Small things.

Ah, Friday. Hello, my lovely!

I managed to finish up the quilting on my older sister's quilt on Wednesday, and I should be pleased as punch, but I have approximately one million threads to bury, so it will probably take me as long to get that done as all of the quilting. *Sigh.*

In more fun news, I finished this crayon roll up for a one year old who had a party this weekend. Since she's already a bit of a girlie-girl, I went with all sorts of pink on the outside, including some leopard print, houndstooth, and big polka dots. She's possibly a little young for crayons, but I went with the fat ones that are washable, so it should be okay...right?

This project was made exclusively from scraps (yay!), and while I wish I had a better brown for my brown crayon, I think it all goes together quite well. I put this together in a few hours by trial and error, meaning I had no idea what I was doing and kind of figured it out along the way, and my kidlets liked it, so it looks like I've got more to make in my future.

And, for a friend of mine, this mug rug. I used a few prints from Tula's Salt Water line, combined with a Bella solid and a Kaffe Fassett shot cotton. I think that's the last of that shot cotton, and I'm really quite sad to see it go. (Meaning, get more, pronto!)

I hope she likes it! She's a graduate student and a huge tea and coffee lover, and I thought it might be good for her desk. I used a block from the Lucky Stars BOM (January, I think?). It should have been the 6" version, but my printer didn't print it right, and it turned out closer to 7", but in the case of a mug rug, it worked out just fine!

I'm linking up with TGIFF at Pippa's Patch and Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts. You are too, right?

Skirt!

So, back in June, I was all, "Hey Friends! Guess what? I totally made a skirt, and I'm going to show it to you!"

And then I forgot. But lucky for me, you still love me, and lucky for you (maybe?) I finally remembered!

Ta da! And it's not an elasticized box! It has structure! And it has a zipper! Woo!

Anna told me about this book called Sew What! Skirts, and that's the book I used. I specifically made the tourist trap skirt because I can't get enough of skirts with pockets.

Zipper. (Apparently, my zipper is property of Robin? Should I be concerned?)

A close-up of the pocket. The zipper, pocket buttons, and the lining of this skirt all came from a local shop that is described online as an "Eco-Edu-Art Creative Re-use Marketplace." What that really means is, people donate their unused crafty art supplies, and people like me can buy them. The zipper was 25 cents. I don't remember about the buttons, but they were dirt cheap, and they don't match, but they're close enough that you wouldn't notice unless I told you.

And of course, I used Tula fabrics because I knew I wanted a tree of life skirt. I waffled between the different colorways, but finally decided on this one, which wasn't perhaps the greatest of ideas since it is a lot of white, and I have two small kidlets with sticky hands, but whatever. I like it too much to care! I wear this skirt a lot, sometimes with charcoal leggings underneath, and sometimes just with boots, yes, even in the middle of summer because in my book, boots are a year-round staple. But it's held up very well for the abuse I've put it under.

I love my Tula skirt, and I'm eager to make another skirt from that book. Next time, I'm thinking pleats, yikes! And I even have my fabric all picked out. (Can we say Lucky Penny in hot pink?) I just need to find some selfish sewing time!

FF: Baby Quilt Top.

I finished this top a couple of weeks ago, and have been waiting for the right time to share it. I blindly ordered a stack of yellows, oranges, and pinks, and when they arrived, I yip yipped that they all went together well enough AND they were lovelier in person.

This quilt was so much fun to piece. I knew I wanted to piece rows instead of blocks, even if some of the rows are comprised of blocks. From AMH feathers to designing a pattern for paper pieced arrows to some traditional HST blocks to randomly slicing up a perfectly unoffending set of strips only to sew the pieces back together a la Elizabeth Hartman's Xylophone quilt.... Oh, Friends. This quilt has been fun.

I'm planning to machine quilt it and add in some hand quilting too. I certainly went random with assembly--why not add quilting to match?

I think my favorite aspect of this quilt is that it is a truly "me" quilt. So often, I make quilts based on what I think people will like, and usually, there is some "me" in there, but this quilt? This is ALL me.

I'm linking up today with TGIFF hosted by Em at Sewing by Moonlight and Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

100 Quilts for Kids, Finish #2.

I cut fabric and started the blocks for this quilt while on my quilting retreat back in May. I finished the quilt top in good time, and then, after basting it, I kinda forgot it was there. From the beginning, I had planned to donate the top to Project Linus, and I was super stoked when 100 Quilts for Kids lined up with it because I love 100QfK.

