Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? Another WIP Finished!

 

Hi, all!

It's Friday, y'all!  It sure seems like the weeks are just flying by, doesn't it?  I'm sure many of you are working on Christmas presents already, but I hope you'll have something to share that you are whooping about this week - so let's get started!

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Earlier this year I decided I was going to cut into my precious hoard of Kate Spain fabrics and make a king size summer weight quilt for my own bed.  For those of you who have asked, a summer weight quilt is a little lighter/cooler than my winter weight quilt, which has a wool batting.  Originally I intended to use a silk batt, but I think the one I ordered in June is sitting in a container ship off the coast of southern California, so I decided to go ahead and finish it using a cotton batt.  And here's the finished quilt!

This quilt is really large - 100" x 110" - and is made of 2750 2.5" squares.  I used the teal, light blue, and light green prints from several Kate Spain collections, and a couple of prints that had a splash of bright coral in them, alternated with white Kona cotton.

As I've mentioned, this quilt is so large I had to make it in two sections and connect them after quilting.  It's not really hard to do - this is my second quilt made this way - and a postage stamp quilt really lends itself to this technique.  (Click here for a link to the tutorial I used.)  I basically went by the tutorial, except that I sewed the backing overlap down by hand instead of stitching in the ditch, and then I loaded it back on my quilt frame and quilted down the 8" wide strip where the two pieces were joined.  

Do you see my Gypsy Wife quilt hanging on the headboard?  It's a little bit bold compared to the bed quilt, but I still love having it on display.  And doesn't the long pillow go nicely with the quilt?  I really like having the two different patterns - log cabins and postage stamp - but made with the same fabrics.  

And here's the glamour shot - isn't portrait mode fun to play with?  This is my ninth finish in the WIPS-B-Gone 2021 Challenge, can you say hooray?

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 there!

Hugs!

Sarah

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? WIP Progress!

 

Hi, all!

Welcome to the first Friday in October!  Have the leaves started changing color where you are?  I love this time of year, probably because I grew up in Miami, FL where the leaves NEVER change, and I'm enjoying watching the tree outside my sewing room window.  Every day there's a little more color showing!  While that's whoop-worthy, I bet I can come up with some sewing whoop-whoops, too, and I imagine you've got some too.  So let's get started!

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It's been a busy week at my place!  I've been having so much fun working on my WIPs as part of the WIPs-B-Gone 2021 Challenge hosted by Leanne (@devotedquilter on Instagram)!  My first bit of progress this week came on this quilt...

You might recognize this as my vacation project - a king size postage stamp quilt made with lots of the Kate Spain fabrics I've been hoarding for years.  Up until this week it was a pile of 25-patch blocks, but now it has been assembled into two halves, all ready for quilting.  This quilt is too large to fit on my frame fully assembled, so I will quilt each half, then join them.  I did that for my king-size Christmas quilt, and it worked beautifully!  

I also finished the hockey quilt, which I don't want to show yet because it is a Christmas gift.  But it is joining both Nathanael's and Emmy's quilts as finished and ready for gifting!  Lilli's will go on the frame sometime next week, while they are on spring break and away on vacation.

And last but certainly not least, I brushed off this very old WIP, of which I had pieced about 1/5.  I started laying it out on the wall and realized that I was very short on print background pieces!  So I regrouped, reduced the size a little bit by eliminating two rows of print blocks on the top and one on the left side, and added a few teal print blocks that worked well with the other prints.  Next step will be sewing it all together!

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 there!

Hugs!

Sarah

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? Some "Me" Sewing!

 

Hi, all!

Another beautiful spring week has gone by, and it's Friday again!!  That means it's time for us to get our whoop whoop on - are you ready?  Let's go!

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This week I finished up the last binding on the last graduation quilt, which meant that I got to do some "me" sewing!  

My "Me Sew Happy" quilt, which I started as part of a quilt-along, had been languishing away on the design wall, because I had not had any time to work on the large and small hourglass blocks.  So it was the first thing I tackled!  I pulled some honest to gosh scraps out of my bins....

...which I used to make the four small and four large hourglass blocks required to finish the quilt!

Isn't it pretty?  I love all the bright saturated colors...

...and even more, the fun of finding pretty pieces from past projects!  There's even a piece in this quilt from the very first quilt requested by our pastor for a sick church member.  I was surprised to see that piece in my scrap bin - I would have thought it would be gone long ago - but then I started looking at other pieces and remembering the quilts they came from.  So much fun!

And once I got that top sewn together, I decided I'd better start pulling my next vacation quilt together - we go back to the beach in less than a month!  

