Progress

Wonky Star Sampler Quilt -- FINISHED! 

Recent Progress: bound
Yet to do: wash

Wonky Star Compilation Quilt -- CQG

Recent Progress: top completed!! (no picture yet though)
Yet to do: baste, quilt, bind

Our Bedroom Quilts (take 2)

Recent Progress: Top 1 is finished, Top 2 is in progress
Yet to do: Make backs, baste, quilt, bind,

Scrappy X Plus Blocks / Quilt

Recent Progress: Finished making blocks
Yet to Do: Trim blocks to square, arrange top, piece together, baste, quilt, bind, wash

Quilt Group 'Log Cabin Beads' Style Quilt -- HANDED OFF

Recent Progress: hand off to the long arm quilter
Yet to Do: Possibly binding, otherwise, just enjoy the finished project!

Half-Square Triangle Quilts (Saturated/Black and Muted/Brown)

Recent Progress:
Yet to do: Cut solids (half done), piece tops, make backs, baste, quilt, bind, wash

Autumn Woods Patchwork Quilt

Recent Progress: bound
Yet to Do: wash take photos

Embraceable Quilt

Recent Progress: made top, basted
Yet to Do: quilt, bind, wash, give away

Waiting to Start:

• Hooded towels x 3 2
• Bibs x 10

Evening's Update

I've been working on getting a few things crossed off of the 'sewing for baby' list -- and one of them was this flannel quilt. It's gone through some serious changes since I started working on it; what was going to be the front is hanging out in my scrap pile, and what was going to be the back became the front. It's been a bit of a humility check in getting too ambitious without proper planning, but fortunately I had picked up two yards of the flannel, and the scraps are large enough they may yet turn into another project -- perhaps some of those many bibs I need to be working on?

Once again, I was able to use my blank wall for basting. It sounds like the future involves me giving up my dedicated sewing space, with some of the work spaces moving to the bedroom, others to the living room, but I think I am going to have to save this big blank wall space in the future-nursery-room so I can keep basting! 

Since the basting wasn't perfect -- my pins didn't always go through the minky backing even when I knew I was touching wall before angling back towards the top to close the pin -- I hopped right into quilting this one. Folding it even overnight seemed like asking for a mess, so I didn't take the chance. I got some help removing a cranky cat from the sewing table and got to work aiming for a large, loosely diamond shaped pattern. 

Mission accomplished -- and not a pucker in sight on the back side! Quilting with minky, without a walking foot, can be a challenge (I'm told a walking foot helps, and someday I'm going to find out!) to keep everything feeding together, but I was able to work fairly slowly and carefully to try to hold my sandwich together (along with using a lot of pins). 

Since things were going so smoothly, I pulled a bunch of binding scraps from my scrap bin and wrapped this one up completely. 

None of the binding pieces match the cotton scraps I added to the top, but I think most of them coordinate fairly well. I know the dark blue/purple one is a little loud, but I just had to add it for contrast sake. 

A few of the white critters (I think they're mice and cats, but some people think they look more like bull dogs and mice) and a few of the balloons lost their pink to sun bleaching. I didn't realize the sun pouring in my window was that strong until it was too late, but I think enough of the pink remains that I'll just let it go. I only bring up the pink because I chose to include a little bit of pink in the backing (pieced minky) and if you haven't noticed the pink (understandable since there's now relatively little of it) that might seem odd. 

It's not a huge patch of pink, I actually wish I could have included a little bit more in the back. It's kind of a silly little addition brought on by using up minky scraps, but I love how well coordinated to the top it feels.  

It's just a silly little blanket -- I have a hard time calling it a quilt although I think technically it is since there is both piecing and quilting involved -- but it feels good to have something new accomplished for the nursery stash. We've got a growing pile of 'to do' things to get ready, and an increasing number of them are things I can only supervise as my lifting and hoisting ability has really diminished in the last two weeks. That's incredibly frustrating to me, but I'm focusing on taking pleasure in the things I can accomplish. 

