FF: Marie in Pieced Glory

While it was awesome to show off a finished Le Mille quilt last week, it inspired me to get to work on Marie, and maybe, just maybe, I could finish her before my husband got home. The man went out of town and left me with the kidlets for seven days, and thankfully, I had a whole bunch of pals rescue my evenings by coming to keep me entertained and routinely checking my sanity levels, but I still had a bit of extra time to fill, so I turned to my sewing machine for comfort.

There is simply no way to get a full shot of her, but here is Marie, laid out on my bed. *Squee!* She's everything I hoped for and more! The pattern is Tula Pink's Snowglobes made from mostly Tula Pink's Parisville line, though I did sneak in some Prince Charming. The solid is Bella solids in Jade. This is the queen-sized version, and yes, I did learn a lot from making a queen-sized quilt!

And while I spent last week trying to finish piecing her, I realized she weighs a ton, I've got a small sewing space, and my FMQ isn't where I'd like it to be to quilt her myself, so I think I'll be sending her off to a long-arm quilter. (It's time to start saving my pennies!)

I have a high school chum with a birthday on Tuesday. We graduated high school, moved to different states, and for nearly 10 years, corresponded by letter and email. Until! She started a Masters program at the same university at my husband, and it has been so lovely to have her near. She'll be graduating in May, and I wanted her to have a nice gift to take with her wherever she moves next, so I made a cathedral windows pillow cover for her. With the exception of the pillow form, this entire project came from stash and scraps, including the awesome upholstery material backing my friend John recently brought me. Of course, I forgot to take to take a picture of the back, but whatever. Trust it looks ah-mazing.

That's it for today! I'm linking up with Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and TGIFF at Never Too Hot to Stitch!

FF: Marie in Partial Glory.

I have a big finish this week, hooray! My Le Mille quilt is done, woo!

This is my favoritest quilt to date. I'm making a snowball queen-size "Marie" quilt using Tula Pink's Parisville line, and each of those blocks made a bunch of leftover HST units that were begging to be made into a throw. I originally sewed up Le Mille for the Tula sew-along at Sew Sweetness last year, and I finally finished the binding this week.

The quilting is mostly straight lines in the solid squares, but I did FMQ a flowery kind of something in the center bit. I used Aurifil thread for the white portions and Sulky thread in the jade portions. The Sulky thread was a lot heavier, but Agatha seemed to take to either thread without problem.

 

The border is scrappy and uses even more scraps from my bed quilt. I still have a huge stack of scraps from that project, but I'm certainly not complaining since I love Parisville something fierce! Binding is the jade solid, which is Bella Solids in Jade. The white is Kona Snow, I believe. 

Since the front has a lot going on already, I went simple with the back and only used two prints. The floral is from Laura Gunn's Cosmos line, and the aqua is from Patty Young's Heaven and Helsinki line.

This quilt was super fun to make--even if I hated trimming all of those crazy HSTs--and I'm so thankful to have it done for snuggling!

And it's not as exciting, but I also finished a scalloped bunting from this tutorial from sew mama sew.

I had plenty of leftovers from this ikea text print I used for backing in Autumn's quilt and Boo's quilt, and they worked perfectly with this bunting. It's hanging in my kitchen, making me a very happy girl.

I'm linking up today with TGIFF at Sew, Love, Live and Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts. 

WIP: Flimsy Edition.

I finished this quilt top yesterday, and I was all set to start quilting, until I realized I had neglected to pick up batting! (Oops.) This quilt will be for my friend Val, who had a very specific idea of what she wanted, and because she paid for the fabric I love her so much, I didn't completely refuse her input, though I will confess that I did a few things differently than our "plan". She wants straight line quilting, so that's what I'll be doing! Though this is the first time I think I'll have to mark my lines. The top currently measures about 45" x 60", and she's very excited about it, so I better pick up some batting, and soon! 

I'm linking up today with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

SS: Even More Tula.

It is not a secret that I am a crazy Tula Pink fan. I can't help myself! Her fabric makes me want to sing! Meeting a bunch of other crazed Tula fans on flickr didn't help. In fact, it aided my Tula craziness, and I picked up two yards of two prints from The Birds and The Bees for a 10" square swap.

