Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Progress!

The baby quilt top is finished! I am equal parts excited and astounded.

The boys have managed to overlap their naps for the past two days. The first day, I'll be honest, I took a nap. I knew my mil would be in town that evening, and I am still worn out from the nasty cold/respiratory flu that took us out last week.

But today, I sewed like the wind, and managed to get most of the quilt top completed, before baby boy woke up.

Tonight, I finished the top, made samiches with the remaining charm squares, and sewed the samiches together. Now I'm all set to cut them apart in to half square triangles (hsts) tomorrow.

And it's nursing time again...sweet dreams all!

Monday, April 25, 2011

Far Far Away 3 and a Start

There have been a couple of blogosphere posts about Heather Ross' Far Far Away III today.

I haven't had the opportunity to see either of the other Far Far Away series in person yet. They look great in quilts, but seem a bit girly for me. However, I am very excited to see Snow White and the Hi Ho's (you may call them Dwarfs in your house) in FFA III!

My older son has loved Snow White since he first saw it, somewhere around two years old (I think?). He used to wake up in the middle of the night and play in his crib until he fell back asleep. I would doze on and off, keeping an ear on him. There was about a month last winter where I would inevitably be pulled back to awake by a hearty, "hi HOOOOOOOO."

Now I just have to figure out what to make for him.....

In other news, my mother in law came this afternoon because she has a work meeting to attend in town tomorrow. She took the boys out for quite a long stroll, and gave me time to start sewing a baby quilt that needs to be done very soon. Luckily, all the contemplating and agonizing over it I've done in the last few months seems to have helped, because it is coming together quickly.

I can't believe I have waited so long to begin the actual sewing, but I'm going to blame it on the unexpected sicknesses we have encountered most of the last month.

Here's to fewer germs and more sewing in the weeks to come!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Do or do not...



Zipper instruction youtube videos, here I come!

Denyse Schmidt at Joann Fabrics!

I took my first quilt class in July 2009, and didn't start collecting fabric and keeping track of fabric trends until a while after that. So when I finally tracked down the designer and line of all the fabulous fabric I was seeing, I was devastated that Flea Market Fancy and Katie Jump Rope (both from designer Denyse Schmidt) were so difficult to find - and expensive when found!

Today I'm seeing a lot of quiltland buzz about fabric Denyse Schmidt has designed and is selling at Joann Fabrics!

From Ms. Schmidt's Facebook page:

DS Quilts Collection is a studio line of fabric and patterns (the latter via McCalls). We'll be releasing new fabrics throughout the year (and hopefully beyond), as well as more patterns... with McCall.

I'll also continue to design, new (and of course totally different) patterns and fabrics for independent shops. Look for new fabric from FreeSpirit in January 2012, and new DSQ patterns this fall.


I don't have a local Joann Fabrics store, but I will be traveling past/near three in the next couple of weeks. I had planned to splurge on some echino fabrics for my birthday later in the month, but I may just score some Denyse Schmidt from Joanns instead!

Monday, April 11, 2011

Test Gone Wrong, Turns Out Right

Last week I started thinking about one of the quilts I want to have completed in May. (One of. Eek.)

I think the pattern in my head will work...I even drew it out on paper. But I really don't want to screw it up, so I decided to do a small test version, and use the result as a quilt to have on hand for small visitors who sleep in the pack and play.

For the test quilt, I used my Kona scraps and cut the pieces to 2 1/2 inches wide, then sewed them all together "mostly randomly" (I tried to keep some distance between same colors, and tried to keep things from getting "too matchy").

For the thicker sections, I cut a few 6 inch swaths from my Kona stash.

Here's the result:


I really love this quilt, but the problem is that I got half way through and realized I hadn't been trimming the 6 inch sections to 5 inches for the sides, and I was therefore not actually testing my pattern. Whoops.

The quilt is currently hanging over my ironing board with the batting, backing, and binding (more 2 1/2 inch Kona scraps), and the big boy really likes talking about all the colors. If I didn't already have fabric purchased for the quilt I want to make for his big boy bed, I'd consider using all solids.

I really hope to get this quilted and bound this week, and then get to work on the next quilt I want to make for someone else. And then maybe get back to all the quilts I am in the process for making for other people. Oh and that other test quilt.

One of these days, maybe I will learn that it is not very productive to have so many wips at once.

Nope, probably not.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Babies Everywhere!

It seems that I've reached the age that every few weeks, someone I know is going to welcome a precious bundle in to their life.

I really wish I could make something for each of these little people, but my own little people get a lot more of my attention than my sewing machine. I dream up great things in my head though.

While organizing my fabric the other night, I discovered that I still have quite a large stash of Hothouse Garden fabric. I also have two completed quilt tops using this fabric!

I've decided the rest is destined for a coin quilt. I've always wanted to make one, and when I saw this recipe at the Moda Bake Shop, I was very excited. It has a great look (especially with that Sugar Pop fabric! I definitely need some precuts of that deliciousness!), and seems like it will be quick to put together. Yay!

Hopefully this means three or four baby quilts. How cool it would be to have four sweet babes snuggled under a quilt I made!