Q3: Finished Results.

Friends, I'm not going to lie. I kind of rocked this quarter. You can see my original list here.

Turquoise Deliciousness--DONE

X & + Wedding Quilt--Blocks from the Make It Modern Bee--DONE

Quilt #1 for 100 Quilts for Kids--DONE

Quilt #2 for 100 Quilts for Kids--DONE

Triangle Quilt--Or rather, Triangle Canvas?--DONE

Low Volume Feather Quilt--DONE

I finished six quilts--one twin, one lap, two large baby quilts, and two mini quilts. Since I finished one of the mini quilts in a rather unique way (quilt canvas vs. actual quilt) I'm not including it, but I am taking it off my list, hooray! I can say making a Q3 list was a definite push to get these things done, especially the mini quilts.

I'm linking up today with the Q3 FAL Link-up!

FF: Feather Mini.

FOREVER ago, I participated in a low volume charm swap. It yielded this lovely. But when piecing hte quilt, I may have held on to my favorite charms from the swap because I just couldn't bear to let some of that delish fabric go!

Then I pieced them all together and started with this as my jumping off point. It then sat on my sewing wall for months and months and months and months. And some more months, just for good measure. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to add a feather to it and make a mini quilt for me, but who has time to make those AMH feathers, especially when I'm sick of making them because of other projects?!

But when piecing another two feathers for my niece's quilt, I finally sucked it up and made one for me, and in Tula fabrics to boot. (Except for that one Oliver and S. print that I used in my Marie quilt, and therefore think is perfectly acceptable for use.) After that, the quilt came together in record time.

Since it won't be heavily used, I kept the quilting very minimal and quilted another "feather" opposite of the appliqued one. I debated a bunch of different quilting options, including some really dense FMQ, but after completing the feather, I liked it. So, I left it, and that's done. I need a dowel rod, but hopefully I'll have it up on my sewing wall very soon.

Best of all, this is my final project from my Q3 FAL list! Woo! I'm linking up today with Megan at Cherry Valley Designs for TGIFF and Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday.

WIP: The Numbers Edition.

After looking at today's WIP list, I have a feeling I'm going to have a hefty Q4 FAL list!

54 Tula Pink City Sampler blocks.

20 Sisters' 10 BOM blocks. (Yes, I pieced October early. I'm too impatient!)

3 Baby Quilts in the works (one basted, one in the middle of quilting, one flimsy) and 1 more in the planning stages.

2 Cushion Covers patiently waiting. Just kidding. These are DONE. Thank goodness.

1 Queen-sized quilt being prepped for the long-armer.

1 Finish, which I'll be sharing more of on Friday.

And 1 Naomi Dress, which is my selfish sewing for this week!

I'm linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. You should too!

Needlebook.

Small scraps equal...

A needlebook! My handsewing has been traveling a bit, and while I've been carrying thread, scissors, and needles in my stylish hot pink Melody Miller typewriter pouch--wow, THAT was a mouthful--I've been keeping track of my needles and pins by shoving them into a scrap of fabric and hoping they don't get lost in the pouch and I don't later stab myself when looking for them. Because I'm super classy like that.

The scraps are from my sister's baby quilt, which I finally basted the other night. (Thank goodness I have until November to finish that bad boy up.) I added a bit of turquoise from my scrap bin, and voila! Needlebook. It was fairly easy sewing, and it came together quickly, which made me oh-so happy. It's a definite improvement over the previous needle/pin storage system. Of course, I hadn't considered how I was going to shut the thing until I'd pieced it all together, so I stole some ribbon from my ribbon stash, and it almost looks like I planned it. I mean, I did plan it. Totally. *Ahem.*

Three.

Photo used courtesy of W. John MacMullen

This is Three. My friend John made her for my birthday. (Isn't she lovely? She's spicing up my sewing space walls as I type this.) She was delivered on Friday, and I quickly picked a spot for her. I had thought I was going to have to wait to hang her up until after I took photos and practical stuff like that, but John was three steps ahead of me, and assured me I could use his photos, which were taken with a much nicer camera by a dude who knows a lot more about photography than I do. (Woo!)

Three uses some awesome reverse-applique techniques with some seriously tricky and feisty fabric. (See that gold goodness? Total pain in the you-know-what, or so I've been told.) I, however, think that it was all worth it. Of course, that's seriously easy for me to say since I had nothing to do with the creation process.

Thank you, John, for my lovely birthday present!

Sweet Pouch Swap.

Hi Friends!

Soooooooo...several weeks ago, I participated in my first handmade swap ever. Let me be honest, it was absolutely terrifying. Terrifying! The thought of making something for another human being, and what if they hated it? And what if I had them pegged all wrong? What if in the process of making their pouch I suddenly forgot how to sew, or Agatha died a miserable death in flames and I could no longer sew because I missed her too much and was going around in black mourning a world without her, or a kajillion other things went wrong?

