Quilt WIPs update

This is a stack of finished quilt tops, just waiting for basting. There are ten here, plus one more that is already basted.

I'm not saying I won't work on other projects for the rest of the year, but this stack will be my main focus for the remaining months of 2017. I haven't shared all of these projects here, but included in the stack are:

Scrappy Quarter Log Cabin
Big Plaid Log Cabin (bottom of this post)
Aerial Grove
Scrappy Geese
String Diamonds

It will be fun to see how many I can finish this year!

WIP: Scrappy geese (and then some)

So, it's been awhile since I have shared anything here.

I'm back with a doozy, though!

About seven weeks ago, I posted this pile of fabric on instagram:

The stack happened by accident. I was rearranging my yellow fabrics, and then, well... If you have a fabric stash (or any other medium), you know what I mean.

I started by pairing fabrics and making flying geese in a variety of sizes, and then just started piecing things together. I'm using the HSTs made off the geese corners, as well as strips and scraps.

And of course, I had to add a few bear paws.

Olias and Fiztgerald (and Bella, too, although no photo here) helped, as cats do.

This project is really coming together now, although I didn't have a specific size planned when I started.

It won't be long now!

You know what I love?

Ara Jane and her amazing style. And the fact that this is how she starts each blog post. Telling you something she loves. How positive is that?

I met Ara Jane earlier this summer at our retreat and got lucky enough to have her draw my name in our recent swap as part of the do.Good Stitches Love circle.

Ara Jane professed in her card that she might have gone a little overboard, and she did, in the best way! Not only did she send me some of her delicious granola (we had this on the retreat and I have yet to try the recipe for myself) and some Theo chocolate bars (oh, the hazelnut one is my favorite so far!), but she also sent me some lovely green yarn.

And of course, there are handmades:

There's this embroidered hoop featuring the ever-awesome Treat Yo Self phrase (Monica's blog post has the video if you need a Parks & Rec fix). Ara Jane's embroidery is beautiful, and I actually have no hoops adorning my walls. So, yay for that!!

And the pillow.
Oh, the pillow.

I love the geese.
I love the colors.
I love the fabrics (this is my first dose of in-real-life Chicopee, and I must get that black voltage dot!).
I love her hand-stitching.

I love that Ara Jane's personality really shines through in these gifts.

Thank you again, Ara Jane!

Tadpole's Geese

You may remember that I met Rue in person a few months back. We agreed on a swap around that time. She asked for a mini quilt to hang in her daughter's bedroom. She lovingly refers to her daughter as Tadpole. I love that nickname. She's the cutest little baby, too. I got to meet her in December as well, and she is the happiest baby. Precious!

So, Rue made this swap pretty easy for me. She asked for specific colors, to match Tadpole's room. She also commented on loving the geese mini I made for my mom last July.

I used some fun prints in the colors she requested. I included prints from Outfoxed by Lizzy House, Tufted Tweets by Laurie Wisbrun, a chevron from Half Moon Modern, Essex linen, a Kona solid, and Laura Gunn's Painter's Canvas. For the back, I used the same green chevron print. I quilted using three different Gutermann threads, a purple, orange and green.

In return, Rue spun me some yarn, which I should have very soon! I'll be sure to share it with you when it arrives.

Have a great rest of your weekend, everyone!

Post-Summit Swap

I know, I know. I have a hard time resisting a swap. I've been good lately, but when Liz decided to organize a Post-Summit swap for Sewing Summit attendees, I jumped in. I knew there was a good chance I'd be paired up with someone I met there.

As luck would have it, I got Liz's name!

After looking through her favorites, I decided to make her a mini-quilt with some flying geese.

I used some lime and aqua scraps (some of which were picked up at the Sewing Summit), along with Kona Caribbean, and quilted around the geese.

I especially like the parallelograms in between the geese.

I backed the mini with a piece of Tula Pink's Prince Charming. Love it!

You can see the whole package I sent to Liz here in her photostream.

I haven't received my package yet, but the swap ends next week, so I should see a package soon!

I hope you are all having a fabulous Saturday. I'm actually enjoying a few days off of work at the moment, and have lots of crafty things to show you soon!

do.Good Stitches update

I forgot to share my do.Good Stitches blocks for August. This month, we made Greek Cross blocks, using the Summer Sampler tutorial.

