Sunny Days - A Friday Finish!

This quilt was a bit of a beast for me.  It's quite a bit larger than what I normally make and the quilting is quite dense.  I calculated approximately 12 hours of quilting alone but it was absolutely worth it for the amazing texture it has.  You can read about the process/progress here, here, here, here, and here.

It's backed and bound in an all over blue and white floral double wide cotton.  Finished size after washing is 69" x 84".

Linking up at Crazy Mom Quilts

WIP Wedneday

I was feeling overwhelmed this week at the amount of quilts I have on the go in reality and in my mind.  So I took 20 minutes and made this.  It's kind of hard to see in the picture but I took an old shadow box frame and replaced the picture with a piece of fabric.  Then I used a dry erase marker to list out the quilts I currently have in some form of progress, including a quilt along that I have committed to but not started.  For the month of June, these are the only quilts I will work on.  Hopefully, this will result in a handful of completely finished quilt by the months end.

This week I got all of my pieces (except the outside border) cut for the Impromptu Along.  I'm not sure what it is about this quilt in particular but I am very eager to get going.  Instead of diving into the blocks (I'm trying to wait until the QAL actually starts on Saturday LOL) I made my binding last night.

I love a scrappy binding.  And a scrappy navy binding? {swoon} The other project that has been taking up the majority of my sewing time is Sunny Days.  But now that it is finished, I should make good progress on a few other things.  Here's a sneak peek to hold you over until Friday when I post fully about it.

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced!

MASTER LIST

Design Stage
My husband's Mario quilt
Strips of pink quilt
Strips of blue quilt
Lap quilt for my youngest
Escape Artist for my bedroom
Christa Quilts QAL
Blind for kitchen window
Ticker tape cushion for bedroom
Blue/red/green disappearing 9 patch quilt
Comma triangles
Nolan's quilt

Piecing Stage
Floral patchwork quilt
Damask apron
Matching dresses for oldest and her doll
Tumbling Time
Big stack of crayon rolls
Ticker tape cushion for living room
Harper's big girl quilt
Pillows for my MIL
Impromptu Along

Quilting Stage
Black/white/pink chevron
Black/white/blue chevron
Little apples quilt
Lap quilt for my oldest (Bits & Pieces)
Sunny Days Pillows 

May Finishes
Purple Chevron 
pb&j cushion cover
green and blue chevron
Sunny Days

Patchwork pillows

pb&j quilt
 

Will You Impromptu?

Katy over at I'm a Ginger Monkey is hosting a quilt along using Rachel Griffiths Impromptu pattern.

I've had this pattern in my inspiration folder for a while so I decided to join up.  However, I won't be making a full sized version.  After quilting up my Sunny Days I just can't fathom doing on 90" square LOL.

I'm using a selection of navy geometric prints on a white background.  Just about finished cutting.  I am unexplainably excited about this :)

If you want to join in the fun, there is also a Flickr group for it.

Busy Week

I apologize for the silence here last week.  Wednesday was my oldest's end of the year ballet recital.

The only thing more adorable than a stage full of 5-7 year olds dancing their hearts out is a stage full of 3-5 year olds looking for their parents and half following the dance steps!  Our dance teacher puts on a fantastic show that really highlights all of her classes from 3 years old to advance ballet.

 

Of course a ballet recital means visits from some grandparents.  My Dad and MIL came to see the show and we had to snag a picture of all three Boston fans in their jersies!

Finally, we filled our weekend putting together a new swingset.  Our old one was just that: OLD.  We got it 6 years ago and although it served us well, it wasn't meeting the needs of the 7 year old.  It took a lot longer than the 4-8 hours suggested on the box but it was well worth the time.

As for sewing, the only things I worked on last week were my Sunny Days quilting (hoping to finish it up today) and the pillow cover for my MIL. (which did not get finished before her arrival!)  I'm hoping to finish up Sunny Days this week, start another custom order and get squares cut for the Impromptu Along that begins on the weekend.

WIP Wednesday

Most of my week has been spent working on Sunny Days.  And the beginning of the week has seen a lot of time spent here.

Lots of good progress being made on it and I'm hoping to finish up the quilting by Friday.

My first attempt at a cathedral pillow is coming along pretty well.  There is definitely lots of room for  improvement on this but I'm happy I decided to tackle it.  Although I'm really surprised at how much fabric goes into one of these.  I calculated 4 yards of the white alone!

