Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? Progress Made, And New Projects Started...

 

Hi, all!

Friday has rolled around once again, and that means it's time for us to get our whoop whoop on!  It's been a busy and full week around here, as I imagine it has been wherever you are - but hopefully you've got something to whoop about this week.  So let's get started!

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Last week I shared Lilli's annual quilt as a work in progress, and this week, while it's still a work in progress, it is also a finished quilt top!

Lilli wanted a quilt large enough for her queen size bed, and I didn't want to lose the row with Hedwig and Hogwarts, so I eliminated one row of the original pattern.  I also added a 4" border and cornerstones of a Golden Snitch fabric.  This thing is massive!  But I think she's going to love it.  For now, though, I need to put it away for a while so I can work on a job for a customer...

This is the beginning of a t-shirt quilt, one of a pair for sisters.  It contains items from babyhood to high school years, which makes it fun to figure out ways to feature smaller bits of fabric.  In addition to the two missing blocks (I ran out of time today) there will be strips of fabric rather like coin blocks between the rows of t-shirt blocks.  This was done not only to utilize all the fabrics, but also to get it to the size requested by the customer.  It's always fun to come up with a new design!

And speaking of new designs, have you seen this quilt by Jen Kingwell?  The pattern is called Boho Heart, and I must have it!  I don't think it's for sale in this country yet - I can only find it on websites from Australia - but I'm keeping it on my radar.  I so enjoyed making my Gypsy Wife and Long Time Gone quilts, and I definitely will be making this one too!

So - - - can I get a whoop whoop?

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And now it's your turn!

What's got you whooping it up this week?

What's making you do a little happy dance?

Share!  We want to dance right along with you,

And it's always more fun to dance with friends!

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight.

Hope to see you you there!

Hugs!

Sarah

I May Have A Scrap Problem... It's a Small, Small World!

Hi, all!

Well, it's been a busy week of sewing, and I managed to work in a little bit of time for the three My Small World quilts!  Here's my progress for this week...

Tiny churn dash blocks (3" finished) was the goal this week, and these two are for Lilli's version.

I found some really cute little scraps to fussy cut for these two, which will go into Emmy's version.

And these two green guys will go into Nathanael's quilt!

I'm really proud to say that I have been using my drawers of cut-up scraps to pull the pieces for all of these blocks.  The pattern calls for 1 7/8" squares for the tiny corner HSTs, which means that my 2" squares are perfect for those - plenty of space to trim down to size.  And I can use either the 2" squares or the 1.5" squares for the rest of the block!  Considering I have LOTS of 1.5", 2", 2.5" and 5" squares already cut, I should be good for most of these quilts - and if not, there's always the scrap bins!  

So just in case you are looking for a good scrap-busting pattern, I highly recommend any of Jen Kingwell's patterns - they are always amazing!

And how about a little scrappy inspiration?  I had the chance to meet @tracysbitsnpieces in person at a Jen Kingwell trunk show locally, and I absolutely love everything she posts on Instagram - she's a constant source of inspiration!  So now I have another quilt on my bucket list....

Hugs!

Sarah

Make-A-List Monday - Sew Many Quilts, Sew Little Time!

Hi, all!

Well, it's Monday again, and time for a fresh start!  As I change my whiteboard each week, it's so much fun to erase the items that have been completed and make a new list - all the possibilities for the week are so exciting!  But before we see what's next, let's see how last week's list went...

1.  Finish the commission baby quilt.

Done!  You can see more pictures on this post.

2.  Cut out one of the annual quilts!

Done!  I got Lilli's quilt cut out and ready to sew.

3.  Complete a quilt donation for the Patchwork and Pillowcases drive.

Done!  As this is the sister quilt of the commission baby quilt, you can see more pictures on last Friday's post!

4.  Deliver a huge load of donated fabric and quilts to church.

Done - and already stashed away and ready to use!

5.  Sort and stash the scraps on my work table - they are taking over!

Thankfully, this is done too.  A clean table is so nice!

6.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that come up.

We gave away several quilts this week...

This quilt went to a woman whose cancer has moved into her bones..

And the next four went to four kids who were forced to move out of a domestic violence situation.

For a 10-year old girl..

...a 7-year old girl...

..a 3-year old girl (I promise it looks more girl-y in real life!)

...and a 4-year old boy!

So all in all, a productive week that moved things forward!  By the way, how is it possible that we are halfway through September already? 

And here's what's on tap for me this week...

1.  Work on a t-shirt commission quilt.

2.  Work on a baby commission quilt.

3.  Cut out Emmy's annual quilt.

4.  Work a little more on the king size Birch Bark quilt.

5.  Start sewing one of the annual quilts.

6.  Paint the bathroom if time permits.

7.  Try to decide if I should jump into the #mysmallworldsewcial quilt-along (since I already have three version started!)