I would love to make a quilt of this block. Angela is only waiting on one set of blocks, and I love the way the group looks so far!

Rachel has done such an amazing job with the DGS group, and there are new circles all the time! I've really enjoyed making monthly blocks for the group.

Also, if you follow that link to her blog, she featured my mom's flying geese mini quilt! Thank you, Rachel!

FO: Mom's Mini Geese

Well, it's finished.

I finished hand sewing the binding Monday evening. This has not been washed yet, but I'll be doing that before handing it over to my mom. I'm really happy with how this turned out, although I do see some imperfections.

If I were to make this again, I would probably add a border to the perimeter, as some of my geese got shortened. I just looked at the original again, and it did not have this problem, so user error strikes. I might have used a wider binding than it called for, or maybe my border idea would solve it for me.

I also am not 100% satisfied with my quilting. I think I had some unevenness in my seams, which made the quilting used in the original difficult to do.

On the other hand, I think it makes for a simple backing.

I am very happy with my fabric choices. When I originally posted my progress shot on flickr, there were calls for an aqua, lime green or yellow binding. These were all fun and smart color choices, but in the end, I think my mom will appreciate the lime green.

Olias and I actually enjoyed the slow process, and watched several TV episodes while doing so (Season 2 of Lost [my first time through], The Forsyte Saga [Kara shoutout! I love it!] and one movie: Roman Holiday).

I guess the bottom line is, while this is not perfect, I learned a lot and I do love the look of it. And I know my mom will see past the imperfections and marvel at the time I put into this for her.

She has gotten back into sewing lately, and wishes she had more time to devote to it. I hope hanging this in her sewing room will inspire her to sit down at the machine soon!

And it begins...

I blogged Friday about my new obsession with Swoon. I indulged this weekend by making my first block.

Instead of using a white background, I chose Kona Medium Gray, my favorite neutral. The two patterned fabrics in this block are Monaluna Mingle Dots in Steel Gray and Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadow Flower Fields in Lake.

I had a lot of fun picking my fabrics for this quilt, and I can't wait to see the next block come together. I think I've decided that this will be my new bed quilt!

I can see a big difference in my confidence level when tackling the HSTs and geese in this block. I'm sure a good deal of that confidence comes from my work on mom's mini quilt. Speaking of her mini, I am finishing up the binding. I've sewn the first side on (by machine), and I'm hand sewing the second side. I hope to be done later this week.

A winner (and also, my mom loves purple)

Before I get to the FOs, we have a little business to attend to! The winner of the Malabrigo Sock yarn and a ravelry sock or shawl pattern is... lucky # thirteen! Congratulations, Huei Sei! This yarn will be on it's way to Malaysia very soon!

I'm sorry I couldn't share with all of you that entered, but take heart;
I'll be sharing more goodies throughout the month. Promise!

Speaking of purple, if my mom could be completely surrounded by the color, I think she would. Her husband might not like it, but that would be her choice!

My mom recently celebrated a birthday, and I came up with three projects I thought she would enjoy, each in purple fabrics.

I made her an iPad pouch for her new toy, using Joel Dewberry's Aviary 2. [Side note: I'm such a huge JD fan. I can't recall a line of his I haven't loved, and I can't wait to get my hands on some Heirloom!]

I didn't use a pattern for the pouch, and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

I also made her a Jane Market Bag. I've now made at least four of these, and I thoroughly recommend the pattern.
I'm not sure what the exterior fabric is. It's from my grandmother's stash, but it's a really soft cotton. It kind of looks like a Kaffe Fassett print, but I'm pretty sure it's several years old. The pocket fabric is by Kitty Yoshida.

Finally, I've been working on the amazing July mini quilt from the purl bee. I should be finished with it in a week or so, but now that I've shown my mom her last present, I can share it with you.

Geese! This is my first experience with flying geese, and I. am. hooked. Seriously! Geese are so much fun. The cutting is a little intense, but the result is just. Well, it's satisfying. I've since finished the top and pinned it (I'm using a very PLAIN backing). I hope to finish the quilting this weekend.

Happy birthday again, momma! I love you!