WIP Wednesday

This week i have been plodding along on a small project for a new small person of a very good friend.






I am using Urban Cowgirl fabric...and i love it just as much as the first time i saw it. Isn't it pretty? It is also very fitting for its new recipient but it will be a few more months before that intro can be made(baby has to be born first).

The quilt for my husband is a ongoing WIP.... i think he would like it sooner than later so i am faithfully working away on it. Love you honey!


 

WIP Wednesday....for my honey

Things have been pretty quiet around the blog, but i am working on projects all the same. 

I have finished a few small quilts and now have set to work on a twin size for my husband. 

I don't know what he is going to think, but I am in L-O-V-E with this one.

I am hugely inspired by and totally crazy in love with this quilt by Emily at MLE knits, who got the basic directions here.

As i make each block i think that this one for sure is my favorite, until i make another and then i love that one even more. I am smitten!

It is going to take a little time....18 down and about 100 more to go...work will be slow but sure. i manage to squeeze a few in every day.

Here is a little layout sneaky peeky!

Happy WIP Wednesday. Head over to Freshly Pieced and ogle some of the other amazing things getting worked on this week.

 

And Here is my Answer!

i dove right in and stayed up way too late but in the end this is what i had to showe for it. My obvious inspiration came from here.

improv piecing is very liberating...more than i remembered. i love how it creates itself.

I did the contrast of warm and cool blocks since that is how i had sorted my fabric earlier in the day.

maybe i will make more of these and see how they look together. i don't know. Or maybe it will just be another mini quilt.

WIP Wednesday

Since we came home from vacation i have had just a little time to work on a few things...

This small quilt is a little sampling of a  HST sampler that Jeni at In Color Order is doing. I laid a few out on vacation and sewed them right up when we were home.

I have had these HST's forever in a box of UFO's. They were in there so long i forgot how cute they were.

Next i am working on a quilt for my mom. I have about half of the strips sewn together.

I am using a pattern from Amy Smart. I love it. Everything is coming together smoothly.

Lastly, these are the failed results of my attempt at doing the hand sewn sampler at Why Not Sew.  I was having trouble choosing fabric to begin with, then i saw a turning twenty quilt with FMF that i fell in love with and no longer wanted to commit all my FQ's to the sampler.

But i did have these pre cut FMF squares on my trip with me. I am just pairing them up and making 4 patches out of them to be wipped up into a small quilt.

Hop on over to Freshly Pieced and see what the other wonderful quilters are making!


 

Leslie

WIP Wednesday

Welcome to a WIP Wednesday where i actually have a few things to share.

First is my WIP. I have been working through the blocks of a Amy Smart pattern and i am loving it so far. I am hoping that it continues to go as smoothly as it has to this point(knock on wood). Last night i laid out all the strips, today i hope to get the whole top done

And I wanted to share a few shots of my latest finish...which was a WIP until this past weekend when i stayed up way too late 2 nights in a row to finish it. These blocks were made using a jelly roll of Salt Air fabric and a pattern i found on the Missouri Quilt Company blog.

It is backed by my new favorite fabric. I had thoughts of hoarding this one for the stash, to be used at who knows what point. I had mentioned this backing was coming in another WIP post. I hope it was not too anticlimactic! But i really do love it!

I was going to just simply straight line quilt it....but i was getting too caught up in trying to follow the lines of the quilt....and as you can tell by looking at this quilt, following lines would not be easy.  I decided i was over thinking everything and ended up just going for it and free handing some wavy overlapping lines that i followed with my walking foot. The quilting might  be seen a little easier if you click on any of the pictures.

I am really happy with it. This feels like it was a really productive week for me. I am getting back into a sewing groove and it is nice!

Head over to Lee's and see what everyone else has made.

 

Leslie

Tuesday's Choice...a Fabric Audition

I just can not make up my mind today about what fabric to use for a new project.

 We are getting ready to go on vacation where i obviously will not have my machine to sew with but there is some down time and plenty of car time so i thought maybe hand sewing would be the answer.

Erin at Why Not Sew recently hand a hand sewing sampler series!!! I knew this was the one for me. It has been calling me.

But what fabric do i choose? I auditioned several sets for my husband(he is very indulgent) and he was leaning mostly to the primary colors...not the lavender or greens. Me...I am still not sure.

However i have these gorgeous bundles of FMF that are just sitting waiting to be used for something amazing. Is this it? Is this that amazing thing?

What do you think? Do i go for it and use the coveted, most beautiful fabrics? Will i regret it when i find something else i wish i did with them or do i just do it and know that i will love how this sampler is going to turn out(Erin used the FMF so i already have a preview)?

What to do!!! What to do???

In the meantime....here is something pretty that came in my mail. Don't you love fabric mail? I saw these Coquette charm packs on sale and scooped up a couple. It is very girly fabric...and i love the lavender in it. Who knows what is in store for these.


 Leslie

Wednesday Refashion

We have been doing a bit of t shirt refashioning around here lately 

It started with a shirt of my husbands(imagine basic large mens t shirt) and this tutorial....it was so simple and is so cute on her. It seriously took me ten minutes to make. She loves it and loves that wearing it is a way to be closer to my husband when he is gone.

Today i just flew by the seat of my pants....i had this old shirt of mine(plain gray v neck T) and i was never going to wear it, but i did not want to get rid of it so i got to thinking....what can i do with it?

Ding! Ding! Another top for Avery!!!!

I cut off the sleeves and then cut a straight line just below the v neck with about an inch to spare. At first i thought i would throw away the neck parts and make the shirt into a little play skirt but then this shirt idea popped into my head.