8.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that come up.

It feels like I'm forgetting something important in that list, but I sure can't remember what!  Oh, and number 6?  Well, that was an unexpected task, but one I'm quite happy with - because while I was at church Saturday morning sewing with my peeps, my wonderful husband replaced the old light fixture in the bathroom with a pretty new one...

...but as you can see, the base of the fixture is much smaller than the previous one.  So new paint is in order!  This room hasn't been painted since we moved in twelve years ago, so it's probably time - and I still have full cans of both of the colors I'm using in the house, so it should be a quick and easy job.  Isn't it a pretty fixture, though?  And the soft candlelight LED Edison bulbs I got give off a nice light, not too harsh, but bright enough.  

Number 7 is appealing too - the My Small World quilt-along just started yesterday on Instagram, and since I already have some blocks completed, I just might be able to keep up, even through my busy season.  (Heck, who am I kidding, they're all busy seasons!) But it would be nice to get at least one of the small world quilts pieced....

So now that we know what I'm working on this week, the only question left is - - - what are YOU working on?

Hugs!

Sarah

I May Have A Scrap Problem... Gypsy In The House!

Hi, all!

Scraps, scraps everywhere - they can really consume you, can't they?  But every so often, it's nice to have a finish, and be able to look at it and know that you took something that could have been thrown away and turned it into something beautiful.  You may have seen this post about my Long Time Gone quilt...

...and today, I'm happy to say that now I can add Gypsy Wife to the (nearly) finished column!  I went back and looked through my pictures, and found this one, dated August 8, 2017.

That was the day that I started Gypsy Wife, a Jen Kingwell pattern.  The fabrics are Latitude batiks by Kate Spain, and were a wonderful and unexpected gift from Kate herself.  I came home one day to an enormous box on my doorstep, filled with scraps of the line before it even came out, along with a note from Kate saying SURPRISE!  I divided them up into cool and warm colors, pressed and sorted them into these tubs, and started on Gypsy Wife.

The blocks have been finished for a while, but trying to find time to set them into the background strips was hard to do, with so many projects going on.  However, last week I decided that it was time to put those blocks together, AND I DID!

Bear with me, because I've got a lot of pics!  

Isn't it gorgeous?  I love the way it looks like the blocks are floating on the vertical strips.

And even though it was windy, I wanted to get a stained glass shot (or two or three...)

I tried to use mostly warm colors in my blocks, with cool tones as the backgrounds.  Then I used all cool tones as the background vertical strips.

This quilt has a nice variety of blocks, and is a great way to learn to piece well.

There are no paper pieced blocks in this quilt, either. Hooray!

I made one mistake in this quilt - well, at least one! - as I found as I was piecing the last section that one of the blocks I had left wasn't what was called for in that space.  But by then, I wasn't going to go find where I messed up earlier and take it apart, so I made it work.  At least I'll be able to identify it as mine and no one else's!

It was such a rarity to have sunlight, I even love this shot with the sun glare!

One final shot as the sun sets in the west.

And don't think that this top is going to languish on a rack waiting to be quilted - I ordered another wool batt which arrived today, and the back is made and ready to go.  I need to quilt one more ministry quilt to reach a self-imposed finish goal before I load Gypsy Wife on the frame, so I should get to start on it tomorrow sometime.  I can't wait to try out some new designs that I picked up from Christina Cameli's new book, Step-by-Step Texture Quilting!

I still have scraps, scraps everywhere - even in the Latitude tubs - button I have two beautiful scrap quilts that I will be keeping for myself.  And I'm so inspired to keep making scrap quilts!  

Hugs!

Sarah

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? A BIG Finish!!!

Hi, all!

Wow!  It's already Friday!  And since our whoop whoop party was pre-empted last week, I bet I'm not the only one with a lot to whoop about this week!  So let's get started...

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Maybe you remember this picture - taken the day I finished my Long Time Gone quilt top.  Notice the date on the top?  That's right - July 10, 2017.  That. is. pitiful.  I had every intention of hand quilting this top, and it's been sandwiched for more than a year.  I did a little bit of hand quilting, but nowhere near as much as I should have.  I finally realized that if I continued hand quilting it, this quilt would never make it to the binding stage.

So I bit the dust, pulled out the bits of hand quilting I had done, and took the top and back off the batting.  I had a wool batting on hand that I had bought for a quilt for my niece, only to find out that "washable" doesn't really mean easy care/appropriate for a college student.  But that wool batting was perfect for this quilt! I wanted something with a lot of loft that would show off the quilting I wanted to do, plus be warm, light and drape-able.

