Sunday Stash.

It has been awhile since I've had a fabric week of this magnitude. A LOT of fabric has arrived at my house this week. But in my defense, most of it is for my newest nephew's quilt. That bean-o will be arriving in late July/early August, so I have a bit a of time, but when I'm going to need several weeks to agonize over whether or not the quilt is going to be genius enough for someone related to me, well, it's going to be a tight squeeze to get it in the mail on time.

Fortunately, I started freaking out over the quilt about five seconds after my sister told me she was pregnant for the second time, so I got some of my worrying and planning out of the way early on, and I've spent the last few weeks awaiting the gender unveiling. The quilt I made for my most adorable niece--she takes after me, of course--is still one of my all-time favorite quilt makes EVER, and I couldn't have my nephew languishing with subpar Audreyness. Years from now, I want him to enter adulthood confident that he is one of the coolest beings ever because how could he not be with a baby quilt like this? (YES, it is that important. Don't try to downplay this! It will effect his FUTURE.) 

The quilt plan I chose required most of this stack. Okay, technically, the top three fabrics are for other things, but doesn't that stack look super sweet?

My first dive into the Architextures world with four of the cross-hatch prints. Poppy, Curry, and whatever creative names they're using to refer to White and Black these days.

Another first, these two are my Essex Linen purchases. Chambray and Indigo, and I'm pretty much sold on using them for my Tula Pink CS quilt top. You know, when I find some free time to layout the kajillion blocks and sash them together. Until then, they will look pretty in my stash and remind me of exciting future events.

Ah, Kona. I never knew I would fall so hard for solids. Yet, here I am, in a very serious love affair. (Kona, forgive me my brief flirtation with the Bella Charcoal near the end of the stack. No one had Kona Charcoal in stock, and I was not about to place a fourth order for just that. My love for you only goes SO far.)

Kona Colors, from left to right: Corn Yellow, Lipstick, Papaya, Amethyst, Sunny, Jade Green, Punch, Maize, Sunflower, Candy Pink, Hyacinth, Bella Charcoal, Kiwi, Lake. It's a weird color palette, I give you that. But work with me here. It will be (or at least should be) genius.

From the new quilt shop that opened a few weeks ago, some Fresh Cut by Basic Grey. I don't know that I've purchased much Basic Grey before this, but I really like some of the prints in the line. I especially liked this floral, and when I saw they had one FQ cut and ready to go, I couldn't say no. While I expected that I would hate EPP, I find it's quite the contrary--I really enjoy it. And I have a larger-scale project in mind for using bits of this.

Also from the new LQS, some green flannel to back my oldest's quilt, and some truck fabric. I made the mistake of taking my three-year-old to the LQS with me, and he was pretty insistent that we needed trucks. And then I thought, why not make my older boys matching cushions with their initials on them? Again, because I apparently have a kajillion hours of free time waiting to be filled up with quilting projects. Except I don't. Not at all! But it's a happy thought, and I'm sure I'll use it somewhere. Eventually.

That's all for today. I'm linking up with Sunday Stash at Molli Sparkles. 

Handquilting.

I know things have been quiet around the blog, and there are a lot of reasons for that. Family in town, husband out of town, homeschool planning for the fall, birthday party planning for two kidlets, and my writing career is about to hit a huge milestone that has required quite a bit of my attention of late.

But that's not all. My heart has been heavy, and I haven't known what to say here. I've heard so many sad stories lately about bad things happening to people I care about. Several friends have lost a parent, people are very seriously ill, and while none of these things are directly happening to me, my heart hurts for them. It's hard to keep a positive attitude when there seems to be so much pain around.

But I'm trying. I haven't gotten much sewing accomplished during the day, but my evenings have been filled with handquilting and Netflix.

Work on my Gypsy Wife quilt is coming along slowly, but I'm enjoying it. Lots of echo quilting and straight lines, but in various colors (and weights) of thread. I love the look of it, even if it will take me until the end of time to finish.

I've started more EPP flowers for a friend of mine who recently lost her mom. I have plans to make a cushion cover for her, which I had better finish up soon since I'll be seeing her in a couple of weeks.

And I cut fabric for a birthday gift. A loooooooong overdue birthday gift. But it will be epic (I hope) when it's done, so that will make it totally worth the wait, right? RIGHT.

I usually feel a bit overwhelmed with my to-do list, but recently, it has felt impossible. My husband took this past week off though, and we crossed several things off the list. There are still several things hanging about--like fixing my dishwasher, eep!--but I'm hoping after this weekend that I will feel that the list is back under control. (Then I have to start another big mountain of things. My newest nephew's baby quilt! A quilt for my daddy! Placemats for my mama!)

