WIP: 578.

Did I say I needed to cut 449 pieces for my Marie quilt? Because I really meant 578. I forgot to factor in the three yards of background material I have to cut into various squares and rectangles. Yikes!

But honestly, the first nine yards were cut in the exact same way, so by the time I got to yard 5, it was a breeze. I fussy cut yard 10, so that presented a challenge in getting all of my cuts into that yard, but I managed it. (Phew!) The teal above (Bella Solids - Betty Teal) is my background color, and I finished cutting that yesterday. Hooray! 578 cuts. Now, to somehow convince my husband he should take the kidlets to the park so that I can lay this puppy out and organize what block goes where.... I should don my evil mastermind grin. 

Since this my first quilt larger than a throw size, I am trying to keep everything organized. I've chosen bags for different-sized cut pieces, and I purchased a storage container to hold the entire project. I'm curious though--how do you organize your projects? (Especially the big ones!) Any special ways to keep everything together and neat and tidy? Before, I was using a plastic shoe box that had a lid, but there is no way this project would all fit in one, and it would involve some serious folding, especially when I start making the blocks, which are rather large.

I pulled fabric yesterday for another few projects I'm planning to start. Small projects, and there are multiple projects there, so don't get scared that I'm planning to use all of those fabrics in the same piece. Because that might be worrisome, haha! I'm hoping to use some of those fat quarters for placemats, and I've started mulling over my mini quilt idea. 

I do have a finish this week, but this is all I can show. The grand reveal is coming at the end of the month. I do love me that backing material....

I've done very little sewing this week. Mostly cutting and pressing, and today will be more of the same, but perhaps tomorrow Agatha and I can reunite and spend some quality time together.

I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced's WIP. Have a lovely Wednesday!

I-Spy with my little eye...

I may have kind of seen an I-spy quilt and been filled with a great desire to make one of my very own. Maybe.

Lucky for me, Jennifer at Knotted-Thread is hosting an I-spy charm swap. Fifty-six charms of I-spy goodness, and no repeats. Meaning I do not have to find 56 different kinds of I-spy worthy fabric in my stash. (Which is a good thing because...well...I'm seriously lacking there. I have dancing monkeys! And that's about it.)

I bet you're saying to yourself, man, I wish I could be a part of it. You're in luck because the swap is a few peeps shy of being complete! If you're interested in playing along, contact Jennifer at Knotted-Thread.

My big plans for the I-spy quilt included producing a mind-blowing quilt that the boys and I could use for snuggling. (Yep, I did just make up an adverb.) But then! I read about 100 quilts for kids at Swim, Bike, Quilt! I made my brain hurt trying to think of a way I could fit in another (affordable) quilt this summer, until I remembered that I was already making an I-spy quilt--why not give it away instead? Wouldn't that be way more fulfilling?

My plan is to donate my quilt to Project Linus. I'm thinking a 7x8 grid of patchwork squares with a border. Oh-so-awesome in one beauteous rectangle. And maybe, if I enjoy making it a whole bunch, I'll make another one for my boys later. You know, after I finish my Marie quilt. And the picnic quilt. And the other kajillion small projects I want to make.

Soooo...if you're feeling it, you should join the I-spy swap. Or make a quilt for 100 quilts for kids. Or...both!

Now, to pick out my yard of fabric. Oh, the choices!

WIP: Picnic quilt edition.

Happy Fourth, everyone! :) 

It's been a lovely sewing week so far, and it looks to only improve! Taking a short break today though for a picnic in the park with my boys--mac and cheese, fruit salad, and apple pie!--but I'll start back tomorrow.

I finished up my July block for In Color Order's BOM. I hadn't planned to devour it so soon, but I really loved the block and couldn't wait to make it. And if I'm adding in small pops of yellow to the gray monochromatic theme, why not add the occasional pop of crimson? I bought that crimson batik fabric for the Reunion quilt, but I had a bit left over, and I seriously heart the way it looks.

Speaking of the Reunion quilt, I'm nearly done with the first pass of quilting. I think another half an hour or so? I do have a question for you lovely readers. I had originally planned to diagonally quilt across the patchwork, then come back through with another set of perpendicular lines to form an "x" over each box. (Probably didn't explain that the best way, and I'm hoping you get what I mean!) But after I finished the first set of lines, I really kind of like the way it looks. So! Do I go with an "x" or keep it the way it is? Not making a second pass will shave lots of quilting time off, but I want the quilt to really look sharp since it's a gift.

My sewing room dining room currently looks like this. I pulled out all of my scraps yesterday and started randomly piecing some blocks. I had this idea that we should go on a lot of picnics this summer since the weather is so nice here, but we have no picnic blanket/quilt. Therefore, I should make one. And after starting Gwen Marston's Liberated Quiltmaking II, I thought I'd make some random blocks and just sew scraps together. I think if I had a perfect picnic blanket, I would get really upset when it received inevitable grass and food stains, but having one made out of scraps in whatever fashion I feel like? Well, why not?

The first block she talks about is a wonky log cabin, so I started there. I'm not in love with the block, but I'm saving my final critique until this baby really births itself.

 
The second block I finished is something that kind of put itself together. If you've been reading long, you know I love these dancing monkeys, so I started with that piece and looked for pieces with a similar length, then framed it with the green and gray on the sides. And I love it! I think blocks like this are more to my liking.