 

Ohmideliciousness! 

A good friend has asked me to make her son a quilt for his naps at nursery school. Of course, I was delighted to say yes. He's one of my favorite kids ever, and we're looking to possibly use this chubby owl print, even if it looks a bit like fall.

So much deliciousness! And all three are sitting on my cutting board awaiting my attention.

I'm linking up with Sunday Stash with Gemma at Pretty Bobbins and so should you!

FF: All the Small Finishes!

No big finishes this week, but a lot of little ones!

Two more lined drawstring bags using this tutorial from In Color Order! (Seriously, these have been waiting four months for me to make the drawstrings and thread them through. I finally cut some ribbon just to be done with it. It took ten minutes.) I use them in place of gift bags, and the other is already in use for Lito's birthday this weekend.

Two gathered clutches using this tutorial from Noodlehead! (I was cutting fabric for one and thought I might as well make a second one while I was at it. One is staying with me, and the other is headed off to a friend.) They aren't perfect, or even near perfect, but I will use this tutorial again, though I think I'll do a few things different next time. The tutorial was genius though!

 

Inside view. Exterior fabric is from the Cosmos line by Laura Gunn and a random mustard pin dot. Interior is more Cosmos and a bit of a print from Patty Young's Heaven and Helsinki line.

Mini trashcan for my sewing table. It beats the ugly teal plastic bowl or my son's purple plastic frying pan! I kind of came up with it on the fly, and it worked out. I'm not a super huge fan of the lime interior, but I had it on hand, and since it's a trash can, I'm not stressing about it too much.

And a whole string of BOM and bee blocks, so now it's off to bigger projects, like finishing up the binding on this lovely. I'm linking up with TGIFF, which is being hosted this week at Dreaming in Patchwork, and Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

WIP: All the Small Things Edition.

All blocks today. I have been working on other projects, and while my Tula quilt is swoonworthy--and maybe my favorite quilt to date?!?!--there are only so many photos I can take of me attaching the binding. I hope for a finish...and soon!

Sisters' 10 BOM block number two for March. Woo! Done on time? Incredible.

Lucky Stars BOM block for March. Woo! All caught up.

x & + block for Karen for the Make It Modern Bee. 

Linking up with Freshly Pieced and Building Blocks Tuesday at Quilter in the Closet.

Giveaway Winner!

Remember this lovely stack, complete with Aurifil yum?

According to random.org, the winner is comment #42, aka, Erin of The Lazy Quilter! Yay, Erin! I'll be contacting you shortly for your mailing information. 

WIP: Getting Back in Gear Edition.

Before we get started on WIP goodness, have you entered my blogiversary giveaway for some Aurifil and some Timber & Leaf? If not, get a move on that!

I spent this last weekend in Chicago with one of my best friends (who I call Sissy because I adopted her as a third sister) and my two kids and her two kids. Let me set the stage a little bit: one hotel room, four kids under four with both babies suffering teething pains. I'm sure our neighbors LOVED us. But everyone survived, and we all had a grand time. I saw the Picasso display at the Art Institute, I bought shoes--woo!--and we even managed to fit in some fabric shopping for a quilt I've promised to make my Sissy.

Since this quilt will be using linen, quilting cottons, and flannel, I'm pre-washing everything to avoid crazy shrinkage problems. Hopefully all of the textiles will play fairly. Instead of finding a fun design, Sissy fell in love with the pieced back of a quilt from One Shabby Chick. Sissy wants something very minimalist in fabrics and design, relying heavily on texture to add additional flavor so I am making her a quilt back...for her quilt front.

Hot pink? Yes, please!

Sissy is known for her intense bargain shopping abilities, and when I'm with her, I get amazing deals too. I picked up these shoes for a song! And I shouldn't be so surprised, but we wound up purchasing all of the fabric for her quilt for $30. This will be at least a 50" x 70" quilt. $30. I'm in shock. The woman just attracts bargains. For example, she found some end of bolt Kona coal that was discounted, then an additional 50% off. Nearly a yard for under $3. (I don't know how she does it.)

