Finished Pillow Shams

I did it! It was looking like I might not finish these by today, but I decided I needed to just do it. 

I really appreciate having Amy's challenge this month--I have a lot of things needing to be finished by the end of August and the One Thing, One Week challenge is a good opportunity to choose something that needs some attention and get. it. done. 

I did work on something that was not on my list, I couldn't help it.

My 9-patches now have all their initial sashing strips sewn on. My Kona crush fabric was delivered last week and I couldn't help but cut into it and get this next step done. Now I need to work on the layout... I have a couple more before-September things to do first though.

In non-sewing news, we have a garden photo or two. This is what happens when you don't pay a ton of attention to the garden because of fear of chiggers (I hate them oh so much.)

The sunflower is getting heavy... it's like a mini-umbrella here. (FYI, it's a Russian Mammoth, if you wanted to know.) It was about 7 ft tall before it started drooping. And you can kind of see the front-yard cherry tomato creeping out onto the sidewalk in the background too.

New York Beauty

Finished up this block for Heidi in our Block Swap 2 group.

The inner curves are challenging to piece! When I made a small quilt with NYB blocks a while back (oh! it was 5 years ago!), I hand pieced the curves. These ones were done by machine, and didn't turn out as nicely as I would have liked.

I am almost done cutting my 2" squares for my turn in Bee Beautiful. I just need to cut purples and a few blacks and greys.

This is about 750 2" squares.

I am a little distracted from sewing--reading my first e-book. (My first, you know, commercial novel-type e-book.) I got the kindle app on my Droid and bought Mockingjay today. I haven't ever read a novel this way before; I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'm glad I didn't have to go to the store to get it though, or wait through the library hold list that is about 500 people long.

Iraqi Bundles of Love II

Check it out.

Last year, IBOL guy asked for flat-rate boxes filled with fabric, thread, notions, yarn, or any other sewing or knitting supplies to be sent to northern Iraq. 3,445 bundles in boxes were sent. He's doing it again... can you send a box this year? Or two? Mailing deadline is October 1!

Happy Monday!

We had a busy, crazy weekend here. I spent a large chunk of my Saturday painting a bedroom:

my 10-year-old set up the ironing board at leprechaun height this morning

I am so happy with this color! When I was painting, it reminded me of a paint color from my past, the bedrooms in our tiny house back in the day in Provo. It was lighter than I wanted. But when it dried it was a little darker and it's exactly what I wanted. This is a big accomplishment for me because I did almost all of it myself--I had help from my husband on the tallest parts but I did almost all the prep work on my own and 90% of the painting, too. I got a lot of exercise moving the ladder and going up and down it--my legs were my sorest parts the next morning.

This is going to be my little girl's room, and it will continue to be my sewing/fabric room as well. I can't wait to have my 9-patch quilt finished and laying across the bottom of my little girl's new bed! I am also planning on hanging my collection of doll quilts on one of the walls.

While I was painting, my husband was fixing toilets, one that has been running (the flapper was leaking) for a long time and the other one was making weird groaning sounds off and on. We thought things were pretty good... but found a puddle in the garage (below the master bathroom) on Sunday. So Cory got to spend most of the rest of the day after church working on fixing that. He did call and get expert long-distance help from my dad, and now it seems like that problem is properly fixed as well.

This week has some busy-ness coming up with Back to School night, one night for each boy, a Cub Scout bike ride, dentist appointments for the boys, and then sewing Saturday with my KCMQG friends. As usual, I have a big sewing to-do list, and I'm joining in with the One Thing, One Week Challenge at Amy's Creative Side again. My main goal this week is to completely finish the Mendocino pillow shams. This morning I pin basted, and started quilting:

It's going pretty quickly; I love how the quilting looks so far. I will also be cutting many 2" squares and getting my quilt for DQS9 in the mail this week.

Before

ready to paint in the morning...farewell, yellow!

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pillow shams progress

I finished the fronts of these pillow shams this afternoon--the rest of what needs to be done on them just takes time but isn't really difficult. Layering and quilting, assembling the backs, and then sewing backs and fronts together!

Eileen from Ladybug Lovelies

Recently, I asked my friends Eileen and Diannalynn to guest post for me. They are both amazing, creative women and I'm excited to introduce them to my blog friends (if you don't already know them, that is!) A little background: I first met Diannalynn (aka DL or Dielle) during my first year of college at BYU. We became good friends and were roommates during the (super fun and laid back) summer of 1993, right before she graduated. I first met Eileen, DL's mom, when she came with DL's family to graduation that year. 

