Time Spent Crafting

It feels like I'm getting my mojo back a bit. It could also be that I'm finally starting to fight 10 years of conditioning. Here's the deal, my husband has been working in the restaurant industry for as long as we've been together, 10 years. In that time, we either did the long distance thing and barely saw each other, or were living together but working opposite schedules. So what little time we did have together, I felt this strong urge to at least be near him even if we weren't actively doing something together. Then about eight months ago, my husband broke his hand, he couldn't go back to cooking until it was healed and was out of work for two months. During that time he decided that he wanted to change careers because he actually liked spending time with me and so he spent the next few months trying to find something. Unfortunately that hasn't worked out, but the conditioning of 10 years was still there. So between being pregnant, having lost some of my quilting mojo, and that, it's been really hard for me to tear myself away and spend some alone time in my sewing room.

I also recently celebrated my 30th birthday (Valentine's Day) and on my birthday I always do what I want to do. That included sleeping in, cross-stitching in bed, having my husband cook me German pancakes for brunch, going to the grocery store to grab fruit and some other things I wanted, including a fruit tart, ordering Thai food for dinner, and watching something on Netflix in bed at the end of the day, I also decided to spend time in my craft room. I did and it was quite productive. I finished the top of the braille alphabet quilt.

I also cut fabric and put together one of the three blocks for the November queen bee and got the other two blocks to the trimming down stage.

Not wanting to lose momentum, I've been spending a bit of time each day since then in my craft room and have finished the other two bee blocks.

Made a scrappy improv block for the guild.

And actually got the back of the Michigan quilt put together. I even emailed the long-armer to make sure she was still willing to quilt that beast for me, since it had been almost a year since we started talking about the quilting.

We actually got a snow day today, so my three day weekend became a four day weekend, so I managed to get the memory quilt blocks done for the Bright Modern Baby Quilt and kept working on my leader and ender project.

I realized that I'm woefully behind on my memory quilt blocks and need to make myself a list of blocks I still need to make and then actually find the fabrics I used in my scrap bin or stash. I've got the fabrics laid out for the Braille Alphabet Quilt memory blocks, so I may work on those next.

WIP Wednesday: Sports Fish

I've spent so much time in bed cross-stitching because I was sick all weekend that the first fish is almost done. I started this as a surprise for my hubby's 30th birthday, but that came and went and I didn't actually start this until a few days before and there's still two fish to go. So I got him a few other gifts and told him about this one. He was actually pretty excited about it when I told him what it was going to be and that we would hang it underneath his "A fisherman lives here with the best catch of his life" sign once it's done. This one is a Striped Bass. It's still missing most of the face, a dorsal fin and a lure. Then there's going to be a Rainbow Trout underneath and a Coho Salmon above, with a tackle box and fishing rod respectively.

I ironed the borders for the Braille Alphabet Quilt but have not attached them yet. And I actually pulled some fabric for my long overdue November Stash Bee blocks and started cutting. I have fussy cut the three center sections and cut out the churn dash portion for one.

In baby news, I'm now two weeks away from my official due date. Our to-go bag is packed except for my music, the stroller and car seat are sitting by the door (and Sir has discovered that there is the perfect amount of space for him to sit in the stroller underneath the car seat after initially being very leery about this new contraption).

I'm having more and more trouble getting good sleep. This morning I woke up around 5am to go to the bathroom and my right hip and back on that side hurt so bad I thought I was going to throw up. Not fun. Luckily that was gone by the time I had to get up for work. No amount of pillows between my legs or pads under my stomach seem to help me get comfortable for the night. Part of the problem is that once I'm asleep I really don't move, no matter how uncomfortable my body may be getting. But it lets me know in no uncertain terms once I wake up just what a bad idea it was to sleep with my head on my arm or curled up a certain way. I know I won't be getting a whole lot of sleep once this baby makes an appearance, but I cannot wait to be able to sleep comfortably on my back again.