Lots and lots of quilting went into this baby - it was on the frame for three days!  I had a hard time getting good pics up in my studio, but one day when I turned off the lights to quit for the day, I noticed that the light from the back window made the quilting stand out nicely, and took this picture.  

I didn't think I'd ever get through with it, but finally I reached the bottom of the quilt.  I used both free-motion quilting and ruler-work on this quilt, and don't think I wasn't nervous about it!  But I decided that since it was for me, I was going to do what I wanted and look on it as a learning experience, embracing the mistakes and imperfections.

Because wool batting can't be dried in the dryer, I hung this quilt on the clothesline to catch some sun and breeze.  Once the sun set, I pulled it off and laid it on the guest bed to finish drying.  It was a good place to lay it out flat, and with the ceiling fan, it dried pretty quickly.

And another advantage?  When I came in to check on it in the morning, the light coming in the bedroom window was perfect for showing off the quilting!

Every block was quilted differently!  As I said, I did a lot of ruler work, and also a good bit of tiny stippling or matchstick quilting to make some parts "pop out".

There was some pretty straight line quilting too - I really love the way the background fabric turned out on the block in the lower left corner of this picture!  Those tiny diamond crosshatches really set off the Trip Around The World block, which was mostly ditch-stitched.

Here you can see some of the matchstick quilting I used to make parts of blocks stand out.  Man, that stuff is tiny!  

It was so much fun deciding how to quilt each block!  I really stretched myself, and had a pile of quilting books stacked on my worktable to refer to each time I moved on to another space to quilt.

The back really tells the tale of how much quilting is in this quilt - you can just see all the texture it created!

And isn't this fun?  Jen Kingwell herself signed my quilt at a trunk show and lecture she gave in 2017!  

So here's the skinny about this quilt:

Pattern is Long Time Gone, designed by Jen Kingwell.

Fabrics are scraps of various Kate Spain designs, Good Neighbors by Amanda Jean Nyburg, a line from Connecting Threads called (I think) Nana's Kitchen, maybe? and various other assorted bright scraps.  The sashing between the blocks is the very last of my grandmother's vintage Irish linen that she ordered directly from Ireland during the 60's and 70's to make her suits.

Batting is Hobbs Tuscany Collection Washable Wool Batting.

Quilting is completely hand-guided free motion and ruler work.

And yes, I'm keeping this one!

Oh, and one more thing to whoop about - we currently have 242 people signed up for Hands2Help 2019!  It's not too late to join in the fun if you haven't signed up already - click here and scroll down to the signup area!

So - - - can I get a whoop whoop???

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And now it's your turn!  

What's making you whoop it up this week?

See what you find when you google "funky chicken"?

What's making you do a little happy dance?

Share!  We want to dance right along with you,

And it's always more fun to dance with friends!

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight.

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah

I May Have a Scrap Problem... Making Headway, and Inspiration!

Hi, all!

I hope, if you're in the track of Hurricane Florence, you've made it to a safe place, AND that you have sufficient important supplies (fabric, thread, sewing machine, rotary cutter, etc.) to keep you occupied during the storm.  I have family on the east coast in NC and VA, so I'm definitely keeping an eye on the storm reports.  Stay safe, everyone!!!

I've also made some good progress on my scrap sewing this week!  Last week my Something Blue quilt was at this point...

...then late last week it went to this....

...and finally ended up at this point!

That's the top 2/3 or so of the quilt, only lacking four rows of blocks across the bottom, and a border.  Unfortunately, I probably won't have time to finish it this week, but I'm trying to make the last 18 blocks that I need to finish that bottom 1/3...

...I've got all the parts made and they just need to be assembled.  If I can squeeze it in, I'd love to get this done, but I've got some commission quilts I need to finish this week.  Paying work first, right?

And I found some fabulous inspiration online this week, too - I bet these will get your creative juices flowing!

Isn't this amazing?  I've got a tub of solids that this might be perfect for, although just bright prints might be good too!

And this one has really captured my imagination!  I want to work it out on EQ7 and see what I can do with it...

And how about some Jen Kingwell?  This is her Flutterby pattern - and so perfect for scraps!  I see another Jen Kingwell in my future (if I ever finish my Gypsy Wife!)  Ooh, and I just looked on Amazon for the pattern, turns out it's in the book Quilt Lovely and... wait for it... I already own it!! Woohoo!!!!

So what are you doing with your scraps this week?  Are you fighting a pitched battle, or have you reached a peaceful truce? Either way works!

Hugs!

Sarah