The New Kids are Coming + Sliced Coins

It's been an extremely hard week in my family.  Last week my 14 year old nephew was hit by a truck outside of his house in Washington.  Because of the extent of his injuries, he was put into a medically induced coma.  On Wednesday an MRI showed no brain function.  They took him off life support yesterday.  I know he's in a better place now, but our grief is deep.  He will be greatly missed.  When he was little, if he was upset or scared he used to say "The new kids are coming," like the New Kids on the Block were his personal body guards.  It was my favorite thing ever.  Hopefully the New Kids came to see him off in his dreams...

On a much lighter note, I was able to focus my sadness into some productivity last night while I couldn't sleep.  I am a bit behind on the sliced coins quilt along (click the button to the right  to join the fun!) but last night I got all my coins sliced.

I didn't really go into the slicing with much of a plan.  I used my 9.5x9.5" ruler to figure out what coin width would look good on each part of the fabric.  The smallest coins I cut were 2" and I cut some in each inch increment from 2-6".  I did find two spots that a 7" coin looked best, so I just went with that.  I used 10 fat quarters, so I'm sure I won't be using all my coins for the front, but I do love pieced backs.  Here's a shot of some of my fabrics all laid out

I think these are my favorite two of the entire line:

I'm working on this, and a couple other fat quarter projects right now, and I've gathered all these beautiful little selvages!  What to do with them??

Maybe I'll just keep them on my shelf for inspiration :) 

WiP Wednesday 1-26-11

The last week has flown by!  I can't believe it's Wednesday again! 

I did my very first machine quilting this week!  Yay!  I was really nervous so I decided just to do something simple.  I quilted my wall hanging that I've been working on for just this purpose.  Here it is all basted:

I was going to leave this plain but I decided to applique a few dragonflies on the front.  There are actually dragonflies in one of the prints, so I just traced one of them on photoshop and printed out the pattern that way. 

Then I just used my walking foot to quilt straight lines 1/4 of an inch from each seam.  I used monofilament because of the contrast in the fabrics (I couldn't find one that would blend all the way down or acroos). 

I am very pleased with how it turned out.  I'm nervous about binding it though.  I've never bound anything bigger than a mug rug.

I also finished block 7 for the layer cake quilt along (see button in sidebar.)  I am in love with this block design!!

So that's it for this week.  Happy Wednesday everyone!!



WiP Wednesday 1-19-11

Another Wednesday already?!  Its been an interesting week for me.  I stopped drinking Coke, which is a much bigger deal if you know I usually drink 6-8 every day.  I know its not healthy and my boyfriend and I are talking about having a baby within a year - so I figured this was the perfect motivation.  Its day 3 today and I'm not as miserable as I thought I'd be :)  Now... on to quilting!

First this one:

I've been fighting my Fandango Cabins quilt all week.  I originally was following a pattern, then I realized my fabrics were just too busy for that pattern.  So I decided to add some simpler blocks like this one

I loved this block, so I made some more just like it to go with my log cabin blocks. 

I have 2 problems though... first I have no idea what the layout should be; second I'm completely out of the blue fabric, so I have to go with what I have.  (My local quilt store is out of it too and of course I wasn't smart enough to write down the name of the color off the bolt when I bought it.)

I have been playing with the layout a lot.

First sketching

Then on my design wall (I will add another coloumn and/or row so its 5x5 or even 5x6):

Layout 1

Layout 2

Layout 3

I apologize for the quality of the pictures, my camera has been malfunctioning lately.

So which layout do you like?  Yes, you!  I want/need opinions on this one!  Let me know please.  Or if you have a different idea entirely, I'd love to know that too!

I've also gotten some hexies basted this week

So thats it for me this week.  Happy hump day!

Dupioni Silk

I was just looking through all the blogs I follow and I found this awesome post about using Dupioni Silk for quilting and other crafts.  I love these ideas!!  Click here to go over to the Stash Manicure blog and check it out.  I'm so inspired!!

LCQA Block #6

I just finished block #6 for the Layer Cake Quilt Along over at Moose on the Porch Quilts.  I was not a fan of this block when it was first posted.  The directions weren't as clear as I would've liked them to be, and I just wasn't sure it fit with our other 5 blocks.  I do have to say - now that I have it done, I really like it.  I used all scraps except the yellow border fabric. 