I did a simple running stitch to make the gather and then fit the two together with the top inside the bottom to make a paper bag style ruffle.

This took some serious brain work for me since i am not a clothes sewer but in the end we both really loved it and the pocket i used to hate came in so handy for her nano.

Leslie

WIP Wednesday

Oh Finally! A new WIP!

I have been working on my ruby quilt for so long, and it was really coming along well until i ran out of thread this week. Joann's here i come!!! That gave me the opportunity to start this new project with Salt Air.




I love a pretty pile of scraps and trimmings from a project!

And this is my first block! Isn't it so fun?

I found the tutorial for how to make it on the Missouri Star Quilt Company's website. Honestly this block is like magic. All you need is a jelly roll and you have the potential for something really amazing.

I can not wait to make more.

Head over to Lee's at Freshly Pieced to see what everyone else is making.

Leslie

First Projects

Mitchell has been asking to sew for some time now....i was not putting him off for any real reason, but when he asked again last night the time just felt right, and i knew the project he was wanting to make would only take a little bit of time!!! So, off to the sewing closet we went to pick fabric!

He is a natural....i talked him through it for a few minutes , then he got his rhythm and he was off. The seams are even straight!!

I don't know about you but this picture screams to me.....

"Yeah i know i am crazy...look at me....i can sew! Wanna mess with that!"


In other sewing news, the hand sewing on my Ruby quilt has been moving pretty slow. i forgot how long hand work can take. I wanted to get it done for a special persons birthday next week....i don't think i will make it but i am going to keep trying.

Leslie

Ruby Experiment

I knew that this quilt was going to require some special time and attention for quilting....but what was i thinking when i decided to go for hand quilting?


This corner was a trial run. I was not sure, still am on the fence a little, if this was how i wanted to quilt something that was pretty large. But my design consultant, Avery, loves it....

...and since it is hopefully going to be done in time for her birthday(a present for her) i went with her on this one.

It is going to take a little while and my finger is killing me but in the end i know it will be worth the work.

Anyone have good hand quilting tips for me?

Leslie

WIP Wednesday

It is WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced, and i am so happy to have something to share today!!

Progress has been made on my Ruby quilt!!!

I have just a few more border strips to add and then she is all ready for quilting!!

This has turned out way prettier than i could have imagined and i am thrilled with how easily it has come together!!!

Check out some of the other WIP's at the Freshly Pieced link up.

Leslie

Scrap Happiness!!

This week i decided i needed a fast and easy project(i am talking 24 hours from piecing to binding). I also wanted to have a go at some of my scraps!! A personal scrap challenge, if you will, which I found to be harder than i thought. I just can not help myself, i always want to make the fabrics match!

In comes husband....i asked him for help. "Please Hubby, go through my scraps and pile up the ones that look good." He sure did and even snuck in a challenge piece to see if i would use it...can you find the pirate ship?

This denim wonky star is my favorite one. I always see scrap quilts and am stunned at how great they look when nothing is the same color and everything is random.

Right down to the bindings i used scraps...these had been in my bucket all ready to go from previous finished projects.

Today i want to say thank you to the blog friends out there that are still reading my blog. I would love to send you one of these mug rugs as a thank you!!! Please just leave a comment to let me know you were here and i will choose a winner by the end of the week.

Leslie

Ruby Stacks

Ruby!!

When i saw this new(ish) line i knew i wanted to make something with it...something that would live at our house.

Add Simplify with Camille Roskelley and i had the perfect combination. Her line of fabric and her book!

I am so happy to have a friend to quilt with so we are working on this quilt together...each in our own line of fabric. Makes it so much more fun!! Although she is much more motivated than me so she is a few steps ahead of me on this one.

I can not wait to see the finish on this!

Leslie

Hoarding? Addiction?

This post is not nearly as dramatic as i made the title sound!!!

However, i have a confession, i have somewhat of a quilt book addiction, hence i hoard them. So many are new, thanks to my wonderful husband who surprises me with books from my amazon list all of the time. Sweet , wonderful man! There are so many amazing quilts to oogle in these!

It is my grand plan to go through these this weekend and pick some things to make. There are a few i know for sure, from Jelly Babies and Block Party....and a few that are already in the works from Simplicity.

I have also recently overcome my mental block with free motion quilting. I will likely save it for the small more manageable things while i get better at it, but i tried it out...just went for it and loved it.

I had a ah-ha moment when i was getting this table runner ready to quilt. I
realized that when i had tried FMQ before i did not set my stitch length to the shortest i could. Man did that make a difference.

These little bags are the completion of my first money making sewing endeavor. I am relieved that they all are off to their new homes. It felt a little strange to get money for my work!!! But cool too!

Leslie

In the Throws of it All

Time seems to fly by so quickly in the time between the holidays. The days get past before i even know what has happened.

There has been plenty to blog about, i have just been remiss in taking the time.

There has been a big birthday to blog about. Our sweet little has turned 1. There will be more pictures of this to come, for all the aunties that might want to see.... How has a year flown so quickly?




There is a new money making craft project to blog about!!! I have never made money from my sewing before but i am committed and in the throws of it now. I made one of these for a little neighbors birthday and they were a hit. 10 have been ordered!!!



There have been other crafts(crochet and sewing)made around here to blog about too!

And of course there all the yummy treats to blog about and share this time of year. I can not make my blog friends a plate of this goodness, though i wish i could, but i can direct you to the links where you can find the recipes and make them for yourselves. Both of these are to die for....peppermint bark rice krispie treats from Our Best Bites and below is caramel popcorn from Making More with Less.

Who knew making your own was so easy and fast? We saw her post and had it made and we were eating it within half an hour.

Leslie