Here's Eileen: 

I've always been a crafter.  Mom worked at a toy store when I was little and gave me a set of about six 6-inch dolls I had at about four or five years old.  I can remember making clothes for them then and for a school project at about age 10, I made outfits for those dolls for different eras of history.  Mom taught me to sew on her old Singer machine (which Dad bought her for having me) when I was ten, so I have been sewing for over 50 years.  I have done a lot of different crafts.  Did decorative painting for years--have always loved the feel of well-sanded wood (friends teased me about how much sanding I'd do before painting);  have done a lot of paper crafting--stamping, card making, making paper, scheerinschnitte either patterns bought or ones I designed such as of Mt. Rainier, a family tree, or one from my mother's window.  Am a very tactile person, so texture of papers and fabrics have always fascinated me.  Did a lot of types of needlework and especially loved cross stitch but it makes me dizzy going from pattern to cloth now plus wow, have those stitches gotten smaller and smaller the older I get!

Marabella quilt top

My favorite current project is the Marabella quilt I've done for my newest girlie girl (granddaughter).  It's by the lady at Ivory Spring but I used totally different fabrics.  First saw it in the quilt festival.  Top is done, so it's just waiting for me to get the back done and get brave enough to home machine quilt it.  I hand quilted a very modern twin bedspread for Adam about 20 years ago--bright colored strips that meandered over huge black squares.  Wish I had a picture of it now.  My hands didn't work well for a couple weeks after doing that.  

Victory Garden

My other project I love is the Victory Garden from Eleanor Burns.  Made a king size with black background for my husband, Randy, and he loves it.  My friend Shirley long armed it for me.  I've made over a dozen what I call comfy quilts for all my immediate family and a couple others in the last year and a half.  They're a variation of what my friend called a Fiesta Quilt and backed with fleece.

Sabrina's quilt

My blog is Ladybug Lovelies which DL set up for me last year.  I've collected ladybugs since 1969 when I was just out of college and found a little ladybug crewel kit.  I have loved and collected hearts since about '76 when we were stationed in Frankfurt, Germany, and they were in all the craft shops and stood for good luck.  

Pat's quilt

Turtle Quilt Finished!

I kind of drove myself crazy working on three separate projects yesterday (including repairing a very sad, torn out binding on an old quilt) so I decided I needed to finish my quilt for DQS9 today.

I did the quilting over a few days this past week, and at the end I decided to do the little star stitches in the hexagons because they didn't really have any quilting in them and they needed it. All I had left to do this morning was half of the hexagon stitches and the binding. I am really happy with this quilt. I am still not done with the "twin" quilt that I'm keeping for myself; I'm going to work on it though and make myself get it done before I start my 9-patch finish. It will have different binding fabric, and the back is different too. But it's mostly the same.

Here's the back of this one:

I have a couple weeks until I need to mail this, and I am going to gather some of my fabric scraps and maybe a few small things to send to my swap partner along with the quilt. I'm so relieved to have this done! On to the next big thing!

Gifts

When we were in Utah, my dad let me pick out a couple of bowls from several that he's made recently. He took a pottery class last semester (I think that's when it was) and has also been making wooden bowls and other items. I cleared off a section of my usually cluttered shelf for this photo, but I think I'm going to have it be their permanent home and stop keeping clutter there.

 

I think the hole in the wooden bowl makes it extra unique and just... cool. My little girl likes to take the ceramic bowl down and play with these beads. (They are from a little Thomas train set.) She called them "beans" for a couple days and I try not to correct her when she has adorable incorrect pronunciation, but she says "beads" the right way now already. I love both of these--maybe I should put in a special order with Dad before he and my mom come to visit us in a few weeks.

When we came home from the Utah trip, these pretty fingerless gloves were waiting for me:

These are from my friend Janelle, who is a talented knitter and a genius microbiologist as well. The note she sent with them said to stick them in my coat pockets and they'll be a good surprise this winter. We planned to swap something handmade, sometime last year. She's done her part, and I still need to make her something. I have an idea, and I think she'll like it, as soon as I have time to get to it!

This weekend we are planning on buying paint for my girl's bedroom, maybe starting the painting, and buying a mattress for her too. I think we are getting the full-size bed so it can double as a guest bedroom. Also looking forward to things cooling down a little bit--we have had temperatures in the high 90s (heat index 105-110) for the last week or so, it's getting really old!

Sewing stuff I'm involved in

I am juggling so many projects these days... well always, but I decided to make a list of the current goings-on just for fun. Here are some of the sewing things in my life now and in the near future:

*Charity quilt project for KC Modern Quilt Guild:

My last 2 blocks, in process this morning. They are almost done now... I thought I was done but the last block came 1/2" shy of the size it needs to be so I need to sew another strip onto it.(due today)

*Secret quilt project that I'm going to try to have published--just needs quilting and binding! (due whenever I can get it done)
*Doll Quilt Swap 9 on flickr (must be mailed by Sept. 1)
*Two online quilting bees that require 2-4 quilt blocks from me each month (due at the end of each month)

*Custom etsy order:

This is the start of one of two king sized pillow shams... I love how it's coming together so far. (no deadline really but I don't want to drag it out for too long)

 
*I'm going to sew up something small for the church service auction (Sept. 1) (should I say? ok... I have been admiring Noodlehead's gathered clutch for a few months now, so I'm going to make one for one of my lucky church friends.) I just need to figure out where to fit it in with my other deadline projects.
*And I signed up to make another Downy quilt as part of our next church service project. (I don't have the kit yet so no deadline on this one for now.)
*Oh yeah! One more thing, I need to finish cutting squares to mail out to my Bee Beautiful friends as September is my month. I'd like to mail them sometime in the last few days of August.