When I did finally get around to quilting it, I quilted it in a square grid, six inches apart. I usually plan my quilting around the block design, but this was new for me, and I had to mark out all of the lines.

The quilting was fast, and I even went so far as to cut and prepare the binding, and once again, the quilt sat, bypassed by more interesting and more time pressing projects. (I love the binding and backing fabrics. Those huge dots are divine, and a pink houndstooth? Incomparable.)

Until! Now she's all done, and I'm ready to drop her off for Project Linus. I'm linking up today with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday and Amy's Crafty Shenanigans for TGIFF. 

Oh, and did I mention this is a finish from my 2013 Q3 FAL list? 

FMQ Practice.

This week, I've been quilt wrangling a 60" x 80" lap throw through Agatha's rather ample, but still crowded feeling neck space. This is the largest quilt I've tried to quilt myself, and I'm about 25% of the way through.

I started with some triangles, which involved a lot of turning. I had intended to do the entire quilt in this pattern, but when my shoulders started aching thirty seconds into quilting, I decided to try a new plan--a different bit of quilting on each block.

Next up was pebbling, which devoured almost an entire bobbin of thread. (I see myself running out of thread very soon.)

And some leaf thingie-ma-bobs in the corners.

But my proudest accomplishment is my feathers. I tried FMQ because I wanted to quilt feathers, but it wasn't until last night that I actually gave them a shot, and I was pleasantly surprised. I don't think I'm ready to quilt my Marie quilt--and after this, I'm fairly confident I don't want to wrestle a queen size through my machine--but I'm happy to have gotten one step closer to this goal.

I still have a lot to learn about FMQ. I'm getting better at regulating my stitch length and getting into a good groove. While I see so many flawed areas, I also remember my first FMQ attempts, and hooray! I have improved. (And if I really want to feel better, I can think about the quilting lines on my first quilt ever, which looked as though I was very drunk when I sat down at the machine.) 

FF: Rainbow Edition.

Friends, you may need to don sunglasses. It's that kind of Finish Friday up in these parts!

I present my rainbow Northern Lights quilt! Isn't she pretty? True, I've yet to take my rotary cutter to those wayward edges--I considered leaving them, but attaching binding to those bad boys seems so not fun--and I haven't found a backing that pleases me just yet, but I do have the kajillion thread colors I need to start quilting, and I have a plan!

This week, I'm linking up with TGIFF Friday hosted by Amanda at Bedtime Quilting and Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts. Woo!

SS: Shop Hop Day 2.

Yesterday, K-Sensei and I embarked on our second day of shop-hopping. It was what will be our longest day of driving, and we visited three stores and picked up tons of swag. Actually, I showed great restraint, which, when I tell you that one of the stores was maybe the best LQS I've ever visited, you'll be super impressed by my serious self control.

A half yard of delicious sketch in my signature color, and two FQs, one from Sarah Watts' Feather N Stitch collection, and one from Liz Scott's Domestic Bliss collection. (And those FQs were a steal!)

And, a 1/2 yard of this star print for binding on my rainbow Northern Lights quilt. Yum! I also picked up a 6.5" square ruler which I've been lusting after for some time.

I'm linking up with Sunday Stash, this week hosted by Amanda of What the Bobbin? Our Shop Hop journey will end next weekend when we visit our last two stores. I should have more lovelies to brag about share with you next week!

FF: Triangle Wall Quilt--DONE!

I finished this bad boy a couple of weeks ago, but kept forgetting to snap photos! (Shame on me!) Isn't she lovely?

This mini quilt top has been hanging around for several months, begging to be loved, but I ignored its pleas. I like to think I'm a nice person when it comes to my quilty projects, but I had no idea how to quilt this, and since I knew it would be hanging on my wall, I wanted to make sure I was pleased with the end result.

I went back and forth with straight line quilting, maybe some fun FMQ in the negative space, and towards the end, I really believed I'd just hand quilt it in fun oranges and pinks and yellows but couldn't seem to find the right perle cottons when I was looking for them. I'm choosing to believe that was destiny, and in the end, I slapped a little more charcoal Kona on the edges and stapled it to a wooden canvas frame. It now sits on what was a particularly boring wall near my front door, and every time I see it, it makes me smile.

The quilt top came about when I had some oddly shaped triangular leftovers from a baby shower bunting I pieced. I bordered it with Kona charcoal, and I'm thrilled its done! Hooray!

I'm linking up with TGIFF, this week hosted by Quokka Quilts, and Finish It Up Fridays at Crazy Mom Quilts.