WIP Wednesday

is a happy day indeed!

Chris passed his online Driver's Education Course and now has only to complete his driving hours and take the written test and he'll get his license!

Huge congratulations!

I also completed a new pillow covering for Squishy.

I'm auditioning a vintage sheet to applique the Tessellation Quilt to.

It has spoken and told me I'm done piecing!

LOL

Do your projects talk to you?

Do they tell you what pattern needs to go with what fabric?

What the back needs to look like?

How it needs to be quilted?

(view from our stairs...very dizzy from leaning over! lol)

I wanted to keep the subtleness of it all going and found this beautiful vintage sheet.

Originally I had planned on appliquing this to a white background, but like the look of this instead.

Soft.  Old-fashioney and cheery!

What do you think?

Another project I'm working on, ruminating over, thinking about is the Jack's Chaine quilt.

I've always thought it needed something and I've found out what it is...

hexagon flowers!

Anne has this amazing quilt on Pinterest.

There are hex flowers in the middle of the center hexies!  I'm so glad I found this picture because it has re-inspired me to take this project out of the cabinet and finish it up!

I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday!

Fabric Tuesday with Quilt Story

When you were little, did you have a security blankie to help you sleep and comfort you? 

Maybe a stuffed animal

Or even a special pillow you had to have before drifting off to dreamland?

For me, it was a special pillow named "Squishy".  I can't remember a time I haven't had him to sleep with.  People who know and love me (and even some who don't! LOL) know I still have and sleep with my childhood pillow.

My boys have all taken turns sleeping with Squishy to help them sleep and comfort them when they needed it.

Before you get all grossed out, LOL, Squishy gets washed, dried and sanitized regularly.  And, occasionally, he needs a new pillowcase.  For a while I was using pillowcases that my great-grandmother had embroidered and edged with crochet. 

His last incarnation was a scrappy mix of blues and pinks.

This time I wanted something a bit "perkier" and since I'm still crushing on the tessellation block...

...this is what I came up with! 

Doesn't he just look awesome!  I'm so happy!  The colors are so sunny, cheery and fresh to look at any time of the day.

I'm usually not much of a hand quilter, but I knew that Squishy was worth it.  I personally think he feels much better too!

Squish has been all over the state of Indiana and goes with me on every trip we take.  There's even a small piece of him buried on the beach at St. Petersburg in Florida so I would always be connected to the ocean!  So it only made sense to take him with me to the Conservation Club we belong to and have a photo shoot.

(if by now you're just getting the picture of how crazy I am, welcome to the party!)

Hubs and I decided to go canoeing yesterday and I wanted to introduce one of my favorite things from childhood to one of my favorite places to be as a grown-up.  There's a 15 acre lake, meadows, flower gardens, places for campfires and camping and a winding trail to the club house.  I love sitting in a camp chair on the dock reading a book while the guys are off doing manly things.  It's so quiet out there!  Just fish jumping, birds singing and the wind in the trees.



So very peaceful and relaxing.  I think Squish enjoyed it as much as I did!

On our way home to the boys, we came across this cute little fellow.

How sweet!

Thanks for sharing a bit of my nuttiness!  All of my boys have their security blankets put away if they should ever want them or pass them onto their children.  Hubs knows that instead of those silly little pillows they put in your casket when you die, I want Squishy in there with me to see me into the next life!

Creepy, I know, but if people can get buried in their favorite car...why can't I have my pillow?

LOL

Please follow the link to Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday.  Trust me...you won't regret it!

Tessellation WIP

I think I have mentioned I am not a math person.

Ahem.

Having said that, again, Chris is taking geometry this year as a junior in high school.

We decided to bring our youngest son, Ben, home for school this year also.  He's taking pre-algebra as a seventh grader.

You can see why I have math on the brain.
I'm teaching one and "moderating" another.
Oy!

"Math is Fun!" defines tessellation as:  A pattern made of identical shapes.  The shapes must fit together without any gaps and the shapes should not overlap.

Easy.  Peasy.

LOL

Last time I shared a "Pinspirational" block from Dutch Comfort's blog.