As soon as I have time, and have finished the quilt I mentioned above, I'm going to finish up my 9-patch quilt! I really want to use white Kona crush fabric for the sashing and need to find a good source for it. I have sort of (mostly) decided that for a while I am not going to be buying fabrics for any new projects--I want to focus on finishing some of the many UFO projects I have laying around here. I am still trying to decide if I might need to make an exception for my birthday next month though.

More charity blocks, and miscellaneous other stuff

Here are some more of my blocks for our guild charity project. I have 2 more to make by Thursday. I really like both of the pink/green ones here. 

I needed something new for leaders and enders, and decided to make some monochromatic squares from my scraps:

These are made from some of my larger scraps. I decided to make them 6.5" square; I think a bunch of these could make a really cool looking quilt. Or maybe a rainbow table runner. I don't know yet.

I spent some time today hand quilting while watching Bones, and also cutting 2" squares for my bee beautiful group. I have about 130 green squares added to my collection now. 

And last Saturday I finished up the training pants for my girl:

The other two pairs were already in the laundry when I finished all of them up and was ready to take a picture. They fit really loosely until after they were washed and dried the first time, and now the elastic is shrunk up and they fit her just right. The pattern is from Wonderbaby Designs and it's a good one.

I have also been working on a custom order that involves Heather Ross Mendocino fabrics and diamond piecing. I'm making pillow shams to match ones I made last year... and I didn't save my notes. I'm doing my best to make the new set as similar as possible to the old ones, and I'm writing down my measurements in a notebook that won't get lost or thrown out.

It's too hot to cook, again. I'm making breakfast for dinner.

Turtles

I made some progress on my swap quilt this week.I decided to stitch the hexagons to the background by machine as the turtles will be machine appliqued, too. There will be hand quilting though; I found 7 blues and greens in my embroidery floss stash and will try to use most or maybe all of them in some kind of wavy, watery-feeling stitching.

I saw this cute idea in my google reader and wanted to share it: DIY quilting gloves! I love this idea.

I am making waterproof training pants for my girl today... she has outgrown the first group I made for her and some of those I never even finished. So I went a size up and am finishing them one at a time. I finished one so far toda; 3 more are cut out and started.

And I'm in the middle of a big fabric reorganization/purge. I am trying to decide whether I should offer some fabrics from my stash for sale... I have a bunch of vintage sheet fabrics, an Orla Kiely for Target tablecloth and some placemats and napkins, some PUL for diaper covers, and maybe some apparel fabrics that I am willing to part with. Would any of you be interested in any of these?

*I'm linking up at Sew & Tell Friday, go see what everyone's been doing this week!

Charity Quilt Top Completed

It is so hot today. 99 degrees, feels like 106. I have been sitting for a few minutes and am on my second really big ice water so my hair feels like it has stopped sweating. I had a hard time getting started this afternoon but I got going after a little power nap and finished this:

For a while when I was in the middle of making these blocks, I was doing pretty well at using up scraps as I went (see the bottom left corner). But then I laid them all out and decided I needed the last 3 or so to be more calm blocks. I really like the "word" fabric but it was getting too overwhelming in this project--I finished up with a few more blocks with the linen and white outer squares and I think that was a good move.

This quilt is for our first KC Modern Quilt Guild charity project and I secretly hope it will be quilted by Angela. I was thinking about that and then I started worrying if the linen would be a pain to quilt and just hoping it would be good enough. Oh well. I think it would look good with the solid brown fabric used as binding, too.

I have made 4 other quilt blocks for this project and need to make 4 more. Next week is our meeting when everyone is supposed to bring their finished blocks--several members went above and beyond the call of duty and have already made entire completed quilts. I can't wait to see everyone's work!

A couple of other things--my progress has been so slow on my doll quilt swap quilt but it is happening.

These are all ready to be sewn down on white background fabric, two for my partner and two for the twin quilt I'm keeping. I made a mistake in one of these, but I'm keeping it. I think it will add character. There will be turtles appliqued in the middles and multicolored hand quilting, eventually.

And I made my Block Swap 2 quilt blocks, kind of last minute: 

These were fun and quick. I added a couple of my own greens to personalize the blocks a bit.

I have also been cutting many, many 2" squares for my upcoming turn (September) in Bee Beautiful. So far, I have way too many pinks and just enough reds. I will cut another couple of colors out this week and maybe show you a picture of the pretty stacks.

It is almost time for another glass of ice water. And I'm going to have to go to the basement for a while. We are under a heat advisory until 8 p.m. tomorrow. Oh yeah, and should I go vote? I am not affiliated with a political party, so I'm only eligible to vote in the county commissioner primary. Maybe we'll go for a hot voting field trip in a bit here.