Stash Bee Blocks

I finished up the second quadrant for the Stash Bee yesterday. I also made an extra component piece and will be sending the queen bee the rest of my cut background fabric.

I feel a little bad that I didn't finish the whole 24" block, but it was putting a massive crimp in my style and blocking me from doing anything else. So it had to go. Two more blocks left to make for November and then I will bid the Stash Bee a fond farewell. I will not be participating next year, because newborn (first one at that, so I expect some serious quilting downtime until I get the hang of things).

Also got some work done on my leader/ender project. Here are a few more blocks (I did not finish these yesterday, but I did work on the project).

Finally, I got the HSTs done for the DCMQG Charity Quilt and am sending those off today as well. I am hoping to get back to the Charming Kate Spain quilt soon, as it's just begging me to play, hanging in all its rainbow-y glory on the design walls. Here are the first two blocks which I finished over the last two weeks:

My Current WIPs

So here's what I've been working on one weekend at a time.

My sister's baby quilt is finally basted. I had to run to Joann's the night before Halloween (huge mistake!) to get basting pins because I couldn't find mine. Or rather, that was the night I finally couldn't take not having some anymore and ran out to get them. I literally had a box in my hand two minutes after walking into the store and then stood in line for over half an hour to pay for my one box of pins. Since all of my sister's baby showers are now done, here it is in its full glory (minus elephant and birds):

Unfortunately, I have not yet found the motivation to start quilting it. So it's just sitting folded over the back of my sewing room chair. Oh yeah, my sister is expecting a boy that they are going to call Henry.

So in my effort to find something to keep myself busy while I wait for my quilting motivation to arrive, I pulled out all of my Kate Spain charm packs and took out all of the duplicate fabrics. I am using the following: 35 pieces of Honey Honey, 40 pieces of Daydream, 19 pieces of Serenade, 40 pieces of Cuzco, 38 pieces of Terrain, 36 pieces of Good Fortune. Because this did not add up to even close to 256 (I blame the Serenade), I also pulled out my charm pack of Sunnyside even though I'm already using a Layer Cake of that for another quilt, which garnered me an additional 40 charms, and then I filled out the remaining 8 pieces with some loose charms of Verna, of which I have a FQ Stack that I'll be making into a quilt someday. I sorted everything into colors and arranged them roughly in rainbow order (had some brown, pink, and grey to fit in).

I have sewn together the first two 4x4 block. Once I get all the blocks done, I am going to decide if I want to sash the blocks. I'm thinking of sashing them in 2.5" black strips to take the finished quilt from 72" square to about 82" square, which seems like a better size to me. But we'll see how I feel when I get the blocks done. I kind of like the way it looks without sashing.

Finally I've been working on my (late) October bee blocks for the Stash Bee. Here is the first quadrant complete:

Even though I've completed the first quadrant, it took forever. Something about my quarter inch seams is off, because the pieces are turning out too large, and each quadrant requires 20 pieces. I've cut all of the background pieces, but I'm not sure I can really convince myself to finish another three quadrants. Maybe I'll just finish one more (I've been making two blocks for each person and the finished block is 24" square, so I think two quadrants is plenty), and then send the queen bee the rest of the background pieces and whatever other odds and ends I've completed.

The November blocks are super simple 12" churn dash blocks, and I'm actually looking forward to those, but first I want to get this one out of the way.

It Worked!

So my hubby had an idea to get me motivated to make my September bee blocks and it totally worked. He told me to start by sewing my sister's baby quilt, which is what I'd wanted to do, and then switch to the bee blocks. And it totally worked! Not only did I get further with my sister's baby quilt (all the blocks are now sewn into rows), but I also made two blocks for the September queen bee (a bit late, but not as bad as August).

 

I really enjoy how they turned out too and I got them in the mail the next day. Whee! The tutorial for the block can be found on the Stash Bee blog here.

Progress shot from the baby quilt with all of the navy or magenta removed. I really hope I can use my long weekend to finish this quilt. I'm starting to get a little worried.

