Hello, everyone!

Yes, yes, it HAS been quiet over here -- I've been away from the sewing and the quilt-blog world for a while, now! But, I wanted to share my most recent projects, since I'm back in front of the machine now that school's done!

It has been a week of rainbows for me here. First up, a garbage bag dispenser for Z's kindergarten teacher (click the pictures for bigger):



I bought this charm pack of rainbow batiks for the charm hexagon quilt I'm working on, which meant I had 2.5x5" coins that worked perfectly for this little project! I am ridiculously pleased with how this turned out, and I hope Z's teacher likes it!



AND THEN!

I can't take credit for the idea for this (I first saw it here, where her pictures are far better than mine), but it's such a good idea I couldn't help but do it for myself! I finally bought a Kona color card, and then...I cut it up! *GASP*





It's OK! I velcro-ed it back together!

The board I used is a 24x30" canvas, and the lesson I learned is don't underestimate how much velcro you need! I ended up using almost 21 feet -- so if you want to do this yourself, go ahead and buy the 20-foot box, you'll save a little $ and a couple trips to the store. :P

I'm still busy with a bunch of WsIP -- most of which are still listed here -- but I'm done with the Kaleidoscope quilt and nearly done with two more, so my finish-fest is underway this year. SO, I'm hoping for more frequent updates soon!

I hope everyone's doing well?

Value in Repetition

Hello, lovelies!

I figured I'd reveal my Super Secret Sewing Project once it arrived at its destination, and today I heard that the package made it safely, so: Here it is! (Click for bigger!)


These are comfort pillows for a dear friend who has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. She's headed in for surgery on Monday, and I hope she finds these useful and cheering! (The bone-shaped pillow is from this pattern on Connecting Threads, the bird is from this pattern by Pillow and Maxfield. The rectangular one was half-mistake, half-late-night-crazed-inspiration, and I really like the baffling baffled box pillow I ended up with. *g*)

I also attended a Rock River Modern Quilt Guild meeting this week, and had a lovely time chatting with everyone! Jeanne of Grey Cat Quilts talked about being in a 'sampler quilt mood,' as opposed to making the very same block over and over, and it got me to thinking.

Sampler quilts can be a lot of fun--I'm in the middle of my first two, right now, and it's nifty doing so many different blocks! There also seem to be lots of sampler quilt-a-longs going on in blogland right now, which is also great.

But.

I think there's a lot of value in doing the very same block over and over, too, especially for beginning quilters. (I think Jeanne's a long way from a beginner, let me be clear!)

For me, I don't think my skills particularly improve in one block, but across many--I would be far less confident with my kaleidoscope quilt if I hadn't had sixty-seven blocks of pinwheel practice with my Tweetygigs quilt. I'm finding my kaleidoscope blocks are getting better, too, and I'm only a third of the way through putting them together.

So I urge you, if you're a beginning-to-intermediate quilter, not to dismiss single-block quilts. Sometimes repetition really is the best way to learn!



(Linked with Fabric Tuesday, check out all the goodies there, too!)

Kaleidoscoping

Hello, lovelies!

My rotary cutter and I got a workout the past couple days: I'm making a lap-size quilt for the Kaleidoscope Quilt Along over at Don't Call Me Betsy, and the cutting instructions went up on Thursday. I've been working in chunks--90 minutes of cutting seems to be my max before I begin to worry about slicing fingers and need a break--and this morning I finished!

The Growlery

Growlery growl'er-ee, n (English; cf. Dutch grollen, to grumble)

A retreat for times of ill humour. This term has largely become obsolete, which is strange, given that so many people seem to have a place to go when they are in a bad mood - a place to be alone and think. It's similar in meaning to the Latin-derived sanctum sanctorum, with the added connotation that the individual in question is going to the place to be alone while upset. (From Forthright's Favourite Words)

An excellent word of the day, don't you think? It also happens to be perfect to describe my sewing room this past week: I had a few days where I really needed the escape!

Good thing I had a bunch of stuff already cut, eh?

I have *LOTS* of pictures to share, so I'll start with a yummy stack of fabric. That's right, my fabric for the Kaleidoscope Quilt Along arrived this week! It's mostly Fresh Flowers by Deb Strain (SO PRETTY OMG), and the 'solid' I found is a white tone-on-tone that has adorable flowers and vines that go perfectly with the other fabric.


There's still time to join! C'mon, you know you want to...

And follow the cut for many many pictures!

Happy Mother's Day, and hello again!

Hello, quilt-blog-land! Miss me?

*crickets chirping as everyone goes, "You were gone?"*

Hee! It looks (from catching up with blog posts) like I missed a bit of a quilting-world storm, but that's OK--I've had storm enough at home! (I'm not done with the semester yet, but since today is Mother's Day, I'm taking a breather. :)

In between the craziness, I've had just enough time to finish a couple things. First and foremost, I present:

TweetyGigs



~70" x 88"
Fabric: Tweet Tweet by Keiki, Spirit by Lila Tueller, and Bella Solid Bleached White
Batting: Hobbs 80/20
Quilted at the Backyard Quilt Shop in a loose swirl with pale pink thread

Follow the cut for more TweetyGigs, and some mug rug goodness!

Finish! HouseCheering

Hello!

This week I got just enough time in the sewing room while Z wasn't feeling well (thanks for saving it for spring break, Z! /sarcasm) to finish the housecheering gifts I got so close to finishing during last weekend's FNSI. Here they are (click for bigger), presented with a little help from Z herself!

WiP Wednesday #14

It's that time again: WiP Wednesday!

I'm knee-deep in grading and other job-related stuff, so my sewing time has been reduced pretty drastically, but that doesn't mean I'm out of the groove entirely! I got the rest of the fabric for a quilt-along I'm planning with my MIL, as well as some sweet fat quarters (Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadow) for a girl baby quilt:



Ahhh, Blissful goodness!! This jelly-roll quilt is going to be a Quilt of Valor, and I'm really looking forward to starting it in March. It also makes for an inspirational set of fabric stacks to decorate my sewing table!

New Fabric and WiP Wednesday #13

It's that time again! WiP Wednesday!


This weekend saw a major accomplishment (follow link to the blog post with details): I got the twin-size TweetyGigs all finished, de-cat-haired and trimmed, backing pieced, and the whole shebang delivered to a long-arm quilter!

FNSI Results and Sliced Coin Quilt-Along Fabric, Yay!

Hello, lovelies!

I may be a little bit insane, but being in the middle of a GIANT (for me; it's twin-size) quilt makes me want to start in on smaller projects. And I have smaller projects in the works, but I simply couldn't resist signing up for Elizabeth D.'s Sliced Coins Quilt-Along, especially when I saw she's posting instructions for a baby-sized quilt. That's not that big! I can handle that, right? *g*

So today I bought some fabric. I think Heather Mulder Peterson is fast becoming one of my favorite designers:




And I spent last night sewing! So here's the January Friday Night Sew-In results:

(And I just realized I can link this to WIP Wednesday! Yay! Go check them out!)