The block went together really fast too.  I also did some more organizing today too.  I got these little baskets for my fat quarters, and I guess I'll have to buy one more. 

One basket of fat quarters, one basket of kitten.  Louie slept like this the entire time I was in my sewing room ha ha. 

WIP Wednesday

Hey everyone!  Time for another check in on all our WiPs for the week. 

Since I've only been back for 2 days, I don't have a ton to report.  Today I hope to get block 6 of the Layer Cake Quilt Along finished.  I got block 5 done last night:

I spent a lot of time organizing yesterday so today could be a more productive day.

I also need to figure out which fabrics I'm going to use for the Sliced Coins Quilt Along.

So today I'm kind of boring :)  I did make a page for my WIPs that I've been updating daily.  If you'd like to see that click here. 

Happy WIP Wednesday!

LC Quilt Along Block 5

I spent most of today reorganizing my sewing room (which unfortunately is our dining room at the moment) and sewing my block 5 for the Layer Cake Quilt Along.  I'll be the first to admit that I was intimidated by this block.  I spent a lot of time on my trip thinking about what colors to use.  I am satisfied with the final turn out, although I would have loved to have used a pink or orange fabric along with these colors.  Unfortunately I didn't have any layer cake squares in those colors that would work.  This layer cake had a lot of stripes in it (which I really like) but I didn't want to worry about directionality with this block.  

I enjoyed sewing this one.  I think I'll do block # 6 tonight if I don't fall asleep :) I'm even more intimidated by that block!  

So much to talk about!

Hello everyone!!  I'm home at last :)  The 10 hour drive in the snow today was not very fun, but I'm glad to be home.  

I took this picture somewhere in eastern Montana.  The wind is so bad over there that the snow just blows across the road constantly.  It plays tricks on your eyes and such.  I have to say, I love living in a valley!  

So I got home to some wonderful stuff!!  

First: a fat quarter bundle of Journeys fabric by Kathy Davis.  I bought this for the Sugar Pop N Change quilt that was posted over at Moda Bake Shop.  

I have too much stuff to put away from my trip and things to open it all the way up right now, but when I do I'll definitely post some pictures.  I am pretty sure this is what I'll use for the Sliced Coins Quilt Along too.  Excited!!

And second: my prize for winning the give away over at Quilt Dad!  John sent this amazing, wonderful and super cute fabric covered journal along with some cuts of coordinating fabric.  If you haven't seen John's blog, please click the link and head over there, I promise you'll love it!  I'd like to thank John for this great give away.

I also had time to snap a picture of some of the other quilting things I got for Christmas.

I'm really looking forward to organizing all my notions!  Plus, that mini iron is really going to come in handy.  I also got a Fons and Porter design wall.

I think I'll save the rest for tomorrow.  I have to get caught up on the layer cake quilt along, so I'll be posting block #5 and hopefully block #6 soon!  

  

I've decided!

Ok, so I've definitely decided to do Elizabeth D's Sliced Coins Quilt Along over at Don't Call Me Betsy!  Woohoo!!  See the button to the right to join the fun.


I also really want to start the Suger Pop N Change quilt posted over at Moda Bake Shop soon (which I already have the fabric for).  I think the Sliced Coins quilt will actually be a cool compliment to make with this one.  I think I'll do them as a pair and keep them for when I need a gift for a momma and baby duo.  I'll make the Sliced Coins in a crib size for a little one and the Sugar Pop N Change in full size for a momma.


I'm still deciding on the Block-A-Palooza, I might just wait for the 1st blocks to be posted over there so I can see what direction they are going with them and how complicated they may be.  My boyfriend said he'd buy my fabrics for it (I know, I'm completely spoiled!) so it'll just be a matter of whether I want to commit to something like that.  I'm also still deciding about Urban Lattice... hmmm


On another note unrelated but cool note, I was able to cross off two more items from my 26 goals for my 26th year list (click to read the entire list).  I finally finished the 5th season of Bones.  Netflix finally added it to their instant streaming titles and I promptly watched every episode.  I think it's definitely my favorite show, tied for 1st place with The Big Bang Theory.