Gotta wash it before it's really done, but I see no reason why this one should give me any issues! 

Sewing for Baby - Progress

My Sew for Baby List 

• Fitted Sheets for Co-Sleeper Mattress:
• 2 Cotton

One still needs elastic -- gotta go shopping!

• 2 flannel
• That's a total of 5, which seems reasonable... maybe...?
• Zipper Front Sleep Sack
• At least 2
• Changing Pad Cover
• 2+
  
• At least 3 quilts/blankets (mostly to use as play mats)
• 
  
  
  
  
  
• A Quiet Book (for later, but should start as time allows)
• Bibs
• Feedback suggests we want a lot of these
• Wipes
• Single weight flannel
• Double weight flannel
• Wash Cloths
• Flannel/cuddle fabric
• Flannel/texture fabric
• A couple for a gift
• Burp Cloths
• I'm guessing we want quite a few of these?
• Hooded Towels
• 2 for us
• 2 for gifts
• Leg Warmers
• 3 made, which is a good enough start for something that may or may not work out. I'm calling this good until we see how they work out in reality. 
• Texture 'lovie' blankets
• 3 for us

2 small 'lovies' for us, plus 2 wash cloths

• 1-2 for gifts -- 1 down, 1 smaller one to go

The larger gift texture 'lovie' blanket

Hooded Towels Again

With another influx of babies coming to my life this summer, it's time to get back to making some of my favorite baby gifts: hooded towels.

My favorite tutorial for these is over at Obsessively Stitching -- in part because I like the less pointy headed hood, and in part because I love how easy this makes it to whip up two in one sitting. I never want to let the half-hand towel sit around cut but unused, so it's a great incentive to me to make two before I stop for the evening.

When I make two for one home or one baby, I like to keep one as simple as possible with no added bells or trims, then add a little something extra to the second hooded towel. Although there are lots of cute ways to dress these up, my favorite involves cutting off the thick trim that comes on the towel and replacing it with some bias cut trim/binding. This dresses up the hooded towel while also cutting down on the bulk -- especially handy when finishing the hood.

Since I had some leftover binding from the Autumn Woods quilt, I went with that for one of my two.

I've got two more towels sitting on my desk top, waiting for their turn -- which really means waiting for an empty bobbin as I think navy blue towels require something other than winter white thread!

The Embraceable Quilt

I have completely embraced the unexpected wonk of this little stripe and block quilt -- though coming up with the right kind of quilting for it might be a little more challenging than anticipated. Since every surface in my sewing room is currently covered by projects in some state of unfinishedome, this top has been hanging on my unofficial design wall and basting area. While it's not quite the project I need to be working on today, it was kind of haunting me and holding me up from doing anything else -- so it's getting more of my time and attention anyway.

With a little help from someone who is absolutely not allowed in that cabinet -- which explains why he started awake from a snoring deep sleep and leaped directly into it (over my body in the way) to investigate and eventually nap on all the fabrics... -- I pulled out a couple options from my vintage sheet stash. Narrowing it to one was a challenge. All along I had been thinking about using one of my favorites, a yellow roses print, but I pulled out the next one in my stack as well and was surprised how well this other option fit with the quilt top.

In the end, I chose the surprise contender, and I think it was the perfect choice.

The floral print contains a couple salmon/pink colors, some gold, some blue, and a little bit of a light tan. It's not quite a perfect color match to the front, but all of those colors are featured in the Persimmon prints I used on the front, so it seems like just about a match completely meant to be. I'm thrilled and can't wait to see how the two work together once this little project is quilted.

And yes -- now that it is holding up most of my basting pins, it's going to have to keep getting some attention or I'm not going to be able to work on anything larger than a mini-quilt. I don't think that'll be a problem. I hope to spend tonight brainstorming ideas for the quilting -- nothing too elaborate, but perhaps something that makes allowances and celebration for the wonky top -- and get it whipped out of the way yet this month.

