Puttering Along

March=Quilting Madness for me. I know I've mentioned it. To try and make it all work I knew I'd have to get some serious work done these last few days of February. I'm happy to say that I managed to finish the blocks for Lyra's quilt today! I also managed to start Jason's quilt. I decided against the stacked coin and went with a disappearing 9-patch.

I'm using some of the left over yardage from Lyra's quilt and 5 Neptune charm packs as well as a yard from Neptune. I think it was the storm damask. Not sure. Well, I will use 5 charm packs. Right now I've only broken into 1 ;) The one thing that is going to hurt my progress is that I'm waiting on an order of more Kona cotton! In order to keep things moving, I'll need to stitch up Lyra's quilt--which wasn't the plan originally. Initially, I was going to do all the blocks for both quilts first, and then put each quilt together, and then quilt and bind. It won't hurt to get Lyra's done all the way first. It just wasn't the plan. As long as I keep working, it will be okay ;)

Mail Call!

Yay, I love getting things in the mail *heart* My mom had given me a 20 dollar gift certificate for Christmas, and I had been saving it. I needed some yardage for Lyra's quilt, and so it came in handy! I bought 1 yard of Blush Cordial in Essence, 1 FQ each from Sultry, Oh Cherry Oh, and Candy Kisses. I also bought the Jelly & Jam pattern from Fig Tree Co. I can't wait to try it out *heart*

Lyra's 1st Birthday Quilt

I originally was going to use a different fabric selection for this quilt. First, it was going to be Hopscotch by Chloe's Closet for Moda. Then it was going to be a scrappy quilt from my stash. Finally, I fell in love with Blush by Basic Grey for Moda. I bought 3 charm packs, even tough I had NO clue what I was going to do. Smart, huh? Luckily, I had some white solid yardage!

Anyway, I decided on a 9-patch & box-in-box combo (only after my first design choice was plagued by my horrible quilt-math skills) I separated 2 charm packs into pairs (there were duplicates in each pack, too). I further separated the fabric into 1 pair set and 1 individual coordinating square.

Next I cut each of the 3 squares into 2.5x5 rectangles. From there the rectangles became:
main fabric: (3) - 2.5x5 rectangles
main fabric: (2) - 2.5x2.5 squares
second fab: (1) - 2.5x5 rectangle
second fab: (2) - 2.5x2.5 squares
1 of the main fabric 2.5x5 rectangles, and one of the main fabric's 2.5 squares were put aside for later.

The remaining 2.5x5 rectangles were sewn together in an alternating fashion, and then cut in half down the middle to make 2 strips roughly 2.5x6.5. This made the top and bottom of my 9-patch.


The remaining 2.5 squares were sewn together in a similar fashion, but the pattern of fabrics in reverse to make the middle of my 9-patch.

This was such a nice, easy way to make the 9-patch with charm squares! I, initially, was prepared to cut every square down to 2.5x2.5 and sew it piece by piece. I only ended up doing that with 1 patch, thank goodness ;)

Remember the 'extra' 2.5x2.5 square from earlier? Not to mention, the white yardage I mentioned ;) Well, the yardage was cut down to 2.5xWOF strips and then subcut multiple times to produce the following per-block:
(2) - 2.5x2.5 squares
(2) - 2.5x6.5 rectangles
I think each strip made like 4 - 2.5x2.5 & 4 - 2.5x6.5 with an extra piece left over around 7-ish inches in length.


These pieces were paired with the 'extra' 2.5 square of fabric from the 9-patch to make the box-in-box-y patch.

I'm going to use the remaining 2.5x5 rectangle on the back of the quilt. I'm so excited :) This is going to be my first project with applique (but more on that later ;)

Wish me luck!

Let's Catch Up

Wow, I've had a really busy last 10 days! I finished my Nana's quilt to start (detail to the side), and mailed it off. I really like how it turned out :) I hope she likes it. Her birthday is today, and (according to USPS tracking) she should receive the quilt this afternoon. I talked to her this morning, and she isn't feeling well. I hope this cheers her up :) My daughter was completely in love with it. I couldn't have it out without her attacking it, so to speak.