And a first attempt at hourglass blocks.  I've always been wary of these but they are soooo easy!  I'm glad I attempted them and am excited to see the design I have in my head come to life on the wall.  Although I am NOT excited by the thought of trimming 50+ blocks!

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced.

MASTER LIST

Design Stage
My husband's Mario quilt
Strips of pink quilt
Strips of blue quilt
Lap quilt for my youngest
Escape Artist for my bedroom
Impromptu Along
Blind for kitchen window
Ticker tape cushion for bedroom
Blue/red/green disappearing 9 patch quilt
Comma triangles
Nolan's quilt

Piecing Stage
Floral patchwork quilt
Damask apron
Matching dresses for oldest and her doll
Tumbling Time
Big stack of crayon rolls
Ticker tape cushion for living room
Harper's big girl quilt
Pillows for my MIL

Quilting Stage
Black/white/pink chevron
Black/white/blue chevron
Little apples quilt
Lap quilt for my oldest
Sunny Days
Sunny Days Pillows

Done
Purple Chevron 
pb&j cushion cover
green and blue chevron

Patchwork pillows

pb&j quilt
 

MishMash on the Wall (and a giveaway!)

On Friday I started quilting Sunny Days and I immediately began to think of all the other projects I would like to be working on lol.  Quilting large quilts (this one is 72 x 90) is not at the top of the list of my favorite things to do.  This is mostly due to my poor quilting set up.

So I am taking frequent breaks and gave myself the weekend to play!  This is the result.

After stumbling upon this tutorial from Red Pepper Quilts , I got an idea for a quilt design and decided to give hourglass blocks a try.  I'm liking them so far although I haven't started all of the trimming that RPQ calls for :)

I quilted up one of my leftover blocks from Sunny Days.  It's destined to become a pillow cover.

The bottom left is a tester for a custom quilt order that is up next in my to do list.

And finally while cleaning out one of my cluttered shelves I came across a pile of leftover blocks.  Some from my daughter's California Girl quilt (which I just realized never got blogged!) and some from a few chevron quilts.  The California Girl blocks were quickly pieced together, quilted and bound for a satisfying finish :)  It's 16x24, a good doll quilt size but would also work nicely as a lovey.  The purple and pink are leftovers from chevron quilts.  I tried to make a mini chevron but there weren't enough blocks.  I like this design better, anyway.  It will finish at 20x20.

I'm also working away at my very first cathedral pillow.  My MIL requested a pair of pillows at Christmas!!  She is coming to town tomorrow for Ella's ballet recital and I hope to have at least one finished as a belated Mother's Day gift.

What's on your wall these days?

Oh right!  I did promise a giveaway didn't I?  Head on over to luvinthemommyhood and enter to win a fat quarter bundle of Happy Go Lucky!

Friday Finish!

I finished up my Sunny Days custom quilt top this week.

And I got it basted :)

And that's pretty much all I accomplished this week.  That scrappy trip along takes longer than you would think!  Lots of quilting time ahead of me this weekend.

Wordless WIP Wednesday

Just about ready for quilting!

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced.

Well Loved

Way back in May of last year I mentioned my Wonky Star quilt, but I never showed the finished product.  It's been finished for quite a while now and living on our sofa.

I followed this tutorial from Elizabeth at Oh, Fransson! to make the stars.  The background is a grey broadcloth from a local store.

The back is Kona Chartreuse with a strip of grey patterned fabrics, some of which are pretty recognizable!  I quilted it with straight(ish) line quilting about 1/2" apart.  It is my first large quilt, the first quilt I made for myself and my first quilt using dense quilting.  The lines are far from straight.  I ran into tension issues which are obvious close up thanks to using a different colour bobbin thread. 

But I love this quilt.  There have been many movie nights snuggled up underneath.  Every family member has curled up underneath with a sore tummy or feverish head.  The kids use it to build forts and play house.  There is purple nail polish on the back and I don't care :)  It's been well loved and will continue to be well loved for years to come, I hope.

These stars were the most complicated thing I had pieced when I did them.  Looking back at Elizabeth's original Sparkle Punch Quilt I'm thinking I need to do a full one of my own!  But maybe I will finish up a few other WIPs first LOL.

Makeover Monday

A few weeks ago I stopped into my local Habitat Restore on a whim.  I hadn't been having much luck finding anything worth salvaging but I had a few minutes to spare and thought I would take a look.  I'm so glad I listened to my intuition because I found this beauty!