So yesterday I broke into the Kate Spain fat quarter stash, pulled a bunch of beautiful teals, blues, and light greens, and cut them into strips.  I've already started sewing together strip sets which will be cross-cut to make 5-square strips for another postage stamp quilt.  This will become a new king-size summer quilt for my own bed (which means I'll be able to take the Christmas quilt off finally!)

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?

In recognition of National Talk Like Yoda Day!

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... How About A "Little" Inspiration?

Hi, all!

It's been a busy week here, topped off with lots of ice and a little snow - definitely enough to keep us all at home here in middle Tennessee.  We don't deal well with ice on the roads!  But as that means more time for sewing, I haven't been complaining.  Unfortunately, though, I've been working on commission jobs and haven't had any time to do any scrap sewing. But I have found a "little bit" of inspiration on Instagram to share...

4,340 1.5" finished squares in this scrappy beauty!  Can you imagine?

Or how about a wonderful vintage hexie quilt? 

And here's another postage stamp quilt, this one with 1" finished squares - 3,411 of them!

This was just a progress shot by @aquilterstable, but it sure got me thinking.  How about you?

And finally, Tracy has another beautiful scrappy creation.  She lives in my neck of the woods, and I think we really need to spend some quality time sewing together!  She makes the most beautiful scrap quilts....

So did I succeed in giving you a "little" inspiration?  They say good things come in small packages, and if you are anything like me, you've got lots of small scraps just itching to be made into a quilt!

So get sewing!

Hugs!

Sarah

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? Christmas is Just Around the Corner!

 

Hi, all!

Does it seem like Fridays roll around faster as the end of the year approaches?  Today we are two weeks from Christmas, and three weeks from the end of 2020!  Hard to believe, but true.  And with it being Friday, that means it's time for us to get our whoop whoop on - are you ready?  Let's get started!

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It's been a busy week around here, but I managed to knock two things off my to-do list, both of which REALLY needed to be finished before Christmas!  First up was this bolster pillow that matches my new Christmas quilt...

I love the way it finishes off the bed - and it used up the last of the postage stamp blocks, too!  Nothing to add to the orphan block tub, which is definitely a win.

And then I finished the pillow covers for my living room sofa!  These were so simple - some red and black buffalo plaid fabric, fusible fleece cut into snowflake shapes, and the perfect backing...

Look at those fabulous birds!  And the colors were absolutely spot on. Canvas weight made this the perfect backing fabric.

Doesn't that look pretty?  I love the little pop of Christmas color it gives the sofa, and by making them as covers, I can take them off and store them away at the end of the season, and the sofa returns to normal.

And my last fun thing for the week is our new time-sucker....

 My husband got these VR (virtual reality) goggles as part of his work, and while I would never have thought to buy a pair on my own, I have to say they are a LOT of fun!  I've found an app that is fun to play, yet gets my heart rate up, improves my eye/hand coordination and concentration, and works the muscles in my arms, back and core, all of which is a win in my book!  

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?

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

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? My Christmas Present to Me!

 

Hi, all!

Friday again - and not only Friday, but three-weeks-until-Christmas Friday!!  Oh my!  I'm sure most of you are working on things you can't share, but I hope you can join in the fun and whoop it up a little bit - so let's get started!

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I decided this year that I was finally going to use the three jelly rolls of Kate Spain's Solstice that I had been hoarding saving for the perfect quilt - and because it's Christmas fabric, I was compelled to finish it in time for this Christmas!  I wanted a king size quilt for our new bed, and not just a king size, but a huge one, with plenty of "drop" on three sides so that rolling over wouldn't leave anyone short of covers.

Because this quilt was going to be so big, it wouldn't fit on my quilt frame in one piece, so I quilted it in two long sections.  My original plan was to use a layer of wool batting and a layer of cotton batting, but when I started quilting it, I found it to be too puffy, so I took out the cotton batting.  The wool batt gave just the right amount of loft!

Here's the first half fresh off the frame!  Then, second verse, same as the first, I quilted the other half.

Then came the fun and adventurous part - joining the two halves!  I found a great tutorial that covered exactly what I wanted to do, and if you are interested in doing the same, I highly recommend that you check it out.  She did an excellent job of explaining how and I don't think I can add much here.  So - I trimmed one side through all the layers, then pinned it to the pieced top on the other side, folding back the batting and backing.