I did polish off my February Lucky Stars block and pick out fabric for March's block.

I've also finished one Sisters' 10 block, and I'm working on the second. I'm really excited about both of my blocks for the Make It Modern bee, and I've got so many fun things to do this month. It's a shame it's already the fifth and I've spent the first four days of the month playing around Chicago!

What are you up to this week? I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday which is being hosted this week by Claire of Sewing Over Pins. I'll leave you with the view from my front door. Yuck.....and now, it's back to work!

Feb Finishes, March Goals, and a Giveaway

Finishes, goals, and a giveaway? Oh, my! This has all of the ingredients for a truly magical post!

February is done, and when I remember that my family was sick for twelve days, I'm happy with my end results: two quilts, quilting done on a third quilt, my bee blocks, and my Sisters' 10 BOM blocks, as well as a few other small bits. 

In the last week, I finished a grocery bag dispenser using this tutorial from Gen X Quilters. I use the bags for dirty diapers, and our storage was non-existent, meaning they were everywhere. This bag matches absolutely nothing in my home, but the fabric makes me oh-so happy, and that's the important bit, right?

I made a few modifications to the tutorial to suit what I had in stash. The focus fabric was not a full fat quarter, so I compensated by cutting the top bit of orange fabric to 7" x 20" instead of 5" x 20". My elastic was 1/2" rather than 3/4". I didn't have grommets, nor did I want to fiddle with them, so I just sewed my strap to the inside of the bag. Also, the strap is a thick piece of bright blue ribbon because let's be honest, the idea of turning a strap didn't thrill me. All that being said, it turned out great, and if I need another, I'll certainly use this tutorial again.

February turned out okay:

• Make It Modern Bee Blocks (2)
• Lucky Stars BOM Block (1)
• Sisters' 10 BOM Block (2)
• Autumn's Quilt
• Boo's Quilt
• Le Mille Quilt
• Cape for Banzo
• Clean and Organize the House

March is looking to be busy (does this surprise anyone anymore?):

• Make It Modern Bee Blocks--March (2)
• Lucky Stars BOM Blocks--February and March (2)
• Sisters' 10 BOM Block--March (2)
• Le Mille Quilt--finish binding
• Banzo's Cape--maybe? but probably not.
• Marie Quilt--get back to work on this!
• Tula Swap
• Continue the Massive Clean/Organize/Purge Effort
• Another quilt for Morgan?
• Start sketching out designs for three new quilts

GIVEAWAY GOODNESS-Giveaway Closed! :)

Friends, today is my one year quilty bloggy anniversary. Kind of. See, last year, my first post landed on February 29th, which I thought was all sorts of cool, but now, one year later, I'm debating which day I should celebrate, so March 1st it is! And to celebrate, I thought a giveaway would be in order.

This giveaway features one spool of Aurifil thread in 50W white and five delicious fat quarters. The fabric from Sarah Watts' Timber & Leaf collection for Blend fabrics and includes four prints from the Timber palette and a random blue solid. I love them, but I love you more.

To enter, all you have to do is comment! You can tell me how fabulous I am, or how much I've changed your life for good, or be brave and let go of the marriage proposal you've been too shy to deliver. Or, you know, you could tell me how you're doing and what you're working on. That would be good too. Followers (old and new) get a second entry because you're magical and wonderful and make blogging more fun. And if you're not a US guy or gal like me, never fear! I am a whiz at shipping internationally, and I'm more than willing to put my skillz to good use.

If you are a no-reply blogger, or you aren't sure, make sure to include an email address in your comment. If I don't have a way to contact you, I'll have to pick someone else, and that would be really really sad! Frowny face! :(

I'll close the drawing next Friday morning, and the winner will be chosen randomly. The spoils of this giveaway are provided by me because I heart you all so much! Good luck!

Today, I'm linking up to Fresh Sewing Day, TGIFF, and Finish It Up Friday. Woo! That's a lot of linking up!