I guess I just fell in love with the "geometricness" of it all and felt challenged to attempt it on my own.  Without buying the book.  Because I'm cheap Because I always enjoy a challenge!

My version is machine pieced, not paper pieced or sewn by hand using tons of "Y" seams. 

Here is a quick and easy tutorial for sewing "Y" seams.  Once you get the hang of them, they're easy peasy too!

 I'm using my 5" (finished)  hex ruler to make the four shapes:  a hexagon, a diamond, a triangle and a square. 

This kind of math is fun!

Here is the start from last week.

Which grew to this.

And a week later, now looks like this.

These rows are now all machine pieced together and I'm starting to put on the next row.  I wanted a soft, glowing, old-fashioney, vintage sort of look. 

Too lazy to go look up all the different fabrics playing together in this.  LOL
Moda, Lecien, Joann's stuff.  Whatever pink and yellow I had on hand in my stash.

Florence at Flossie Teacakes has a tessellation project in the works as well.  Hers is amazing!  She's hand piecing it!

Here are my garden gnomes helping me get a shot.  Thanks guys!

I'm linking up this week with Quilt Story and Freshly Pieced this week for my quilting goodness fix!

How 'bout you?

WIP with Lee

Good morning!

Little bit of a break in the heat this week.  Hate to think of starting school.  Loving my easy, summer hours.

Scored a huge find at a rummage sale a lady who owned a quilt shop had.

All of this organized out to this.



Yes.  Lots of pink.

$20 for all of this.  Batting bits, fabric samples, thimbles, a housewife, fat eighths, quarters and half-yard cuts, lots of scraps and an Omnigrid ruler.

Lazy days at home to sew.

Playing around with hexies.

Experiencing some disappointment with the give of Amy Butler's "Gypsy Caravan" fabric.

(shaking my head)

Playing with more hexies.

Experimenting.  Trying to figure out a pattern I saw on Pinterest.

This block can be found on Dutch Comfort's blog.

Here it is after I figured out the measurements and cut the first seven pieces.

And here it is after more cutting and ready to sew together.

I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.  Heading there now to take a look at what quilters from all around the world are doing.  Hope to see you there.



WIP Wednesday

This week I started playing around with scraps.  There is something very therapeutic about just taking an idea and letting your mind and soul wander as you sew.  Free piecing.  That's what I call it.

I started with yellows for a luminous quality in the center.  Then I transitioned into pink and I'm beginning the green transition and that will probably end in blue.  This will either be a lap quilt or wall hanging.  Not sure yet. 

Taking a picture of the blocks laid out helps me get an idea of where I need to switch out blocks.  I don't have a design wall because of space and practicality (picture cats climbing the wall just for kicks!). 

I finished up this baby quilt at the beginning of the week too.

My nephew's daughter is due soon and this is the gift I'm taking to their baby shower Saturday.

I patterned it after a Granny Square block in honor of my mom.  Who is becoming a great-grandma and has fought so hard to make it this far.

Very soft, old fashioned floral prints with sweet pink and of course...white.  I used two different fabrics for the binding and I love that effect!

Summer's easier schedule and a need to push my FMQ skills led me to be creative on the quilting.  Using a Tupperware hamburger press as a pattern, I used a Frixion pen to mark circles, hoping to soften the straight lines of the quilt.

The pen's line disappear with the heat of an iron!  Sweet!

I like the way the quilting turned out.  I just used my 1/4" foot to do this and I thought enough ahead so that the quilting was a continuous line (with freshly wound bobbins as needed) using plain, white thread. 

A vintage sheet from my collection is soooooo soft and when it came out of the dryer, it was like silk!

Perfect to snuggle a newborn in!

Another WIP is quilting my Swoon blocks.  Pinterest led me to a quilt as you go tutorial I'm going to try to quilt the top and get it out of my "to quilt" pile that is growing.  Check it out and I'll share my progress here.  I picked the orange block to do first.  Using the hamburger press, a plate, bowl, ruler and some tracing paper...this was what I came up with.  Once again, just using my 1/4" foot for the geometric quilting and my darning foot for the meandering in the corners.