Plus I've absolutely found a new favorite author:  Suzanne Collins.  I recently read "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins and I'm in love.  Its a hard book to describe, but it's intense thats for sure.  I've had a lot of time to read here in ND and I have read both "The Hunger Games" (book 1) and "Catching Fire" (book 2).  I could not put them down.  I stayed up for 24 hours straight finishing book 2.  It's a trilogy and I can't wait to get book 3!!  If you like suspenseful but amazing books, read them!!!

Another quilt along? I'm not sure...

Disclaimer:  I may have taken an ambien about an hour ago.... and I didn't realize it had effected me quite this much, so please don't judge too harshly on any grammar or spelling errors. - or any place I seem to not be making sense :D

So here's the deal, I am having so much fun with the Layer Cake Quilt along over at Moose on the porch quilts.  Luckily it's one block every two weeks... which is a great pace for me - but I also think I have time to sneak another project into my life.

So now I have decisions to make.  I have been interested in doing the Urban Lattice Quilt Along since I came across it a month or so ago.  I have zero idea what colors I would use, but I am definitely loving the pattern, plus I love paper piecing.  But I feel like coming in this late I'd be missing out on the fun of having lots of people actively participating and somewhat in the same place in their projects.

I also am seeing all the talk about the Blogger's Block-A-Palooza which starts this month and has 2 blocks per week.  I have fabric I could use for this one (just got some great deals on fat quarter bundles) so I wouldn't really have to worry much about that part.  Although 2 blocks a week might be too much for me with my arm giving me so much trouble the last few weeks.  Plus I would have to find some solids to go with my prints, which would cost even more money.

Then there's the Don't Call Me Betsy sliced coin quilt along that Elizabeth has put together.  I don't know much about this one just yet, but anything Elizabeth does I know will be awesome.

Is anyone else having issues with this, or is it just me?  Unfortunately I'm not able to participate in all of them because I can't buy that much fabric right now.  My stash is still just a baby stash.

I just don't know - I want to do all of them darn it!!  Really I'm just venting, I know you guys can't make my decision for me... But any words of advice would be great.  I will say I will have quite a bit of time for quilting when I get home now that my sewing room has been turned back into my sewing room instead of a formal dining room for the holidays.   My boyfriend and I will hopefully be moving into our new place very soon, and he said I could have a whole room just to myself for my sewing :)  He's just the best.  Anyway, if any of this made sense, and you're still reading at this point, please leave me a comment and let me know which quilt alongs you guys are doing at least so I know where my Bleeps (Blog Peeps) will be.

Why Am I in North Dakota?!

Hello everyone!!  Happy New Year!  Well I know it's been awhile, but I was very busy with the holidays (as all of you were!) and I just couldn't find time to quilt!  Darn it!  But now it's 2011 and I am ready to expand my quilting knowledge even more this year.


First off, yes, I did decide to take a trip to North Dakota for 2 weeks, and I'm still here.  I have good reason though, my wonderful boyfriend works over here and I really wanted to spend some time with him.  Plus I got to cross off one of my goals for my 26th year.  Yay.  I have never been to ND before, so I get to cross off "travel to a state I've never been to."


I got tons of amazing quilting stuff for Christmas.  One of my favorite things I got was this:

I would recommend this book to any beginning quilter.  It has some of the best pictures and explanations of any book I've seen.  Plus the included patterns are beautiful!  I'm definitely going to put at least a few of them on my 'to do' list.

I found a quilt store in the town we are in, so I'll be visiting there soon.

I wasn't able to bring any quilting along with me to ND so I've been crocheting instead.  I'm almost finished with my first scarf.  Its not perfect, but I like it:

I just need to finish off the one end and sew in the tails. I found this pattern online here.  It includes cross stitches, which I had zero idea how to do, but after some youtube searching I found enough videos to help me figure it out.  I like the cross stitches because they add another layer of yarn to the scarf, making it extra warm :).  I had fun making this one.  I'm going to make some hats next.  


Well thats it for now!  Hope all of you have a wonderful 2011!!!