Patchwork + Panel + Binding

Last night, I was feeling a little lazy -- so instead of making bias binding, I made straight binding again. I don't think I like it quite as well as the bias binding, for all that it was faster to make, but it went on more smoothly than I remember. I'm relieved about that, and hoping I don't eventually regret my current laziness!

Since lazy was ruling the day -- though I could just as easily say 'thrifty' or 'pregnancy related simplifications' -- I picked a yellow print from my stash that happened not to clash with the yellows in the Autumn Woods prints in the quilt top and made it work. The prominent lighter tone in the binding fabric is a little light, but one of the two darker stripes is just about a perfect match to some of the yellows in the quilt top, and overall, I think it works out without being too perfectly matched.

Yellow has never really been my color, to wear or work with, but this quilt has made me a little bit more a fan of yellow. At least, in the right place and the right amount...

Actually getting the quilt bound required a few negotiations with Momo, who seems to think every project I work on should be his whenever he wants it. I managed to woo him over to 'his' quilt and get the rest of it bound while he was napping. Whew!

There was even enough daylight left for a few very quick pre-wash photos -- I absolutely love these longer days when things don't have to wrap up by 2 or 3 in order to get some daylight before bed. Spring is so my time of year!

The background color of the panel can look both tan and grey, depending on the lighting. I think the true color is probably a warm grey, but I always expect it to be tan until I look at the similarly toned charms, which I easily identify as grey. Tricky colors -- or can pregnancy make your color vision a little more questionable? I hope not! Picking colors is already a challenge I don't need to make any more challenging!

Compared to the panel piece, the backing is obviously grey, which might be part of why I struggle with the front panel color. I've never paid attention to what goes with yellow, but I think the internet has always liked yellow and grey. Now I see why!

One more once over to check for any flaws or missed stitches that'll cause me grief in the wash, then I think this one is ready to wash and dry! Hopefully if I wash it tonight I'll be able to grab some good photos in the morning when the light is a little kinder -- even though that means getting up earlier on my one day to sleep in. I'm so pleased with this one I think it'll be a compromise wor

Sewing for Baby

I am really much more a quilter than a sewist, which is odd considering how much of my own closet was homemade during my childhood. But whatever the reason, I just never paid enough attention to my mother's sewing to make a connection with it, and today, even simple projects like pillow cases -- a middle ground between quilting and sewing if ever there was one, no? -- are daunting to me. The idea of sewing a garment for me is overwhelming, and while baby sizes sound harder (smaller is not always easier), perhaps the wearer will be more forgiving toward my skills than I am!

Sewing any kind of clothing is still a long ways off -- if I ever get up the courage -- but I do have a list of things I hope to DIY for the nursery -- and a few things I've started on already.

My Sew for Baby List (ours and others)

Sew for Babies List

 Fitted Sheets for Co-Sleeper mattress:

• 2 cotton
• 2 flannel
• That's a total of 5... is that enough?

Zipper Front Sleep Sack (1 or 2)

Changing Pad Cover (1-2)

Quilts / Blankets 

• I'm hoping for 2-3 from me, plus I know we'll get some as gifts. These will be play mats at first, but I'm hoping a couple will be large enough to use when the kid is old enough... 

Bibs (lots)

Wipes

• single weight flannel
• double weight flannel
• other?

Wash Cloths

• flannel/cuddle fabric
• flannel/texture fabric
• flannel/terry cloth

Hooded Towels 

• 2 for us
• 2 for gifts

Leg warmers

• Okay, maybe these don't work? Maybe it's all hype? But they look cute, so I want to make a couple and at least test them out. 

Texture 'lovie' kind of blankets 

• for us
• for gifts

I'm sure I'll think of more as I keep working, and I'm sure I won't accomplish it all before July gets here, but this is a beginning. 

I started typing up my master 'to do' list and I know there's no way I'm going to get it all done by July or before, but I hope we can manage most of it. Things like the biggest parts of child-safety checking the house can probably wait a few months (since I'm fairly certain kids start out less than mobile) but other things like deep cleaning the fridge or getting a dresser for baby clothes are pretty important. I guess I know what I'll be doing in most of my spare time! 

