Sew & Tell Friday

Like Amy, I've caught the skirt bug.  It's a fun bug to catch :)

I'm going on a pioneer trek later this month with the youth from our church.  Since ankle-length skirts suitable for walking around in ninety-degree weather while pushing a handcart are a little hard to find at Target these days, I got to sew.  I used this large paisley print from Sandi Henderson's Secret Garden line.  I figured I might as well use lovely fabric, especially when you find it half off.  And blue and yellow together make me happy these days. 

This skirt was a fairly simple one to sew up, even for someone who last made a skirt in middle skirt.  This may be my second zipper ever, which would explain why there are no close-up shots of the zipper, facing, or any other fiddly parts.  Thankfully, none of said fiddly parts are in any shape noticeable to the casual observer.  Whew.  And when I get home from the trek, I'm planning on chopping off the bottom twelve inches and having a fun just-below-knee-length skirt for the summer.  Hooray!

Next up is one of Amy's semi-famous tiered skirts using this fabric.  I'm excited.

Go check out all the other finishes this week!

Bloggers' Quilt Festival, Spring 2012

Double hooray!  One for Bloggers' Quilt Festival and one for *finally* finishing this quilt!

This quilt has been a WIP for a very, very long time (at least for me).  You can read more about its history here.  The short story is that it's for my niece, whose favorite color is purple.  Purple is not the easiest fabric to find in the quilting world, but Kate Spain's Central Park (one of my all-time favorite fabric lines) is amazing.  Seriously gorgeous. 

The pattern is from Cara at Me? a Mom?'s Urban Lattice Quilt-along.  I used Kona White and Medium Gray.  I adapted the pattern slightly, choosing to focus more on Kate Spain's stunning fabrics.  I followed Lee at Freshly Pieced's modifications.  While I do love math, it's nice when someone else does it for you.  I think it came out pretty well.

The back is two simple panels of fabric with triangles between, referencing all the triangles on the front.  My favorite pieced backs are simple and have something to do with the front.  Check and check.

The quilting is minimal, with echo quilting around the diamonds and lattices and alternating horizontal and vertical lines.  It shows particularly well on the back.

The binding is another simple one, using the blue cobblestone from Central Park. 

When I talked to my sister about the quilts, she mentioned that she'd be sewing buttonholes right into the quilts to enable her to attach sheets and use them as duvets in the winter.  I (inwardly) about died and then suggested that I'd try to figure out something a little more elegant (and not so painful!).

On the back of the quilt, you'll notice a gray strip that runs around the outside.  That sneaky gray strip has the buttonholes that allow the quilt to double as a duvet.

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited about finishing the quilt and with how well it turned out.  I hope my niece loves it too!

Thanks for stopping by, and go enjoy the rest of the quilts in the Bloggers' Quilt Festival!

Sew & Tell Friday

Two summers ago, I was working on a quilt for a friend's little one.  We had had our youngest a few month's before, and I so loved that quilt that I decided to make one just like it for our little guy Joshua.  I cut the fabric out at the same time so that when some free time opened up to finish Joshua's quilt, it would go that much more quickly.  Fast forward a year and a half, and his quilt was still sitting undone.  And his second birthday is coming up next month.  Oops.  We won't talk about how many other quilts for other people I finished while his sat undone.  So this quilt got put on the fast-track, and I finally finished it this week.  Hooray!

I love all the blues and greens and the geometric shapes in the quilt.  He loves to find all his favorite animals.  Everybody wins.

The backing was simple - a panel of the green.  The fabrics are Alexander Henry's 2D Zoo in pool and Anna Griffin's Darcey line from a few years back.

The binding was also simple.

My favorite part, other than having something off the to-do list?  How much he likes his quilt. 

Now go check out all the other finishes this week over at Sew & Tell Friday!  Thanks for stopping by!

Just Three for April and May

I'm a few days late, but here's my Just Three for April accomplishments!

First, I wanted to finish this quilt for my niece. Clearly that didn't happen.  I've been waiting to hear back from my sister about a special request for the back of the quilt (it's going to be a quilt/duvet cover), so there is a good reason I didn't finish.  It just needs the duvet cover addition and the binding to be done.  And that will be finished this month.  Hooray!!!

The second quilt for my other niece actually did get started.  The paper blocks are all cut out, and all but fifteen (of eighty) have the appropriate lines drawn.  The gray strips are all cut out, and I've started cutting the white strips.  I'm going to count that as a success.  Double hooray!!!

The quilt for my son isn't quite finished, but I'm okay with that.  I really like to handstitch the binding on while watching TV with my husband (then it's a totally productive use of my time ;), but it's been busy around here.  Just a few nights to go, though, and then my little one will finally get his blankie.  He's excited.