But nothing did. I had a lovely partner. I did have a near panic attack when picking out fabric, but I liked what I did in the end. I'm happy I participated. Dropping my box in the mail was nerve-wracking, but once it was done, it was done, and I knew that I'd gained something from the experience no matter what happened. Of course, in true Audrey fashion, I didn't snap a picture. However!

And then...I got my package in the mail. If there is bright pink anywhere, you know I'm going to swoon. So when I pulled out this lovely, I was so ridiculously happy! Look how gorgeous is it! Look at the serious detail! That delicious topstitching! Have I mentioned I love red and pink together?* Look at that fabric! Yum! My partner also made me a sunglasses case (hot pink, of course) and stuffed my pouch with lots of delicious goodies and tea and yum!

And do you see the inside of that pouch? Do you see that pink binding? That's commitment, Friends. Serious commitment. I totally lucked out and got an amazing partner, and I can say my first handmade swap was a success.

Thank you, Louise, for being an amazing partner and making my first swap so much fun! My pouch has found a home in my sewing nook, and seeing it every day makes me happy! 

*I think it's because my mom always told me that red and pink clashed and that I should never wear them, and I always wanted to, and while I didn't have a rebellious teenage phase, this is my way of being rebellious. Red and pink forever! Love you, Mom, but I have to be my own person!

Tula Pink Blocks 1-51.

I tossed around the idea of weekly updates of my block progress in Tula Pink's City Sampler, but since I'm only making three a week, that seemed like a lot of posts of little blocks. However, today I hit the #51 mark, and it seemed a good a time as any to lay them all out and see all those pretties making friends with each other. As you can see, I've got a big stack, and it's only getting bigger!

I really don't know what to say, Friends. I've been working on these since May, and it's been a lot of work. I'm still totally excited to work on them, which is good, but 51 blocks is time consuming no matter how you slice it. (And I have 49 blocks left, eep!)

I am following the color progression in the book in hopes of getting a lovely rainbow. Some of my blocks use the fabrics Tula has utilized, and some do not. I wonder if it has to do with my mood on the day of creation? In addition to various solids, quilting cottons, shot cottons, and even a bit of linen blend, I have used ten of Tula's twelve collections. My Acacia shipped this morning--woop woop!--and I'm beginning to believe Neptune is a made up collection that doesn't really exist, so maybe I should say I've used 10 of Tula's eleven real collections? 

In other BOM/QAL news, I've cut the fabric for my final Sisters' 10 BOM blocks*, and I even have the HSTs pieced. I just need to find time to slap those bad boys together, and OMG, I will be done. I can't wait to have those blocks done, especially since I hope to have that quilt done for Mr. Audrey for Christmas.

How are your Tula/Sisters' 10 blocks progressing? 

*I may have skipped ahead, looked at the picture, and figured out how to piece it on my own. I'm really really impatient to have those blocks done!

Sunday Stash at HPQ, aka Total Awesomeness.

Hooray! Welcome to Sunday Stash! I'm so glad you're joining me, and I do hope you'll link up. Also, mucho thanks to Fiona for letting me host this week!

When I had asked for a September date oh-so long ago, I'd had big plans for this particular stash update. BIG plans. As some (or possibly all!) of you know, I'm a bit of a Tula Pink lover. And as you might also know, her line Acacia is set to drop this month. I anticipated I'd have some lovely Tula to show off today, but alas, I'll just have to dazzle you with it later.

However! In lieu of those awesome raccoons, I do have a bit of pretty to share. I know it's kind of old news now, but when I saw Anna Maria Horner's daughter, Juliana, was releasing her first line, and with the same saturated palettes that her mother is famous for, I knew I'd have to see this stuff in person. Yummy Rosette!

And, I picked up these two bits to use as binding. The orange is a DS Quilts print, and the cream is...something. The orange I'll use for Lito's log cabin quilt, and the cream...something. Both were on a remnant sale table thingie at Joann's. Thirty percent off already clearanced fabric? Yes, please! 

My final addition this week is a lovely cupcake print my friend Sarah gave me for my birthday. Hooray for cupcakes! And that ribbon that she tied it with--love! She understands my dancing monkey love in a very serious way. Isn't she such a peach?

So tell me--what fabrics have found their way into your possession recently? And if some of you have some Acacia, I promise I won't show up on your doorstep and demand a bit. I may think about it, but I do have a bit of restraint, even when it comes to Tula.

FF: Turquoise Deliciousness!

It's done!

My older sister is one of my favorite people on the planet, and around May, I decided I wanted to make her a quilt for her birthday in June. Added bonus? My brother-in-law's birthday is also in June, so I intended it for both of their birthdays. Easy peasy, right? I'd have it done by the end of July for sure, right?

Wrong.

When I calculated out my fabric requirements, I forgot to consider seam allowance, so I had to go back to the fabric store twice to purchase additional fabric. When I finished the top, I wasn't sure how to quilt it or what kind of backing I wanted to use. I had other deadlines pop up, and this quilt sat patiently waiting.

I ultimately wound up using a gray sheet and quilted it with a mixture of FMQ and straight lines in black, turquoise, and ice blue thread.