Here is my other work in progress:

The seedling had its 20 week ultrasound this week, but wasn't cooperating. So we know neither the sex (even though we didn't want to know, the ultrasound tech seemed to think it was a big deal that she couldn't determine this) nor could the tech get a good picture of the heart. However, the heart appears to be beating just fine (we saw it beating and she measured the heart rate), she just couldn't get a clear shot.

I'm getting more and more excited about our trip to Michigan next weekend and the chance to see my sister and have a joint baby shower with her.

Stash Bee Blocks - March through June

Wow, I've pretty much only posted my blog hop the last few months. Between finishing that big commission quilt, a baby quilt for a coworker, and side-effects from some news that I'm not quite ready to share with the general public, I really have not been doing much if any sewing recently. Hopefully I can get my mojo back. In the meantime, I have been making blocks for Hive 8 of the Stash Bee every month (with more or less success in getting them done in time).

March Blocks for Leonie:

She asked for scrappy 9-patches in prints with economy blocks in solids arranged in this formation. I ended up cutting the corner triangle quite a bit bigger than the instructions called for, because I hate working with bias edges. But the larger amount of fabric meant that I could trim down without fear of losing my points.

April Blocks for Melissa:

Melissa wanted scrappy trip along blocks. I hate sewing this block because of all the seam unpicking and such. However, I have to admit that the finished blocks look good as do the finished quilts. But they don't look good enough for me to ever attempt to make one myself.

May Blocks for Tami:

These 16-patches went together super easy and were fun enough that I might consider making a quilt like this myself some day. I did have to unpick a seam because I wasn't careful about my strip placement, but despite that I had a great time making these.

June Blocks for Daisy:

Daisy wanted butterfly blocks. I made three 6" paper-pieced economy blocks with fussy cut centers. I definitely think they turned out well, but this was deep into my quilting slump and these did not get done in time. I also really wanted to make something more creative, but just did not have the energy or mental capacity to come up with anything.

July blocks for Sarah are in the works. She wants I Spy blocks and I signed up for black and red. I've picked my fabrics, gotten her approval, and just need to fussy cut and put them together. Of course today is the last day of July, so these are going to be late as well, as I probably won't get to them until my sewing day with the DCMQG this Saturday.

Snow Day and Sewing Day

Sarah from the Stash Bee organized a sewing day at the Tyson's Library in Virginia on Sunday. I actually got there roughly on time. There were three ladies there from the Stash Bee, including Sarah, and one member from the DCMQG. I spent most of the time laying out the teals/aquas and the purples for the Scrappy Swoon quilt.

I started sewing some of the joining HSTs together. Then I sewed two of the 3x6 panels and some of the 9 patches together. Unfortunately I ran out of time and had to carefully stack the remaining pieces and take copious amounts of pictures so I would remember what went where.

A snow day meant I got to stay home on Monday and sew some more. Worked a bit more on the Scrappy Swoon quilt and managed to sew together all of the panels and 9 patches that I had all the pieces for.

My current leader and ender project is the Checkerboard quilt from Sunday Morning Quilts. I have mixed in some low volume prints along with two different white solids. Here are a few of the 4 patches I have sewn together so far.

Stash Bee - February Blocks

Look what the ladies of Stash Bee - Hive 8 made! I am still waiting on a few of these to arrive, but I cannot wait to see them all together. With 16 plus my original practice block, I have a great start to my mom's quilt. How lucky am I!

1. Daisy 1, 2. Heather 1, 3. Heather 2, 4. Jamie, 5. Daisy 2, 6. Leonie, 7. Tami, 8. Sarah, 9. Kat, 10. Melissa 1, 11. Melissa 2, 12. Christina 1, 13. Christina 2, 14. Christina 3, 15. Helen 1, 16. Helen 2, 17. Mine

January Finishes

I have been pretty sick this month. First a regular chest cold, with lingering cough. And last week something else fun and exciting involving dizziness and extreme skin sensitivity. And it's super cold outside, so I hope I don't get sick again.