So while none of my projects from April were finished, significant progress was made.  And I'm thrilled with that.

So what about May?  The list is going to look familiar.
#1 - Finish the first Central Park Urban Lattice quilt!  Really!
#2 - Continue to work on the second quilt - maybe finish all the blocks this month?  Or a quilt top if I'm feeling ridiculously productive (or my house stays ridiculously dirty)?
#3 - Finish Joshua's quilt.  He turns two in June, so I *have* to get it done before then.
#4 - Since #3 is sooo close, I'm going to throw in an extra one.  Our youth group at church is going on a pioneer trek this summer, and my husband and I are going as a ma and a pa.  We get to dress in somewhat-period-appropriate clothing while pushing handcarts and camping in the woods.  Yee haw.  Since ankle-length dresses are hard to find these days, I'm sewing my own skirts.  And since we're going at the end of June, it's time to get my sew on.  I'm a little scared - it's been since middle school that I've made clothes for anyone other than my daughter's doll.  I scored some of Sandi Henderson's Secret Garden Paisley in the turquoise and yellow half off at Fat Quarter Shop.  *Swoon*  It's going to be awesome.  And the best part is that when I get home from trek, I lop off the bottom portion of the skirt and end up with a cute summer skirt.  And my daughter gets a matching skirt with the lopped-off portion.  Hooray!

There's my list for May - it looks like it's time for me to go bond with my sewing machine!  Go visit Tracey to see the other Just Three folks and their accomplishments :)

Just Three update

So how is your Just Three for April goal going? I'm making headway on two out of three. Joshua's quilt is now quilted and just needs to be bound. He was sleeping with it in his crib until I stole it yesterday so that I could finish the binding. It's nice to know that project is already will loved, if still unfinished.

My other major project is the big Central Park Urban Lattice quilt. I'd made it through almost two-thirds of the quilting when I finally made it down to my LQS and purchased a walking foot for my machine. Yes, I'm embarrassed to admit I've been doing all my quilting with just a regular sewing foot. Anyway, I made the switch mid-quilt, and now I almost wish I hadn't. A walking foot is amazing! This is seriously a game-changer in the quilting department. My stitches are much more even, and the top isn't shifting or puckering. I love my walking foot. And the $25 price tag doesn't hurt either. The only downside is that now it makes me want to go back and revisit some of my earlier quilting. We'll see how motivated I feel.

I hope you're making progress on your goals too! Happy sewing!

A collaborative finish

So, if you've been over to Sew and Tell Friday at Amy's blog, you've already read about this quilt. We've been working together on a few projects of late, and the collaboration has been great. Read - we get to give people cute (in our opinion) quilts without having to do all the work. Hooray!
This was for a good mutual friend who's expecting Boy #3. I picked up the Riley Blake All Star fabric a long while ago, and it's been patiently waiting for the right projects. This was one of them. I had liked this quilt made by Cluck Cluck Sew awhile back, and Mama had pinned it as a favorite too. Great fabric + great pattern = a super cute quilt. I paired the All Star with Kona Snow.The back makes me happy too. I like a pieced backing, but it has to make sense in relation for the front. And this one does. At least to me.
So while I didn't completely finish this quilt, I did finish my part, so I'm counting it as a finish. I think I've seen some more growing bellies around town lately, so this may not be the end of Amy's and my baby-quilt-making days!
Go check out the other lovelies at Sew and Tell Friday and Finish it up Friday!

Just three

When I saw Tracey's Just Three for April challenge, I knew it was high time for me to get going. See, I've been working on commissioned quilts for my nieces. My sister first contacted me last May. But then we moved, three kids are time-consuming, and my old machine was begging to be thrown out the window. Seriously. That thing had a death wish.
Fast forward to October, and I get my mom's much-nicer machine while they're out of the country. One problem solved. After some initial I'm-so-nervous-about-paper-piecing jitters and dry runs that took about three months (along with painting our entire downstairs), I finally got moving in January. Oh, and did I mention these are twin-sized quilts and that there are two of them???
So, here's my Just Three -
#1 - Finish the first #!@& quilt. Like, quilted, bound, finished. Don't get me wrong - I think this quilt is sooo pretty. See? The problem is that it's just taking me forever. And it's taking me so long that I don't want to sew very much because I *have* to finish these before I can do anything else. So I need to finish.
#2 - Start the next #!@& quilt. I'll take any definition of start, including thinking about cutting fabric.
#3 - Finish this little guy's quilt. It was supposed to be a baby quilt, but he turns two in June. Oops. Do you see how excited he is about it? It's time.
So there are my goals for April. How about you? What are you working on these days?

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