Another pincushion

I had a Bento Box Block laying around that I thought would make for a really cute pin cushion... I'll probably offer this one up for the PMQG Pincushion Swap in October.

Round Robin

I started this quilt in 2008 with a group of women on-line. The idea is that you start a center block that you make yourself, which I did.



Once complete, you send your block to another person in the group and they add a border, then they send it to another person, who adds another border, etc. until it comes back to you a finished top. This top went around for months and finally came back to me in 2009. It's pretty much just sat in my sewing room for a year.



I was feeling pretty glum about it and in general bemoaning the large stack of UFO's that needed to be completed when I was approached by another on-line friend to start a UFO Club that would run for three months at a shot. The idea was that if you finished a UFO people would send you fat quarters. I'm a sucker for fabric, squee mail and the occasional kudos, so of course I was in. Heh. Well, this is the end of the that first session and lo and behold, it worked! I actually finished a top! Woo! Apparently I work better if I have deadlines and something at stake.

Of course nothing comes easy. I had more trouble with this quilt and my machine not getting along. First off I deviated from Warm and Natural Cotton Batting. I used a high loft poly instead because I thought it would be nice and light for my kiddo (for whom the quilt was being made). Uh yeah, FAIL. I had been using one brand of needle and when I ran out and I switched it to another brand and it started skipping stitches every time I went over a seam. There are a lot of seams in the quilt. Consequently there was a lot of cursing going on as well. Yes, I was making sailors blush. I finally googled to see if there was anything I could do to fix the problem (besides drive the two hours to the store where I'd originally bought the other brand of "working" needle) and a top stitching needle was recommended. I gave it a try and it did improve the situation but most certainly didn't make it go away. It was enough however to get the job done.

Also? Because I love to torture myself, in the areas with the sunburst blocks (not sure what their official name is, though I'm pretty sure that's not it) I'd quilted a pattern on all four blocks and decided once I was nearly done with all the other quilting that I hated it so much and it would drive me nuts every time I looked at it unless I fixed it, I ripped it all out. (How's that for a run-on sentence?! lol) Yeah, I re-quilted that whole part of the quilt putting in pebbles in the back ground. I'm so happy with it now! It's much better. Live and learn.

The other thing I'm kinda of surprised at is how busy it turned out once the quilting was complete. I still like it though and the most important thing? My kiddo is all snuggled up with it tonight and was completely *delighted* with it. So, win-win. =)





This is Snookie rolling around on it after I told her it was *finally* all done.

Wonky Houses

Here are my blocks for September's Block Lotto. I really didn't want to miss out on this round but I've been so busy with other swaps and craft group deadlines I barely had time to make these. I'd love to do a whole quilt of wonky houses someday so I had to be sure to get them done and at least have a shot at winning a few more. I love to make them though, they're so fun. ^^

Pincushions and Purses

Well, it's been forever since I've made a pincushion but the PMQG is having a swap next month and I thought I'd revisit it. While rummaging through scrap fabric at the NW Quilt Guild meeting I came across a lone 6.5" block that I threw in the pile having no idea what I'd do with it... well, now it's a pin cushion. I cut out the corners to make the side seams and then sewed together those little pieces to make the bottom of the pin cushion, all filled now with a bit of rice.



I like it well enough but it's a bit big (3" square) and not very modern though it was fun to put together. I have a lone little bento box block that'll make a nice pin cushion too.... it's half made already so no pictures of that, sorry.

Then I was thinking about my hexi's I adore so much and realized that I actually needed a small pincushion for my traveling hexi sewing kit... so naturally, it too had to be a hexagon shape! The fabrics were also donations from an earlier PMQG meeting. It's bright and cheery, I like it.



Lastly this is a bag I crocheted for a swap I'm in...



The theme was based on magical creatures. I could've hooked up a dragon or something but I guess I'm more practical then that so I put together a fat bottomed bag and lined it with mermaid fabric. I don't particularly care for pink but I am kinda of fond of this one and will be sad to see it go!

Quilts in Action

Thanks Joan for taking such a nice shot!

I really like this picture that was captured of my quilt top as I was folding it up after the PMQG meeting. It's so clear and dynamic. It was fun to get to show it off a bit. Still have no idea how I'm actually going to quilt it though. Please, anyone have any suggestions?

Kiddlet

While this doesn't really have anything to do with quilting I thought I'd share a picture of Miss Fancy Pants trying on new school clothes because she looked so darn cute. (IMHO) Hee



And now for the real kid. ;^)

Making myself work on UFO's

Sometimes I have a hard time working on old projects. So last night in a fit of desperation (ha!) I hit up Modern Domestic for a sewing session. I brought only *one* UFO. I paid $10 to sew there for three hours. There were no other projects to "escape" to! And I didn't leave early because paying to sew when I have a perfectly good sewing space seems *crazy* to me... so it was best I used the full allotted time. Anyway, I didn't get nearly as much done as I would've at home in those same three hours because there were a lot of other women there from the Portland Modern Quilt Guild and so I was easily distracted by a lot of chattiness and show and tell. Not to say it wasn't fun and I didn't have a great time, cause surely I did! but not sure how conducive it was to working. lol... Still I made some progress and had some "girlie" me-time too - woo!

Backing for the X quilt

I found the most perfect backing flannel. Oh I can hardly wait to get this one done!

Top is done...

...now just to find the time to actually quilt it. Also, I need backing fabric... hum. Flannel maybe? Binding will be the same dark brown and the background squares.

Woo!

Finished the X-Rated top.... pictures to come shortly.
Now to get to work on wrapping up a few UFO's!

I've not been on-line in the evenings because I just want to sew and have been like a fiend. It's good. I think I finally found a rhythm that works for me. Work a little bit on a lot of quilts for a short amount of time. I've been putting together blocks for my sister's quilt, and working on the 30's repo quilt that I'd already half assembled a few years ago, hated, ripped this past winter and now I'm sewing all the pieces together again in a different pattern that I like so much better. In fact there's a kinda funny story about it.

My BFF had come up to visit a few years ago and she'd picked a pattern and bought fabric for this quilt (you know the one, the one we just finished this past weekend in one day!):

So she was asking to see all my UFO's and I popped open a box I'd completely forgotten about, the one with my own set of 30's repo pieces in it. Guess what? I'd chosen the same pattern and mocked up four blocks about six months ago. Great minds and all that... lulz.


Also thought I'd give you a little peek at the hexagon quilt I've been working on. It's nice to have a traveling piece.


I took it out while at my daughter's Tae Kwon Do class and my BFF thought it was such a nice take-a-long project that we had to run right off to the fabric store after the class finished up so she could put together her own little kit. I love the fabrics she chose. I can hardly wait to see her make some progress on it.


I might have mentioned that they gave out a bunch of salesman sample strike offs (headers) of quilt fabric at last month's guild meeting (PMQG) that someone had picked up (yay! whoever you were!) from some conference or other. I got a bundle before they were gone and the little stack has been staring me in the face since. Tempting me.


I don't know why but I'm completely fascinated with them and well you know me, I love a new project! So in between working on everything else I've been cutting fabric and sticking it to my design wall.... If I can just keep working in the evenings I can easily see finishing up this quilt in a few weeks. (Pattern is Schnibbles X-Rated quilt - it'll finish at about 60" x 60" I think)