I know she doesn't look like much but the drawers she had worked well, it was a great size and I was recently enamored with this ombre drawer makeover.  I also thought it would work wonderfully as a way to corral all of my girls' arts and crafts supplies.  So I paid my $15 and brought it home.

I made a quick trip to Home Depot and bought my supplies.  I would have loved to do pink and my daughter desperately wanted purple.  But since these would be living in our main living area for an indefinitely period of time I went with a more subdued blue/green.  I simply picked out a paint swatch and had them mix sample of all three colors on it.  I did end up doing some mild custom mixing when I got home to make the ombre a little more subtle.

You can see in the original picture that the veneer was peeling a little at the bottom of the sides.  While I was at Home Depot, I just grabbed some pre primed trim and had them cut it to the proper lengths and added them with wood glue and finishing nails.  Then it was a quick coat of white paint on the main unit, some new pulls and a piece of handy board to make a shelf in the hole left by the missing drawer.

I'm not normally a fan of brass but it just felt right on this piece.  And the pulls are similar to the drawers in the bookshelf that also lives in the living room.  The bottom drawer holds a few board games.  The other two drawers hold paper and coloring books.  The photo boxes hold crayons, markers, glue and other craft supplies.

When (if?) our basement gets finished this will probably move to the playroom, but for now it has a home in our living room and I quite enjoy it.  Even my husband was impressed when he arrived home for a work trip and saw it!  Now I just need to figure out a new art configuration :)

Friday Finishes

It was a light week on finishes for me.  Just my gaggle of pillows that I posted on Wednesday.

I did manage to make some great progress on my Sunny Days quilt.  Each square finishes at 18" so it's bigger than it seems :) And I will be doing a lot of playing around with value placement of the blocks before joining them!

Don't forget you have until midnight tonight (EST) to sign up for my giveaway and until Sunday to use the free shipping code on orders over $50 (FREESHIPPING50)

Linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts

WIP Wednesday

It's a quick WIP post today.  I should be wrangling kids and packing lunches :)  Most of my week was spent out of town finishing the quilt for my new niece.  When I got home I got right to work finishing up a cushion order for a store I consign at.

 I did steal a few minutes to start a custom quilt order.  This quilt is for Karen's Mom.  Karen is one of those people I feel blessed to call my friend, even though we have never actually met in person.  She had faith in me when I was first starting out and ordered a custom blanket for her yet to be born daughter Adrianna.  So I was thrilled that she asked me to make this quilt for her Mom, even though it is far out of my style comfort zone LOL.

I think it's going to be bright and happy, just as she requested!

Don't forget there is still time to enter my giveaway for Sew,Mama,Sew's giveaway day. And take advantage of Free Shipping over $50 on everything in the shop.  Just enter the code FREESHIPPING50 at checkout.

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced.

MASTER LIST

Design Stage
My husband's Mario quilt
Strips of pink quilt
Strips of blue quilt
Lap quilt for my youngest
Escape Artist for my bedroom
Pillows for my MIL
Blind for kitchen window
Ticker tape cushion for bedroom
Blue/red/green disappearing 9 patch quilt
Comma triangles
Nolan's quilt
Harper's big girl quilt
K&J's quilt

Piecing Stage
Floral patchwork quilt
Damask apron
Matching dresses for oldest and her doll
Karen's Custom Quilt
Big stack of crayon rolls
Ticker tape cushion for living room

Quilting Stage
Black/white/pink chevron
Black/white/blue chevron
Patchwork pillow
Little apples quilt
Lap quilt for my oldest

Done
Purple Chevron 
pb&j cushion cover
green and blue chevron

Patchwork pillows

pb&j quilt

Out of My Box

In May of 2012, I asked my sister if she wanted me to make her a quilt for her wedding shower.  She chose her wedding colors, blue and yellow.  And after looking at a few different patterns, we chose this one, which has been on my Pinterest quilt board for ages.

I will admit that I struggled hard with this quilt.  The colors were not colors I would have chosen and I didn't really like the look of them.  Plus, I was nervous about all of the half square triangles required.  So I put off starting for a long time.  But once I got started, it really didn't take long to piece it together.  But I panicked about how to quilt it.  Took me a few months to get started on the pebbling.  And that did not go quickly once started LOL.

