WIP Wednesday - Vacation Edition

I'm sure you will be totally shocked to hear that I've started a completely new project and will most likely start a second today.  After all, my list of potential projects for the week was pretty short LOL.

In my defense, this project should have made it into Monday's post.  I had the HSTs all ready to go and a general design was floating around in my head.  I'm pretty happy with where this is heading so I will probably keep spending time on it until I get stumped :)  No name for it yet, I've just been calling it Leftovers LOL

 

Is it just me or have Churn Dash quilts been popping up everywhere recently.  I want to make a baby sized quilt from just one block.  For once, I might actually do something when it is trending!  But I can't decide.  Blue on orange OR orange on blue?

 

 The Harper quilt is complete!  This lovely lady will be going postal today to it's new owners.  Who will then take it across many continents to China!  That is definitely the farthest away one of my quilts has gone to live.  

I still consider this a work in progress as I'm working on a tutorial for it.  Come back tomorrow for the first installment!

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced!

A New Skill

All right, folks, I need your help!  This book is on it's way to me as a birthday gift from my wonderful mother.  I have NEVER done embroidery so I have no idea what I will need.  Aaaaaand, I have some child free time and a Michael's gift card to do some shopping.  That child free time?  Won't happen again until August.  Can y'all suggest what I should get as a start up kit?  Can that even be done at Michaels?  HELP!

Definitely NOT a To-Do List!

My children are visiting their grandparents for the next week!  They do this 3 or 4 times a year and each time I make a ginormous to-do list for the week.  And while the days stretch out before us, they always fill up quickly with date nights and meeting up with friends.  By the end of the week I have generally not touched a quarter of my list and feel disappointed with "wasting" the week.

Not this time!  I have vowed to treat it like a vacation and only do what I want to do.  Maybe I will clean the house or finish a few books or watch a whole lot of True Blood.  I know I will do a lot of sewing.  My mojo is high and I've been fighting the urge to make a sewing to-do list.  Instead, let's take a look at all of the projects I COULD work on this week (spoiler alert: there's a LOT!).  Next Monday, I will let you know what I ended up doing.

String of Luck Quilt Along with Christa Quilts

Scrappy triangles

Tumbling Time

 I finally got a rough design from my head onto paper this weekend.  And I already have a stack of squares cut and ready to become hourglass blocks.

Harper's Quilt

 This is one that I can guarantee will be finished.  I have a shipping deadline of this week.  The quilting is done.  I just need to bind it and make a matching pillowcase.

Clementine Cross

 Since it's my vacation, I may lift my one block per week restriction on this and see what kind of progress I can make on it.

Baby Houndstooth

Impromptu Along

This top is ready to be quilted.  I have no batting :(  If I can get some batting, this may get basted.

Swoon!

 These blocks take a long time.  I've finished one and have everything cut for 3 more. 

Ready to be Bound!

And then there is this disaster also known as my work table.  Who knows what I will get sidetracked with when I clean it up!

Linking up with Plum and June's Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop!

And don't forget to check out the featured blogs on the New Blogger Blog Hop this week.

Friday, July 5

Christa @ Christa Quilts!

Alyce @ Wonderland By Alyce

Anna @ The Crooked Banana

Rachel @ Sew Happily Ever After 

Stephanie @ Quarter Incher

Shayla @ Sassafras Lane Designs

Caroline @ Carolines Craftiness

Lisa @ Hilltop House Creative Works

A Promise Kept!

When my mother in law was here in May, I promised her these pillows would be complete the nest time I saw her.  In 1 hour, I am heading out for a weekend of camping with the ILs so these pillows had a deadline!

I followed this tutorial and found it pretty easy to follow.  In fact it was significantly easier than I thought it would be.  But I was shocked (!) at how much fabric it uses.  And while my second pillow was definitely better than my first, I did struggle to get pretty points.

The front fabrics are a variety from my stash.  In fact many of them were in my very first large internet fabric purchase! I backed them in a floral print from the Happy Go Lucky line.  It doesn't really go with the front but it does work with MIL's sofa.  So now she has a set of reversible pillows!
They finish at 20" square and have a hidden zipper in the back.