Once the two pieces were joined, I pressed the seam allowance towards the pieced side, trimmed the batting to meet the edge I just pressed over, and trimmed the backing to 1" beyond the seam allowance.  Then I folded the seam allowance on the backing under to just cover the seam stitching and pressed it down.  And this is the only thing I did differently than the tutorial - I hand stitched the seam down rather than stitching in the ditch as directed.  I did that because the wool batting has so much loft, I was afraid I would end up with a very visible line down my quilt that was quilted everywhere else with swirls.  Oh, and one last thing I did was lay the quilt across the rollers of my quilt frame, pin it to the leaders just to hold it in place, and quilt across the space that remained unquilted above the joining of the two halves.  I had to shift it down a little bit at each end to get all the way to the edges of the quilt, but it's all good - it worked!

Then I located in my stash enough of this red stripe to make binding!  Is there anything prettier than red stripe binding?  And, as a friend on Instagram said, shouldn't all Christmas quilts have red stripe binding?

Every journey begins with a single stitch, right?  More than four hundred inches around this quilt, so it took a while, but so worth it...

...because, isn't that the prettiest thing?  And even more so because it's all finished!

And here it is, in all its glory!  Notice the drop - plenty of roll-over room with this quilt.  And it's even prettier in person.  The camera doesn't do justice to the beautiful colors in this fabric line.  Of course, that could partly be that I didn't finish it until after the sun set, so I may be able to get a better picture by daylight.  We shall see!  I also have a long rectangular piece of the patchwork to make a bolster pillow, which hopefully will happen in the next few days.  It would be a shame to have to wait until next Christmas to use it!

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 there!

Hugs!

Sarah

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? A Little Bit of Progress...

 

Hi, all!

Friday has rolled around once again - and I imagine most of us are "rolling around" too after stuffing ourselves on Thanksgiving!  It's been a short week for me, as we've been traveling, but I didn't want to let Friday go by without a chance to see what everyone is working on - - so let's get our whoop whoop on!

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As I said, it was a short week, but I did 

have a chance to work on my Christmas quilt...

It's amazing how working in a different location can

show you ways to do things that you hadn't tried before!

I was able to lay out an entire column at a time

which worked a treat!

And after three days of sewing, I finished the second half

of this monster sized quilt!  I plan to quilt it in two sections,

then join them together - since my quilt frame isn't

large enough for one this large.  If my plan

works, I already have another, year-long version,

of this quilt in mind. Fingers crossed!

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 there!

Hugs!

Sarah

Make-A-List Monday - Quarantine Days!

 

Hi, all!

Monday has rolled around again and what a week it has been!  Both my husband and I tested positive for COVID last week (he's been mildly sick, I'm asymptomatic) and we've been in quarantine for a week now, continuing until the end of the week. Just goes to prove that even if you wear a mask, you can get it - but I'm guessing the mask may help reduce the exposure and make it a lighter case.  

Quarantine makes for lots of sewing time, though, so let's see how last week's list went...

1.  Quilt at least one of the annual quilts.

Done!  Nathanael's quilt went on the frame, and was all finished up today (well, except for the label!)

2.  Plan some vacation sewing!

More about this one in a minute....

3.  Do some cleaning and organization in the studio.

Oh, did I clean! First I found this counter and floor area...

...and then I found the floor in front of the fabric shelves!!

It feels really good to have the studio in better order!

4.  Work on the next String Therapy idea.

While I was cleaning, I realized that my leftover binding tub is running over, so I think it will be the start for this quilt...

I bet there's more than enough in that tub to make one of these! It should be fun to play with the design and see if I can come up with one as pleasing to the eye.

And now about that vacation sewing - while I was cleaning up, I came across several Solstice jelly rolls (a Christmas line by Kate Spain) that I've been hoarding for years now.  Well, I got a wild hair, dropped almost everything, and started a king size postage stamp quilt!

Strip piecing is amazing, makes the quilt come together so fast!

I've still got a ways to go, but it's halfway pieced now.  I've done the strip piecing of two of the jelly rolls, and cross-cut them into 5-square strips.  I still have a bunch of those 5-square strips left, but at this point I'm thinking that I will strip piece the remaining jelly roll and cross-cut it, then take all those 5-square strips with me on vacation to piece the other half of this gigantic quilt.  We have a new bed coming the end of this month and it will be nice to have a new Christmas quilt to put on it!

So here's my list for this week....

1.  Quilt at least one of the remaining annual quilts.

2.  Strip piece and cross-cut the remaining Solstice jelly roll.

3.  Sort through and press the leftover binding strips.

4.  Pack up sewing necessities for vacation.

5.  Address Christmas cards for my husband!

6.  Start decorating the house for Christmas.

I do love this time of year, and since my husband has given me the go-ahead to start decorating early, I figure I'll do a little bit at a time over the next few weeks.  It will be fun to find places in the new house to put all my Christmas treasures!

So now the question is - - - what are YOU working on this week?

Hugs!

Sarah