I had never done pebbling and I was amazed at how much thread it ate and how much time it took.  I cleaned out my local shop's thread 3 times in the course of pebbling the blue.  By this time it was November and I decided that it would be finished by Christmas no matter what.  During all of my pebbling I was thinking of how to quilt the yellow and decided to do a flower.  I found a template at the LQQ and modified it slightly ti fit the space I had.  That part did go quickly!

I honestly think the back is my favorite part.  I used blue thread for the pebbling, yellow thread for the flowers and I love that you can clearly see them on the back.  I'm not sure of the final dimensions as I totally forgot to measure it LOL.  They have been using it as a lap quilt for 4 months now and it has been washed multiple times.  I just love the texture and dimension that the pebbling adds.  It almost makes me want to tackle some more pebbling.  Almost.

It's Giveaway Day!!!

Draw has since been closed and the winner chosen.  I used random number generator and ended with commenter 304.

Taya@TypeB6 May 2013 20:10

I love the scallops! I also really like the Bag of Chips as well. So many great choices - thanks for the chance!

Congratulations Taya!  You've been sent an email :)  The free shipping code is available for use until tomorrow Sunday May 12th.  Treat yourself to a mother's day package :)

Well, actually, I guess it's really giveaway week!  At least over on the Sew,Mama,Sew! blog!  This will be my first year participating and I'm super excited.  Because just in time for this giveaway, I received my yardage of Happy Go Lucky by Bonnie and Camille for Moda!!

Aren't those scallops fun!  My first thought was to offer a fat quarter bundle of these.  But then I started wondering and thinking.  What would my readers really like to receive?  What would I like to receive?

I'm in love with navy lately!  What I would really like to receive is fabrics that I chose.  And so that is my giveaway to you today!  The winner will be able to choose 10 fat quarters of their choice from Ella's Cottage.

To win, simply visit the shop and tell me what you would choose and what you would use it for?  Is it for a special quilt? Specific project?  Or are you just building up your stash?  As an added bonus, use the code FREESHIPPING50 for free shipping on all orders over $50 from now until Mother's Day, May 12th.  The giveaway and free shipping is open to anyone in the USA or Canada.  I apologize to all the international folks. I am still figuring out logistics for shipping overseas!

Friday Finish

All of my posts this week have been written from out of town.  All because of this new addition.

My sister had a baby girl last weekend, so my girls and I packed up went for a visit. Don't worry, we didn't stay WITH my sister :)  My parents live in the same town and happily put us up.  As I stated in my WIP Wednesday post, I had finished the top.  So I also packed up my sewing machine and brought it along to finish.

I had thought I would do a lot more quilting than I ended up doing.  In the end I just didn't have the time and I actually really liked how it looked with simple quilting in the ditch.  The pattern of the quilt really stands out this way.

So far she doesn't think much of it :)  It measures approximately 44" x 52" and I backed it with the Creamy Alphabet print.

I'm so excited to see her use it and love it in the years to come!

Linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts.

WIP Wednesday

It was a very productive week around here.  I finished my green and blue chevron quilt but no pictures as I am travelling.  I also finished my pb&j top!

I'm really thrilled with how it turned out.  While I was making it my sister had her first baby, a little girl they named Rayanna Marie.  I immediately knew that this would be for her.  And it worked out wonderfully that there is a perfect R in one of the squares!

I spent many hours trying to decide how to quilt it.  In the end I'm pretty sure I am going to quilt in the ditch along the sashing.  Then a free motion flower in the center blue blocks with free motion loops around them.  I plan on getting it basted today and quilted before I leave on Friday.  Wish me luck!

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced.

MASTER LIST

Design Stage
My husband's Mario quilt
Strips of pink quilt
Strips of blue quilt
Lap quilt for my youngest
Escape Artist for my bedroom
Pillows for my MIL
Blind for kitchen window
Ticker tape cushion for bedroom
Blue/red/green disappearing 9 patch quilt
Comma triangles
Nolan's quilt
Harper's big girl quilt
K&J's quilt
Around the world custom order

Piecing Stage
Lap quilt for my oldest
Floral patchwork quilt
Damask apron
Matching dresses for oldest and her doll
Patchwork pillow 
Big stack of crayon rolls
Ticker tape cushion for living room

Quilting Stage
Black/white/pink chevron
Black/white/blue chevron
Patchwork pillow
Little apples quilt
pb&j quilt

Done
Purple Chevron 
pb&j cushion cover
green and blue chevron