I'm happy that I finally tried the cathedral window technique but I'm not sure I will do another one.  And if I do, it will definitely be on a smaller scale. 

Linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Bright and Scrappy

I've been planning on making a table runner for our dining room for 2 years now.  But in my head it was linen with elegant embroidery.  During my project ADD on Monday, I decided I had to make a runner.  RIGHT. NOW.  I grabbed my scrap bucket and pulled out anything I could get 15" out of and started piecing them together.  Then I promptly got distracted by something else LOL.

After completing my required work yesterday, I decided to finish piecing it together.  Then baste it.  And, well there was enough time to start the quilting.  I ended up stealing every available minute last night to finish quilting and binding it.

I'm so happy I did.  I have disliked my dining table almost since we bought it.  As a result, things get piled on top and I avoid it as much as possible.  But this bright cheerful pop of color makes me happy when I look at it.  I can ignore the enormous black chairs and rickety table.  Plus it makes the platter really stand out as well (made by my FIL!)

Finished size: 15.5" x 39"
Backing: Riley Blake Avignon leftovers from a quilt back
Binding: grey scraps
Quilting: random (mostly) straight lines

Linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

WIP Wednesday

Monday was a holiday here but I still managed to sneak into my sewing space for a few hours.  Since it wasn't a work day, I put my project ADD in charge and floated from thing to thing.  Here is a little of what I accomplished.

Cutting for the String of Pears Quiltalong over at Christa Quilts.  I am woefully behind on this one but hope to still finish by the end.  Thank goodness for a generous time frame!  The little polka dots are from Happy Go Lucky, white and grey polka dots from Comma and Graphite Bella Solids for the dark accent.

These happy little HSTs are made with off cuts from Harper's quilt.  They will become a pillowcase to match her quilt.

A few more blocks really make the houndstooth stand out!

I'm so happy with how Bits and Pieces turned out.  So happy, I decided to start right in on another scrap quilt.  As soon as I read Sunday Morning Quilts in December, I knew I would make a version of the Up Up and Away quilt.  I immediately started saving the off cuts from my bindings and trimming my small white scraps down to 2 1/2"  I've got quite a little pile of them ready to go and whipped a few through the sewing machine.  The layout may change a hundred times between now and completion but they certainly are fun little blocks.

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.

June Recap and July Goals

Happy Canada Day!

I hope all my Canadian readers are enjoying their long weekend as much as I have been.  We've filled it with lots of family fun.  My daughter's attended their first outdoor concert (my shoulders are still sore!), the 3 year old went to her first movie and tonight we are off to a friend's for fireworks and BBQ!

I have spent some time thinking about what I accomplished in June quilt wise and what I hope to accomplish in July.  Some of you may recall the whiteboard I put together at the start of the month.  I did fairly well sticking to that list as far as quilts are concerned.  But the baby shower gifts and bibs took up a bit of my time.  And as always, quilting never goes as quickly as I expect.

But I did finish quilting one of the black and white chevron quilts.  Little Apples was completely finished, as well as Bits and Pieces.  My Impromptu Along top is finished and Harper's quilt is halfway quilted.

I didn't actually expect to finish everything on that board and I'm quite thrilled with all that I managed to accomplish.  Of course, I have added several more quilts to the list over the last four weeks.  Although I would love to finish all of my WIPs in July (wouldn't we all!), there are a few that MUST be completed.

Houndstooth Beginnings!

This weekend, we are camping with my ILs which means MIL's pillows need to be completed.  The recipient of the baby shower gifts is due the first weekend in August and I've promised her a houndstooth quilt.  And Harper's quilt needs to be shipped off.  Those three are my priority for the month of July.  If I do nothing but finish those it will be a great month!  Anything else will be a bonus.  Feel free to pop over to my WIP tab to see just how long that list is :)

Linking up to A Lovely Year of Finishes and the Let's Get Acquainted LinkUp