This last week and a half I have been knitting like crazy. My Mother's birthday is today, too! Boy, my hands ache! I'm not finished, either :x I will finish today. No matter how I pushed myself, I just couldn't finish it. Well, that's not exactly true. I was nearly finished, but I tore it down a few days ago and started over. I just didn't like how the first version's color scheme was turning out. I'll take a picture later tonight :)

I also started on Lyra's quilt. I have a few pictures, but I'll make that a new post. Oh, and I finished all the pillowcases for the Million pillowcase challenge and mailed those off as well. Like I said, I was busy!

Nearly Done!

I am roughly 18 inches away from completing my Nana's Quilt! My fingers are so sore! I applied the binding the other day, and have been sewing it on practically every moment of the day. It always seems like it will be fast and easy, but I enter a time warp and it ends up taking days. The end of the second day is drawing neigh ;) I really like how this, my first blanket sized project turned out. I am looking forward to washing it (with my fingers crossed that all the stitches don't unravel, LOL.)

Happy V-Day!

Yay! I love today :) Love is awesome! I celebrated by sewing! I made these for the Million Pillowcase Challenge. These are the boy-ish ones featuring:


- Joel Dewberry Chestnut Hill
- David Walker Oh Boy! & Tula Pink Flutterby
- Buck-a-roo Baby from SSI



These are destined to become more cases. They aren't all pictured but they are the girly ones.


- Valori Wells Sole (yellow sunflowers)
- Anna Maria Horner Chocolate Lollipop
- Sandi Henderson Farmer's Market

A-sale-ing I go

We went to two quilt shops today. One was regrettably small BUT full of contemporary fabrics. The second was HUGE but full of rustic, traditional fabrics. It was nice to see some fabric in person. I still prefer the internet. I did buy one book @ 25% off. It was a honeybun project book that I probably could have gotten cheaper on the internet, but I wanted to get something AND I do like supporting independent fabric shops when I can. We got lost on the drive home, too. I could have lived without that ;)

My Year in Advance - Continued

April/May - State Fair Schnibbles (Hopscotch/Moda)

Even though I didn't use this range for Lyra's quilt, I am determined to use it. I have a strong attraction to the 30's reproduction fabrics floating around. On top of that, I love the schnibbles patterns from Miss Rosie Co. There are several that I want to try <3


May/June - Tom & Caroline's Gift (Hello Betty Retro/Moda)

I don't know how I'm going to use these jelly rolls--yet. This is another line that has a great retro 30's feel. I like the teal, rust, chocolate, gray colors. I might buy some of the bright pastel part of the range later, though.




June/July - Unknown (Blossom/Moda)

OMG. I LOVE this line. It's OOP, which is a good and bad thing. I can find the fabrics reasonably priced BUT on the flip-side of that; I can only find some of the fabrics. I purchased some more pieces that aren't pictured--namely 3 charm packs that I found for 5.50 each! Yay for me <3 I know that I have a lot. Hopefully it's not too much. :x

My Year in Advance - in part.

Like I said before, this blog is to keep my projects straight (and to share my progress). So far, with only a one change (but it's only February!) here is my line up:

January/February - Nana's Quilt (Nostalgia/Moda)

This quilt is nearly finished. I ran out of thread while quilting. I should have switched thread colors after the second time I ripped out my stitches, but I (for some misguided reason) thought I had enough to finish a 58x58 quilt top. I was wrong ;) I did get about 1/3 done, though. Of course, I still need to do the binding, too. Yay.


February/March - Lyra's 1st Birthday (Blush/Moda)

This quilt was originally going to be in a different Moda line, Hopscotch by Chloe's Closet. I was all set to go, but then I turned my eyes on Basic Gray's range for Blush. I loved the scrapbook paper, naturally, I adored the fabric. I need this project done by early April. I started cutting today since I don't have the thread I need for my Nana's quilt.



March/April - Jason's Belated Birthday (Neptune/Moda)

I was originally doing something else for his birthday, but the day of I heard he would like a quilt. So I changed gears, canceled his other present, and added this to the queue. I'm aiming to have this done in April. Preferably, around the same time as Lyra's quilt. I'm not sure how possible that is. We'll see.

A Whole New World

Kind of. Sort of.

I had a blog on another site, but the community there is nil. I thought I would start over :) And hopefully meet other like-minded individuals~ The purpose of this blog is to keep track of my projects so that I don't get lost in my own desires. I have this horrible habit of starting things and then starting something else at the same time. That habit doesn't lend itself to actually completing anything.

So, hello! from me. Nice meeting you :)