Anyway, let's look at my January goals:

1) Make the January block for Stash Bee and finalize my plans for February, make a block, and write a tutorial.

 

Completed! I made three blocks for the Stash Bee in January, two for my hive mama (Hive 8), and one for another hive (Hive 6), because I liked her pattern. I also decided on my block for February, and wrote up a tutorial that will go live on the Stash Bee blog on February 1.

 

Hive 6 Block

 Hive 8 Blocks

 My Block for February

2) Finish putting together the Community Quilt top; I've given up on waiting for other people to make additional house blocks. 

 

Completed! I actually got it put together, finally. The hardest part was squaring up all of the house and signature blocks. Layout and putting the rows together was good fun.

 

 

2)  Keep cutting half hexies.

 

Completed! I didn't cut many, but I did cut a few. So I'm going to call that a win.

Sew Much To Do

I currently have so many projects that I have started or need to start that it's hard to pick one to work on. I keep thinking that I should work on one of my bigger projects so I can baste it at the Sewing Day this weekend, but the weekend continues to creep closer and I'm slowly starting to panic.

Instead I made another Farmer's Wife block.

Block 24, 35 pieces

I used the templates to cut most of the pieces for this one, because they were odd sizes (I'm talking 1 and 9/16th inches and stuff like that). Also, my seam allowance was way scant because I ended up with an almost 7 inch block and I'm a little pissed because I'm going to lose pretty much all of those pretty points along the edge. My quarter inch foot, which I finally switched back to from my walking foot is so not a quarter inch.

The other thing I sewed tonight was a second Stash Bee block for the Hive 8 queen bee.

I hope she likes the bits of color in the mustaches and the sea horses. If I have time, my plan is to make two blocks or more each month. Partly because I know I'd love to get more than one block from people and partly because it's fun to dig through my stash and see what I can come up with.

Linking up to Lee's WIP Wednesday.

Progress and Another Bee Block

I decided to make a block for the queen bee from Hive 6 of the Stash Bee, because I felt inspired by her block. It also allowed me to pull out my 2" squares from my scrap bin, which I haven't touched since I cut them.

January Block for Hive 6, based on this tutorial.

I also made progress on the pixelated Michigan quilt for my husband. I had finished cutting all the background "water" fabric (Kona Pacific) a couple days ago, as well as the reds for western most county in the Upper Peninsula. I am trying to keep the background colors more or less the same, so it reads as one county. The first two columns are done, because the bottom six squares are all water.

I also ordered the backing fabric today, so we'll see if I might be able to get the top done in time for our next guild meeting. I really need a larger space to baste my quilt than on my living room floor because this one promises to be huge. I'm a little scared about the quilting, because I'm 99% certain that straight line, or even "wavy" quilting won't work on this one.

Bee Blocks and Nearly Insane

So I've spent the last few days in bed sick, which meant I didn't want to work on anything for other people, so I got some work done on my Nearly Insane blocks.

I finished 96(1), one of the edge pieces and I'm done with 48, one of the full blocks, as well.

Number: 96 (1)

Color: Brown

Pieces: 14

 

Number: 48

Color: Brown

Pieces: 29

 

However, after finishing two blocks, I keep seeing things I could be doing for accuracy if I were to machine sew these. So I'm tempted to try and recreate these blocks with machine patchwork just to see the difference. However, looking around the book, I see some pretty wacky math for some of the HSTs and stuff, so maybe that's not such a good plan.

 

I am, however, quite happy with my decision to use my solids bundles to make these blocks. Even brown, which is not my favorite color, looks good. And I'm planning to use Kona Snow sparingly in each block, more towards the middle so it's not going to interfere with the sashing.

 

Back before I got sick, I also sewed up the January block for the Stash Bee and my February block.

 

January Block, based on this tutorial.

February block, based on the Modified Bento Box tutorial, but I'll be writing up my own.