Finishes galore!

WOW -- when I decided to put energy into finishing quilts this year, I wasn't sure I'd get this many projects out of my closet, but I managed! In the past couple weeks I've finished one, and I've got photos of another that I finished back in March.

Here's the Kaleidoscope quilt, made as a top right along with Don't Call Me Betsy's Kaleidoscope QAL :



I'd had the top complete and hanging in my closet (for an embarrassing amount of time) before I decided I should just quilt it by checkbook and get it DONE. I'm so glad I did!



I love the stripy border, and the summer's other big project has been our deck. My husband has been hard at work on that, and I repainted our chairs. Sweet, eh?

The other big finish is the Quilt of Valor I've been working on -- although it's not quite ready to send, as I have a label issue that I'll need to address:



I really love how the quilting turned out on this one:



I've got a few more things in the works, but the queen-sized line art quilt is off to the quilters, and so my big projects are now mostly DONE! Which means I can start some NEW stuff.

...Yeah, this is going to be dangerous.



Linking up with:

Why yes, I do enjoy starting new projects!

...although I'm trying to finish some, too?

I haven't been sewing as much as I thought I would, lately, but I am feeling the end of summer fast approaching and have missed chatting fabric, so I thought I'd stop in and share what I have been doing. Which isn't so much finishing as it is starting new projects!

At the beginning of August we traveled north to visit my brother and his family, and since I finished the piecing on the spring wallhanging, of course I needed another hand-piecing project, right? So just before we left I cut the batik fabric I'd bought (ahem, six years ago) for the autumn wallhanging, and while on the trip I pieced almost half the blocks I need!


I starched my fabric before cutting it, and I'm unsure if I like hand piecing the starched fabric. We'll see how it turns out!

I've also started hand-quilting on the spring wallhanging, but so far I don't really have enough to show you. I think my stitches are horribly large, but I'll get it figured out by the time I'm done with the quilt. And the kaleidoscope quilt didn't get finished in time for the quilt-along prizes, but I'm getting close--the rows are complete, and the top is almost together!


And last but not least--the other new project! My guild (the Rock River Modern Quilt Guild) got some charm packs of Kona solids and we're challenged to make something with it--here's how far I am right now:


I already know the name for this one, and it's going to be a mini quilt for my sewing room wall. I'm very excited, as I'm really feeling like I'm designing this one, all by myself. (I really should identify which Kona solids are which, as it would be like having a 'color card' on my wall. *g*)

This is my 50th post, and I see that my one-year blogiversary is coming up on August 22--I'll be posting a giveaway that day, so make sure you stop by to check it out! :)



The WsIP stats:
New projects: 2
Completed projects: 0
In progress: 9

Late-Night Experimenting

Hello, everyone!

Just zipping in with a quick WIP Wednesday update--it's a gorgeous day here, so I'm headed out for a long walk soon. This past week has seen me working on my Kaleidoscope quilt (which included a clean-and-oil of my little Husqvie and some musing on how she talks to me), with a break for a sewing project I can't quite show you yet. :)

Last night I finished my layout, and started sewing blocks together:


That's where the experimentation came in.

Does your machine talk to you?

Hello, sweet sewists! :)

Today saw some significant progress on my kaleidoscope quilt--I spent time getting the quarter-blocks together:


And I was considering how my machine 'talks'--it tells me when I need to clean and oil it, just from the way it sounds and how it feels when it's running.

WIP Wednesday! Now actually on Wednesday!

Ah, Wednesday! Today is the day we all recover from our long holiday weekends!

My holiday weekend consisted of fourteen hours in the car, three repetitions of Beauty and the Beast, at least six repetitions of the Beauty and the Beast original Broadway cast recording on CD, one family reunion, one long-overdue and far-too-short visit with Tracie, ten years' worth of family memories while hunting for Grandma pictures, lots of glow-necklaces and glow-sticks shared among the family, a half-hour of delightful fireworks with commentary provided by Zoe, and more brats and hamburgers than I've eaten all year.

Today, we recover!

Fortunately, long visits also mean hand-sewing time, so I've made significant progress on my hand-pieced spring wallhanging (as always, click for bigger):


I've got the center all together, and the first two borders on! Isn't it exciting?

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!

Quilting Along!

Hello!

It's a fine Sunday morning--I'm out on my deck, feeling the breeze between my toes, and it's wonderful! This week has seen me in my sewing room more often (yay!), so I actually have some sewing progress to share (double yay!). I'm catching up on a couple quilt-alongs and getting ready to start another--but I won't get behind on that one, honest!

First up, my first three blocks for an informal quilt-along I'm doing with my mother-in-law (as always, click for bigger pics):