I'm not the only one who feels this way, am I right? In the meantime, I will be stroking the new fabric I received this week for my nephew's quilt. I feel this quilt will be downright opulent given the number of fabrics it will require, but this baby is blood, and he deserves an amazing quilt. Come back tomorrow for Sunday Stash, and I will show it all to you! Until then, have a most lovely Saturday.

Three Small Finishes

There has been some sewing here. Some finishes, even! (And a lot of handsewing this week, pics to come.)

My husband recently asked that I make him something. Anything. He just wanted something handmade by me. How could I say no to that request? It's like when my four-almost-five-year-old asked me for a new quilt. A girl just can't say no. I decided to make my husband an iPad case using this tutorial. I used scraps from Fava's quilt and bound it in a print from B&C's Happy Go Lucky Line. The inside is the same print. It's a little wild for him, but he likes it and insists he's going to rock it everywhere.

The tutorial was okay. Steps were clear and easy to follow, and I liked the suggested diagonal stripes, so I went with that. I had stripes of differing widths, and I chose not to additionally quilt the final product since the QAYG should secure it well enough. (My husband thought QAYG was magic, and he listened to my description of how it works and then asked questions. Love that guy.) What I should have done was watch the entire tutorial video before starting, but I didn't. I'm the kind of girl who doesn't fully read a recipe until I'm actually in the throes of cooking. So far, everything has turned out well enough, so why wouldn't this? And it's fine, really. But what I didn't notice before I began is that there is no instruction for a closure on the case. You fold it over and let it be. But my husband needs a closure, so I handstitched velcro under the flap. I would have preferred to add a different type of closure earlier in the process, but it is what it is.

I finished this zippy bag, and I'm almost done with a near-matching friend. I used noodle-head's Gathered Clutch tutorial, which I've made before. This one was a lot easier though because I started with a taller piece of fabric for the front. Last time, I had to cut my pieces smaller than specified because the gathering made them go wild. Also, I have a lot more sewing experience under my belt now, and I was a relatively new sewist then, so I'm sure that had something to do with it as well. I used a metal zipper on this one--a first for me--and I'm quite happy with this little lovely.

Finally, my friend J's CHRISTMAS present. Yes, Christmas 2014. I KNOW. It's shameful. But it's done! I can't show the front just yet because I don't want John to see it before I actually give it to him. I'm partially through constructing S's gift, and then I only have ONE MORE late Christmas gift.

My mama is visiting for a few more days, and while we've already accomplished a lot, we still have tons to do! Hope y'all have a lovely Monday!

Popping In.

I'm hoping to get a quick post in before an inevitable interruption claims my time. True story: with few exceptions, someone in my family has been ill at all times since just before Christmas. If I knew that that first round of flu would turn into this...well, I'm not sure what I would have done. Actually, it's probably better that I didn't know. As it is, all three of my kidlets are recovering from a nasty stomach bug, and I'm earnestly praying that I don't catch it.

There has been a bit of sewing. (This block is for Stash Bee, woo.) I've even managed a few tiny finishes. What I haven't managed is to blog about them. (OR celebrate my third blogiversary, which I fully intend to do. SOON.)

I like to finish one quilt per month, but that just might not be realistic for March. But I'd really like to have this one done. Actually, can I tell you my dream? I'd like to finish this one over the weekend. Top is done, backing is partially pieced, and I'm planning for really simple quilting. My mom will be in town. It's possible. It's a special quilt, or rather, it's a quilt that's headed to a special person, and it needs to be done pronto. But it might not happen, and I'm trying to be okay with that.

In the meantime, I've been handquilting this beast. As you can see, my lines aren't always very straight, as I'm not planning to mark it. But you know what, I think of all the quilts in the world, a gypsy wife quilt made of crazy saturated AMH fabrics will survive crooked lines and uneven stitches. I think it might even *add* to it. Is that completely crazy? I had hoped to finish this one too--the entry date for my local quilt show is looming at the end of March--but it would probably be a miracle.

And I've indulged in a bit of retail therapy. This is my favorite Tula line since Acacia, and I have plans that I'm pretty excited about.

And because spring equals kidlet birthdays in this house, I really really really need to finish up my oldest's new quilt. Because, you know, it was for those cold days in the car. And today will be over 60 (woo!) so he probably won't get any use out of it this winter, but at least it will be done. Thankfully, I finally managed to pick up some fabric to finish it.

The baby calls! I hope y'all are well. (And healthy!)