I'm not sure if I will use this patter on every block or try a new pattern for each individual one.

I'd like to thank Karen from Quilts on Bastings for the inspiration she gives with each quilt she shares with us!



Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.  I'll be kicking back with a cold drink and reading through some very fun blogs to be inspired and encouraged to keep on learning, piecing, quilting and creating!  Hope to see you there! 

Friday Finish...ahem...well...

So, it's been a while.  Like a whole lot of days of summer heat, cleaning for an appraisal for refinancing (killer rates that make the hassle and nagging worth it) and some sewing.

Two very special ladies have birthdays in August. No. No. I'm not one of them. Ratz! Because if I were...

I would have one of these in my card.

Javi and Chris are gifting these sweet girls a handmade, homemade, Pinterest-inspired pendant.

Here is the inspiration found at Pinterest.

We found everything needed (except for the silver, box chain for Javi's girlfriend) at Joann's.

My finish for the day is finishing up this

bag of chocolate covered pretzel bits!

Now lest you think I ate them all today...this bag was around when I was working on the other baby quilt.  These "sweeties" are the perfect size of blended sweet and salty goodness needed to help keep any quilter sane and motivated. 

LOL

Okay, okay.  I've been working on another baby blanket and trying out some new FMQ patterns.

Before you you see Pilot's Frixion erasable ink pen.  A lifesaver here.

You also see the Tupperware hamburger press I inherited from my MIL.

LOL

It's perfect for hopefully making a very squarish quilt look a little softer for a sweet pink thing coming soon to my nephew's family.

On a more serious note.

Javi and two friends went to see the premiere showing of "Batman" last night at our local theatre.  I'm so very thankful they made it home safely and my heart, thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of those who didn't.

God bless.



Finally a Finish and Fun Fabric!

Try saying that five times really fast!

LOL

I've been piecing here and there the last few weeks, but nothing really to show until today!

The top for this lil' baby quilt was started a long time ago when I was playing around with curved piecing.  I wanted to improve that area of my sewing and put together nine, scrappy blocks and then promptly put them away and forgot about them so I could make a Mariner's Compass block.

They stayed packed away until...

I got invited this last Saturday to a baby shower for a girl who had grown up in our church.  She and her husband had been married ten years and I don't think were expecting to ever be expecting.

But Life is full of surprises, isn't It?

I remembered these orphan blocks and brought them out to audition for a baby blanket top.  I love all the different colors and patterns playing so well together, don't you?  And white sashing always adds a crispness that sets off very colorful blocks.  Amy Butler, Jennifer Paganelli, Moda prints I had collected, Heather Bailey and even some of my beloved vintage sheets are in here.  It's a standard crib size with a super soft vintage sheet as backing.  Some of Moda's "Birdie" that my good buddy KT brought back from one of her family's trips was used for the binding. 

I like the circle theme being repeated in the binding and since they're having a little girl, the pink was perfect!

The Mom-To-Be received some very lovely handmade things and I'm so glad to have been able to send along a quilt to wrap a sweet lil' tater tot in this winter!  And it was very nice to be able to finish something up finally!

Thanks to my photography assistants who helped while on one of our yearly road trips all over Indiana.  This year is especially fun because Chris (Middleman) got his Learner's Permit and was able to log some time driving with me!

This drive saw us visiting Bluffton, IN.  Home of Quilts N Gifts where I purchased a charm pack of

Moda's "California Girl"

and

"Vintage Modern" to add to the stash.

Later that same day, we drove to Cicero, IN by way of Noblesville, IN and stopped at one of my favorite LQS's Always In Stitches.  Some other new fabric came home with me from there.  Can you guess its name?

LOL

I love this! and I'm so glad I got to get some of the prints I really like.

I've also been piecing together some blocks for a "Pinspired" quilt by Leanne Beasley. 

 Her quilt on Pinterest also inspired this table topper quilt made earlier this spring.

I'm linking up with Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday and Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday. 

Make sure you stop on over and check out what everyone is working on!  So much inspiration in one place.

Hope the weather is treating you kindly!