Quilt #26: Wonky Star Sampler

My first finish of 2015!

I was taking my sweet time in getting this one washed and truly finished -- and it's a good thing I dragged the process out! I managed to catch two potential issues in time to fix them pre-wash and avoid making them any worse. After recent tragedies that eventually resulted in a quilt being abandoned to cat bedding -- because he doesn't mind the issues -- it was a relief to catch these problems before they had a chance to really ruin things again.

The glamour shots of this one leave something to be desired -- it's never been an easy one for me to photograph and this proved no exception at all.

The white thread just vanishes into the white background, but in reality, the quilted 'star' shape gives a lot of great texture without being overwhelming. It's a little more noticeable in the next photo.

I was worried that the interior of the quilted star, which was heavily quilted in more of a 'burst' than a star, was too deep a contrast compared to the rest of the quilt, but now that it's been washed, I think the two quilted areas work well together.

This is the perfect backing material for this quilt. I love it so much. I wish I had more of it -- or something similar. And multiple color versions of the same thing would be welcome too. Oh well.

This was another quilt I'd initially thought I might keep, but for the moment it is joining the short list of quilts that I'm considering as a gift for my summer-arriving niece. The mom-to-be self describes as 'not a girly girl' so I don't want to over-do on the girly colors or themes, which makes choosing a quilt to send for her a little bit of a challenge since I think 'girly' tends to be a bit of a default for me in color and fabric choices. Fortunately, I've got a few months of waiting to see how their nursery plans come along and hopefully that'll provide me some guidance. But whether this one is a keeper or not, I'm very pleased with the outcome -- though the binding job isn't as perfect as I'd like.

Spring -- ish...

I'm choosing to ignore the dumping of snow we got overnight in favor of focusing on the signs of spring we were enjoying earlier this week.

It's Colorado, so of course we have to be grateful for every drop of moisture we get -- even when it is unwelcome snow that makes everything slick and nasty again for a while, but I am so ready for spring. Moisture? Bring me some rain, nice spring showers, and let's get on with putting winter behind us!

Embracing It

Quilting is at least partly art, so we occasionally embrace imperfections and make them part of the overall design. At least, I do...

It started off going so well. Things were coming together quickly, I was ironing all my pieces, even using the cutting mat to do all my trimming so things would be square... and then, it was nothing like square and it was too late to change anything.

So, it's a little wonk-ier than anticipated. Which doesn't bother me, I just wish I'd known it was happening -- it could have been interesting with an even greater angle.

You might guess from the bottom trimming there that I've done some squaring up and trimming to get it to a 'squared' size. That was something it would have needed anyway to keep any kind of balance in the width vs. length, but it was still a little sad to take the rotary cutters to it again.

Wonk included, I still love it. Between the colors and the many floral prints, I'm thinking a vintage floral sheet might make an idea backing, so this could be finished up -- or at least ready for the binding shopping -- in a couple hours if I get cracking or give up a little sleep over the next few days. Again, I'm thinking it has a little more 'girl' vibe -- and fortunately I've got one or two girls on my shopping list, so I might already have a home figured out for this one.

The colors are lovely and happy, and I'm really pleased with how it looks, despite some details of the design being a surprise. But after the last two quilt tops I've worked on, I am ready to deal with some seriously intense colors. I think it's time to either break out some long set aside projects with a great deal more color or pull the trigger on the order I've got sitting in my cart over at Southern Fabric: plum, magenta, mustard, navy, midnight, and lime. I want to work with those colors so much -- and it just about couldn't be any farther from the muted grey, tan, blue, yellow, and orange I've been playing with recently!

Then again, there's a whole pile of 'got to do' projects sitting next to me, telling me I'd better get farther along on the 'have tos' before I break into a 'want to.' Unless that 'want to' results in a renewal of energy, I probably better listen to the stacks...