You can see the quilting a bit better on the back. Some squares were really dense (you can see the pebbling in the bottom left corner) and some squares were not. I have a post with some close-ups of the quilting here.

I modeled this quilt from Julie Herman's Raspberry Dessert from her book Skip the Borders. Her quilt is set on point, which is really striking, but I decided to nix that in favor of setting them traditionally, which was much easier and gave the quilt a very different look that I loved. My version measures 60" x 80", and it is the largest quilt I've pieced and quilted myself. I wasn't a huge fan of wrestling it through Agatha's throat space, but we made do, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be if I'm being truly honest. I bound it in the dark fabric I used in the center of the squares, and after a couple of marathon binding/Miss Marple/Murder She Wrote sessions with my quilting sensei K, the binding was practically done.

I dropped it in the mail yesterday morning, and my sister and brother-in-law should have it sometime next week. I enjoyed making this quilt, and I hope the recipients love it too! I'm linking up today with Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and TGIFF hosted this week by M-R of Quilts Matters. It's also a finish off my Q3 FAL list! Woo!

Pillows.

There are some things I've been meaning to show you, but I've been a bit lazy. Today, let's fix that! I have a bunch of pillows and pillows in progress to show off.

I've used my January Lucky Stars BOM block to make a cushion cover for an upcoming birthday present.

I've done a bit of handquilting in the dark blue star and gray border. I realized after making three blocks that I was not digging the fabrics I had pulled for the Lucky Stars BOM. I was dreading these stars, and I was not excited with the end results. So, I have abandoned that fabric stack and will use the three blocks I have made for other awesome projects--like this! But don't fear, I'm excited to pull another set of fabrics, this time, a stack that's not convenient but one I actually love, and I'll tackle another LS quilt sometime in the future.

I love this pincushion! (It's a baby pillow, right?) I made it for a bloggy friend who was sweet enough to send me some lovely Tula fabric. It measures 6" square, and it was fun to piece little tiny HSTs and flying geese, though I was a little paranoid and trimmed very, very carefully.

This was my first block for the MSBHQAL. I have big plans to make a hot pink broken herringbone block--blocks?--but my fabrics weren't placing nicely over the weekend, and I couldn't decide on the exact sashing fabric I wanted to use, so I set them aside and made up this rainbow block instead. It was just what I needed. I used fabrics from my rainbow Northern Lights quilt top--which I basted a few nights ago, woop woop!--and I'm going to turn this into a pillow cover and send it along when I finish the top.

And this churn dash block, destined to be another pillow. My mother's boyfriend has a very patriotic quilt, and for the holidays, I'm making a set of pillows to match the quilt. The fabrics are not my first choice. (I feel horribly unpatriotic saying that, but truth is truth.) I was really stuck searching for ideas for these pillows, when I say a lovely churn dash quilt and thought the design would work well with the fabrics. The covers will measure 18" square--that's a lot of churn dash to love!--and looking back, I wish I had paired one print with one solid as these are a little busy, but I think they'll like them, and that's what counts, right? Right.

 
Oh! And before I forget, Fiona from Finding Fifth was sweet enough to let me host Sunday Stash this weekend, and it would be lovely lovely lovely if you'd join me by linking up some lovely fabric stacks of your own! See you on Sunday!

FF: Scrappy Log Cabins.

I heart log cabins oh so very much, and when I was thinking of quilt projects that would stretch me, I decided to improv piece some log cabins and see where it went.

I started this quilt with a round of white and gray fabrics, hoping to give the center alphabet blocks a bit more definition. After that, I went to work with another round pulled entirely from scraps. There were no rules. I grabbed what was handy and sewed it on, making for some very different sized blocks.

This top certainly stretched me. When I finally had a layout for the blocks, I didn't even know where to start. So I just started sewing blocks together, ironing seams, and laying things back out. It's certainly not as random as it could be, but there is only so much improv and randomness I can tolerate, at least at this point! I'm not loving the solid blue rectangle in the bottom left corner, but I think I'm going to stitch my son's name on there, and it will look intentional, right?

While I am exceedingly glad I gave this project a go, I'm not sure I ever want to tackle another quilt like this. Holy moley. There were practically tears at some points! While it's not the quilt that almost broke me, I can say with confidence that this kind of piecing does not feel liberating for me. It feels frustrating. And horrible. And I don't mean to say that I don't love this quilt top (I do) or that I don't love these types of quilts (ditto), but I don't love to make them, and that's okay.

And of course, I have no idea how I want to quilt this. Would it be completely wrong to quilt it in a diagonal cross hatch print? I did decide on background fabric--a yummy red sketch flannel, on sale to boot! And I have one more log cabin block to add to the back. (If you count carefully, you'll see only 25 on the front, and they are alphabet blocks.)

This makes quilt top #3 that's waiting for quilting love. *Sigh.* There are worse problems to have, I suppose. Like those leaves in the top pic. Raking my yard each year is a never ending battle. I'm linking up with Quokka Quilts for TGIFF and Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday. See you there!