't know. I will show the top once I figure out what I am doing.

The fabric is Happy H"owl"-o-ween by Deb Strain for Moda.

Pinwheel Pincushions

I decided my daughter needed to learn a new skill this summer. I gave her a few choices and she chose to learn to sew. We included a couple of friends. I made them all cute little pincushions. Can't have any pins poking the little feet!

We have almost finished her project. All we need is a big button to sew on. Hopefully she can show off her first project later this week!

Just in case you are wondering, the fabric is Clementine by Me & My Sister for Moda. I had a bunch of scraps left from a skirt I made.

W.I.P Wednesday ~ Week 2

I did get a few rows sewn together of my Halloween quilt. I didn't take any pictures yet. I probably won't until I have the top all put together. 

I also made this baby blanket for a friend's granddaughter. I just love these baby blankets with minky. They are so soft. I think everything "baby" should have minky. I made my little guy a bib while we were visiting family (because I forgot to pack a bib) and backed it with minky. It almost makes me want to wear it.

The fabric is Sugar and Spice by The Quilted Fish for Riley Blake. Love this fabric! My friend's daughter didn't want pink stuff for her baby girl, so this fabric was perfect. As you can see I used the blue argyle with red flowers.

W.I.P. Wednesday ~ Week 1

I am going to try something new. Every Wednesday I am going to blog about a project I have been working on in hopes that I can finish up some UFO's. I don't like UFO's. They nag at me to finish them. Unfortunately, I am easily distracted by pretty new fabrics.

I am currently working on a Halloween quilt. Yes, I know, it is a little early to be working on a Halloween quilt, especially with a Patriotic quilt sitting on the shelf staring at me and begging to be finished. I am hoping to have the squares all trimmed and a few rows sewn together by the end of the week on this Halloween quilt.

Twirly Girly Skirt

My daughter and husband went to Venezuela for Christmas to spend it with my husband's family. It was my daughter's first time going. She was so excited to meet her only female cousin and they just happen to be the same age! 

Every time we went shopping, she would ask me to buy them matching outfits. And I did buy a few things, but I wanted them to have something really cute to wear for the holiday parties they would be attending. So I came up with this skirt. (I bought the blouses from French Toast. Their blouses tend to run a bit small, so I just buy the next size up.) The skirt is a mod podge of several patterns. I am thrilled with the way it turned out, and so were they as this turned out to be the ultimate twirly skirt. I know, it has been months since I made this, but I finally took my kids out to get some decent pictures of them. And I still really love this skirt!

The fabric is Terrain by Kate Spain for Moda. The skirt was largely inspired by the dresses in the wonderful book Girls World by Jennifer Paganelli. Just the pictures make it worth purchasing! Beautiful book, great patterns! Can't say enough good stuff about it.

I am linking up to Made by You Monday.

Quilt for Abuela - Bloggers' Quilt Festival

I love the Bloggers' Quilt Festival! I really look forward to seeing all of the beautiful quilts.

The quilt I have chosen to show is a quilt I made for my husband's grandmother. He doesn't get to see her often as she lives in a different country on a different continent, but they remain very close and he calls her every week just to chat. When he does get to see her, he always wants a special gift to give her. This time he asked for a quilt. How could I refuse?

The pattern is Diamond Diva by Heather Mulder Peterson. The fabric is Eden by Lila Tueller. I managed to find some at a local quilt shop that was having a moving sale. It was perfect for this quilt because it has all of his grandmother's favorite colors. The small dark diamonds are actually a marbled dark purple and match certain fabrics in the quilt beautifully. Unfortunately the lighting isn't good because, the picture was taken at 1am when the binding was finished so it could be packed in a suitcase and taken to Abuela at 6am.

A little bit of what I have been up to

I don't get much time to sew since I have a little guy home with me all day, but I have been working on so many things! I have some quilt blocks done for one of my family room quilts. I have been knitting socks, but haven't finished another pair just yet. Soon, I hope. Here are a few of the things I have finished.

A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine moved to the east coast. I wanted to do something for her darling little girl, but I wanted it to be more than something I just happened to pick up at the big box store. I decided to make a personalized tote bag and matching crayon roll to go with the coloring books I bought. I love the way it turned out!

The triangle crayons are supposed to help toddlers learn to hold a pencil properly.

My daughter saw the tote bag and asked for one of her own with the exact same fabric. No problem. I love these little tote bags!

I had a baby shower to attend last week and she is having her first girl. So I made a car seat canopy. I love these car seat canopies! The best part is they keep germs off of baby. They also help keep baby cool on the face of the sun, which is where we live.

Cotton Candy Van Dyke Socks

 I spent Christmas and New Years with my family. It was loads of fun, and I visited a fun little yarn shop, Unwind, in Sandy, Utah with my mom and sister. 

While I was there I picked up some pink and purple Cascade Yarn Cherub DK to make my daughter a pair of socks. A couple of days before that, I picked up a copy of "Socks from the Toe Up" by Wendy Johnson while visiting my aunt. After looking through it, I knew I had to have my own copy, and I knew that knitting socks didn't have to be as difficult as it was the last time I knit a pair. I promptly went to the yarn/antique shop next door to her home and bought it. I couldn't wait to get started. 

The instructions in "Socks from the Toe Up" are clear and easy to understand. The author explains the basics of knitting socks and what makes a good fitting sock, so you could eventually make your own sock patterns. 

I loved knitting these socks. I used the Van Dyke Socks pattern. The pattern is actually for a woman's mid-calf sock, but I knew I wanted to make my 7 year old a pair of socks. It calls for a sport weight yarn.

The Cherub DK is lighter than the sport weight yarn I picked up at the same time. It is actually closer in weight to some of the sock yarns I have in my stash. This worked out perfectly for me, as I needed to make a sock slightly smaller than what the pattern offered, and this allowed me to do so without altering the basic pattern right off the bat. The only alteration I made was when I got to her calf and needed to increase it to fit comfortably. Fortunately, I needed to increase it just enough that I could fit in another repeat of the lace pattern.

Seriously, if knitting socks has not gone well for you in the past or you just want to give it a whirl, pick up a copy of "Socks from the Toe Up". It makes knitting socks super simple. I highly recommend it.

Sewing Table

I desperately needed a sturdy table for my sewing machine. The plastic folding table just was not getting it done. I built this table and then it sat in my garage for a full two months before I stained it. Why? Because I really really really don't like staining anything. It is much more gray than it shows in the picture, but I just couldn't a good picture for color, because my house is yellow and reflecting onto the table. So far I am liking it, but may end up building some sturdier legs for it. The legs are from Ikea.