Both blocks are around 7" square. What do you think a good picnic quilt size is? Having never made one, I'm debating that. My husband asked on Monday if I was planning to have it done for our picnic today, and I laughed thoroughly. This is a project that will take a bit of time, and I'm hoping to put together blocks when I need a good break from other stuff. I had a lot of headaches last week, and I think they were from trying to make sure all of my quilting lines are straight and lovely on the Reunion quilt. It was lovely to take some time and piece together random scraps without worry of it looking perfect.



I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced. Love love love looking at all of those gorgeous projects! I feel like every week I get jealous because someone has posted a quilt that I wish I had made! (But it's a happy jealous.)

449.

That's the number of fabric cuts I need to make for my Marie quilt. Eeek!

When I start to get scared about that number, I look at my growing collection of fabric, and I feel a little better. I need to pick out three more prints and a background fabric. I'm thinking of maybe doing a solid for the background--any ideas? Possibly white?

Last week I didn't get much quilting done as we took off early on Thursday and spent an extended weekend in Los Angeles. Our drive down was awful--1.5 hours traveling an eight mile stretch in the middle of nowhere--but the drive back was lovely, including a gorgeous view of the cost for part of the trip.

We spent all day Friday at the Disney California Adventure Park because my oldest is a Cars fanatic. We stayed with our friend's mom, who not only quilts, but has a super fun quilting room, and I got to see some fun works-in-progress.

I'm trying to put together my July to-do-quilty list, and here's what I have so far:

• Finish Baby K's quilt (aka, quilt #4).
• Make placemats.
• Make another mini quilt. 
• July BOM from In Color Order.
• Finish purchasing Marie Quilt fabrics, get the cutting done, and decide on block placement.
• Write up my Blog Hop post.
• Maybe get brave and make a tote/purse? 

Phew! That's a lot to do. But as usual, I think that Agatha and I are up for the challenge. What are you planning to do this July? 

WIP: Reunion.

Morning, y'all! Today is another edition of Works in Progress at Freshly Pieced.

I have finished my Reunion quilt top, basted it, and now I'm working on quilting that puppy up. While this is my fifth quilt, it's only my first time burying threads, and I'm learning that while it looks better, it's a lot of work! And I'm doing more quilting than usual (for me) on this quilt, so I'll have a lot of threads to bury.

Linking up!

Let Them Eat Cake...In Bed!

After much deliberation, I have decided not only on the pattern I want to use for my bed quilt, but also some of the fabric. It was a long hard decision, and I spent many many hours perusing fabric websites and etsy for ideas. If I was honest, I wanted it to have a lot of pink--thank you, husband, for tolerating my hot pink obsession--and I wanted it to be frivolous and fun. I don't know why I didn't immediately think of Tula Pink, who is hands down my favorite fabric designer, but I didn't. I can only imagine it's because her latest collection, Nightshade, is awesome, but a little too dark for my bedquilt. (I want something happy and fanciful.) But that didn't rule out her older collections! Hours and hours later, I decided to make a quilt using Parisville. I'll also be using Tula Pink's Snow Globes pattern, which should be arriving in my mailbox any day now!

And while Parisville isn't the easiest fabric to locate, I popped in at my new LQS this morning, and not only did they have some bolts of Prince Charming left, they also had the fans print from Parisville. I still have a lot of fabric to purchase, but I'm stoked to have gotten started. And isn't it so dreamy?

Now, to resist purchasing Prince Charming....

PS-When chatting about the quilt with friends, my friends John and SS suggested I call the quilt "Let Them Eat Cake in Bed." Pretty much the coolest quilt name ever. Well, besides Polka Dot Attack Pinwheels!, which let's be honest, cannot be beat.

WIP: wonky stars.

An idea has been squirming around in my head, and while I've certainly had crazier ideas, it's probably my craziest quilting idea to boot:

I want to make a queen-sized quilt.

(Insert nervous giggle.) From a girl who has yet to make anything larger than a throw quilt, it's definitely an ambitious project. Do I think Agatha and I can handle it? Probably.

Now that I've decided to do it, I'm having a nightmare time deciding on everything else. I've had my current quilt since I got married--six years. When I saw it in the store, I knew I had to have it. But I won't know what the final product will look like until I've made the final product, and that paralyzes me with fear.

I've started auditioning blocks in hopes that I would stumble across something that I really like. The first I've tried is a "wonky star" block. I happen to love making this block, which is a bit odd since it involves wasting a bit of fabric, and to be honest, I hate wasting fabric.

I pulled this stack of fabric to work with. I later added solids in dark purple and white. Then I got to work!

They finish at 10.5 inches. I like this last block in particular. This might be a mini quilt. Or maybe a big 20" pillow? Or perhaps a long table runner? (PS-I used this tutorial.)

If I did make a big quilt using wonky star blocks, I'd want to make a quilt like this one or this one.

I've started on my quilt using Reunion fabric. I decided to chop up the charm pack and make a smaller batch of patchwork, and having made two 6x6 blocks, I'm happy I did. I love them!

I've got two more blocks to make, and then it's time to pick out accompanying fabrics and piece this puppy together.

I do have one small finish from this week--my jungle quilt from last week. Binding is added, and work is complete.

Linking up with WIP at Freshly Pieced.